solar

Hi there.. well thanks for input. yes coffeefiend.. I am aware of all those things The project is 'fun' so I don't mind. You forget however, the bunch of people who have run out of warranty with their manufacturers.. many laptop users which are 'noobs' if I may say so . Also, some of them have screwed up the recovery system etc. This system allows for a total customised experience with all recovery, recovery partitions and boot setup, etc. Windows Backup works.. sure.. but for an end user (noobie) he will store it somewhere o the disks, without the OEM like recoveyr partition storing it in the way they feel safer about. Which this program will do. To other replier.. I do not need any batch to exe converter thank you, and neither to hack .net onto it... I will write native implementations onfor the winpe part. Ye I did ask about .NET but realized it was a dead end in terms of commercial path.

Hi there. I wish to port a win32 application or so to run in wimpe. It is a gui program. It does basically what a bat file and some vbs scripts can do , add .hta and you would have an open source alternative. However, I wish to create a commercial software solution and I am wondering which native APIs I would need, or which code is best to use. For now, I was trying out c++ , win32 applications and/or .NET dependent win32 forms. Can I include .net on my test wimpe to run my program? Is Delphi the way to go? Any input would be nice... I originally planned to release the scripts freely available to thepublic, as it would help countless novices, (re-)creating their recovery partitions, with customised images and fully rebuilt boot manager . push a button and bam, (depending on size of image) anything from 5 mins to 45 mins will have the computer restored, fully integrated drivers, updates, programs, cusomtisations, the lot. Basically a home 'OEM' recovery solution maker. I would appreciate any helpful input on which libraries/sdk's , api's , prog language would be best for this scenario. (again, no scripting solutions are wished for , even if it is a lot easier, as I decided to not go public with source. solar

Hi... May I just point out these programs are useful really ONLY for mass deplyment scenarios and NOT home user single computer deployments. That is, stripping an ISO is good (ok so a GUI for dism is useful). But integrating drivers/LPs all this... is for a home user 200 times easier and time saving just capturing a WIM

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library...upBasedRecovery that should help you mate... let me know how it goes.. I think you might be messing up the partition letters though. solar

since Im getting this same error and scenario I wish I knew if indeed it was the autounattend which was theproblem! net time, provide feedback iceangel? cheers. anyway, so I'll try running it wihtout messing with the uninstall then ;/

u know.. when a dev asks for alpha testers and u get problems... it is nice for him/her AND others encountering simmilar problems.. as to HOW you fixed eg. a/the reg problem... itmight give simple insight to the developer in terms of a tweak and/or documentation or others. yet people can go omg when will he have time to update... give somethign back.. cheers

Oh sorry Geek.. I didn't know the topic was incorrect :/

Hi there... I need to get something straight with the underlying security layers or permisisions of vista (ultimate). I have created a group SUPERUSER in which I have added my admin user account (NOTE, not administrator but another account with Administrative privileges, i.e. is part of group Administrators). I have only added this one account to the superuser, and NOT the administrator. Now... This is because I wish that the superuser has a folder lets say where not even the other administrators can access! Question is this: Should I add SYSTEM as well as SuperUser (both with full rights) and remove ALL OTHER GROUPS to this folder.. Or CAN I LEAVE OUT SYSTEM? If I leave out system, can the folder get unstable due to hmm attempts to defragment or other things. Also, if system is part of the groups which can have full rights.. Does that compromise security? i.e. Can a script or a cloaked accesser access then this folder through running as a SYSTEM process? Final question as well.. when creating the SuperUser group... should I add system to it? (As in, is SYSTEM , implicitly part of the adminstrator group or not?) Cheers... I really want to be the 'boss' of my system.. I allow other administrators on this system but to be honest.. Vista is so insecure.. I mean another administrator accounts just need to type net [user] PASSWORD or so and voila.. has changed the password and can access the account. I really think this is ridiculous.. although it is good of course when you wanna save your computer... However... I want one SUPERADMIN to be above all accounts, inncluding the internal administrator... As mentioned, can anyone give me advice on if SySTEM has to/doesn't have to have access to that folder(s) . PS. If I do this to a drive root... would it be crazy NOT to add SySTEM to it? (again with the same reasonings). PPS. Of course.. there is also a possibility or adding SYSTEM temporarily if I would wish it to defrag the drive/folder or other operations. I just need to know if it is stable in the course of time during 'normal' use. And FINALLY LOL (sorry), I would like to make a script which I could run on a folder or file or drive (a location) which automatically removes all user rights and adds only SuperUser with full rights. Alternatively add more usability like.. exporting current settings first.. so that it can be reversed by a simple argument. Any ideas on all this? Please... I really thought security by now should be able to become quite persistent in vista ultimate. waiting for useful ideas : ) (SO far, I only have provided help on these forums.. no one ever seems to bother replying to my issues lol ) solar

