Sysprep window appears after each reboot

"epitope" wrote:

> I have a HP computer. My x64 Vista did not work property and i have a
> separate partition containing Recovery information, so i decided to run
> System Recovery to put my Vista back to the original version (as
> shipped); as the result, i have a fresh version of Vista; however,
> whenever from that moment, the computer takes a long time (~10') to
> restart and when i see the desktop, a message of "System Preparation
> Tool 3.14" appears. At first i chose OOBE and reboot the computer, the
> message is still there, later I also tried Audit Mode, but it could not
> help either.
>
> So the problems remains: long time to restart and a message of System
> Preparation Tool. I can not re-install a new Vista as i don't have a
> separate Windows Vista DVD, i have to depend on System Recovery.
>
> Thanks for any help to dismiss the message and/or stop the Sysprep (as
> i think the computer restarts very slowly due to Sysprep running).

Caveat: I have exactly zero experience with HP machines running Vista; the
last HP box I've touched was an OmniBook 510 (my POE dropped HP as a vendor
after it bought Compaq and abandoned the excellent OmniBook product line in
favor of Compaq boxes).

If you followed the HP instructions for restoring the machine from the
on-disk files and you're getting a Sysprep mesasge, that sounds like the
restore image is bad. When used by a manufacturer or integrator to prepare
a system for delivery to an end user, Sysprep's (somewhat simplified) job is
to strip out all of the hardware-related configuration information, set a
flag saying that it needs to be given control at the next boot, and then
shut the system down. When the process ends the disk image is ready to be
shipped.

When the system (or a system with a disk imaged from the manufacturer's
sysprepped machine) is first booted by the end user, Sysprep again gets
control but this time in OOBE (Out Of Box Experience) mode. It runs what's
called the "mini-setup" which locates all the hardware devices on the box
and installs drivers for them and steps the user through initial account
setup. What it does NOT do (or at least SHOULD NOT do) is raise a dialog
that refers to itself.

Since this is an HP system with an OEM distribution of Vista, and apparently
some kind of screwup in the HP restore image, you need to talk to the HP
support people. Microsoft won't offer help since in return for getting the
Vista license at a significant discount HP has committed itself to providing
the end-user with appropriate support.

Joe Morris

Joe Morris wrote:


> Caveat: I have exactly zero experience with HP machines running Vista; the
> last HP box I've touched was an OmniBook 510 (my POE dropped HP as a
> vendor after it bought Compaq and abandoned the excellent OmniBook product
> line in favor of Compaq boxes).
>
> If you followed the HP instructions for restoring the machine from the
> on-disk files and you're getting a Sysprep mesasge, that sounds like the
> restore image is bad.

(snip)

Hi, Joe - Your post is excellent but while the recovery disk set could be
bad it is far more likely that the OP just didn't let the recovery process
finish. See my reply to him.

I had the same experience the very first time I did a factory restore on an
HP Vista laptop. Since then I've done more of these than I like to think
about (subcontracting work for a local school's laptop program) and all the
HPs take forever to finish the factory restore. If you interrupt the
process before it's done, you'll get exactly the same behavior as the OP's
computer is having. The only thing to do is redo the recovery process and
this time be patient.

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