Windows Could Not Finish Configuring the System

Products

• Ghost Solution Suite

Issue/Introduction

After running a Sysprep image capture on a Windows 7 machine, it boots back into production with the error:

"Windows could not finish configuring the system. To attempt to resume configuration, restart the computer."

Environment

Windows 7

Cause

This issue occurs if the original operating system contains a registry key that:

• Is larger than 8 kilobytes (KB),
• Has incorrect permissions, 
• Is corrupt in some way. 

Resolution

1. 1.) Push Shift+F10 to get to a command prompt when the error appears
2. 2.) Navigate to C:\windows\Panther
3. 3.) Find the Setup.etl file and copy this file off of the system 
4. 4.) Copy the Setup.etl file from the corrupted system to another computer that has Windows 7
5. 5.) Open a command prompt on the Windows 7 computer and navigate to where the file was saved
6. 6.) Type "tracerpt setup.etl -o logfile.csv"
7. 7.) Close the command prompt and open up logfile.csv in your text editor of choice. 
8. 8.) Look through the log file (towards the end probably) for messages that say "Failed to process reg key or one of its descendants" - If you search for "reg key" or "failed to process" you should find the failure.
9. 9.) Remove this software from your image, or find out how to get the registry key that is failing to work properly.