OSD failing with Windows could not parse or process the unattend answer file for pass [specialize].

[jpboyce 0]

Hi,

 

I'm trying to deploy Windows 7 using a custom task sequence on SCCM 2007 R2. Originally I had a basic task sequence that performed tasks such as formating/partitioning the disk, applying the OS image, Windows settings, etc. I needed to change the default language settings from en-US to another setting and tried using an unattended.xml file to do this. I added the file as a package in SCCM and then added the reference to it in the Apply Operating System Image task.

 

After I did that, I started getting the error Windows could not parse or process the unattend answer file for pass [specialize]. The settings specified in the answer file cannot be applied. The error was deteted while processing settings for component [Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup]

 

Where it becomes strange is I've tried to remove the reference, even removed the files from the package source folder and updated the distribution points, yet the error keeps happening as if SCCM is caching the values in it. Does anyone know what might be causing this or how I fix it? Thanks.

[anyweb 480]

are you installing 64bit windows 7 or 32 bit, the unatten.xmlfile must match the architecture

[jpboyce 0]

are you installing 64bit windows 7 or 32 bit, the unatten.xmlfile must match the architecture

 

I'm installing 32-bit Windows 7. All the component lines in the unattend file I created had processorArchitecture="x86". It's not really an issue anymore of getting the unattend file to work anyway. I just want to be able to get my task sequence to work at all, as I mentioned, the error keeps appearing after I removed the reference to the unattend file.

[anyweb 480]

are you doing a build and capture of windows 7, or are you deploying a previously captured image ? if it was previously captured how was it created ?

 

what steps do you have in your current task sequence (a screenshot of it is enough)

[Lucid 6]

It may have squirreled up somewhere when writing the file. I'd suggest right-clicking on the Apply Operating System task sequence item, and selecting Copy. Then right-click on an empty space in the task sequence and select Paste. Then delete the original Apply Operating System item. Move the new item to the desired spot, and then save the task sequence. Then give things a whirl to see if that fixed it...

[jpboyce 0]

are you doing a build and capture of windows 7, or are you deploying a previously captured image ? if it was previously captured how was it created ?

 

what steps do you have in your current task sequence (a screenshot of it is enough)

 

It's being done as an "Apply Operating System Image" task using the "Apply Operating System from original installation source". This option then references a Windows 7 package that had been added under Operating Systems Installation Packages. Attached image shows the task sequence at the moment (which I've recreated from scratch again) with detail of the apply OS image item.

[jpboyce 0]

Just following up on this, I think I've narrowed down what is causing the error to appear. In the XP SOE task sequence that already existed, there was two task items relating to setting the computer name. One would set the variable OSDComputer to a period (.). The second would run a VBscript that would interrogate the machine for it's asset tag entry in the BIOS via WMI. The script would then assign that value to the OSDComputername variable and the OS install would inherit that.

 

With the Windows 7 deployment, I've tried using the same task setup and when either of those tasks are in place (both or one at a time), it will fail with the error. If I remove them, the OSD finishes but the machine has a random name (MININT-randomletters).

 

Is there any reason why setting the OSDComputerName variable via the script would cause it to fail? Thanks.