hi there... Got a quick Question. I wish to make a layout as such : I got C as OS drive, , D , E and F I wish to keep.. but want to have disk options so that C gets formatted and OS gets installed, others don't get touched. I have willwipedisk and installtoavailablepartition to FALSE. Q.. It will terminate if I choose a size AND extend for C. Ok, fair enough... What if I do not specify size, but just choose partition 1 on disk 0 to be formatted AND extended to true. WIll it fill up the newly formatted partition so that it remains same size as old one OR DOES IT actually extend to the whole harddisk , effectively WIPEDISK = TRUE? I ask because in documentation in sounds as if this is the case. Also, there is an option one can even add to oobepass , extendOSpartition.. again it seems natural it would just fill up the empty space.. so extend up to the start sector of parition 2 (D disk)... but still in documentation it seems a little unclear.. I am on x64 laptop with no virtualization so I can't use virtual boxes to test my uninstalls... so I just want ot make sure I dont lose my other partitions. Could someone be so kind to point out to me which is the case with these options. cheers a million

Doh.. ye I know.. but I had other questions more specific. Ok.. let's be more specific... If I run the autounattend.. do I have to specify going into sysprep /audit then to do my customisations... else if I do not... will it be too late after going into oobe state.. to call sysprep /audit? Again.. why? because I want to customise vista with apps , reg choices , AND copy them to the default user. resealing it afterwards with generalize I guess (however.. Q is if I do generalize... to get rid of unneeded files).. but then boot up again into the OS and populate it with a new user (me.. this is for my private laptop , to replace the GO*****amn filthy adware full OEM discs) and not to image onto other computers. If I do that, and personalize all settings like computer name , user, etc.. will the default user profile be updated, will I be able to do these things and then catch the image? When I would reinstall down the road... would the image then be all specific AND having the default user updated as customised? (plus I move users folder by the way). And to your reply.. my question was where and WHEN (or WHICH) of the autounattend(install) and/or unattend(sysprep) would I put the various parameters. :/ And lol @ Microsoft... How hard is it to realise it is better to use relative paths to moving such folders , than hardlinking them to partition letters. eg. instead of D:\Users... it should of been options like : Disk id | partition id | relative path (i.e. of the root so \users in this case) . As I suspected, even if my partitions on the disk are chronological.. when I specified D:\users... the id*** OS changed my 'F' drive into the D drive (partition 4) and wham, my users ended up there.. how useless and unpredictable coding. I must say however..since I am European , I am more impressed with microdollars now that they make more such programs readily available in Vista. It is a way of opening up more I guess lol (but of course making things a nightmare to use lol). It is just their way to make people spend more time on their product. It takes a good programmer like no time to always come up with better solutions to their releases sigh.

For more advanced cusotmizations... you can create a similar thing as toshiba offers from a clean install DVD yes... (she would need to get her key reactivated though to it I guess by calling microsoft.. don't know about this) but an OEM key will not* work just like that with a retail version. Anyway... If you really wanna make a home made customized installation the way the OEM's hand it over to you (but with YOUR programs, YOUR settings, YOUR partitions, YOUR custom backgrounds , etc etc) one can start learning WAIK (alternatively added with vLite, MDT, and knowledge about sysprep, imageX by reading). This however is a rather advanced tinkering method... not for noobies or semi noobies nor semi noobies who think they are technical. But it is a nice joyride.. but hey... it is for the interested and will take weeks I think if you are a perfectionist to get it really right to be honest.

Daywalker... I only tried briefly messing around with the updates etc.. but afai remember, if you got cab files... use EXPAND.exe (comes with vista) I think its expand or push hehe... to extract into a temp folder the .mui? files anyway the ones which are used for updates/install... so where ot put them? in a temp folder where you store the hotfixes you integrate. Also.. don't know if people have still issues from above.. but generally I think it might be a good idea to whack all the registry tweaks into one file eh. Either it will work or not. About autoupdate? Well... I just now wanted to integrate the windows update agent but it is not in the windows update catalog site (where you get the offline hotfixes one can use for integration). So , I don't know... I basically download all relevant hotfixes/updates etc. then let the update happen after install, bla bla bla.. and will make a fat image me thinks cos sysprep and the lot has driven me crazy as of late.

