daladim

Ok, I have compiled the beginnings of my backup.bat file. This only creates the folders I need, and moves the specified files to the created folders. @CMDOW @ /HID>NUL 2>&1||@ECHO OFF SETLOCAL SET "RPF=%Root%\Program Files" SET "RBP=%Root%\Backup\Program Files" SET "RDS=%Root%\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Application Data\Opera\Opera\profile" SET "RBD=%Root%\Backup\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Application Data\Opera\Opera\profile" md c:\Backup\"Program Files"\Winamp\plugins md c:\Backup\"Program Files"\CCleaner md c:\Backup\"Program Files"\PeerGuardian2 md c:\Backup\"Documents and Settings"\Administrator\"Application Data"\Opera\Opera\profile COPY "%RPF%\Winamp\Winamp.ini" "%RBP%\Winamp\" COPY "%RPF%\Winamp\Winamp.bm" "%RBP%\Winamp\" COPY "%RPF%\Winamp\install.ini" "%RBP%\Winamp\" COPY "%RPF%\Winamp\plugins\gen_ml.ini" "%RBP%\Winamp\plugins\" XCOPY "%RPF%\Winamp\plugins\ml" "%RBP%\Winamp\plugins\ml\" /q /i /s /k /c /y /h COPY "%RPF%\Ccleaner\Ccleaner.ini" "%RBP%\Ccleaner\" COPY "%RPF%\PeerGuardian2\pg2.conf" "%RBP%\PeerGuardian2\" COPY "%RDS%\Opera6.ini" "%RBD%\Opera6.ini" cls exit this code works, and does exactly what I want it to do, but I still can't figure out how to execute winrar from within this batch file to silently archive these folders into an sfx file. I will keep looking for answers, but would still like to hear your ideas.

Ok, I have done some research on my own, and found a bit of stuff. I have learned how to make folders, and have made a test.bat file to see what it does. It works fine in the creation of the folder structure. I already know how to use Xcopy and copy, in a batch file, so I will be incorporating this into the test.bat. Now, my real hang up is getting winrar to do what I want it to, from within the batch file. I found this command online earlier: "C:\Program Files\WinRAR\RAR.exe" a -esh -m5 -mt2 -r -s -t "Backup.exe" @"files_to_include.txt" -x@"files_to_exclude.txt" pause But, I have no clue what all this means. I guess I shouldn't say no clue, because I know that most of it is a string of switches that tells winrar what to do. I also get the basic idea of what it all means. What I have no clue about, is the structure. How do I modify this string, to get winrar to do what I want it to do? Maybe I need to explain my needs a little deeper here. What I want winrar to do, is make an sfx archive of the previously created folders, that will extract to the proper place when executed. My created folder structure would resemble the root of the C drive, in that within the folder named Backup, there would be the Documents and Settings folder, and the Program Files folder. I want to just archive these folders and all their contents, into an sfx archive, that will extract to the C prompt, overwriting all existing files. I know that the switch to make winrar create an sfx archive is, -sfx. But beyond that, I have no idea how to incorporate that into the above command line, or how to put it all into the batch to make it work correctly. Any ideas on this?

Thank you very much for your reply. However, the NTBackup utility does not seem to be what I am looking for. If I understand it correctly, it only deals with Windows settings and files, and I want something that does the settings for third party software, like I stated above. I would like to do exactly what it is I specified, and still have found very little relavent info on the subject. I will continue looking, but if there is anyone here that knows how to write batch files, please help if you can.

