Wraith

Well now, good to hear. Do you want to test a sacrificial CD and see whether XPlode works during a slipstreamed install? Would be mighty nice to find out... Or you could create the iso and mount in VMware, whichever's easiest

XPlode has been tested at T-13, T-12 and T-9, all seem to work fine, providing you've set up the files correctly. XPdeploy was created as a selective version of XPlode, and is currently in a prolonged testing phase - I am starting my exam period, so no time to work on them for about a month. Personally, I use XPCREATE to master the CD, and run XPlode/XPdeploy off a share on the fileserver on my network, but in general, people have had little problems getting XPlode to run off the CD.

I agree with GM. A friend of mine got burnt when trying to figure out which one of those programs were the original. He got the version with the nasty batch file bug. Can I suggest a moderator remove the URL to the crappy one?

Actually, it's a currently-using-XP user who currently writes code Work necessitated a switch back to windows. I love it. Whenever I try to switch, something always prevents me. At least I've got a nice clean hard drive now.

As you people have no doubt noticed, I haven't been around lately. This is primarily due to the large amount of things I have on my plate regarding uni at the moment. This coming week, I have 4 assignments and a test, followed by the official exam period. Tasty. I'll be back early July. This will be AFTER exams and whatnot, so I should be around a lot more than I have been lately. I should point out that I don't actually run windows any more, so it will be more administration of the XPlode / XPdeploy programs, which will also be released source-wise early July.

Didn't realise there were so many people that wanted this.... but then again, I should've known Visual Studio .NET 2003 Unattended What you need: Visual Studio 2003 (Not sure if it works with 2002, someone confirm?) Windows Component Updates (With VS.NET, either on a seperate CD or in the X:\Pre folder) ORCA (From the Platform SDK) And time... Step 1 First things first, you need to do an install of VS.NET. The logfile it generates during setup is what we need, as it will create the values for the transform file. So do an install, have some coffee, and come back when you're ready to proceed :-) Step 2 Okay, now that that's done, you need to go and find the setup logfile. I've been told that it can be in temp folders for your username, as well as in the install path, so you may have to go looking. I don't remember the exact filename, but it's in there somewhere. In case you were wondering, mine was in "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio.NET 2003\...\...\installlog.txt", rather than my username's temp folder. But I never checked my username's temp folder, so it could be in two places at once. You'll have to forgive me for the vagueness of this step, as I am not running windows any more. (If someone would like to clarify, this would be great.) Open the file in notepad, and turn word wrapping off. You need to scroll down and find a REALLY long line, that has all the commandline arguments sent to vs_setup.msi during setup. Here is the list of mine, spread out on multiple lines so you can see how it's split up: ALLUSERS="1" ADDLOCAL="Visual_Studio_.NET_Ent_Architect,Language_Tools_for_VS_7_Ent,VCpp_for_VS_7_Ent,VCpp_Runtime_Lib raries, CRT2_Static_Libraries,CRT3_Shared_Libraries,CRT4_Source_Code,CRT1_Single_Threaded_Libraries,VCpp_Cla ss_and_Template_Libraries, ATL_MFC_Static_Libraries_ANSI,ATL_MFC_Shared_Libraries_ANSI,ATL_MFC_Static_Libraries_Unicode,ATL_MFC _Shared_Libraries_Unicode, ATL_MFC_Source_Code,VCpp_Tools,Trace_Utility,Spy_Plus_Plus,OLE_Com_Object_Viewer,ActiveX_Control_Tes t_Container,Error_Lookup, WebDbg,Platform_SDK_Tools,VCsh_for_VS_7_Ent,JavaLang_Conversion_Assitant,SDE_for_VCSh,Enterprise_Dev elopment_Tools, Visual_Studio_Analyzer,VS_SDKs,HTML_Help_1.3_SDK,DIA_SDK,Visual_Studio_Analyzer_SDK,VSEF_for_VS_7_En t,AppCenter_Test_for_VS.NET, VS_Enterprise_Samples,Duwamish_Books_7.0,FMStocks,Tools_for_Redistributing_Apps,Visual_Studio_Graphi cs_Library, Redistributable_Merge_Modules,Server_Components_for_Ent,VS_Remote_Debugger,Native_Only_Debugging,Ful l_Remote_Debugging, Visual_Database_Tools_Sproc_Version,Visual_Studio_Analyzer_Server11,Web_Development,dotNET_Framework _SDK,SDK_Samples_for_VS, Dotfuscator_Community_Edition" ADDSOURCE="Visual_Studio_.NET_Samples" ARPINSTALLLOCATION="C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio .NET\" COMPANYNAME="My Company" INSTALLLEVEL="2" PIDKEY="XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX" REBOOT="Suppress" REINSTALLMODE="omus" SETUPWINDOW="852888" SUITEINTEGRATIONKEY="ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ" USERNAME="Your Name" VSEXTUI="1" If some are missing from your logfile, you might be wise adding them, as I'm not sure whether they're needed for an installation. Step 3 Time to build a new transforms file... Install ORCA if you haven't already done so - it's bundled with the platform SDK, but isn't installed by default. Run orca.msi and get it to install. Now that that's done, go an open Orca from the start menu. Be amazed at the quality of the interface, faint, then come back when you wake up :-) It may not look like much, but this tool can be quite powerful when working with MSI's. Go ahead and open the vs_setup.msi within Orca. Then, select "Create new Transform" or equivalent, in one of the menus. Now, go down the left side of the window until you get to an item called "properties". In this table is where you get to add all of the commandline arguments that you retrieved from the logfile. Add them all, one by one, then come back here. Now, there was one thing that I was told to do in order to get it to install - there must be another item added to that table - SETUP_EXE="1". I'm not entirely sure that it's needed, but I haven't had problems by including it, so I guess it's safe for others to do so as well. Now that we're done with Orca, you can save your transform file. Guess what folks, that's nearly it :-) Step 4 Getting it all to install... You need to apply the windows component updates before you use the transform file to install VS.NET. Typically, you need to install the VS.NET Bootstrap, Frontpage Extensions, and the J# redistributable package. My list: bootstrap.msi /qn REBOOT=ReallySuppress weccom.msi /qn REBOOT=ReallySuppress jsredist.msi /qn REBOOT=ReallySuppress vssetup.ms TRANSFORMS=vs_setup.mst /qb- The first three are usually on the WCU cd, or in the Pre folder on the DVD. And that... should get VS.NET 2003 installed properly. Let me know if there are any errors, problems etc. Nick

