Chireven

I wanted to thank you for this post. It actually led me to the source of my problem. I was trying to attach an unattend.xml to a WIM, but a previous administrator had attached it at a server level (I didn't know about this option). It was inserting invalid commands into my deployment, thus causing problems. The deployvista.com link helped me find that option.

I've got a WDS server. I'm pushing Win2k8 with it. Where do I drop the unattend.xml file in the WIM? Are there any other filenames that it could be called? I'm asking because my current WIM deployment fails with an error regarding the disk partitioning section of the unattend file. However, I haven't specified any settings. I'm wondering if someone else has modified the disk and has placed an unattend file on the disk. I'm still new with 2k8 and I'm having a hard time transitioning from 2k3 (in regards to automatically deploying). In 2k3 terms, I'd look for something like the winnt.sif file that might be stopping the install from working correctly. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Even a link to a walkthrough of setting up an image from scratch would be helpful! Thanks

Greetings: I have a question that I'm hoping to find some answers on. It might seem a bit strange, but I hope you all bear with me. On an Active Directory domain (2003), what are the problems that could occur if Reverse DNS was not functioning. To further the question, consider: Domain Controler resolves "MyWorkstation" to an improper IP address. A reverse lookup of the IP address resolves it to an entirely different hostname. What are the possible problems that "MyWorkstation" would have while accessing domain resources where the Domain Controller itself can not resolve it's hostname? I welcome any information or external links. I've done googling, but it's much more difficult to search for the problem when you don't know what it is! Thank you in Advance.

My build is done like this: I prepare a WinXP source directory using Nlite. I *ONLY* use NLite to slipstream all the hotfixes and patches that I need. I don't modify anything else!! I boot Windows PE and execute a series of scripts that map a network drive and move the i386 directory local. It then kicks off a fully unattended install. When I come back, I have a Windows XP workstation waiting for me to log into the domain. Scenario: The machine is built witha USB keyboard and USB mouse. I move the machine from my workbench to my desk, where I have PS2 keyboard and mouse, the keyboard and mouse do not work. If I plug in a USB keyboard and log in, I can walk through the driver install for the PS2 keyboard and Mouse, reboot and remove the USB keyboard, then everything works fine. I get the same results if I build the machine with PS2 and move it to a workstation with USB. Is this typical behavior? I don't recall this happening before, but I can't be for sure that I've ever really paid attention. I understand the logic for it happening... Thanks for any input. I'm not blaming Nlite or WinPE for this (if it is, in fact, a problem!), I'm just trying to provide as much information as possible! Thanks, -joe

Greetings, everyone. I've been lurking around here for the longest time, and I figured I'd stop by and introduce myself. I'm an IT junkie that works for a moderate sized IT department. I've been here about two years now, and I love it. Previously, I was a desktop engineer/support tech for a large financial company for about 8 years. To date myself, I remember performing Netware 3 to Netware 4 conversions, both client and server side. I remember dialing up local BBS systems on my commodore 64 with my 300 baud modem (never had the acoustic coupler, thank god!). I fondly remember my late nights typing in machine language from Compute! while munching chips (what a reliefe when they started publishing that check digit so you knew where you errors were on the line you just typed!). I'm a huge star wars fan. After having episode 1 released on my birthday, I was a bit depressed, but I think Lucas made it up to me by releasing Episode 3 on my birthday again! I also have a passion for Dark Age of Camelot, which is where my username here comes from. I've been married for 3 years now, no kids, but a we have a dog. We're remodeling the house and will probably move in the next few years. funfunfun Well, thats me in a nutshell. I just wanted to say thank you to all the great people who've (unknowingly) helped me through many problems (search for the win!). You guys really know your stuff, and I hope that I'll be able to share my experience with you guys too, but someone always beats me to the answers I know! Thanks again! Joe from GR, Michigan

If, after making sure your PC is set to boot from CD ROM, your disc still doesn't work, I would recommend starting the tutorial over, as you might have missed a step or two.

I would definatly look at heat. If your power supply has a "fan only" connectory, make sure it's not bad. Basically, look to see if your fans are spinning. It's possible that it's your CPU fan, but I would expect it to be your graphics fan. It's got to be running a bit toasty with any overclock, so I would expect it to crash sooner if it were the CPU. Double then triple check the fan on your video card. Are you able to get 16/24bit color? or are you stuck in a really low color mode?

If you disabled ACPI in your BIOS before you installed WindowsXP, this can cause the 'problem' you are describing. Unfortunately, I don't believe you can just turn it on and have it work. This is such a major change to the operating system that you need to reinstall WinXP. Someone else can correct me if I'm wrong, but the last I knew, was the case. ACPI is the interface that lets your computer regulate power. It stands for Advanced Configuration and Power Interface. If one of the options above don't work, I would look at your BIOS setting like I suggested. If the option in the BIOS is not enabled, WindowsXP will not be able to control the power and tell your computer to shutoff.

Sysprep works great. I believe this is the link you're looking for to download it... http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...&displaylang=en

I'm pretty sure it's halting, but I didn't let it sit long. I don't see any hard drive activity, and since both source media and destination are on the local C: drive, I'd expect to see quite a bit of it. I will run through another install and let it sit for 10-15 minutes and see if it continues on. If it does, I'm not going to worry about it. If it doesn't, then I'm going to have people screaming at me! lol Thanks for the input... I'll post an update when I get a chance. It could be a while, because I don't have any D400's left (had to deploy that one to a user!). Thanks! -joe

I have a simple unattended install. The HD is formated and the i386 directory is copied down to the C: (C:\i386). In the Unattend.txt, I specify the OEM Driver path to look in C:\Drivers\Auido;C:\Drivers\Video;C:\Drivers\Modems;C:\Driver\Network;C:\Drivers\Chipset This way, I use it to install to multiple workstation types, I just have to extract the drivers to the proper location before I run the setup. Works great! But I recently received a Dell D400 laptop and tried this method. Everything works fine, but I have one problem. While it is installing drivers, it prompts me for the location of drivers for new hardware. Turns out that this hardware is the display panel. There are no special drivers; it use the standard plug and play driver. If I walk through the new hardware wizard, it picks up and continues unattended. This is the only model I've seen this happen on. My goal is a totally unattended install. Anyone know why it stops and asks me for driver locations? Better yet -- any input on how to fix it? I've looked for monitor drivers on dells site and they don't offer any additional monitors. Just seems weird to me that ever since I added the video drivers to the unattend, this has been happening. Any input is appraciated! Thanks for all your responces, and all the hard work you guys put into this forum. Much appreciated! -joe