How can I customize my Windows 7 deployment , such as the regional settings, Firewall , internet explorer , keyboard settings? Even if you are using SCCM & task sequences you still want to customize your windows 7 image thru a unattend.xml file .

As I had trouble to find some examples to start with , I will post mine for Windows 7 x86 and x64 .

Now you can add or customise many more changes to your Unattend.xml file and use them to apply changes to Windows 7 during your task sequence installation. Of course SCCM will modify the Unattend.xml file to add the values you have specified during the task sequence such as your product key , user & company name , local admin pasword , etc .

Here you will see my custom Unattend.xml file for x86 :

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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!–
    Unattended installation file for Windows 7 x86. Place in the root directory of a USB drive.
    Important! Before using, change the Product Key and Administrator’s password.
    Make sure the partition number and physical disk number are correct for your system.
–>
<unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend">
    <settings pass="specialize">
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-LUA-Settings" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
        <EnableLUA>false</EnableLUA>
           </component>
           <component name="Networking-MPSSVC-Svc" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <DomainProfile_EnableFirewall>false</DomainProfile_EnableFirewall>
            <PrivateProfile_EnableFirewall>false</PrivateProfile_EnableFirewall>
            <PublicProfile_EnableFirewall>false</PublicProfile_EnableFirewall>
           </component>
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <OEMInformation>
                <HelpCustomized>false</HelpCustomized>
            </OEMInformation>
            <RegisteredOwner></RegisteredOwner>
        </component>
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-TerminalServices-LocalSessionManager" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <fDenyTSConnections>false</fDenyTSConnections>
        </component>
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-IE-InternetExplorer" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <DisableAccelerators>true</DisableAccelerators>
            <DisableOOBAccelerators>true</DisableOOBAccelerators>
            <SuggestedSitesEnabled>false</SuggestedSitesEnabled>
            <Home_Page>about:home</Home_Page>
            <QuickLinkList>
                <QuickLinkItem wcm:action="add">
                    <QuickLinkName>Bing</QuickLinkName>
                    <QuickLinkUrl>http://www.bing.com</QuickLinkUrl>
                    <QLID>1</QLID>
                </QuickLinkItem>
                </QuickLinkList>
        </component>
    </settings>
    <settings pass="oobeSystem">
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <OOBE>
                <NetworkLocation>Work</NetworkLocation>
                <ProtectYourPC>2</ProtectYourPC>
                <HideEULAPage>true</HideEULAPage>
                <SkipMachineOOBE>true</SkipMachineOOBE>
                   <SkipUserOOBE>true</SkipUserOOBE>
            </OOBE>
        </component>
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-International-Core" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <InputLocale>%OSDInputLocale%</InputLocale>
            <SystemLocale>%OSDSystemLocale%</SystemLocale>
            <UILanguage>%OSDUILanguage%</UILanguage>
            <UserLocale>%OSDUserLocale%</UserLocale>
    </component>
    </settings>
</unattend>

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Here you will see my custom Unattend.xml file for x64 :

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<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<!–
    Unattended installation file for Windows 7 x64. Place in the root directory of a USB drive.
    Important! Before using, change the Product Key and Administrator’s password.
    Make sure the partition number and physical disk number are correct for your system.
–>
<unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend">
    <settings pass="specialize">
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-LUA-Settings" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
        <EnableLUA>false</EnableLUA>
           </component>
           <component name="Networking-MPSSVC-Svc" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <DomainProfile_EnableFirewall>false</DomainProfile_EnableFirewall>
            <PrivateProfile_EnableFirewall>false</PrivateProfile_EnableFirewall>
            <PublicProfile_EnableFirewall>false</PublicProfile_EnableFirewall>
           </component>
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <OEMInformation>
                <HelpCustomized>false</HelpCustomized>
            </OEMInformation>
            <RegisteredOwner></RegisteredOwner>
        </component>
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-TerminalServices-LocalSessionManager" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <fDenyTSConnections>false</fDenyTSConnections>
        </component>
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-IE-InternetExplorer" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <DisableAccelerators>true</DisableAccelerators>
            <DisableOOBAccelerators>true</DisableOOBAccelerators>
            <SuggestedSitesEnabled>false</SuggestedSitesEnabled>
            <Home_Page>about:home</Home_Page>
            <QuickLinkList>
                <QuickLinkItem wcm:action="add">
                    <QuickLinkName>Bing</QuickLinkName>
                    <QuickLinkUrl>http://www.bing.com</QuickLinkUrl>
                    <QLID>1</QLID>
                </QuickLinkItem>
                </QuickLinkList>
        </component>
    </settings>
    <settings pass="oobeSystem">
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <OOBE>
                <NetworkLocation>Work</NetworkLocation>
                <ProtectYourPC>2</ProtectYourPC>
                <HideEULAPage>true</HideEULAPage>
                <SkipMachineOOBE>true</SkipMachineOOBE>
                   <SkipUserOOBE>true</SkipUserOOBE>
            </OOBE>
        </component>
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-International-Core" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <InputLocale>%OSDInputLocale%</InputLocale>
            <SystemLocale>%OSDSystemLocale%</SystemLocale>
            <UILanguage>%OSDUILanguage%</UILanguage>
            <UserLocale>%OSDUserLocale%</UserLocale>
    </component>
    </settings>
</unattend>

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You can add your unattended.xml files now into a package and use them in your SCCM task sequence as shown below .

In order to use the unattended.xml that where containing the variables for the regional , keyboard , etc settings as shown below we need to assign some variables to our collection first.

On your collection , you add collection variables as shown in the picture below. This gives you the flexibility to create multiple collections with different keyboard layouts , if you for example are a international company.

 

Hope it Helps ,

 

Kenny Buntinx