Installing Windows 10 is done in three phases:. Boot from install media, run Windows Setup. Configure hardware devices. Windows Welcome (OOBE)In normal install, user interaction is required in phases 1 and 3, phase 2 being run automatically without user interaction. In phase 1 user selects language and keyboard layout settings for system accounts, enters product key for specific edition or selects edition manually if product key is not entered at this stage, and selects disk and partition to install Windows.

1. What Is Automated Installation Kit
2. What Is A Silent Installation In Windows
3. What Is Unattended Installation

When phase 1 is done, Windows restarts to phase 2 which is done without user interaction and when ready automatically restarts to phase 3.In phase 3 user selects region and language settings for user accounts, creates initial admin user account, chooses OneDrive and privacy settings and finally boots to desktop.In this tutorial we will create two answer files to automate phases 1 and 3. An is set of commands and instructions in XML format to tell Windows setup what to do and how to proceed. We will need two answer files:. autounattend.xml to automate phase 1, Windows Setup.

unattend.xml to automate phase 3, OOBEWhen done we will create a custom USB flash drive install media for unattended install. To install Windows 10 using this USB will be totally unattended, 'Hands Free'; simply boot from USB and forget it, take a break, come back to PC to find everything is done, Windows fully installed without a single key press or mouse click, without any user interaction.The process as described in tutorial requires two computers, one or both of them can be virtual machines:.

A technician machine. A computer or virtual machine with existing Windows 10 installation, any version and edition. Technician machine will be used to prepare answer files and other assets for custom install image. In this tutorial I will use my W10 PRO Insider Preview Build 17025 laptop as technician machine.

A reference machine. A computer or virtual machine which has no operating system installed. 1.1) Windows System Image Manager (SIM) is part of Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK). On technician machine, download Windows ADK fromIf you are creating answer files for unattended install of Windows Insider build, download Windows Insider Preview ADK instead:1.2) Run the installer on technician machine, select Install to this computer. Don't panic when you see installer to tell it requires almost 7 GB, we will only need under 100 MB part of it:1.3) For purpose of this tutorial, we will only need Deployment Tools. You can unselect everything else:1.4) When installed, Windows SIM can be found and started from Start W Windows Kits Windows System Image Manager.

Please notice, to continue we will need install.wim file. If your Windows 10 ISO is ESD based (Media Creation Tool ISO), you must first convert install.esd to install.wim as told in this tutorial:When done, delete install.esd file in your ISOFilesSources folder, replace it with converted install.wim file and continue from 2.3.2.3) Start Windows SIM (see 1.4). To create an answer file, Windows SIM needs a so called catalog file which will be based on install.wim file for a specific edition of Windows 102.4) In Windows SIM, select File New Answer File. You will be asked if you want to open a Windows image. Select Yes:2.5) Browse to and select install.wim in ISOFilesSources folder (or any other folder you used to copy ISO content for instance ICopiedISOfilesHereSources). Creating a catalog file will take quite some time.

Luckily you only need to create catalog file once. It will be created in same folder where install.wim file used to create it is located, in this example case now in my D:ISOFilesSources folder. The filename will be installWindows 10 XXX.clg where XXX is edition in question.Copy the catalog file to another folder to keep it for future needs:In the future you can open catalog file instead of creating a new one, Select a Windows Image dialog (see 2.5) accepts both WIM and CLG (catalog) files:2.6) In case your ISO is a multi edition one, select correct edition:2.7) If creating a new catalog file, Windows SIM will tell it must create one.

Click Yes:2.8) Catalog will be created. Notice that this part is only required if you want the complete Windows Setup process to be automatized, plugging in USB and boot to it then take a break and come back later to sign in to desktop.If you prefer a standard installation, boot to Windows Setup region and keyboard selection and partitioning Windows system disk manually with Windows Setup, you can skip this part.3.1) Windows installation and setup is done in so called configuration passes.

