I’m in the process of re-uploading a new sysprepped image now. This image is weird though. It seems to take forever to upload. Every other image I’ve uploaded, runs at a rate of around 2-3 GB/min, but for some reason, this specific image is only running at around 250-350 MB/min. It pushes out at 2.5-3 GB/min though… so weird.
Also, I already have a copy of the fixed unattend.xml saved on my desktop.
I’m currently on build 1237. I’m going to update as soon as I get done pulling an image. Was this fixed before that build?
Yes. The same thing happens. I pulled an image yesterday afternoon, and when I got to work this morning, the machine still hadn’t booted to Windows yet. It was stuck in the same “no tasks for this machine” loop.
Yep! That was it. I just modified the unattend.xml in the Panther folder, and it’s fixed! ! !
Whew!! Close call there. That image took 2-3 days to build.
I’m still running into this same issue… I noticed that the setup error was pointing to C:\Windows\Panther\unattend.xml and not the original file, C:\Windows\System32\sysprep\unattend.xml. I guess when you actually run sysprep, it copies your unattend to that location. I tried to modify it after the error popped, but still getting “The computer restarted unexpectedly or encountered an unexpected error…”.
Going to re-image one more time, and try to edit the unattend.xml located in the “Panther” folder. If this doesn’t work… I may have to re-build the image from scratch… :mad:.
I understand that… I have right around 180 machines. My ultimate goal is to get a “System Center-like” setup… minus the $10k plus pricetag. 
And honestly, FOG is the first software I’ve found, that can even come close to this goal!
I just thought of another way!
You can use a Windows 7 recovery CD right after downloading a fresh image.
In my case, I have a Win7 boot USB stick. You load into the Recovery Console and run Command Prompt.
Next, you just type notepad.exe to bring up the notepad GUI and just navigate to the unattend file.
It should be located in “D:” drive. Not sure why, but WinPE gives the local disk, letter “D”.
NOTE - You have to do this process before the first (setup) boot, or it breaks.
Oh, thanks… Didn’t see your steps until I posted my last reply…
I meant, can I open up and modify the saved, “d1p2.img” file that is saved on the FOG server? Ghost has “Ghost Explorer” which allows you to open up and modify files that are stored in the image, without pushing it to a machine.
I understand your view on using a virtual machine, but the initial image has to be set up on the final machine that it’s going on. We pre-load all driver software for a specific model that the image is being pulled for. In this case, it’s an HP laptop.
… I’m not sure where to start here… so I can’t open the actual pulled image file that is on the fog server? The original Win7 install that I pulled to the fog server, was on a laptop. Do I need to run some sort of linux on the laptop, in order to mount the ntfs volume?
Is this possible? I made a booboo in my unattend.xml file, and now I get an error during setup. 
I know exactly what I did, I just need to get into the image and modify the unattend to fix this. I know ghost has a program that allows you to open up an image and modify the contents. Is there anything that Linux has that can do this too?? I really hope so…
I just came across another issue. I just pulled a sysprepped Win7 64-bit image, and once the image pull was complete, the system rebooted and went back into iPXE, but instead of defaulting to the hard drive like it should, it started loading like it would if there was a task for the machine. Then, a message kept repeating, saying There are no tasks for the machine. Once I held down the power button for a hard shutdown and restarted, it was like a normal reboot. Any ideas?
Mine isn’t set up like that. I didn’t create our unattend.xml. A network admin that has been here forever did it. I don’t think he actually set it up correctly. Can you take a look?