I addeded my own defult them by going into the i386 folder, and modifying the WINNT.SIF file. I aded the following line: [shell] CustomDefaultThemeFile = "%WinDir%\Resources\Themes\Classic l Blue.theme" This theme is copied over from the disc, and is located at %CDROM%\$OEM$\$$\Resources\Themes The theme file is usually located at C:\Windows\Resources\Themes, and can be copied over to it's proper place on the disc. Of course, I had to set the theme up the way I wanted it first, and placed all of the needed files in their proper place within the %CDROM%\$OEM$\$$\ folder. My cursors>%CDROM%\$OEM$\$$\Cursors My screensaver>%CDROM%\$OEM$\$$\system32 My wallpapers>%CDROM%\$OEM$\$$\Web\Wallpaper This will copy everything over to the proper place within the C:\Windows folder, and allow the theme to work properly when set as default. The result of this is a complete them replacement for the default Windows XP install.

I just had a sudden idea, and because of the impulsive person I am, I decided to ask a question before doing research. Of course, I will be doing the research also, but if there is anyone that can give me a hand with this, it would be great. So, here's my idea: I use certain programs that save personal settings in a file, like an .inf file or some such thing. Winamp and Opera are the two main ones, but I think HideIP and PeerGaurdian may be in there too... And probably many others. Anyway, I was thinking about WinAmp and my media library, and how the library is saved as a file. My library is large, and it takes around fifteen minutes for it to scan and load everything. I got to thinking, it would be great to make a small utility that backs up all these settings, and saves them as an .exe file, allowing me to just click it and load everything back up onto a fresh system. This way, if I need to re-install everything, my settings will be saved, and I can just click one file afterwards to have all of it back, saving me the trouble of setting everything up again. And if I can do that, I could easily put this file on my unattended disc to run automatically. I know a bit about batch files, and how to use WinRAR to create executable files. I know there is a way to do this, but I am rather unfamiliar with the structure and commands available within the batch itself. I know that I can use a command like XCOPY, or COPY, to copy from one directory to another. I don't know how to create folders, or how to execute WinRAR from within a batch to archive the created folder into a self extractable archive. To give you an example of what I want to do: File A is located at C:\program files\Program A\A.inf I want to create a folder called Settings and place it at the C prompt (C:\) Within that folder, I want a series of folders to match the original path of File A [C:\Settings\(program files\Program A)] I then want to copy File A over to the new folder (C:\Settings\program files\Program A\) After this, I want to execute WinRAR to create a self extracting archive, with the path C:\, and make it completely silent, and overwrite existing files I know I need a batch file for this, and I think I can put that file, or a series of files within a self extracting archive, and make a small backup utility for all my settings. Does anyone have any ideas on how such a batch file should look, or if there is an easier way to do this? If this has already been thought of, or done, could you possibly point me in the direction of that information? Any help would be very much appreciated. Peace

Alright, maybe I was wrong about not needing that "/VIS" switch. I just got finished installing the OS again, and it seems the STartXP.cmd is still not getting deleted correctly. This is with both the /F, and /A switches in the last string of the command, so it looks like this: DEL /F /A %0 It appears that what is happening is that once the cleanup.cmd is called, StartXP.cmd closes completely, thus not allowing it to delete itself. And I'm not sure I understand where I am supposed to place the /VIS switch, either. Could you maybe explain this for me? As in where do I place the switch, and how exactly do I use it? I have run a search for info on MSFN about this switch, but it doesn't appear to have been very helpful. The only thing I could gather was that it needs to be used in conjunction with CMDOW, so it looks like this: CMDOW @ /VIS But where do I place it, if this is in fact the command you speak of? Thanks again for all your help yzowl. Peace

Thank you for the suggestion, yzowl, But I honestly don't see a need for it. After the cleanup.cmd, it is just confirmation through StartXP.cmd that windows is rebooting, but the shutdown window pops up and gives the same notification, so I think the rest is unnessessary. I will keep your suggestion in mind though. "/VIS" is another switch I have not heard of yet, so it could come in handy in the future. Peace

