Hi,
when during the execution of sysprep the error message “A fatal error occured while trying to sysprep machine” is shown check the setupact.log and setuperr.log in “C:\windows\system32\sysprep\panther”.
This error can occure when the sysprep state of the machine is invalid. The state are saved in 2 registry keys
D:\> reg query HKLM\System\Setup\status\SysprepStatus HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\Setup\status\SysprepStatus GeneralizationState REG_DWORD 0x7 CleanupState REG_DWORD 0x2
In an normal state these values are set as shown above. If not set it
D:\> reg add HKLM\System\Setup\status\SysprepStatus /v GeneralizationState /t REG_DWORD /d 7 /f D:\> reg add HKLM\System\Setup\status\SysprepStatus /v CleanupState /t REG_DWORD /d 2 /f
Michael