Windows 2012 – WDS unattend Partition

wdswindows-server-2012

I'm trying to install Windows 2012 via Windows 2012 WDS.
The installer displays the following error message: the partition selected for the installation (1) does not exist on disk 0. Make sure the unattend answer file's imageselection \installimage setting references a valid partition on this computer, and then restart the installation.

the unattend file (created by the "Create Client Unattend" dialog)

<unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend">
  <settings pass="windowsPE">
    <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Setup" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" processorArchitecture="x86">
      <WindowsDeploymentServices>
        <Login>
          <WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI>
          <Credentials>
            <Username>administrator</Username>
            <Domain>test</Domain>
            <Password>xxxx</Password>
          </Credentials>
        </Login>
<WillWipeDisk>true</WillWipeDisk>
<DiskConfiguration>
  <WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI>
  <Disk>
       <DiskID>0</DiskID>
       <WillWipeDisk>true</WillWipeDisk>
       <CreatePartitions>
          <CreatePartition>
             <Order>1</Order>
             <Type>Primary</Type>
             <Extend>true</Extend>
          </CreatePartition>
       </CreatePartitions>
  </Disk>
</DiskConfiguration>
        <ImageSelection>
          <WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI>
          <InstallImage>
            <ImageGroup>ImageGroup1</ImageGroup>
            <ImageName>Windows Server 2012 SERVERDATACENTER</ImageName>
            <Filename>install-(4).wim</Filename>
          </InstallImage>
          <InstallTo>
            <DiskID>0</DiskID>
            <PartitionID>1</PartitionID>
          </InstallTo>
        </ImageSelection>
      </WindowsDeploymentServices>
    </component>
    <component name="Microsoft-Windows-International-Core-WinPE" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" processorArchitecture="x86">
      <SetupUILanguage>
        <UILanguage>en-US</UILanguage>
      </SetupUILanguage>
      <InputLocale>en-US</InputLocale>
      <SystemLocale>en-US</SystemLocale>
      <UILanguage>en-US</UILanguage>
      <UserLocale>en-US</UserLocale>
    </component>
    <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Setup" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" processorArchitecture="amd64">
      <WindowsDeploymentServices>
        <Login>
          <WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI>
          <Credentials>
            <Username>administrator</Username>
            <Domain>test</Domain>
            <Password>xxxxx</Password>
          </Credentials>
        </Login>
        <ImageSelection>
          <WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI>
          <InstallImage>
            <ImageGroup>ImageGroup1</ImageGroup>
            <ImageName>Windows Server 2012 SERVERDATACENTER</ImageName>
            <Filename>install-(4).wim</Filename>
          </InstallImage>
          <InstallTo>
            <DiskID>0</DiskID>
            <PartitionID>1</PartitionID>
          </InstallTo>
        </ImageSelection>
      </WindowsDeploymentServices>
    </component>
    <component name="Microsoft-Windows-International-Core-WinPE" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" processorArchitecture="amd64">
      <SetupUILanguage>
        <UILanguage>en-US</UILanguage>
      </SetupUILanguage>
      <InputLocale>en-US</InputLocale>
      <SystemLocale>en-US</SystemLocale>
      <UILanguage>en-US</UILanguage>
      <UserLocale>en-US</UserLocale>
    </component>
  </settings>
</unattend>

Any idea why it is not working?

thanks

Best Answer

I suspect that is is because you are not formatting the partition (don't forget to mark it 'active' also). Please see the examples in this TechNet article: ModifyPartition. Also, are you creating your unattend file with WSIM? WSIM can be very helpful in creating unattend files and has a validation feature to make sure there are no mistakes in the file.

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