Deployment Solution

Hello, 

Altiris 8.1 - Windows 10 Education 1703

When running a scripted install of Win10 I get prompted for region, keyboard layout, and secondary keyboard layout.

I've tried editing and fixing the unattend.xml file but with no luck.

Does anyone have any idea what I am missing?

Have tried editing answer files in the following places:

C:\Program Files\Altiris\Notification Server\NSCap\bin\Win32\X86\Deployment\SOI\AnswerFile

C:\Program Files\Altiris\Notification Server\NSCap\bin\Win32\X86\Deployment

C:\Windows\Panther

Have tried adding the following to WinPE Settings in the XML

You can use Windows SIM to create a fully custom answer file and then in the SOI task you can specify custom answer file (The answer file you have built)

You need to put those settings in the oobesystem section of the unnattend.xml, the WinPE section only applies to the intial WinPE part of the install.

Ok, I will try that. Do you know if I will have to re-create the PreBoot Environment after editing the xml files?

Below is what I currently have in my Unattend_Inventory_Wind7.xml file which is currently located in: C:\Program Files\Altiris\Notification Server\NSCap\bin\Win32\X86\Deployment\SOI\AnswerFile

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> 
<unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend">
    <settings pass="specialize">
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="@ProcessArchitecture" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <ComputerName>@compName</ComputerName>
            	@Display
		</component>
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-UnattendedJoin" processorArchitecture="@ProcessArchitecture" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
			@microsoftWindowsUnattendedJoin
		</component>
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-DNS-Client" processorArchitecture="@ProcessArchitecture" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
			@microsoftWindowsDNSClient
		</component>
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-TCPIP" processorArchitecture="@ProcessArchitecture" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
			 @microsoftWindowsTCPIP
		 </component>
    </settings>
    <settings pass="windowsPE">
 <component name="Microsoft-Windows-PnpCustomizationsWinPE" processorArchitecture="@ProcessArchitecture" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">

        </component>
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-International-Core-WinPE" processorArchitecture="@ProcessArchitecture" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
			@MicrosoftWindowsInternationalCoreWinPE
		</component>
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Setup" processorArchitecture="@ProcessArchitecture" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <ImageInstall>
                <OSImage>
                    <InstallTo>
                        <DiskID>@DiskID</DiskID>
                        <PartitionID>@PartitionID</PartitionID>
                    </InstallTo>
                </OSImage>
            </ImageInstall>
            <UserData>
                <ProductKey>
                    <Key>@license</Key>
                </ProductKey>
                <AcceptEula>true</AcceptEula>
            </UserData>
        </component>
     </settings>
    <settings pass="oobeSystem">
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="@ProcessArchitecture" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <OOBE>
                <HideEULAPage>true</HideEULAPage>
                <SkipUserOOBE>true</SkipUserOOBE>
                <NetworkLocation>Work</NetworkLocation>
                <ProtectYourPC>1</ProtectYourPC>
				<SetupUILanguage>
					<UILanguage>en-US</UILanguage>
				</SetupUILanguage>
				<InputLocale>0409:00000409</InputLocale>
				<SystemLocale>en-US</SystemLocale>
				<UILanguage>en-US</UILanguage>
				<UILanguageFallback>en-US</UILanguageFallback>
				<UserLocale>en-US</UserLocale>
            </OOBE>
            <RegisteredOrganization>Altiris</RegisteredOrganization>
            <RegisteredOwner>Altiris User</RegisteredOwner>
            <TimeZone>@timezone</TimeZone>
            <UserAccounts>
                <AdministratorPassword>
                    <Value>password</Value>
                    <PlainText>true</PlainText>
                </AdministratorPassword>
                <LocalAccounts>
                    <LocalAccount wcm:action="add">
                        <Password>
                            <Value>password</Value>
                            <PlainText>true</PlainText>
                        </Password>
                        <Name>Altiris</Name>
                        <Description>Altiris User</Description>
                        <DisplayName>Altiris</DisplayName>
                        <Group>Administrators</Group>
                    </LocalAccount>
                </LocalAccounts>
            </UserAccounts>
               @Display
        </component>
    </settings>
</unattend>

Here is the error I got this morning.

