Professor Frink

Is there a comprehensive list of what's changed beyond hotfixes? The one thing I've noticed is that is installs the new firewall (ala XP SP2), but it is off by default. I'm not sure what else is changed....

Bullseye. I deleted svcpack.inf and it worked. Thanks!!

I just tried it with nLite and I got the same error. That brings up an interesting thought, since it's recommended to start with a "plain" XP disc and then slipstream from there. For the last few years any version of XP you buy off the shelf already has a Service Pack built in. So how does one even find a "plain" XP disc?

Sorry, I'm sure this has been answered before, but I don't know how to find it. I know that it's recommended to slipstream SP2 into a fresh, blank copy of i386. But my original CD (XP Home) was the kind with SP1 already built into it. Is there a way to slipstream SP2 into it? Because I tried and I got an error.

Hmmm. This time I ran it without any registry tweaks, plus I removed my application and cleanup batch files. And no hotfixes, either. So it is just a straight XP Home SP1 installation and nothing else. And I still end up like in the picture below. And if I go to display properties and the Themes tab, it says "Windows XP", not "custom". So as far as Windows is concerned, it's displaying the normal luna theme. Maybe I'll have to dig out my XP CD and start over from scratch. Is there any other way to fix this? FWIW -- here is my winnt.sif, although I don't see how that could be affecting it. ;SetupMgrTag [Data] AutoPartition=0 MsDosInitiated="0" UnattendedInstall="Yes" EulaComplete="1" AutomaticUpdates=1 [Unattended] AutoActivate=YES UnattendSwitch="yes" UnattendMode=FullUnattended OemSkipEula=Yes OemPreinstall=Yes TargetPath=\WINNT Hibernation=no FileSystem="ConvertNTFS" Repartition=Yes ExtendOEMPartition=1 DriverSigningPolicy=Ignore OEMPnPDriversPath="********" [GuiUnattended] AdminPassword="********" EncryptedAdminPassword=NO AutoLogon=Yes AutoLogonCount=1 OEMSkipRegional=1 TimeZone=35 OemSkipWelcome=1 [GuiRunOnce] C:\post.bat [UserData] ProductID=******** FullName="********" OrgName="********" ComputerName="********" [Display] BitsPerPel=16 Xresolution=1024 YResolution=768 Vrefresh=75 [TapiLocation] CountryCode=1 AreaCode=717 [Identification] JoinWorkgroup=WORKGROUP [Networking] InstallDefaultComponents=Yes [NetAdapters] Adapter1=params.Adapter1 [params.Adapter1] INFID=* [NetClients] MS_MSClient=params.MS_MSClient [NetServices] MS_SERVER=params.MS_SERVER [NetProtocols] MS_TCPIP=params.MS_TCPIP

Well, I just tried it with no registry tweaks whatsoever, and I got the same result -- the taskbar and IE are still screwy.

I do apply the tweaks from cmdlines, exactly like I do with my Pro setup. Weird, huh? No, I don't use nLite.

I'm trying to make an XP Home unattended CD as an experiment. But I keep ending up with this weird hybrid theme, with elements of Luna and Classic. And as you can see, the Quick Launch is there but it's empty. Is this because of some tweak I'm applying? Maybe one that works in Pro but not in Home? If someone wants me to post my whole tweak file I will, but I thought I'd just ask first. And one other weird thing -- I get this message when I try to launch IE from the desktop, plus there is no IE shortcut in the Start > Programs menu. So something is screwed up with that, too.

I'm thinking that I'll ask for a flat 50% of the customer charge. That would cover both flat-fee services and anything with an hourly charge. Either way, I would be paid 50% of what the customer pays the company. I guess that's fair.

Here's the deal -- my full-time job is as a computer tech, and I don't plan to leave it. But I was just talking to the owner of a local computer shop about some part-time work doing the kind of stuff I could do off-hours from home -- things like reformats. So my employment would sort of be as a consultant, with them giving me work on an as-needed basis. Here's my dilemma -- the owner is very interested, but she wants to know what my salary requirement would be. She said that for things like reformats and re-installs, they charge a flat fee to the customer (about $200-300), as opposed to an hourly rate. So most likely my compensation would be a cut of that. Any idea what would be fair to expect? Something like $40 or $50? Or should it be a straight percentage of what the customer pays (since that isn't always the same amount) ? I don't want to blow this by asking too much, but I don't want to lowball, either.

Well, for file/print and application servers, including some in remote offices -- that might be a little risky for something that is still technically a beta. So I'm assuming it's still at least a few months away, if not more?

I've been trying to figure out what's up with Server 2003 SP1. Is there any current info on when to expect a final release? I know there's no date yet, but is there a rough estimate? I will be putting 2003 on some new servers in a couple of months, and I'd hate to do it and have SP1 come out two days later. It'd be nice to be able to test it for a few weeks and then deploy my servers with SP1 installed.

Is it possible that you're having problems because your folder and files are more than 8 characters? After all, when the XP install starts, you are in DOS mode. Here's my setup. First of all, at the end of my initial network floppy boot process, I map a drive to the installation point via the bootdisk's autoexec.bat. I go to the mapped drive, then I use the "change directory" command to send me to the i386 folder. In my example, the shared folder "winxp$" is right at the root of the server's C: drive: net use X: \\server\winxp$ /persistent:no /yes X: cd i386 In the i386 folder I have both "unattend.bat" and "unattend.txt". The txt file needs no explanation, of course. The unattend.bat contains the following: x:\i386\winnt.exe /s:x:\i386 /u:x:\i386\unattend.txt So when the floppy process is done and I'm sitting in the i386 folder, I just launch unattend.bat. Sorry if I'm repeating stuff you already know. But maybe this will help.

