Jadestar

Probably the monitor. What kind of lcd do you have and is it standard format or widescreen? Also, have you got the latest vid drivers from nvidia?

try simply adding the cls or clear command before the prompt is loaded so if $lastKey == key[p] then cls then end

So after a long week of testing I found a very simple way of adding just about any bootable image to a multiboot dvd using cdshell and the process is quite easy once you figure out the steps. There are ways out there to figure out how and if it's been posted here then I apologize for the double post, but it took me quite some time to find this solution. here's what you need Already functioning multiboot dvd using cdshell iso images of bootable things (windows xp, ultimate boot cd things, harddrive or ram testers) So it's just a few steps. Load your image into something that can load iso's and extract the boot file. I use either magicISO or PowerISO but any will work. Extract the boot info to a file. For most images, you'll get one of two types of files. One file is usually very small and less than 64kb. These usually come from windows installs. The other type will be the size of a floppy disk or more. It's important to note which one you have here but the basic rule of thumb is this; any boot file that is bigger than 64k has to use the memdisk option instead of chain. Oh also, wherever your boot file is is what we consider the root of your drive which is where you should extract your image contents aswell. Chain method: so if your boot file is less than 64k then you can use the simple chain method in cd shell. The method is generally this. Take the boot file you saved and rename the file extension to .dat (so if it was file.bif then rename it to file.dat)...to be honest I'm not sure if the renaming is neccessary but this is what I read on tutorials. cd \(or to whatever directory you have the .dat file in) chain file.dat That's it..it should load the image of whatever disc it was and continue from there Memdisk method: if your boot file is larger than 64k (and typically 1.44mb) then you just have to use memdisk instead. Rename your boot file to have the .ima extension (so if it was file.bif, rename it to file.ima) cd \ (or wherever your .ima file and source folders are) memdisk file.ima Again, that's all there is to it. YOu can generally use this to load just about any bootable image into a multiboot in cdshell and it's amazingly easy. Also note, any time you use memdisk you'll notice that whatever boot image yuo're loading up is insanely fast. That's because memdisk loads the image straight into ram and goes from there. Any errors or problems, questions? Post away. if you run into any errors with cdshell, post the exact error message you get and I can try to help I'm still learning this stuff as i go.

CDshell's manual was vague about creating a password on your cdshell menu so after a few wrecked discs, i found the method quite easy once you know what you're doing. Here is the simpliest way to do it. Append the code into your cdshell.ini ------------------------------------------------- pass: print "Enter password" set password = "" build_string: getkey if $lastKey == key[enter]; then goto done set password = "$(password)$lastChar" goto build_string done: set password_hash = "MD5 Converted String" set MD5 = "$password" if icompare["$password_hash" "$MD5"] then print "Password match!" then goto menu else print "Invalid password!" else wait 5 else boot 0x80 ------------------------------------------ So to keep things simple, I put this script right under the part in your menu that basically goes "press enter to boot from dvd" but instead of that command going to menu, it goes to pass You'll see here that if the password matches, it then goes to menu but if the password is wrong, it displays invalid password, waits 5 seconds and then boots to the first harddrive. Really simple stuff. All you need to do is put in your md5 converted password into the string above "set password_hash =" . Go to google and lookup string to md5 converter and put the result in between the quotes. Again, really easy stuff but I found it difficult on how to get started and burned through 3 discs to get it working so hopefully this saves someone the time. One last note, if you need to change the variable $password for any reason, make sure you change every reference to password in the script and it should work fine.

