KB ID 0001535

Problem

While building a new Windows 10 machine to be used as a template, I ran Sysprep to generalise the installation, and got this;

Sysprep was not able to validate your Windows Installation.
Review the log file at
%WINDIR%\System32\Sysprep\Panther\setupact.log for
details. After resolving the issue, use Sysprep to validate yout
Installation again.

Solution

What I did was Google the error, instead of looking at the log file, and read a post that said this can happen if the reference machine has not been activated, and went down a blind alley because THATS NOT TRUE of course you can generalise a newly deployed ‘non-activated’ reference machine.

When I finally read the error log, I found the following;

Package Microsoft.LanguageExperiencePacken-GB_17763.6.14.0_neutral__8wekyb3d8bbwe was installed for a user, but not provisioned for all users. This package will not function properly in the sysprep image.
Failed to remove apps for the current user: 0x80073cf2
Exit code of RemoveAllApps thread was 0x3cf2.

This problem is being caused by an app, (Windows has suffered with this since Windows 8!) I’ve highlighted the app name above, yours may have a different name, but the fix is the same. We need to remove that app, and stop Windows connecting to the internet to install more app shenanigans!

Disconnect the reference machine from the internet by disconnecting its NIC, (below I’m using a VMware VM).

Run a PowerShell window, (as Administrator) and execute the following command, (obviously use the name of your offending app rather than mine if it’s different!).

Get-AppxPackage –Name *LanguageExperience* | Remove-AppxPackage

Then you should be able to run Sysprep successfully. 

DON’T FORGET to reconnect the NIC if you are creating a template, once the machine has shut down.

Related Articles, References, Credits, or External Links

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