How to Fix Sysprep Was Not Able to Validate Error on Windows 11

Sysprep (also known as System Preparation Tool) is a Microsoft command-line tool that allows users to prepare Windows images for operating system deployment. It removes all unique data specific to your PC from the Windows installer and creates a Windows image that can be used to deploy an OS on a large group of computers or corporate networks.

However, sometimes an error “Sysprep was not able to validate your Windows Installation” can arise when you try to run the Sysprep tool. Sysprep may fail to validate your system due to several reasons. Regardless of the reason, you can use the below troubleshooting methods to fix the ‘Sysprep was not able to validate error’ on Windows 11.

Causes of ‘Sysprep Was Not Able to Validate Error in Windows 11

Some of the common causes responsible for the “Sysprep could not validate your Windows installation” error are:

Removal of default Windows applications
Installed Unprovisioning Windows Store apps (UWP)
System Encryption or Bitlocker is turned on.
Active scenarios such as Pending Windows Updates.
Corrupted or missing Spopk.dll file.
Recent Windows Upgrade

Check Log File

When a Sysprep error appears, it will also mention the location of the log file which will provide detailed reports of the error. You can review that log file to narrow down the cause of the problem.

To view the log file, open the Run command box, enter the below command, and press Enter.

notepad %windir%\system32\Sysprep\panther\setupact.log

Or, you can navigate to the location of the log file using File Explorer and open the setupact.log file.

After reviewing the log file, you can use the appropriate solution to fix the issue.

Reinstall the Default Windows Apps

If you have uninstalled some of the default Windows apps or if they are missing from your Windows 11 PC, you could encounter the ‘Sysprep was not able to validate your Windows installation’ error. So re-installing all the default apps of Windows 11 could fix this error. You can easily re-install Windows systems apps using the Get-AppxPackage on Windows PowerShell:

To do that, launch Windows PowerShell with administrative privileges from the Start menu or right-click the Start menu and select ‘Terminal (Admin)’.

And Windows Terminal will launch PowerShell by default. In the PowerShell window, type or copy-paste the following command and hit Enter:

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

It will take a while to reinstall all the packages. Wait for it to complete. Then restart your PC and check if you still encounter the error.

Disable Upgrade Registry Key Entry

In some cases, this error usually occurs after upgrading your Windows 11 system. This will most likely be due to the Upgrade registry key in the Windows Registry. So removing this registry can help fix the error. Here’s how you do this:

If Windows Upgrade is the cause of the problem, the log file should show something like this:

SYSPREP spopk.dll:: Sysprep will not run on an upgraded OS. You can only run Sysprep on a custom (clean) install version of Windows.

To do that, launch the Registry Editor from the Start menu or press Win+R, type regedit in the Run command box and hit Enter.

Click ‘Yes’ from the User Account Control if prompted. Then, in the Registry Editor, navigate to the following location:

Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup

Now, locate the DWORD called ‘Upgrade’ on the right-side panel. Now, right-click on the registry entry and select ‘Delete’ to remove it.

Then, click ‘Yes’ in the prompt value to permanently delete the registry value.

Next, go to the following location in the registry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup\Status\SysprepStatus

You can also copy-paste the above path into the address bar of the registry editor and hit Enter.

Now, in the right panel, look for the ‘CleanUpState’ DWORD. If the CleanUpState key is not present, you need to create one. To do that, right-click on the empty space, select ‘New’, and then ‘DWORD (32-bit) value’.

After that, rename the entry to ‘CleanState’ and double-click on it to change its value.

Then, change the value data to 7 and click ‘OK’.

Close the registry editor, reboot your system and run the Sysprep process again.

Uninstall Any UWP Apps You Have Installed

The Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps are cross-platform applications that can be used on any Windows device – PCs, Xbox One, tablets, etc. Sometimes you may encounter this issue if you have downloaded and installed some UWP apps from the Windows Store by yourself. There have been numerous reports that Candy crush or Twitter usually caused the “Sysprep was not able to validate” errors. If this is the case, you have to remove these problematic apps or any other problematic UWP apps from your PC.

First, open Windows settings by pressing Win+I. In the Settings app, select the ‘Apps’ tab and click on the ‘Apps & features’ option on the right-side pane.

From the list of apps, locate the UWP app you have downloaded and installed from MS Store. Then, click the three-dots button next to it and select the ‘Uninstall option from the menu.

After that, click ‘Uninstall’ again to remove the app.

If you have installed Candy crush or Twitter, make sure to remove those apps. You can also uninstall multiple apps at once and clean up their leftover residual files using third-party uninstaller apps such as Revo Uninstaller, CCleaner, etc.

Then restart your system and check if the issue is resolved. If the problem persists, check the setupact.log error log file. You can find the path to the setupact.log file on the Sysprep error message.

