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  3. System32
  4. oobe
FolderRisk: Caution

oobe C:\Windows\System32\oobe

Files of the Windows out-of-box experience (OOBE): initial setup screens and OEM customization (Info folder).

Updated on By AltF4 Formation

What it’s for

The OOBE (out-of-box experience) is the series of screens at the first start of a Windows PC: license terms, Internet connection, Microsoft account, sharing information with the manufacturer. System32\oobe holds the components of that initial setup and, on the manufacturer (OEM) side, what it takes to customize it.

What it contains

  • The OOBE programs, such as msoobe.exe and oobeldr.exe, and their resources.
  • An Info subfolder, where the OEM places its configuration: Oobe.xml (screen text and images, first-run options) and, for registration pages, a public key. Without that key, the registration pages are not shown.
  • Nothing active on a machine that is already configured: the folder stays in place but is no longer used.

Risks and best practices

  • Keep the folder: it is needed for an account’s first sign-in and for images prepared with Sysprep.
  • In a deployment image, edit Oobe.xml following the documented procedures and test on a clean machine. Since Windows 11 22H2, it can no longer set the time zone.
  • To automate OOBE, prefer an answer file (unattend.xml) to manual tweaks in this folder.

Useful commands

Fenêtre de terminal
# Folder content, Info subfolder included
Get-ChildItem "$env:windir\System32\oobe" -Recurse -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue | Select-Object FullName, Length


# OOBE state (1 = in progress; missing or 0 = done)
Get-ItemProperty 'HKLM:\SYSTEM\Setup' -Name OOBEInProgress -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

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