Gwido

Hey there Bezalel either rename it to $oem$ or create a seperate $oem$ folder and port everything into that folder. I have found that in WSIM if you try and tell it it's to look in the "$oem$ folders" as created by the distribution share - it will not copy that information onto the local drive. It has to be setup in exactly the same way as the old XP structure $oem$ $1 $$ etc.... I highly recommend using a data image where you capture just a folder of all the data you want to copy accross as a WIM file and in WSIM tell it to extract during your unattended install from auto / unattend.xml Drivers are best injected into an offline image or captured in the WIM file as a part of the "technician machine" install. Remember when capturing your image that if your deploying to un standardised hardware to generalise the sysprep to strip the Hardware ID's so they are re-numerated during the boot process and OOBE etc... Bare in mind that if you generalise you MUST vista will only use WHQL drivers due to the re-enumeration and Vista's incistence on using "signed drivers". If you are using standardised hardware then do not generalise your sysprep and the drivers will hold even if not WHQL certified. If anyone has had other experiences on this I would be interested to know Gwido

Hi Charlice Yes I was refering to using the the WAIK/WSIM to do an offline autounattend.xml file Thanks for your post - I will look into it Gwido

OEM pre-activation is only available to Partners of Microsoft. It's not available to System Builders using OEM media to the best of my knowledge. It's an idepth process which requires modifications to the computer BIOS to add "flags" for the activation to occurr automatically based on the COA that is pre-activated by MS. Gwido

Hey Guys, just wondering if anyone has tried using package manager to inject OEM information offline or if it is indeed possible at all. Cheers Gwido

Yes $OEM$ is supported - Microsoft recommend using a data image as the preffered replacement though. In your WAIK/WSIM ensure that you have use configuration set value as true and save your unattend.xml file to autounattend.xml and place it in the root of the thumb drive. Provided that use configurationset value is set to true in the file it will use the $oem$ structure and copy relevent files to the hard disk during the install process. Gwido

I have answerd this myself.... I been creating my images using BTP method instead of BTO method as outlined in the documentation and as a result the my drivers do not stick due to me being a dumbass and genralising the images when ik didn't need to http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsVista...e657491033.mspx Is a recommended read to understand syspreps use for deployment My word of advice to all Newbs like myself is to make sure you read the documentation and understand it - not just glance over it and then wonder why you have a problem. I know I have learnt the hard way

I agree that it sounds like configsetroot Have you done a search to find all *.wim files? sounds like you have about 3 or 4 of them on there instead of just the one Gwido

I have deployed using DVD from a captured WIM. The thing you have ot be careful of is - the /flags in the imagex tool. The flags must be set correctly to the MS framework before you rename your wim.file to install.wim and build your ISO using oscdimg IE: /flags "HOMEBASIC" or "ULTIMATE" or "HOMEPREMIUM" Either way a generalised caputred WIM if captured on the active boot partition wil include the boot information and will deploy out properly. Gwido

This is all good but you should be aware that you would be in breach of OEM guidelines if you do this in a commercial environment.

There are a number of way to achieve this... Are you deploying from server, DVD or from WIM direct My experience is that you use the WAIK to develop a new unattend.xml / autounattend.xml. If you are deploying using Imagex then you do not need to use a answer file as all your answers are set within the genralised caputred WIM. If you are using windows setup the you can use setup.exe and specify the answer file from the command line. Bear in mind that if you use setup to deploy you have to make sure that you have set the /flags variable correctly when you captured otherwise windows setup will not deploy the image. Also the WIM has to be renamed to install.wim and placed in the sources folder for this to work. From CD/DVD you put the autounattend.xml onto the root of the disk. Once again the WIM will have to be renamed to install.wim and placed in the sources folder. Also the ISO has to be built using the oscdimg tool supplied as a part of the WAIK. Alternatively you can look at BDD and automate the whole setup from within it. You can push the image out using PXE and WINPE 2.0 - not too familiar with this. I hope this has provided some insight. Gwido

This is the best method, Norton Ghost does not like VISTA I have found and I have not tried Acronis. An imagex capture of a sysprepped image that has been genralised and then backing it up to a network share or using the oscdimg tool is the MS preffered methods of doing this. Gwido

I have not heard of any way to do this... Maybe be best to run your scripts first to test the PC and then deploy from your BOM. The new MS way is a marked improvement over the old XP methodologies I have found. Is there any reason as to why you do not want to use pre-defined WIM files and imagex, or run the scripts during the various passes of the autounattend.xml? Gwido

I sense that some of the issue is to do with the long file path use and maybe needed to be encapsulated in "" to allow you access the "$oem$ folders" directory. I'd recommend you use a data image or install directly from the server from a .cmd file that is called from the XML file and has the mapped paths to a share where you want to deploy from. I see confuision in your post as well as you are using a d: path and you have a y: share and d: is being used as the main boot device / drive on the PC and hence as it goes through the install it loses the source location as you have hard coded it in your autounattend.xml file by what i can gather. I hope that makes sense. Gwido

This can also be achieved using the imagex tool imagex /info <wimfile> You can then cull the wim file of the other OS versions from the XML output - you will see the different key values for the different versions. use imagex again and use the /delete switch to delete the key values for the versions you wish not to install. Start from the highest number and work down as if you start from the lowest and work up the file will be re-indexed and you will have to run the /info command again to see the new values are after each time you delete a version from the WIM file. Gwido

Thumb Drives are convenient way to boot PE, but there is still a lot of systems out there that do not support the various modes of operation and booting from them. Also some Thumb Drives just are not bootable as you all should be aware of. I have found the best method is to boot from CD as it's tried and tested. Map a drive to a share on a server form within the PE2 env then usually have a base vista wim file and deploy using the imagex tool ie: net use y: \\server\share <pass> /user:<some user> imagex /apply y:\<my wim file> 1 c: Hope that is some help Regards, Gwido