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Windows 10 LTSC Deployment; Start Menu and Cortana not working after Sysprep

Hello!

I'm creating a Windows 10 image that we'll be distributing and used for medical devices. I have the two answer files needed for the initial setup of the users, partitions, and other settings. Everything works fine like how it did when we did it for Windows 7, but after Sysprep and shutting down for duplication of the hard drives, on start up right after Sysprep the Start Menu fails to work and so does Cortana. One thing we've noticed too is that over time of use, Windows tries to contact the Windows activation server and causes the OS to slow down dramatically which disables the use of the medical system. It seems like it's trying to use numerous services that aren't present because the package that contains the start menu might contain those services that are needing to be used.

For months we've been trying to resolve this using everything under the sun including trying to use Appx stuff (which fails), scan disk, bunch of other things that has been suggested and none of this works. We've also include, not included and made sure CopyProfile in the answer file to be false. Every scenario seems to not work.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

windows-10-setupwindows-iot-10core
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Does the system connect to the Internet? If so the system should be activated prior to shipping to a customer. This could resolve the issue you are seeing.
Are you using a runtime license key that you got from your Microsoft Distributor? If not this can be a problem with the activation.
Are you using a Sysprep unattend answer file when you run sysprep?
When you say start menu doesn't appear, can you be more specific? Does Explorer with desktop background appear?
Are you using UWF, BitLocker, and WDAC for security?
Are you sure you want Cortana running?

1 Vote 1 ·

Hello Sean,

Does the system connect to the Internet? If so the system should be activated prior to shipping to a customer. This could resolve the issue you are seeing.
- The system does connect to the internet during the whole process.

Are you using a runtime license key that you got from your Microsoft Distributor? If not this can be a problem with the activation.
- We are using a runtime license that is provided by our distributor.

Are you using a Sysprep unattend answer file when you run sysprep?
- We are using a sysprep unattended answer file that is ran after we have the environments for the two users setup.

When you say start menu doesn't appear, can you be more specific? Does Explorer with desktop background appear?
- The Start Button is there, but when you try and click it, it doesn't work. You can't use the Windows key either. There also seems to be some other services that are missing. We can't access a lot of things after the Sysprep is completed and the operating system starts up again. Typically all the items when you right click the start menu.

Are you using UWF, BitLocker, and WDAC for security?
- We are using UWF.


Are you sure you want Cortana running?
- We don't want that, but it seems (I could be wrong) tied to some start menu things.

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Sean,

I broke down my answer file more and found that at some point between audit mode and OOBE, the start menu breaks.

-Jon

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Also, UWF isn't enabled until after the computer is restarted after OOBE.

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1 Answer

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JonArciaga-7095 answered

After further work and taking apart my answer files piece by piece, I discovered that setting the programdata folder to a location other than the C drive was what broke the start menu. I discovered that it's not recommended to do this and that it should only be done for testing purposes.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/customize/desktop/unattend/microsoft-windows-shell-setup-folderlocations-programdata

Thank you for all the help, especially to Sean Liming.


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