I've used WinSIM from ADK 8.1 and 10, as well as http://windowsafg.no-ip.org/server2012r2.html to make an autounattend.xml answer file. The default product key works fine via a regular, interactive setup. But when I add the answer file to the ISO and try to use it via Hyper-V (running on a Windows 10 machine), it bombs at the beginning, saying it cannot read the ProductKey. The only difference between my two ISO files is one has the autounattend.xml in the root, and the other does not. The same ProductKey works when I enter it manually. What the #### and I overlooking?
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It could be the edition selection. If you're providing a Datacenter Edition product key, make sure that it's also the OSImage installed from the WIM file and not just the first one on the ISO.
To work around this you may have to specify the edition using Microsoft-Windows-Setup/ImageInstall/OSImage/InstallFrom/MetaData in the answer file.
E.g.
<ImageInstall>
<OSImage>
<InstallFrom>
<MetaData wcm:action="add">
<Key>/IMAGE/NAME</Key>
<Value>Windows Server 2012 R2 SERVERDATACENTER</Value>
</MetaData>
</InstallFrom>
</OSImage>
</ImageInstall>
More examples are here: Technet
![](../../users/profiles/302279.webp)
Patrick
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That gets me a lot closer (thank you!). I was indeed referencing "Windows Server 2012 R2 SERVERSTANDARD" by mistake. I corrected that and now it stops at the disk partitioning phase. I'm following the steps for 2012 Standard shown here (http://www.derekseaman.com/2012/07/windows-server-2012-unattended.html) and modifying for 2012 R2 and Data Center. – Skatterbrainz Dec 03 '15 at 00:14
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I found the problem. When using WinSIM from Windows 10 ADK and adding the Disk / CreatePartitions / ModifyPartitions entries, the elements for the Disk property set are getting place below the ModifyPartitions group. I opened the xml file in Notepad++ and moved them above CreatePartitions. Saved the xml back into the ISO and fired it up via Hyper-V and it works perfectly. – Skatterbrainz Dec 03 '15 at 03:50