Windows 7: Fatal Error when Trying to SysPrep from Audit Mode

I was following the advice in this tutorial: New Installation: How to Create a General System Image in Audit Mode

But when I open sysprep I get a fatal error:

System Preparation Tool 3.14
A fatal error occurred while trying to sysprep the machine.



Running sysprep



The fatal error

I ran a slmgr/dlv command as recommended by somone on this forum and I got this:



Thanks for your help!

Couldn't solve this problem, so I did a clean reinstall and didn't boot to Audit mode. Everything seems to functioning thus far.

End this process wmpnetwk.exe from task manager, sysprep should go smooth after that.

I was having this same problem too for a very long time. I looked everywhere but couldn't quite find the solution until I ran into this guide: Sysprep Fatal Error – Bypassing the Rearm Limit | Massive Flavor

apparently, deleting the windows media network service or disabling it isn't the only thing you need to be concerned about. There seems to be many things that could prevent your sysprep from running to completion :/

hope it works for you