no images are available...win 10 install

Ztruker said:

I have a working Win 10 Pro X64 UEFI/GPT VM. Is there any way I can boot this into Audit mode or do I need to start over with a fresh install?

Of course, to customize Windows image, it's always better to start from clean install on reference machine, booting to Audit Mode from region selection screen when OOBE starts.

However, it is also possible to enter Audit Mode from existing installation. Press WIN + R, type following command and press Enter to restart in Audit Mode:

%windir%\system32\sysprep\sysprep.exe /audit /reboot

When in Audit Mode, delete the existing user accounts, if you do not want them to be left in custom image.

   Information

To clarify some details:

Regardless if building custom image and install media for BIOS / MBR or UEFI / GPT system, the reference machine (PC or VM to used to customize, build and capture image) can be either one. It is totally irrelevant, the WIM file captured has no partition or formatting information.

In other words, a custom image built on and captured from a BIOS / MBR reference machine can be used on install media for UEFI / GPT target machine, and vice versa.

It is also totally irrelevant if Windows is installed to reference machine from an ESD or WIM based install media. If installed from ESD based media, when the custom install.wim is then captured from reference machine, it is important to remember to delete the install.esd file on install media and replace it with the custom install.wim.

Never leave both install.esd and install.wim file on your custom install media!

Kari

That's great. So the only thing that really matters for custom BIOS / MBR or UEFI / GPT is how the autounattend.xml file is built.

Does it matter if it is built from a Pro or Home edition? Seems like which is used on the reference machine is the only time that would matter.

I went ahead and did a new, clean install for the reference machine. It was pretty slick that I could set it up a EFI and GPT though, even though it doesn't matter,

jimbo45 said:

Hi thanks @Kari
totally didn't realize this could be done from a VM-- brilliant idea-- thanks

I always use a VM as reference machine. I do a clean install on VM, enter Audit Mode from OOBE Region Selection screen, customize theme, settings, Start and group policies, install software, and finally sysprep and capture the image.

When done, I import the custom WIM file to MDT, create a deployment task and deploy Windows to target machines "Hands Free", completely unattended.

MDT tutorial: Microsoft Deployment Toolkit - Easy and Fast Windows Deployment

Ztruker said:

That's great. So the only thing that really matters for custom BIOS / MBR or UEFI / GPT is how the autounattend.xml file is built.

Yes. The partitioning, done in autounattend.xml answer file, is the only difference. For instance, if you want to deploy the same image to a bunch of BIOS and UEFI machines, when done the BIOS machines, just replace that autounattend.xml on your install media and replace it with one which does the GPT partitioning for UEFI machines.

Ztruker said:

Does it matter if it is built from a Pro or Home edition? Seems like which is used on the reference machine is the only time that would matter.

There are a few, not many, answer file components and settings that are edition specific, but in all my tutorials about sysprepping and answer files, I have used only global components and settings which work for all editions.

Generally speaking you can use the same answer files for deploying Home, Pro, Education or Enterprise editions.

"Hands Free" install media tutorial: Create media for automated unattended install of Windows 10

Kari

Excellent. It's pretty cool when you finish the install and see the desktop the way you had it when you captured the image. Saves me 3-4 hours per system.