Martin Zugec

Well, I am not using RIS, I am using another PXE server... This server only loads small boot disk (700kB) and start normal unattended installation over network. When OS installation is finished, I give control to deployment server (Unicenter, but you can use Tivoli, SMS...)

Maybe I am the recordman 78GB UA for one company. Absolutely unattended. Every 1st of the month all of their computers are reinstalled. 1.) Every PC is set to online (Ping + WOL if negative). 2.) User profiles are migrated to network. 3.) PCs are reinstalled using PXE small-boot mediums (700kB) 4.) Base applications (Office etc.) are installed 5.) Special applications are installed based on user membership (Account etc.) 6.) More special applications are installed This is based on connected HW devices, e.g. if he got Scanner, special software is installed or if he got cd burner Nero is installed 7.) EVEN more special applications are installed It is something similar to Publishing, however it will remember user selection 8.) User profiles are returned to computer and few other things are applied.... Because they have only one server for this purposes, it is rock-stable, so in slow speed every computer is generating its own software library and SW is installed from local HDD. That is why this installation is about 6-8 hours long. I implemented "standalone" installation also there, it is much faster (2 hours)...

Did someone try it on virtual machine? What is the difference in speed?

Yes... However you can shutdown w2k stations from xp What OS is your admin machine?

IrfanView is quite good, however you cant use it in companies About notepad replacement, have a look at www.crimsoneditor.com, I am using it often (free, fast, functional)

a.) can you see any error in Windows Update.log? b.) go to my blog and search for script to repair windows update (it was few months ago, so 2-3 pages back)

Apply reg remotely to allow autologon, restart machine, do what you want and when you finish just apply reg to remove autologon. I am using this (called Secondary logon) in few companies and it is one of my favourite methods when I dont have SW like Unicenter/SMS by my hand

Interesting... I will give it a try ASAP. For people like me (that are using network intead of CDs/DVDs and dont care about space) this could be really interesting

Or you can use internal command shutdown with for /f wrapper. Shutdown.bat For /f "Usebackq " %%i in (`type computers.ini`) do ( echo shutdown -s -t 01 -f -m \\%%i ) Computers.ini computer1 computer2

It will be last thing you will apply First create boot medium (mine is about 700kB). After everything is ready, you just wont boot your machine from cd/fdd, but instead from server image

a.) create boot medium. You can decide if it would use dos or PE. b.) create shared on "server" c.) connect to pc from dos and launch installation. If this would work for you, you can start playing with things like PXE etc. But first create boot medium and connect to server.

Well, 1.) it is minor feature, not "most useful feature". 2.) it is not uncommon, however they are releasing technologies when they are ready. For example "fast network boot" is also available in w2k, however it was more for testing purposes...

And where is your question?

Exactly. Difference is that Counterspy have already corporate version

2Rikgale: Go for it, it would be great! 2Moonlight: Are you sure serial number is unique for every burning and that it is random number? If this is true, it would be great! BTW congrats to first vbscript file

Sorry for later response, I got a lot of work to do these days 1.) what do you mean under cdromdrive class? How would you like to implement this feature? 2.) It is not as easy as it looks like. I can imagine easier way based on HW - lets say the PC code could be generating using baseboard, cpu and HDD configuration instead of BIOS informations. 3.) I think they are using DMI or direct reading instead of WMI classes 4.) You cant implement SLP as I know. I had a look at Microsoft partner KB and you cant make it universal (it is string in BIOS) 5.) Also answer for rikgate: $$rename is not directory, it is file ($$rename.txt). Because files are copied during text-mode, it dont support long filenames, instead it converts them to short one (8.3). Using this file, you can say that testua~1.cab will be "test ua for your use.cab". For more informations have a look at ref.chm in Deploy.cab. 6.) Of course you can I really love this script, it is extremely useful (for example when multimedia keyboard is detected you can install special software, or when CD burner is detected you can install Nero).

Hi Rikgale! The problem with ProtectUA is simple - I am probably the only "developer" here that didnt even once tried my own script. However 8.3 shouldnt be problem of pkuzip - you just simply didnt include $$Rename in your $oem$ directory (every file is truncated, because they are copied during text mode). About comments, just use ' symbol to comment a line

www.hiddensoft.com - download autoit, right click on file and select Compile. Or easier way - download attached .exe file NotSleep.exe

Heh, I had the same problem (every non-interactive installations act this way). Solution: 1.) Create directory in distribution point ($$\NotSleep in my case). 2.) Copy instsrv.exe and srvany.exe from resource kit there 3.) Create batch file NotSleep.bat: Set strInstallPath=%~dp0 If "%1" EQU "" Goto :EOF If "%1" EQU "/install" Goto:Install If "%1" EQU "/uninstall" Goto:Uninstall Goto:EOF :Install "%strInstallPath%instsrv.exe" DoNotSleep "%strInstallPath%srvany.exe" reg add HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\DoNotSleep /v Type /t REG_DWORD /d 272 /f reg add HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\DoNotSleep\Parameters /v Application /d %strInstallPath%NotSleep.exe /f net start DoNotSleep Goto:EOF :Uninstall cd .. net stop DoNotSleep "%strInstallPath%instsrv.exe" DoNotSleep REMOVE rmdir /s /q %WinDir%\NotSleep Goto:EOF 4.) Create AutoIt script NotSleep and compile it: $strEnd = 0 Do Send ( "{SCROLLLOCK toggle}" ) Sleep (10000) Until $strEnd = 1 Now at RunOnceEx install this (NotSleep.bat /install) and at last SMS package uninstall it (NotSleep.bat /uninstall)

2Suryad: It is because PFR concept. However it is sometimes great - for example in corporations you need 2 restart to fully patch system including office etc.. (first for agent, second are hotfixes)

Oh my, pagefile again Ignore recommendations like 1,5 times more etc... Just leave it on system to determine the best value. If you really want to do something with swap, just move it to another partition...

@Echo off Echo Happy birthday Indigo2005

Some of "visual points" are removed through StubPath in registry (for example Outlook Express)

DOnt use registry tweaks for this work... Use IEAK (Internet Explorer Administration Kit) instead

Hello there! Its long time since I used AutoIt last time, however now I needed to and encountered one problem. $strTest = IniReadSection ("usmt.ini","Servers") If @error Then MsgBox(4096, "", "Error") Else For $i = 1 To $strTest[0][0] $strTest[$i][0] = $strTest[$i][1] Next EndIf What should it do? Read Servers section from USMT.ini and create variables. Like Key=Value. However it is not working I am quite tired today, so I probably just missed something