Windows 7: Sysprep problems on WES 7

Hello all,
I am trying to run "sysprep /oobe /generalize" from command prompt (Run as administrator) on my reference machine. It appears to start and run for a while, but my reference machine never reboots. So, I checked the log it generates and it contains errors that I do not understand. Please take a look at the attachments. I could use some help. Thanks.
Kris

Running sysprep without /reboot switch never reboots, it just shuts the PC down.

I have noticed something a bit weird that I can not explain. In about one third of the times when I've run sysprep in various machines, I get an error message and it stops, or no error message but sysprep does not work. Studying this a bit deeper, I noticed that error almost never occurs when stopping Windows Media Player Network Sharing service. For instance if I get error message when running sysprep, then stop the WMP service and run sysprep again, it usually works.

To stop this service which is started by default, type net stop WMPNetworkSvc to command prompt.

Your logs show nothing exceptional, only that IIS is not able to start because of some conflict in admin rights. Disable IIS before running sysprep?

Kari

Thanks for the reply Kari. I have the Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service's Startup Type set to Disabled, so when I run "net stop WMPNetworkSvc", I get the message "The Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service service is not started". Makes sense. How do you "Disable IIS"?

Ok.

Yeah, that was not so clearly stated. I mean, is there a reason why you need IIS on in your sysprepped image? If not, disable it here:



Kari

No, I do not need IIS in my sysprepped image. Unfortunately, nothing shows up in the Turn Windows features on or off dialog. What's up with that? Regardless, the help for the dialog seems to indicate that IIS is turned off by default. I think it comes down to why this really happened ...

2011-01-05 14:48:14, Error [0x0f0082] SYSPRP LaunchDll:Failure occurred while executing 'C:\Windows\System32\inetsrv\iissyspr.dll,IIS_Generalize', returned error code -2146893818

Any ideas? Other ideas?

Could you shortly summarize what are you trying to do? Are you preparing Windows to deployment? Are you running sysprep in Audit Mode? Have you run some unattend xml-scripts?

Looking at what it's doing and knowing what iissyspr.dll does (resets IIS password and security information on the metabase, thus "generalizing" it for sysprep redeployment), and that it's a registry error, I'm wondering if perhaps the IIS admin service is installed but not running, or perhaps not installed at all? The state of the IIS Admin service when sysprep is run does cause this error (if it is running, stop it - if it is not running, start it; I cannot remember which state was the problem state, but I had this exact issue on W2K8 and the state of this service was the key during sysprep).

cluberti,

The IIS Admin Service appears in the list of services and it's Startup type is set to Automatic; Service status is set to Stopped. When I attempt to manually start the service, it does not start and an error is reported in the Event Viewer-->Windows Logs-->System log saying, "The IIS Admin Service service terminated with service-specific error %%-2146893818." Same error as reported during attempt to run sysprep. What is the "friendly" meaning of error code -2146893818?

Kari,

Okay, short summary ... Using ICE, I am building a WES 7 image for custom hardware developed by my company. The same image will be installed on ALL manufactured hardware units. The approach I am using is as follows...

1. load the image with the unattend file created by ICE
2. install various applications that support our custom application
3. perform some other generic customizations (group policy)
4. run "sysprep /oobe /generalize" from command line on a reference target (note that I have also tried to run "sysprep /audit", but I get the same error.
5. duplicate the compact flash (in place of HDD) for mass deployment

When using Windows XP embedded on our older systems, implementation of step 4 was performed using "fbreseal".

Is my approach correct? It is similar to that found at ...
What Is Sysprep?
... under "Creating a Build-to-Order (BTO) Windows Image" section.

Thanks for your help guys. Much appreciated!

I can not see anything wrong in your approach. That's how I would do it. But, in total honesty, I am no expert in this area. I have used WinPE, Audit Mode and sysprep quite a lot but it's all been for imaging and deploying simple systems in my home network of 7 computers and a server. Seven and sysprep really are something different, compared to XP and fbreseal.

Cluberti is far more experienced in this issue, and I believe he is right with that somehow IIS service is the culprit. That also supports my own experience with that WMPNetworkSvc, which logically thinking should have nothing whatsoever to do with sysprepping, but still causes time to time sysprep to fail.

I am very sorry but I can not think anything else. Let's hope Cluberti comes with some fresh ideas.

Kari

Okay, Kari, I appreciate your honesty and your help! Looking forward to hearing from cluberti. I know that I am not exactly following the technet instructions to the letter, so I think I'll take a step backward with the hope of moving forward. Keep an eye on the forum ... I'm intending to post as new info comes to light.