Popular Post X-13 Posted April 24, 2015 Popular Post Posted April 24, 2015 (edited) After balking at the prospect of having to set up a Windows 7 Enterprise image from scratch I decided to do a bit of digging... You can actually take advantage of the way Windows does a repair install to do a sideways upgrade. Which creates a new problem, but that's easily fixed. This is apparently something that people have been using for a while with preview builds that has never been changed. What you need: - Windows 7 Enterprise install media. - An appropriate licence agreement. - A computer and computer related supplies. - Work appropriate beverage of choice... it takes a while. Step 1: Regedit is your friend. Boot up a domain computer or VM with your Windows 7 Professional image applied. Take a wander over to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion Notice anything? Go ahead and change Professional to Enterprise. Then become President Madagascar and SHUT. DOWN. EVERYTHING. [You don't actually have to reboot here, I just prefer to.] Step 2: Upgrades, you say? Take yer Enterprise install media and shove it where the sun don't shine. In the USB slot, CD tray or mount/browse to the ISO. Now run the setup. Because the registry says you're currently running Enterprise, "Upgrade" now repairs the OS. Step 3: The most interesting thing I ever done seen. Install bars are fun to watch and not at all boring... Good thing I told you to get a beverage. Once it's done, you've now got a Windows 7 Enterprise computer with ALL of your software installed. Congratuwelldone, sysprep and you can capture the new image... Yup. Microsoft don't like like what you're doing. You can't sysprep an "upgraded" computer... Or can you? Step 4: YOU'RE NOT THE BOSS OF ME! Take another wander into the registry, specifically "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup" Delete the DWORD "Upgrade" Now take a wander to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup\Status" Change CleanupState to 7. [This may or may not be an actual thing you NEED to do... I did it just to make sure.] Step 5: Whatever. I do what I want. Sysprep and capture. Take that, Microsoft! Edited April 24, 2015 by X-13 7
sted Posted April 24, 2015 Posted April 24, 2015 if you already have a .wim image thats pro you can also upgrade that to enterprise "relatively" easily without ever firing it out to a pcjust using imagex/dism (cant remember the specifics its been a while
X-13 Posted April 24, 2015 Author Posted April 24, 2015 if you already have a .wim image thats pro you can also upgrade that to enterprise "relatively" easily without ever firing it out to a pcjust using imagex/dism (cant remember the specifics its been a while I looked into that before I found this. https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd744380(v=ws.10).aspx You cannot set a Windows image to a higher edition in a different Windows family. Windows families and edition ranking: (ranked lowest to highest) Consumer and Retail Family Windows 7 Starter Windows 7 Home Basic Windows 7 Home Premium Windows 7 Professional Windows 7 Ultimate A European regulatory edition of Windows will be identified with an N appended to the edition name and can be changed to a higher edition only within this family. A Korean regulatory edition of Windows, with the Korean Language Pack, will be identified with a KN appended to the edition name and can be changed to a higher edition only within this family. Volume Licensed The Windows Edition Servicing commands are not applicable to Volume Licensed editions of Windows. You can only upgrade to a higher edition of Windows if it is in the Consumer and Retail family. Windows 7 Professional Windows 7 Enterprise 1
sted Posted April 24, 2015 Posted April 24, 2015 with a bit of fiddling it can be done you just need to create a media set that includes all editions including enterprise by combining wim files its doable but i prefer to just create ba new image every few years anyway so i dont end up with error carried forwards for ever lol (granted i almost certainly induce new ones though)
fiza Posted May 11, 2015 Posted May 11, 2015 I just came across a similar method here ; Upgrade from 7 Pro to 7 Enterprise - Page 2 - Windows 7 Help Forums How many on here have followed either method ? We have a number of laptops on Pro that we want to move to Ent for Bitlocker. I don't really want to rebuild them with all the software they have on.
