JPamplin

bump...

OK folks, here's a fantastic image cataloging and processing app, now free from Google: http://www.picasa.com/ I am really impressed with it, and I want to include it in all my standard setups. Anyone take a look at it yet and figure out how to do a silent install? What about its options? Thanks in advance, JP

OK, REALLY stupid question... How do you do a from scratch install using WINNT32? I always have wiped the hard disk in DOS and used WINNT. I didn't think WINNT32 runs in DOS, and if not, what are you running it in? Help a brotha out, JP

OK, I misspoke - it's not something that should be "fixed", but as I recall, it was a setting that you set in previous versions. So I did not know whether you intended to leave auto-update enabled or not. My bad. JP

The tip he referred you to does in fact work fine. Set your connection up first, then copy that file into the right place on the new setup, and blammo, you've got your VPN item sitting there. You'll have to re-enter your username and password, but it will save it after that. JP

Ryan, OK, I ran your 5.0.1 package and no reboots - yay! However, auto-update is still enabled after install. Any way you could fix that? thanks for all your efforts, JP

as far as setting 32-bit color, I think you can set that in WINNT.SIF (that's what I use to specify 16-bit color and I install on ATI cards all the time). In WINNT.SIF, insert the following: [Display] BitsPerPel=16 Xresolution=1024 YResolution=768 Vrefresh=75 Change the Bits... line to 32 and it should work. JP

Anyone have a link to RyanVM's Acrobat Reader 7 installer? I think his website is still down. JP

Hmm. Can you be more specific, ixion? Where in GPEdit would you set that? If I can do that, then do a registry compare, this might be as easy as a .reg file. We'll see. Hopefully ixion is checking this thread. JP

Yeah, that's exactly what I have done. In fact, I extracted the MSI out of Java's own package, just to see what would happen, and IT reboots as well. So Ryan, don't think it's you. I just tack it on to the end of my apps install script and the PC reboots like clockwork. No shutdown.exe needed. ;-) JP

UPDATE: Well, I don't know why this is, but I've figured out the issue. These Compaq's work fine when you copy files from CD to the D: drive, then run the installer, but FAIL when you copy the same files over the NETWORK (using a DOS floppy with TCP/IP) and run the installer. Dunno - maybe it's a caching issue. I use a DOS floppy with SMARTDRV set with a 2MB cache. Maybe that interferes with copying files over ethernet. So for now, I'm stuck with doing a CD-based install, but formatunately, I've set up my CD so it'll work from the network or CD (initial batch files are slightly changed to copy files from a slightly different location, but since everything happens on D:, that part is identical). Thanks everyone for their suggestions. I only with I could figure out why network copies seem to screw up the installer. JP

Where? is this an update to Java 1.5.0? Can anyone provide a link? JP

OK, I'm making progress on this. I created a CD-based installer (instead of doing everything with a DOS floppy over gigabit), and the Compaq's do successfully get through the T-39 phase of the GUI install while using the CD-based installer, whereas those files copied from network failed. It's odd - I copy all files to the local drive in every case, then run the local copy of the install on the hard disk D:. Why in the heck would a file copied from CD be any different from the same files copied over the network? And on Compaq's have this problem - nothing else? Still scratching my head... JP

Does this run in DOS? I'm looking for a safe way to eject a CD and insert another one without losing the location of the batch file and having an invalid COMMAND.COM file from the bootable floppy portion of the first CD. Thanks, JP

OK, folks, I appreciate this topic, but I am looking for a DOS batch file which allows me to eject the first bootable CD, and start copying more apps from the second CD. It would then start the XP install from the hard disk (everything is copied to the HD first). In my current script, I insert a simple PAUSE... ECHO Please insert the second CD PAUSE @xcopy g:\Install\APPS\*.* d:\Install\APPS\ I've tried moving all my code after the PAUSE into a separate batch file, and CALLing it. That didn't work either. It keeps saying "MIssing Batch FIle" and prompting me for the location of command.com. I even made the second CD bootable as well - no dice. Where can I look, folks? As always, I appreciate it. JP

OK, I'm still battling this one. I have taken a WinXP RTM (no SP1 or SP2) Corp CD, and folded it into my build and tried again, no joy. Could this be a WINNT.SIF issue, where a single folder in the Drivers path was misstated (there wasn't anything there)? I wouldn't think so, since it worked fine on all other systems. Thanks, JP

