Sysprep was not able to validate your Windows installation

Sysprep or System Preparation Tool is an essential tool for your Windows OS, it helps to automate the deployment of your Windows OS. However, at times, you may experience an error saying “Sysprep was not able to validate your Windows installation” Error 0x80073cf2 or 0x0f0036, especially when you run the following command:

sysprep /generalize /oobe /shutdown

In this article, we are going to suggest remediation methods that may help you.

Sysprep was not able to validate your Windows installation

There can be multiple reasons causing this error such as installation of the Windows Store App, loss of a default Windows Program, upgrading from the previous version of Windows, etc.

These are the things you can do to fix Sysprep was not able to validate your Windows installation error.

1. Check the log file
2. Turn BitLocker off and try
3. Remove UWP apps you may have installed
4. Reinstall default Windows UWP apps
5. Modify Registry
6. Sysprep will not run on an upgraded OS

Sysprep warning corruption detected, Marking Sysprep corrupt, All sysprep commands will be ignored

First update your Windows installation and make sure that KB5035941 is installed. This will get rid of the Sysprep Error 0x80073cf2.

1] Check the log file

Check the log file at %windir%\system32\Sysprep\panther\setupact.log.

You can open the “setupact.log” file using Notepad and look for the error – maybe it will guide you in the direction to troubleshoot.

2] Turn BitLocker off and try

If after checking the log file, you find that your file has are any of the two errors, try disabling BitLocker.

Error SYSPRP BitLocker-Sysprep: BitLocker is on for the OS volume. Turn BitLocker off to run Sysprep. (0x80310039)

Error [0x0f0082] SYSPRP ActionPlatform::LaunchModule: Failure occurred while executing ‘ValidateBitLockerState’ from C:\Windows\System32\BdeSysprep.dll

To turn BitLocker off, launch Command Prompt as an administrator from the Start Menu, type the following commands, and hit Enter.

manage-bde -status

Disable-Bitlocker –MountPoint ‘C:’

This will turn Bitlocker off.

Now, try running Sysprep again and see if it fixes the issue.

3] Remove UWP apps you may have installed

If you are seeing the following errors then this means that you have either downloaded a Universal Windows Platform apps or incorrectly removed an application. Therefore, you should follow the steps in solutions 3 and 4 to fix the issue.

Error SYSPRP Package SomeAppName_1.2.3.500_x64__8we4y23f8b4ws was installed for a user, but not provisioned for all users. This package will not function properly in the sysprep image.

Error SYSPRP Failed to remove apps for the current user: 0x80073cf2.

You should delete all the UWP apps to fix the issue. There are multiple ways to bulk uninstall apps.

You can even type the name of the application in the search box, click Uninstall, and follow the on-screen instructions to delete the application.

Read: Sysprep fails on removing or updating Provisioned Windows Store apps.

4] Reinstall default Windows UWP apps

If a default Windows app is missing from your computer, you could face this error. Therefore, we need to restore all the default Windows programs to fix this issue.

To do that, launch Windows PowerShell as an administrator from the Start Menu, type the following command, and hit Enter.

Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers| Foreach {Add-AppxPackage -DisableDevelopmentMode -Register “$($_.InstallLocation)\AppXManifest.xml”}

It will take some time, so,  wait for it to complete.

Finally, restart your computer and check if the issue persists.

5] Modify Registry

If you are experiencing the Sysprep error after upgrading to Windows 10 then modifying Registry a bit can solve the issue for you.

To do that, launch Registry Editor from the Start Menu, go to the following location, right-click on the Upgrade key, and click Delete.

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup

Now, restart your computer and check if the issue is solved.

6] Sysprep will not run on an upgraded OS

If you have upgraded your OS from Windows 7, 8, 8.1 to Windows 11/10, you will face the following error.

Error [0x0f0036] SYSPRP spopk.dll:: Sysprep will not run on an upgraded OS. You can only run Sysprep on a custom (clean) install version of Windows.

You can only run Sysprep on a custom (clean) install version of Windows.

To bypass this, change the value of the CleanupState key to 7. To do that, launch Registry Editor from the Start Menu and go to the following location-

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup\Status\SysprepStatus

Double-click on CleanupState and change its value to 7.

Finally, restart your computer and see if your issue is fixed.

Related: A fatal error occurred while trying to sysprep the machine.