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I am installing Windows 10 Pro on disk 1 from a USB boot. The unattended install does not happen and I want to look at the log file to see if it tells me anything but I don't know its name nor its location.
The log file location will depend on the point of when the installed failed:
Log files to review:
@Sean Liming The problem is that the system comes up with a normal installation rather than an unattended one so it is hard to know when to press shift f10 and get a useful result.
@Sean Liming The normal installation comes up rather than the unattended one very soon after boot. When I enter Shift F10, the normal installation has already started and there is no x:\windows\panther folder as I would expect if my problem was in the content of the unattend.xml file. In fact, there is no x:\windows folder. I am assuming that X is the drive that contains my installation image. It is a GPT formatted USB stick.
To get a better handle on this:
The OS goes through several passes to install the OS. When the installer boots from a USB flash disk, we are in the WinPE pass, and this is when you can hit Shift F10 to bring up a command prompt. Drive X is the WinPE image that gets loaded into memory.
This is a custom install with an answer file. I believe that the problem may be associated with the product key. In a normal install, you may bypass entering the product key and enter it later. It does not appear to be possible to do this with an unattended install. I have read a number of posts suggesting the use of a generic key for Windows 10 Pro but if I try to use the recommended key, the system bypasses the unattended install, apparently in the WinPe pass 1, and tries to do a normal interactive install. If I leave the product key blank, the first pass of the installer complains about the lack of a product key.
I downloaded the installation image with Windows Media Creator and also used that to create my USB installer. This is the most current version of Windows, 20H2, and things may have changed from earlier versions which all the documentation and posts that I have been able to find did reference.
It is a custom install with an answer file. I believe the problem may be related to the product key. In a standard install, you may state that no key is available but this does not appear possible with an unattended install. Several posts suggested the use of a windows type-specific generic key. The problem occurs if I use one. If I leave the keyword blank, the installer complains about the lack of a product key so it definitely appears that the answer file is being handled. My setupact.log file is attached.59975-setupact.log Sorry for the two posts. I had some finger problems.
When an unattended install occurs, I do not expect any window from the interactive installer to be displayed. I have been led to believe that the unattended install should be completely silent.
It has been a long time since I used the Media creation tool, but if I remember correctly and answer file will not work with it. You need the actual release ISO from Visual Studio download or from the Microsoft OEM Operation (MOO) center site if you are an OEM.
You are correct that the run time key is needed. If you are an OEM than package down loaded from the MOO site has a test key that can be used for testing a build so as not to burn an activation with the final release run time key.
The problem with the Media Creation Tool is that It includes a file called install. esd and SIM expects to work with a file called install.wim which is an older format. The problem with the esd file is that it is encrypted and thus unreadable by SIM. This can be corrected by decrypting the esd file as it actually contains a wim file within it.
Hi,
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