[wds] Answer file won't delete existing disk partitions

[LATech]

I've created an answer file using WSIM to install a Windows 10 image via WDS onto some new Lenovo boxes but the existing partitions aren't getting wiped. If i manually delete the partitions then the rest of the install goes smoothly but i'd like to fully automate this process along with working out where i've gone wrong when creating my answer file.

 

Here is the answer file i've created, the setup language, system local and domain details are being accepted it's 'just' the disk config that isn't working, any ideas as i'm now stumped

 

en-gb

en-gb

en-gb

en-gb

en-gb

0

true

1

Primary

300

2

EFI

100

3

MSR

false

128

4

true

Primary

1

1

WinRE

NTFS

2

2

System

FAT32

3

3

4

4

Windows

NTFS

C

OnError

0

4

****

****

****

[Planehazza]

I've had this same issue myself; if it has partitions already the WillWipeDisk fails. If you manually delete them all, reboot, then run WinPE answer file again, suddenly the partitions are there and install can commence. To get past this, I cheated and gave up entirely on using the WDSUnattend.xml to do the disk setup. Intstead, I wrote a batch file and a txt file with diskpart commands to erase and partition disk 0.

 

It's an extra step though and it does require you to have to press shift f10 to open up a command prompt and run the batch file. Ideally I want to use WDS with MDT to automate everything as I'm of the opinion now that WDS on its own is just not clever/powerful enough.

 

Is your answer file working at all? Do your locale/language/login to WDS settings work? EDIT: I see they do.

Edited August 17, 2017 by Planehazza