Where is the unattend file stored after you install Windows?

Question

I have been working with the Windows Automated Installation toolkit and FOG lately, and have made several over the past month or so. Something I've noticed when running sysprep after setting up an image is that the unattend file is processed before other sysprep tasks run.

My question is this: where is the unattend file stored on disk after you install Windows? If I can modify/add this file after installation has already completed, it would save us time in having to recreate installation media with unattend.xml at the root of the installation source every time we make a change to the answer file.

To work around this we are currently using an installation USB but some systems refuse to work properly when installing from USB, and it is a hassle to burn a new DVD every time we get a model that doesn't play nicely with a USB-based Windows installer.

Solution

The various locations where an answer file can be or is located during different stages of Windows Setup are listed here:

Windows Setup Automation Overview