SYSPREP Failed to Remove Apps for the Current User

If the setupact.log file contains similar to either of the following errors, it might be caused by UWP apps and their provisioning:

SYSPRP Package <App Name>_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.
SYSPRP Failed to remove apps for the current user: 0x80073cf2.

The error message in setupact.log will let you know which app is causing the error. You can use this information to uninstall that specific application from your PC.

First, you need to list all the UWP app packages installed on your device. To do that, open Windows PowerShell in elevated mode (with administrator privileges) and run the following commands one after the other:

Import-Module Appx

Import-Module Dism

Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers | Where PublisherId -eq 8wekyb3d8bbwe | Format-List -Property PackageFullName,PackageUserInformation

After executing the above commands, you will see a list of all the UWP packages installed on your device. This will show you the full package names and all the users that have those packages Installed.

To get the list of all the apps installed on your device including non–UWP apps, execute the following command:

Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers | Format-List -Property PackageFullName,PackageUserInformation

Note down or copy the PackageFullName of the app that is causing the error.

To remove a specific UWP app package from your computer, run the following command:

Remove-AppxPackage -Package <Full package name>

Make sure to replace <Full package name> with the actual package name you noted down earlier.

Remove-AppxPackage -Package Microsoft.PowerAutomateDesktop_1.0.332.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe

If you are still getting the Sysprep error, you need to remove the provisioning package of the app as well with the below command:

Remove-AppxProvisionedPackage -Online -PackageName <Full package name>

Example:

Remove-AppxProvisionedPackage -Online -PackageName Microsoft.PowerAutomateDesktop_1.0.332.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe

If the problematic UWP app is installed on different user accounts, you will need to remove the app from other user accounts. To do that, run the below command:

Remove-AppxPackage -Package <Full package name> -AllUsers

Example:

Remove-AppxPackage -Package Microsoft.Whiteboard_52.11010.438.0_x64__8wekyb3d8bbwe -AllUsers

From the list of packages, check the PackageUserInformation for all users that show Installed.

If any of those are local accounts, remove those accounts if not needed. You can quickly remove these accounts with these steps:

First, type netplwiz in PowerShell or Run command box and hit Enter.

This will launch the User Accounts control panel. Now, select the user account you want to delete and click on ‘Remove’.

Then, click ‘Yes’ to confirm.

Pause Windows Updates

Sysprep Audit Mode can’t be turned on if there is an active scenario such as a Windows update in progress. An active scenario like a Windows update uses your system-reserved storage. So when running the Sysprep process, it may result in an error.

If this is the case, you might see something similar to the below error message in the log file:

SYSPRP Sysprep_Clean_Validate_Opk: Audit mode cannot be enabled if reserved storage is in use. An update or maintenance operation may be using reserved storage space. ; time = 0x800F0975.

To fix this issue, you need to install pending cumulative and security updates, and then pause the Windows update altogether for a week or so. Here’s how you do this:

Open Windows Settings from the Start menu.

In the Settings app, go to ‘Windows Update’ on the left and click the ‘Check for updates’ button on the right.

If there are any pending cumulative, feature, and security updates available, download and install them.

Once the updates are installed, restart your PC to finish all pending operations. Then, go back to the Windows Update settings, and click on ‘Pause for 1 week’

After the update is paused, disconnect your internet and try running the Sysprep process again.

Turn Bitlocker Off

Sysprep does not work when your system (usually the C: drive) is encrypted with Bitlocker or any other encryption service. If you try to run Sysprep with BitLocker on, you might get one of the following errors (or similar) in the log file.

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

In such cases, you can fix the problem by turning off Bitlocker. Here’s how you do this:

First, open Command Prompt as an administrator. Then, type the following command to view the status of the BitLocker. It shows whether each drive on your system is encrypted or not.

manage-bde -status

Now, check if the Protection Status is ‘On’ for the OS Volume (C: drive).

If the system drive is encrypted, run the following command to disable the BitLocker service:

manage-bde -off C:

Here, replace C with the driver letter of the disk where the BitLocker status is active.

It will take a while to fully decrypt your drive. Use the first command again to confirm if the Bitlocker protection is off. After that, close the terminal and check if the ‘Sysprep was not able to validate your Windows installation’ error is fixed.

Disable TPM and PTT

Sometimes, your system assumes that BitLocker is enabled even though it is turned off. It is because the BitLocker goes into wait or sleep mode when TPM (Trusted Platform Module) is detected.

You can disable TPM through BIOS or UEFI on your system. Boot your system into BIOS or UEFI. You can then find TPM (Trusted Platform Module) option under Advanced, Security, or Trusted Computing. Then, turn off the toggle for TPM. For some devices, you may need to disable PTT (Intel Platform Trust Technology).

