Windows Sysprep Breaking

[agray]

I’m not using an unattened.xml file because I don’t quite understand it and, from what I have read, it’s not required for a golden image.
It was an OEM installation of window.

Could the problem be the OEM/AD?

[george1421]

@agray said in Windows Sysprep Breaking:

unattened.xml

If you don’t use an unattend.xml file then you will have to answer the OOBE questions during install. Its not a problem if you want to do that for every deployment.

Did you install the fog client in your golden image?

Are you creating your golden image on a vm or a physical machine?

What command line switches are you using to sysprep the system?

[agray]

Answering the questions don’t take long. Is there a tutorial on how to properly set up an unattened.xml file and using it properly?
Was a physical machine but I’ll probably try VM on my fog server.
I don’t use command line, I went to the file location and just used the application.

I feel I’m doing this 80% wrong.

[george1421]

@agray unattend.xml configuration is a bit out of scope for the FOG Project but there are a number of sites that explain what to do with it. You could also use one of those online unattend.xml file generators to create a baseline config file for you like this one: http://www.windowsafg.com/ Just don’t put any private information in the online tool. Tweak the unattend.xml file after you have the framework build with your private information.

When you run sysprep without command line it should launch the gui interface. I have not use the gui since I have a batch file setup to call sysprep with the proper settings. Be sure you have sysprep power off the windows computer when its done. This way you are sure the system is powered off in a state that can be cloned. The windows gui shutdown menu doesn’t actually power off the computer.

I can say building your reference image in a vm (even using virtual box) gives you several opportunities not available on physical machines like creating a vm snapshot before you do a destructive step where on a physical machine you would have to start over if something went wrong. On a VM you would just restore to the last snapshot and then continue again. When I was first setting up my reference image, I would snapshot the VM just before sysprep. That way I could return to that step if I discovered I missed something in the deployed image without having to either reseal the image or start over.

[Tom Elliott]

@agray I think the biggest issue is the speed at which fog renames. It’s blazingly fast. Faster than windows has time to finish completing. Simple to disable the service and reenable it when ready. That’d be the first step and I’m pretty sure it will fix most of the issues you’re seeing.

I’m quiet but always readying. Sorry for not helping sooner.```
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[agray]

@Tom-Elliott I’m sorry, what service are you referring to?
@george1421 I will attempt to set this up in a VM on my FOG machine and then update this thread.
Should I register the device before i sysprep or after? This could have been part of my problem as well.
Rules of thumb are: Don’t connect to AD and don’t use OEM. right?
Would the Media creation tool work or do I need to burn our volume license iso to a usb?

[agray]

I guess I’m confused and having the issue with order of operations.

My set up is:
FOG is on it’s own network with not net access. Completely off our network since our network is 100% static.

How we capture images:
Setup PC on our network -> Set to DHCP and hook up to switch connected to FOG and capture
Deploy it the same only reversed.

Does this pose a problem with creating a Golden img?

[george1421]

@agray said in Windows Sysprep Breaking:

I will attempt to set this up in a VM on my FOG machine and then update this thread.

I’m not sure I understand what the FOG machine has to do with your reference image. They should be separate entities.

Should I register the device before i sysprep or after? This could have been part of my problem as well.

When you say register, do you mean activate? If that is the case, I typically don’t activate it while building the golden image. You really have 3 days to play with the image before it starts to complain about activation. We activate it post image deploy in the setupcomplete.cmd batch file.

Rules of thumb are: Don’t connect to AD and don’t use OEM. right?

Correct don’t connect to AD before sysprep. You can access network shares on your domain by just providing your domain credentials when connecting if you need to access applications to install. As for OEM, physically you can use the media, but legally its against the MS EULA to do so. The volume license media should be used, and then the MSVLC key to activate it post winsetup/oobe. That way you are not burning mak keys until you need them.

Would the Media creation tool work or do I need to burn our volume license iso to a usb?

Typically… well I can say how I do it. In my vm host server I have the Windows VLSC media iso image. When I go to setup my VM, I will connect the virtual CDROM in the VM to the .ISO image. When I boot the VM it will boot from the ISO image. That way I don’t have to burn anything to physical media.

(truth on how I build my reference image) I actually use the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) to create my reference image. I have it setup to do the lite touch method that automatically builds my reference image with all of the windows updates and applications without having to go into audit mode and load everything by hand. When I go to build the reference image I just boot the MDT ISO image select the task sequence to run to build the reference image. I don’t touch the reference image until its time to sysprep.

[george1421]

@agray said in Windows Sysprep Breaking:

FOG is on it’s own network with not net access. Completely off our network since our network is 100% static.

Not a problem either on an isolated network or on your business network. The FOG server does need internet access to install fog, but after that it doesn’t. I know some people that have the isolated imaging network will install a second interface in their fog server and connect that to their business network. That way they can manage FOG from the business network, yet deploy only to the imaging network.

Setup PC on our network -> Set to DHCP and hook up to switch connected to FOG and capture

This is one way to do it. Its not a problem. The only issue is when you deploy your image, you can’t/shouldn’t boot the system into windows while its connected to the imaging network if the target computer needs to connect to AD. In your setup you will when you create the deploy task, tell FOG to power off the target computer after image deployment. That way you can move the target computer to the business network before its powered on.

