bry909

Hey Eze_2k I also want to build an unattended install disk for XP. The difference being I want to do it for x64 but apart from the obvious differences this should really be the same for x86 and x64 (i386 and AMD64... I'll get onto that later). First thing to remember is that bblean doesn't really install as such, it's just an executable surrounded by a file structure. The install part you are talking about is the batch file which changes a reg entry to allow blackbox to be the default shell. So, if Blackbox doesn't install then how do we 'install' it, or slip it into out build -if you know what I mean? Well, I haven't done this yet but I am familiar with creating unattended installs so here is how I would attempt it. Use nLite (If ur wanting to build an x64 XP install then you'll need to do it on a an x64 PC. nLite won't build x64 XP on x86 XP apparently) Now, we want to be able to put additional files on the c:/ drive of our installed OS by this I mean we want to have a directory called c:/bblean after the installation is complete. We are essentially putting files on the install CD and then the XP installer will be copying them across to the c:/ drive for us. We need to enable 'OEM Preinstall' - you may have done this already if you are installing your SATA drivers unattended - I.e. no 'F' key press. But how does the installer know where to put the files? Choosing the 'OEM Preinstall' will generate a $OEM$ folder in the root of your updated winXP CD directory (Remember nLite updates the source... you know that anyways), this is where you will put all the files you want copied over to the computer during install. For an outline of it's structure see this MSFN page... http://unattended.msfn.org/unattended.xp/print/web/18/ You should also copy all the drivers you need for your install... Gfx, Soundcard, network, etc. The file structure for where to put your drivers is on this MSFN page... http://unattended.msfn.org/unattended.xp/print/web/34/ NOTICE you will also have to update the winnt.sif file in your i386 folder to tell the installation where to find your driver files. See the previous link for detailed info about that. Phew... you may be aware of most of this already but it's kinda like killing two birds with one stone... you need to use OEM preinstall and you get all your shiny new drivers installed too. So, by now you should have done the following... 1. Created your unattended image with Nlite with OEM preinstall enabled (or just before you write the ISO so you can put your additional file into the image) 2. You've copied over all the files and folders you need. I.e. \$OEM$\$1\blackbox\... and \$OEM\$1\DRIVERS\... A common problem you may encounter is the SATA driver not installing as OEM preinatall and this can BSOD your machine it's important that the SATA drivers are in the right $OEM$ folder, named correctly and the line you add to your winnt.sif is correctly pointing to the driver. If you're stil using EIDE then you can relax. Some MoBos are a pig with SATA drivers - my Gigabyte DS being one of them Anyways... So that should be the file copying taken care of. Now you need to do a reg entry during the install. This is not as difficult as it seems and although I have not done it for this task yet, I can explain the mechanics of what you should need to do. Your newly nLlit'ed version of XP should have the following file in it... ...\$OEM$\cmdlines.txt Make it look like this... [Commands] "rundll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSection nLite.inf,U" "REGEDIT /S goBlackbox.reg" Create a text file in the same directory as cmdlines.txt and put the following in... Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 ;change the default shell to blackbox.exe [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon] "Shell"="c:\\bblean\\blackbox.exe" Don't forget to make sure the goBlackbox file is renamed goBlackbox.reg Now, I haven't tested this so it might not work. An alternative, seeing as we have OEM preinstall on the go - is to put a shortcut in the startup folder but you would need to kill explorer.exe at startup and, well, a registry solution is much more elegant. I'm going to try this myself soon so I'll write back to this post but I just don't have the time right now to test it unfortunately. At least this will have given you some ideas towards a solution. About the point earlier, if your doing this for x64 the winnt.sif file is in the AMD64 directory. Let me know how it goes either way. Bry.