SYSPREP and user accounts.

csand · 03 Dec 2012

Hi everyone,

so I have my custom windows 7 image ready for deployment, but it has to be sysprepped so the OOBE pops up when it is first run. However I want to keep a custom password protected user account (let's call it "Tech") available, and hidden with the registry key
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\SpecialAccounts\UserList
with a DWORD "Tech" set to 0

is this possible using unattend.xml? If so what are the entries that I would put in? I have tried adding them to the autounattend.xml I created for the install however sysprep the account and registry entry don't seem to be being created. Or is there some other way to do it?

Any help would be appreciated

Kari · 03 Dec 2012

Hi Csand, welcome to the Seven Forums.

Might be me misunderstanding something but why on earth would you manually edit register for that? Customize your image in Audit Mode, create your user Tech & set a password, run sysprep and deploy. As long as you do not use Generalize switch when sysprepping, it does not affect existing user profiles so the Tech profile remains on your image and exists on any deployed system.

Kari

Kari · 03 Dec 2012

SORRY!

I just read your post again and noticed what I did not notice first time, that you want the Tech account to be hidden.

Create the user account & password normally in Audit Mode, edit registry to hide the account, run sysprep, deploy. That's it.

The point is you do not need to set register value in answer file, you can do it in Audit Mode normally with RegEdit before running sysprep.

Kari

csand · 03 Dec 2012

Ahh thank you sir! I didn't realize that by removing the generalize option it would keep user accounts. Will the OOBE window still come up for the user to create a new login? What other things will I miss by not including the generalize option? I'm learning all this stuff in a short amount of time for work so pardon any silly questions.
Thanks so much for the info, and the welcome

Parman · 04 Dec 2012

Maybe I have misunderstood sysprep but the generalize option has nothing to do with user profiles.
I have never had a sysprep remove a user account.

Site technet.microsoft.com

Prepares the Windows installation to be imaged. If this option is specified, all unique system information is removed from the Windows installation. The security ID (SID) resets, any system restore points are cleared, and event logs are deleted.
The next time the computer starts, the specialize configuration pass runs. A new security ID (SID) is created, and the clock for Windows activation resets, if the clock has not already been reset three times.

To remove a user account you would need to use the /audit switch. On install screen open the command prompt (shift + f3) and delete them from there then sysprep again.