I got it working well by doing two things:

1. Switching to 1607. This is because 1607 is still the standard OS for the Current Branch for Business.
2. Creating a custom answer file via Windows ADK

My altiris answer files are still messed up now. Computers initially show up as Mac addresses instead of serial numbers. Which really stinks. Anyone able to help me with this? Is there a way to mass reset the built-in answer files in Altiris?

Hello,

I switched to 1607 but the Altiris answer files are still messed up. I replaced all the answer files I changed with the originals and I'm still having issues. Is there another location that I should look into for answer files?

Apparently even Symantec knows the "region" setting in 1703 is an issue and it hasn't been resolved according to the 8.1 RU2 documentation.

Because-im-batman - Sorry, I know this doesnt answer your question, but FYI CB/CBB has now been replaced by Microsoft with the semi annual channel - basically 1703 is now recommended for all.  I think CBB is being left behind and will be at 1607 indefintely.

More info: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/release-info.aspx

Hey Guys, so I found reference to this on some forum a while back but don't remember where but here is what you need...  The magic happens in the sysprep answer file during the OOBE pass.

Here is what our answer file looked like when we were receiving the same annoying greeting message from Cortana were she would not shut up...

            <OOBE>
                <HideEULAPage>true</HideEULAPage>
                <NetworkLocation>Work</NetworkLocation>
                <HideWirelessSetupInOOBE>true</HideWirelessSetupInOOBE>
                <ProtectYourPC>1</ProtectYourPC>
            </OOBE>

And here are the values that need to be changed to so that you no longer experience that extremely annoying Cortana greeting message anymore...

             <OOBE>
                <HideEULAPage>true</HideEULAPage>
                <HideLocalAccountScreen>true</HideLocalAccountScreen>
                <HideOEMRegistrationScreen>true</HideOEMRegistrationScreen>
                <HideOnlineAccountScreens>true</HideOnlineAccountScreens>
                <HideWirelessSetupInOOBE>true</HideWirelessSetupInOOBE>
                <NetworkLocation>Work</NetworkLocation>
                <ProtectYourPC>1</ProtectYourPC>
                <SkipMachineOOBE>true</SkipMachineOOBE>
                <SkipUserOOBE>true</SkipUserOOBE>
            </OOBE>

You may not need all of these specific values to suppress your prompts but the values of note are the <ProtectYourPC>, <SkipMachineOOBE>, and <SkipUserOOBE>

If this solves your issue, kindly mark this as a solution.  Thanks :)

Also its worth noting in your screenshot, its looking for the answerfile in the X:\ drive.  The letter X:\ gets assigned to the RAMDISK while the system is running in WinPE and under normal circumstances would not be present when booting to into windows.  Normally it would be looking for the answer file in the C:\ drive...  usually in C:\Windows\Panther or C:\Windows\System32\Sysprep. 

If this solves your issue, kindly mark this as a solution.  Thanks :)

If it still a problem for someone, I'll put my 50c how we managed to fix this:

We have a list of unattended files in [installation_directory]\Altiris\Notification Server\NSCap\bin\Win32\X86\Deployment\SOI\AnswerFile

When I did the change as Joel mentioned:

  <OOBE>

...

<HideWirelessSetupInOOBE>true</HideWirelessSetupInOOBE>

...

</OOBE>

it didn't appy, as the changes are not picked up by the unattend.xml file. We get this approved by open the unnatend.xml file from the command prompt when the task been applied to the laptop. It should be in the root of the X:\ drive. 

I tried a lot of things, even we created a new package of the OS deployment (which is picked up the new string successfully).

So, going to the fix :) the fix was easy:

We have enabled the "Default configuration" in our Windows Deploiment task, saved changes, tested - working (string appeared in the unattend file), then switched back to the "Use inventory data to reconfigure computer" configuration, saved settings, tested - and now it picked up the string. 

So, for me, it looks like a "bug", someone could say that it is a metadata cache, but it fixed our issue. 

Hope that helps someone, or might be me in the future :)