v4.14 | Silent installation fails at 75%

[aravon72]

Checklist

• I have been made aware that if my problem can be summarized as "I've created or tried to create a media using Rufus, and ...", and I am not including a log, this issue will be summarily closed.
• I looked at https://github.com/pbatard/rufus/wiki/FAQ to see if my question has already been answered.
• I performed a search in the issue tracker for similar issues using keywords relevant to my problem, such as the error message I got from the log.
• I clicked the 'Log' button (🗒️) or pressed Ctrl-L in Rufus, or used DebugView, and copy/pasted the log into the section that says <FULL LOG> below.
• The log I am copying is the FULL log, starting with the line Rufus version: x.y.z - I have NOT removed any part of it.

Additionally (if applicable):

• I ran a bad blocks check, by clicking Show advanced format options then Check device for bad blocks, and confirmed that my USB is not defective.
• I also tried one or more of the following:
  • Using a different USB drive.
  • Plugging the USB into a different port.
  • Running Rufus on a different computer.
• If using an image, I clicked on the (✓) button to compute the MD5, SHA1 and SHA256 checksums, which are therefore present in the log I copied. I confirmed, by performing an internet search, that these values match the ones from the official image.

Issue description

Using v4.14 beta, I've tried installing 25H2 with all advanced options (except the last 2) including the silent installation, but the installation is failing at 75%. I've tried to a virtual machine (VMWARE) and on a laptop. Both same results. Also have tried with different DOKs.

Log

Rufus x64 v4.14.2372 (Beta) (Portable)
Windows version: Windows 11 Pro x64 (Build 26200.8246)
Syslinux versions: 4.07/2013-07-25, 6.04/pre1
Grub versions: 0.4.6a, 2.14
System locale ID: 0x0409 (en-US)
Will use default UI locale 0x0409
SetLGP: Successfully set NoDriveTypeAutorun policy to 0x0000009E
Localization set to 'en-US'
Found USB 1.1 device 'BR25 UDISK USB Device' (4C4A:4155)
Device eliminated because it appears to contain no media
Found USB 3.0 device ' USB  SanDisk 3.2Gen1 USB Device' (0781:55AB)
1 device found
Disk type: Removable, Disk size: 114.6 GB, Sector size: 512 bytes
Cylinders: 14961, Tracks per cylinder: 255, Sectors per track: 63
Partition type: GPT, NB Partitions: 2
Disk GUID: {370EE50E-E9BA-4E00-BFA7-68E94456CE82}
Max parts: 128, Start Offset: 17408, Usable = 123060845056 bytes
Partition 1:
  Type: Microsoft basic data
  Name: 'Main Data Partition'
  Detected File System: NTFS
  ID: {ACAA2CB7-F51C-4FFB-8540-79F8CBD68410}
  Size: 114.6 GB (123058704384 bytes)
  Start Sector: 2048, Attributes: 0x0000000000000000
Partition 2 (UEFI:NTFS):
  Type: Microsoft basic data
  Name: 'UEFI:NTFS'
  Detected File System: FAT12
  ID: {AFF6DCEA-908F-4146-BB9C-5D2FE079CC23}
  Size: 1 MB (1064448 bytes)
  Start Sector: 240351111, Attributes: 0x9000000000000000
Found 5 additional UEFI revocation filters from remote SBAT
Found 4 active Secure Boot certificate entries from remote
Found 1 revoked Secure Boot certificate entries from remote
Scanning image...
ISO analysis:
  Image is a UDF image
Disk image analysis:
  Image does not have a Boot Marker
UEFI bootloaders analysis:
  • /bootmgr.efi*
  Signed by 'Microsoft Windows Production PCA 2011'
  Note: This bootloader may fail Secure Boot validation on systems that
  have been updated to use the 'Windows UEFI CA 2023' certificate.
  • /efi/boot/bootx64.efi*
  Signed by 'Microsoft Windows Production PCA 2011'
  Note: This bootloader may fail Secure Boot validation on systems that
  have been updated to use the 'Windows UEFI CA 2023' certificate.
ISO label: 'CCCOMA_X64FRE_EN-US_DV9'
  Detected: Windows 11 ISO (Build 26200.8037)
  Size: 8.0 GB (Projected)
  Has a >4GB file
  Uses: EFI
  Uses: Bootmgr (BIOS and UEFI)
  Uses: Install.wim (version 0.1.13)
Using image: Win11_25H2_English_x64_v2.iso (7.9 GB)
Selected Windows User Experience options:
• Silent Install
• Bypass SB/TPM/RAM
• Bypass online account requirement
• QoL: Disable OneDrive and Outlook by default
• Disable data collection
• Use 'David' for local account name
• QoL: Disable Fast Startup, Copilot, Recommendations, News and Teams by default
• QoL: More pins for the Start Menu and enable useful shortcuts
• Use the same regional options as this user's
• Disable BitLocker