More information about configuration passes on Microsoft TechNet:.An answer file is made by adding components to various configuration passes, each component containing settings for that pass. There are seven different configuration passes, here shown in Answer File pane in Windows SIM:Configuration passes 5 auditSystem and 6 auditUser are not needed in normal Windows setup.3.2) Answer file autounattend.xml, first of two answer files we will prepare is the one that takes care of setup phase containing information about regional settings, accepting EULA, how to partition hard disk and in which partition Windows will be installed. It only contains components in pass 1 windowsPE3.3) In Windows SIM, expand Components in Windows Image pane bottom left:3.4) Component names start with amd64Microsoft-Windows if you are working with catalog file for 64 bit Windows, and with x86Microsoft-Windows for 32 bit Windows, and end with build number of the install.wim file used to create the catalog. In this tutorial I will omit these two parts when telling about which components need to added.To add region and language settings to answer file, right click component International-Core-WinPE, select Add Setting to Pass 1 windowsPE. UILanguageFallback is the language to be used for resources, notifications and system messages that are not localized (translated) to current Windows system language.

US English (en-US) can and should be used for all partially localized languages. In both examples above, you will notice that we set the last partition (Windows in this case) to use all available space by setting Extend property to True instead of defining a size for the partition, leaving Size property empty (it must be left empty if Extend = True, do not enter any value!):If we would like to create additional data partitions, we would set Extend property for Windows partition to False and set a Size property for it instead (size in MB), then add additional partitions setting their size as preferred, extending the last partition to use all available space. You can only use Extend True for the last partition on disk.In below table example properties for partitioning HDD to have a 128 GB (131,072 MB) Windows partition, a 200 GB (204,800 MB) Data partition, and finally use rest of the disk for Games partition.

PARTITIONEXTENDORDERSIZE (MB)TYPEWinREFalse1450PrimaryEFIFalse2100EFIMSRFalse316MSRWindowsFalse4131072PrimaryDataFalse5204800PrimaryGamesTrue6Leave emptyPrimary3.15) In steps 3.13 and 3.14 we only created raw partitions. Each of them needs to modified.

To do that, right click ModifyPartitions and select Insert New ModifyPartition:Repeat this to create a ModifyPartition setting for each partition you created in 3.13 and 3.14:3.16) GPT disk only: Set properties for each partition as shown below. Only set a value for a setting when told so! Leave all other value fields empty.First the WinRE partition. Set it as follows:.

Format = NTFS. Label = WinRE. Order = 1. PartitionID = 1. TypeID = DE94BBA4-06D1-4D40-A16A-BFD50179D6ACWinRE partition is the only one requiring specific TypeID. The ID must be exactly as shown above!Repeat the above three times, selecting a not yet modified ModifyPartition in Answer File pane and setting the properties for it. Below the properties for each of four GPT partitions:.

ModifyPartition 1 (WinRE):. Format = NTFS. Label = WinRE.

Order = 1. PartitionID = 1. TypeID = DE94BBA4-06D1-4D40-A16A-BFD50179D6AC. ModifyPartition 2 (EFI):. Format = FAT32. Label = System. Order = 2.

PartitionID = 2. ModifyPartition 3 (MSR):. Order = 3. PartitionID = 3. ModifyPartition 4 (Windows):. Format = NTFS. Label = Windows. 2 sample t test.

Letter = C. Order = 4. PartitionID = 4Remember: only modify properties to settings as told above, leaving other fields empty! Notice that small 16 MB MSR partition will not be formatted nor does it get a label.When done, you should have four CreatePartition components to create partitions, and four ModifyPartition components to configure them:3.17) MBR disk only: For MBR disk you only need two ModifyPartitions. Code: en-GB040b:0000040ben-GBen-GBen-USen-GB1450Primarytrue4Primary316MSR2100EFINTFSWinRE11DE94BBA4-06D1-4D40-A16A-BFD50179D6ACFAT32System22NTFSWindowsC44330trueVK7JG-NPHTM-C97JM-9MPGT-3V66TtrueTen Forums04.

4.1) The second answer file is to take care of OOBE, to automate it bypassing region and keyboard selection and user account creation. To start, open Windows SIM and create a new answer file as you did in steps 2.3 through 2.5. Because the catalog file is already created, use it instead of install.wim to speed up process4.2) In step 3.4 you saw how to add components to answer file. Add required components now from Windows Image pane bottom left in Windows SIM to answer file as you did making the first answer file. First, add component International-Core to Pass 7 oobeSystem:In Windows Image pane, expand component Shell-Setup and add components as told below:- Add OEMInformation to Pass 4 Specialize- Add Shell-Setup OOBE to Pass 7 oobeSystem- Add Shell-Setup UserAccounts to Pass 7 oobeSystemAnswer File pane should look like this after you have added necessary components:4.3) In Answer File pane, select Shell-Setup in pass 4 specialize. Set CopyProfile = true, OEMName as you wish, RegisteredOrganization as you wish, RegisteredOwner as you wish, and TimeZone if required (see explanation below screenshot). Leave all other property value fields empty:About TimeZone value: If no value given, Windows defaults to time zone according to language of the install media.

