Br4tt3

A good start would be to go to line 87, char 1 in the litetouch.vbs script and see what it point at. Prolly the easiest way of moving forward....

Hi again, So to sum things up: As I understand it, ur problem is that u have to use specific unattend files (indicating diffrent sizes of the drives) for diffrent images? I would imagine that the problem is that u are using a sector based imaging application (like ghost..) and NOT the imagex.exe cli for .wim based images? Remember that .wim is file based images and not sector based, meaning, the size of the drives of the gold machine is not replicated within the image! I might have misunderstod u but for more info on this: 1. Download the WAIK - free of charge for Vista and WinPE 2.0 and open the .chm files that comes with it. 2. Search for "DiskConfiguration" and it will show u: <DiskConfiguration> <WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI> <Disk> <DiskID>0</DiskID> <WillWipeDisk>true</WillWipeDisk> <CreatePartitions> <CreatePartition> <!-- Create primary partition, 20 GB --> <Order>1</Order> <Type>Primary</Type> <Size>20000</Size> </CreatePartition> <!-- Create extended partition and fill the rest of the hard disk --> <CreatePartition> <Order>2</Order> <Type>Extended</Type> <Extend>true</Extend> </CreatePartition> <!-- Create logical partition within the extended partition, 6 GB --> <CreatePartition> <Order>3</Order> <Type>Logical</Type> <Size>6000</Size> </CreatePartition> </CreatePartitions> </Disk> </DiskConfiguration> 3. For extensive help on the diskpart cli, type diskpart and hit search. I highly recommend that u use file based imaging instead of sector based if that is what u are doing... it is more smooth and still, if u are using imagex.exe, it is free of charge... I didnt understand where the following: "...way it described took over 2 hours to complete and distribute 1 image with its "auto" partition" In case it took 2 hours to perform the diskpart script for example, it would be a matter of a bad disk controller driver or even a faulty disk controller.... For some of our development workstations, we use WMI to query for the machine model type, and depending on the result, we present a specific answer file for that installation. U can for example use BDD to help u acchieve this...

Hi dude, I am having a BDD 2007 (3.0) LTI environment up and running just smoothly, exactly where do u get the error and what does the error state? In what phase (seen from the BDD Workbench) does the deployment come to a halt? If u are talking about adding the source files to the BDD wizard (New OS), then u just point them to the place u store them, example the CD/DVD drive letter if u inserted a CD/DVD containing the operating system that u wish to deploy. Normally, the logic within the wizards dont look for a specific file ending, rather apperence of certain files, like root files within the CD/DVD. Meaning, it will not do, just to copy the i386 as it looks for other files as well. I suggest to pop a CD/DVD in before pointing the wiz to that CD/DVD player. /ThaSausageEater

Hi, And the answer is WinPE 2.0 and diskpart.exe scripts..... u can add tons of logic, or create a nice .hta GUI and use .vbs for the logic behind it. Anyway, start of with WinPE instead of floppies, .vbs instead of batch and it will solve it for u. This forum contains loads and loads of examples when using diskpart /s scripts..... search and u will find! Good luck to u...

Hi, I would search for the LTISysprep.vbs(wsf) - dont remember if it is .vbs or .wsf - on the BDD server and the backtrack the scripts. Eventually, u will see that the scripts copies the sysprep.inf from the server to a catalouge on the build client. The target directory must be c:\sysprep\(sysprep.inf) on the client or it will fail..... u can manually add the [GuiRunOnce] section to the sysprep.inf file in case it is missing it.... U can also enable debug logging when performing the build of the image from BDD. Then, u can read the logs that was created on the client, and check for issues.... Where does sysprep.inf file that u can see from the Deployment Workbench end up on the client, and where is it stored on the server? Good luck to ya...

Hi, The OEM approach of Vista is somewhat diffrent then XP/2003. Covering the whole thing seems huge... I recommend that you download the WAIK from MS which is free of charge. The WAIK (Windows Automated Installation Kit) cotains all the relevant .chm (help files) for automatting the installation of Vista. It also contains the WSIM (Windows System Image Manager) which is the application that will build and let you configure the .xml file that is the unattend file(s) for your Vista installation. This application also will allow you to configure the usage of $OEM$ folders, or you can use the Vista recommended approach of "DataImages"..... Finally WAIK also contains the WinPE 2.0, free of charge.....

Hi, I am running a .hta within the WinPE 2.0 x64 image with no problems.... however, I am using the PE image that came with the BDD, when I tried to add the .hta support to a "clean" WinPE 2.0 image, the .hta would work, but not all .html tags worked as expected. Running the same .hta from within the BDD configured image was no problem though.... the actual adding ofg the .hta support was not a problem, by reading the log files. The only known issue that I know of in terms of adding support to a WinPE 2.0 image is the WinRE functionality...