It sounds like something is still missing from your answer file. Can you post it? I do a network install, and here is my unattend.txt, which works great: ;SetupMgrTag [Data] AutoPartition=1 MsDosInitiated="0" UnattendedInstall="Yes" [Unattended] UnattendSwitch="yes" UnattendMode=FullUnattended OemSkipEula=Yes OemPreinstall=Yes TargetPath=\WINNT Hibernation=no FileSystem=ConvertNTFS ExtendOEMPartition=1 DriverSigningPolicy=Ignore OEMPnPDriversPath="*******" [GuiUnattended] AdminPassword="*******" EncryptedAdminPassword=NO AutoLogon=Yes AutoLogonCount=1 OEMSkipRegional=1 TimeZone=35 OemSkipWelcome=1 [GuiRunOnce] C:\post.bat [UserData] ProductID=******* FullName="*******" OrgName="*******" ComputerName=******* [Display] BitsPerPel=16 Xresolution=1280 YResolution=1024 Vrefresh=60 [Components] msnexplr=off msmsgs=off Freecell=off Hearts=off Minesweeper=off Pinball=off Solitaire=off Spider=off ZoneGames=off [TapiLocation] CountryCode=1 AreaCode=717 [SetupMgr] DistFolder=c:\winxp\I386 DistShare=winxp$ [Identification] JoinDomain=******* DomainAdmin=******* DomainAdminPassword=******* [Networking] InstallDefaultComponents=No [NetAdapters] Adapter1=params.Adapter1 [params.Adapter1] INFID=* [NetClients] MS_MSClient=params.MS_MSClient [NetServices] MS_SERVER=params.MS_SERVER [NetProtocols] MS_TCPIP=params.MS_TCPIP [params.MS_TCPIP] DNS=No DNSSuffixSearchOrder=******* UseDomainNameDevolution=No EnableLMHosts=Yes AdapterSections=params.MS_TCPIP.Adapter1 [params.MS_TCPIP.Adapter1] SpecificTo=Adapter1 DHCP=No IPAddress=******* SubnetMask=******* DefaultGateway=******* DNSServerSearchOrder=******* WINS=Yes WinsServerList=******* NetBIOSOptions=0

Do you have the following lines in your unattended.txt? It will vary depending on the path and the name of the shared directory: [SetupMgr] DistFolder=c:\winxp\I386 DistShare=winxp$ In my example, I have a folder on the server's C: drive called "winxp", and it is being shared as "winxp$" Also, just to be sure -- is regtwks.reg sitting in the root $OEM$ folder, in the same place as cmdlines.txt?

Don't get me wrong -- I've used the IEAK and I think it's fantastic. It used to be an integral part of my 2000 install, before I changed to XP. Like I said, I just felt weird using it where IE6 SP1 already existed.

war59312 -- you might want to consider adding this: [Components] IEHardenAdmin=Off IEHardenUser=Off That turns off the Internet Explorer Enhanced Security. Maybe you want it left on, but I find it to be a big pain.

This is the exact line I use, which works fine: start /wait C:\Apps\OfficeXP\setup.exe TRANSFORMS=Custom.MST /qb- You shouldn't have to put quotes around the MST part. This wouldn't have anything to do with the MST file ("unattended") being longer than 8 characters, would it? Probably not, but I'm just taking a stab in the dark.

That is what we have here -- we have OptiPlex GX270s with USB keyboard and mouse. But they work fine for my unattended install. I assume you have ALL the proper drivers being installed from winnt.sif, including the chipset? That one is key, since it includes USB drivers.

Do you do it this way for XP and/or 2003? Since they both have IE6 SP1 standard, I always had a bad feeling about using the IE Admin Kit and essentially doing a re-installation of IE. Maybe it works fine, I don't really know. But ever since XP, I've stuck with just using registry tweaks.

FYI -- if you add this to your winnt.sif, the enhanced security will never be installed: [Components] IEHardenAdmin=Off IEHardenUser=Off

I hate to ask again, but I'm curious -- if it's true that the SP1 code has gone gold, how close do you think we are to a release?

Well, I figured out what the problem was -- it was the 873374 hotfix (the GDI Tool one). Since it's a useless hotfix anyway, someone had created a fake one that tells Windows that it's installed, and I've been using that under XP. I then put it into my 2000 installation and apparently it doesn't quite work! So I took that out and just applied that one reg tweak that does the same thing: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\GdiDetectionTool] "GDITool"=dword:00000001 Now everything is fine. So apparently it had nothing to do with the order of hotfixes being installed. It was just me applying a bad one!

I never would have thought that updates/patches could cause such a thing. I already ran the install with ALL reg tweaks turned off and it didn't help. I guess I'll try it again without any hotfixes and see what happens...

I mainly use XP, but I've been experimenting with a 2000 unattended. But I get a weird result when I open Windows Explorer in folders view: Has this ever happened to anyone before in 2000?