the regfile has to be in the working directory in that case. Essentially "regedit /s regtweaks.reg" is expanded to "C:\windows\regedit.exe /s regtweaks.reg" because of the %PATH% environment variable. Of course, you could always put the directory that the regfile is stored in %PATH% and it could be done from anywhere. In theory.

Read what Alanoll says - he's trying to help you, and all you do is ignore the majority of what he says, picking out the things you want to hear. Read it MULTIPLE times, every word of it, until you understand. And until you DO understand, don't start complaining about things not working. It helps us if you know what you're talking about.

<plug> Use QNX if you want something "Real-time" </plug>

http://www.voidfx.com/updates/ Okay, I've started with a database... there are only the two hotfixes in the database... for now. I'm going to set up some sort of system for certain people to add to the database, will be building support for multiple OS's and languages, as you no doubt would have noticed. I also have an XPCREATE field in the db, not sure if I want to show it in the list of updates, or whether to allow it only when wanted. Will work things out later. Anyways, it's happening, hopefully s*** will be set up by the weekend. Will probably write a prog to auto-download stuff or something. Fingers crossed I get some more time to work on it...

It would have to be a dos executable - XPdeploy won't run until after IE has been installed. Which is something like T-19 or something. After installing the network. So really, it would have to be half way through the installation, otherwise, you'll need a dos executable, as XM says.

Intriguing. I guess I should wait for SP2 final.

