Using Windows System Image Manager, I've created an answer file AutoUnattend.xml for a Server 2012 install image. This contains a couple of settings in the 'specialize' configuration pass (Registered Organization, Registered Owner), as well as in 'oobeSystem' (local administrator password, system locale). Booting with WinPE, then invoking setup withsetup.exe /unattend:AutoUnattend.xml works just fine - the image is deployed and everything configured according to the unattend file.
A WDS machine is configured - with automatic naming configuration for the computer names, and automatic domain join at the end of the install. Next, using an existing Windows Server 2012 installation (same edition as the first one - Datacenter), I've copied the unattend file to the root of the drive, then sysprepped using sysprep /oobe /generalize /unattend:C:\AutoUnattend.xml /shutdown.Then a WDS Capture image was used to boot and capture the deployed installation to a local drive, and uploaded this as well back to the WDS server. After the image is deployed on a bare-metal setup using this image, nothing from the configuration specified in the unattend file is applied. Checking \WINDOWS\Panther\setupact.log reveals "Detected root file/folder [AutoUnattend.xml] in OS image.", but no further mention about the settings themselves.
Is there any known compatibility issue between WDS and setup unattend files that could generate this situation ?