Launch SYSPREP in C#

Question

I have found this via stack-overflow search but no one has given a solution that works. I am writing a simple program and the first part of it is to launch sysprep.exe with some arguments. For some reason sysprep does not launch when code is run. It gives an error that file cannot be found. For e.g. by using the code below Notepad will open with no issues. If I try and open sysprep it will not.

Process.Start(@"C:\Windows\System32\notepad.exe");  -- opens with no issue
Process.Start(@"C:\Windows\System32\sysprep\sysprep.exe");  -- does not open

Any help would be appreciated.

{
    public MainWindow()
    {
        InitializeComponent();
    }

    private void RadioButton_Checked(object sender, RoutedEventArgs e)
    {
        if (radioButtonYes.IsChecked == true)
        {

            Process.Start(@"C:\Windows\System32\sysprep\sysprep.exe");

        }

    }

I tried command line and it works, but in VS (even in admin mode) `File.Exists(@"C:\Windows\System32\sysprep\sysprep.exe")` returns false. — Nin, Aug 16 '18 at 05:24
^ powershell works, cmd doesn't. Maybe it has something to do with this. — Nin, Aug 16 '18 at 05:37
Hi yes, Still in admin mode it doesn't work. Any other ideas? — Costa, Aug 16 '18 at 05:59
Almost certainly you're running as 32 bit which means `C:\Windows\System32` doesn't mean what you think it does. Recompile and run as 64 bit. — Damien_The_Unbeliever, Aug 16 '18 at 06:02

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 23 '18 at 19:24

I see that another answer has worked for you, but I would like to include a different answer that will allow you to access files from System32 at any time. If you start with a public class to modify the kernel momentarily you should be able to access anything you need so long as you have the right permissions.

public class Wow64Interop
    {
        [DllImport("Kernel32.Dll", EntryPoint = "Wow64EnableWow64FsRedirection")]
        public static extern bool EnableWow64FSRedirection(bool enable);
    }

After this the way that i wrote out my call to sysprep was as follows

private void RunSysprep()
    {
        try
        {
            if (Wow64Interop.EnableWow64FSRedirection(true) == true)
            {
                Wow64Interop.EnableWow64FSRedirection(false);
            }

            Process Sysprep = new Process();
            Sysprep.StartInfo.FileName = "C:\\Windows\\System32\\Sysprep\\sysprep.exe";
            Sysprep.StartInfo.Arguments = "/generalize /oobe /shutdown /unattend:\"C:\\Windows\\System32\\Sysprep\\unattend.xml\"";
            Sysprep.StartInfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Minimized;
            Sysprep.Start();

            if (Wow64Interop.EnableWow64FSRedirection(false) == true)
            {
                Wow64Interop.EnableWow64FSRedirection(true);
            }

        }
        catch(Exception ex)
        {
            MessageBox.Show(ex.Message);
        }
    }

when doing something like this you want to make sure that if the process will restart your pc to NOT use the "WaitForExit()" method. Hope this helps anyone else looking for this answer.

score 1 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 16 '18 at 06:09

1

It is actually a redirection problem on 64 bit Windows. According to this discussion, the System32 calls are redirected to the SysWOW64 folder. And since C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Sysprep\sysprep.exe does not exist, you get the error.

This is what you want:

Process p = Process.Start(@"C:\Windows\sysnative\Sysprep\sysprep.exe");

Simply use sysnative instead.

answered Aug 16 '18 at 06:09

Nin

375
1
11

beautiful this worked! Thank you. I first did what @Damien_The_Unbeliever suggested. And that worked too but I had to choose x64. Now I can choose AnyCPU and it works. Thanks all for your help. – Costa Aug 16 '18 at 06:24

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 16 '18 at 05:39

0

I think this is a permission problem, you can try run as admin

Process process = new Process();
        ProcessStartInfo startInfo = new ProcessStartInfo();
        startInfo.WindowStyle = ProcessWindowStyle.Hidden;
        startInfo.FileName ="cmd.exe";
        startInfo.Arguments = @"/c  C:\Windows\System32\sysprep\sysprep.exe";
        startInfo.Verb = "runas";
        process.StartInfo = startInfo;
        process.Start();

answered Aug 16 '18 at 05:39

Pouya

49
8

Thanks but no this still doesn't work for me. Any other application that is in system32 opens except for sysprep. I have exhausted my ideas on my end. – Costa Aug 16 '18 at 06:03

Launch SYSPREP in C#

3 Answers3