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I'm trying to sysprep a Windows 10 machine that has no access to the internet (and cannot be connected to the internet). This seems like it would be an easy task but so far it's been an exercise in frustration.

Here's what I've done so far:

  1. Ran sysprep. This did not work. It generalized the OS but when I boot back into it, I get an error saying that setup could not be finished an I should reboot and try again. Rebooting and trying again does not change anything.

  2. Googled previous error. Found a page saying to bring up a cmd prompt with Shift+F8, go to the oobe folder and manually run msoobe. This works great until I go through the OOBE and then it gets to "Just a moment..." and hangs. Forever. As long as I let it run.

  3. Googled THAT issue and apparently the OOBE tries to log into my Microsoft account that I neither have or will be using on this system. Instead of erroring out when it cannot reach the internet, Windows 10 helpfully waits for an unlimited amount of time until the internet is restored.

  4. Attempted to use the ADK and windows imaging utilities to create an unattend.xml file that skips the OOBE entirely. After an entirely over complicated and painful process to change one setting that involved sneakernetting a series of files and installers to my offline machine over the course of several days, I think I generated it correctly. Ran it, sysprepped again. Doesn't matter. Startup failed with the error in step 1 anyway.

I'm really out of patience for this. I do not have any Windows servers to use SCCM or MDT or whatever. I'm just trying to develop an imaging process for a couple dozen standalone Windows 10 laptops.

What are the procedures I need to be following to sysprep a Windows 10 installation without any internet connectivity?

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  • Please edit the question to limit it to a specific problem with enough detail to identify an adequate answer. Avoid asking multiple distinct questions at once. See the How to Ask page for help clarifying this question.
    – Ramhound
    Commented Sep 12, 2017 at 20:34
  • Provide us your setupact.log and setuperr.log
    – Ramhound
    Commented Sep 12, 2017 at 20:59
  • No way to transfer logs off the system. What should I be looking for?
    – DWilliams
    Commented Sep 12, 2017 at 21:08
  • The error that caused the procedure to fail.
    – Ramhound
    Commented Sep 12, 2017 at 21:12
  • 1
    Regarding the log files. 1. Plug in USB stick. Boot computer shift F8 or F10 to get the command prompt. 3. Use command prompt to navigate to c:\windows\system32\sysprep. 4. Use the dos copy command to copy log files to USB stick. 5. Review logs on another computer.
    – cybernard
    Commented Sep 12, 2017 at 21:27

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
-1

You have already sysprepped the machine. Your next step will be to download or build a Windows 10 desktop PE. The recommended solution will be:

  • One-time
  1. Download Win10XPE and PEBakery.
  2. Join the 3 split 7z files relating to Win10XPE. copy /b ...001+...002+...003 xpe.7z
  3. If you do not have it, download 7-Zip.
  4. Extract the resulting xpe.7z into a folder.
  5. In this folder, delete Win10XPE.exe and the related ini file.
  6. Extract PEBakery (both Binary and PEBakery.exe) into the Win10XPE directory and rename PEBakery.exe to Win10XPE.exe.
  7. Execute Win10XPE.exe.
  8. Click on Download Source ISO.
  9. Follow instructions to download a Windows 10 20H1 ISO.
  10. Create a directory named WinISO in the Win10XPE directory and extract the ISO contents into WinISO.
  11. Go back to the PEBakery window.
  12. Select any apps you want, it must include Windows Login Unlocker.
  13. Go to the Build Core Item and select all features except ImDisk, IE11, and Windows Installer files.
  14. Go to Additional Options and set skin to Plain10.
  15. Go to the root Win10XPE item and set source folder to WinISO.
  16. Check your settings and click the "Build" button. If it says that the WinRE version does not match the Windows version, the ISO you downloaded back in steps 8-9 is not 20H1.
  17. When the process is done, the ISO will be in the Win10XPE directory.
  18. You will find Rufus in Win10XPE directory > Projects > Tools as rufus-x.xxp.exe. Execute this file.
  19. Set the ISO to the one you found in step 17.
  20. Connect an empty USB to your PC and select the USB.
  21. Check your settings and click "Start".
  22. After the process is done, remove the USB from your PC.
  • All destinations
  1. Boot your destination PC from the USB.
  2. When prompted to switch to admin, click Yes.
  3. Start > All Programs > Security > Windows Login Unlocker
  4. Windows + R, regedit
  5. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, File > Load Hive, go to what would be the C: drive (a non-X: drive with Users and Windows), Windows > System32 > config > SYSTEM
  6. When prompted, type "sys".
  7. HKLM > sys > Setup
  8. Set CmdLine to empty and *InProgress and Setup* DWORDs to 0
  9. HKLM > sys > Setup > Status > ChildCompletion
  10. Set every dword to 0
  11. Close regedit and go to the Windows Login Unlocker
  12. Add a new user.
  13. Shut down, remove USB, and boot into Windows.
  14. Log in to the new user.
  • If there is any Start Menu problem
  1. Plug the USB into the same PC that you used to make the ISO.
  2. Download Open Shell Menu.
  3. Place the installer on the USB.
  4. Remove the USB from your PC and place the USB in the destination.
  5. Install Open Shell Menu. In the features page, click the disk icon behind "Classic Explorer" and click on the red X. Do the same for Classic IE.
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