I guess that'll work. If i rebuild the image WITHOUT the autounattend file and then drop it on a mem stick it would make it easier. I'll give that a shot and post my results.

well a basic vista image is about 2.8gbs so yeah, would require atleast 4 cds

I have a few programs that run in the runsyncronize stage. They are powerdvd, nero, adobe reader 9 and the dx9 redistributible. Neither of these need or use the internet to install and on my xp home or pro installs, theres no internet connection needed which is why i think theres something in the vista itself that's trying to get on the net. One theory I had is maybe vista is trying to download the latest setup files? I know when you try to do an install of windows in windows it asks for that. Other than that I have no idea. There's no updates that get run either. Here is my full autounattended.xml <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend"> <settings pass="windowsPE"> <component name="Microsoft-Windows-International-Core-WinPE" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="NonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"> <SetupUILanguage> <UILanguage>en-US</UILanguage> </SetupUILanguage> <InputLocale>0409:00000409</InputLocale> <UserLocale>en-US</UserLocale> <UILanguage>en-US</UILanguage> <SystemLocale>en-US</SystemLocale> </component> <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Setup" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="NonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"> <UserData> <ProductKey> <Key></Key> <WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI> </ProductKey> <Organization>Owner-Corp</Organization> <FullName>OwnerPC</FullName> <AcceptEula>true</AcceptEula> </UserData> <ImageInstall> <OSImage> <InstallFrom> <MetaData wcm:action="add"> <Key>/IMAGE/NAME</Key> <Value></Value> </MetaData> </InstallFrom> <InstallToAvailablePartition>false</InstallToAvailablePartition> <WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI> </OSImage> </ImageInstall> </component> </settings> <settings pass="oobeSystem"> <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="NonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"> <OOBE> <HideEULAPage>true</HideEULAPage> <NetworkLocation>Home</NetworkLocation> <ProtectYourPC>1</ProtectYourPC> <SkipUserOOBE>true</SkipUserOOBE> </OOBE> <UserAccounts> <LocalAccounts> <LocalAccount wcm:action="add"> <Description>user account</Description> <DisplayName>User</DisplayName> <Group>Administrators</Group> <Name>User</Name> <Password> <Value>cABhAHMAcwB3AG8AcgBkAFAAYQBzAHMAdwBvAHIAZAA=</Value> <PlainText>false</PlainText> </Password> </LocalAccount> </LocalAccounts> </UserAccounts> </component> </settings> <settings pass="specialize"> <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="NonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"> <TimeZone>Mountain Standard Time</TimeZone> <AutoLogon> <Enabled>true</Enabled> <LogonCount>2</LogonCount> <Username>Administrator</Username> </AutoLogon> </component> <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Security-Licensing-SLC-UX" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="NonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"> <SkipAutoActivation>true</SkipAutoActivation> </component> <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Deployment" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"> <RunSynchronous> <RunSynchronousCommand wcm:action="add"> <Description>Copyapps</Description> <Path>D:\programs\copyappsvista.cmd</Path> <Order>1</Order> <WillReboot>Never</WillReboot> </RunSynchronousCommand> <RunSynchronousCommand wcm:action="add"> <Description>DirectX 9</Description> <Path>D:\programs\nero\installation\redist\directx\dxsetup.exe /silent</Path> <Order>2</Order> <WillReboot>Never</WillReboot> </RunSynchronousCommand> <RunSynchronousCommand wcm:action="add"> <Description>Nero</Description> <Path>D:\programs\nero\installation\setupx.exe /quiet</Path> <Order>3</Order> <WillReboot>Never</WillReboot> </RunSynchronousCommand> <RunSynchronousCommand wcm:action="add"> <Description>Adobe</Description> <Path>d:\programs\READER9\Setup.exe /sall</Path> <Order>4</Order> <WillReboot>Never</WillReboot> </RunSynchronousCommand> </RunSynchronous> </component> </settings> </unattend>

Ok i understand. i had no idea that they released vista on cd version but anyways, you would be better off to just download an oem or retail image of vista from a torrent site (just dont get any cracked version or any junk like that...aslong as you have your OWN vista COA sticker then you're ok) alternatively, you could maybe copy all the files from both cds into one image and load it on a dvd,.

you should make your own thread instead of highjacking this one.. and for the guy with the issue, can you post your autounattend.xml ..perhaps its missing a vital header to load?

when you say packages, what do you mean by that?

That doesnt make a whole lot of sense. The gadgets are part of the sidebar...can you be more specific?

What exactly is the 2nd CD? if it's 32bit on one and 64bit on another, I believe there are other posts pertaining to that already..if they arent, the second cd may be some extras that you dont need. The OEM image of vista (all versions) 32 bit is only 2.8gbs so you may be able to strip out from each stuff that you dont need or want.