Using WinPE 2005 (based on Win2003) and adding support for mass storage devices (SATA/RAID/SCSI) spells TXTSETUP.SIF. There is a ton of info on how to edit the TXTSETUP.SIF file, and how to extract the relevant information from the OEM suppliers .inf files on the msfn.org forum. Just search for TXTSETUP.SIF and u will be fine... It requires u to do alot of reading but it is worth it.... again, this is much easier to handle with WinPE 2.0 and Vista but that is another story!

Hi, Sorry, I dont have a straight answer for u but I remember that BDD 2.5 had some feature for detecting Tablet PC's... The BDD package is free of charge from the MS webb. Download it and read the .docs in there and it will maby show how they do it for ya! I dont know if they use WMI of if they base their decission on an array of models that are to be treated as Tablets...... Good luck to ya!

Hi, I am using bdehdcfg.exe from MS (that is able to shrink the c: and create a new partition) preparing the drive for BitLocker, however, I am getting some wiered issue: My approach is that we vb script the bdehdcfg.exe cli tool and then wrap it in an .msi, however; 1. If I run the .vbs and have the cli in place, the operation works nicely! 2. If I wrap the .vbs and the cli tool in the .msi, the .msi actually kicks of the scripts, repartitions it and formats the newly created drive. Finally, the script/tool also creates the required boot directory (boot files) for Vista on that new partition. Problem is, that when checking the partition it is not set to active. Setting the partition to active is not specified as a switch on the bdehdcfg.exe, the .exe is written to do that... It seems as if, the .exe/.msi file fails beacuse of: 1. Either the .msi kills some hidden/dettached child process from the bdehdcfg.exe utility 2. Some feature blocks the activation of the partition! Summary: 1. Command works 2. Script works 3. .msi module works partly / just dont know which process the .exe runs/executes? Anyone using bdehdcfg.exe know of this? Seen it? Driving me mad....

Hi, Are u using WinPE 2005? If possible move to WinPE 2.0 which contains much better support for adding drivers in my opinon! However, if not possible, then make sure that the .inf that u r trying to add using the drvinst.exe does not pop a error message. This normally happens when there is a .inf problem, maby the .inf points out a faulty .sys file (might be intended for w2k and so on) and that would stop the process for adding the driver to ur custom image. We are also using Dell computers (about 30 models including servers) but I didnt have any issues when I was running WinPE 2005 to do the work..... maby I can backtrack and see if we used that specific driver u r refering to! Another thing, does it work when u add the driver manually to the custom image? not using drvinst.exe? Which Dell model is causing the error for u? I suspect it is the Inspiron 6400? That is however one model that we are not supporting....

Just so that u know.... Easiest way of rebooting ur WinPE once ur .hta app is done, is to: 1. From ur startnet.cmd u add the: Start /Wait cmd.exe /c mshta.exe <full-path>\my-hta.hta 2. At the end of the .cmd, make sure u have a quit..... that will close the .cmd (which is the shell) one the .hta i done 3. Within ur .hta u can use the self.quit or windows.close to end the .hta once it has performed it's duties 4. Now, the .hta will close, the cmd will move down to perform it's next action, which will be a "quit", and there u go... Cheers...

Hi folks, Sorry for this very n00b question but I am about to slit my wrists open..... I installed my Vista x64 machine, joined it to the domain, made myself a local admin, go into the C:\Program Files(x86) folder, right-click, new folder option, and the folder creates with the default "New Folder" name. No probs, so far...... right click the newly created folder and choose to rename it into something more usefull, like "ThaFolder" and then Vista reverts back to the "New Folder" name again? I can reproduce it on all of my machines..... I dont see the logic in this? I have access to create and delete folders, but not to rename them? I mean, it's not like if I am trying to rename C:\Windows into something else... Checkign the ACL on the folders within C:\Program Files(x86) directory, I can see that built-in Admin does NOT have the delete permission on this folders, fine, that seems logical enough.... what I dont get is that since I am able to create folders, then I am the owner (creator) of the folder, deleting that very same folder would NOT pose a threat... Any1 know why it behaves this way or how to go around it or modify its behaviour?

Hi, Do anyone know if it works to add (not install) Vista x64 printer drivers to an existing Windows 2003 shared printer? one can specify to add additional operating systems on the shared printer on ur Windows 2003 server. One can check the checkbox, for additional operating systems (including x64 WinXP and Win2003) but even if I download a Win2003 x64 driver, extract it and then point the wizard towards that dir, it fails to add the additional driver for it? How are one supposed to migrate clients from x86 to x64 if we can add those drivers that the x64 clients requires to their print servers? Thanks!

Hi, I am not much of a networking guy but I am almost certain that u can solve it by the usage of "IP Helpers" in the switches/gate. These can be configured so that the forward certain requests (PXE) for example or specific IP address's are forwarded to another IP subnet/IP and then servuiced there. Again, this handled from the switch side........

Hi, This is what I recommend, for creating, copying files or folders over to the client then; 1. Do NOT use the x:\Distribution\$OEM$ folder - this folder is used to copy, create files or folders for ALL images/builds used within the same distribution point. 2. Use the <drive>:\Distribution\Control\<your_build>\$OEM$ (create it if it does not exist) and the create the "ordinary" $1, $$ and so on within this directory..... During the build process, the scripts will copy and integrate the files and folders when placed below this $OEM$directory..... and, read the documentation that comes with the BDD product, it will actually tell you how this is intended to work. Good luck to you.....

