Arie

WINNT.SIF is used when installing from CD-ROM. UNATTEND.TXT is used when installing from DOS. Both are the same file, just named differently, so you can simply rename your WINNT.SIF file to UNATTEND.TXT. But you could have simply found this out yourself by using Google I believe Hope this helps anyway.

UNIX or Linux used on servers 99% of the time won't use a GUI or the used GUI is so straight forward, so that you'll understand it in five minutes, so don't waste any time on figuring out what GUI you prefer. Dive into the commands you can run from the shell. Google on these and you'll find enough information without a doubt. Install Microsoft Virtual PC 2007, which is free, and install any distro on it which you like. My advise would be something like Fedora or Slackware for instance. Like I wrote before, don't waste time on GUI's. Configure your virtual machine as a file server, firewall, mail server, web server, et cetera. Make backups, add users, et cetera. Play around with it. Telnet into your virtual Linux environment for example. Something else which can be nice to have a look at are socalled live CD-ROM's. Knoppix is one of the nicest out there if you ask me. Download it, burn it onto CDR and you can then simply boot from this CD-ROM and play around with Linux, without having to install it and without damaging any files on your hard disk. Focus on the shell in Knoppix, is it'll load a GUI by default.

It sounds to me like you're doing too many things at once. First try to get your unattended installation working properly. Once it works, integrate any hotfixes. Test again and once it works properly, you can add any applications for example. Test after every step. This will also make it easier to find out which specific item is causing a problem.

KB890046 is meant for x64, not for x86 hence it fails. Remove it from your list. All others should be fine I believe. Try it again without the before mentioned hotfix. You may want to check all your updates to see if you are trying to include more wrong hotfixes, which might cause problems for the above mentioned updates which failed to integrate. Also, what happens if you try to integrate the above mentioned hotfixes manually instead of using nLite?

P.S. You can use nLite still afterwards if you want by the way on your HFSLIP modified source. I don't, but I know it's possible.

I script everything myself. I do my own tweaks. I make my own silent installation packages. I used to integrate the hotfixes manually as well, but I have since switched to using HFSLIP, which is easy to use and gives you much more control over your project than nLite does, but HFSLIP does make your life easier I like to make everything myself, I like to be in control of what happens when and where in regards to my unattended installation. HFSLIP takes care of the integration of hotfixes into my source and of my silent installation packages via SVCPACK.INF, updates DirectX for me and adds various Microsoft CAB-files to my installation. Everything which is not SVCPACK.INF compatible, I install via RunOnceEx. I'm currently working on adding all my own drivers, playing around with $OEM$ folder and I'm also playing around with a new feature of HFSLIP: the REPLACE folder. More on HFSLIP can be found here, or on this forum as it has it's own section. My advise is to give it a try, you'll like it

Did you even bother looking yourself? Click here for starters, as well as here. All found via Google in just seconds.

Administrator account versus NSA security advisories don't match; the NSA advises users not to work under an administrator account. B)

Contact DELL for a replacement CD-ROM. They should supply you with one for free or for a very small amount to cover postage. As Kelsenellenelvian mentioned above, corporate editions and OEM editions are different.

Does the autorun feature work within Windows XP, so without using Virtual CD? If so, the problem exists within Virtual CD. Check the settings of Virtual CD to see if you can configure autorun there. Some virtual CD-ROM software automatically disable autorun, perhaps Virtual CD does this too. Read the documentation which came with your software or contact the developer to find out if this is the case. It might also be a known issue with Virtual CD, you could check that too. The question is: Does autorun work within Windows XP and not in Virtual CD or does it not work in either? Does autorun work within Windows XP if Virtual CD is not installed?

Nice! Thank you for sharing

NET STOP "ServiceName" If the file is in the same folder as the batch script, there is no need to specify the path to the file. If the file is not in the same folder as the batch script and the path to the file cannot change, you could simply launch it via START. For options, launch START /?. If the path can change, which is the case with most USB sticks as they're plug and play, you could alter the CD-ROM drive discovery script to always point at the correct USB drive. See the Unattended Guide here for the script.

No, to be honest I haven't got a clue what you're on about

Windows Product Key Update Tool.

Read the Unattended Guide regarding $OEM$ folders.

It's working here now.

Did you even bother searching yourself? Click here.

You could try executing silent installer packages via DetachedProgram in WINNT.SIF, but I highly doubt that it will work as no one seems to have succeeded thus far. The easiest way to install all versions of Microsoft .NET Framework in my humble opinion is to install RogueSpear's silent packages for Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1 SP1 and 2.0 SP1 via SVCPACK.INF, followed by any applications you wish to install via SVCPACK.INF. You can afterwards have Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 (Lite) install via RunOnceEx. No extra reboots required.

Microsoft offers some free VB-scripts which can change the product key for you easily. Search the Microsoft web site for them.

I'm sorry, but your redenation doesn't make much sense in my humble opinion. First you would need to create an unattended installation, next you would need to sysprep it. The time it takes you to create an unattended installation is more than the time it takes you to install the operating system manually. To answer your "question": you like to stare at the screen more then I prefer to automate as much as possible as well, but I'm also lazy, so I choose whichever option takes me the least amount of time, for now and for the future. Creating an unattended installation and afterwards sysprepping it takes more time to do now and restoring it in the future will take the same time as restoring a normal sysprep image.

Does your CD-ROM work in a virtual environment such as Microsoft Virtual PC 2007?

[unattended]

Read the Unattended Guide.

Why would you want to sysprep an unattended installation, as you could simply sysprep a normal installation? I don't see the use of using an unattended installation here.

Are you sure that it's not simply a question of installing the right third-party drivers, supplied by your vendor?