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We're getting very stuck in our office at the moment.

We're upgrading all of our old XP machines to Win7 over the summer holiday while the school is closed. As we have so many machines we have set up a WDS server.

Last week we had both 32bit and 64bit images deploying correctly using unattended answer files but we were running in to issues with the names being assigned to the machines. Some were duplicating and causing the domain join to fail.

We played about with the naming convention settings and settled on having the WDS hold the machines for approval which allows us to manually name them.

Somewhere along the line the 64bit answer file stopped working completely and we can't work out why. As far as we can tell it is identical to the 32bit one in terms of what settings are applied etc.

We have created a new image, several new answer files and nothing seems to be making it work again.

Here are the files we are using at the moment: LINK

The 32bit works perfectly but the 64bit prompts for everything.

Is there something really simple that we're missing?

EDIT: Each file (WDSClientUnattend and ImageUnattend) work perfectly fine in isolation. Things start to break down when we apply both unattended files. After selecting the image we want to install it tries to use the WDSClientUnattend file again and this is cached in %windir%\panther. I have no idea why it is trying to use this file a second time.

David Stanley
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  • Bit confused that the images were working so your answer files must be OK... When you sysprepped your 64-Bit Windows did you put the correct command-line arguments in to sysprep - `/unattend:your_unattend.xml` (obviously here you will need to put your unattend.xml in the same directory as sysprep.exe. Example full sysprep line: `sysprep /generalize /oobe /shutdown /unattend:unattend_amd64.xml`. I have also noticed in your unattend file that all your passwords (written "PASSWORD") are set to not be in plaintext. Have you stripped out your password here, or is that the password you use? – Kinnectus Jul 22 '14 at 10:16
  • Yes, things like passwords and company name have stripped from the files before I uploaded them for people to see. As for the sysprep, we did it like this: http://screencast.com/t/3AlwNHVHr4 This was the same as with the 32bit image. – David Stanley Jul 22 '14 at 10:23
  • You double-clicked sysprep.exe, selected OOBE, ticked generalize and told the machine to shutdown? How were you applying your unattend XML file? – Kinnectus Jul 22 '14 at 10:27
  • Do you mean the unattend file for installing the image? Through WDS: http://screencast.com/t/4cXSga8g3 – David Stanley Jul 22 '14 at 10:32
  • And which parts are being prompted for? From what I can read here: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd637990(v=ws.10).aspx there are two stages with possible prompts. – Kinnectus Jul 22 '14 at 10:44
  • The WDSClientUnattend file works fine. That one formats the drive, sets up a new partition etc. Then it takes us through to the menu where we need to choose which image to pull down. It's the answer file for setting up Windows for the first time that isn't working. It prompts for everything, starting at the language selection onwards. – David Stanley Jul 22 '14 at 10:59
  • Might be getting somewhere. I've found that an imaged machine will cache a local copy of the answer file it used during imaging. I've checked this location (%WINDIR%\Panther) and found that for some reason it is trying to use the WDSClientUnattend file. No idea why. I am now running the installation without using any answer files then I'll try it with the ImageUnattend file on its own. – David Stanley Jul 23 '14 at 10:11

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