Moonman, Make sure your smartdrv (called in DOS I gather) is given enough ram for a decent cache. I allocate 2048 and turn on caching for the source drive and the target drive and it works well: smartdrv.exe C+ D+ G+ /V 2048 2048 Try that and see if stage 2 gets faster. It only takes me about 6-7 minutes, but I run everything from a DOS floppy with a TCP/IP stack over a gigabit network. JP

Sorry, I have to bump this up - has anyone run into problems doing a clean SP2 install onto a Compaq? I'm having this trouble with Evo's, Compaq laptops, everything Compaq. Dell's, IBM, clones, all work perfectly. Thanks, JP

Oh! I'll look around for WIHU - I'm migrating to a 2 CD setup, and I want the 2nd CD to autorun in Windows with a GUI menu of apps. Thanks for that tip. JP

Hmm. OK, I'm nit-picking here, but wouldn't a better way to write FOR %%d IN (c: d: e: f: g: h: i: j: k: l: m: n: o: p: q: r: s: t: u: v: w: x: y: z:) DO IF EXIST %%d\CD.txt SET CDROM=%%d be something like this, which moves the colon into the IF EXIST... FOR %%d IN (c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z) DO IF EXIST %%d:\CD.txt SET CDROM=%%d: I dunno if that would work, but I always try to write really tight code. Just my 2 cents, JP

Hmm. Don't have a PC in front of me that I can test with, but here's what I would do to perfect the format / install script: if you have an install folder that you KNOW will be there, change the IF NOT EXIST D:\nul to IF NOT EXIST D:\INSTALL\nul - that "nul" trick may only apply to folders, not root directories. Also, make sure your D: drive is set up as a FAT32, otherwise, DOS won't see it, and the script won't work. Also, make sure you have the WINNT.SIF in the right folder - otherwise, you could run into install hangs. As soon as you see the first blue screen, pop out your floppy or CD, it should go auto from there. Good luck, keep us posted, JP PS: I'm not a BartPE fan for basic installs, just because DOS is so much faster to load (from a boot CD), easier to make and use with a bootable CD image.

Well, actually, that format script is a little dated. I use AEFDisk for everything now - I have high confidence in it and it formats large disks as FAT32 in DOS. But I still keep around FDISK for resetting the MBR after the primary partition is deleted, just cause it's more "official" when FDISK does it. If I were you, and I had a C: NTFS hard disk with a WINDOWS folder on it (or anything for that matter), and a separate D: FAT32 drive (or partition), and I wanted to make a completely automated script that: - Deleted the primary NTFS partition on the first hard disk - Recreated it, and rebooted automatically, then - Started the install script after reboot I would create either a DOS floppy or a DOS boot CD (a CD with a DOS boot floppy in it) with the following script in autoexec.bat: @echo off IF NOT EXIST D:\nul ( AEFDisk /DELACTIVE AEFDisk /FREESIZE AEFDisk /pri:%freesize%:0b AEFDisk /formatfat:1:Hard_Disk /reboot ) (if you have any kind of "copy files to D: from CD" script, insert that here) (path to WINXP)\i386\WINNT.EXE /s:(path to WINXP)\i386 /u:(path to WINNT.SIF)\winnt.sif So, if I copied my WINXP folder to d:\Install\WinXP, and I had the WINNT.SIF file in the same folder, the last command would read: @d:\Install\WinXP\i386\winnt /s:d:\Install\WinXP\i386 /u:d:\Install\WinXP\winnt.sif How does this work? This assumes that you already have a C: drive formatted as NTFS, and a D: drive formatted as FAT32 (which is, of course, accessible in DOS). If C: is NTFS, then DOS ignores it and your D: drive is assigned C:. So, when the script starts, it checks for the existance of D:. If your C: drive is still NTFS, there won't BE a D: drive in DOS (that's been assigned C: for this session), so it executes a wipe / format routine and immediately reboots. After the reboot, the first hard disk HAS a FAT32 partition that is assigned C:, and the second hard disk is now D:, so it ignores that little format script and goes straight into install. Pretty slick, ay? You may have to make little adjustments here and there, but the code principles are sound. With luck, you can copy and paste this right onto a DOS floppy, load up the programs that are called onto that same floppy, and it should work. So I've done the work for you. Good luck, JP

You should read my explanation of the process here: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=17144&hl= I ONLY do DOS-based installs from D: to C: and have developed stable scripts to do this. Let me know if you want me to post more details. JP

The Customizing the Default User Profile link is dead, Jim. Update? JP

Actually, it's even easier than that - use your WINNT.SIF file: [TerminalServices] AllowConnections=1 Badabing. Done. JP