valter

Your computer is either member of a workgroup or a domain, and you can logon to either local computer or domain (if a computer is a member of a domain) However there is not real logon onto workgroup anyway ... workgroup is a membership open to any user, while domain is controlled environment

wanna run a server as workstation?

I think by default when computer is a mamber of an AD user can't save any file in location other than My Documents, that means that they can't save any file for example on root of the C drive or make folder Files on C drive (unless they're local admins what is very bad idea). However, you can redirect My Documents location using GPO in AD so that My Documents points to for example their home folder on the server. I've made all my computers (150+) with double partitions (C & D) so My Documents is redirected to D drive, and they can store as much as they want, and of course the most important, they can't mess with system files on C drive ...

Thats mostly just for profiles because users are known to store GBs in their home folders, so idea of having storage folder as My Documents inside profile folder in corporate environment is not so smart thing

Well I have now I believe a last question. In the option to add user is there any way of setting password not to expire? Thanks

Excellent ... works @ T-13, T-12 and T-9 .... thanks m8

Nope it ain't

I was wondering if it is possible to automate repartition of an hard drive. Lets say I have a 120 GB hard drive, and want my C drive to be 80, and D to be 40 GB ... is there anyway winnt.sif or any other file could automate this?

Thanks man for fast reply ... I'll give it a try tomorrow

So the line should look like this? <item display='Microsoft Windows Media Player 9' image="%SOURCEPATH%\PostInstall\images\"> <execute display='Installing Microsoft Windows Media Player 9...' program='%SYSTEMDRIVE%\Install\WMP9\mpsetupXP.exe' arguments='/Q:A /R:N /C:"setup_wm.exe /DisallowSystemRestore /Q:A /R:N"' /> </item> Sorry if I'm asking 2 much, just want to be sure what I do

I've made it @ T-9 ... there is just on issue ... when MS Windows Media Player starts with installation, I get warning that my System Restore is either turned off or on, and that I wount be able to uninstall it later .. I would like to silently click OK .. is there any switch for that? Here is my string for media player <item display='Microsoft Windows Media Player 9' image="%SOURCEPATH%\PostInstall\images\"> <execute display='Installing Microsoft Windows Media Player 9...' program='%SYSTEMDRIVE%\Install\WMP9\mpsetupXP.exe' arguments='/Q:A /R:N' /> </item>

Probably there is, but trust me it would be a huge headache ...

Hey guys now everything works just fine ... and just FYI password string works fine as well ... now I have only one question left ... XPlode is called from winnt.sif (as I was instructed in the 2nd post) [GuiRunOnce] "%systemdrive%\install\xplode\XPlode.exe /log:#SYSTEMDRIVE#\xplode.log" and this executes XPlode after Windows is installed and computer is once restarted ... is there any way of running this during Windows Installation? If there is, can someone please instruct me what command should be used, and where that command should be placed? Thanks

For some reason it will ... I've spent 2 days creating unattended Win CD, and couldn't find any way around this problem. Yesterday I've started with XPlode project, and that onw works just fine ... since deletes $winnt$.inf after installation ... then you can run Sysprep ... make sure your Sysprep is located on the root of your %systemdrive% as if placed on other locations your Sysprep.inf (answer file) for Sysprep will not work. Once Sysprep is done, it will remove itself and corresponding folder from the root of %systemdrive% ... You should use Sysprep ONLY if you plan to create an image of that computer, otherwise you don't need it ..

yes sure, it's just if he plans to do some more cleanup with accounts, shortcuts and .... otherwise, all of applications, hotfixes, cleanup ... could be placed in a single file ...

Sure it is, just copy this into cleanup.cmd @ECHO OFF RD /S /Q %systemdrive%\Drivers RD /S /Q %systemdrive%\Install Exit then you can move the last line from your I believe it is hotfixes.cmd, place it in cleanup.cmd and call cleanup.cmd from hotfixes.cmd or from winnt.sif Make sure you test it first ... just make those 2 folders on your C drive, place some dummy files inside, and run the cleanup.cmd before adding restart line.

Yes you're right, there is few double tags, probably because I was thinking in HTML I'll give it a try tomorrow again Excellent way of testing the string (IE), didn't even think about that ... Thanks m8

You can place your sysprep folder under $OEM$\$1\Install, and it will be copied over to %SYSTEMDRIVE% ... once there, you can call a XCOPY function through the cmd script and copy it where you want ... Sysprep doesn't run itself ... but note if you do run Sysprep, all applications called from cmdlines.txt and RunOnceEx.cmd will be runned again once you restart computer after sysprep ...

I think your workstation for some reason have difficulties communicating with domain controller (PDC emulator) ... if you exclude join to the domain part from your winnt.sif and later join ws manually to the domain, would you still have same problem? This usually appears when ws can't locate pdc emulator ... Do you find any events in evenit log on ws or server?

And here is a log file ... XPlode.log

Well as I expected, it didn't go through ... here is my xplode.xml and log file .... can someone please tell me where is the error in the syntax? XPlode.xml

how about you boot into safe mode, and check Event Log for some clues .....

Hey hevnbnd, thanks man, I'm making a test run on VM Ware right now, let see how will it end up

Hey hevnbnd, thanks for fast reply ... I was looking into your code and here are some I believe simple questions ... 1. In the add user string <adduser>Adding user #1#</adduser> <addusertogroup>Adding user #1# to group #2#</addusertogroup> <addgroup>Adding group #1#</addgroup> is the user name to be added between # or it shluld be added somwhere else? Same for user group. How about password? 2. Can these strings be safely removed? Or is it just enough if they're left empty? <copy>Copying #1# (#2#/#3# - #4#)</copy> <move>Moving #1# (#2#/#3# - #4#)</move> <delete>Deleting #1# (#3#)</delete> <shortcut>Adding shortcut: #1#</shortcut> 3. For installing hotfixes (like Q's ... and KB's) can I use same switches as in batch files? 4. If I want to copy i386 folder from CD as well as $OEM$ sould I use this string? <copy source='%SOURCEPATH%\i386\*.*' target='%SYSTEMDRIVE%\Windows\Options\i386' /> <copy source='%SYSTEMDRIVE%\Install\*.*' target='%SYSTEMDRIVE%\Windows\Options\Install' /> 5. If I run Sysprep (Mini Setup mode) will all extra post-installation procedures be intiated again, onace Windows is restarted? I hope I don't ask too much

I have I believe a small problem. I've made Unattended Windows Installation CD and everything works just fine. All files called from RunOnceEx.cmd are installed, but the problem appears once I run Sysprep. For some reason RunOnceEx.cmd is again imported into Registry. So I've made a small script to delete whole key HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurentVersion\RunOnceEx, but after sysprep ir sun (MiniSetup mode) RunOnceEx is imported into Registry again. I was looking for cmdlines.txt that calls RunOnceEx.cmd, but cmdlines.txt is not to be found on the system. Can anyone please help me solve this issue? Thanks in advance