Sample wsim answer file for windows 7

This is the program, well use to create our unattended installation answer files, including the internet explorer 10 settings. Windows 7, like vista, uses an xml answer file to configure the os install. An answer file is an xmlbased file that contains setting definitions and values to use during windows setup. Sep 28, 2012 insert your windows 7 enterprise dvdimage and locate the following file. As you can see all of these stages have a special name. The next answer file that we use will be associated with the windows 7 installation image on the wds server if you have multiple images available, you will need an answer file for each.

When the image gets deployed to a new system i copy down an unattend. The easiest way to create an answer file for use with a windows 7 deployment is to use the windows system image manager wsim which is a part of the windows automated installation kit windows aik or waik. Creating a fully automated windows 7 answer file todd cramers. May 29, 2019 if you want to automate this then you can add a onetime autologon by making the following additions to your answer file, otherwise just finalize the answer file at this time. Windows system image manager is very powerful but a very incomplete solution. I cant find a setting in the unattend file where i disable to send data to microsoft or turn off my location. Windows 7 now uses the window system image manger to create the appropriate answer files. Windows system image manager windows sim installed on a technician computer. How to create an unattended installation of windows 10. Install the deployment tools feature included in the windows assessment and deployment kit for windows 8. Using an answerfile when running sysprep makes it possible to run sysprep automatically and set a number of configuration options that otherwise would have to be entered manually while operating sysprep from. The panther folder is one of the folders where windows searches for an answer file. Jan 11, 2012 windows 7 forums is the largest help and support community, providing friendly help and advice for microsoft windows 7 computers such as dell, hp, acer, asus or a custom build. You can read the microsoft technet page to read more about xml answer files.

For more information, see create or open an answer file. May 06, 2019 create unattend answer file for windows server 2019 automated packer installation. Have you checked the log files listed in the windows preinstallation. Create unattend answer file for windows server 2019 automated. Using unattended answer files with wds windows 7 tutorial. Or if you have an iso of 7, go ahead and extract it to a folder on your desktop. Jan 03, 2012 how to create an answer file in system image manager sim to automate windows installation itsystemsadmin. For example, windows media player, games, and backup are all windows.

Copy the answer file into the image into the \ windows \panther folder, and name it unattend. When you run your windows 7 installation it will automatically look for any usb drives containing an autounattend. One answer file will allow the system to join the domain and loads the image from server and other automates the further installation steps. In an answer file, you specify various setup options. It is part of the windows automated installation kit aik for windows 7, and part of the windows assessment and deployment kit adk for windows 8. Select microsoftwindowsshellsetup useraccounts administratorpassword under 7 oobesystem and set a password for the builtin admin account. Solved unattended answer file and joining a ad domain. I am having trouble with getting the answer file to work properly. Once i finished making it, i tried to avoid the wsim from waik as much as possible, since wsim needs. Attempted to include as many commonlyused options as possible, with quite a few being setup as default, but the settings are still exposed here so that you can change it to your liking.

Wsim can make creation of unattend files much easier. Answer files that are created in windows system image manager windows sim are associated with a particular windows image. The i run sysprep with oobe selected and generalize selected. Im trying to create a windows 10 image with sysprep but i have a problem. Learn how to create and verify an answer file using windows 7 aik automated installation kit. A message box will appear to tell you editing an answer file without opening a.

When running sysprep in windows 7 with the unattend. Place this file in the root of a usb drive and come back to a fresh install of windows 10. How to create a windows 8 unattended answer file for wds. The only problem i can see at this point is that you are trying to make 2 partitions active, when you can only have 1. Unattended deployment of windows 7 via wds 4sysops. Jan 31, 20 if you want to deploy windows 8 silently ex. Windows system image manager wsim uses windows image. For more information, see open a windows image or catalog file. Whats neat about this is that even though you use the waiks wsim tool to edit and validate it, you can customize it and add your own sections for software packages etc. W10 answer file unattended windows 10 installation msfn.