[agray]

@george1421

When you say register, do you mean activate? If that is the case, I typically don’t activate it while building the golden image. You really have 3 days to play with the image before it starts to complain about activation. We activate it post image deploy in the setupcomplete.cmd batch file.

fog, the first time it sees a machine, it asks you to register the machine, either full or quick.

This is one way to do it. Its not a problem. The only issue is when you deploy your image, you can’t/shouldn’t boot the system into windows while its connected to the imaging network if the target computer needs to connect to AD. In your setup you will when you create the deploy task, tell FOG to power off the target computer after image deployment. That way you can move the target computer to the business network before its powered on.

Not sure, if for what ever reason, I’m imaging different and it’s working. we boot UEFI>tell fog to quick register it>Select capture (on fog machine)>boot into “onboard NIC” and it captures or deploys the image we select on the fog machine

[george1421]

@agray If you want fog to manage the computers after deployment you would normally install the fog client and then register the target computer with FOG. But in your case the FOG Server will never see the target computer once it has been deployed. In this case you don’t need/want the fog client on the target computer and you don’t “need” to register the target computer with FOG. Once you have the golden image captured, you can deploy subsequent target computers right from the iPXE menu. There is a deploy image option. If you use this menu you don’t need to register the computer. This is kind of like a load and go menu. The only system that needs to be registered is the golden image computer so it can be captured.

[agray]

@george1421 How do i capture without register with FOG?

[george1421]

@agray said in Windows Sysprep Breaking:

How do i capture without register with FOG?

You can’t. You have to register your golden image computer with FOG to be able to capture it. You can deploy without registering with FOG right from the iPXE menu.

[agray]

@george1421 Should i register before sysprep or during the sysprep boot? Or does it even matter?

[george1421]

@agray I would register the FOG server before you get into syspreping the device. In my case I have a VM that always build the reference image on, so it has been registered in FOG from day one.

[mkoliva15]

After testing with the FOG client on my reference/golden image I found my issue which may help. I would task my client PC to be added to AD when the Auto Delayed service starts. Well, when a computer is being restored with the Windows 10 image it will start the services. Since it is starting the services it is trying to join the domain while the system is being sysprepped. This caused Windows to come up with an error to install or boot and various other errors. After the service was stopped in the reference/golden image then restoring had no issues. I manually have to enable the service and start it as well. The big issue turned into a okay fix.

[agray]

Sorry I’ve been on medical leave so I haven’t had time to work on this, but, unfortunately, it is not solved.
I have made my own unattend.xml file, i am following this guide (https://forums.fogproject.org/topic/9877/windows-10-pro-oem-sysprep-imaging/11) almost exact. Using it’s batch file and operations but not using a setupcomplete.cmd
I personally think it’s something i’m doing in the audit mode. I’m not connecting to our Domain but I am setting a static IP for just installation process, then change it back to dynamic for sysprep and capture.
The software I am attempting to install is the following: VNC, Java, .Net, Silverlight, VLC, Firefox, Chrome, Cute pdf, Munis, Laserfiche, Office 365 (not activated), Sophos Endpoint, Comm Portal

[Quazz]

@agray Antivirus products sometimes cause trouble when installed before sysprep I believe.

For example: Bitdefender has a page about it

https://www.bitdefender.com/support/how-to-troubleshoot-cloning-a-windows-system-with-sysprep-tool-when-a-bitdefender-security-agent-is-installed-1243.html

[Taspharel]

@Quazz said in Windows Sysprep Breaking:

@agray Antivirus products sometimes cause trouble when installed before sysprep I believe.

For example: Bitdefender has a page about it

https://www.bitdefender.com/support/how-to-troubleshoot-cloning-a-windows-system-with-sysprep-tool-when-a-bitdefender-security-agent-is-installed-1243.html

Symantec is the same, there even is a program that you have to run in order to reset everything for sysprep to work.

@agray I cant seem to find your response into what the log files say. Did you check them? Or have I just not seen it and its in the thread somewhere?

[george1421]

I have to provide a wet blanket moment here as a moderator.

The Windows OEM EULA doesn’t allow for system cloning with OEM media. You can only deploy images directly from OEM media. You are not allowed to create a golden image with OEM media and then clone that image to multiple computers. If you want to do that legally you must use volume licensing media. The cost of volume licensing media is not that great. If you have 100 computers with Win10 Pro OEM on it you only need one Windows 10 Pro VL license. This is allowed by the EULA. You MAY NOT have 100 Win10 Pro OEM computers and upgrade them to Win10 Enterprise this way. In this case you need 100 Win10 Enterprise licenses. As long as you are redeploying Win10 Pro OEM with Win10 Pro VLK then you only need one volume license. Most SMBs will purchase 1 Win10 Pro VLK and 4 other client or RDS licenses to get to the minimum of 5 points to get into the MS Volume Licensing program.

In regards to preinstalled software. I would avoid installing any software that depends on a unique system id (GUID). I would avoid installing those softwares in your golden image. Because each cloned system will have the same software GUID. Enterprise AV is a big one that relies on a unique system GUID that should be installed post image deployment.