Fixing the "A fatal error occurred while trying to sysprep the machine" error

This occurs when a Windows 7 system has been sysprepped three times -- KB929828. To overcome this, you will need to do the following:

1) Inside the Sysprep Unattend.xml file located at c:\windows\system32\sysprep, delete skiprearm=1 from the section. In order to edit the Unattend.xml file, you will need to slave the HDD onto a working machine in order to have access to a text editor for editing the file.

2) Under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup\Status\SysprepStatus\, set GeneralizationState to 7

3) From an administrative command prompt, type the following
msdtc -uninstall
msdtc -install

4) Under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SoftwareProtectionPlatform\, change SkipRearm to 1

5) disconnect the ethernet cable

6) Rerun the sysprep

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How Sysprep Works

Applies To: Windows 7

Note
This content applies to Windows 7. For Windows 8 content, see Windows Deployment with the Windows ADK.

The System Preparation tool, Sysprep.exe, is used to prepare an installation of Windows® for imaging or delivery to a customer.
This topic includes:

• Sysprep Executable
• Sysprep Process
• Using Answer Files with Sysprep
• Resetting Windows Activation
• Booting to Audit Mode or Windows Welcome
• Detecting the State of a Windows Image
• Sysprep Log Files
  

Sysprep Executable

Sysprep.exe is the main program that calls other executable files that prepare the Windows installation. Sysprep.exe is located in the %WINDIR%\system32\sysprep directory on all installations. Sysprep must always be run from the %WINDIR%\system32\sysprep directory and must run on the version of Windows with which it was installed.

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Kon-Boot 2.1 Commercial Edition

Kon-Boot 2.1 is an application which will silently bypass the authentication process of

Windows based operating systems. Without overwriting your old password!
Easy to use and excellent for tech repairs, data recovery and security audits.

Commercial Kon-Boot version works with both 64-bit and 32-bit Microsoft Windows operating systems and also include privilege escalation and sticky keys feature.

What's new in version V2.1?

- Windows 8 support (only standard BIOS, no EFI support)

Kon-boot supports following operating systems:

- Microsoft Windows XP 32Bit/64Bit (all versions since SP2)
- Microsoft Windows Server 2003 32Bit/64Bit (all versions)
- Microsoft Windows Server 2008 32Bit/64Bit (all versions)
- Microsoft Windows Vista 32Bit/64Bit (all versions)
- Microsoft Windows 7 32Bit/64Bit (all version)
- Microsoft Windows 8 32Bit/64Bit (all versions, only standard BIOS support - no EFI)

Additional requirements: Pentium III compatible processor, 10MB free space on the hard drive.
CD-ROM, Floppy Drive or USB flash drive, keyboard, Internet connection (for product download).
Compatibile BIOS version.

Download link:
Torrent link

Download link on DataFileHost server:

Download KonBoot 2.1

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Windows Services Management

This article explains how to start, stop, pause, resume, or restart a service in Windows operating system.

Applies To: 

Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2, Windows Vista, 7, 8

To start, stop, pause, resume, or restart a service

• Using Services
  
• Using the command line
  

Using Services

1. Open Services.
2. In the details panel, do one of the following:
   • Click the service, and then, on the Action menu, click Start, Stop, Pause, Resume, or Restart.
   • Right-click the service, and then click Start, Stop, Pause, Resume, or Restart.

Notes

• To open Services, click Start, click Control Panel, double-click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Services.
• To start a service with startup parameters, right-click the service, click Properties, type the parameters in Start parameters, and then click Start. These settings are not persistent; they are used only once, and then the default settings are restored. (A backslash (\) is treated as an escape character; type two backslashes for each backslash in a parameter.)

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How to install SATA Driver by Offline

Issue / problem:

When I moved from one hardware to another and did not preload necessary drivers. Or if I want to restore old archived XP image on different hardware. Or, more likely, that someone made an image of system and forgot to load SATA drivers or loaded wrong drivers (which will cause 0x0000007b error) and already killed source system.

Do not offer please system repair (reinstall) as it will destroy some bugs that I want to investigate in the system and therefore keep unattached. And also it is always more interesting to know how things work under the curtains.

Is there such option in Recovery console?

How can I install driver, downloaded from manufactures site?

If it is not possible with recovery console or ERD commander - I want to know how to do it manually - by exporting it from another fresh install system (on the same hardware) and injecting it to offline system using offline regedit and offline file explorer. Is that possible? Of what parts does SATA driver installation consists? How can I know of which parts each particular SATA driver contain? Is there some standard of files and registry entries that are necessary to boot system. How to see in the system of what parts driver contain? May be somehow to capture it during driver installation (with utilities that capture all changes that process and it's child processes make in the system)

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HAL Workarounds for Windows XP

[Version]
signature="$Windows NT$"
DriverVer=07/01/2001

[hal]
MPS_MP         = halmps.dll
MPS_UP         = halapic.dll
E_ISA_UP       = halstnd.dll
ACPIPIC_UP     = halacpi.dll
ACPIAPIC_UP    = halaacpi.dll
ACPIAPIC_MP    = halmacpi.dll

[ACPIOptions]
ACPIEnable = 2
ACPIBiosDate = 01,01,1999

Extract all HAL files and kernels into system32 and rename them according the names in DTECTHAL.INF. For Windows 2000 take files from SP4.CAB, for Windows XP SP2 from SP2.CAB, for WINDOWS 2003 from SP*.CAB. Files:

halacpi.dll
halapic.dll
halmps.dll
halaacpi.dll
halmacpi.dll
hal.dll----> change to halstnd.dll
ntkrnlmp.exe
ntkrnlpa.exe
ntkrpamp.exe
ntoskrnl.exe----> change to ntkrnlup.exe

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