Sysprep failing due to MS Apps.

Question

I've read countless blogs and online 'fixes' to be able to sysprep/capture a VM through MDT when sysprep has a fit about provisioned apps.
I upgraded my VM from 1703 to 20H2. One of the apps giving me grief is Cortana, which you cannot remove, at least I couldn't.

I've seen suggestions of running Remove-Appx..... where you must do it for every single app you can find. That's way too much. Some won't delete because they are system required apps.

So what is the answer to getting a VM to sysprep after fixing the app deal? MS gave me an App-Cleaner tool that doesn't do much. I know from experience what the main issue is here.....there are more than one profile. I did not build this, our development team made this and added a few other profiles which will be needed on the image.
I can't imagine having to completely rebuild this image, with all the SQL info packed in. I mean, if that's the case, why not just build one in 20H2?

But then what about a future OS and running into app issues? So, I'm wondering how I can run some PS to remove all the unprovisioned apps to all users. I've seen about 12 suggestions on sites, and the replies have all been.....it doesn't work.

Answer 1

Hi,

Thanks for posting in Microsoft MECM Q&A forum.

We can use customize PowerShell script to remove built-in apps (or default apps) in the reference images. For more detailed steps, please refer to the awesome blogs:
Remove Built-in apps when creating a Windows 10 reference image
Remove Built-in apps for Windows 10 version 1809

Thanks for your time.

Best regards,
Simon

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