Sysprep will generate an error log file in panther.Check it for an error concerning this: drmv2clt.dll This is caused by Windows Media Player Network Service. Go to services, then stop "Windows Media Player Network Sharing" and try again. There could be other reasons but this is most common.
In the C:\Windows\System32\sysprep\Panther directory, I found the setupact.log file with this content: Code: 2012-09-19 10:08:16, Info SYSPRP ======================================================== 2012-09-19 10:08:16, Info SYSPRP === Beginning of a new sysprep run === 2012-09-19 10:08:16, Info SYSPRP ======================================================== 2012-09-19 10:08:16, Info [0x0f004d] SYSPRP The time is now 2012-09-19 10:08:16 2012-09-19 10:08:16, Info [0x0f004e] SYSPRP Initialized SysPrep log at C:\Windows\System32\sysprep\Panther 2012-09-19 10:08:16, Info [0x0f0054] SYSPRP ValidateUser:User has required privileges to sysprep machine 2012-09-19 10:08:16, Info [0x0f007e] SYSPRP FCreateTagFile:Tag file C:\Windows\System32\sysprep\Sysprep_succeeded.tag does not already exist, no need to delete anything 2012-09-19 10:08:17, Info [0x0f005f] SYSPRP ParseCommands:Found supported command line option 'GENERALIZE' 2012-09-19 10:08:17, Info [0x0f005f] SYSPRP ParseCommands:Found supported command line option 'OOBE' 2012-09-19 10:08:17, Info [0x0f005f] SYSPRP ParseCommands:Found supported command line option 'REBOOT' 2012-09-19 10:08:17, Info [0x0f004a] SYSPRP WaitThread:Entering spawned waiting thread 2012-09-19 10:08:17, Error [sysprep.exe] UnattendSearchExplicitPath: Found unattend file at [C:\Windows\Panther\unattend.xml] but unable to deserialize it; status = 0x80073714, hrResult = 0x0. 2012-09-19 10:08:17, Error [0x0f009e] SYSPRP SysprepSearchForUnattend: Failed while searching for unattend file; hr = 0x80073714 2012-09-19 10:08:17, Error [0x0f00a5] SYSPRP WinMain:Encountered error while searching for unattend file; hr = 0x80073714 2012-09-19 10:08:18, Info [0x0f004c] SYSPRP WaitThread:Exiting spawned waiting thread 2012-09-19 10:08:18, Info [0x0f0052] SYSPRP Shutting down SysPrep log 2012-09-19 10:08:18, Info [0x0f004d] SYSPRP The time is now 2012-09-19 10:08:18 and I found the setuperr.log file with this content: Code: 2012-09-19 10:08:17, Error [sysprep.exe] UnattendSearchExplicitPath: Found unattend file at [C:\Windows\Panther\unattend.xml] but unable to deserialize it; status = 0x80073714, hrResult = 0x0. 2012-09-19 10:08:17, Error [0x0f009e] SYSPRP SysprepSearchForUnattend: Failed while searching for unattend file; hr = 0x80073714 2012-09-19 10:08:17, Error [0x0f00a5] SYSPRP WinMain:Encountered error while searching for unattend file; hr = 0x80073714 So, as I do to fix this? Thanks Bye
just type "net stop WMPNetworkSvc" with a command prompt to kill the service BEFORE you start sysprep...
I was wrong encoding to save: I used Unicode encoding instead of UTF-8. Now, the error: Could not parse or process the answer file for unattended installation [C:\Windows\Panther\unattend.xml]. The answer file is not valid. Error detected at line 17, column 1 of the answer file. is displayed. Why is that? Thanks Bye