All right, I just ran a quick test. I deleted all but the relevent code from the StartXP.cmd, and added the switches you suggested. I then placed the file in it startup folder, and ran it. It works great. Thanks for all the help man, yer my new hero! LOL!! I'm gonna place this file on the disc, and I'll run another test tomorrow, but I have no doubt that this will work. I think all I got left to do is make some thems for windows, and throw them in with some wallpapers, and I should be finished. That is, with the exception of the ntuser.dat file I just learned about today. I want to learn more about this file, and findout how I can get it copied over to the system. It seems like it would need to be copied when I'm logged out, but could I do that at the T-12 during install? Hmmm, just thinking to myself here. I'll do some more research on that one. Thanks a TON yzowl!! You are the greatest Peace

OK, so due to the call command, I can't just move the deleting of the startXP.cmd and the reboot sequence to the cleanup.cmd, correct? And I should try to change the DEL $0, to DEL f/ %0, or even DEL f/ a/ %0, right? The f/ switch forces, but what is the a/ for? The call command seems to work all right, it just doesn't show the original window again. The original window closes when cleanup starts, and after cleanup is finished, I get a little popup that informs me that windows will reboot in 15 seconds. So this all works fine, it's just that StartXP doesn't do the little printout about rebooting. About the noreboot.exe. You say I should leave the qoutes in the code? But it is ok to delete the /WAIT command, correct? I tried it by deleting the "" /WAIT out of the code and it worked fine, but if it doesn't effect the code to have the "" in there, I can easily leave it there. As for the Virtual machine, I have two different softwares for that purpose, but out of the three PC's I'm currently running, only one could possibly handle running it. And I don't want to install it on that one, because it's my laptop, and I would like to keep it pretty minimal on installed software. I did try virtual machine on the Pc I use for internet, it's a 1.4 gig with 512 mb of ram, but it was slower than the antique I'm currently using. So for now I think I'm just going to keep doing it this way. Not that I don't understand the virtues of a virtual machine, it's a great tool to have, it's just that at the moment I'm somewhat limited on powerful PC's I will run a quick test with the switches you recommend, and let you know if it works. Thanks again man, you really are a great help. Peace

I looked through the files you uploaded, yzowl, and I made the nessessary adjustments. I un-qouted the folders I wanted deleted, and I moved the xcopy to a space after the link moves and folder delete codes. Then I placed the files in my disc, and installed it to the test box. It has just finished installing(took three and a half hours!). All I got to say is, righteous, simply righteous, man! Thanks! Those files worked very well indeed! It installed everything the way it is supposed to, and called the cleanup.cmd at the end perfectly. I did encounter a few problems however. First off, It seems that I don't need the /Wait command for the noreboot.exe, in the jscript install: ECHO ----------------------------------------------------------------- ECHO. ECHO JScript 5.6 Security Update for Windows XP SP1 and SP2 [KB917344] ECHO. ECHO ----------------------------------------------------------------- START "" /WAIT %LOCN%\WU\noreboot.exe What happens here, is the install hangs, and I have to kill the noreboot.exe to continue. However, I found that by deleting the stuff between START and %: START %LOCN%\WU\noreboot.exe I can make it install properly. I hope that this is the correct way to do this. The only other problem is that the StartXP.cmd is not deleted at the end of the install, so it starts all over again on reboot. The path it is installed to during the initial OS install is All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup. The code in the original .bat file is: ATTRIB -R -A -S -H "%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\STARTXP.BAT" DEL "%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\STARTXP.BAT" So, how do I incorporate this in the new .cmd file that you wrote? I noticed that the StartXP.cmd window closes, right after it calls the cleanup.cmd, so would it be possible to just have the cleanup.cmd file delete that, and maybe even reboot the PC? then I could eliminate the end of the startxp.cmd string. I don't see this stuff: %MTLINE% ECHO ----------------------- ECHO. ECHO Rebooting in 15 seconds ECHO. ECHO ----------------------- When the cleanup is initiated, so I would think that can be eliminated all together. Can I move this: >NUL PING -n 6 127.0.0.1 SHUTDOWN.EXE -r -f -t 10 -c "Restarting Antisoft NonStep XP one last time..." DEL %0 To the end of my cleanup.cmd? And now that I am looking at it, what does the little "DEL %0" do? Could you maybe explain to me how to go about deleting the StartXP.cmd once all is said and done? Thanks again yzowl, for all your help. Peace [EDIT] If I were to add a line to the Cleanup.cmd, Would it look like this: DEL /F "%ASMP%\Startup\StartXP.cmd" I'm not really sure, because the code is a bit foreign to me, but this is what I think it would look like.

