Custom Windows 8.1 .WIM doesn't work via WDS, works OK manually

Question

Hello,
I have a very peculiar situation; I've created a custom Windows 8.1 Enterprise x64 image, but when I deploy it using Windows Deployment Services on Windows Server 2012 R2, using the Windows 8.1 Enterprise x86 boot.wim as the Windows Deployment
Services boot image, it deploys successfully, but malfunctions;
it doesn't activate [against our KMS server]
when a new user logs on, the process stalls; if you logoff then logon, Microsoft Office gives you a 1603 error.
File Explorer [I think] doesn't work (apologies for vagueness; I absolutely
wasn't expecting this and was somewhat floored by the symptoms)
HOWEVER, if I manually deploy the SAME .WIM image, copy in the
SAME unattend.xml, and manually replace %MACHINEDOMAIN% and %MACHINENAME% with the right values, it works fine.
HOWEVER, I've already verified that Windows Deployment Services is working perfectly well because I've added the Windows 8.1 Enterprise x64 install.wim as an install image, and used the unattend.xml to automate it.  In other words, with the
install.wim from the .ISO, everything is working fine, but with a custom image, it malfunctions.
I don't know why it's malfunctioning; nothing looking like a root cause appears in any event logs. I have injected some drivers into my custom image, but these are for relatively obscure devices such as scanners and smart card readers, which
aren't even on the computer I'm testing this on.  The test computer would benefit from
chipset, video and network drivers, but the inbox ones work OK.  In any event, they work fine when I manually deploy.
Have more-or-less replicated this on test machines that are virtual, desktop and laptop, so I have no reason to believe the target device is a factor.
For now, Windows Deployment Services doesn't have a client unattend file.
This is a very peculiar problem. My existing, production environment has
Windows 7 Enterprise in a custom image
Windows Server 2008 R2
Windows Deployment Services
working perfectly, and was looking to maintain the same approach, but simply update it.
Would welcome your ideas.
Kind regards,
Anwar

Answer 1

Hi,
For this issue,I think it is related to the custom image.
I suggest we don't add any drivers to the custom image to test it.
Meanwhile,I  suggest you upload following logs here for further research. SkyDrive or similar network sharing would be better to use to share your files.
C:\WINDOWS\PANTHER\setupact.log
C:\WINDOWS\PANTHER\setuperr.log
Regards,
Kelvin hsu
TechNet Community Support