random computername

[Jadestar]

So after an hour of googling, all I can find is people *complaining" that their autounattend generates a random name..this is EXACTLY WHAT I WANT..but for the life of me it simply doesnt work. Regardless of what I do it just prompts for a computername. if i put in a * it still asks for a name. If i enter a name then it will put that name, but im using this disc to install vista on several different computers for repairs and obviously dont want them to be all named the same..especially when more than 1 of them is on my network..kaboom! I'll post my entire autounattend.xml file here and maybe someone can help..for now, computername is NOT in there so that it asks.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend">
    <settings pass="windowsPE">
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-International-Core-WinPE" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="NonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <SetupUILanguage>
                <UILanguage>en-US</UILanguage>
            </SetupUILanguage>
            <InputLocale>0409:00000409</InputLocale>
            <UserLocale>en-US</UserLocale>
            <UILanguage>en-US</UILanguage>
            <SystemLocale>en-US</SystemLocale>
        </component>
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Setup" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="NonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <UserData>
                <ProductKey>
                    <Key></Key>
                    <WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI>
                </ProductKey>
                <Organization>Owner-Corp</Organization>
                <FullName>OwnerPC</FullName>
                <AcceptEula>true</AcceptEula>
            </UserData>
            <ImageInstall>
                <OSImage>
                    <InstallFrom>
                        <MetaData wcm:action="add">
                            <Key>/IMAGE/NAME</Key>
                            <Value></Value>
                        </MetaData>
                    </InstallFrom>
                    <InstallToAvailablePartition>false</InstallToAvailablePartition>
                    <WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI>
                </OSImage>
            </ImageInstall>
        </component>
    </settings>
    <settings pass="oobeSystem">
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="NonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <OOBE>
                <HideEULAPage>true</HideEULAPage>
                <NetworkLocation>Home</NetworkLocation>
                <ProtectYourPC>3</ProtectYourPC>
                <SkipUserOOBE>true</SkipUserOOBE>
            </OOBE>
<UserAccounts>
                <LocalAccounts>
                    <LocalAccount wcm:action="add">
                        <Description>user account</Description>
                        <DisplayName>User</DisplayName>
                        <Group>Administrators</Group>
                        <Name>User</Name>
                        <Password>
                            <Value>cABhAHMAcwB3AG8AcgBkAFAAYQBzAHMAdwBvAHIAZAA=</Value>
                            <PlainText>false</PlainText>
                        </Password>
                    </LocalAccount>
                </LocalAccounts>
            </UserAccounts>

          </component>
    </settings>
    <settings pass="specialize">
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="NonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <TimeZone>Mountain Standard Time</TimeZone>
            <AutoLogon>
                <Enabled>true</Enabled>
                <LogonCount>2</LogonCount>
                <Username>Administrator</Username>
            </AutoLogon>
        </component>
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Security-Licensing-SLC-UX" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="NonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <SkipAutoActivation>true</SkipAutoActivation>
        </component>

<component name="Microsoft-Windows-Deployment" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <RunSynchronous>
                <RunSynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
                    <Description>Copyapps</Description>
                    <Path>D:\programs\copyappsvista.cmd</Path>
                    <Order>1</Order>
                    <WillReboot>Never</WillReboot>
                </RunSynchronousCommand>

<RunSynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
                    <Description>DirectX 9</Description>
                    <Path>D:\programs\nero\installation\redist\directx\dxsetup.exe /silent</Path>
                    <Order>2</Order>
                    <WillReboot>Never</WillReboot>
                </RunSynchronousCommand>


<RunSynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
                    <Description>Nero</Description>
                    <Path>D:\programs\nero\installation\setupx.exe /quiet</Path>
                    <Order>3</Order>
                    <WillReboot>Never</WillReboot>
                </RunSynchronousCommand>


           <RunSynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
                    <Description>Adobe</Description>
                    <Path>d:\programs\READER9\Setup.exe /sall</Path>
                    <Order>4</Order>
                    <WillReboot>Never</WillReboot>
                </RunSynchronousCommand>

<RunSynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
                    <Description>IE8</Description>
                    <Path>d:\programs\IE8vis.exe /passive /nobackup /norestart</Path>
                    <Order>5</Order>
                    <WillReboot>Never</WillReboot>
                </RunSynchronousCommand>



 </RunSynchronous>
        </component>

    </settings>
</unattend>

[Monty Carter]

Use a wildcard in the element where you would normally define a static computername.

**Without looking up the correct syntax, it would look something like this**

<ComputerName>*</ComputerName>

It is part of the Windows-Shell-Setup element, and goes in the specialize pass.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library...460(WS.10).aspx