I am using the Windows 8 Enterprise 90-day trial to evaluate the latest version of Windows for a private school. The way I work is that I use sysprep to prepare an generalized image, then I clone it to the school's computers.
When I follow the instructions and try sysprep on my installation of Windows 8 in VirtualBox, sysprep thinks briefly and gives me an error message:
Fatal error occurred while trying to sysprep the machine.
Once I acknowledge it, sysprep closes. I checked the Windows Event Log, and there's nothing there that I could see.
I also followed some instructions to cure this problem, but nothing changed. The error remains.
My best guess is that the 90-day trial prohibits the use of sysprep, but I can't be sure. It might also be my use of VirtualBox, or who-knows-what. Has anyone had success with this, or encountered the same issue on real hardware?