Setting wired network settings

[geeeee-cloud]

Hello, really appreciate your unattended file generator, wondering why there isn't a section for wired network cards?
I am really struggling to come up with a unattend.xml file to deploy a vm with static IP/gateway etc.
I have attempted potentially hundreds of different ways to implement it, used CoPilot, ChatGPT, Googled and no matter what, i either get invalid unattend.xml file, or the machine comes up but no TCPIP settings are applied, so it has no network connection.
I am getting extremely frustrated. Thanks for any help

Have attempted some of these options

<RunSynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
  <Order>1</Order>
  <Path>cmd.exe</Path>
  <Arguments><![CDATA[
    /c netsh interface ipv4 set address "Ethernet Instance 0 3" static ipaddress subnet gateway && netsh interface ipv4 set dnsservers "Ethernet Instance 0 3" static adserver1 primary && netsh interface ipv4 add dnsservers "Ethernet Instance 0 3" address=adserver2 index=2
  ]]></Arguments>
</RunSynchronousCommand>

<RunSynchronous>
      <RunSynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
        <Order>1</Order>
        <Path>cmd.exe</Path>
        <Arguments>/c netsh interface ipv4 set address "Ethernet Instance 0 3" static ipaddress subnet gateway &amp;&amp; netsh interface ipv4 set dnsservers "Ethernet Instance 0 3" static adserver1 primary &amp;&amp; netsh interface ipv4 add dnsservers "Ethernet Instance 0 3" address=adserver2 index=2</Arguments>
      </RunSynchronousCommand>
    </RunSynchronous>

<RunSynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
  <Order>1</Order>
  <Path>cmd.exe</Path>
  <Arguments>
    /c netsh interface ipv4 set address name="Ethernet Instance 0 3" static ipaddress subnet gateway &amp;&amp; ^
       netsh interface ipv4 set dnsservers name="Ethernet Instance 0 3" static adserver1 primary &amp;&amp; ^
       netsh interface ipv4 add dnsservers name="Ethernet Instance 0 3" address=adserver2 index=2
  </Arguments>
</RunSynchronousCommand>

<RunSynchronous>
    <!-- Order-snipped for brevity -->
    <RunSynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
      <Order>10</Order>
      <Path>cmd.exe /c 'netsh interface ipv4 set address "Ethernet Instance 0 3" static ipaddress subnet gateway &amp;&amp; netsh interface ipv4 set dnsservers "Ethernet Instance 0 3" static adserver1 primary &amp;&amp; netsh interface ipv4 add dnsservers "Ethernet Instance 0 3" adserver2 index=2'</Path>
    </RunSynchronousCommand>
  </RunSynchronous>

