Br4tt3

Sorry if I was not clear on that... if u wanna build WinPE, u need to obtain the license and software from your MS agreement, u cant build from within WinXP orig or something like that. However, if u settle for BartPE, all u need is the WinXP source media. BartPE is free/shareware while MS is of course not anything like it.... B.R

Are u using the same credentials for logging on both the comps? if not, one of the users might not have access (Read & Exec) on the .sif file of that image (if it is split that is...). Later..

Hi dude. Yes you can launch a Win32/64 install from within WinPE (think only 2005 version supports 64-bit plattforms). From the point of running winnt32.exe from within WinPE, you would control the Win32/64 using the normal unattend options (unattend.txt). Before running the actual installation, u could prepare the drives of the computers using diskpart.exe which is much more flexible than RIS disk options, where u can have several partitions and drives and so on... To go back to the point where u say: I have so many models and masstorage devices that it sucks using RIS.. I just want to make you aware of the txtsetup.sif file method for adding drivers for SCSI / SATA / RAID controllers to your installation source so that you are not using the Microsoft method (where you point out one specific masstorage driver to boot from within the unattend.txt/winnt.sif) file and where u will eventually end up having several .sif's. I support about 35 PC models and 8 server models, most of them with none supported SCSI/RAID/SATA controllers only using one 2 images (XP/Win2003) and one .sif file for each image with RIS. But then again, WinPE is that way of the future..

hi! sorry for not being more precise, but Yes there is... u can automate the osc screens, especially when only having a single image to select from. Google it or go to technet on microsoft.com as I know there is a paper on it named something like: ciw screen design document (sorry again for not having the link to it) Best Regards Tha Sausage Eater...

nothing comes to mind except checking that you have the correct entries in the sysprep.inf for naming resolution. DNS, WINS, Gate and so on... Best Regards Tha Sausage Eater..

Open up a command prompt when ur WinPE has been loaded, type: netcfg -s a (will show u if there is any NIC's installed) i think or download TheTruth's application: PENetCfg.exe and run it from within WinPE. That wil also show u if PE has been able to load some drivers for ur card. Or, ping another host is prolly the easiest way... Is your PE based on XP or Win2003?

hi.. u r right, WinPE would be able to automate ur WinXP installation better than with traditional boot floppy or something like that... anyway, u need to have WinPE, which you aquire from Microsoft if you have the correct license agreement. I think it is something like SA (Software Assurance) that is required... Best Regards Tha Falukorvs Ejdare..

U can specify that via the registry... HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon : AltDefaultDomainName = the domain that the auto logon should use (netbios naming style, not FQDN) AltDefaultPassword = the password AltDefaultUserName = the user AutoAdminLogon = dont remember it, google it. And for the purpose of performing such things, this functionality can be obtained from the MS BDD solution accelerator which features this and lots of other stuff. U dont have to use the whole thing (BDD), just use the scripts included with the BDD to perform those kinds of things.. anyway.. script it down to the registry and it would perform the autologon for u with a specific domain account... Best Regards Tha Sausage Eater... now hammering down knackwursts!

hahahaha..... nice 1. I hope they scale that solution in the upcoming WDS to support at least 11 comp/user. Tha Sausage Eater...

****... I guess that is where i got mine to then..

A coupple of things u could do: 1. Restrict the access to the .sif files for the image. If the end user performing the installation cant read the .sif file (read and exec), he or she will not be able to get the image displayed in the menu. So far so good... 2. Restrict access for adding computers to the domain. Deafult for Win2003 domain, normal users can add users to the domain, if u restrict it, they wont. In other words, restrict it. 3. Deafult when adding a computer to a AD enabled domain is that the computer account, is created in the CN=Builtin,DC=Company,DC=corp container. Restrict, so that machines cannot be created in that container. In that way, the only way to still add them is to have them prestaged into a more suitable container / OU. Best Regards Tha Sausage Eater...

Dont take my word for it but i think the ximage.exe is within one of the .wim files for which u must have the tool to edit it with in the first place. Anyway, I think u can download the WAIK tools (which includes ximage.exe) from the MS website. Maby someone else has a better answer...

