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By: speed10
August 10, 2016
What if the Sysprep Tool Fails?
By: speed10
August 10, 2016
Ever done something at work, then it backfires at you like it has a personal grudge with you?Sysprep can, at times, really mess up your jolly day should it 'decide' to backfire. I've seen a good number of IT Assistants run to format the PC simply because of the "Windows could not finish configuring the system. To attempt to resume configuration, restart the computer" message that wouldn't go away even after restarting the PC.The most common culprit for this error is a registry key that's abnormally larger (~8KB). Microsoft provides you with a hotfix that can be found here and must be applied before running the Sysprep command.In my case, my client had not upgraded his Windows 7 PC to SP1, which, thanks to Microsoft, comes with the Hotfix in it. Further research shows cases where the same error can also occur on a clean installation of Windows 7 OS.So, what if SysPrep fails?
Don't panic - yet (just kidding). At the above screen, just do a key combination of the SHIFT key and F10 (SHIFT + F10).
A beautiful angel in black and white will certainly appear bearing the name of CMD or rather Command Prompt. Type:cd oobe and press Enter.
Let me just define a few terms as we go, so you feel like a pro ;-)
cd in CMD will be change directory and oobe will be the new directory you intend to navigate to. You can read more about oobe here and here.
Next, type msoobe and hit Enter.
The CMD window may disappear, but don't panic. A Setup Up Windows screen will appear. Choose your Region, Time and Currency and Keyboard layout settings. Press Next or just hit Enter.
Type your Username and Computer Name. Then, hit Next.
You can add a password if you wish.
Accept the License Terms by checking the box next to "I accept the license terms" and press Next.
Check your security and update settings as you wish. I won't share any comments here.
Set the Time and Date Settings and press Next.
Now, let Windows finalize your settings. Then, restart your PC.
