I don't seem to be able to bypass the OOBE process with sysprep. I have read countless articles on the matter, and nothing seems to actually work. Is there a confluence of settings that will allow this? I want to generalize the machine, and specify the bare-minimum so that the image will start up and get to a logon screen. After this I will join it to the domain myself.
I keep getting errors just trying to execute the sysprep command.
I have placed the unattend.xml file inside of C:\Windows\System32\sysprep and executed the following command:
sysprep /generalize /shutdown /oobe
I always get an error stating: 2012-09-28 00:04:25, Error [sysprep.exe] UnattendSearchExplicitPath: Found unattend file at [C:\Windows\System32\sysprep\unattend.xml] but unable to deserialize it; status = 0x1, hrResult = 0x800705b9.
Here is the information from the setupact.log:
2012-09-28 00:04:25, Error [sysprep.exe] UnattendSearchExplicitPath: Found unattend file at [C:\Windows\System32\sysprep\unattend.xml] but unable to deserialize it; status = 0x1, hrResult = 0x800705b9.2012-09-28 00:04:25, Warning SYSPRP SysprepSearchForUnattend: Found invalid unattend file while searching; hr = 0x1
2012-09-28 00:04:25, Warning SYSPRP WinMain:Encountered invalid unattend file during search; hrResult = 0x800705b9
2012-09-28 00:04:28, Info IBS UnattendErrorFromResults: Hit an unattend error; dumping any info we have about the failure...
2012-09-28 00:04:28, Info IBS UnattendDumpSetting: ------Unattend setting error / warning------
2012-09-28 00:04:28, Info IBS UnattendDumpSetting: Error code = 0x800705b9
2012-09-28 00:04:28, Info IBS UnattendDumpSetting: File path = [C:\Windows\System32\sysprep\unattend.xml]
2012-09-28 00:04:28, Info IBS UnattendDumpSetting: --------------------------------------------
2012-09-28 00:04:28, Info IBS UnattendErrorFromResults: Error text = Windows could not parse or process unattend answer file [C:\Windows\System32\sysprep\unattend.xml]. The answer file is invalid.
2012-09-28 00:04:39, Info [0x0f004c] SYSPRP WaitThread:Exiting spawned waiting thread
2012-09-28 00:04:39, Info [0x0f0052] SYSPRP Shutting down SysPrep log
2012-09-28 00:04:39, Info [0x0f004d] SYSPRP The time is now 2012-09-28 00:04:39
Here is my unattend.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend"><settings pass="oobeSystem"><component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-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"><UserAccounts><AdministratorPassword><Value>[redacted]</Value><PlainText>false</PlainText></AdministratorPassword></UserAccounts><OOBE><SkipMachineOOBE>true</SkipMachineOOBE><SkipUserOOBE>true</SkipUserOOBE><NetworkLocation>Work</NetworkLocation><HideEULAPage>true</HideEULAPage><ProtectYourPC>1</ProtectYourPC><HideWirelessSetupInOOBE>true</HideWirelessSetupInOOBE></OOBE><TimeZone>Central Standard Time</TimeZone><Display><ColorDepth>16</ColorDepth><HorizontalResolution>1024</HorizontalResolution><VerticalResolution>768</VerticalResolution></Display></component><component name="Microsoft-Windows-International-Core" 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"><InputLocale>en-US</InputLocale><SystemLocale>en-US</SystemLocale><UILanguage>en-US</UILanguage><UserLocale>en-US</UserLocale></component></settings><settings pass="specialize"><component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-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"><RegisteredOrganization>ClickMotive</RegisteredOrganization><RegisteredOwner>ClickMotive</RegisteredOwner></component></settings><settings pass="generalize"><component name="Microsoft-Windows-OutOfBoxExperience" 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"><DoNotOpenInitialConfigurationTasksAtLogon>true</DoNotOpenInitialConfigurationTasksAtLogon></component><component name="Microsoft-Windows-ServerManager-SvrMgrNc" 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"><DoNotOpenServerManagerAtLogon>true</DoNotOpenServerManagerAtLogon></component></settings><cpi:offlineImage cpi:source="catalog:d:/sources/install_windows server 2008 r2 serverstandard.clg" xmlns:cpi="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:cpi" /></unattend>