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So I thought I knew how it worked, but apparently not.

What I have been doing for last months was installing from original media, booting into audit mode, customizing whatever I wanted, generalizing and capturing, and using that image as the new one. After some problems yesterday I realized how confused I was.

Do I need to use copyprofile=true setting on the ORIGINAL image I am customizing? The thing is I thought that by generalizing in audit mode the builtin admin account was saved and I didn't have to worry abouut anything else. I simply put copyprofile=true in autounattend.xml and let it install. Now I don't know if I wasn't doing something wrong. It's not that it doesn't work, I am just confused because some changes to the profile seem to be saved....

What is the proper way of doing this then? Installing from original media, and going sysprep /oobe /generalize /shutdown /unattend:unattend.xml, where the .xml is the most basic thing with copyprofile parameter in it?

Edited by TheWalrus
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From what I can tell its suppose to transfer the customizations from the admin profile to all future profiles. I am not sure why it is not working for you. One thing I do not do though is install in audit mode. I just use another answer file that makes the admin account, install what I need and then run sysprep from there not in audit mode. I cant see why audit mode would not work though.

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I guess I was superconfused about several things at once.

What I do is install from original media without any answer file at all, enter audit mode, generalize, capture.

What I found out is that Action center settings (the notifications) are NOT saved at all no matter what you do. That's one thing that confused the hell out of me. then I forgot to add copyprofile parameter in the autounattend.xml thinking it was enough to capture the original customized image with short answer file which only had copyprofile setting in it. What a mess.

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  • 2 years later...

I know this thread is old.  Posting this for Googler's like myself.

I am also trying to figure out if copyProfile should be put in the Autounattend.xml file which is used to automate the install from the w7 disk.

According to this site: (search down for autounattend.xml)
http://blogs.technet.com/b/askcore/archive/2010/07/19/customizing-default-users-profile-using-copyprofile.aspx

It says to not include copyProfile in the autounattend.xml file but instead to stick it in/at

c:\windows\system32\sysprep\unattend.xml

On the reference computer which is the default location SysPrep looks for an answer file.

Edited by Joshua5526
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  • 2 weeks later...

Joshua5526,

 

When you run setup on the original installation media, the installation process applies the unaltered image file install.wim to the computer. When the CopyProfile setting is configured in an answer file and then processed during the Specialize pass of Windows Setup, the Administrator user profile is copied to the Default user profile. Configuring an answer file with the CopyProfile setting for use when you install from the original installation media has no benefit, since in the install.wim file no customizations have been made to the Administrator user profile.

 

To customize the Default user profile for deployed systems, an image must be generated from a reference system with the Administrator profile configured. One way to access the Administrator profile easily is to press Ctrl+Shift+F3 during Windows Welcome, which will reboot the computer into Audit Mode with the Administrator account active and ready for customization. The Windows Welcome screen is the screen during installation where you are asked for a username and computer name in the Window labeled Set Up Windows. It is important to enter Audit Mode here, before an additional user account has been created, to ensure that the image generated from the reference system does not include existing user accounts. More information can be found on the Customize Windows in Audit Mode page.

 

Both the unattend.xml and autounattend.xml files used in the guidance you have already found are answer files. These answer files can use specific names and locations to be automatically discovered by Sysprep and Windows Setup, or they can be explicitly defined with the commands for Sysprep and Windows Setup. The Methods for Running Windows Setup page includes a list of the locations where Sysprep and Windows Setup will look for answer files and the commands which are used to instruct Sysprep or Windows Setup to use an answer file explicitly.

 

Mike

Windows Outreach Team – IT Pro

Windows for IT Pros on TechNet

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