This is what I have…
[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”>
<!-- Uncomment the following section to set display settings
<Display>
<ColorDepth>32</ColorDepth>
<DPI>120</DPI>
<HorizontalResolution>1024</HorizontalResolution>
<RefreshRate>60</RefreshRate>
<VerticalResolution>768</VerticalResolution>
</Display>
–>
<RegisteredOwner>Naylor</RegisteredOwner>
<RegisteredOrganization>Naylor</RegisteredOrganization>
<TimeZone>Eastern Standard Time</TimeZone>
<ShowWindowsLive>false</ShowWindowsLive>
<OOBE>
<HideEULAPage>true</HideEULAPage>
<HideWirelessSetupInOOBE>true</HideWirelessSetupInOOBE>
<NetworkLocation>Work</NetworkLocation>
<ProtectYourPC>1</ProtectYourPC>
<SkipMachineOOBE>true</SkipMachineOOBE>
<SkipUserOOBE>true</SkipUserOOBE>
</OOBE>
<AutoLogon>
<Enabled>false</Enabled>
<LogonCount>5</LogonCount>
<Username>Administrator</Username>
</AutoLogon>
<FirstLogonCommands>
<SynchronousCommand wcm:action=“add”>
<Order>1</Order>
</SynchronousCommand>
</FirstLogonCommands>
<UserAccounts>
<LocalAccounts>
<LocalAccount wcm:action=“add”>
<DisplayName>Adminuser</DisplayName>
<Group>Administrators</Group>
<Name>Adminuser</Name>
<Password>
<Value>VQBzAGUAcgAyAHMAZQBhAFAAYQBzAHMAdwBvAHIAZAA=</Value>
<PlainText>false</PlainText>
</Password>
</LocalAccount>
</LocalAccounts>
</UserAccounts>
</component>
<component name=“Microsoft-Windows-International-Core” 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”>
<InputLocale>en-US</InputLocale>
<SystemLocale>en-US</SystemLocale>
<UILanguage>en-US</UILanguage>
<UserLocale>en-US</UserLocale>
</component>
</settings>
<settings pass=“generalize”>
<component name=“Microsoft-Windows-PnpSysprep” 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”>
<PersistAllDeviceInstalls>true</PersistAllDeviceInstalls>
</component>
<component name=“Microsoft-Windows-Security-SPP” 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”>
<SkipRearm>0</SkipRearm>
</component>
<component name=“Microsoft-Windows-Security-Licensing-SLC” 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”>
<SkipRearm>0</SkipRearm>
</component>
</settings>
<settings pass=“specialize”>
<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”>
<ProductKey>FJ82H-XT6CR-J8D7P-XQJJ2-GPDD4</ProductKey>
<Display>
<ColorDepth>32</ColorDepth>
<DPI>96</DPI>
<HorizontalResolution>1024</HorizontalResolution>
<RefreshRate>60</RefreshRate>
<VerticalResolution>768</VerticalResolution>
</Display>
<Themes>
<DefaultThemesOff>true</DefaultThemesOff>
<DesktopBackground>%WINDIR%_NaylorBlue.bmp</DesktopBackground>
<ScreenSaver>Ribbons.scr</ScreenSaver>
</Themes>
<CopyProfile>true</CopyProfile>
<ShowWindowsLive>false</ShowWindowsLive>
<TimeZone>Eastern Standard Time</TimeZone>
</component>
<component name=“Microsoft-Windows-Security-SPP-UX” 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”>
<SkipAutoActivation>true</SkipAutoActivation>
</component>
<component name=“Microsoft-Windows-Deployment” 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”>
<RunSynchronous>
<RunSynchronousCommand wcm:action=“add”>
<Order>1</Order>
<Path>net user administrator /active:yes</Path>
</RunSynchronousCommand>
</RunSynchronous>
</component>
<component name=“Microsoft-Windows-UnattendedJoin” 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”>
<Identification>
<JoinWorkgroup>WORKGROUP</JoinWorkgroup>
</Identification>
</component>
</settings>
<cpi:offlineImage cpi:source=“wim:d:/wims/win7-amd64/install.wim#Windows 7 PROFESSIONAL” xmlns:cpi=“urn:schemas-microsoft-com:cpi”/>
</unattend>[/CODE]
Any certain place this goes under “…Shell-Setup”?
Currently, we have <Product Key>, <Display>, <Themes>, <CopyProfile>, <ShowWindowsLive>, and <TimeZone>…
I mean, should it go at the top, above <Product Key>, or at the bottom, under <TimeZone>, etc… ?
We have an unattend.xml file already made up, but it’s set up to stop on the machine name screen, so we can name it before setup process is done. What do you change it to, to have a default name used until the FOG client kicks in and renames the machine to the pre-setup hostname (stored in FOG)?
I just came across this post.
For drivers, we create a “DRIVERS” folder in C:\ that has sub folders for each model of machine that runs that particular image. Then, inside each model folder, we have sub folders with each driver. Then, we follow: [url]http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc753716.aspx[/url] to add the folder locations to the default driver search path. This way, all drivers are installed on the first reboot, after imaging, during initial setup. It takes a little longer for the setup to run, but it won’t require multiple reboots, as no system devices are being utilized yet.
@Tom - I’m looking in the boot.php file, and I see a line under “if ($option == ‘fog.local’)”
It says: print “sanboot --no-describe --drive 0x80\n”;
What should I be putting in it’s place? print “exit”; <–??
I’ll try a workaround. We only have 3 790’s out of 180 anyway, so it’s not that big of an issue. Just let me know what I need to do.
So, I don’t know if this is a bug or not, but I just came across an interesting issue when the PXE menu comes up on Dell Optiplex 790 machines. I have PXE set to default to the HD after 3 seconds (I think that is standard), but when the 790 model tries to boot to the HD, it just reboots, thus and endless reboot cycle ensues… The odd thing is, the 780 and 7010 (older and newer model) boots to the HD just fine. I’ve also confirmed that all have the most updated BIOS and all have the same mobo settings, with regards to boot/HD options.
Any ideas?