Format operation started
Requesting disk access...
Will use 'G:' as volume mountpoint
Opened \\.\PhysicalDrive4 for shared write access
Analyzing existing boot records...
Drive has a Zeroed Master Boot Record
Clearing MBR/PBR/GPT structures...
Zeroed 8 MB at the top of the drive
Zeroed 1 MB at the end of the drive
Initializing disk...
Partitioning (GPT)...
● Creating Main Data Partition (offset: 1048576, size: 114.6 GB)
● Creating UEFI:NTFS Partition (offset: 123059768832, size: 1 MB)
Writing UEFI:NTFS data...
Refreshing drive layout...
Waiting for logical drive to reappear...
Formatting to NTFS (using IFS)
Using cluster size: 4096 bytes
Quick format was selected
Creating file system...
Format completed.
Opened \\.\PhysicalDrive4 for shared write access
Writing Master Boot Record...
Using Rufus protective MBR
Writing protective message SBR
Found volume \\?\Volume{0b197cba-d963-449c-a309-5a84416dfa3b}\
Disabling file indexing...
Successfully remounted \\?\Volume{0b197cba-d963-449c-a309-5a84416dfa3b}\ as G:
Extracting files...
Image is a UDF image
Extracting: G:\autorun.inf (128 bytes)
Extracting: G:\boot\bcd (16 KB)
Extracting: G:\boot\boot.sdi (3 MB)
Extracting: G:\boot\bootfix.bin (1 KB)
...
...
...
Applying Windows customization:
Created 'G:\sources\appraiserres.dll' placeholder
Renamed 'G:\setup.exe' → 'G:\setup.dll'
Created 'G:\setup.exe' bypass wrapper (from embedded)
Mounted offline registry hive 'C:\Users\David\AppData\Local\Temp\Ruf9978.tmp\SYSTEM' to 'HKLM\RUFUS_OFFLINE_HIVE'
Created 'HKLM\SYSTEM\Setup\LabConfig\BypassTPMCheck' registry key
Created 'HKLM\SYSTEM\Setup\LabConfig\BypassSecureBootCheck' registry key
Created 'HKLM\SYSTEM\Setup\LabConfig\BypassRAMCheck' registry key
Added 'Autounattend.xml' to 'G:\sources\boot.wim'
Unmounted offline registry hive 'HKLM\RUFUS_OFFLINE_HIVE'
Updating 'G:\sources\boot.wim[2]'...
Finalizing, please wait...
G:autorun.inf already exists - keeping it
NTFS Fixup (Checkdisk)...
Volume label is CCCOMA_X64FRE_EN-US_DV9.

Stage 1: Examining basic file system structure ...
  1280 file records processed.
File verification completed.
 Phase duration (File record verification): 23.70 milliseconds.
  0 large file records processed.
 Phase duration (Orphan file record recovery): 0.16 milliseconds.
  0 bad file records processed.
 Phase duration (Bad file record checking): 0.15 milliseconds.

Stage 2: Examining file name linkage ...
  1490 index entries processed.
Index verification completed.
 Phase duration (Index verification): 119.62 milliseconds.
 Phase duration (Orphan reconnection): 0.62 milliseconds.
 Phase duration (Orphan recovery to lost and found): 0.01 milliseconds.
  0 reparse records processed.
  0 reparse records processed.
 Phase duration (Reparse point and Object ID verification): 0.36 milliseconds.

