gotenks98

Actually you dont even need to do that, just in your answer file create the user account administrator. That works.

Any chance you can add this force command functionality in future revisions? Its pain to sort out which drivers need to be redone when you got like 200+ drivers.

Maybe on Vista DVD's, but like I said, I don't think that is supported anymore with Windows 7. Are you saying you have success with that method ? You should be using DISM /SET-PRODUCTKEY I will let you know when I finalize the dvd. If it works when I try to activate it then I will know for sure.

I am going to give this tool a try. Does anyone know if it will intergrate drivers that are unsigned in 64-bit or do I have to do all of those manually with the forced command?

Its resolved. The actual xml file was corrupted some how. I re-did the whole thing from scratch using the same settings and it works now. This was very surprising that this happened. The usb key I had been using was bad. I noticed when I plugged it in on the last time to edit my settings windows prompted me to check it for errors.

I thought that was for XP ? Is that even supported on Windows 7 ? Yeah, every single Royalty OEM (Dell, HP, Gateway) does this with their vista/windows 7 dvds. It works great because it keeps the product key out of your unattended file.

I would assume a blank product key (in the XML) is considered "invalid". I am using the PID.txt method of entering my key. I had a key in the answer file at first but it kept saying it was invalid but I know the key works. Its the strangest thing. I have done answers files before and never had these kinds of problems. But I been pulling my hair out over this for a week now. One thing I noticed that if use this answer file with a untouched install.wim on the dvd it goes thru just fine but if I just install windows 7 run sysprep and capture the image the answer starts giving me errors.

I been using the WAIK and I just cant seem to get past a certain error. What I do is build the machine how I want it from audit mode. Click sysprep oobe check and do the reboot to capture the wim file. I keep getting an error that says it cant apply a setting during the specialize phase. I have gone thru and deleted and changed so many things in this file and I still cant figure it out. Here is the answer file. autounattend.xml

What I want to do is create a sysprep image and have it run but not ask me to create a user account on first log in but autologin as administrator. I know in vista it was possible but that option seems to be removed from windows 7. I need to be able to do this just from an unattended xml file and no scripts. These pcs will be going into a production environment so having to create hundreds of user accounts just to delete them is just too tedious.

You will have to use a driver mod for them to install. You are correct that some OEMs screw with the hardware so that only their drivers work with. It sucks because they do this to get you to buy a newer laptop because they stop producing new drivers. http://laptopvideo2go.com/ is a site that I used to get modded drivers. Right now the site isnt up but check back with it later.

You really dont have to make a choice on this. The thing is all versions in the wim file share files. When you begin to change a certain version it no longer shares files which is why the wim file get so big. What you have to do is once your done adding in updates to each version and such you need to export the image to recreate the sharing of files again. Basically you just export 1 version and append the others to it because the files will be the same just about it goes faster in exporting and it decreases the overall file size because it shares again. Even if for some reason you go past 4gb you can always override this by doing it as udf or cutting the image up to be lower than 2gb so it still works.

Only way I got it work from usb is to copy the install files to a seperate folder and boot into windows pe. From there I did setup /unattend:unattend.xml and then it reads the file. The thing is you have to disconnect and usb key after the reboot so it wont load the windows pe again. But you have to reconnect it once the install starts back on each reboot so it still can read the xml file. Otherwise parts get read and some parts dont.

