2011-09-16 17:05:55, Info SYSPRP ========================================================
2011-09-16 17:05:55, Info SYSPRP === Beginning of a new sysprep run ===
2011-09-16 17:05:55, Info SYSPRP ========================================================
2011-09-16 17:05:55, Info [0x0f004d] SYSPRP The time is now 2011-09-16 17:05:55
2011-09-16 17:05:55, Info [0x0f004e] SYSPRP Initialized SysPrep log at C:\Windows\System32\Sysprep\Panther
2011-09-16 17:05:55, Info [0x0f0054] SYSPRP ValidateUser:User has required privileges to sysprep machine
2011-09-16 17:05:55, Info [0x0f007e] SYSPRP FCreateTagFile:Tag file C:\Windows\System32\Sysprep\Sysprep_succeeded.tag does not already exist, no need to delete anything
2011-09-16 17:05:56, Info [0x0f005f] SYSPRP ParseCommands:Found supported command line option 'GENERALIZE'
2011-09-16 17:05:56, Info [0x0f005f] SYSPRP ParseCommands:Found supported command line option 'OOBE'
2011-09-16 17:05:56, Info [0x0f005f] SYSPRP ParseCommands:Found supported command line option 'QUIT'
2011-09-16 17:05:56, Info [0x0f005f] SYSPRP ParseCommands:Found supported command line option 'UNATTEND'
2011-09-16 17:05:56, Info [0x0f004a] SYSPRP WaitThread:Entering spawned waiting thread
2011-09-16 17:05:56, Info [Sysprep.exe] UnattendFindAnswerFile: Looking at explicitly provided unattend file [C:\Windows\system32\sysprep\unattend.xml]...
2011-09-16 17:05:56, Info [Sysprep.exe] UnattendFindAnswerFile: [C:\Windows\system32\sysprep\unattend.xml] meets criteria for an explicitly provided unattend file.
2011-09-16 17:05:56, Info SYSPRP SysprepSearchForUnattend: Using unattend file at [C:\Windows\system32\sysprep\unattend.xml].
2011-09-16 17:05:57, Error CSI 00000001 (F) HRESULT_FROM_WIN32(1450) #1# from LoadStore(target = NULL)
[gle=0x80004005]
2011-09-16 17:05:57, Error [0x0f00a9] SYSPRP SysprepSearchForUnattend: Hit internal error while validating [generalize] pass in [C:\Windows\system32\sysprep\unattend.xml]; hr = 0x800705aa
2011-09-16 17:05:57, Error [0x0f00a5] SYSPRP WinMain:Encountered error while searching for unattend file; hr = 0x800705aa
These are old log files - but the error is exactly the same. Running the sysprep GUI gives the same result.
These images were originally created by doing a clean install then creating a ghost disk image without sysprep. That image is then deployed to an identical PC, updated, new ghost disk image captured (again without sysprep). Finally the Altiris agent is added and the Capture Disk Image job is started (this time with the "Prepare For Image Capture (Sysprep)" task). At this point the job fails when sysprep fails to start...