2008R2 - AutoUnattend.xml - Langauge Woes

[Harpoon76]

I'm trying to build an autounattend.xml to script through the installation of Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1. Don't want to use WDS or anything fancy, just make installing vanilla servers faster.

I've got the WAIK and I've built my XML from that (attached). The XML does everything I want - except I always get asked to pick the language / locale at the start of setup, plus click "Install Now".

I found this thread which the poster says works. So I copied all of the XML, yet setup still asks for the regional settings

I've tried so many combinations under "Microsoft-Windows-International-Core-WinPE" without any joy - it's very annoying that one little bit doesn't work.

If anyone can spot where am I going wrong, that would be great!

Thanks,

Chris.

[Harpoon76]

Forgot to click "Attach This File"

AutoUnattend.xml

[Tripredacus]

SystemLocale missing from the WinPE pass.

And to keep things the same across the board, you should use the same setting for InputLocale in both places, eather than one vs the other.

[Harpoon76]

I think I'd taken SystemLocale out for that attempt after looking at the information in setupact.log

Either way, just tried the attached file and still get prompted for language as setup starts

AutoUnattend.xml

[maxXPsoft]

en-GB

Not supported. I cannot find it in waik help files

Look here last post

Edited August 28, 2012 by maxXPsoft

[Harpoon76]

en-GB

Not supported. I cannot find it in waik help files

Look here last post

I was taking en-GB from here

English - United Kingdom : en-GB: United Kingdom (0809:00000809)

I'd also found this blog post which detailed using en-GB rather than en-UK. The OOBE settings also seem to be working, so I was thinking en-GB is correct.

Will try en-UK and report back.

Edited August 28, 2012 by Harpoon76

[Harpoon76]

No luck with this XML either...

AutoUnattend.xml

[maxXPsoft]

I was looking through unattend.chm for Win 8 and Win 7. If you back up 1 page from the link http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh825678

En-GB Partially localized language pack

Are you sure the image you have is multi? Some are not

If you are running Win 7 You can mount the image to a test dir and type this

DISM.exe /Image:D:\zMountDir /Get-Intl

I get this

Reporting offline international settings.

Default system UI language : en-US
System locale : en-US
Default time zone : Pacific Standard Time
User locale for default user : en-US
Location : United States (GEOID = 244)
Active keyboard(s) : 0409:00000409
Keyboard layered driver : Not installed.

Installed language(s): en-US
  Type : Fully localized language.

The operation completed successfully.

[Harpoon76]

I haven't been down this road yet. I mounted install.wim (my 20008 R2 ISO came from TechNet):

L:\>dism /image:c:\servicing /get-intl

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 6.1.7600.16385

Image Version: 6.1.7600.16385

Reporting offline international settings.

Default system UI language : en-US
System locale : en-US
Default time zone : Pacific Standard Time
User locale for default user : en-US
Location : United States (GEOID = 244)
Active keyboard(s) : 0409:00000409
Keyboard layered driver : PC/AT Enhanced Keyboard (101/102-Key)

Installed language(s): en-US
  Type : Fully localized language.

The operation completed successfully.

Bit of poking later:

L:\>dism /image:c:\servicing /get-intl

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 6.1.7600.16385

Image Version: 6.1.7600.16385

Reporting offline international settings.

Default system UI language : en-US
System locale : en-GB
Default time zone : GMT Standard Time
User locale for default user : en-GB
Location : United Kingdom (GEOID = 242)
Active keyboard(s) : 0809:00000809
Keyboard layered driver : PC/AT Enhanced Keyboard (101/102-Key)

Installed language(s): en-US
  Type : Fully localized language.

The operation completed successfully.

Let's give that a go then...

Edited August 29, 2012 by Harpoon76

[Harpoon76]

Haaaaaaaaaa! Yes! It worked! :thumbup

I just get asked for which edition of 2008 R2 to install and the initial disk partitioning

Many, many thanks maxXPsoft!

[Harpoon76]

HP ProLiant ML350 G6 - AutoUnattend works as expected (skips regional choice)

HP ProLiant DL120 G7 - Asks for language but the rest of AutoUnattend goes through after choosing edition and partitioning the array

I've got both servers on the bench at the moment and simply took the USB stick from the DL120 (which didn't skip the regional settings) to the ML350 (which did skip the regional settings). WTF?

[Harpoon76]

Just booted an HP Core i5 desktop with the USB stick and that skips straight through to picking which version of 2008 R2 to install, so who knows what is going on the DL120 G7!

[maxXPsoft]

Don't know, perhaps it need some drivers on it?

Adding Boot critical and all other drivers