Choose file new answer file to create a new empty answer file, whose contents you can edit in the answer file pane. Creating answer files for wds system administration. Wsim can be obtained by downloading the windows assessment and deployment kit windows adk for your version of windows 10. Creating unattended installation answer files in the windows system image manager wsim, click file and then new answer file. Jun 07, 2018 how to create a windows 10 answer file. On your technician computer, insert the windows 7 or windows server 2008 r2 product dvd into the. Sep 10, 20 the premium tool for editing the unattend. First we are going to walk through building the unattend. May 10, 2018 this answer file was made in wsim and includes copyprofile and a handful of other settings to autoanswer in the oobe phase e. I have created an answer file which works with the exception of not prompting to enter a product key. I put your file into wsim i added it to another complete unattend file and it validated fine. I have many unique oem product keys on laptopsdesktops.

This file has worked fine for months on the x86 systems. Before you can save an answer file, you must validate the settings. Deployment solution symantec enterprise broadcom community. Answer files that are created in windows system image manager windows sim are. Windows answer file generator wafg is a simple website that provides similar functions. Windows images and catalog files contain configurable settings that you can modify once the component or package is added to an answer file. The alternative is to write the file by hand and then optionally validate with wsim. Once you have installed the waik, you will go into the windows system image. The complete guide to preparing a windows 7 deployment image. If so take a look at wsim windows system image manager this will allow you to create the unattended. The best practices for authoring answer files is to use windows system image manager wsim.

Windows 7 forums is the largest help and support community, providing friendly help and advice for microsoft windows 7 computers such as dell, hp, acer, asus or a custom build. The browser homepage could be done inside the anwser file using windows sim. Well that is because the icons are not part of the users profile. In the answer file pane, rightclick on create or open an answer file, choose new answer file. In order to create an answer file we are going need windows system image manager wsim and windows 10 installation source files, such a discimage iso file or dvd. The new answer file appears in the answer file pane. An answer file contains seven different stages passes, and the passes that you need to configure will depend on the type of automation you want to create. You will be adding a few components from the windows image pane to the answer file pane and editing the settings in the righthand pane of wsim. I create an image with fog and when i deploy the image i dont think it reads my answer file because it ask me for the time zone, and the product key is not added. Oct 22, 2010 i have created two windows 7 images basically just unattended installs of windows 7 that are fully patched and sysprepped. Next, select an edition of windows, for example, windows 10 pro, and click ok. My understanding is that because copyprofile runs in the specialize phase you have to allow a reboot in order for it to run.

Im using the lastest and greatest of waik to edit my xml file and i understand that the magic happens in the specialize pass of the file. Microsoft has an excellent tool for creating answer files from scratch called windows system image manager windows sim. Create an answer file for language settings during osd. Unattended install windows 10 using windows deployement. Add both autologon and firstlogoncommands to pass 7 oobe system. Windows system image manager is the tool used to create an unattended windows.

Install and configure windows deployment services wds. If the file has multiple images, youll be given a choice similar to figure 7. Hence we have made the answer file for automating the installations. If you have a windows 7 installation dvd, insert it now. Once done we will see the different stages that the windows installation goes through. I can honestly say that i have rarely even used wsim since vista days. In this answer file, you can specify the paths to device drivers on a network share or a local path by adding the microsoft windows pnpcustomizationswinpe or microsoft windows pnpcustomizationnonwinpe components and specifying the configuration passes in.

Even if you see 7 you dont need to configure all of them. My editing pc currently runs server 2008 r2 and has 2 different kits installed. We recommend the following best practices for creating answer files. Guest accounts are severely limited as it is not possible to install software or hardware, or modify system settings. In this step, you build a catalog and a new blank answer file. Use wsim to create an answer file that will be associated with the boot images of your wds server. Best practices for authoring answer files microsoft docs. Install windows aik on any compatible system preferably not the system being imaged and open the windows system image manager on the start menu. Before expanding those lets right click on the create or open an answer file and click new answer file.

However, you can call the file anything you would like. To use the answer file with the image of windows 7 deployed in windows deployment service wds we created two answer files. Windows system image manager is the tool used to create an unattended windows setup answer file. Jan 12, 2012 the answer file now selects the defined options, but still gives the opportunity for user customization. The sample file is for the x86 version of windows 7 enterprise when using kms for activation, joining a workgroup no product key specified in the answer file. The first is a guest account which microsoft designed for users who access the device but dont have a permanent account on it. Start windows system image manager click file select windows image in select a windows image, browse to and select the image file d.

