[issues with unattend.xml driver path]

did you have it in offlineServicing

edit I gave a dell xml here an they have it elsewhere

You know they shut it down and image

  <settings pass="auditSystem"
    <component processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" versionScope="nonSxS" name="Microsoft-Windows-PnpCustomizationsNonWinPE" language="neutral">
      <DriverPaths>
        <PathAndCredentials wcm:keyValue="1">
          <Path>c:\Drivers</Path>
        </PathAndCredentials>
      </DriverPaths>
    </component>

It is currently in offline servicing, I can switch it to auditsystem, pretty sure I tried that before though. Will that require the sysprep /audit command? or no?

[issues with unattend.xml driver path]

look at my post here

from what I'm seeing it isnt really much different than what I already have other than putting %systemdrive% instead of C:\ ill change it though, maybe the driver path doesnt like drive letters? times like this i really miss old sysprep

if it makes a difference this has no winpe, we just sysprep the machine (doing /generalize /oobe /shutdown /unattend:unattend.xml) let it shut down, then upload it to an imaging server, when I pull the image to a machine it also pulls a driver layer for whatever the model is and dumps the drivers to C:\Drivers

[issues with unattend.xml driver path]

attached is my unattend file, no matter what I do, I cant seem to get it to read the path specified for drivers. For instance, our dell E4300 laptops always show up with 2 unknown devices which are the smartcard system and bluetooth if I remember right. If I tell device manager to search C:\Drivers where I have the drivers, it finds and installs them, so I'm thinking theres maybe an issue with the driver path in the xml?

another related question is, is there a way that I can get the updated drivers for each item for each pc from windows update and have those somehow update the driver store so we dont have to run win updates everytime we image a pc?

[Disabling Network export]

You should implement MAC filtering to increase your security. Even if they manage to export the SSID + Key, it's worthless without a proper MAC Address.

Yeah was just discussing with the CTO about either MAC filtering or issuing certs. Guess thats the only option, was easier for us in XP because we just used the Dell Wireless Utility to manage our networks via the encrypted wpn file.

[Disabling Network export]

why dont u report this to microsoft? Seems like a security bug. Originall Sysprep would store the windows key and users passwords in plain text in sysprep.inf, then with windows xp they encrypted it to avoid users discovering the windows key or users passwords. Seems like they might fix this. Only other option would be to use filemon to see what .dll netsh is using then delete the .dll

its not just netsh though, its if you go to the properties on a connection, you export the wireless info or go to security tab and if admin, check a box to show password

[Disabling Network export]

since no one can figure this out (and I realize even if we disable export we can still go to properties on the connection and click show password)

can anyone recommend a 3rd party, paid or free, wireless manager that disables wireless zero on w7 and takes it over for security?

[Driver exporting?]

whats the best way to get all drivers into one folder so I can point to it in my unattend?

we have a bunch of dell laptops and I was going to make a driver layer for imaging, is there something I can run on the laptop to export all drivers and dump it to a directory so on sysprep it points to that directory for all my drivers?

[Disabling Network export]

the netsh command isnt as much as an issue as the actual copy to usb option, netsh will actually encrypt the key into hex, and when importing STILL asks for key, which is fine by us. but if you export to usb with the option in network, it gives an export with an exe to run, the problem is the export also has a wsettings.txt file that has the key in plain sight

[Disabling Network export]

dont care as much about the xml export that can be done from netsh, but is there a way, either in gpedit or registry, to disable the "copy this connection to usb drive"?

our environment has hidden ssid and encryption that only a few people know the key to, we used to deploy and manage via the dell wireless utility, but thats pretty much defunct in Win7

[Help migrating from sysprep to win7 unattend]

still cant get it to ask for computer name... may have to go script method, which is a pain.

[Help migrating from sysprep to win7 unattend]

I actually removed that line and had the same thing happen, I read earlier that taking out the product key as well will prompt for computer name, so testing that now.

tried your methods and the other ones listed and it doesnt make a difference.

[Help migrating from sysprep to win7 unattend]

It's me again, few quick questions, i attached my xml for you guys to look at, but for some reason the default user's settings (pinned items, etc) dont show up when I boot up off a fresh reimaging. It also still doesnt ask me for a pc name which is a pain. The other weird issue I'm having is after pulling down the image, I get a black screen, then have to run startup repair to repair entries in the boot list, any idea what is causing this?

One other thing thats not totally related but someone here may know. Is there a place where you can add trusted software companies? for instance with the script that runs on first boot, it installs the Novell Client, but it asks if I want to trust them, I want it to know theyre trusted so when our techs reimage they can just kind of leave it running without interaction.

Thanks in advance.

forgot to add: what would i add into the xml once i get a vlk/kms setup?

unattend.xml

[Help migrating from sysprep to win7 unattend]

finally got everything up and running the way I was hoping to, the only issues I'm having now is it doesnt seem like its taking my product key settings since on first boot it shows a generic product ID and says i have 30 days to activate.