Stage 3: Examining security descriptors ...
Security descriptor verification completed.
 Phase duration (Security descriptor verification): 4.08 milliseconds.
  105 data files processed.
 Phase duration (Data attribute verification): 0.19 milliseconds.

Windows has scanned the file system and found no problems.
No further action is required.

 120174515 KB total disk space.
   8294284 KB in 985 files.
       384 KB in 107 indexes.
     70899 KB in use by the system.
     65536 KB occupied by the log file.
 111808948 KB available on disk.
      4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
  30043628 total allocation units on disk.
  27952237 allocation units available on disk.
Total duration: 149.35 milliseconds (149 ms).
NTFS Fixup completed.

[pbatard]

You're going to have to look in the Panther installation logs to see why it fails.

Also I assume that it fails at 75% during the copy phase? Or is it somewhere else.

Finally, you should try without the Silent option to see what happens, because my guess is that you are running in one of the various environments where the copy phase fails for varied reasons, regardless of whether Rufus is being used or not.

For the record I have tested the silent installation option on multiple real platforms and saw no issue. I cannot vouch for virtual platforms however. What is the exact model of the laptop you tried?

[pineapple63]

I had the same error (on a rather cheap PC that has a few quirks)

I extracted the XML Rufus generated to see if i could figure out what was going on

All i have figured out so far is it is definitely something about the XML, as if i delete the XML, i don't get the error

[pbatard]

Again, it would really help if you provided the actual details about the hardware you tested with, instead of withholding that information.

I can tell you that I tested installs with all options on:

• Dell OptiPlex 7060 MT
• HP ProDesk 600
• Lenovo ThinkPad T460
  And saw no issues.

And I just restested a silent install with everything but the last 2 options on a Gigabyte GA-X99-SLI based system, and it completed as expected as well.

So, I have to ask you again for the actual details of the platforms you tested, as well as play with removing the Silent and QoL options to see what happens.

Also, since I suppose this could be an issue, are you sure that the regional options of the system you created the drive on do match the region provided by the ISO? From your log, it appears that you are running Rufus on an en-US platform with the latest (retail) Windows 11 en-US ISO, so this shouldn't be a problem, but then again, I can only see the region options of your platform from what Rufus supports, so it you are running English Rufus on a Windows installation that has its regional options set to something else than English (through a language pack or something), there's a possibility that your trying to reuse the regional options is the issue.

But at any rate, without more data from you about what you are actually testing against, and since I have yet to locate a platform where I see an issue with Windows installation from Rufus (including Silent installs), there's really not much I can do.

And I have to reiterate again that you should be able to find some installation logs that report what the issue is when processing the unattend file. But their location depends on whether the 75% stop occurs during file copy or during 2nd stage install, which is yet another question of mine you haven't answered.

[pineapple63]

The regional options match the ISO ive been using

(i'm not OP incase you didn't realise)

I have already tried selecting only the options necessary for a silent installation, and i get the same result, installation fails at 75% of the file copy

I had a few ideas as to why it could be failing, but one thing i haven't tried so far is editing the XML to add a recovery partition, incase for whatever reason it isn't creating one

EDIT: the PC i have observed this error on is a cheap thing from Amazon with a Celeron CPU

[pbatard]

Ah, sorry @pineapple63, I didn't recognize you there and indeed thought you were OP.

I'll see if I can locate more platforms to test (as well as re-test the platforms I tested with, as I did add a few more QoL options since), but I'm really puzzled as to why I haven't been able to see the issue on the equipment I tested with.

And of course, it sure would help if you guys could tell what is the actual WUE option that is causing your issue (as I still have no idea if it's Silent, QoL or something else) as well as look at the Windows logs. I don't recall precisely where the log from the copy phase is located, but there should be a log somewhere you can look at (unless Windows forcibly reboots on failure...).

