I was looking for a method to automate Windows 8 client deployment on Azure. Important seems that you Sysprep the image only when it’s already running in Azure. My attempts to Sysprep the image locally all failed. I suppose that when booting up again the VM was somewhere stuck at the mini-setup of Windows.
Part 2: See how to upload your VHD to Azure
Part 3: See how to create a Virtual Machine from VHD in Azure
Part 4: See how to capture an image in Azure after Sysprep
Part 5: See how to deploy Windows 8 in Azure
Video of entire tutorial: Checkout how Windows 8 runs on Azure
Make sure you the reference machine configured and ready to Sysprep. Execute Sysprep. It’s important to select “Shutdown” because you need to capture the image!
1. Open a Command Prompt window as an administrator.
2. Change the directory to %windir%\system32\sysprep, and then run sysprep.exe.
The System Preparation Tool dialog box appears.
3. In System Cleanup Action, select Enter System Out-of-Box Experience (OOBE) and make sure that Generalize is checked.
4. In Shutdown Options, select Shutdown.
5. Click OK.
Let the system do its task and wait a few minutes until the VM is powered off.
To capture the image click on the machine where you executed Sysprep and click on capture.
Be warned: The original machine (your Golden Image Machine) will be deleted when the image has been captured.
Next step, Part 5: After the image capture process was successful you can start to deploy Windows 8 in Azure
