Windows 8 Sysprep - Can't skip local account creation and autologon fails, wrong admin password.

Question

Using Windows 8 x64 Enterprise, Sysprep pauses to ask me to create a local user, which I don't want.
If I enable SkipSystemOOBE and SkipUserOOBE in OOBE under Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup sysprep (in oobe mode) will skip user creation and autologon works.  But it only works correctly once.  If I run sysprep again, when it tries to autologon
it will say that I have the wrong password for the local account.  After I type in the password manually it works.  If I use the same password for the local administrator account as for the autologon account, it looks to have the encrypted password
twice with an equal sign after it.
What I need to know:
How to skip local user account creation (we run on a domain but I have it connect through scripts later)
How to fix the autologon issue
Do I need the local administrator account enabled for this to work?
I have my unattend.xml file attached.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend">
<settings pass="oobeSystem">
<component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" 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">
<AutoLogon>
<Password>
<Value>[removed]</Value>
<PlainText>false</PlainText>
</Password>
<Username>[removed]</Username>
<LogonCount>2</LogonCount>
<Enabled>true</Enabled>
</AutoLogon>
<FirstLogonCommands>
<SynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
<Order>1</Order>
<CommandLine>c:\folder\abatchfile.bat</CommandLine>
<RequiresUserInput>false</RequiresUserInput>
</SynchronousCommand>
</FirstLogonCommands>
<OOBE>
<HideEULAPage>true</HideEULAPage>
<HideOEMRegistrationScreen>true</HideOEMRegistrationScreen>
<HideOnlineAccountScreens>true</HideOnlineAccountScreens>
<HideWirelessSetupInOOBE>true</HideWirelessSetupInOOBE>
<NetworkLocation>Work</NetworkLocation>
<HideLocalAccountScreen>true</HideLocalAccountScreen>
<ProtectYourPC>3</ProtectYourPC>
</OOBE>
<TimeZone>Eastern Standard Time</TimeZone>
<DisableAutoDaylightTimeSet>false</DisableAutoDaylightTimeSet>
<RegisteredOrganization>Company Name</RegisteredOrganization>
<RegisteredOwner>CompanyName</RegisteredOwner>
</component>
<component name="Microsoft-Windows-International-Core" 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">
<UserLocale>en-US</UserLocale>
<UILanguage>en-US</UILanguage>
<SystemLocale>en-US</SystemLocale>
<InputLocale>en-US</InputLocale>
</component>
</settings>
<settings pass="specialize">
<component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" 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">
<ComputerName>*</ComputerName>
</component>
</settings>
<cpi:offlineImage cpi:source="wim:[removed]/sources/install.wim#Windows 8 Enterprise" xmlns:cpi="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:cpi" />
</unattend>

Answer 1

The user accounts-creation page in Windows Welcome is suppressed if a user or a group is added to a local security group. Add a user or a group to a local security group by doing one of the following:
Create a local user.
Add a domain user to a local security group with the Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup | UserAccounts unattended installation setting.
To suppress the user accounts-creation page in Windows Welcome, without creating a local user, use one of the following workarounds:
Workaround 1
If the computer is already joined to a domain, use the following XML example to add the Domain Users security group to the Local Users security group.
<DomainAccounts>
 <DomainAccountList wcm:action="add">
  <DomainAccount wcm:action="add">
  <Group>Users</Group>
  <Name>Domain Users</Name>
  </DomainAccount>
  <Domain>FabrikamDomain</Domain>
  </DomainAccountList>
</DomainAccounts>
Because joining a domain automatically adds the Domain Users security group to the Local Users security group, the DomainAccounts command does not affect the membership of the Local Users group. However, using this XML example to join a domain will also suppress
the user accounts-creation page in Windows Welcome.
Workaround 2
Use the Sysprep/Quit command to set the following registry value to 1:
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup\OOBE\UnattendCreatedUser
Please remember to click “Mark as Answer” on the post that helps you, and to click “Unmark as Answer” if a marked post does not actually answer your question. This can be beneficial to other community members reading the thread. ”