What Is Automated Installation Kit

US English Windows defaults to Pacific time, Finnish Windows to time in Finland, UK English Windows to UK time, Japanese Windows to time in Japan. In my case as I use UK English Windows which would default to UK time but I live in Germany, I want to set time zone accordingly to CET or as Windows understands it, to W. Europe Standard Time.In same way, if answer file and USB install media we are preparing would be used in East Coast USA, it would be a good idea to set time zone to EST / EDST setting TimeZone value Eastern Standard Time.Full list of valid time zone names:4.4) Select Shell-Setup OEMInformation in Answer file pane, add Manufacturer, SupportHours, SupportPhone and SupportURL as you wish. If you want to add an OEM logo later (see step 5.1) when we prepare assets and install Windows on reference machine, add logo path and filename as C:WindowsSystem32oemlogo.bmp:Notice that OEMInformation is optional, not required. Code: truetruetruetrue1falseTQB5AFMAZQBjAHIAZQB0AFAAYQBzAHMAdwBvAHIAZABQAGEAcwBzAHcAbwByAGQAfalseMain local admin accountAdminAdministratorsAdminDaily standard accountKariUsersKariTen ForumsKariW. Europe Standard Time040b:0000040ben-GBen-GBen-USen-GBC:WindowsSystem32oemlogo.bmpTen Forums24/7+44 123 456 789ForumsTen ForumsKariW. Europe Standard time.

What Is A Silent Installation In Windows

Code: echo Y del%appdata%microsoftwindowsrecentautomaticdestinations.del%0Do not run the batch file, it deletes itself! If you want to test it, make a copy and run it instead.This file will be copied to default user profile on reference machine, and from there to every user profile. It runs itself every time any user signs in first time clearing This PC, Quick Access and Recent files views, then deletes itself. Without it, some leftovers from reference machine's built-in administrator account would be shown in Quick Access.5.3) If you have installers for software you would like to include in your custom Windows image, save them, too, in Assets folder.5.4) In this example my Assets folder contains the unattend.xml answer file, an OEM logo image, RunOnce.bat from step 5.2, two themepack files and as an example of software installers, installer for VLC Player. 6.1) Any PC or virtual machine can be used as reference machine. In this example I created a Generation 2 Hyper-V virtual machine with a 50 GB virtual hard disk6.2) If using a Hyper-V VM as reference machine, open its settings before booting and disable (unselect) automatic checkpoints (yellow highlight in screenshot). Be sure you are using Standard checkpoints:6.3) Install Windows 10 normally until OOBE starts and region settings screen is shown.

Do not select anything, just press CTRL + SHIFT + F3 to restart to Audit Mode (press and hold down both CTRL and SHIFT keys, press F3, release all three keys):6.4) Windows will restart and sign you in to Audit Mode with built-in administrator account. Sysprep Prompt will be shown on screen. Click Cancel to close it:6.5) Connect reference machine to network.

What Is Unattended Installation

The AppData folder is hidden. A practical way to open it in Save as dialog is to type%appdata% in address field and press Enter. This opens the AppDataRoaming folder and you can now click yourself deeper to target folder:7.5) Theme files do not have to be saved, just open them to apply.

If you want to install multiple themes to your custom image, open the one you want to be default theme for all user accounts last (you can't change themes in Audit Mode, just apply them):7.6) Run possible software installers without saving them:7.7) Create two new folders on root of C: drive, name them C:Image and C:Scratch. These folders will be needed when we capture the image. If you are using a Hyper-V VM as reference machine, create a checkpoint now. It allows you to return to this point in few seconds if something goes wrong with image capture or to make changes in image before it's captured.7.8) When done, press WIN + R to open Run prompt, type following command and press Enter:C:WindowsSystem32Sysprepsysprep.exe /generalize /oobe7.9) Sysprep will run and generalize Windows image. When ready, Windows will shut down:7.10) Boot the reference machine from WinPE or Windows install media. In any case do not let it boot from hard disk!