  <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Tcpip"
           processorArchitecture="amd64"
           publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35"
           language="neutral"
           versionScope="nonSxS"
           xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State"
           xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
  <Interfaces>
    <Interface wcm:action="add">
      <Identifier>Local Area Connection</Identifier>
      <Ipv4Address wcm:action="add">ipaddress</Ipv4Address>
      <SubnetMask>subnet</SubnetMask>
      <DefaultGateway>
        <Ipv4Address wcm:action="add">gateway</Ipv4Address>
      </DefaultGateway>
      <DnsServerSearchOrder>
        <IpAddress wcm:action="add">adserver1</IpAddress>
        <IpAddress wcm:action="add">adserver2</IpAddress>
      </DnsServerSearchOrder>
    </Interface>
  </Interfaces>
</component>

```(Also tried various Identifiers including * as wildcard)

etc.

[cschneegans]

There is no section for wired networking because it does not require any configuration in most scenarios.

You really should not use your own RunSynchronousCommand elements with my generator. Instead, use the Run custom scripts section. For networking configuration, you will want the System scripts section, which lets you run code before user accounts are created.

In custom scripts, you can use both netsh.exe or PowerShell cmdlets. In any case, the command output is logged to the C:\Windows\Setup\Scripts\Specialize.log log file, so you have an easy way to debug your code.

[geeeee-cloud]

Doesn't require any configuration? For the vm's you are spinning up, are you assuming users are using dhcp and not static ip addresses? I did attempt a custom PowerShell script, but never received a log file in that path. I will have another go at it using a script. Thanks

…

On Fri, Aug 22, 2025, 2:56 PM Christoph Schneegans ***@***.***> wrote: There is no section for wired networking because it does not require any configuration in most scenarios. You really should not use your own RunSynchronousCommand elements with my generator. Instead, use the *Run custom scripts* section. For networking configuration, you will want the *System scripts* section, which lets you run code before user accounts are created. In custom scripts, you can use both netsh.exe or PowerShell cmdlets. In any case, the command output is logged to the C:\Windows\Setup\Scripts\Specialize.log log file, so you have an easy way to debug your code. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#290 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/BWLYLWQVIJIECGJU6ONGW633O5RU7AVCNFSM6AAAAACESFM5BCVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43URDJONRXK43TNFXW4Q3PNVWWK3TUHMYTIMJZGI3TANY> . You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: <cschneegans/unattend-generator/repo-discussions/290/comments/14192707@ github.com>

[geeeee-cloud]

Yep, just attempted with a custom script to set the network settings and it fails. THere is no log in c:\windows\setup\scripts.

[geeeee-cloud]

This is the script I have in the System scripts.
Neither the Transcript not the out-file, nor the specialize.log file you mention are created.

`Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -Confirm:$false -Force
Start-Transcript -Append -Confirm:$false -Force -Path c:\windows\temp\trace.txt
$AdapterName = "Ethernet"
$IPAddress = "IPaddress"
$SubnetMask = "subnetmask"
$Gateway = "gatewayIP"
$DnsServers = @("DNSServer1","DNSServer2")
$DnsSuffixes = @("domain1","domain2","domain3")
out-file -filepath c:\Windows\temp\Start.txt -inputobject "Setting IP Settings." -append -confirm:$false -force

Write-Host "Configuring network adapter..." -ForegroundColor Cyan

Find the adapter

$adapter = Get-NetAdapter | Where-Object {
$.Name -eq $AdapterName -or $.InterfaceDescription -like "$AdapterName"
}

if (-not $adapter) {
Write-Error "Network adapter '$AdapterName' not found."
exit 1
}

Enable the adapter if it's disabled

if ($adapter.Status -ne "Up") {
Enable-NetAdapter -Name $adapter.Name -Confirm:$false
Start-Sleep -Seconds 2
}

Remove any existing IPs and routes

Get-NetIPAddress -InterfaceIndex $adapter.ifIndex -AddressFamily IPv4 -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue |
Remove-NetIPAddress -Confirm:$false -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue
Get-NetRoute -InterfaceIndex $adapter.ifIndex -AddressFamily IPv4 -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue |
Remove-NetRoute -Confirm:$false -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

Convert subnet mask to prefix length

function Convert-SubnetMaskToPrefixLength {
param([string]$SubnetMask)
return ($SubnetMask.Split('.') | ForEach-Object { [convert]::ToString($_,2).PadLeft(8,'0') }) -join '' -replace '0+$','' | Measure-Object -Character | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Characters
}
$PrefixLength = Convert-SubnetMaskToPrefixLength $SubnetMask

Set static IPv4 address

New-NetIPAddress -InterfaceIndex $adapter.ifIndex -IPAddress $IPAddress -PrefixLength $PrefixLength -DefaultGateway $Gateway -AddressFamily IPv4

Set DNS servers

Set-DnsClientServerAddress -InterfaceIndex $adapter.ifIndex -ServerAddresses $DnsServers

Set DNS suffix search list

Set-DnsClientGlobalSetting -SuffixSearchList $DnsSuffixes

Disable IPv6 on the adapter

Disable-NetAdapterBinding -Name $adapter.Name -ComponentID ms_tcpip6 -Confirm:$false

Write-Host "Network configuration applied successfully." -ForegroundColor Green
Stop-Transcript`

[geeeee-cloud]

Attempted with netsh as well in the system scripts section.

netsh interface ipv4 set address name="Ethernet Instance 0 3" static ipaddress subnet gatewayIP
netsh interface ipv4 set dnsservers name="Ethernet" static dnserver1 primary
netsh interface ipv4 add dnsservers name="Ethernet" address=dnsserver2 index=2

[cschneegans]

When there are no log files, it is likely that the autounattend.xml was not even processed in the first place. See Windows installation instructions and Troubleshooting.

[cschneegans]

So no unattend-original.xml? This is getting stranger and stranger. What image are you using?

[geeeee-cloud]

Was using the latest ISO from Microsoft.
Installed it fresh, then patched it, performed a few other things on the image which are custom to my company, and then ran
sysprep /generalize /oobe /shutdown /mode:vm

At this point, within Redhat Openshift Virtualization, we create a yaml file which includes the downloaded xml from your site. We make the VM's disk a "bootable volume" and build a new machine from that bootable volume with the yaml inserted as a CDROM drive. I suppose part of the boot process, copies the unattend.yaml from teh CDROM to the c:\Windows\Panther folder to configure it.

I am all new to Redhat Openshift, we are migrating from VMWare to it.

[cschneegans]

Installed it fresh, then patched it, performed a few other things on the image which are custom to my company, and then ran
sysprep /generalize /oobe /shutdown /mode:vm

You should have mentioned this earlier. I don't think there is any reason to patch or sysprep an image when you can use custom scripts in the autounattend.xml file. Feel free to do so, but don't expect me offering support in this case.

[geeeee-cloud]

Thanks anyways.
Not quite sure what I have done, but I have now managed after numerous changes and attempts to get the IP assigned

[geeeee-cloud]

I think what has done it, is that I put the Net-NetIPAddress command in a loop to attempt it numerous times in case something wasn't ready.