The Complete Guide to Preparing a Windows 7 Deployment Image using Audit Mode and Sysprep with an unattend. Answer File. I have read a lot of different blog posts, Microsoft documentations and attended several courses including Microsofts Deploying Windows 7 to find out the most effective method to create a Windows 7 deployment image. I now feel I have enough knowledge and experience to be able to share my process to a wider audience. Ive tried to keep this tutorial clear and concise to ensure that steps are in the correct order, as this matters Table of Contents Section 1  Install Windows 7 and programs. Section 2  Create an unattend. Section 3  Create a script to remove the unattend. Section 4  Image before sysprep. Section 5  Run sysprep and image. Section 6 Deploy image. Windows 8 ISO download files can be grabbed officially from Microsoft, and in this post, well guide you through how to do just that in a few simple steps. This topic will show you how to take your reference image for Windows 10, and deploy that image to your environment using the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit MDT. There have been a number of problems reported in regards to upgrading to Windows 10 via automatic methods such as the Media Creation Tool. For those who. On Friday of last week, we showed you how to upgrade to Windows 8 with the help of Windows 8 Upgrade Assistant, a stepbystep guide to easily purchase Win. Section 2 Create an unattend. Head over to the Microsoft website to download Windows AIK for Windows 7, if you dont have it already. WhyThe WIM Windows IMaging format is a compression format used in versions of Microsoft Windows from Vista onward. The format allows compression to disc images similar. Hint In most cases throughout this tutorial, file names, script commands and the like are case sensitive. Section 1 Install Windows 7 and programs. Install Windows 7 Enterprise from CD or USB flash drive. Important When you arrive at the Welcome Screen where you are asked to create a username and account press CTRLSHIFTF3 to enter into audit mode. The computer should restart and automatically log you into a temporary built in administrator account. Cool ey Warning  After system startup, a sysprep GUI box will appear. Close this box DO NOT PRESS ANY BUTTONS as this will activate the sysprep process and you may need to reinstall. Now install any Windows Updates and deployment wide programs such as Microsoft Office, Adobe Flash Player, Java, printer drivers etc. You can restart if required because you will automatically be logged back into this temporary built in administrator account. You will be stuck in this audit mode until sysprep is run later in the process. Remember to license and activate except for Windows as sysprep will undo Windows Activation any required software as this will be remembered and you wont have to perform it on each the deployed computers individually. Hint  Any modifications you make to this user profile will be automatically copied to the local system default user profile. So if you dont use roaming profiles, this is a great time to adjust your start menu, desktop wallpaper and icons, and general profile modifications as these settings will apply to all newly created users on the system. Section 2 Create an unattend. Head over to the Microsoft website to download Windows AIK for Windows 7, if you dont have it already. Why Install Windows AIK on any compatible system, this doesnt need to be your base image system in fact it is better not to, however you can uninstall it after creating your unattend. In the File menu select to Create a New Answer FileThe overall idea of this utility is to create an unattend. Windows Setup process of the deployed image. Items like creating local user accounts, setting the Windows Product Key, setting the locale language information, setting network location settings and other items that you are normally presented with when installing Windows 7. As these settings are most often consistent across all of your deployment, it makes sense to set them automatically. These next few steps may seem daunting at first, however all we are doing is obtaining possible options from the Windows Image that we have loaded from step 4 and importing these options into the answer file, then specifying these settings. In the Windows Image area bottom left select amd. File Download Prompt Windows 7 Iso Image From Microsoft' title='File Download Prompt Windows 7 Iso Image From Microsoft' />Microsoft Windows Security SPP6. Add to parse 3 generalize. This moves this option into our answer file. Now select this item in the main window, this will show you the possible configuration options in the Properties window on the right. Set Skip. Rearm to 1. Hint Technically this should overwrite the Windows 7 rearm limit from 3 to unlimited. Sometimes this hasnt worked for me, and you could end up with a useless image after 3 syspreps. I will show you later how to ensure to overcome this. Now you have performed one setting and realised its not that bad you should be able follow these steps for the following items amd. Microsoft Windows Deployment6. Run. Synchronous and add a command, then select Run. Synchronous. CommandOrder1 and in Properties add the following Order 1 path net user administrator active yes Will. Reboot Never amd. Microsoft Windows Security SPP UX6. Skip. Auto. Activation false false will ensure that if you have used a volume license key Windows will automatically activate for you amd. Microsoft Windows Shell Setup6. Computer Name Leave blank Copy. Profile true Registered Organization Microsoft you must leave this in this section Registered Owner Auto. BVT you must leave this in this section  Why Auto. BVT Show. Windows. Live false Time. Zone AUS Eastern Standard Time Must be spelt exactly according to Time. Zone settings here from Microsofts website amd. Microsoft Windows International Core6. System. Input. Locale en au System. Locale en au UILanguage en au User. Locale en au amd. Microsoft Windows Shell Setup6. System. Registered. Organization Your Company Name Registered. Owner Your Name Auto. Logon. Enabled true Logon. Count 5 this will automatically log into the following account this number of times after setup so you can easily perform other software activations etc. Logging out will override this setting. Username administrator. Password Administrator Password. First. Logon. Commands right click and add 2Synchronous. CommandOrder1Command. Line cscript b c windowssystem. XXXXX XXXXX XXXXX XXXXX XXXXX windows 7 license key Order 1 Requires. User. Input false. Synchronous. CommandOrder2Command. Line cscript b c windowssystem. Order 2 Requires. User. Input false. OOBEHide. EULAPage true Network. Location HomeWorketc Protect. Your. PC 1. User. Accounts. Administrator. Password Administrator Password         On Local. Accounts, right click and select action Add. List. Item this automatically creates a local Admin account Local. AccountNameAdministratorDescription Local Administrator Display. Name Administrator Group Administrators Name Administrator. Password Administrator Password Important Security Information. Any passwords you have set in the answer file are stored unencrypted. Ensure you protect this file, especially if you entered a local administrator account password. Section 3 Create a script to remove the unattend. Property And Casualty License Colorado. On the deployment base image computer open Notepad and enter in the following lines del Q F c windowssystem. Q F c windowspantherunattend. These lines of code will delete the unattend. Windows Setup is finished with them this file is copied into the panther directory during setup hence the two linesSave this file to the desktop called Setup. Complete. cmd ensure to change the file type from. Setup. Complete. cmd. Now create a folder called Scripts in this directory C WindowsSetup and drag this file into it you may be prompted for Administrator authority. Hint  Windows will automatically check for the existence of this file and run it after Windows Setup has completed, feel free to add anything else into this file you think may be helpful at this stage. Section 4 Image before sysprep. This is an optional step, however it is a lot easier down the track to restore an image of your current system to apply updatesmodifications to before you run sysprep.