[How Can i test my cmdlines.txt]

Well you can test it by:

Copy the file.

rename the copy to cmdlines.cmd

remove the [Commands] section

Save the file.

open a command window

browse to the folder you saved the cmd

and then type cmdlines.cmd

if it doesn't return any errors, the syntax in the cmdlines.txt is correct.

Hope this helps,

-Henk

[A few issues..]

$oem$\$1 is only for the OemPnpDriversPath

if you want to copy applications i'd recommend making

$oem$\c\applications

this will copy a folder named applications to your C drive.

or if you want it on d

$oem$\d\applications

And yes the OEMPreinstall=YES has to be defined in Winnt.sif for the $oem$ folder to be copied

Hope this helps

-Henk

[İnstall Screen resolution Problem]

Or maybe this helps too:

in the winnt.sif file

[Display] 
	Xresolution=800 
	YResolution=600

[Unattended Install. Simple but Complex!]

winnt32.exe /s:[%xpcd%\I386] /unattend[time in seconds for reboot]:winnt.sif /tempdrive:[windowsdrive] /sypart:c:

/s switch means: here can you find the source files for the installation (for example the winxp cd)

/unattend switch means: here you can find the answer file. The number after unattend indeed is for the number of seconds for reboot

/tempdrive switch means this is the drive Windows copies it's temporary files for the Text Based Setup portion.

/syspart swich mean: this is the system partition, mark this partition as active so it's bootable.

hope this helps

-Henk

[Unattended Install. Simple but Complex!]

Try using winnt32.exe /unattend:unattendedfile.sif

So no brackets

Hope this helps!

[boot.ini xp & vista]

Should do the trick, if indeed your vista is installed on partition 2.

[unattended install over network]

Check if your bootdisk loads up emm386 or an equivalent program to access the extended memory.

Seeing as DOS only can work with 640k at default, so if no memory program (like emm386) is started, then Winnt.exe only sees 640k of memory, which obviously isnt enough..

Furthermore, load up Smartdrv.exe before you start the windows setup, this will decrease the time setup takes a lot!

Hope this helps

-Henk

[boot.ini xp & vista]

Looks like Vista isnt in the bootloader list anymore

did you install windows XP on a different partition as Vista?

Could be either of 2 things:

1: you installed xp over the same partition as you installed vista (thus not having vista anymore)

2: winxp doesn't recognize Vista as a previous install and didn't add it's partition to the Boot.ini

if 2 is the case you could try to add a line to the boot.ini

where the partition number (2) would be the partition number you installed vista on.

most of the times it's either 2 or 1, but seeing as you allready have 1 for winXP i'd try 2

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition([b]2[/b])\WINDOWS="Windows Vista" 

[How to silent a reg file loaded from HKLM\....\run?]

Well switches are different for every executable so it's easy to get 'm mixed up...

Glad I could help!

cheers!

[setup login after sysprep runs]

Well you can make a reg file and make sysprep set it into

[HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce]

"Autologin"="regedit /s c:\windows\winlogon.reg"

Your winlogon.reg would look like this then:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]
"AutoAdminLogon"="1"
"DefaultDomainName"="DOMAIN"
"DefaultPassword"="password"
"DefaultUsername"="student"

i don't know if this is what you were looking for

but it works

-Henk

[How to silent a reg file loaded from HKLM\....\run?]

Did you try to load the regfile with the appropriate program?

Regedit /s Regkeyfile.reg

where regkeyfile.reg would be aaa.reg in your case

so for the runonce in the registry:

[HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce]

"BLABLA"="regedit /s regkey.reg"

You also can run executables or batch script from the run or runonce key.

So if you for example would like to run Henk.exe the next time the computer is started you could add this to the registry:

[HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce]

"Henk"="C:\pathto\henk.exe"

Hope this helps

-Henk

[Windows 2k3 unattended VMWare ESX 2.x server]

First of all, here's my first post official post on this forum... whoohoo...

For the past 2 hours i've been struggling with a unattended win2k3 installation on a VMWare ESX 2.x server

When I ran the unattended installation i got a 0x7b blue screen.

So for all you people who are having the same problem, here is my solution:

1. Copy vmscsi.sys (from the vmware tools iso) to your i386 (source) directory

2. Edit the i386\TXTSETUP.SIF to contain:

[sourceDisksFiles]

vmscsi.sys = 1,,,,,,4_,4,1,,,1,4

[HardwareIdsDatabase]

PCI\VEN_104B&DEV_1040 = "VMscsi"

[sCSI.Load]

VMscsi = vmscsi.sys,4

[sCSI]

VMscsi = "VMware SCSI Controller"

3. Edit i386\DOSNET.INF to contain:

[FloppyFiles.2]

d1,vmscsi.sys

[Files]

d1,vmscsi.sys

This should solve the problem of the Text-based portion of setup not being able to see your hard drive.

[Greetings from Holland]

Hi there,

my name is Henk and i'm a 22 year old computer dude from Holland.

I've been into computers since I was about six and I almost finished my Bachelor degree in IT Administration/Management

I'm currently employed part-time in a hospital where they run MS Terminal Services in combination with Citrix and PowerFUSE.

For my final internship and thesis study i'm currently trying to get accepted by a company in Amsterdam, it's a consultancy office for Server Based Computing and Virtualization. So let's just hope I get accepted so I can learn loads of new stuff

Hoping I can learn new stuff and maybe help other out here aswell ofcourse, that's why I registered in the first place .

See you around!