StevieM Posted October 15, 2015 Posted October 15, 2015 I've been looking at this for a while and finally got around to trying it out this week. One of the laptops had a failing hard drive, so I replaced it with an SSD, reapplied the image then upgraded to Enterprise while I was it. I'm currently installing updates before I sysprep it and capture the upgraded image. I'm going to recommend upgrading all the staff laptops to SSDs and doubling the RAM to 4GB in order to add at least a year or two to their life expectancy. Having an Enterprise image to deploy means we can use BitLocker to keep everything just that bit safer. Cheers, @X-13!
jmak Posted October 15, 2015 Posted October 15, 2015 I presume that this doesn't work on windows 8.1?
sted Posted October 15, 2015 Posted October 15, 2015 I presume that this doesn't work on windows 8.1? I see no obvious reason it wouldn't (not that ive tried it) 1
X-13 Posted October 15, 2015 Author Posted October 15, 2015 I presume that this doesn't work on windows 8.1? I think it does. There may be an extra step or a different registry entry to change though. 1
StevieM Posted October 20, 2015 Posted October 20, 2015 (edited) Ssssooooooooooo... The upgrade went fine. Then I Sysprepped the machine and captured the image without any problems. However, when I restarted the computer - ‘Windows could not finish configuring the system. To attempt to resume configuration, restart the computer.’ - Setup will continue after restarting your computer. Only it doesn't; it just presents the same message. I'm sure it's something I've done as I've never actually sysprepped a machine before. That was always done (or not) by external third-party support. My plan is to restore the Win 7 Pro image and sysprep that to see if I can at least do that right. Edited October 20, 2015 by StevieM
sted Posted October 20, 2015 Posted October 20, 2015 Ssssooooooooooo... The upgrade went fine. Then I Sysprepped the machine and captured the image without any problems. However, when I restarted the computer - ‘Windows could not finish configuring the system. To attempt to resume configuration, restart the computer.’ - Setup will continue after restarting your computer. Only it doesn't; it just presents the same message. I'm sure it's something I've done as I've never actually sysprepped a machine before. That was always done (or not) by external third-party support. My plan is to restore the Win 7 Pro image and sysprep that to see if I can at least do that right. iirc with windows 7 that usually happens when you install ie11 and use a sysprep file that does something that's been depreciated 1
StevieM Posted October 20, 2015 Posted October 20, 2015 (edited) iirc with windows 7 that usually happens when you install ie11 and use a sysprep file that does something that's been depreciated Aaaahhhh!!!! Now then. That kind of makes sense! The machine previously had ie8 on it and it took several attempts in order to get ie11 to complete the installation. Even when it did, it still ran ie8. That's me stuffed then. Back to Pro it is. Edit: Actually, I'm going to boot from the Enterprise installation media and see if I can repair it first... Edited October 20, 2015 by StevieM
sted Posted October 20, 2015 Posted October 20, 2015 just make sure you remove all ie settings from your sysprep.xml file iirc but once it done its done
StevieM Posted October 21, 2015 Posted October 21, 2015 iirc with windows 7 that usually happens when you install ie11 and use a sysprep file that does something that's been depreciated Just been reading up on this a bit more. The same applies to IE10, apparently. https://sysadministration.wordpress.com/2013/03/15/sysprep-fatal-error-with-ie-10/ I thought I'd post this link in case anyone else had similar problems.
StevieM Posted October 23, 2015 Posted October 23, 2015 Ssssooooooooooo... The upgrade went fine. Then I Sysprepped the machine and captured the image without any problems. However, when I restarted the computer - ‘Windows could not finish configuring the system. To attempt to resume configuration, restart the computer.’ - Setup will continue after restarting your computer. Only it doesn't; it just presents the same message. I'm sure it's something I've done as I've never actually sysprepped a machine before. That was always done (or not) by external third-party support. My plan is to restore the Win 7 Pro image and sysprep that to see if I can at least do that right. I don't believe it! I sysprepped the old Win 7 Pro image (after applying updates) and the same error message occurred when I restarted the machine. So I decided to research the entire 'Windows could not finish configuring the system...' message and found the solution here. To summarise - Boot into safe mode. 'Setup cannot install Windows in safe mode. Setup will continue after restarting.' Restart and everything works! I wasted over a week on this!
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