Unattended.xml wipe drive and do clean install

[MickBurke]

I'm doing my first unattended windows 7 install, and using 'windows system image manager' to create an unattended.xml file. I'm not clear on how best to set it up to wipe any existing drive and use the entirety for the new Win 7 install. I don't want to go wrong though, and I'm not sure what is required so any input or samples would be much appreciated!

[Tripredacus]

Your main object is the WillWipeDisk setting to be True. You can see its use here:

[negatiiv]

This is from my 64bit winpe pass which will wipe the drive, create two partitions (one 100mb partition, one partition will fills the rest of the drive), and install windows to the second partition:

    <settings pass="windowsPE">
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-International-Core-WinPE" processorArchitecture="amd64" 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>
            <SystemLocale>en-CA</SystemLocale>
            <UILanguage>en-CA</UILanguage>
            <UserLocale>en-CA</UserLocale>
            <UILanguageFallback>en-US</UILanguageFallback>
        </component>
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Setup" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <DiskConfiguration>
                <Disk wcm:action="add">
                    <CreatePartitions>
                        <CreatePartition wcm:action="add">
                            <Order>1</Order>
                            <Size>200</Size>
                            <Type>Primary</Type>
                        </CreatePartition>
                        <CreatePartition wcm:action="add">
                            <Order>2</Order>
                            <Type>Primary</Type>
                            <Extend>true</Extend>
                        </CreatePartition>
                    </CreatePartitions>
                    <ModifyPartitions>
                        <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add">
                            <Active>true</Active>
                            <Format>NTFS</Format>
                            <Label>System</Label>
                            <Order>1</Order>
                            <PartitionID>1</PartitionID>
                        </ModifyPartition>
                        <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add">
                            <Format>NTFS</Format>
                            <Label>Windows</Label>
                            <Order>2</Order>
                            <PartitionID>2</PartitionID>
                        </ModifyPartition>
                    </ModifyPartitions>
                    <DiskID>0</DiskID>
                    <WillWipeDisk>true</WillWipeDisk>
                </Disk>
            </DiskConfiguration>
            <ImageInstall>
                <OSImage>
                    <InstallTo>
                        <DiskID>0</DiskID>
                        <PartitionID>2</PartitionID>
                    </InstallTo>
                    <WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI>
                </OSImage>
            </ImageInstall>
        </component>

Edited January 20, 2012 by negatiiv

[myselfidem]

Another example with 3 OS on a HDD:

Without using this value: <WillWipeDisk>true</WillWipeDisk>

On my computer I installed Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7

When I need to reinstall Windows 7 with an Autounattend.xml file on my HDD, I do like this:

Partial Autounattend.xml (x86)

<?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>fr-FR</UILanguage>
            </SetupUILanguage>
            <InputLocale>100c:0000100c</InputLocale>
            <SystemLocale>fr-CH</SystemLocale>
            <UILanguage>fr-FR</UILanguage>
            <UserLocale>fr-CH</UserLocale>
        </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">
            <ComplianceCheck>
                <DisplayReport>OnError</DisplayReport>
            </ComplianceCheck>
            <!-- The UI will be displayed to select the partition and format this one to install Windows 7 -->
            <DiskConfiguration>
                <WillShowUI>Always</WillShowUI>
            </DiskConfiguration>
            <Display>
                <ColorDepth>32</ColorDepth>
                <HorizontalResolution>1280</HorizontalResolution>
                <VerticalResolution>1024</VerticalResolution>
                <RefreshRate>60</RefreshRate>
            </Display>
            <DynamicUpdate>
                <Enable>false</Enable>
                <WillShowUI>Never</WillShowUI>
            </DynamicUpdate>
            <ImageInstall>
                <OSImage>
                    <InstallFrom>
                        <MetaData wcm:action="add">
                            <Key>/IMAGE/NAME</Key>
                            <Value>Windows 7 ULTIMATE</Value>
                        </MetaData>
                    </InstallFrom>
                    <WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI>
                    <!-- Partiion selected and formatted above -->
                    <InstallToAvailablePartition>true</InstallToAvailablePartition>
                </OSImage>
            </ImageInstall>
.......