Gwido

I had a somewhat similar scenario today, What i found is that you should not have your source in the root of the config set, rather only keep the required files you need in there. My problem was I had my install.wim file in there and when I did a capture of my generalised drive I could not work out why it had blown out from 2.5 Gig to 6.8 Gig. Surprise, surprise it was copied to the %configsets% folder. Hope that helps. Gwido

Hey Guys, I have a tweak i need to install as well that is required to be common accross the board for all users. I will try the method mentioned using the SetupComplete.cmd placed in %Windir%\Setup\Scripts, but I would like to add that if you want the settings to be inherited to other users, then you will more than likely have to apply the tweak as the SuperUser Administrator account that gets disabled from my understanding if you do not set the two OOBE settings in unattend/autounattend.xml to both true. If the OOBE is not set to true then on first run you will be prompted to enter a new user, and although the user is an Administrator on the machine, It's not priveleged enough to apply the settings for other users of the machine as my understanding is. I'd like a confirmation on my theory as well. Gwido

I use a network share not WDS to deploy Vista, but you could use either the DriverPaths or the RunAsynchronous to achieve the same results. Here is a snippet from my autounattend.xml file i use for deployment. The OPK/WAIK says you should deploy using a Data Image but I have not had time to test this scenario yet, so i am using the legacy method which works fine for my dployment requirements. Put your raw INF files and the driver files required in the relevent sub directory structure and add it to the WinPE pass of the installation. Vista will search the folders and add them to the driver file repository of the installation. - <DriverPaths> - <PathAndCredentials wcm:action="add" wcm:keyValue="2"> <Path>\\Graphix-pc\WIM\HomeBasic-865\$oem$\$1\Drivers\Modem</Path> </PathAndCredentials> - <PathAndCredentials wcm:action="add" wcm:keyValue="1"> <Path>\\Graphix-pc\WIM\HomeBasic-865\$oem$\$1\Drivers\Sound\WDM</Path> </PathAndCredentials> Regs, Gwido

Hi MSFN I'm Gwido a System Integrator for a Royalty OEM. I relish in the knowledge of MSFN members and the Forums. I'm relatively new to forum posting, but I admit the forums in general have been a huge help in my development of Recovery Media and Baseline images for BTO scenarios within the organisation I work for. I started with the unattended XP and now using the Vista forums as an excellent resource of like minded people experiencing all sorts of stange and wonderful errors from the new technologies that MS are bringing in. I hope to be a big contributor to the forums and share my knowledge and pains that I experience from Integrating predominantly Home Basic and Home Premium installs. The forums to date are the best resource i have found outside of MS itself for information. Cheers and more beers Gwido

Hey All, thought this may help some people using legacy hardware and wanting to play DVD's under Vista due to MP11's resource hungryness and need to use registered codecs. Install Sharks Vista Codec Pack Install mediaplayer classic - do not worry if it prompts that it didnt install properly - it did Edit this Registry Key HKEY_Classes_root\DVD\Shell\Play\Command\ DefaultValue: change to "<path to Media Player Classic>\mplayerc.exe /DVD "%L" Now you can select and set Media Player Classic within the default actions in Vista for DVD playback I spent weeks looking for this only to come accross it in some OPK FEST powerpoint slides

All sorted - using the driverspath in PE phase and mapping it back to my share worked without a hitch.

From a personal perspective, entering in no product key is acceptable but from a OEM perspective there are specific guidelines you have to follow. Outlined in the OPK Reference guide section OEM Licensing Requirements . I have also tested the install using no product key, and I agree its strange that MS have done the switch to only required activation, but also a welcome relief from some of the backward ways things have been done in the past. I have not tried generalising an image with no product key entered to see if it forces the system to prompt during the OOBE phase. If anyone has I'd be interested to know if it worked. Yes you can use one obtained form your MS account manager, certain Vista RTM keys as stated in my previous post to Royalty OEMS do not allow the OOBE phase to reset the product key. The communique I recieved from our Account Managers @ MS had useable keys that allowed the OOBE to perform as expected. The only other way would be to use a key from a OEM Purchased product when Vista Launches at the end of the month.

Thaks FireGeier, I have attempted the offline integration with limited success, but as you say Vista using XP Drivers is not gauranteed to work. I'm slowly working my way through WAIK/WSIM help files and have found like you have mentioned, installing them and then generalising the image is probably the best method. This I have successfully done and re-deployed once. Secondary to this, I have noticed though that my Graphics driver did not port accross. My offline integration of them looked like it succeeded but in the same regards, I had an issue on the second re-deployment of the WIM file as I modified my answer file trying to make it also upgrade from XP. I probably over stepped the mark trying too many things at once. Has anyone had success upgrading using an unattended installation - This should probably be a new thread but I ask this as well due to I want to make a recovery DVD that will upgrade my XP install with the drivers integrated and some default installed programs if possible.

A complete guide like the XP covering Simple to advance would be a great idea. The XP guide helped me out when learning OPK. The biggest issue i see with settying up a vista site to do the same is the variants of the OS. There would have to be a generalised version that applies to all SKU's and then more indepth sections covering the specific SKU's like Home Basic / Premium / Business / Ultimate Etc...

Can you force vista to use .INF files for XP drivers from an unattended installation. If so how as the WAIK stuff is not that helpful in outlining the process. I ask this as I am using legacy hardware that does not have Vista Drivers but I know I can install specific drivers the old method through the device manager. Short of creating a generalised WIM file - I was wondering how to go about it using autounattend.xml Thanks in advance

I too had this problem and it is grossly frustrating. It wasnt until I had an email recieved yesterday that outlined this found issue. Extract from Official MS E-mail Issue Summary OOBE is not prompting for the product key on systems without OEM Activation 2.0. This is caused by using an OEM NONSLP key during image creation. That key is shipped with the OPK and several customers have filed this as ship blocking for them. This document provides several methods of working around this. I’m also filing a KB article and will post that when it’s ready. These solutions have been tested and approved to disperse. Product Applicability Vista (all skus) I recommend you get in contact with your Account Manager - The VISTA RTM version Product Keys that has shipped to Royalty OEM's will not force the OOBE to prompt for Product Key due to this issue Solutions First Time Setup 1. Use a different Key issued from your Account Technical Contact Audit Mode 3. Run the following commands from a cmd prompt: 1. Cscript %windir%\system32\slmgr.vbs –ipk XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXX Note: Replace the ‘X’s with an actual 5x5 Key from MS Hope this helps