16 August 2011

Home » » Fixing the "A fatal error occurred while trying to sysprep the machine" error

Fixing the "A fatal error occurred while trying to sysprep the machine" error

  Tuesday, August 16, 2011    45 comments
This occurs when a Windows 7 system has been sysprepped three times -- KB929828. To overcome this, you will need to do the following:

1) Inside the Sysprep Unattend.xml file located at c:\windows\system32\sysprep, delete skiprearm=1 from the section. In order to edit the Unattend.xml file, you will need to slave the HDD onto a working machine in order to have access to a text editor for editing the file.

2) Under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup\Status\SysprepStatus\, set GeneralizationState to 7

3) From an administrative command prompt, type the following
msdtc -uninstall
msdtc -install

4) Under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SoftwareProtectionPlatform\, change SkipRearm to 1

5) disconnect the ethernet cable

6) Rerun the sysprep

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45 comments:

  1. UnknownJune 1, 2012 at 6:24 AM

    Thank you Mick!
    Cheers

    Francisco

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousAugust 6, 2012 at 9:35 AM

    Very nice, thanks

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousAugust 8, 2012 at 12:59 PM

    Great Post, do you have reset the reg key after creating the image?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mick PletcherAugust 8, 2012 at 1:07 PM

      No, if it successfully sysprepped and you were able to capture an image, then there is nothing that has to be done with the reg key.

      Delete
  4. AnonymousSeptember 19, 2012 at 10:50 PM

    Great - I have been looking for a successful resolution to this problem for a very long time!!

    Thank you very much.

    ReplyDelete
  5. IntranetOctober 1, 2012 at 10:15 AM

    I love you already.... Thanks a lot for this article.

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousOctober 1, 2012 at 12:36 PM

    Thank you! Saved me the pain of rebuilding an image from scratch!

    ReplyDelete
  7. UnknownOctober 25, 2012 at 9:26 PM

    Thanking you :) Worked a treat.

    ReplyDelete
  8. AnonymousNovember 2, 2012 at 3:05 PM

    THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

    Greetings from Cananda

    ReplyDelete
  9. CordellNovember 15, 2012 at 4:44 PM

    I'm a bit confused with "delete 1 from the section" in the Unattended.xml file. What section are we talking?

    ReplyDelete
  10. matt_0978November 22, 2012 at 2:53 PM

    Yes, I can't find that unattended.xml file either.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Mick PletcherNovember 26, 2012 at 2:56 PM

    Cordell, sorry about the mixup. I recently hired a developer to update my blogs here to a more professional look and this part accidentally got removed. I readded the skiprearm=1 back. That was the missing portion.

    ReplyDelete
  12. AnonymousDecember 21, 2012 at 3:36 PM

    Thanks a bunch!! This was preventing me from getting my image out to machines that needed it.



    Minnesota

    ReplyDelete
  13. AnonymousMarch 26, 2013 at 10:28 AM

    you will need to slave the HDD onto a working machine in order to have access to a text editor for editing the file.

    ................How should i do this sir ??

    ReplyDelete
  14. AnonymousMarch 27, 2013 at 1:51 AM

    It worked for me. Many Thanks!!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Mick PletcherMarch 27, 2013 at 1:20 PM

    Here is a good tutorial on how to slave your HDD: http://www.ehow.com/how_6642534_install-slave-hard-drive.html

    ReplyDelete
  16. AnonymousJune 18, 2013 at 5:07 AM

    I am confused at the end, should i add skiprearm=1 or delete from Unattend.xml?
    My Unattend.xml file doesn't have line skiprearm=1.
    what to do, help pls.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Mick PletcherJune 19, 2013 at 11:23 AM

    It should be there in the unattend.xml file. I would add it in

    ReplyDelete
  18. AnonymousJuly 9, 2013 at 6:17 PM

    thanks, works for me.

    ReplyDelete
  19. AnonymousJuly 19, 2013 at 4:55 PM

    You are a genious. THANKS!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  20. B HarrisAugust 30, 2013 at 2:46 PM

    Thanks your solution worked like a charm

    ReplyDelete
  21. UnknownSeptember 19, 2013 at 9:21 AM

    You are a life saver, please take ALL the credits because you totally deserve it. Save me almost 4-5hours re-image task.Thanks.
    David U- Great Britain.