The answer file for setup is typically called unattend. These xml files are sets of instructions telling windows setup how to proceed and install itself, in the past we would have edited such files f, unattend. Note if you open an existing answer file, you might be prompted to associate the answer file with the image. Windows 10 creates two additional user accounts automatically which are both inactive by default. To create an answer file, it is necessary to start from a windows image. Windows system image manager is a tool for editing xml files used in the deployment of vista windows server 2008.

Using windows system image manager windows 7 tutorial. Aug 07, 2012 im trying to create a simple unattend. In the windows image pane, rightclick and choose select windows image. All major editions of windows 7 are supported, which include. It will scan the wim to create a catalogue and will work with x86 or x64 you will need to create different unatteded. An answer file contains seven different stages passes, and the passes that you need to configure will depend on the type of. Stepbystep guide for windows 7 sysprep eddie jackson. In the answer file pane, select the top node, and then rightclick to select new answer file. When answer file is saved that password will be encrypted and extremely difficult, if not impossible, to recover unless youve recorded. To automatically enable the local administrator account you will need to add the following component to your autounattend.

Ensure you select all the text below and copy to a word processor. There are many ways in which you can use answer files. Jun 20, 2012 an answer file for windows vista and windows 7 is an xmlbased file that contains settings definitions and values to use during windows setup. The windows image file that generated the answer file also opens if it. Use the windows system image manager sim to start a new answer file file new answer file. Choose file new answer file to create a new empty answer file, whose contents you can. You can therefore validate the settings in the answer file to the settings in the windows image. The program is from microsoft and is a gui interface to the xml file. Rightclick the answer file pane, and then click open answer file. I make all my xmls in notepad based off a saved one for something else. For more information about how to use an answer file with windows setup, see windows setup automation overview. Windows afg, however, does not need the windows automated installation kit or windows assessment and deployment kit to be.

Windows 7 unattended install and diskpartition wiping. Provisioning ms windows clones with sysprep and unattend. Its important that you select the correct component based on the architecture on the operating. To learn how to mount an image, see mount and modify a windows image using dism. Aug 16, 2012 the wsim with the windows automated installation kit waik, which can be downloaded here, and see this article to learn how to use wsim. How to create an answer file in system image manager sim to. How to clone windows 7 using norton ghost 15 and microsoft sysprep although there are quite anumber of scenarios for the use of sysprep, i have found it useful to add an answer file to the preparation process, answer files being generated using the windows system image manager wsim. The best practices for authoring answer files is to use windows system image manager. I have created two windows 7 images basically just unattended installs of windows 7 that are fully patched and sysprepped. From the windows image pane in windows system image manager, expand shellsetup. For this example i will copy it to a usb flash drive. Windows sim creates the file based on the image file, and saves. Launch windows sim system image manager from the start menu.

These options include how to partition disks, where to find the windows image that will be installed, and which product key to apply. Nov 07, 2008 in this answer file, you can specify the paths to device drivers on a network share or a local path by adding the microsoft windows pnpcustomizationswinpe or microsoft windows pnpcustomizationnonwinpe components and specifying the configuration passes in which you intend to install them. In the sample files for this article you will find a minimal, but fully automated answer file for this scenario. The xml file generated assumes that there is only one image in your install. This sample answer file contains a blank administrator password. In windows 7 the built in local administrator account is disabled by default. Launch wsim with administrative permissions by clicking start all programs microsoft windows aik, rightclicking windows system image manager, and selecting run as administrator. The purpose of this solution is to outline how to create an unattend. Windows answer file generator wafg is a simple website that provides similar functions to windows system image manager sim. An answer file contains seven different stages passes, and the passes that you need to. The install is an hp oem dvd of win 7 professional. Jul 08, 2010 windows 7, like vista, uses an xml answer file to configure the os install. However, if you use a manually authored answer file, you must validate the answer file in windows sim to verify that the answer file works. After you successfully validate an answer file, you can apply all the setting values in the answer file to the windows image.