Glad to hear you solved the problem. But for future use, here is my copy of resource hacker for you. I needed to upload it to megauploads, because it's too big for this site. So here is the link: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=8ZRH8GIM If you want a shortcut in your startmenu, you will need to make one yourself. This isn't an install file, it's the software. you can run it right from the folder it extracts to.

OK, I have encountered one question about the cleanup.cmd that you sent me, yzowl. I'm gonna try something here I haven't tried yet, so bear with me. Attempting to use a codebox Xcopy "%IEQL%" "%PROF%\Default User\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Quick Launch" /q /i /k /c /y COPY "%USMP%\Utilities\Command Prompt.lnk" "%IEQL%\" COPY "%USMP%\Internet\Internet Security\PeerGuardian 2\PeerGuardian.lnk" "%IEQL%\" COPY "%USMP%\Utilities\Tuneup Utilities 2007\Utilities\1-Click Maintenance.lnk" "%IEQL%\" ::RMDIR /Q /S "%IEQL%\Administrative Tools" ::RMDIR /Q /S "%IEQL%\General Tools" ::RMDIR /Q /S "%IEQL%\LiteStep" ::RMDIR /Q /S "%IEQL%\System Tools" ::RMDIR /Q /S "%IEQL%\TuneUp Utilities 2007" ::RMDIR /Q /S "%IEQL%\Unlocker" Seems to have worked. Anyway, my question. My original cleanup was set to create my start menu and quick launch, then copy them over to the default user. From the look of the above string, it appears that you have set the quicklaunch to copy over to default user profile, then add links to the user profile, and delete those odd folders. Can I move the XCOPY of the quick launch to a space after the links are moved, and folders deleted, or does it matter when using code in this manner? I would assume that lines are still executed in the order in which they appear, so it should be nessessary to have the quick launch copied over afterward. Am I correct in this assumption? This is about as far as I have gotten on the examination, so I will go back to that now. Other than this question, I am understanding the code, and it looks like everything is in order, up to this point. Peace