Yeah, I don't particularly like it when people apparently can't make that step from being an idiotic AOL script kiddie, to someone who can talk like a human. For anyone that hasn't made the transition, here's a translation: YEAH I DONT PARTICULARLY LIEK IT WH3N PEOPLA APAERNTLY CANT MAEK TAHT ST3P FROM BNG AN IDIOTIC AOL SCRIPT KIDEI 2 SOMAONA WHO CAN TOK LIEK A HUMAN!11!!1! WTF LOL

Okay people, this is what I want you to test: Looks kinda funky? Anyways, the URL to the official topic is: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=19340 Read the page, look at the XML, figure out what you want to do, read the XML again, copy. You'd be wise reading the original XPlode XML, rather than the one packaged with XPdeploy, as the XPlode one has examples of all the available functions. Post any questions in the other topic, not this one.

Okay people, time to do some testing for me. For newbies, you will NEED to download XPlode first, so you can get the plugins that this operates with. This release will run with an existing XPlode.xml. There are one extra attribute it supports: XPlode.items.item - image="%XPLODE%\image.png" This is for the images on the left hand side of the window, for each install item. I've put an XML in with the archive so you can see. XPdeploy requires XPlode plugins to operate, funnily enough. The status window thing is a bit buggy, which is kinda expected. Anyways, let me know if there are any problems OTHER than the status window. XPdeploy.zip

That I can't help with. I'm sure it's something as simple as loading a new boot image with the linux CD boot. Or maybe not. *shrugs*

@mukeshnuna: Speak english in future. @everyone else: Thinking of replying? Don't. Not until he starts using english.

If you're thinking of a RedHat-based distribution (Fedora, Mandrake, Trustix, etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. - there's a LOT of them), then you should start looking at the scripts for anaconda - their installer. I'm sure there is a way to specify what things you want installed manually. It WILL, however, need you to make your own iso - pretty much your own distribution. Personally, I'd rather reinstall linux manually, it's easier to figure out exactly what you need for each comp, rather than making specific installation discs. I don't want a bunch of DVD's for different comps, I'd prefer just the one. But hey, each to their own. Look up anaconda.

I use UnattendMode=ProvideDefault and it doesn't ask me for it. Everything else it does ask me for though.

Don't suppose anybody knows of an RSS newsfeed for hotfixes? Or should I go make one?

/me wonders if a closed topic would be..... beneficial.

Okay, well, I didn't bother doing MSDN, but it's probably the same sequence as VS.NET to install - this one's going to be a bit of a b***h to get working, you have to manually install it first, just to see what it needs, and what YOU want installed. Then you have to use Orca to make a new transform - with settings based on what the install log says. I'll try and write it up tonight. Just as a sidenote, when I did it unattended, the install went from 15 minutes attended for just Visual C++, down to 3 minutes unattended. Quite useful methinks.

Check the log.

Ummm... install all could just as easily be done by using XPlode XPlode and XPdeploy use the exact same XML syntax. Hell, at the moment XPdeploy needs the colour config from XPlode, even though it doesn't use it. (All I did was copy XPlode and write a new UI for it.) This is why it's completely compatible with XPlode SDK2 plugins. And that's how I want it I'll probably put out a release today, just so you people can do some testing. About the only thing I've added so far is an "image" attribute to the item tag. They're just transparent gifs, you can use anything IE can use. (All it does is embed an IE window.) <items> <item display="nVidia Drivers" image="%XPLODE%\images\nvidia.gif"> <execute display="Install NVMixer" program="%XPLODE%\NVMixer\setup.exe" arguments='-s -f1 "%XPLODE%\NVMixer\setup.iss"' /> <execute display="Install Detonator 53.03" program="%XPLODE%\nV-detonator53.03\setup.exe" arguments='-s -f1 "%XPLODE%\nV-detonator53.03\setup.iss"' /> </item> As you can see, only the image tag has been added. As a sidenote, this was actually how I wanted XPinstall to look like, right from the start

Read up about XPlode. This essentially allows you to install things seperately, rather than all in one go.