If you did not use an unattend.xml and you generalized the machine, wouldn't 30 day trial be correct ? Yes, I think that's right, if you generalize a machine it resets the activation status and re-arms the 30 day counter.

the only other thing is i need to prompt for a computer name and i checked all the sites and cant find a definitive way for this to ask me what i want the computer name to be.

AFAIK the M$ approved method is to use an unattend.xml file during the sysprep process.

Using my XML as an example, you would simply delete this line and it will prompt for a computer name.

<ComputerName>Windows7</ComputerName>

IMO you should use the random name setting so that your installation doesn't pause half way through. Then just need a simple script to rename the computers properly. Work smarter, not harder.

how to generate random name

<ComputerName>*</ComputerName>

its easier for our setup to ask for pc name during the unattend process, only because we have a bunch of help desk techs that do the imaging, need to make it foolproof

my xml doesnt have a computername field, what pass/component is it on, guessing i have to name a pc in component then delete from xml

i guess i was unaware of the new process for licensing on win7, coming from xp where my sysprep did everything i needed with serial etc, didnt need to reactivate, so i need to read about how it works now.. [edit] nevermind, read about KMS and swapping to a VLK, now the issue im having is my default profile settings not taking when rebooting and letting sysprep run its course, everything else runs tho, so now i'm down to this issue and it asking for a name, then im done

[Help migrating from sysprep to win7 unattend]

finally got everything up and running the way I was hoping to, the only issues I'm having now is it doesnt seem like its taking my product key settings since on first boot it shows a generic product ID and says i have 30 days to activate.

the only other thing is i need to prompt for a computer name and i checked all the sites and cant find a definitive way for this to ask me what i want the computer name to be.

thanks again for all the help.

[Help migrating from sysprep to win7 unattend]

Sounds like all you really need is an autounattend.xml file. I don't know where you got your crashing XML file, but here is a sample of mine own. Only 10 laptops, you don't need to sysprep anything, just automate your DVD with autounattend.xml.

Sample AutoUnattend.XML

Are you using the "DriverPaths" setting in your unattend.xml, to add your drivers on the fly ?

Otherwise, if you are really stuck and are willing to learn the hard way (by reading), find your unattend.chm and look for this page

We have a driver layer that downloads, we do PXE imaging, so I dont think the autounattend would work for me, but who knows.

All I need is to be able to pull the windows 7 image down to multiple different dell desktops and laptops, on first boot after imaging, it will auto accept eula, use the same windows 7 license key, ask for pc name, already have our admin profile setup and not use the default one at all. then to run a batch script on first login. thanks for the help so far!

kinda screwin around with it again, seeing if i can find whats in what components. its fun

[Help migrating from sysprep to win7 unattend]

You're going from a flat-file, multi-setup step install that was introduced (and barely changed) since NT 3.x to an image-based, single-step install. Not easy to migrate .

Have you considered looking into alternative deployment tools to augment the Novell tools you have, like MDT?

I've looked a bit into it, but the minimal that I need done doesnt seem worth switching everything, we will probably still be doing what we have been for awhile anyway, the Windows 7 test group is about 10 laptops. Ideally I just want similar functionality in the sense that I need it to only prompt for pc name on first boot and run a script that I have placed on the C drive. As well as not prompting for key, etc.

[Help migrating from sysprep to win7 unattend]

Sysprep and unattend are VASTLY different. You cannot easily "move" from one to the other, as even the setup routines that portions of the unattended files (for both platforms) drive are no longer the same. For example, you *can* use a drivers folder to deploy drivers, but it's much, MUCH easier if you can to simply pre-stage the drivers into your WIM file and let setup install the ones it needs (and skip the ones it doesn't) - just one example.

It would be best to search the forums for pre-built unattended files (they're here), and read the WAIK documentation to modify one of those (via WSIM) to your needs.

I did find a few prebuilt xmls on here, I've been working with one of them and modifying it, it crashed out on me last night when I tried to test. The reason I use the drivers folder to deploy is in our zenworks imaging I have it setup to have different image layers, drivers, apps, os, etc. and it checks the system ID so when imaging it knows what model pc it is so it pulls the correct drivers which works great since we have 4 or 5 laptop models and 4 pc models to work with.

learning a whole new system has become frustrating so far

you would think Microsoft would have made some sort of migration tool

[Help migrating from sysprep to win7 unattend]

If I posted my old sysprep info on here could someone help me migrate it to the new windows 7 method? I tried using some templates for all the passes and components but I don't want to miss anything.

Attached my sysprep.inf in case anyone can help, someone that worked here before me made this and its what we still use on our xp machines, but a few pcs are migrating to Win7 and I need to build an image.

Thanks in advance

Christofer

edit:

managed to talk to the guy who made our original INF.

Main things I need are the default resolution, it to point to C:\drivers for any drivers it needs, and for the only thing to show up on first boot after imaging to be a prompt asking for computer name, then hitting next bringing it to the desktop to run a script to install a few things. Ideally we would only use WSIM to basically do what xp sysprep did. We use zenworks imaging so generally I make changes to the OS, then ran sysprep by selecting Use Mini-Setup and hitting reseal.

sysprep.inf