So if I unplug my ethernet cable and run my unattended disc, vista fails and gives some error on deploy.exe not being able to do online installation. Does it have anything to do with this line thats generated a number of times? xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance I see that in my autounattended.xml many times, not too sure what it's for. SO anyways, I need this unattended to work if I[m on the internet or not and it really should...not sure why it fails. p.s. I do have skip activation set to true.

How I did xp with ie7 was running IE7 with silent switches on svcpack so I'm sure you could do the same using either the firstlogon stuff, synchonizecommands or setupcomplete The way my disc works to install apps is the synchronizecommands copys a program and puts it in the startup folder for all users, when the user logs in for the first time it runs the app which then runs any other app installs with silent switches. Sounds confusing...I can post my codes for my autounattended and setupcomplete if you want.

SO I've got everything done on my unattended except for 2 little glitches. One is the computer name. If i set any name, it is fine but what I want is a random generated name..if I put in a *, like xp, it generates an error and doesnt parse the autounattended file Second is changing the power plan on vista. Tried with this [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\PowerCfg] "CurrentPowerPolicy"="2" but it seems to have no effect. I can change that number to anything and it does not change a thing in vista's power options. Another thing, vistas power options only show 3 options with certain names, and if you navigate to that key above, it doesnt mention any of them...it lists the xp ones which again seem to have no effect changing them in any way...so my question is, where is the REAL registry key that holds vista's power options? and why the heck does vista have these values in there if they arent actually part of anything? Thanks,

My disc has vista, xp home and pro and adobe reader 9, nero basic and powerdvd...all fits on one dvd. The original size is 4.95gb but the makeiso.bat using cdimage crops it down to 4.16gb..not sure how, but it does and everything works.

73 views and no replies, thanks for that. i did find the solution though so now the disc asks what version i want or you put in the key and it selects the right version, and the unattended does its thing,,,except for this computername problem ive been having.

yeah and that seems ok, the problem is that I do want it to generate a random name since this disc is used to reinstall windows on alot of different machines. Does anyone haev a solution to provide a random computer name? -thanks

I found the problem, apparnetly unattended doesnt like to set computer name and so I had to remove it...so it now asks me for the computername which is stupid since this is supposed to be fully unattended...any ideas for this problem? another issue i'm having is when the system tries to login for the first time, it says the user must change the password...another annoying problem..any way to skip that password problem? also, i told it to NOT skip the machineOOBE and set the network location, and it still asks..any ideas? other than that it looks like its working... thanks

When trying to do an unattended using autounattend, i get an error that says it cannot parse the file in the pass specialize, under the component Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup. i cant see the error but perhaps maybe someone else can. Here is my full file. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend"> <settings pass="windowsPE"> <component name="Microsoft-Windows-International-Core-WinPE" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="NonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"> <SetupUILanguage> <UILanguage>en-US</UILanguage> </SetupUILanguage> <InputLocale>0409:00000409</InputLocale> <UserLocale>en-US</UserLocale> <UILanguage>en-US</UILanguage> <SystemLocale>en-US</SystemLocale> </component> <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Setup" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="NonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"> <UserData> <ProductKey> <Key></Key> <WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI> </ProductKey> <Organization>Owner-Corp</Organization> <FullName>OwnerPC</FullName> <AcceptEula>true</AcceptEula> </UserData> <ImageInstall> <OSImage> <InstallFrom> <MetaData wcm:action="add"> <Key>/IMAGE/NAME</Key> <Value></Value> </MetaData> </InstallFrom> <InstallToAvailablePartition>false</InstallToAvailablePartition> <WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI> </OSImage> </ImageInstall> </component> </settings> <settings pass="oobeSystem"> <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="NonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"> <OOBE> <HideEULAPage>true</HideEULAPage> <NetworkLocation>Home</NetworkLocation> <ProtectYourPC>1</ProtectYourPC> <SkipMachineOOBE>true</SkipMachineOOBE> <SkipUserOOBE>true</SkipUserOOBE> </OOBE> <UserAccounts> <LocalAccounts> <LocalAccount wcm:action="add"> <Password> </Password> <Description>user account</Description> <DisplayName>User</DisplayName> <Group>Administrators</Group> <Name>User</Name> </LocalAccount> </LocalAccounts> </UserAccounts> </component> </settings> <settings pass="specialize"> <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="NonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"> <AutoLogon> <Username>User</Username> <Enabled>true</Enabled> <LogonCount>2</LogonCount> </AutoLogon> <ComputerName>Owner*</ComputerName> <TimeZone>Mountain Standard Time</TimeZone> </component> <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Security-Licensing-SLC-UX" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="NonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"> <SkipAutoActivation>true</SkipAutoActivation> </component> </settings> </unattend>

