{"id":8277,"date":"2020-04-09T12:27:36","date_gmt":"2020-04-09T16:27:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rajdude.com\/blog\/?p=8277"},"modified":"2020-04-09T12:27:36","modified_gmt":"2020-04-09T16:27:36","slug":"tiny-answer-file-for-vm-templates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rajdude.com\/blog\/tiny-answer-file-for-vm-templates\/","title":{"rendered":"Tiny answer file for VM templates"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

ok so when we create a template of Windows Server 2016 VM, after sysprepping of course, the OOBE run is annoying and time consuming…yeah yeah, it is only a couple of minutes but if you can avoid that, why not?<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

A tiny answer file specified during sysprep helps a lot. Of course, the recommended way to create that answer file is that you gotta install Windows SIM first. It takes time and has a learning curve to it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I did that. Here are a couple of nice write-ups which I followed:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/theitbros.com\/sysprep-a-windows-7-machine-start-to-finish\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

and<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.windowscentral.com\/how-create-unattended-media-do-automated-installation-windows-10<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, I must add that those are written from the perspective of automating an fresh installation of Windows, not a simple VM cloning process. That does not need all the settings these guys talk about. So At the end of this post I am sharing a tiny answer file which will help you automate. It has the bare minimum stuff you need to automate a Windows Server 2016 VM cloning process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is what it does:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Skip showing OOBE screens<\/li>
  2. Specify your company name, etc<\/li>
  3. Set locale and time zone to EST<\/li>
  4. Enable RDP<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    I use it by specifying it at sysprep time, like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    c:\\Windows\\System32\\Sysprep\\.\/sysprep.exe \/oobe \/generalize \/shutdown \/mode:vm \/unattend:c:\\AdminTools\\AutoUnattendServer2016Std.xml<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
    Enjoy!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
    <?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"utf-8\"?>\n<unattend xmlns=\"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend\">\n    <settings pass=\"specialize\">\n        <component name=\"Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup\" processorArchitecture=\"amd64\" publicKeyToken=\"31bf3856ad364e35\" language=\"neutral\" versionScope=\"nonSxS\" xmlns:wcm=\"http:\/\/schemas.microsoft.com\/WMIConfig\/2002\/State\" xmlns:xsi=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2001\/XMLSchema-instance\">\n            <RegisteredOrganization>Your company name<\/RegisteredOrganization>\n            <RegisteredOwner>Designated person<\/RegisteredOwner>\n            <TimeZone>Eastern Standard Time<\/TimeZone>\n        <\/component>\n        <component name=\"Microsoft-Windows-TerminalServices-LocalSessionManager\" processorArchitecture=\"amd64\" publicKeyToken=\"31bf3856ad364e35\" language=\"neutral\" versionScope=\"nonSxS\" xmlns:wcm=\"http:\/\/schemas.microsoft.com\/WMIConfig\/2002\/State\" xmlns:xsi=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2001\/XMLSchema-instance\">\n            <fDenyTSConnections>false<\/fDenyTSConnections>\n        <\/component>\n        <component name=\"Networking-MPSSVC-Svc\" processorArchitecture=\"amd64\" publicKeyToken=\"31bf3856ad364e35\" language=\"neutral\" versionScope=\"nonSxS\" xmlns:wcm=\"http:\/\/schemas.microsoft.com\/WMIConfig\/2002\/State\" xmlns:xsi=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2001\/XMLSchema-instance\">\n            <FirewallGroups>\n                <FirewallGroup wcm:action=\"add\" wcm:keyValue=\"RemoteDesktop\">\n                    <Active>true<\/Active>\n                    <Group>Remote Desktop<\/Group>\n                    <Profile>all<\/Profile>\n                <\/FirewallGroup>\n            <\/FirewallGroups>\n        <\/component>\n    <\/settings>\n    <settings pass=\"oobeSystem\">\n        <component name=\"Microsoft-Windows-International-Core\" processorArchitecture=\"amd64\" publicKeyToken=\"31bf3856ad364e35\" language=\"neutral\" versionScope=\"nonSxS\" xmlns:wcm=\"http:\/\/schemas.microsoft.com\/WMIConfig\/2002\/State\" xmlns:xsi=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2001\/XMLSchema-instance\">\n            <InputLocale>en-US<\/InputLocale>\n            <SystemLocale>en-US<\/SystemLocale>\n            <UILanguage>en-US<\/UILanguage>\n            <UserLocale>en-US<\/UserLocale>\n        <\/component>\n        <component name=\"Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup\" processorArchitecture=\"amd64\" publicKeyToken=\"31bf3856ad364e35\" language=\"neutral\" versionScope=\"nonSxS\" xmlns:wcm=\"http:\/\/schemas.microsoft.com\/WMIConfig\/2002\/State\" xmlns:xsi=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2001\/XMLSchema-instance\">\n            <OOBE>\n                <VMModeOptimizations>\n                    <SkipAdministratorProfileRemoval>true<\/SkipAdministratorProfileRemoval>\n                    <SkipNotifyUILanguageChange>true<\/SkipNotifyUILanguageChange>\n                <\/VMModeOptimizations>\n                <HideEULAPage>true<\/HideEULAPage>\n                <HideLocalAccountScreen>true<\/HideLocalAccountScreen>\n                <HideOEMRegistrationScreen>true<\/HideOEMRegistrationScreen>\n                <HideOnlineAccountScreens>true<\/HideOnlineAccountScreens>\n                <HideWirelessSetupInOOBE>true<\/HideWirelessSetupInOOBE>\n                <ProtectYourPC>1<\/ProtectYourPC>\n            <\/OOBE>\n        <\/component>\n    <\/settings>\n    <cpi:offlineImage cpi:source=\"\" xmlns:cpi=\"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:cpi\" \/>\n<\/unattend>\n<\/code><\/pre>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
    ok so when we create a template of Windows Server 2016 VM, after sysprepping of course, the OOBE run is annoying and time consuming…yeah yeah, it is only a couple of minutes but if you can avoid that, why not?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[104,103],"class_list":["post-8277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-itsys","tag-answer-file","tag-sysprep"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rajdude.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rajdude.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rajdude.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rajdude.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rajdude.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8277"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/rajdude.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8277\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8281,"href":"https:\/\/rajdude.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8277\/revisions\/8281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rajdude.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rajdude.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rajdude.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}