    ReplyDelete
  22. AnonymousOctober 21, 2013 at 10:33 AM

    Found this 2 years later in Oct. 2013.......THANKS !

    ReplyDelete
  23. AnonymousOctober 27, 2013 at 9:48 PM

    Thanks work for me. You are the best.

    ReplyDelete
  24. AnonymousNovember 13, 2013 at 7:23 PM

    How about if it's a virtual machine? How can I slave its hard disk? Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  25. AnonymousNovember 22, 2013 at 1:20 PM

    Has anyone told you they love you today? Well I love you.

    ReplyDelete
  26. UnknownJanuary 17, 2014 at 1:39 AM

    Hey there, ok everything makes sense to me but I don't have the unnattend.xml file at all. In my sysprep folder I have the sysprep.exe file, en-US folder (which has sysprep.exe.mui) and then the Panther folder which has diaper.xml, diagnosis.xml, setupact.log, and setuperr.log as well as the IE folder with contents of the same name. I have done a sysprep before and it has always worked. When I did it this time to a rebuilt machine (Asus 1201N with Win 7 HP 32 bit) sysprep encountered a fatal error on the first reboot after installing drivers, etc. Now I know it would normally do this after the third reboot (I have read online and tested it myself) must I just scrap this install and reinstall the OS?

    ReplyDelete
  27. Mick PletcherJanuary 20, 2014 at 9:53 PM

    It sounds like it may just need to be reinstalled

    ReplyDelete
  28. Mick PletcherJanuary 20, 2014 at 9:55 PM

    I cannot think of anyway to slave a VM. I would take this info and maybe ask in a microsoft forum. I don't use VMs a whole lot.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousAugust 22, 2014 at 10:31 AM

      You can "slave" the disk of a VM simply by taking the VM offline and mounting the VHD in the host OS.

      For non-virtual machines you don't even need to slave a disk, simply by booting to WindowsPE you can run notepad and edit the file from there.

      You can also just take ownership over the file and just start notepad with elevated permissions.

      Delete
  29. AnonymousJanuary 23, 2014 at 5:25 AM

    You are great!
    Thanks a lot!!! Gràcies

    Pep

    ReplyDelete
  30. AnonymousDecember 4, 2014 at 9:18 AM

    For those talking about not having an "Unattend.xml" file, I didn't have one either and just followed the rest of the steps and it worked just fine. Thanks a bunch for the steps!

    ReplyDelete
  31. AnonymousJanuary 26, 2015 at 12:52 AM

    best!!

    ReplyDelete
  32. AnonymousMarch 4, 2015 at 3:34 AM

    Sweet! Works for me, great job and thanks for sharing!
    Steven

    ReplyDelete
  33. AnonymousApril 10, 2015 at 2:03 PM

    Got it to work without step one, thank you so much

    ReplyDelete
  34. AnonymousJune 23, 2015 at 5:30 PM

    Just did on Windows 2008 R2. Worked fine. My image didn't have an "Unattend.xml" file.

    ReplyDelete
  35. AnonymousSeptember 24, 2015 at 5:39 AM

    Sadly, still does not work for me. Damn it.

    ReplyDelete
  36. AnonymousNovember 23, 2015 at 7:23 AM

    Thank You, works on Windows 10 too.....

    ReplyDelete
  37. Kevin HongDecember 10, 2015 at 12:13 AM

    Thanks very much Mick, your post really helped pulled me out of a difficult situation.

    ReplyDelete
  38. AnonymousJanuary 11, 2016 at 12:37 AM

    i dont have that unattended xml file. i didnt do the slave drive part because of that. i did follow the other steps, but im still getting the fatal error.

    ReplyDelete
  39. AnonymousFebruary 4, 2016 at 4:01 AM

    thanks fam

    btw it still works on Windows 10, just skip the first step.

    ReplyDelete
  40. UnknownFebruary 16, 2016 at 9:27 PM

    Thanks :)

    Jankosoft

    ReplyDelete
  41. AnonymousMay 25, 2017 at 7:15 AM

    Ive done all the above - but still not working </3

    ReplyDelete
  42. UnknownNovember 19, 2017 at 12:17 PM

    Mick, Brilliant fixing! I will try it. Great article thanks and keep up the great work!

    ReplyDelete
  43. AnonymousFebruary 2, 2018 at 6:58 AM

    Great thanks dear

    ReplyDelete