MasterControl

just making sure you've done this...before putting the CD in your computer, make sure you boot, and while it is booting press delete, and in the BIOS settings, make sure your boot order is: 1. CD Drive; 2. Floppy; 3. HDD

Look at the order of your dhcp command, and compare it to the article i posted...Might not make a difference, but i would put them in order as specified.

Here's a little reference...Compare to yours [Networking] This section contains no entries. However, to configure network protocols during an unattended setup, you must include the [Networking] section name in your answer file. In addition, you must include additional sections that describe your network adapters, protocols to be installed, and static IP address information. To adhere to Server Clusters Best Practices, you must follow the following guidelines when configuring networking: Use at least two interconnects. Although a server cluster can function with only one interconnect, at least two interconnects are necessary to eliminate a single point of failure and are required for the verification of original equipment manufacturer (OEM) clusters. Reserve one network exclusively for internal node-to-node communication (the private network). Do not use teaming network adapters on the private networks. Use static IP addresses for each network adapter on each node. For a complete list of instructions for Networking Best Practices, please refer to Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Server Online Help/Availability and Scalability/Cluster Servers. Use the following entries in unattend.txt to implement the Networking Best Practices recommendations: [NetAdapters] ;list your network adapters here Adapter01 = params.Adapter01 Adapter02 = params.Adapter02 Next, you need to uniquely identify each network adepter. You can either use the INFID entry where you need to specify the Plug and Play IDs of your network adapters, or the NetCardAddress entry to specify MAC addresses. You need to run a special tool called pnpids.exe from Windows Server 2003 Resource Kit to retrieve the PnP IDs for your network cards. For computers with multiple adapters of the same type (that is, the Plug and Play ID for each is the same), you must specify the NetCardAddress or PCI location information. If you do not specify the NetCardAddress or PCI location, only the first adapter enumerated/detected that matches the PnP ID receives the answer file entries. If you specify the NetCardAddress or PCI location, Setup does not use the INFID entry because it is the least specific entry. Therefore, we recommend that you simply identify your network cards by their MAC addresses as follows: [params.Adapter01] NetCardAddress = 0x0002A5D0510F [params.Adapter02] NetCardAddress = 0x000476D5F57D ;Install Client for MS Networks [NetClients] MS_MSClient = params.MS_MSClient [params.MS_MSClient] ;Specify which network protocols to install [NetProtocols] MS_TCPIP = params.MS_TCPIP ;TCP/IP properties [params.MS_TCPIP] AdapterSections = params.MS_TCPIP.Adapter01, params.MS_TCPIP.Adapter02 Now we need to configure both network cards with static IP address information. Following Cluster Networking Best Practices recommendations, for private networks, we need to define the TCP/IP properties for static IP addresses by specifying a class A, B, or C private address and a subnet mask. For a public cluster network, we need to specify a static IP address, subnet mask, default gateway, DNS and WINS entries. ;Adapter01 is used for intra-cluster communication. [params.MS_TCPIP.Adapter01] DHCP = No IPAddress = 172.24.23.91 SpecificTo = Adapter01 SubnetMask = 255.255.0.0 WINS = No ;Adapter02 represents a public network [params.MS_TCPIP.Adapter02] DefaultGateway = 157.6.8.1 DHCP = No IPAddress = 157.5.4.1 SpecificTo = Adapter02 SubnetMask = 255.255.252.0 DNSServerSearchOrder = 157.5.0.1,157.6.0.2 WINS = Yes WINSServerList = 157.5.0.1,157.5.1.2

ok, I dled the OPK, everything is working fine. When I dled the first DirectX, it's size was under 1MB. So, I went back to the unattend guide and tried dling it several times. (I'm on a cable line) Anyway, it stops dling after the first 2 seconds, about 283KB, and the .rar file icon is on the desktop, but it was not all of it. I just tried to test it again here at work on a different computer (Fiber Line) and it does the same way. So, all in all, it took me a few tries, 3 to be exact, to dl from the link provided in the unattend guide. Total size was around 12MB. No problem with it. It's working great!!! Theory Post: Just tried again from work computer, seems to be going to correct file. Must be when you try from a new computer, it will take a couple of tries, and then from then on it will dl the correct .rar Q: What do you call four Blondes in a Volkswagon? A: Far-from-thinkin

Awesome. Many thanks Alanoll. What do you call an all-blond skydiving team? A new version of the Lawn Darts game.

