W7 Imaging

Hi,

I work in a high school where the computers are all dual boot Linux and Windows 7. Now the Windows deployment kit is not very good at deploying Linux but the Linux deploy tools are pretty good at deploying Windows. What I am looking for is a way to sysprep with a very simple answer file that gets rid of the mini-setup ie Country, computername, admin user, admin password and keyboard layout. Is there a way of automatically answering these details without installing WAIK? Last year, I simply answered the minisetup questions on each machine, it took about 60 seconds per machine but this time I would like to completely automate it. I DON'T care what the computer is called because the Linux deployment software will automatically rename the machine and join the domain.

Ok so I have moved a lot since my original post. I ended up installed the Windows System Image manage and generated an unattend.xml.

So now if I load Windows 7 on a machine by installing from DVD. When I get to the mini-setup screen I press SHIFT+CTRL+F3 to go into audit mode. I add my drivers etc and then when ready I run a sysprep pointing at my unattended.xml file, I generalize and oobe it. When the machine restarts it still prompts me for a computer name even though I have an entry in spelialize - shellsetup_neutral. I have set the computer name to * which apparently sets a random name.
If I press enter on the computername the rest of the installation is completely automated. I would just like it to stop prompting for the computername.

I have tried googling this but all I have found is people with the opposite problem where they aren't prompted to change the computername.

Anyone, any ideas?

Thanks Xarden. I have tried that. The computer name is preset as "PC" but appears to be what ever is in the COMPUTERNAME field in the mini-setup before I hit CTRL-SHIFT+F3 to switch to audit mode. [See above] It isn't a big issue, it just means I need to press enter once on each of the 400 machines but I would like to sort it out to save me running around

Thanks once again. Next year will be our second year of Windows 7, to be fair it has been OK. There are few gotchas. Our main one was printer drivers. Folder redirection is seriously screwed under windows 7 and not compatible with XP, I am turning user folder redirection off completely next year. Win7 Search/indexing can be pretty CPU intensive at random periods and my advice is to use GP to limit what it indexes. Also there is no easy way to remove user profiles on windows7 there is no equivalent to delprof. There is a wonderful group policy option for delting profiles older than x days but it doesn't work. There is a hotfix but I am not convinced at this stage, let us see SP1

OK I have tried the following all to no avail

<ComputerName>IT-*</ComputerName>
<ComputerName>*</ComputerName>
<ComputerName>%compname%</ComputerName>

It still prompts on first boot. Has anyone got any suggestions?

xml file looks as follows

Code:

 
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend">
<settings pass="generalize">
<component name="Microsoft-Windows-Security-SPP" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<SkipRearm>1</SkipRearm>
</component>
</settings>
<settings pass="specialize">
<component name="Microsoft-Windows-Security-SPP-UX" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<SkipAutoActivation>true</SkipAutoActivation>
</component>
<component name="Microsoft-Windows-Deployment" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<RunSynchronous>
<RunSynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
<Order>1</Order>
<Path>net user administrator /active:yes</Path>
</RunSynchronousCommand>
</RunSynchronous>
</component>
<component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<CopyProfile>true</CopyProfile>
<ShowWindowsLive>false</ShowWindowsLive>
<TimeZone>New Zealand Standard Time</TimeZone>
<ComputerName>*</ComputerName>
</component>
</settings>
<settings pass="oobeSystem">
<component name="Microsoft-Windows-International-Core" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<InputLocale>en-us</InputLocale>
<SystemLocale>en-us</SystemLocale>
<UILanguage>en-us</UILanguage>
<UILanguageFallback>en-us</UILanguageFallback>
<UserLocale>en-us</UserLocale>
</component>
<component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<AutoLogon>
<Password>
<Value>xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx==</Value>
<PlainText>false</PlainText>
</Password>
<Enabled>false</Enabled>
<Domain></Domain>
<LogonCount>5</LogonCount>
<Username>WGHS</Username>
</AutoLogon>
<FirstLogonCommands>
<SynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
<CommandLine>cscript //b c:\windows\system32\slmgr.vbs /ipk xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx</CommandLine>
<Order>1</Order>
<RequiresUserInput>false</RequiresUserInput>
</SynchronousCommand>
<SynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
<Order>2</Order>
<CommandLine>cscript //b c:\windows\system32\slmgr.vbs /ato</CommandLine>
<RequiresUserInput>false</RequiresUserInput>
</SynchronousCommand>
</FirstLogonCommands>
<OOBE>
<HideEULAPage>true</HideEULAPage>
<NetworkLocation>Work</NetworkLocation>
<ProtectYourPC>1</ProtectYourPC>
</OOBE>
<UserAccounts>
<AdministratorPassword>
<Value>xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx</Value>
<PlainText>false</PlainText>
</AdministratorPassword>
<LocalAccounts>
<LocalAccount wcm:action="add">
<Password>
<Value>xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx==</Value>
<PlainText>false</PlainText>
</Password>
<Description>Local Administrator</Description>
<DisplayName>Administrator</DisplayName>
<Group>Administrators</Group>
<Name>Administrator</Name>
</LocalAccount>
<LocalAccount wcm:action="add">
<Password>
<Value>xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx==</Value>
<PlainText>false</PlainText>
</Password>
<Description>WGHS</Description>
<DisplayName>WGHS</DisplayName>
<Group>Administrators</Group>
<Name>WGHS</Name>
</LocalAccount>
</LocalAccounts>
</UserAccounts>
<RegisteredOrganization>xxxxxxxxx xxxxx&apos; High School</RegisteredOrganization>
<RegisteredOwner>xxxxxxx</RegisteredOwner>
<TimeZone>New Zealand Standard Time</TimeZone>
</component>
</settings>
<cpi:offlineImage cpi:source="catalog:d:/sources/install_windows 7 professional.clg" xmlns:cpi="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:cpi" />
</unattend>