[pbatard]

Another thing, especially since OP mentions VMWare where it would definitely be the case, are your platforms activated for the Windows edition you are trying to install it on? Coz I could definitely see Silent install failing at 75% during the copy phase due to (non) activation (though I would expect networking to be needed then to validate activation, and I've just re-tested a silent install without network on the Lenovo, which, again, completed fine)...

[pineapple63]

I have narrowed it down to the silent installation option that is causing it

I did try adding a dummy product key that i know works during an offline install, but that didn't work

I have successfully done a silent install on that system before when i created the XML using the software microsoft provides (and a website to guide me through it)

I did add 4 partitions when i did that though

[pbatard]

Okay, at least we know that it's the Silent option. I did play with the number of partitions while I finalized the Silent option, and found on the system I tested that there didn't seem to be a need for recovery (which, logically should only ever be needed if you need to recover the system and completely ignored by Windows otherwise), and since I didn't see any issues afterwards on the other systems I tested, I kept it that way, especially as IIRC, its positioning after the system partition meant you couldn't just set the system partition to occupy the rest of the disk. But then again, who knows, maybe some systems want to see a recovery partition...

[pbatard]

Oh, and the one thing I found was that Windows Setup did create the recovery partition for us (by reducing the system one) if we did not specify it during partitioning. The other advantage of not explicitly setting one up in unattend is that we can then be sure that it will be dimensioned as Microsoft wants it, as there seems to be a lot of conflicting data as to how large it should be.

But maybe the issue is that, in some circumstances, setup is not able to accomplish that step. I guess that if Microsoft (stupidly) designed that recovery partition creation step to happen after the copy, and if it happens that there is an NTFS file at the end of the system partition, you could get an error and an install failure. And that would also explain the randomness of the issue (though, really, I must have silently installed Windows with Rufus at least 20 times on different platforms, if not 30, and not once have I run into this issue, which I would expect to have if there's a random factor to it).

Is there any way you can check how many partitions have been created on your target disk after you get the error?

[pineapple63]

I think i only saw 3 partions, athough i can't easily check as the system is currently in the middle of a windows installation (and this time it got past the point where it was erroring out)

Its defiantly something to do with the disk configuration that is causing the error, as when i replaced the disk configuration section in Autounattend.xml with the below, it installs successfully

            <DiskConfiguration>
                <Disk wcm:action="add">
                    <CreatePartitions>
                        <CreatePartition wcm:action="add">
                            <Order>1</Order>
                            <Size>500</Size>
                            <Type>Primary</Type>
                        </CreatePartition>
                        <CreatePartition wcm:action="add">
                            <Order>2</Order>
                            <Size>100</Size>
                            <Type>EFI</Type>
                        </CreatePartition>
                        <CreatePartition wcm:action="add">
                            <Order>3</Order>
                            <Size>16</Size>
                            <Type>MSR</Type>
                        </CreatePartition>
                        <CreatePartition wcm:action="add">
                            <Order>4</Order>
                            <Type>Primary</Type>
                            <Extend>true</Extend>
                        </CreatePartition>
                    </CreatePartitions>
                    <ModifyPartitions>
                        <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add">
                            <Order>1</Order>
                            <PartitionID>1</PartitionID>
                            <TypeID>DE94BBA4-06D1-4D40-A16A-BFD50179D6AC</TypeID>
                            <Label>WinRE</Label>
                            <Format>NTFS</Format>
                        </ModifyPartition>
                        <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add">
                            <Format>FAT32</Format>
                            <Label>System</Label>
                            <PartitionID>2</PartitionID>
                            <Order>2</Order>
                        </ModifyPartition>
                        <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add">
                            <Order>4</Order>
                            <PartitionID>4</PartitionID>
                            <Letter>C</Letter>
                            <Label>Windows</Label>
                            <Format>NTFS</Format>
                        </ModifyPartition>
                        <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add">
                            <Order>3</Order>
                            <PartitionID>3</PartitionID>
                        </ModifyPartition>
                    </ModifyPartitions>
                    <DiskID>0</DiskID>
                    <WillWipeDisk>true</WillWipeDisk>
                </Disk>
                <WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI>
            </DiskConfiguration>

[pbatard]

I'm still not convinced explicitly creating the WinRE partition or its positioning is the issue.

