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Sysprep Preparation Tool

The Sysprep Preparation Tool is a utility included with DISMTools 0.7.1 and later versions that prepares a reference computer for Sysprep generalization. This is useful for system administrators who are not using Microsoft Configuration Manager, or a similar solution, and want a Windows image with preinstalled applications.

Usage

Preparing a reference computer for Sysprep

To use the Sysprep Preparation Tool, the computer must be in audit mode. To enter audit mode at the OOBE, press Ctrl + Shift + F3. The computer will restart and boot into audit mode automatically.

Note

The installation must not be unattended. If it is, you will not be able to enter audit mode. If you had added an answer file, you'll need to remove it before installing the system. To remove answer files, go to Commands -> Unattended answer files -> Remove applied answer file.

Tip

You can make your Windows image boot directly into audit mode by going to Commands > Unattended answer files > Make system enter audit mode. Then, commit the image.

You can determine if the OOBE is unattended in the reference computer by determining if you need to interact with it. For example, here:

If you see the above screen, you have successfully entered audit mode. Don't touch the Sysprep window as you don't need it for now. Either move it out of the way or close it.

Now, go ahead and install the applications you want to have preinstalled in your Windows image.

Important notes when installing applications:

  • Try to avoid Microsoft Store applications as they cause Sysprep to fail. If a desktop application installs a Microsoft Store application (for example, to provide context menu integration with Windows 11), remove said application before running the tool
    • In that similar vein, avoid using WinGet to install applications. The winget source is a Microsoft Store application
  • Some applications, like Visual Studio Code, come in both user and machine-wide installation variants. Always use the machine-wide installation variant, if available

Launching the Sysprep Preparation Tool

The Sysprep Preparation Tool is automatically added to ISOs by the Preinstallation Environment Helper. To launch the tool, open the Autorun application (usually by double-clicking the ISO in the File Explorer, or by running <ISO letter>:\autorun.exe), and select Prepare System for Image Capture:

When you select this option, you will be presented with additional options:

The guide will continue with the following options:

  • Manual mode
  • Capture after preparation
  • Copy registry changes and other current preferences for new user profiles

You will arrive at the wizard.

The tool will perform checks on your computer before proceeding. These range from setup states, to third-party drivers, domain join; and more. You will see the results of these checks after they complete:

To learn more about a check, click on its entry in the list:

A check has 3 fields indicating status:

  • Compatible: Indicates whether the check passed or failed
  • Details: Indicates what the check reported
  • Severity: Indicates how severe possible issues can be. There are 3 levels of severity:
    • Information: The check is informational only. You will see an Information severity level if a check passes or if it didn't need to be run, or if it reported something but won't cause Sysprep to fail
    • Warning: The check found a possible issue that may cause Sysprep to fail. You can choose to proceed past warnings, but it's not recommended
    • Critical: The check found an issue that will cause Sysprep to fail. You cannot proceed past critical issues. With a critical severity level, a check automatically fails

It is important that none of the checks return a Critical severity level. Check details, when not informational, will often include steps that will help you resolve the issue.

Continuing with the wizard, you will arrive at this page, where you can configure options that will be passed to Sysprep:

Normally, you don't need to configure anything here. The default options are suitable for most use cases. However, if you need to customize Sysprep's behavior, you can do so here.

You may want to check Copy registry changes and other current preferences for new user profiles if you want changes made to the Administrator session to be carried over to the default user profile, using CopyProfile. Examples of such preferences include:

  • The desktop background
  • File Explorer settings
  • Taskbar auxiliary pins (like Microsoft 365 Copilot)
  • And more

Note

To make the desktop background be used by new user profiles you will need to change permissions to allow the Everyone built-in to read the file, and you will need to put the file in a common location like the root of the drive.

Finally, wait for the tool to complete its work:

After your computer shuts down, you can capture its image with your preferred method. If you want to make further modifications in an offline manner, boot into the DISMTools Preinstallation Environment and capture the entire drive to an image using the Image Capture Administration Script. Refer to the Command-line Administration Script Reference for more information on this script.

Related content

You can download this tool to run it independently here.