I have run into about 20-30 people over the last couple weeks that were having trouble sysprepping and they all narrowed it down to the same thing; their anti-virus application. It seems that the Sysprep tool is sometimes not working with a lot of the 3rd party anti-virus applications.
Anti-Virus Applications with Known Issues
- Norton 2009
- McAfee
- AVG
- Avira
- ESET NOD32 4.0 (User reported issues)
Anti-Virus Applications 100% Compatible with Sysprep
And yes, you probably noticed that both applications are made by Microsoft, go figure. If anyone notices any other anti-virus programs that are causing issues with sysprep please comment on here. Or if you have workaround for these anti-virus apps and sysprep working together please comment.
Microsoft Security Essentials - Free Alternative
What type of issues or problems are users seeing..
Since I just realized, I haven’t installed a virus package on my 2008R2 mdt server…
I have ESET NOD32 4.0 installed and after I did the sysprep the ensuing reboot failed with “Windows could not complete the installation. To install Windows on this computer, restart the installation.” If I tell it to restart I keep getting that error message. I don’t know if the AV is the cause of this but I wanted to give a heads up to anyone using it.
Thank you for the comment Neil, I am going to add ESET NOD32 4.0 to the list for now until someone tests this working 100%. Good luck!
I ran into the same exact error with ESET’s NOD32 4.0 antivirus.
This post was a lifesaver — I had been struggling with imaging and profiles for 2 weeks. Saw this post on Tuesday and by Wednesday half of my PCs are now deployed.
@ Jonathan Davis: Glad I could help you out. Do you mind posting which anti-virus caused you problems? Thanks
Hi,
Tested with Windows 7 professionel 32 bits french, Kaspersky Workstation 6.0.4.1212 french (kav6.0.4.1212_winwksfr.exe), Antivir Avira Antivir Personal 9.0.0.418 english (avira_antivir_personal_en.exe)
After installing Kaspersky or Antivir, and do sysprep generalize, in the next reboot, alert box appears : « Windows n’a pas pu terminer la configuration du système. Pour tenter de reprendre la configuration, redémarrez l’ordinateur. »
See Neil message for the translation of the alert box.
Bye.
I experience the same problem with Windows 7 Professional 64 bits with Kaspersky Anti-Virus 6.0 for Windows Workstations MP 6.0.4.1212(a) installed. After sysprepping the hard disk the installation of the image (from WDS) fails during configuration of services, and the installation enters a reboot loop.
I can confirm NOD32 4.0 causes the problem and removing it allows a sysprep. This is a massive problem for me as I was supposed to be using it as part of a VMView4 dynamic desktop rollout! Needless to say these desktops can only go out without AV or it appears with a Microsoft AV.
Am I being cynical when I note that only MS products can deal with whatever MS have put in the Win7 reseal process?
How many anti-trust cases do these guys need to cut this out?
Oh and BTW – this also occurs with Windows 2008 R2…..
FYI: MalwareBytes works fine with sysprep. I have made several images with it and have experienced no problems.
Thank you for all the help you have provided with this blog!