Windows 8.1 Syprep "Fatal Error" WinMain:Hit

If you are a receiving an error like this, when trying to Sysprep a Windows 8 or 8.1 machine:

 

 





You probably are also seeing something similar to this in your sysprep error log file:

[0x0f00ae] SYSPRP WinMain:Hit failure while processing sysprep cleanup external providers; hr = 0x8007001f
I spent a while banging my head trying to figure this one out.  It seems that it's a 2 part problem.  Many blog sites will tell you just go to the registry and edit the following key:

As a work around of this problem, please type: regedit in the Start Search box to open Registry Editor, set the value of GeneralizationState under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup\Status\SysprepStatus to 7, then run sysprep again.

 However, running sysprep once and having it fail will have changed that key's value from 7 to 3, so just changing it back isn't the whole story (usually).

NOTE: If you have run sysprep once and it has failed, you'll need to go re-enable the local admin account (as it will have been disable in the failed sysprep run)


I've see various explanations on different blogs for why this is happening, but it seems to me that the jist of it has something to do with having multiple use accounts in the image and windows 8 metro apps (even if you have touched those)

Work Around:  Reboot the computer, and login as local admin, then remove any domain and extra local profiles from the computer:

 

(Leaving obviously the local admin account)

 

 

Then check C:\users to make sure their profile folder is gone, and it's also a good idea to check,

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\ProfileList

 

And make sure the registry entry  for those users is gone as well.

 

Reboot machine and re-run sysprep.

 

UPDATE:

 

With the release of Windows 8.1 it is also necessary to de-join the computer from the domain as well as deleting all non built-in user accounts in order for sysprep to work.