Is this the right approach for a truly clean install?

I have been away for a while and got back at the weekend.
I tried to setup my laptop yesterday and have problems.

I decided to use D: as the Users/Data partition and I: as the Image partition.
Setting up the partitions went OK after deleting all the partitions except the Disk 0 Partition 1: WINRE.
I copied both the files below into the D: drive and run the Sysprep from the D: drive by double clicking it.
BTW, after setting up the D: and I: partitions the DVD drive went to F:.

Relocate - W7HP.xml code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend">
<settings pass="oobeSystem">
<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">
<FolderLocations>
<ProfilesDirectory>D:\Users</ProfilesDirectory>
<ProgramData>d:\ProgramData</ProgramData>
</FolderLocations>
</component>
</settings>
<cpifflineImage cpi:source="wim:F:/sources/install.wim#Windows 7 HOMEPREMIUM" xmls:cpi="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:cpi" />
</unattend>

Sysprep.cmd code:

net stop wmpnetworksvc
pause
cd c:\Windows\System32\Sysprep
c:\Windows\System32\Sysprep\sysprep.exe /oobe /reboot /unattend:D:\Relocate- W7HP.xml

The computer did not reboot automatically, I had to do it manually.

It dropped me back to where it should have done after the cleanup window appeared and I carried on.
When the installation was complete I still had the Users/Profiles etc on the C: drive???
I never got asked for the Product Key either.
The desktop doesn't look right either, it looks like it hasn't finished installing if you know what I mean!

Please help!

Thanks in advance.

EDIT:
The laptop is very slow doing anything. Not as it should be for a clean install.
There are no items in the Startup etc.
In the D: drive there are only the two files posted above.
Th max amount of disk space for system protection is set to zero, I know this should be about 10%.
The screen resolution is also large like when you go into Safe Mode.
Also when I looked at Turn Windows features on or off it caused a system crash followed by a system restart.

I am just going through things that I will want to customize when I manage to get the partitions and user profiles sorted out.
I will obviously be re-installing Windows again because it is certainly not right at the moment.

This is the command you told you used when running Sysprep:

c:\Windows\System32\Sysprep\sysprep.exe /oobe /reboot /unattend:D:\Relocate- W7HP.xml

There seems to a space in your answer file name between the hyphen and letter W. Earlier on that same post you write the same filename with two spaces, both before and after the hyphen.

Both would cause Sysprep to fail. Always (I repeat: always!) when a path contains spaces it must be in quotes, in your case like this:

c:\Windows\System32\Sysprep\sysprep.exe /oobe /reboot /unattend:"D:\Relocate- W7HP.xml"

Even better would of course be to use simple filenames without spaces or special characters. Why don't you just rename the file as relocate.xml?

BTW, there are no issues involved in relocating ProgramData folder, too. Windows 7 fully supports relocating it and Users folder. However, in the future, in case you one of these days decide to upgrade to Windows 10, relocated ProgramData prevents the upgrade. Windows 8 and later do no longer support relocating ProgramData; you can upgrade from 7 to 10 with relocated Users folder, but not if ProgramData is relocated, too.

In addition, I want to quote myself here from the same tutorial on our sister site TenForums.com. It's important to be sure the drive letters remain the same when setup (OOBE) starts after Sysprep. Read the below, ask if it raises any questions:

   Warning

Please read this before proceeding!

Windows "likes" to set the the drive ID letters like this:

• Drive C: > The system drive where Windows will be installed
• Drive D: > First optical drive (CD / DVD drive)
• Drive E: > Second partition on the same disk where the C: is located, or in case that disk only has one partition, the first partition on the secondary disk

Now when you sysprep telling it to move the Users to a specific drive, after the reboot Windows might find that intended target drive for Users folder has another drive ID letter and your intended drive D: is now E:. Sysprep fails and you have to reinstall.

To be sure you are able to use your chosen partition for the relocated Users folder you need to set the drive letters manually before the sysprep is run. In Audit Mode you can do this for instance with Disk Management by manually changing the drive letters. In below example I want to secure that Users folder will be moved to D drive:

• Change the optical drive letter to something at the end of the alphabet, I use W:
• Change the drive letter of the partition or disk you intend to use for the Users folder to D:
• If the partition or disk you want to use already has a letter D:, change it to something else, close the Disk Management, open it again and change the letter back to D:

See the tutorial at our sister site the Seven Forums: Drive Letter - Add, Change, or Remove in Windows - Windows 7 Help Forums

I recommend to always set drive letters manually to override the defaults.

(Quote from Move Users Folder Location in Windows 10 Windows 10 Installation Upgrade Tutorials )

Kari