Create media for automated unattended install of Windows 10  

hsehestedt said:

Let me make sure that I understand: The notebooks already had an activated copy of Windows 10 on them previously? If so, was that a volume license edition of Windows? If that is the case, then you may need to make sure that the generic license key you are using for installation is a Windows 10 Pro volume license key, not a Win 10 Pro Retail key. I have to admit that I've not really done any work with the volume license editions, so if that is what is happening and changing the key doesn't help you, I'd have to research this further. In the meantime, I'm hoping that @Kari might have some additional thoughts on this.

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly. I don't know if it answers your question but the notebooks were bought including licenses. However, the idea was to take the notebooks out of the box and install our custom image instead of booting into the manufacturer's image first in order to save time. So i would have to test if it activates properly when booting the manufacturers image (HP in this case).

When i run slmgr in command line it tells me the license type is "OEM_DM channel". Windows version is stated as "Windows, Professional edition". In my answer file I specified the generic key for Windows 10 Pro listed in this guide. If i'm not mistaken, reinstalling a device with an OEM license should be possible as long as the hardware doesn't change.

What i don't understand is why the activation works flawlessly when the device has a wired connection to the internet during installation. If it doesn't and i connect to a wireless network after the setup is complete, activation fails with the afore-mentioned error text. I then have to run the troubleshooter in order for it to activate, which is an extra step i would like to eliminate.

@captobaid,

When you have an opportunity, go back up to the link that I provided to you (I'll place a copy below again) and grab the latest version of the program.

A few days ago I replaced the code that self-elevates the program using some code suggested by another user on the forum. Unfortunately, that introduced a regression. For now, you can simply start the program by right-clicking and choosing to run as Admin. But I would suggest grabbing the latest version that fixes this. I also introduced a couple of other enhancements as well.

Microsoft OneDrive - Access files anywhere. Create docs with free Office Online.

Hi, thanks for the article, it's brilliant. My entire ISO is zero touch apart from the very first dialogue box! I don't understand why, is anybody able to assist? thanks in advance,

attached: image of first screen in windows setup, "Time and currency format:" needs to be "English (New Zealand).



Here is my autounattend.xml

Code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend">
    <settings pass="windowsPE">
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-International-Core-WinPE" 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">
            <SetupUILanguage>
                <UILanguage>en-US</UILanguage>
            </SetupUILanguage>
            <InputLocale>1409:00000409</InputLocale>
            <SystemLocale>en-NZ</SystemLocale>
            <UILanguage>en-NZ</UILanguage>
            <UILanguageFallback>en-US</UILanguageFallback>
            <UserLocale>en-NZ</UserLocale>
        </component>
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Setup" 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">
            <DiskConfiguration>
                <Disk wcm:action="add">
                    <CreatePartitions>
                        <CreatePartition wcm:action="add">
                            <Order>4</Order>
                            <Type>Primary</Type>
                            <Extend>true</Extend>
                        </CreatePartition>
                        <CreatePartition wcm:action="add">
                            <Order>3</Order>
                            <Size>16</Size>
                            <Type>MSR</Type>
                        </CreatePartition>
                        <CreatePartition wcm:action="add">
                            <Order>2</Order>
                            <Size>100</Size>
                            <Type>EFI</Type>
                        </CreatePartition>
                        <CreatePartition wcm:action="add">
                            <Order>1</Order>
                            <Size>450</Size>
                            <Type>Primary</Type>
                        </CreatePartition>
                    </CreatePartitions>
                    <ModifyPartitions>
                        <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add">
                            <Format>NTFS</Format>
                            <Label>Windows</Label>
                            <Letter>C</Letter>
                            <Order>4</Order>
                            <PartitionID>4</PartitionID>
                        </ModifyPartition>
                        <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add">
                            <Order>3</Order>
                            <PartitionID>3</PartitionID>
                        </ModifyPartition>
                        <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add">
                            <Format>FAT32</Format>
                            <Label>System</Label>
                            <Order>2</Order>
                            <PartitionID>2</PartitionID>
                        </ModifyPartition>
                        <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add">
                            <Format>NTFS</Format>
                            <Label>WinRE</Label>
                            <Order>1</Order>
                            <PartitionID>1</PartitionID>
                            <TypeID>DE94BBA4-06D1-4D40-A16A-BFD50179D6AC</TypeID>
                        </ModifyPartition>
                    </ModifyPartitions>
                    <DiskID>0</DiskID>
                    <WillWipeDisk>true</WillWipeDisk>
                </Disk>
            </DiskConfiguration>
            <ImageInstall>
                <OSImage>
                    <InstallTo>
                        <DiskID>0</DiskID>
                        <PartitionID>4</PartitionID>
                    </InstallTo>
                </OSImage>
            </ImageInstall>
            <UserData>
                <ProductKey>
                    <Key>VK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66T</Key>
                </ProductKey>
                <AcceptEula>true</AcceptEula>
            </UserData>
        </component>
    </settings>
    <cpi:offlineImage cpi:source="wim:c:/temp/iso_files/sources/install.wim#Windows 10 Pro" xmlns:cpi="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:cpi" />
</unattend>

Here is the link to the default input profiles for windows - if someone can see where I went wrong for New Zealand - https://docs.microsoft.com/en-gb/win...language-packs

Hi johngalt,
Thanks for the speedy reply, it's much appreciated. I used WSIM to modify the autounattend.xml (screenshot below) but unfortunately it does change the issue I am facing. *sigh* I double-checked the oscdimg.exe ISO to ensure it properly committed the change by mounting the ISO and checking before I tried again via my VM.
Hopefully Kari comes to the rescue, I am hoping to have this slight hiccup resolved so I can deliver the project on time.

I just want to be certain that the distribution that you have of Windows includes NZ English.

If you begin a manual installation or your automated installation stops at the screen you indicated, is NZ English and available option from the GUI?