Let's break this down a little bit more. If you purchased Vista Home Premium 64-bit, and have a valid product key for Vista Home Premium, you should be able to use that valid product key to install Vista Home Premium 32-bit on your computer. Vista product keys are architecture-neutral - that is, you can install either the 32-bit or 64-bit version of whatever edition you purchased using that product key. MS makes it easy when you buy a retail copy of Vista Ultimate - you get both a 32-bit and a 64-bit disc in the box. Product keys are NOT edition-neutral, however - you cannot buy a copy of Vista Home Premium and use that product key to install Home Basic, for instance, even though it's technically a downgrade of Home Premium. Another thing to keep in mind - if you buy a copy of Vista either through retail or system builder OEM, in the box you get (1) a product key for the edition of Vista you purchased, and (2) a Vista intallation disc. The Vista installation disc should contain all editions of Vista on the disc for whatever system architecture is specified on the label - it's the product key you enter during installation that determines the edition of Vista you are entitled to install. For instance, when I got a retail copy of Vista Business 64-bit with SP1, the disc actually contains 64-bit Home Basic, 64-bit Home Premium, 64-bit Business, and 64-bit Ultimate. A 32-bit purchase gets you the Vista editions in 32-bit. (One caveat - if you purchase Vista with a new computer from a large manufacturer like Dell or Toshiba, you most likely won't get the full disk, you'll get the manufacturer's reinstallation disk which will only have the version of Vista you purchased on it.) You should be able to install Vista Home Premium 32-bit on your computer by using (1) the 32-bit Vista installation disc you got when you bought Home Basic 32-bit for your mom, assuming that the disc was either a retail or system builder OEM disc, and (2) using your Vista Home Premium 64-bit product key. If you have a valid 64-bit product key, you do not need to buy a 32-bit product key to install the same edition of Vista in 32-bit system architecture. You just need the 32-bit installation media. The reverse also applies - if you have a valid 32-bit product key, you do not need to buy a 64-bit product key to install the same edition of Vista in 64-bit architecture. You only need the 64-bit installation media. One minor nitpick if you do get media thats a real pressed dvd, you do get all the versions of vista. There is a file in the sources folder that is pid.txt. That has the serial number for the version thats labeled on the disk. Delete that file and reburn the dvd and you can install whatever edition of vista you have your serial for.

I had this issue but it was for some other updates. Are you doing other updates with ie8? I got my updates from the Ryanvm.net and some of them were corrupted so I ened up just redownloading everything manually myself using the kb numbers listed and thats how I got it to work.

Just checking to see if anyone has tried intergrating updates for vista with the new WAIK. I tried intergrating updates I found on Ryanvm.net. Every time I try the install of vista always fails saying its rolling back updates but the I get no errors during the update intergration process.

Even if I boot from the DVD? With the 64-bit hardware installed? And my data coped to another hard-drive? That wouldnt be an upgrade that would be a clean install still. Basically whats going to happen if you boot from the dvd, its going to roll your old install into a folder call windows.old. All the apps and programs wouldnt be installed already. Keep in mind you can do this with an upgrade dvd or full dvd.

What I want is for a way to create a windows PE image but make so that it doesnt prompt me to press a key but automatically starts windows PE 2.1.

Not really. Basically Home Premium has all the business features stripped out. You cant join a domain and there are some other features its missing but I cant think of them now. As for as it being more optimized this I doubt. Pretty much all the vista flavors will work nearly the same on the same hardware.

I was looking to do a final windows xp image. I read someone that using the wrong hal will slow down a dual core or hyper thread machine. I still have quite a few single core machine still in the office. What I want to do is create an image using one HAL but use the updatehal setting in the sysprep inf file to change it then if its needed. Basically what I am asking is it better to start on your base image with a uniprocessor hal or multi processor hal?

I know this tool for vista/server 08 but would it be possible to apply some of the tools to xp. I was thinking about changing the way I do sysprep. Instead of having all the drivers load like they do in sysprep would it be possible to capture the wim image of an xp install and inject the xp drivers the same way you do with vista?

For some reason I keep getting BSOD's whenever I try to generate catalog files on images. It doesnt happen all the time but its kind of random as to when it does it. Is there something I am missing? Unlike the normal blue screens I dont get any text at all and have to do a reboot just to get back to windows. The only indication that I have had a blue screen is it comes up with a windows recovery box and says something about a blue screen.

There should be options for this using the group policy editor. I know there is one for updates via your intranet instead of from microsoft and there are options on how and when to decide what happens with updates.

You are not going to want to keep the domain membership after a sysprep. As it would totally screw up your active directory setup. All the pcs would have different SID all pointing to the same hostname.

I remember a while back there was talk of the upgrade option that lets you zap the previous OS so that can install vista. But your serial will only work if you started your installation inside of windows. This is great and all but I dont want to have to go thru the hassle of installing a previous version of windows every time I want to reformat the system I am upgrading. I was wondering could you start the installation from inside of a windows PE environment like Vista PE and that still count for the use of your serial? If so then this works well for me then because it only takes a few seconds to load that disc as opposed to doing a full install of windows.

This isnt going to work because are not understaning how wim works. Wim is not an install method. Basically during an vista install it extracts the wim to the harddrive. It is just a faster complete vista install. In a sense a wim is a zip file. You simply cant do this with a naked xp discs. Now if you were to install xp, sysprep it and then capture the image you might have something you can distribute easily. As for it being hal independent I dont see the point in that unless you got some real old stuff that shouldnt be running xp anyways.