MDT auto-logon and update fails on when re-imagining Windows 10

Overview:

In our environment, we have MDT + WDS. Each night a Windows 10 VM boots and MDT installs Windows 10, along with downloading and install the latest updates from Microsoft. The "install.wim" we're using was copied from a Windows 10 ISO downloaded from MSDN.

This process works excellent so long as we continue to run this process using the "install.wim" file from a Windows 10 ISO as the base image. If we use DSIM to capture a new image (i.e. after the MDT-managed Windows 10 install and MS updates), the process only partially works. Meaning, when attempting to run the same task sequence on a newly-capture "install.wim", MDT installs Windows 10, but it doesn't auto-login, download and install the latest Microsoft updates. Instead, after Windows 10 installs, Windows 10 just sits at the logon screen.

Desired outcome:

I would like to install Windows 10 using MDT and capture that installation using DSIM. After that, we want to import that newly-installed and newly-patched version of Windows 10 into WDS and at a later date be able to re-run the task sequence on the new base image. Meaning, MDT would a) install Windows 10. Then b) auto-login and download and install the latest Windows updates. Finally c) shutdown the machine once all of that is complete. I should be able to run these actions on any Windows 10 base image we specify.

Steps to reproduce:

1. Import the unedited Windows 10 "install.wim" into WDS.
2. After running the "import the Operating Systems" wizard in MDT (to read OSs from WDS), configure a task sequence to install, patch and shutdown Windows 10.
3. Use the above-mentioned task sequence to install Windows 10. (All works excellent so far).
4. Detach the C-Drive and attach the C-Drive as an additional drive on a separate machine, i.e. a Windows Server 2016 VM. Then, run DSIM to capture the Windows 10 install. The DSIM command used is as follows:

dism /Capture-Image /ImageFile:"E:\MDT_Capture_Files\Win10Capture_DISM.wim" /CaptureDir:F:\ /Name:"Windows10CaptureDISM"

5. In WDS, replace the above-mentioned Windows 10 "install.wim" with the WIM created by DSIM.
6. Boot the computer (in Step #3), reinstall Windows 10 using MDT. This is where things go wrong. Windows 10 installs, but the auto-login does not work. Even when we manually sign in, the rest of the MDT task sequence does not run.

Solution 1:

MDT requires some steps to be performed during Specialize and OOBE phases of Windows Setup, and those phases will only be "Triggered" if you sysprep the machine.

Apparently using a non-syspreped image is strictly not supported in MDT Deployments.

Source: Click here (see Keith Garner's response)