Various tips about the automatic deployment process...
Things to do with the autounattend.xml file...
The Windows Server 2016 installation ISO comes with various editions of Windows on it - Standard, Core, Data Centre, etc.
There is a component
element with the name "Microsoft-Windows-Setup" that contains various target disk imaging options. One of these is "ImageInstall` and determines which version of the OS is deployed.
<InstallFrom>
<MetaData wcm:action="add">
<Key>/IMAGE/NAME </Key>
<Value>Windows Server 2016 SERVERSTANDARD</Value>
</MetaData>
</InstallFrom>
Note the space after the Key /IMAGE/NAME
- it is important.
Valid options for <Value>
are:
For machines that will be later activated using KMS or ADBA, the product key should be left out.
<UserData>
<ProductKey>
<WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI>
</ProductKey>
</UserData>
For machines using the 180-day trial, the key should be specified:
<UserData>
<ProductKey>
<Key>WC2BQ-8NRM3-FDDYY-2BFGV-KHKQY</Key>
<WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI>
</ProductKey>
</UserData>
In the Microsoft-Windows-International-Core-WinPE
component, set the values as follows:
<component xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" name="Microsoft-Windows-International-Core-WinPE" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS">
<SetupUILanguage>
<UILanguage>en-US</UILanguage>
</SetupUILanguage>
<InputLocale>0809:00000809</InputLocale>
<SystemLocale>en-GB</SystemLocale>
<UILanguage>en-US</UILanguage>
<UILanguageFallback>en-GB</UILanguageFallback>
<UserLocale>en-GB</UserLocale>
</component>
And again in the oobeSystem
settiongs pass:
<component name="Microsoft-Windows-International-Core" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<InputLocale>e0809:00000809</InputLocale>
<SystemLocale>en-GB</SystemLocale>
<UILanguage>en-US</UILanguage>
<UserLocale>en-GB</UserLocale>
</component>
Finally set the correct timezone within the Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup
component:
<component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<TimeZone>GMT Standard Time</TimeZone>
</Component>