I have downloaded DirectX 9.0b and extracted the DX9NTopk.exe. I placed DX9NTopk.exe into my svcpack.inf and i put the executable in the SVCPACK folder. Now, everything works, which is great, but during the unattend install its cueing me to accept the user agreement, next, finish. I want to make this unattended if possible. Thanks,

Gottcha! What's the advantage of being married to a blond? You can park in handicapped zones.

ok. I found something that works. I'm running W2K as host, I hit Control/ALT/DEL on the host computer while pcvm program is up, click "Task Manager", go to the processes tab, find the process "PC Virtual Trial" (Thats what the process is called for the version im running), Right click this process, choose "Set Priority", its usually set to normal, set it to "high" or "realtime". this speeds it up dramatically. Once you close the pcvm program and open it back up the priority will automatically start back as normal. you can quickly change as needed. small price to pay for speed.

Many thanks homiebrah!!! I understand a little better now. Q: Why did the blonde have tire tread marks on her back? A: From crawling across the street when the sign said "DON'T WALK".

When using nero. choose "Disc image or saved project", next on the open dialog box, change the file open type to "Image Files" not "All nero compilations and images", then locate your file and burn, it doesnt ask me for anything else. Let me know if this doesnt work and i will think some more. You might be past this point

What is dahotfix.exe? do i need to dl it or is it created automatically? @echo off ECHO.ECHO Installing Q832483 Buffer overrun in an MDAC function could allow code executionstart /wait %systemdrive%\install\hotfixes\ENG_Q832483_MDAC_X86.EXE /C:"dahotfix.exe /q /n" /qEXIT

cslee. correct. the code i posted will format the drive, partition it, it will choose ntfs, and it will begin installation all automatically. Q: What does a blond and a beer bottle have in common? A: They're both empty from the neck up.

SVCPACK.SIF [setupData]CatalogSubDir="i386\svcpack" [ProductCatalogsToInstall]sp1.cat [setupHotfixesToRun]JS56NEN.EXE /Q:A /R:NMDAC.CMDQ327979.EXE /q /n /zQ328213.EXE /q /n /zThen the MDAC.CMD runs @echo off ECHO.ECHO Installing Q832483 Buffer overrun in an MDAC function could allow code executionstart /wait i386\SVCPACK\ENG_Q832483_MDAC_X86.EXE /C:"dahotfix.exe /q /n" /qEXITi have it looking towards the i386\svcpack folder. Did i type it in right??? Will it work like that??? or should i have it looking towards %systemdrive%\install\hotfixes. I was trying to replace that with this but i think %systemdrive%\install\hotfixes will work better and I would just place the fix in the hotfixes folder. Q: Why did the blonde scale the chain-link fence? A: To see what was on the other side.

ya! many thanks AaronXP

nevermind, i went back to the guide and found it.

This does not work, tried it and setup hung at T-13. Does anbody wanna help me?

Heres part of mine, hope it helps. You probably need it to fdisk before the setup starts. ;SetupMgrTag[Data] MsDosInitiated="0" UnattendedInstall="Yes" [unattended] Repartition=Yes UnattendMode=FullUnattended OemSkipEula=Yes OemPreinstall=Yes UnattendSwitch="Yes" WaitForReboot="No" TargetPath=\WINDOWS [GuiUnattended] AdminPassword=* EncryptedAdminPassword=NO OEMSkipRegional=1 TimeZone=85 OemSkipWelcome=1

did you want it to automatically format the hdd, partition, choose NTFS, and then install?

the post here was not the ans.

[Commands]"rundll32 setupapi,InstallHinfSection DefaultInstall 128 .\DELL.INF""cmd /c start /min cmd /c .\PCHealth.bat""cmd /c start /min cmd /c .\OEMLink.bat"

I have the same problem. My unattend takes 45mins through PCVM, but only takes 34mins on another computer. Do you have any instant messengers running? If so, you may have to stop them, as well as P2P programs.

This is my SVCPACK.SIF I added hotfixes and need to know if I am going in the right direction. Did I add them in the right place? I put the .exe hotfixes in the i386/svcpack directory. [Version] Signature="$Windows NT$" BuildNumber=2600 MajorVersion=5 MinorVersion=1 [setupData] CatalogSubDir="i386\svcpack" [ProductCatalogsToInstall] sp1.cat [setupHotfixesToRun] Q816981.EXE /q /n /z Q811789.EXE /q /n /z Q815485.EXE /q /n /z Q816982.EXE /q /n /z Q329909.EXE /q /n /z Q329048.EXE /q /n /z Q816979.EXE /q /n /z Q327979.EXE /q /n /z Q331953.EXE /q /n /z Q328213.EXE /q /n /z Q813862.EXE /q /n /z KB823182.EXE /Q /N /Z KB824105.EXE /Q /N /Z KB824141.EXE /Q /N /Z KB825119.EXE /Q /N /Z KB826939.EXE /Q /N /Z KB828035.EXE /Q /N /Z KB828741.EXE /Q /N /Z KB835732.EXE /Q /N /Z KB837001.EXE /Q /N /Z Just wanted to post for my first time and check this out before running in VM. Many thanks to all that post and to all that answer. With your help I created my first basic unattend install within 4 days. peace