Windows 7 Sysprep fun

[Friez]

Anyone have any ideas on what should be thrown into the answer file for any of the following:

 

* Adding Japanese or Chinese IME as a keyboard language option, the default keyboards don't cut it.

* Removal of EN-US as a keyboard language option (it installs it regardless of what you specify it seems!)

[Gatt]

This link -> ANSI Code Page for Windows System Locale with Identifier Constants and Strings - WhyGoSoFar??? - CSDN?? has a large list of codes so may help you out

 

Does Win7 require an additional Language Pack (IME?) to be installed?

[Friez]

I don't think it needs a language pack as such.

 

If I manually install Japanese IME then it works a treat, but of course I want this to be available straight after a sysprep. Installing a Japanese keyboard (default) doesn't really enable you to type Japanese symbiology (it's essentially a US keyboard), it's the input method that really enables this functionality.

 

Here's the keyboards we install (straight from the answer file):

 

0809:00000809;0401:00000401;0411:00000411;0419:00000419;0804:00000804;0415:00000415

 

English (GB)

Arabic

Japanese

Russian

Chinese (Simplified)

Polish (Programmers)

 

Now, in the case of English, Arabic, Russian and Polish, the keyboards have a 1:1 mapping. That is, if you press the Ж Key, you'll get the Ж Character. No problem here, pretty easy.

 

But with Japanese and Chinese, there's over 60,000 characters, the keyboards themselves use an input method to translate between the sound/reading of the word into the relevant character.

 

But it seems to me that Windows 7 Sysprep doesn't support the installation of these input methods, just the base keyboards themselves, here lies my problem.

 

(And yeah, we have a few foreign language keyboards here!)

 

As for the EN-US thing, you'll see I don't even have US keyboard listed there, Windows 7 "helpfully" adds it right on for us. There's no US keyboards in the school.

 

However, these are set like so:

en-US

en-US

en-US

 

This might have some weird knock-on effect that additionally adds the US keyboard layout.

 

But having read the docs en-US seems like the only sensible option (lest we have our interface in Japanese!)

Edited November 20, 2009 by Friez

[srochford]

I think you can specify en-GB for the locale (but, as ever, I can't find anything on the MS web site to confirm this)

 

Sorry I can't help with the rest of it; only just managed to get Chinese working in XP!

[Gatt]

Hmm. - i think the old XP format of 0809:00000809 (UK English) is not compatible with Vista and above - it has to be in the en-GB format...

 

I have attached my XML file (sorry no Fancy IME's though) for reference

 

I have noticed you are missing an XML tag though:

 

 
xx-yy

 

Which sets the keyboard language i beleive..

ImageUnattend.zip

[Friez]

I have noticed you are missing an XML tag though:

 

Here's the keyboards we install (straight from the answer file):

 

0809:00000809;0401:00000401;0411:00000411;0419:00000419;0804:00000804;0415:00000415

 

English (GB)

Arabic

Japanese

Russian

Chinese (Simplified)

Polish (Programmers)

 

 

Infact, typing en-gb on my InputLocale seemed to not work at all (it TANKED the machine -- fresh W7 reinstall was required). The docs seem to strongly indicate use of the hex codes. I will try changing to some of the others to en-gb, but I suspect I will turn up with problems (as it is likely such a language pack doesn't exist in W7).

 

As an aside, your ZIP seems corrupted? Thanks for the help anyhow!

[Gatt]

Not sure what happened with the zip but this is the main bit that I have in mine..

en-gb

en-gb

en-gb

en-gb

 

All I can think is that its to do with an IME

Not sure why en-GB would cripple the install

 

Are you using the WAIK to edit the XML file?

[Friez]

Yeah, I am.

 

The sysprep does work if I use the config above, its just got some annoying quirks.

It seems that en-GB is an underdocumented feature (non-documented?).

 

This is how my languages sysprep section looks:

 

           0809:00000809;0401:00000401;0411:00000411;0419:00000419;0804:00000804;0415:00000415
           en-GB
           en-GB
           en-GB

 

However, input locale still uses the hex format. This gets rid of en-us and still retains all the aforementioned languages (and doesn't tank the machine). But still no IME yet! Still, some progress at least

 

I wonder if theres an un-documented hex for the imes or something? I'll try ja-JP and hope things don't fall over!

 

Update

 

Well how crazy is that?

 

Doing

           0809:00000809;0401:00000401;ja-JP;0419:00000419;zh-CN;0415:00000415
           en-GB
           en-GB
           en-GB

 

Seems to work for Japanese IME but not Chinese :S

Edited November 20, 2009 by Friez

[Gatt]

I love how MS change the format but dont provide an adequate list of the new formats!!

Same goes for the TimeZone's

[DMcCoy]

I love how MS change the format but dont provide an adequate list of the new formats!!

Same goes for the TimeZone's

 

The deployment documentation tells you to find the mappings from a registry location iirc.

[srochford]

I love how MS change the format but dont provide an adequate list of the new formats!!

Same goes for the TimeZones

 

That bit I think I can help with!

 

type "tzutil /l" to get a list of time zones and the codes. You'll see the full list and the info for the UK is

 

(UTC) Dublin, Edinburgh, Lisbon, London

GMT Standard Time

 

so the text you need is just "GMT Standard Time"

[Friez]

Aye, tis true. What the documents DO lack though are how to get IME's installed as standard, although you can sorta do it with Japanese (and I suspect Hong Kong IME too) no Chinese Simplified IME for me yet though...