Hello. My environment is SCCM 2007 SP2 with R2 and MDT 2010 integration. I am working on an unattend and task sequence for the deployment of Windows 7 Ent x86. So far, I have successfully accomplished most items during a deployment such as computer name, package, and joining the domain. I am having problems with one item and I am hoping I can get some guidance. I have done quite a bit of research on the problem but have not a solution. When I build a machine, the local administrator is disabled. I logon to the machine with my domain account and enable it. When I try to logon with it enabled, it will not accept my password. My understanding is that by setting the autologon username to administrator and setting the administrator password during the oobesystem phase would accomplish what I need. It is not. As a test, I looked at the unattend in c:\windows\panther\unattend before the machine's first reboot into mini-setup. I can see in unattend.xml that the password is correct. I can also see information about the administrator account. I do not see anything about it being disabled or enabled. I do not set the admin password in my task sequence. I am using a query of SQL to pull in that information during the gather and configure steps. Any ideas on what I am missing. I have my unattend.xml below. <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend"> <settings pass="specialize"> <component name="Microsoft-Windows-UnattendedJoin" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"> <Identification> <Credentials> <Domain>FDS</Domain> <Password>password</Password> <Username>username</Username> </Credentials> <JoinDomain>JoinDomain</JoinDomain> <MachineObjectOU>MachineObjectOU</MachineObjectOU> </Identification> </component> <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"> <ComputerName>computername</ComputerName> <Display> <HorizontalResolution>1280</HorizontalResolution> <VerticalResolution>1024</VerticalResolution> <RefreshRate>60</RefreshRate> <ColorDepth>32</ColorDepth> </Display> </component> </settings> <settings pass="oobeSystem"> <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"> <OOBE> <HideEULAPage>true</HideEULAPage> <HideWirelessSetupInOOBE>true</HideWirelessSetupInOOBE> <NetworkLocation>Work</NetworkLocation> <ProtectYourPC>3</ProtectYourPC> </OOBE> <TimeZone>Eastern Standard Time</TimeZone> <RegisteredOrganization>FDS</RegisteredOrganization> <RegisteredOwner>FDS</RegisteredOwner> <AutoLogon> <Username>Administrator</Username> </AutoLogon> <UserAccounts> <AdministratorPassword> <Value>YQBkAGYAYQBkAGYAYQBzAGYAYQBzAEEAZABtAGkAbgBpAHMAdAByAGEAdABvAHIAUABhAHMAcwB3AG8AcgBkAA==</Value> <PlainText>false</PlainText> </AdministratorPassword> </UserAccounts> </component> <component name="Microsoft-Windows-International-Core" processorArchitecture="x86" 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>Inputlocale</InputLocale> <SystemLocale>SystemLocale</SystemLocale> </component> </settings> <cpi:offlineImage cpi:source="wim:c:/windows%207/sources/install.wim#Windows 7 ENTERPRISE" xmlns:cpi="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:cpi" /> </unattend>

If these are systems that you are deploying with SCCM then there is an actual step in the SCCM Task Sequence that allows you to enable the default administrator account and specify the password that you want it to have. You do not need to do anything in your XML file to get this functionality, you just have to enable it in the TS. Mike...

Enabling it in the task sequence would not work for me. Whenever I used the Apply Network Settings step, it would overwrite the Timezone information that I was bringing in from SQL. Perhaps it is not the best method but I add a run command-line step with net user administrator /active:yes in my custom actions steps. This enabled the local administrator and do not interfere with the Timezone.

Mike My issue is that is how I am setting up the local admin account but on 1 model it is not taking. Meaning the account is still disabled but it does assign it a password. I am able to remote manage to these machines and enable the account then test the password but I really need this to work. I have even created a new task sequence just to test this one model and still no go. Any thoughts? I have about 6 different models using the same task sequence and only one of them is having this issue. Thanks Jason