CPI:offlineImage cpi:source question

I have read quite a few of Kari's posts/articles regarding Windows 10 Unattend files and I am curious why exactly the answer file has to have an offline image 'source' in it. Does this tell setup where the WIM will be at some point, or strictly to link it to a WIM/Catalog to an answer file in Windows SIM?

If that line is removed, will setup disregard the answer file? I'm curious mostly because the unattend is going to be IN an Sysprep'd image and not 'deployed' or inserted by another tool/service.

Now if only WSIM would stop validating, but then producing an error when I hit save.

Trying to add a local account. When I add it to oobeSystem, put in the name and the password and hit validate -- no issues. When I hit SAVE -- I get a lovely "Unknown setting attribute xmlns:wcm" error.

Yes, thank you very much, in advance!

Code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?><unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend">
    <settings pass="auditSystem">
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-PnpCustomizationsNonWinPE" 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">
            <DriverPaths>
                <PathAndCredentials wcm:keyValue="1" wcm:action="add">
                    <Path>c:\windows\LDDriverStore</Path>
                </PathAndCredentials>
            </DriverPaths>
        </component>
    </settings>
    <settings pass="auditUser">
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Deployment" 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">
            <RunSynchronous>
                <RunSynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
                    <Order>1</Order>
                    <Path>c:\windows\System32\sysprep\sysprep.exe /oobe /generalize /reboot </Path>
                </RunSynchronousCommand>
            </RunSynchronous>
        </component>
    </settings>
    <settings pass="generalize">
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-PnpSysprep" 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">
            <PersistAllDeviceInstalls>true</PersistAllDeviceInstalls>
        </component>
    </settings>
    <settings pass="oobeSystem">
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" processorArchitecture="AMD64">
            <OOBE>
                <HideEULAPage>true</HideEULAPage>
                <ProtectYourPC>1</ProtectYourPC>
            </OOBE>
            <RegisteredOwner>Blah</RegisteredOwner>
            <RegisteredOrganization>Blah</RegisteredOrganization>
            <TimeZone>Central Standard Time</TimeZone>
            <FirstLogonCommands>
                <SynchronousCommand>
                    <Order>1</Order>
                    <CommandLine>cmd /q /c del /q /f c:\windows\panther\Unattend\unattend.xml</CommandLine>
                </SynchronousCommand>
            </FirstLogonCommands>
            <UserAccounts>
                <LocalAccounts>
                    <LocalAccount wcm:action="add" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State">
                        <Password>
                            <Value>blahblah</Value>
                            <PlainText>false</PlainText>
                        </Password>
                        <Name>Blah</Name>
                    </LocalAccount>
                </LocalAccounts>
            </UserAccounts>
        </component>
    </settings>
    <settings pass="specialize">
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" processorArchitecture="AMD64">
            <RegisteredOwner>blah</RegisteredOwner>
            <RegisteredOrganization>blah</RegisteredOrganization>
            <ComputerName>*</ComputerName>
            <CopyProfile>true</CopyProfile>
            <TimeZone>Central Standard Time</TimeZone>
        </component>
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-UnattendedJoin" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" processorArchitecture="AMD64">
            <Identification>
                <Credentials>
                    <Domain>blahblah</Domain>
                    <Username>blahblah</Username>
                    <Password>blahblah</Password>
                </Credentials>
                <JoinDomain>blahblah</JoinDomain>
                <MachineObjectOU>blahblah/blah/blah/blah</MachineObjectOU>
            </Identification>
        </component>
    </settings>
    <cpi:offlineImage cpi:source="wim:d:/imaging/windows_10_base/install.wim#Windows 10 Enterprise" xmlns:cpi="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:cpi" />
</unattend>

The line is indicated in the error message is this one:

Code:

<LocalAccount wcm:action="add" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State">

Also, I noticed when combing through that I have the time zone twice. Hmm. Oobesystem should be the only place I really need that, right?


Thanks again!

One thing I just stumbled upon by trial and error -- if I do the 'local account' addition in auditSystem (pass 5) instead of oobeSystem (pass 7), the error message goes away.

It baffles me why even though settings apply to multiple passes, they only seem to work in very specific situations.


At any rate, going to test this unattend right quick and see if it does what it SHOULD do!

It is not making the account. I looked in the setup actions/errors files and there are none, but I'm still prompted to make one and the account name in the answer file is not present anywhere.

Could having an "sysprep /oobe /generalize /reboot" in AuditUser have anything to do with that?
(I've never understood why another sysprep is thrown into the process.)

I'm going to move the answer file from where it was in our older Windows 7 image into Sys32\Sysprep and see if it behaves.

I'm basing some of this from the work of a previous admin, sorry. We were using a deployment tool before and performing tons of actions automatically, including the sysprep actions (calling it, capturing the image, etc) but I'm trying to get more hands-on with it as I was not privy to much of the previous image development cycle.

I appreciate all your help very much! Thank you!

I'm running the process again.