Avoiding Sysprep Errors when Provisioning

If you are receiving an error in the NAP related to Sysprep when provisioning a new VM from an image, creating a collection or cloning a VM :

Sysprep is failing to run on [ServerName].  This is always due to some change that was made on [ServerName] that's interfering with the Sysprep process.  Here a few things to consider:

• Do NOT log into the golden image as multiple users.  You should always use a single admin account that is used for administration.  Having multiple accounts with different sets of Windows Store apps installed causes lots of issues for Sysprep.
• Are there any AV or RMM agents that may be interfering with sysprep installed on [ServerName]?
• Are there any firewalls installed or enabled on [ServerName] preventing Sysprep?
• Is there anything that gets installed automatically when the server boots up for the first time?
• Are there any pending updates on [ServerName] that needs to finish installing before using it as a template?
• Are there any login banners/disclaimers on the Golden Image/Template?  These should be disabled and applied via GPO to VMs post provisioning. This can disrupt the interactive login needed for sysprep.

You should boot up [ServerName] and review it for anything that could be interfering with Sysprep using the list above as a guide.  You should apply ALL pending updates, reboot the VM, log into it and watch the task manager.  Wait for the CPU to settle completely BEFORE shutting down [ServerName].  Some Windows updates can take hours to fully apply.  You'll see the tiworker.exe process using up some CPU while this happens.