What driver is it? I have seen similar things happens where one upgrade the RIS box for example to SP1 for Windows 2003, and earlier working .inf files does not work anymore due to the fact that post SP1 parses .inf diffrently than before.... then the solution is to hax the .inf.

Got it! Thanks man...

That WDS client software, where did u find it? or at what stage does it become available? and is it included with the CTP release for WDS as well? been reading the MS docs but I cant figure out where to install from or at what stage it becomes avail... My problem with the sysprepped XP image was that I had used a previous version of the ximage.exe for creating the .wim file. Hopefully...

Dunno about the 32 and 64-bit part (not using 64) but ximage.exe defintly works from within WinPE 2005.

if u mean the my entry, the "solution" is just to have the group designated as "ris installers" with Read & Execute on the specific .sif file for each image that they are allowed to install/use. If all other "not allowed to installed from RIS" cannot see the .sif files (does not have Read & Execute), then they wont be able to get those shown in the .osc menus... Best Regards Tha Sausage Eater...

Putting ACL's on the .sif file associated with the image in RIS, can be viewed as a delegation model... If a guy has Read and Execute on the .sif file, he or she will see tha images presented in the boot menu, however, if logged in as a dude with no permissions to the .sif, he wont see anything at all. Best Regards Tha Sausage Eater...

Any special cfg for the XP SP2 .wim file or just wrapped from ximage? or did u convert a riprep to .wim? Any clues on that one would be nice... also, havent seen that WDS client either...

Well... I also installed WDS on top of a RIS box, got to the boot menu, and could launch for example WinPE 2.0 from it succesfully.. however, when trying to add a .wim file (that I have created by manually from XP) to the section: Install Images - WDS returns a error msg, stating: "not a syspreped image". The thing is, it is syspreped.. Oki, so what if upload the install.wim file from the vista or longhorn builds then? Then WDS returns a msg stating: "Not a valid install image". Anyway, I dunno how it really works and I have not been able to spend time on it either but if I dont recall false, the install.wim files from the vista and longhorn srv media are syspreped (dunno if it checks the versions and so on). I really hope that the WDS product will support native .wim deployment for both pre vista operating systems (worried that they are going to sepearate it as it has a "mixed" mode) but it doesnt really tells you if the mixed mode is there because of, the option to run both RIS (flat) and WDS(wim) or because it cant handle pre vista os .wim files. I dont wanna end up with 2 ways of deploying OS's, just the new .wim format. Also, as you can succesfully create .wim files from a syspreped xp box and the deploy it again using the ximage.exe I dont see why it should not support both. Anyone else that has been able to elaborate with the WDS beta yet? or could give us a hint on how to use it or why it is complaining? Best Regards Tha Sausage Eater

of course, then BartPE would not work with SMS2003 OSD kit and BDD unless modifying it.... So?

I have also fetched it from that OEM site but; 1. when talking to ur Microsoft representative, they will tell u that it is not alright to obtain WinPE from that site unless, guess what, u r a OEM.... 2. WinPE is still not public available as any unless SA agreement and so on... So, working on law firm u prolly better of talking ot MS about that unless talking to BSA the next day...

As you can still use the version shipped with OSD of WinPE, you cannot use BDD unless u have the appropiate Microsoft agreement that will enable you to use WinPE2005 or WinPE2004. WinPE build kits for WinPE 2005 are most commonly used with OSD and BDD for updating the shipped version with OSD, however, still, u need that agreement with MS to obtain the build kit and later on updating the SMS with... Hope it works out for u...

I am using BDD2.5 / SMS 2003 / OSD - But I really dont know what u mean, if u have ur build kit for WinPE 2005/2004 u can create a WinPE from that. Afterwards, u have an option for updating the WinPE version from within the SMS interface... thats about it! Specify what u r wondering about and maby I can be more specific as well.. stay cool...

u can use netsh to do the trick.... and vbscripting (WMI). For netsh it is the interface context u have to use; netsh interface ip add address <> netsh interface ip add dns <>