Can you progressively try adding some of the other elements we have like: <DisableEncryptedDiskProvisioning>true</DisableEncryptedDiskProvisioning>, as well as this section?:

        <Disk wcm:action=\"modify\">
          <DiskID>1</DiskID> 
          <ModifyPartitions>
            <ModifyPartition wcm:action=\"modify\">
              <Order>1</Order>
              <PartitionID>1</PartitionID>
              <Letter>D</Letter>
            </ModifyPartition>
          </ModifyPartitions>
        </Disk>

Also, your:

                        <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add">
                            <Order>3</Order>
                            <PartitionID>3</PartitionID>
                        </ModifyPartition>

does nothing, so you probably want to remove it.

Feel free to take your time with the testing...

[pineapple63]

Seems as though i have proven myself wrong again (for probably the 4th or 5th time today)

It seems it is

                <Disk wcm:action="modify">
                    <DiskID>1</DiskID>
                    <ModifyPartitions>
                        <ModifyPartition wcm:action="modify">
                            <Order>1</Order>
                            <PartitionID>1</PartitionID>
                            <Letter>D</Letter>
                        </ModifyPartition>
                    </ModifyPartitions>
                </Disk>

that is causing the error

As i get the error when i use

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend">
    <settings pass="windowsPE">
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-International-Core-WinPE" 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">
            <SetupUILanguage>
                <UILanguage>en-GB</UILanguage>
            </SetupUILanguage>
            <InputLocale>en-GB</InputLocale>
            <SystemLocale>en-GB</SystemLocale>
            <UILanguage>en-GB</UILanguage>
            <UserLocale>en-GB</UserLocale>
        </component>
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-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">
      <UserData>
        <AcceptEula>true</AcceptEula>
        <ProductKey>
          <Key />
        </ProductKey>
      </UserData>
            <DiskConfiguration>
                <WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI>
                <DisableEncryptedDiskProvisioning>true</DisableEncryptedDiskProvisioning>
                <Disk wcm:action="modify">
                    <DiskID>1</DiskID>
                    <ModifyPartitions>
                        <ModifyPartition wcm:action="modify">
                            <Order>1</Order>
                            <PartitionID>1</PartitionID>
                            <Letter>D</Letter>
                        </ModifyPartition>
                    </ModifyPartitions>
                </Disk>
                <Disk wcm:action="add">
                    <DiskID>0</DiskID>
                    <WillWipeDisk>true</WillWipeDisk>
                    <CreatePartitions>
                        <CreatePartition wcm:action="add">
                            <Order>1</Order>
                            <Size>500</Size>
                            <Type>Primary</Type>
                        </CreatePartition>
                        <CreatePartition wcm:action="add">
                            <Order>2</Order>
                            <Size>100</Size>
                            <Type>EFI</Type>
                        </CreatePartition>
                        <CreatePartition wcm:action="add">
                            <Order>3</Order>
                            <Size>16</Size>
                            <Type>MSR</Type>
                        </CreatePartition>
                        <CreatePartition wcm:action="add">
                            <Order>4</Order>
                            <Type>Primary</Type>
                            <Extend>true</Extend>
                        </CreatePartition>
                    </CreatePartitions>
                    <ModifyPartitions>
                        <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add">
                            <Order>1</Order>
                            <PartitionID>1</PartitionID>
                            <TypeID>DE94BBA4-06D1-4D40-A16A-BFD50179D6AC</TypeID>
                            <Label>WinRE</Label>
                            <Format>NTFS</Format>
                        </ModifyPartition>
                        <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add">
                            <Format>FAT32</Format>
                            <Label>System</Label>
                            <PartitionID>2</PartitionID>
                            <Order>2</Order>
                        </ModifyPartition>
                        <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add">
                            <Order>3</Order>
                            <PartitionID>4</PartitionID>
                            <Letter>C</Letter>
                            <Label>Windows</Label>
                            <Format>NTFS</Format>
                        </ModifyPartition>
                    </ModifyPartitions>
                </Disk>
            </DiskConfiguration>
            <ImageInstall>
                <OSImage>
                    <InstallTo>
                        <DiskID>0</DiskID>
                        <PartitionID>4</PartitionID>
                    </InstallTo>
                    <InstallFrom>
                        <MetaData wcm:action="add">
                            <Key>/IMAGE/INDEX</Key>
                            <Value>6</Value>
                        </MetaData>
                    </InstallFrom>
                </OSImage>
            </ImageInstall>
        </component>
    </settings>
    <settings pass="oobeSystem">
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-SecureStartup-FilterDriver" processorArchitecture="amd64" language="neutral" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" versionScope="nonSxS">
            <PreventDeviceEncryption>true</PreventDeviceEncryption>
        </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">
            <OOBE>
                <HideWirelessSetupInOOBE>true</HideWirelessSetupInOOBE>
                <HideOnlineAccountScreens>true</HideOnlineAccountScreens>
            </OOBE>
        </component>
    </settings>
</unattend>

