I am working my way through the steps on this page to prepare an unattended installation of Windows 7 Enterprise x64 for purposes of a college assignment which simply requires the process to be carried out and documented. Both the "technician" and "reference" computers are virtual machines created in VirtualBox 4.3.12, as will be the destination computer.

I seem to have successfully completed Step 1, building an Autounattend.xml answer file using Windows System Image Manager, in as far as the answer file validates successfully.

The problem arises when I try to install Windows on the reference machine from the DVD image in conjunction with the Autounattend file on a USB drive. I have tried a couple of different USB devices, and the devices themselves seem to be recognized, but the answer file does not, as instead of taking the configuration settings from the file the user interface appears as in a manual installation.

Has anyone come across this problem or a solution?

The xml created by Windows SIM is below for reference in case the problem is with the file itself.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend">
<settings pass="oobeSystem">
    <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">
        <Reseal>
            <Mode>Audit</Mode>
        </Reseal>
    </component>
    <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-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">
        <OOBE>
            <HideEULAPage>true</HideEULAPage>
            <ProtectYourPC>3</ProtectYourPC>
        </OOBE>
    </component>
</settings>
<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-IE</UILanguage>
        </SetupUILanguage>
        <InputLocale>en-IE</InputLocale>
        <SystemLocale>en-IE</SystemLocale>
        <UILanguage>en-IE</UILanguage>
        <UserLocale>en-IE</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>1</Order>
                        <Size>300</Size>
                        <Type>Primary</Type>
                    </CreatePartition>
                    <CreatePartition wcm:action="add">
                        <Order>2</Order>
                        <Extend>true</Extend>
                        <Type>Primary</Type>
                    </CreatePartition>
                </CreatePartitions>
                <ModifyPartitions>
                    <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add">
                        <Active>true</Active>
                        <Format>NTFS</Format>
                        <Label>System</Label>
                        <Order>1</Order>
                        <PartitionID>1</PartitionID>
                    </ModifyPartition>
                    <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add">
                        <Format>NTFS</Format>
                        <Label>Windows</Label>
                        <Order>2</Order>
                        <PartitionID>2</PartitionID>
                    </ModifyPartition>
                </ModifyPartitions>
                <DiskID>0</DiskID>
                <WillWipeDisk>true</WillWipeDisk>
            </Disk>
            <WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI>
        </DiskConfiguration>
        <ImageInstall>
            <OSImage>
                <InstallTo>
                    <DiskID>0</DiskID>
                    <PartitionID>2</PartitionID>
                </InstallTo>
                <InstallToAvailablePartition>false</InstallToAvailablePartition>
                <WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI>
            </OSImage>
        </ImageInstall>
        <UserData>
            <ProductKey>
                <WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI>
            </ProductKey>
            <AcceptEula>true</AcceptEula>
        </UserData>
    </component>
</settings>
<settings pass="specialize">
    <component name="Microsoft-Windows-IE-InternetExplorer" 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">
        <Home_Page>http://www.example.com</Home_Page>
    </component>
</settings>
<cpi:offlineImage cpi:source="wim://technician/users/user/desktop/install.wim#Windows 7 ENTERPRISE" xmlns:cpi="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:cpi" />