Overview
Use of HII for Windows 7 will require you to change your sysprep answer file (unattend.xml). Traditionally, Windows 7 images designed for deployment are syspreped into oobe (out of box experience) mode. This prepares the image in the same way a new computer would arrive from Dell. The user may be prompted for usernames, computer name, time zone, and other settings (all of which are configurable.
To use HII, the computer must be syspreped to audit mode. Audit mode is used to customize the OS before it is prepared for use. Because of this limitation, separate images must be used for HII and non-HII builds. This is discussed in further detail on the Landesk forums: http://community.landesk.com/support/docs/DOC-8051
A computer configured for HII will:
- After the computer is imaged in WinPE, Landesk copies the drivers for that machine into a folder on the hard drive.
- The computer boots into audit mode, installs the drivers, then syspreps the computer into oobe mode.
- The computer should now boot up normally in oobe mode and continue the process as normal.
Technical Details
Below is an example sysprep file. It is attached to this page or you can expand to see it below.
 Click to see full example unattend.xml
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<unattend>
<settings pass="auditSystem">
<component name="Microsoft-Windows-PnpCustomizationsNonWinPE" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<DriverPaths>
<PathAndCredentials wcm:keyValue="1" wcm:action="add">
<Path>c:\windows\LDDriverStore</Path>
</PathAndCredentials>
</DriverPaths>
</component>
<component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" processorArchitecture="x86">
<UserAccounts>
<AdministratorPassword>
<PlainText>true</PlainText>
<Value>%AdminPass%</Value>
</AdministratorPassword>
</UserAccounts>
<AutoLogon>
<Enabled>true</Enabled>
<Username>Administrator</Username>
<Password>
<PlainText>true</PlainText>
<Value>%AdminPass%</Value>
</Password>
<LogonCount>1</LogonCount>
</AutoLogon>
</component>
</settings>
<settings pass="auditUser">
<component name="Microsoft-Windows-Deployment" processorArchitecture="x86" 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>c:\windows\System32\sysprep\sysprep.exe /oobe /generalize /reboot </Path>
</RunSynchronousCommand>
</RunSynchronous>
</component>
</settings>
<settings pass="oobeSystem">
<component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" processorArchitecture="x86">
<OOBE>
<HideEULAPage>true</HideEULAPage>
<ProtectYourPC>1</ProtectYourPC>
<SkipMachineOOBE>true</SkipMachineOOBE>
<SkipUserOOBE>true</SkipUserOOBE>
</OOBE>
<ProductKey>%Win7ProdKey%</ProductKey>
<RegisteredOwner>User</RegisteredOwner>
<RegisteredOrganization>LANDesk</RegisteredOrganization>
<UserAccounts>
<AdministratorPassword>
<PlainText>true</PlainText>
<Value>%AdminPass%</Value>
</AdministratorPassword>
</UserAccounts>
<AutoLogon>
<Enabled>true</Enabled>
<Username>Administrator</Username>
<Password>
<PlainText>true</PlainText>
<Value>%AdminPass%</Value>
</Password>
<LogonCount>1</LogonCount>
</AutoLogon>
</component>
</settings>
<settings pass="specialize">
<component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" processorArchitecture="x86">
<ComputerName>%ldHostname%</ComputerName>
</component>
</settings>
</unattend>
The example file shouldn't be too difficult to follow but it basically configures the computer to automatically log into the Administrator account, notifies Windows that the drivers have been copied to c:\windows\LDDriverStore, syspreps into oobe mode, and automatically logs into the Admin account once more to resume provisioning.
Issues and Solutions
Problem |
Solution |
Windows 7 reboots constantly after imaging but before anything else |
Add the proper SATA driver to HII |
Windows 7 reports an error in the audit user phase |
Add the proper network driver to HII |
Landesk Community Documents and Discussion