In my case now, as I am using Generation 2 Hyper-V VM, I first changed the boot order in VM settings. Hyper-V can be a bit tricky, you have to press a key to boot from install media or WinPE but the VM window opens slowly. If you miss the key press, reset VM as soon as it starts booting from VHD (Action menu Reset) and try again.I repeat: do not let reference machine boot from HDD or in case of VM, from VHD!7.11) When booted from install media, press SHIFT + F10 to open Command Prompt. Type diskpart and press Enter (#1 in screenshot below), type list vol and press Enter (#2), type exit and press Enter (#3)Check drive letter for Windows partition (#4), all drives are listed under list vol command. In most cases it will be C: but occasionally, depending on hardware and connected disks, booting to WinPE or install media changes drive letters.Enter the following command and press Enter to capture Windows image (#5). Replace drive letter C: if necessary in /imagefile, /capturedir and /ScratchDir switches. Code: dism /capture-image /imagefile:C:Imageinstall.wim /capturedir:C: /ScratchDir:C:Scratch /name:'W10' /compress:maximum /checkintegrity /verify /bootableDism will capture the image.

Wait until it's done (#6), restart reference machine and let it boot normally from hard disk. Notice that boot will take quite some time because reference machine goes through automated OOBE.7.12) When reference machine has booted to desktop, sign in to your administrator account using password you set in answer file in step 4.87.13) On technician machine, delete ISOFilesSourcesinstall.wim file7.14) When reference machine has booted to desktop, copy newly captured Windows image (install.wim file) from C:Image folder to technician machine to ISOFilesSources folder, same folder from where you deleted the original install.wim in previous step. In my case now I shared ISOFIles folder on technician machine and mapped it on reference machine, copying new install.wim directly to target folder:You can of course copy the file in any way you prefer. Shut down reference machine when file has been copied. Computer Type: LaptopSystem Manufacturer/Model Number: Lenovo ThinkPad E545OS: Windows 10 IP currentCPU: AMD A6-5350 APUMotherboard: LenovoMemory: 8 GBGraphics Card: Radeon HD (Embedded)Sound Card: Conextant 20671 SmartAudio HDMonitor(s) Displays: Lenovo 15'Screen Resolution: 1366. 768Keyboard: LenovoMouse: Logitech MX Master (shared)PSU: LenovoCase: LenovoCooling: LenovoHard Drives: Intel Cherryville 520 Series 180 GB SSDInternet Speed: 330+ Down / 30+ UpBrowser: Firefox Nightly Chrome Chrome Canary EdgeAntivirus: Windows Defender MB 3. Another excellent one, Kari!

Well done!I was wondering what you've been working on. Lots of work went into this one I see.Honestly, it took closer to 30 hours to write, excluding test installs but including about six hours to try to find what caused this error when I thought I was ready and tested the install media:That error message when you get it after running Sysprep means installation has gone beyond salvation, you must start from scratch. At the end I found out, as so often before, that the error was due a stupid newbie mistake I had done.In addition, it took a bottle and a half cheap supermarket whisky, two frozen microwave pizzas and about quarter of kilo dark roasted espresso.Kari. Honestly, it took closer to 30 hours to write, excluding test installs but including about six hours to try to find what caused this error when I thought I was ready and tested the install media:I got a glimpse of the hours you must spend after studying your basics in PS scripting, your dual-boot tutorial, then installs, and now this. I can somewhat relate, but in a much simpler fashion pounding on the keyboard doing business. Alt/Tabbing through multiple Excel & Word templates, multiple tabs in IE for material costs & other searches, estimating program, PDF viewer for blueprints, contacts app, automated telephone communications with a headset, bookkeeping/payroll, blah ba blah.

Got to be somewhat routine, but then something changes or a new OS or program comes along to (so often) perform/navigate with/through things better and quicker. Then quadruple-checking proposals and contracts so to make profit instead of loosing my arse. In addition, it took a bottle and a half cheap supermarket whisky, two frozen microwave pizzas and about quarter of kilo dark roasted espresso.LOL!

Yes, there are expenses, but I can tell you're in your peaceful solitude in creating what you enjoy as you often say. I believe man was created to create. Now up in age I've learned that the only satisfaction we get out of life is working to create. We may think it's other means, but that's the bottom line.What's your next project?BTW, I'm having problems with my dual boot. None of you doings, of course. Things are wacky in 17017 and had a BSOD about an hour ago in my FCU here. I'll post in my redo thread as soon I collect more info.

