Using Windows 8 x64 Enterprise, Sysprep pauses to ask me to create a local user, which I don't want.

If I enable SkipSystemOOBE and SkipUserOOBE in OOBE under Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup sysprep (in oobe mode) will skip user creation and autologon works.  But it only works correctly once.  If I run sysprep again, when it tries to autologon it will say that I have the wrong password for the local account.  After I type in the password manually it works.  If I use the same password for the local administrator account as for the autologon account, it looks to have the encrypted password twice with an equal sign after it.

What I need to know:
How to skip local user account creation (we run on a domain but I have it connect through scripts later)
How to fix the autologon issue
Do I need the local administrator account enabled for this to work?

I have my unattend.xml file attached.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend">
    <settings pass="oobeSystem">
        <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">
            <AutoLogon>
                <Password>
                    <Value>[removed]</Value>
                    <PlainText>false</PlainText>
                </Password>
                <Username>[removed]</Username>
                <LogonCount>2</LogonCount>
                <Enabled>true</Enabled>
            </AutoLogon>
            <FirstLogonCommands>
                <SynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
                    <Order>1</Order>
                    <CommandLine>c:\folder\abatchfile.bat</CommandLine>
                    <RequiresUserInput>false</RequiresUserInput>
                </SynchronousCommand>
            </FirstLogonCommands>
            <OOBE>
                <HideEULAPage>true</HideEULAPage>
                <HideOEMRegistrationScreen>true</HideOEMRegistrationScreen>
                <HideOnlineAccountScreens>true</HideOnlineAccountScreens>
                <HideWirelessSetupInOOBE>true</HideWirelessSetupInOOBE>
                <NetworkLocation>Work</NetworkLocation>
                <HideLocalAccountScreen>true</HideLocalAccountScreen>
                <ProtectYourPC>3</ProtectYourPC>
            </OOBE>
            <TimeZone>Eastern Standard Time</TimeZone>
            <DisableAutoDaylightTimeSet>false</DisableAutoDaylightTimeSet>
            <RegisteredOrganization>Company Name</RegisteredOrganization>
            <RegisteredOwner>CompanyName</RegisteredOwner>
        </component>
        <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">
            <UserLocale>en-US</UserLocale>
            <UILanguage>en-US</UILanguage>
            <SystemLocale>en-US</SystemLocale>
            <InputLocale>en-US</InputLocale>
        </component>
    </settings>
    <settings pass="specialize">
        <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">
            <ComputerName>*</ComputerName>
          </component>
    </settings>
    <cpi:offlineImage cpi:source="wim:[removed]/sources/install.wim#Windows 8 Enterprise" xmlns:cpi="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:cpi" />
</unattend>

The user accounts-creation page in Windows Welcome is suppressed if a user or a group is added to a local security group. Add a user or a group to a local security group by doing one of the following:
Create a local user.

Add a domain user to a local security group with the Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup | UserAccounts unattended installation setting.

To suppress the user accounts-creation page in Windows Welcome, without creating a local user, use one of the following workarounds:

Workaround 1

If the computer is already joined to a domain, use the following XML example to add the Domain Users security group to the Local Users security group.

<DomainAccounts>
 <DomainAccountList wcm:action="add">
  <DomainAccount wcm:action="add">
  <Group>Users</Group>
  <Name>Domain Users</Name>
  </DomainAccount>
  <Domain>FabrikamDomain</Domain>
  </DomainAccountList>
</DomainAccounts>
 
Because joining a domain automatically adds the Domain Users security group to the Local Users security group, the DomainAccounts command does not affect the membership of the Local Users group. However, using this XML example to join a domain will also suppress the user accounts-creation page in Windows Welcome.

Workaround 2

Use the Sysprep/Quit command to set the following registry value to 1:

HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup\OOBE\UnattendCreatedUser

I have been using a local user in the Administrators group.  I have also tried setting that registry value and that doesn't work either.

• Edited by Jacktorious Johnsonson Wednesday, October 24, 2012 4:03 PM adding info

Tried having sysprep join the domain and put a domain user into the local administrators group.  It skips local account creation but it still has the problem with AutoLogon where it says the password is incorrect, and username is shown as .\username
once I remove the .\ it works.  This only happens the second time sysprep is run, not the first.

I would prefer not having the pc joined to a domain until after it was named.  I would also like autologon to work properly.

• Edited by Jacktorious Johnsonson Monday, November 19, 2012 9:22 PM update

Did you get an answer to this? I would like this to work even when not joing a domain.

That solved everything!!

The key point with getting rid of the User Account Creation Screen at the startup of a deployed windows 8.1 machine was to add the above.  BUT also! to have a separate OOBE XML and a WDS XML

http://www.petenetlive.com/KB/Article/0000738.htm explains it well!

Thanks Tony!

Hate to revive an old thread, but another way I dealt with this when creating a Windows 7 image, was to create a temp account in unattend.xml and then delete the account when my post_image.cmd script ran.