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" />
