Sysprep.inf File Is Not Read from Floppy Disk

When you use the System Preparation tool (Sysprep.exe) to deploy Windows to client computers, the Sysprep.inf file is not read if it is located on a floppy disk drive.

To maintain unique disks and controllers on the system bus, Plug and Play adds a value to the Plug and Play identifier (PnP ID). For example: If you are using a computer whose hardware is different from the master computer's hardware, the bus is different, and a new PnP ID number is assigned to the floppy drive. Plug and Play recognizes this hardware as a new drive. Therefore, it must install the drive before the drive can be used. However, the installation does not occur fast enough, and the drive is not accessible by the time that Setup checks the drive for the Sysprep.inf file.

Some documentation may incorrectly indicate that you can put the Sysprep.inf file on a floppy disk drive.

To resolve this issue, copy the Sysprep.inf file to the Sysprep folder (typically, C:\Sysprep).

This issue is by design. Recent documentation correctly states that having the Sysprep.inf file on a floppy disk drive is not supported.

Floppy disk drive PnP IDs are location based. For location-based devices, the bus driver is responsible for making all the child devices unique and consistent from startup to startup, but it cannot guarantee global uniqueness. In some cases, it may appear that having a Sysprep.inf file on a floppy disk drive may work. In these cases, the algorithm that is used to randomly generate the PnP ID for the floppy disk drive may generate the same PnP ID for the floppy disk drive. This process is random, so you cannot reliably predict which PnP ID will be generated.