Default Windows Unattend Template Requires Product Key

[breakid]

Problem:

The default Windows answer file template (i.e., "<vbox_install_dir>\UnattendedTemplates\win_nt6_unattended.xml") requires a product key. Failure to provide the key results in Windows throwing the following error and aborting install, even if "<AcceptEula>true</AcceptEula>" is provided.

Windows cannot find the Microsoft Software License Terms. Make sure the installation sources are valid and restart the installation.

Impact:

This prevents users from performing unattended installs of Trial / Evaluation copies of Windows without additional (and non-intuitive) configuration. This is very difficult to troubleshoot as the Windows error message refers to licensing rather than product key / activation issues.

Workaround:

Creating a modified copy of the template, containing:

<UserData>
    <AcceptEula>true</AcceptEula>
</UserData>

rather than the default:

<UserData>
    <ProductKey>
        <Key>@@VBOX_INSERT_PRODUCT_KEY_ELEMENT@@</Key>
        <WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI>
    </ProductKey>
    <AcceptEula>true</AcceptEula>
</UserData>

and referencing this during using --script-template="" solves the problem.

Example:

VBoxManage unattended install Server2019Template --user=Administrator --password=password --country=US --time-zone=MST --hostname=Server2019Template --image-index=2 --install-additions --start-vm=gui --iso=<ISO_PATH> --script-template="<path_to_modified_template>\win_nt6_unattended.xml"

Recommended Solution:

Implement template conditional similar to "@@VBOX_COND_IS_USER_LOGIN_ADMINISTRATOR@@", that prevents the "<ProductKey>" block from appearing in the final XML answer file if no key is specified on the command-line for "VBoxManage unattended install".

If this cannot be fixed quickly, please at least update the documentation to mention this requirement and workaround.

[VVP]

The command "VBoxManage unattended install" should work without the argument "--key". I checked it with WinServer 2019 DataCenter/Standard editions on the trunk (not with the VirtualBox 6.1.10). But there were not any modifications in the code from 6.1.10 (if i remember correctly).

Please, describe you case more precisely:

• host OS;
• full syntax of executed command, e.g. "VBoxManage unattended install..." with all arguments you passed.
• show the content of your autounattend.xml which was generated.

[jared.hancock]

Unattended XML file passed to VM for installation

[jared.hancock]

I can confirm this on 6.1.18 as well while trying to install Windows Server 2019 unattended. Here's the full commandline:

['VBoxManage', 'unattended', 'install', 'agent', '--user', 'administrator', '--password', 'kjshf934yrsfg#$%!', '--country', 'US', '--locale', 'en_US', '--time-zone', 'GMT', '--hostname', 'server.company.local', '--iso', 'Downloads/17763.737.190906-2324.rs5_release_svc_refresh_SERVER_EVAL_x64FRE_en-us_1.iso', '--install-additions', '--post-install-command', 'VBoxControl guestproperty set installation_finished y & shutdown /r /t 5']

I've attached the XML file for the installation as requested.