- Messages
- 69
- Location
- Tennessee USA
Background;
I've been running sysprep on Windows 7 machines for some time. My custom unattend file created for Windows 7 worked with Windows 8 and I never had a problem sysprepping it.
Enter Windows 8.1;
When the "old" unattend file didn't work, I gave it little thought and downloaded the latest ADK specifically for 8.1 and created a new unattend file, first with nothing but "CopyProfile=True" and later with all the settings I used under 7. It always failed if I had installed anything, no matter how seemingly simple it was. The only successful sysprep was with a pristine installation of Windows, updated via Windows Update, and a few drivers necessary to make the "bangs" disappear in Device Manager. Success was limited however by the fact that Windows couldn't seem to build a profile for new users, the desktop was blank, and almost nothing I clicked on worked.
My next step was to install everything in Audit Mode, which I had never had to use before and consequently forgot. This led to a successful sysprep, even with a load of third party applications installed, but I still had the problem mentioned earlier where Windows couldn't build a profile.
Reviewing articles I had previously looked at I noticed this;
If you deploy an image using Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2013 or Unattend.exe and include CopyProfile=true in the answer file, the deployment will fail with a “location is not available” error or each new login attempt will create a new temporary user account profile.To avoid this, do not use CopyProfile=true in the answer file. There is no other workaround at this time.
From this article;
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn303413.aspx
Note: The article references Server 2012r2, but it and Windows 8.1 share a code base.
Sigh.
Sysprep is broke it seems. I ran it again on a fresh image with the CopyProfile entry removed and it all seems to work just fine. The only issue I have is that it resets the default administrator's profile, which may be related to the failure to copy it. You can't copy something that's being changed. (generally speaking)
Hopefully, Microsoft will fix this by the time 8.1 is released. Meanwhile, maybe this thread will help someone else who's pulling his / her hair out trying to sysprep 8.1
Joe
I've been running sysprep on Windows 7 machines for some time. My custom unattend file created for Windows 7 worked with Windows 8 and I never had a problem sysprepping it.
Enter Windows 8.1;
When the "old" unattend file didn't work, I gave it little thought and downloaded the latest ADK specifically for 8.1 and created a new unattend file, first with nothing but "CopyProfile=True" and later with all the settings I used under 7. It always failed if I had installed anything, no matter how seemingly simple it was. The only successful sysprep was with a pristine installation of Windows, updated via Windows Update, and a few drivers necessary to make the "bangs" disappear in Device Manager. Success was limited however by the fact that Windows couldn't seem to build a profile for new users, the desktop was blank, and almost nothing I clicked on worked.
My next step was to install everything in Audit Mode, which I had never had to use before and consequently forgot. This led to a successful sysprep, even with a load of third party applications installed, but I still had the problem mentioned earlier where Windows couldn't build a profile.
Reviewing articles I had previously looked at I noticed this;
If you deploy an image using Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2013 or Unattend.exe and include CopyProfile=true in the answer file, the deployment will fail with a “location is not available” error or each new login attempt will create a new temporary user account profile.To avoid this, do not use CopyProfile=true in the answer file. There is no other workaround at this time.
From this article;
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn303413.aspx
Note: The article references Server 2012r2, but it and Windows 8.1 share a code base.
Sigh.
Sysprep is broke it seems. I ran it again on a fresh image with the CopyProfile entry removed and it all seems to work just fine. The only issue I have is that it resets the default administrator's profile, which may be related to the failure to copy it. You can't copy something that's being changed. (generally speaking)
Hopefully, Microsoft will fix this by the time 8.1 is released. Meanwhile, maybe this thread will help someone else who's pulling his / her hair out trying to sysprep 8.1
Joe
My Computer
System One
-
- OS
- Windows 8.1
- Computer type
- PC/Desktop
- Other Info
- Constantly changing hardware.