Replace Spopk.dll File

Spopk.dll file, also known as OPK Sysprep Plugin is part of the Microsoft Windows operating system. It is responsible for the validation of Windows installation of Sysprep. You can also get the Sysprep error if this DLL file is corrupted or missing on your device.

If this is the case, you would notice a similar error message in the log file:

SYSPRP ActionPlatform::LaunchModule: Failure occurred while executing ‘Sysprep_Clean_Validate_Opk’ from C:\Windows\System32\spopk.dll; dwRet = 0x975

If you are still facing the error after trying the above troubleshooting methods, then replace the Spopk.dll file. Let us see how to do this:

First, you need to take control of the said DLL file. To do that, open Command Prompt as administrator. Search Command Prompt in the Start menu, right-click the top result and select ‘Run as administrator’ to launch the elevated Command prompt.

In the Command Prompt, type the following command to take ownership of the spopk.dll file:

takeown /f %WinDir%\System32\spopk.dll

Then, run the below command to change permissions for the file:

icacls %WinDir%\System32\spopk.dll /Grant Administrators:f

Then, navigate to the below directory. Copy the below path in the address bar of File Explorer and press Enter.

%windir%\System32

After that, download the spopk.dll file from a trusted source or you can transfer the DLL file to the System32 folder from the same location on another computer.

Then, go to the System32 folder using the above path and replace the downloaded or copied DLL file. Confirm the file replace if prompted.

Create a New Administrator Account

If the above methods don’t work for you, you can try creating a new administrator account. Creating a new administrator account and then removing all the old admin accounts can also fix this issue. Here’s how you do this:

To create a new administrator account, first, you must be logged in as an administrator in Windows 11. Then, launch the Windows Settings by pressing Win+I shortcut.

Now, go to the ‘Accounts’ tab and choose the ‘Other users’ tab.

Under the Other user section, click on the ‘Add account’ button.

In the new dialog box, choose ‘I don’t have this person’s sign-in information option’.

On the next screen, select the ‘Add a user without a Microsoft account’ option.

Next, enter a username and password for the new account and click ‘Next’. You can choose to create an account without a password.

After that, the account will be created and listed under the Other users. Now, click the newly created user account and select ‘Change account type’.

In the Change account type window, choose ‘Administrator’ from the drop-down menu and click ‘OK’.

The account will be changed into an administrator account. Before continuing to the next step, make sure to back up your user data or copy the data to another location.

After that, restart your computer and sign into the newly created administrator account. Open Windows settings, go to the ‘Accounts’ tab again, and select ‘Other users’.

Then, click your old account and select ‘Remove’.

Now, click the ‘Delete account and data’ button to remove the account and its data from the PC. Remove all the user accounts if you have more than one.

Once it’s done, restart your PC and then run Sysprep.

Perform DISM and SFC Scans

Another possible way to fix this issue is using SFC and DISM scans to fix corrupt files in the Windows system. DISM can fix corrupt files in the component store of the Windows system image and SFC can scan and replace corrupt, missing, and damaged system files.

First, launch the Command prompt in admin mode. To do that, type ‘Command Prompt’ in the Windows search and select the ‘Run as administrator’ option.

To run the SFC scan on your Windows 11, type the following command and press Enter:

sfc /scannow

If the scan detects any damaged or corrupt system files, it should repair or replace them.

To perform a Deployment Image Servicing and Management Tool (DISM) scan, type the following commands one after the other and press Enter for each command:

DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /scanhealth

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /CheckHealth

DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth

Reset Your PC

If none of the above methods worked, then you can reset your Windows PC to fix the “Sysprep was not able to validate” error. Resetting Windows will reinstall the Windows 11 OS from the backup image or cloud service. When reinstalling Windows, you can choose to keep your personal files while removing all the apps and settings.

This method will remove all the third-party apps, drivers, and settings but you can choose to keep your files. The computer will be restored to the default state when you installed the OS. Follow these instructions to reset your Windows 11 PC:

Open the Windows 11 Settings app by pressing Win+I. In the Settings app, choose the ‘System’ tab, and on the right, scroll down and click the ‘Recovery’ option.

Under the Recovery options section, click the ‘Reset PC’ button.

This opens the Reset this PC dialog box, where you can choose whether you want to ‘Keep your files’ but remove apps and settings or ‘Remove everything’ including your personal files from the libraries. Select an option out of the two.

Next, choose how would you like to reinstall Windows – whether with a local backup image from your device or Cloud download and reinstall Windows. If you choose ‘Cloud download’, it will download and reinstall the latest build of Windows 11 but it will need internet and 4 GB of data. But if you choose ‘Local reinstall’, it will reinstall the same build of the OS from the backup image in the device. We’ll recommend cloud download since your local OS files could be compromised, but it’s up to you.