but not when i use

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend">
    <settings pass="windowsPE">
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-International-Core-WinPE" 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">
            <SetupUILanguage>
                <UILanguage>en-GB</UILanguage>
            </SetupUILanguage>
            <InputLocale>en-GB</InputLocale>
            <SystemLocale>en-GB</SystemLocale>
            <UILanguage>en-GB</UILanguage>
            <UserLocale>en-GB</UserLocale>
        </component>
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-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">
      <UserData>
        <AcceptEula>true</AcceptEula>
        <ProductKey>
          <Key />
        </ProductKey>
      </UserData>
            <DiskConfiguration>
                <WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI>
                <DisableEncryptedDiskProvisioning>true</DisableEncryptedDiskProvisioning>
                <Disk wcm:action="add">
                    <DiskID>0</DiskID>
                    <WillWipeDisk>true</WillWipeDisk>
                    <CreatePartitions>
                        <CreatePartition wcm:action="add">
                            <Order>1</Order>
                            <Size>500</Size>
                            <Type>Primary</Type>
                        </CreatePartition>
                        <CreatePartition wcm:action="add">
                            <Order>2</Order>
                            <Size>100</Size>
                            <Type>EFI</Type>
                        </CreatePartition>
                        <CreatePartition wcm:action="add">
                            <Order>3</Order>
                            <Size>16</Size>
                            <Type>MSR</Type>
                        </CreatePartition>
                        <CreatePartition wcm:action="add">
                            <Order>4</Order>
                            <Type>Primary</Type>
                            <Extend>true</Extend>
                        </CreatePartition>
                    </CreatePartitions>
                    <ModifyPartitions>
                        <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add">
                            <Order>1</Order>
                            <PartitionID>1</PartitionID>
                            <TypeID>DE94BBA4-06D1-4D40-A16A-BFD50179D6AC</TypeID>
                            <Label>WinRE</Label>
                            <Format>NTFS</Format>
                        </ModifyPartition>
                        <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add">
                            <Format>FAT32</Format>
                            <Label>System</Label>
                            <PartitionID>2</PartitionID>
                            <Order>2</Order>
                        </ModifyPartition>
                        <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add">
                            <Order>3</Order>
                            <PartitionID>4</PartitionID>
                            <Letter>C</Letter>
                            <Label>Windows</Label>
                            <Format>NTFS</Format>
                        </ModifyPartition>
                    </ModifyPartitions>
                </Disk>
            </DiskConfiguration>
            <ImageInstall>
                <OSImage>
                    <InstallTo>
                        <DiskID>0</DiskID>
                        <PartitionID>4</PartitionID>
                    </InstallTo>
                    <InstallFrom>
                        <MetaData wcm:action="add">
                            <Key>/IMAGE/INDEX</Key>
                            <Value>6</Value>
                        </MetaData>
                    </InstallFrom>
                </OSImage>
            </ImageInstall>
        </component>
    </settings>
    <settings pass="oobeSystem">
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-SecureStartup-FilterDriver" processorArchitecture="amd64" language="neutral" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" versionScope="nonSxS">
            <PreventDeviceEncryption>true</PreventDeviceEncryption>
        </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">
            <OOBE>
                <HideWirelessSetupInOOBE>true</HideWirelessSetupInOOBE>
                <HideOnlineAccountScreens>true</HideOnlineAccountScreens>
            </OOBE>
        </component>
    </settings>
</unattend>

