Sysprep failed, Windows 7 Ult. 64 bit, new CPU+MB

Hi all,

So I recently bought a new CPU+MB (going from AMD to Intel) to upgrade my system; everything else is staying the same. I ran sysprep.exe and it gave me an error. So I searched around and found out it was the WMP service preventing it from working. So I disabled that and then tried Sysprep again. I chose OOBE and generalize since there would be new hardware.

Once I swapped out the motherboards, I booted up and Windows started configuring, but once it got to the "starting services" screen, it came up with an error and rebooted. Rebooting never fixed anything and just kept doing it over and over again. So I browsed the web for some answers and came across a few possible solutions.

First one was to open up cmd (Shift+F10) after the error and check for the errors. I did cd C:\windows\panther
and then
tracerpt setup.etl -o logfile.csv however, no file was found.

I also tried booting into safe mode, which gave an error saying that it could not complete, but upon rebooting normally, appeared as though it would work. It then gave an error at the end saying it couldn't complete, and then the cycle started again.

I also tried a repair from the installation disk to no avail.

I ended up reinstalling my old CPU+MB and re-imaging my hard drives (I have programs installed on multiple drives). The re-imaging took a day to complete, just on the 128GB SSD. The 2TB drive finished in a few hours. I'd rather not have to go through that again if I don't have to.

I'm at a loss as to what went wrong. I'm going to try again this week, but I'm wondering if something else is preventing Sysprep from working correctly. I hope I included enough info for troubleshooting.

Thanks in advance!

The tutorial is pretty much how I did it the first time, but I tried again. Opened up services.msc and disabled the WMPNetworkSvc, rebooted. As soon as I rebooted, opened up sysprep.exe, set to OOBE, generalize, and shutdown. It ran and the computer shut down. Transferred hard drives to new MB, and booted up, same error. Gets to "Starting Services" and the an error box pops up. "Windows could not complete the installation. To install Windows on this computer, restart the installation."

If I restart, it just goes back to the same error again and again. I tried a safe mode trick someone said worked for them. You boot into safe mode, but windows gives you an error saying you can't complete the install in safe mode, and you need to restart. So I restarted normally, and this time, it makes it through the starting services screen, and goes to the "Setup is installing devices", with a % next to it. Once it makes it to 100% (after the screen, keyboard, and mouse have blinked off a few times), it goes to the 'Setup is applying system settings' screen, and the following error pops up:
"Windows setup could not configure windows to run on this computer's hardware.

Once I hit ok, it just goes right back into the original "Starting services" startup loop.

I haven't reimaged the HDDs yet, as I'm hoping someone can point me in the right direction.

I know a clean install is always better, but I was trying to avoid having to reinstall all the software and user settings over again. I was under the impression that using sysprep /oobe /generalize cleaned out the existing drivers and allowed this change. Microsoft even made a note about it here Unsupported Sysprep scenarios . They specifically note you can change CPU vendors with Vista or later by using /generalize.

Hi all

I am posting this as a possible solution only, based on the myriad hardware\software configurations which could influence the outcome of a SYSPREP exercise:

I helped a friend upgrade his buggy mainboard\CPU. The old and new mainboards both had Intel chipsets so I hoped we might avoid SYSPREP,,,. Alas, it was not to be, so after tripping over the WMPNETWK.EXE problem, we finally got an OOBE + Generalize SYSPREP to run through to completion.

We placed the prepped hard-drive into the rebuilt system and.... it halted with the dreaded 'Windows could not finish customizing your machine' error, followed by 'Will continue after restart'.

So - in the pursuit of insanity we re-booted 3 times and got the same gut-wrenching result.

We then tried Safe Mode only to be informed that this process cannot be done in Safe Mode.

In total desperation, I re-booted the machine and kept the LEFT-SHIFT key depressed.

I remember this from Windows 95 days of preventing startup items from interfering with problematic boot issues,,, and would you believe it - IT ACTUALLY WORKED!

The PC is now up and running perfectly after updating drivers.

I cannot guarantee that this will work for everyone experiencing these startup errors, but what have you got to lose by trying? After all the alternative is several hours of format\reloading Windows7 + apps + everything else....