Upgraded PC win7 to win10 tried to install image activation not valid?

MikeNomad said:

Hi I followed the sysprep tutorial...

Which tutorial you followed? I assume we are speaking about this one: Windows 10 Image - Customize in Audit Mode with Sysprep - Windows 10 Forums

MikeNomad said:

I see ok, so at what point does Windows try to activate - when I first install windows on the VM I have internet disabled after I enter sysprep I enable internet access so I can dl and install the software I want to use. should I image before I create a new user or just make sure the internet is off before creating the new Admin and standard user which I customise and copy to the default profile?

I am asuming while in sysprep mode windows will not try and activate?

I am not rewriting the complete tutorial here but to summarize how the process should be done, check this list and see if you did something differently. List is based on scenario you told, a Windows 10 PC upgraded from Windows 7, before starting the process PC is activated with digital entitlement, and Hyper-V vm is used to create the image.

1. Create the vm, Generation 1 if the image will be deployed to BIOS / MBR systems, Generation 2 if the image will be deployed to UEFI / GPT systems
2. Make sure that virtual hard disks on it are a bit smaller than smallest physical hard disks on any of the computers the image will be deployed to
   
   • Example 1: If the physical computer(s) only have one HDD or SSD, and the smallest of them is 512 GB, use a max. 500 GB virtual hard disk on vm
   • Example 2: If the physical computer(s) have two hard disks and your answer file customizations also relocate some system elements like Users folder to another disk, create vm adding two virtual hard disks. Both virtual disks must be a bit smaller than the smallest primary disk and smallest secondary disk on computers the image will be deployed to. If the smallest physical HDD is 512 GB and smallest secondary HDD 1 TB, make the vm with max 500 GB primary VHD and max 900 GB secondary VHD
   • If no system elements will be relocated to another drive than system drive C: then you only need one VHD, regardless how many disks the physical computers have
3. Clean install Windows 10 to your new vm, boot it to Audit Mode from first settings dialog after the installation
4. Install your software, customize default user profile, update Windows
5. Create the answer file
6. Run sysprep with your answer file, Windows will shut down automatically
7. Capture the image. In the tutorial I use the easiest possible method, booting the vm with Macrium Reflect Free boot disk / USB and creating a system image
8. Boot the physical computer(s) with Macrium boot disk / USB, restore the image
9. Boot the physical computer(s) normally to OOBE mode, set up the initial user
10. When on desktop, let the PC be on and connected to Internet, it might take, based on my own experience, anything up to a few hours for Windows to pick up the digital entitlement and activate

That's it. On above list, steps 1 to 6 are shown in first video included in the tutorial, covering tutorial parts 1 through 6, steps 7 through 10 on above list are shown in the second video, covering tutorial parts 7 through 9.

Kari

MikeNomad said:

Is this normal?

 Short answer

NO and YES.

No, that is not normal and does never happen when a user follows the instructions given in tutorial.

Yes, that is normal and happens often when user does not follow the instructions given in tutorial.

 Long answer

Windows starting back to Audit Mode and showing the Sysprep dialog means that you have not followed the instructions, not told Sysprep to exit Audit Mode and next time when started start in Windows OOBE Mode.

I suggest you start from scratch, this time following the instructions in the tutorial. Especially if a certain procedure is not familiar to you, it is important to follow the instructions given in order they are given. Read every step carefully, if watching the videos pause it often to think what you have seen, go back and play again if something was not clear.

There are no unnecessary steps or instructions in the tutorial, the procedure will fail if you decide something like "Oh that step / command must not be important, I'll skip it / do it differently".

Install Windows, boot to Audit Mode with CTRL + SHIFT + F3 from first setup dialog (Custom settings / Express settings). When in Audit Mode desktop, close the Sysprep dialog as told in tutorial step 2.2:

The Windows System Preparation Tool (later in tutorial Sysprep) dialog is automatically shown when Windows enters the Audit Mode. For our purposes now we need to close it without running it. Click Cancel to close the dialog.

Customize Windows (tutorial parts 3 through 5). Open an admin command prompt as told in step 6.1, jump to Sysprep folder as told in step 6.2, then run sysprep as told with this command:

Code:

sysprep.exe /generalize /oobe /shutdown /unattend:E:\customize.xml

The first highlight in above command (/oobe) tells system to start in normal mode, Windows setup mode OOBE when Windows will be started next time.

The latter highlight in above command shows where you enter the path and name of your answer file.

Now boot with Macrium boot disk and capture / create the image for deployment as told in tutorial (Part 7 if the image will never be deployed / restored to any other PC than the one you have been working with, Part 8 if your intention is to deploy & restore the image to other computers, too).

Kari

MikeNomad said:

Thanks Karl, In the tutorial it says to open up the answer file to check it is correct do I need to change the wim.install to point to the CD I am using to install windows or leave it pointed to the desktop version I coppied and made writable ?

As long as the CPI Source points to a valid install.wim, everything is OK, regardless where install.wim is. At Sysprep phase it does no longer need to be writable, it's only important when creating a catalog file from it to make an answer file.

First something I noticed in your screenshot: Sysprep will automatically use an answer file unattend.xml in C:\Windows\System32\Sysprep folder.

Therefore, if the answer file is named as unattend.xml AND it is saved in C:\Windows\System32\Sysprep folder, then the /unattend:X:\AnswerFilePathAndName.xml switch is not needed.

If the answer file is named anything else than unattend.xml OR it is not saved in C:\Windows\System32\Sysprep folder, then the /unattend:X:\AnswerFilePAthAndName.xml switch is required.

Examples:

• Answer file unattend.xml saved in C:\Windows\System32\Sysprep folder, sysprep command is:
  
  Code:

  sysprep.exe /generalize /oobe /shutdown

• Answer file anyname.xml saved in C:\Windows\System32\Sysprep folder, sysprep command is:
  
  Code:

  sysprep.exe /generalize /oobe /shutdown /unattend:C.\Windows\System32\Sysprep\anyname.xml

• Answer file unattend.xml saved in D:\Sysprep folder, sysprep command is:
  
  Code:

  sysprep.exe /generalize /oobe /shutdown /unattend:D:\Sysprep\unattend.xml

The answer file is OK, assuming your Windows is 64 bit. I have not a clue why Windows failed to finish OOBE boot.

Did you install any third party AV suite other than Windows Defender in Audit Mode? Those can easily screw up Sysprep (Avast, Avira, Panda and so on) and should never be installed for an image that will be sysprepped.

Some of them do not disturb the process if they are completely turned off when sysprepping but the above recommendation is generally speaking better: simply do not install any third party AV programs in Audit Mode before sysprep.

As you have a checkpoint, you can check this quite fast. Restore the checkpoint, uninstall any third party AV and if possible remove all traces of it from registry, then sysprep again.

To avoid extra work, when the vm shuts down after Sysprep, right click it in Hyper-V Manager and create a checkpoint (they can be created also when vm is turned off!). When done, start the VM to test. It's unnecessary to create an image every time you have syspreppd and shut down, only create a checkpoint, do a test run and if / when everything is OK apply the checkpoint and create the image.

Kari