Thanks again for the quick replies, guys. jbm, I'm not sure, but it seems your suggestion might be a little off. If I remove the start /wait, then wouldn't it move on to the next command, before it is done cleaning up? I would assume this is what your talking about by adjusting the shutdown command line, correct? I may try your suggestion to see if it will work, but Yzowl really went into some detail here, so I think I will turn my attention his way first. Yzowl, I think you may have somewhat confused me in the latter part of your post. First off, your saying that I can just call the cleanup.cmd from it's current location, with the same route I am taking, except without archiving it? This would mean that I can get rid of the command line to delete c:\cleanup.cmd, correct? And I won't need the set CDROm stuff at the beginning either, that makes some sense. The folders in quick launch deal, yeah, I don't understand it, but they are there. It' isn't really nessessary to delete them, as they don't show up in the quick launch, because I am running LiteStep on my install. But I don't want them there, so... From here on out, your kind of shootin' over my head here. Removing the first two lines? The last four lines? I may not be too sure about whether or not I am utilizing the commands properly, but hey, they work! In other words, when I run the cleanup.cmd, it cleans up. I get rid of unwanted links, I move folders and links to where I want them, and I delete all the left over folders. Now, I understand you may be saying that I could do this using less space, and thus give myself a smaller file, but for now this is what I got. Now, I have taken a quick look at the files you uploaded for me, and they are definitely different than mine. I have not seen this way of writing batch files yet, and I thank you for enlightening me. The first one I looked at was the cleanup.cmd. Quick question. Did you write these to match my old .cmd file? It does appear to be the case, and if so, I thank you very much for your time and effort. But could you explain thes files a bit for me, so that I can make the nessessary changes, if any should arise? Specifically, I see that you may have included the lines that you thought were not needed, the ones about folders in the quick launch. I also noticed that you did this, while qouting them out, making them inactive. I would believe that I can just remove the "::" from the beginning of the lines to make them active, correct? Now did you re-organize the code, or did you just leave it in the same order I had it? And do you know if you left anything out? I know you said you did these quickly, and there may be some mistakes, so I will look them over to compare the two. As for the STARTXP.BAT being changed to STARTXP.CMD, does that really matter so much? It works as it is, and I'm not sure I understand your reference to my OS. I know my ID says that I am using XP 64, but I don't know why it says that. I am using 32 bit XP. Is this the difference you are referring to? and if so, am I ok using the .bat, or should I still change it to .cmd? So now, from what I am gathering thus far, I can use the files you uploaded to replace my current files, and I can just place the cleanup.cmd file in my Auto folder. Then my STARTXP.cmd file will call the cleanup.cmd, and it will run straight off of the disc, without the need to copy it over, or delete it afterwards. Am I correct so far? I will be looking over your files more closely after I am done with this post. I will also attempt to use them in my OS, but I would kind of like to be positive about this before I go and test things, as my test box is an antique. It's a 333mhz dell, with 128 mb of ram, so it takes like two hours or more to install this disc. That's a long time to wait to see if everything actually runs right. I hope that I have covered all my questions here, but if not, I'll be back to ask them. Anyway, I'm off to do more testing. Thanks again for your help. Peace

ntuser.dat IS the user's HKCU hive. If you open regedit, select the root HKLM key, and select File > Load Hive and choose an ntuser.dat file, you'll see that registry in folder form. Anything in HKCU for the user is stored in here, everything.

While lgs lfzz is on the right track, there is a bit more to it than what he explained. with replacing the boot screen, you need to take into account whether or not the PC you are installing to is single or dual processor. With a single processor, replacing the ntoskrnl will suffice, but if you have a dual processor, you need to replacer other files too. I cannot go into detail with that aspect, as I have not figured this one out myself. You can use resource hacker to do this, or Boot Editor, both of which I have used with success. If you want the boot screen to appear right off the bat, you will need to use makecab to create a cab file, which has the extension ex_. once this is done, you also will need to fix the checksum. Again, I cannot go into detail on this, but I believe you will need a certain software loaded on your machine in order to do this. Check around on this forum for more info, that's how I found out about it. Once you have fixed the checksum, you should place the ntoskrnl.ex_ in your I386 folder, overwriting the original. This will make it so your new bootscreen shows up immediately. The logon screen is done with a very similar process, though it is a bit easier to do. Open it with resource hacker, and simply replace the bitmap, with your own custom picture. Then you can makecab, and fix the checksum. Place this file in the I386 directory also. Altenatively, if you don't mind not seeing the boot and logon until the first boot after everything is installed, you can take the full files(not cab files) and place them in an sfx archive. Make sure that you have the path correct to install. You can make a folder called windows, place a system32 folde inside of that one, and then place your two files inside of system32. Then you simply zip this windows folder up, and create a self extracting archive, and place it in the folder on the disc that you have your other software in. My software is installed from a folder called auto. Then, when you write your runonce, or install bat, or what ever option you choose, make sure you place a line in it that tells the PC to execute this sfx archive. If you use an Install.bat file, you should put a line that looks something like this: START /WAIT "%CDROM%\AUTO\bootlog.exe" This will tell the PC to look for your archive, and execute it. If you have made the archive correctly, it should extract to the system32 folder in your windows directory. Then, after you reboot, you will see your new screens. To get a very detailed explanation of this process, take a look at the MSFN unattended guide, which is available here: http://unattended.msfn.org/unattended.xp/view/web/1/ Hope this helps you out a bit Peace