I did try changing the drive letter, but that either did nothing, or made the error come up much sooner, depending on which drive letter I changed it to (changing it to E made no difference, but changing it to Z caused it to error out pretty much immediately)

[carskie]

In case this is illuminating: On used HP Z2T workstation with Win10 Pro factory install and existing locked local accounts. The silent install of hash verified W11_25H2_English_x64_v2.iso would fail as above. Unchecking silent and seeing the GUI for the install OS path showed 3 partitions where the 3rd was largest for the OS. I deleted all disk 0 partitions via the GUI leaving an unallocated ~500MB space. Proceeded from here and the outcome was as requested; clean W11 install using all options except the last three checked in Rufus. Apologies for not collecting logs, specific details, etc. had to make this recycled PC work today. Thanks for this tool.

[pbatard]

@pineapple63, thanks a lot for the info.

I have one question then: How many disks do you have connected (outside of the USB) when performing the install. I ask because the way I designed silent install, and this specific part, that makes Windows setup pop-up the partition dialog if it doesn't detect an internal disk (due to missing drivers, RAID config, etc), for platforms that have only one disk connected.

The reason is that, otherwise, one cannot predict what disk Windows is going to use as its install target, so the Silent option is really devised for people who make sure to disconnect all disks except the target one before install, and if that is not the case, then all bets are off.

The way the problematic section works is that it is supposed to generate an error if we cannot map the second disk detected (which should be the USB installation drive) as D:, which, because we have <WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI>, will produce the UI. The drive letter is irrelevant (except if you try to use U: as U: appears to reserved for some Windows setup operation later, which I found the hard way), and the operation in itself should be benign, since we're simply mapping the first partition of the second detected disk in the WinPE environment.

Now, the one way I could see this produce the error you guys report is if the USB drive was somehow seen as Disk 0, and the target disk as Disk 1, but then again, since we are explicitly telling setup to install Windows on Disk 0, and it works when you remove that section, it means that you are definitely seeing the target installation disk as Disk 0 and the USB as something else, as expected. So the only other logical avenue to explore is that, on the problematic platforms, Disk 1 is not the installation USB, and that this is somehow what produces the error later on.

Obviously, I'll see if I can test with multiple disks when I get a chance, to see if I can replicate the issue, but it might be a while before I do that. In the meantime, I'd be curious if you can run diskpart (with Shift->F10) on a non silent install during the partitioning screen, and then issue list disk to see how many disks setup actually sees at this stage, as if it's more than 2, it would indicate that we might be on the right track to understand the root of the problem. If however, platforms that have this error only see 2 disks then, and the second disk is also confirmed to be the USB installation drive (sel disk 1 list part should show the 1039 KB UEFI:NTFS partition as Partition 2), then I still don't think I have a clue as to why the drive letter mapping section could cause an issue.

@carskie, if you unchecked the Silent install, and since we validated that the problematic element is a part that is added by the Silent install option, then your results are expected. You will of course be able to install Windows without issue then.

[pbatard]

Well, I just tried a machine with 2 disks connected, and did not get the issue.

And for good measure, I tested yet another completely different B450 based AMD system, and still saw no issue.

Since I am not going to sacrifice one of my work systems, even temporarily, I'm starting to run out of platforms to test... Why the heck am I unable to replicate this issue, when you guys make it look like you encounter it on pretty much every platform you try?

And yeah, I know OP reported seeing the issue with VMWare, so I'll probably have no choice but try to also test there, but, since I've been running in way too many issues that boiled down to poor virtual implementations in the past, I prefer concentrating replicating issues on real hardware, even more so when the virtual implementation is now provided by a company like broadcom, whose software I'd like to keep as far away from my systems as I can...