Q: Is it possible? A: YES All the info for creating a batch, or preferable a .vbs/.hta script that will do it for ya is present on this forum. He who searches, shall find it.... or whatever. In the startnet.cmd file for example, just start writing ur batch, as you want it to perform, or kick external batches, like a diskpart /s script.cmd for example. You have already written the batch (except for the diskpart script) that will do the install for you in the field below. www.google.com r0x

All our Windows 2003 Standard Edt SP1 servers with RIS installed are showing an error when updated to SP2. With pre-SP2 machines, RIS is a native Windows component (BINLSVC service), with SP2 RIS is replaced with WDS (WDSServer service). Once we upgrade a machine from running the SP1 level & BINLSVC Service to SP2, we expect that the BINLSVC service is replaced by the WDSServer service upon reboot/installation. We would also expect that the "new" service is set to automatically start once the machine boots, and that the old service is removed. When we perform this upgrade, the machine displays and error when it reboots from the SP2 install: "At least one driver fail to start during startup." Checking the Event Viewer, the following entry can be found in the System logg: Source: Service Control Manager Event ID: 7023 Type: Error "The Remote Installation service terminated with the following error: The specified procedure could not be found. For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp." Checking the service console, both the BINLSVC and the WDSServer is present at the same time. The BINLSVC is set to Automatic startup type, while the WDSServer is set to Manual startup. None of the services are running on the systems that we have tried this on so far, so once we migrate systems to SP2, we loose the PXE functionality. Totally removing the RIS/WDS components, rebooting the systems, then adding the WDS component from a SP2 level will not show the same issue, even if adding an image using risetup /add on the SP2 level system. However, this is not an acceptable solution for us. Anyone seen or know this one?

Thanks man.... I will take a look at it, looks helpful to me.....

Hi Mats! I assume u r talking about WinPE 2.0, is that correct? When checking out my own WinPE 2.0 image which is booted from a WDS box, the above mentioned reg entries cannot be found!! Then again, u r writing RIS server so I dont know if this applied to WDS/PE 2.0 as well.....

I suggest u download the free of charge WAIK tools from MS. Install them, once there, go to C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Docs\CHMs and open the WAIK.chm and search for "panther" and it will return the first entry: "Methods for running windows setup". The following can be found: Search Order Location Description Registry HKLM\System\Setup!UnattendFile Specifies a pointer in the registry to an answer file. The answer file is not required to be named Unattend.xml. %WINDIR%\panther\unattend The name of the answer file must be Unattend.xml or Autounattend.xml. %WINDIR%\panther Windows Setup caches answer files to this location. Important: Do not overwrite the answer files in these directories. Removable read/write media in order of drive letter, at the root of the drive. Removable read/write media in order of drive letter, at the root of the drive. The name of the answer file must be Unattend.xml or Autounattend.xml, and the answer file must be located at the root of the drive. Removable read-only media in order of drive letter, at the root of the drive. Removable read-only media in order of drive letter, at the root of the drive. The name of the answer file must be Unattend.xml or Autounattend.xml, and must be located at the root of the drive. windowsPE and offlineServicing passes: \sources directory in a Windows distribution All other passes: %WINDIR%\system32\sysprep In the windowsPE and offlineServicing passes, the name of the answer file must be Autounattend.xml. For all other configuration passes, the file name must be Unattend.xml. %SYSTEMDRIVE% The answer file name must be Unattend.xml or Autounattend.xml Greetings....

Please RTFM! Or u dont have to copy the .xml to the root of the CD/DVD .iso file, u could copy it to the root of any drive, as in floppy, root of C: and so on. However, there is an internal order on how it searches the drives and so on..... well, anyway, still it's a matter of RTFM. Or if u wanna add the .xml file to the .iso image before burning, then it's a matter on how the .iso editor that u are using is working.

And for u guys that want to stick to MS Virtual PC but are annoyed over the slow performance, when performing the intial disk installation, then; 1. Extract the driver files that comes within the Virtual Add-On tools 2. Integrate into your unattend installation (txtsetup.sif based) 3. Once in place, the slow performance issue wont be much of a problem when performing Virtual PC installations of XP/2003. Have a nice Walpurgis day....

Q1: Megasas.sys question, dunno, try..... However, I know it works with the percsas.sys part info. Q2: No, u dont have to incorporate info from NODRV.INF to the txtsetup.sif file. Atleast not when I did it. They mighthave changed it once the driver was updated, but I doubt it.

That's true, u only need one entry which u should find in the .inf file. Thanks for pointing that out! The only reason that I can think of why u need to reference it in the [sourceDiskFiles] entry, is because it is a new file, not a new version of a file that exists native to Windows 200x. Since it is a new file, reference it from this section as well, then for the full Windows install, u also need to do it in the dosnet.inf file.