Computer Type: LaptopSystem Manufacturer/Model Number: Lenovo ThinkPad A485OS: Windows 10 Pro x64 v1903 Build 18362.175 (Branch: Release Preview)CPU: AMD Ryzen Pro 2700UMotherboard: LenovoMemory: 16GB DDR4 Single Channel (17-17-17-??)Graphics Card: Radeon Vega 10 (Adrenalin 2019 19.6.2 Optional driver)Sound Card: RealtekMonitor(s) Displays: Intenal FHD IPSScreen Resolution: 1920x1080Keyboard: ThinkPadMouse: Logitech MX Master 2S (Wireless)Hard Drives: Intel SSD Pro 7600p 512GBInternet Speed: 350/25MbitBrowser: EdgeAntivirus: Windows Defender. This is one really comprehensive tutorial!

This is a really great help for anyone who need a very specialized automated setup image created.Thanks a lot!Thanks Slice:)I like to install using unattended media. It's so easy, you just plug in the USB, start the computer, go away to have a break and some 20 minutes later come back to PC to find fully installed Windows. As a bonus, it's your custom Windows with custom theme, user accounts already created, your favourite software installed and so on.This without a single key press or mouse click, of course excluding the one key press to tell PC to boot from USB (or DVD, this works the same way using DVD than USB). Thank you for this amazing tutorial! I just created my first image and tested it.

Unfortunately the install stopped when it got to the wireless configuration. Cortana started talking and all, which is quite annoying, and really my main motivation for making this image. I think I need HideWirelessSetupInOOB set to True, but this wasn't set in your tutorial. Is there any way to modify the unattend.xml after imaging?

Or will I have to start from scratch? Also, I had to run windows update and restart about three times to get all the drivers working properly, however there was an issue with Intel(R) Smart Sound Technology (Intel(R) SST) OED, listed under System devices in Device Manager. I had to uninstall it and reinstall to fix this. I used hyper v to get the image so it would be hardware neutral. Is it common to still have these types of issues? Also, I had to run windows update and restart about three times to get all the drivers working properly, however there was an issue with Intel(R) Smart Sound Technology (Intel(R) SST) OED, listed under System devices in Device Manager. I had to uninstall it and reinstall to fix this.

I used hyper v to get the image so it would be hardware neutral. Is it common to still have these types of issues?A suggestion:You could 'inject' drivers to your install media, making it specific for that PC.

Tutorial:Keep a copy of your custom hardware independent install.wim file, only apply drivers for a specific PC to install media you will use for that PC. If the PC is already running Windows, all devices and drivers working, and you want to reinstall, check the note in step 2.2 in above mentioned tutorial. It shows how to capture drivers from existing Windows installation. Applying them to image you have all devices working straight after setup.Notice that this might make your install.wim file to be bigger than 4GB which in its turn might make it impossible to use a standard FAT32 formatted USB flash drive. In that case see end of this quite long post of mine in another thread for a workaround using Rufus to create USB media:To avoid need to run Windows Update after Windows has been installed, you could also apply Windows updates to your custom install media.

For most cases, installs fall under two categories MSIs and EXEs. If your installation is an MSI, you’re in luck. MSIs install silently by default.So what about EXEs?

EXEs require silent switches to ensure they install silent. These switches can vary depending on the application. Common switches include /s, /q, or /quiet (but don’t assume any one of these will work for your particular application). How Do I Find a Silent Switch?1. Ask the application. Sometimes it’s just as easy as asking. Using a command window you can try running the EXE with /? And see if it returns with install options.

This is normally called the usage statement. Be aware not all applications have usage statements. However, for those that do, you will receive the following popup.2. Check online. If there is an install silent parameter there’s a good chance you’ll be able to find it in the great expanse of the Internet. A simple Google search of “silently install ” should lead you to the right parameters and maybe even some tips to creating a silent install for your particular application.Note: As a forewarning, not all applications will offer silent parameters. If this is the case, you will not be able to install the application using PDQ Deploy.

(.) Remotely Installing Your Applicationis an easy way to build application packages and deploy the installation out to multiple computers remotely. In your PDQ Deploy console simply click FileNew Package and after naming your package add your MSI or EXE to the Install File field by clicking the ellipses.Down on the Parameters field you will add in your silent parameters you’ve found for your application. Once you’ve saved your new package it’s as easy as clicking Deploy Now and selecting computers to send you installation to.

See it in actionNeed help? See it in action in the following video.