i hate to bump but im wondering if anyone had an answer for this?

So I'm kinda dissappointed with vlite and waik. They just seem a bit more complicated than I'm looking for. I guess my issue with them is that they want to build isos and images and all this extra stuff that I already have and dont need. What I'm looking for is something that will ask me questions about the vista install and take the provided answers and make an autounattended.xml (or hoever it's spelled). I already have my vista source that Im leaving untouched and all my other tweaks will take place with registry files once vista is booted. Anyone know of such a thing?

So I'm currently working on basically an ultimate cd that contains windows xp home,pro and vista. I've got the full unattended xp pro and home with all my customs and app installs and now im working on getting vista into the mix. I've already figured out how to get the vista on my multiboot dvd and run the installer...all works ok there. So now my next step is to get the unattended stuff done for vista. One thing that has me stumped is that vlite and the win sim thing both ask me what version I want to do the unattended for...but here;'s the thing. I dont want to choose a version for the unattended, I want that version choice to be in the install when I put in whatever product key I happen to be using at the time...could be home premium once, could be ultimate the next. So I'm kinda lost as how to proceed from here. I dont want to create 6 different vista installs that are 2.8gbs each....because my dvd wont hold that much Is there something I'm missing here? If anyone wants any info on how i created my disc thus far, feel free to ask. I'm using cdshell as the multiboot dvd loader and some reg tweaks, with runonce commands and auto-it scripts to install some apps. Thanks.

Here's an update. So i appended that switch to the above 8 updates mentioned in my first post. during T13, 4 windows popped up which are the "wrong switch" thing. So i figured 4 of em worked. According to add/remove programs with "show updates" 2 of them installed...so 6 didnt. The strange thing is that when automatic updates is finished downloading stuff...it shows the 2 updates that are in ad/remove programs as updates ready to be installed. KB939653 & KB938127 are the updates that are both in add/remove programs and still in windows updates. These updates below are the 6 that didnt have correct switches (4 of which said so, 2 didnt...and i dont know which is which) that didnt install. KB928365 kb936181 kb933579 kb928366 kb934238 kb932471 I'd also like to point out that in the $hf-mig$ dir in /windows, there are both the uninstallers for the 2 updates above that are in add/remove programs...ALSO..after running automatic updates and installing 127 again, a new directories appeared in hf-mig except with -ie7 on the 127 update. so now in hf-mig theres a dir called kb938127 and kb938127-ie7 and the file sizes are different. the -ie7 version is about .4mbs lower. Thanks again. Here's an update. I've nailed the updates down so there are only 3 critital and 0 optional updates once the disc is finished! I had to get some different netframework installers that had some of those patches integrated and all is well so far. But i cant seem to get these last 3 updates to work with switches. KB939653 KB936181 KB939127 Any ideas?

Ok here's a stupid question. I want to put a file in GUIRunOnce and all i see in example winnt.sif files is something like this (not exact syntax) command:/systemdrive/install/blahblah.exe What I dont get is this...I want to put the executable to be run on the ISO so....where do i exactly put it? svcpack? i386? system32? and then what do i put in the GUIRunOnce in winnt.sif ...im really confused since i dont see any "install" dir in my iso etc etc. I know this is dumb but im just lost and frustrated. thanks.