Error during Windows 8.1 Setup – Could not process or parse unattend answer file

Earlier today I got an email from a fellow deployment geek having issues with Windows 8.1 deployments. He had an unattend file that worked perfect for Windows 7 deployments, but failed when deploying Windows 8.1. Now, it's simply comes down to that Windows 8.1 does not support all unattend.xml settings that Windows 7 does.

So far the most issues are caused by the IEWelcomeMessage or ShowMenuBar values being set. The solution, simply get rid of them.

Step-by-step guide

  1. Start Windows System Image Manager (WSIM) and open your unattend.xml file.
  2. In WSIM, in the Answer File pane, expand the 4 specialize node, and select the amd64_Microsoft-Windows-IE-InternetExplorer_neutral entry.
  3. In the amd64_Microsoft-Windows-IE-InternetExplorer_neutral properties (right-hand window), right-click the IEWelcomeMessage property and select Revert Change.
  4. Repeat for ShowMenuBar setting in amd64_Microsoft-Windows-IE-InternetExplorer_neutral entry if needed.

WIN8Error
The "famous" error message.

About the author

Johan Arwidmark

0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
guest
3 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Admin
Admin
8 years ago

The setupact.log file will tell you in detail what errors that are detected in the Unattend.xml file.

Just make sure you find the right one, it moves around to different locations during deployment.

/ Johan

gerfus
gerfus
8 years ago

thanks, i just saw this issue this morning, I knew about the first item to change but not the 2nd, very timely post

thanks a ton

netlord
netlord
8 years ago

Hi Johan

thank you for the solution, but…

I know that the its easyier to apply an solution found by someone else, but i´m willing to learn and find my own solutions.

How did you figured out that exact this entrys are responsible for this error?

thx
netlord


>