Hello there... Right... past 3 weeks have been a killer.. then again I feel like I have about hit every unlucky error possible. With x64 on a laptop with no hardware virtualization support, this has been one hell of a mick of a ride. But anyway.. I have finally had progress , finding the most innocent commands and services to start and restart , etc to solve soem problems. Right. I use vLite to strip my vista ultimate x64 and remove some components I do not like. (I know do NOTHING of application addition, driver injections or hotfixes inclusion anywhere but MDT or maybe I will go to WAIK again if I sort out things). I create my image and load it up in WAIK and create the autounattend.xml. Nice.. I install vista.. try out all the stuff with WAIK over time, sysprep fails... FATALLY.. every timeeeee. (just found a fix today , simply had to run two commands in cmd LOOOLOLOOOL, even if almmost no sites had it mentioned). For those who have this problem and almost giving up: search microsoft knowledge base (I lost the link) for sysprep error in vista. You have ot check a registry entry if it is set to 7. It was in my case. so in cmd (admin rights ) I did: msdtc -uninstall then msdtc -install (no success reports or anything) and sysprep fricking worked... IT HAS DRIVEN ME DOWN UMPTH number of different methods and I just wanna cry sometimes considering how much I have been banging my head over this :/ Right. Before sysprep was solved.. I tried MDT... great stuff.. only 8 MB extra and it is the best interface for deployment I have come across so far (in a non-server environment).... Now... MDT of course crashed , this time due to MMS service dying when I tried to edi tmy bootstrap.ini (this i havent solved yet but I think even if MDT is sooo nice, I will now that sysprep works.. run WAIK/ImageX). So my question is this: I want to do these things , NOT for massive deployment but purely as creating a customized , restorable image to my specific laptop. (Sure, I prolly should of gone for ghost and been done 3 weeks ago but hey.. microsoft just love making everything a bull). Ok so let me list the reasons for using the various things: vLite.. I get rid of things like natural language, search indexer, language pack support, speech (although I tried it out the other day.. kinda funky although dysfunctional in it's interpretation of my English.. like Manuel from Fawlty towers kinda ,) WAIK: to adjust autounattend during install first time around AND to MOVE USER FOLDERS (without p***in abt with unsupported registry tricks) AND wondering if I should use copyprofile true first time around before sysprep? i.e. I want to also create a customised default userprofile , AGAIN without p***in abt with registry hacks.. (And this is why I think I should use sysprep even if I am not deploying to more than one laptop. OK , THOUGHTS: when it comes to the sysprep , perfect for copyprofile BUT I do NOT want to lose my SID every time I would reinstall my OS with the image... hence.. I want to do the sysprep.. but then load the machine up again .. so it loads up... creates all the SID etc.. and HOPEFULLY now the default is customised yes? Also.. I wonder... if I NOW reboot into ppxe and capture the image.. will it be not generalized anymore.. so that whe I reinstall my os, I will always have the same SID (which I want) but also athe custom default user (which I also want)? So then comes Question 2. If I do it this way... I wonder... if I wish to actually retain specifics to my image.. (like computer name, key, users, etc, userinfo , etc) which file should I use and where to retain this? SHOULD I COPY autounattend and just add copyprofile=true (or can I just leave that in as true in autounattend as well?) and pass it to sysprep /unattend:unattend.xml or should this unattend.xml file have certain values only which will be parsed for sysprep (since it is generalizing?) Please... About every thing I try , things go wrong.. and I have 1 hour installations, after1 hour builds , then 3 hours reading for 3 weeks , this cycle repeating evry spare moment I got... I really would appreciate anyone who knows what I am looking for or missing and could give me some friendly and concise advice or pointers ot solve this issue. (PS. Am off to now that sysprep works.. run a different install AGAIN right now... to troubleshoot why my bootstrap.ini call fails on this build in MDT/MMS :/) Back in a few hours ;p Solara

Good question.. typically no one replies

ADD: I guess the solution seems to be 2 discs. A with fresh complete install + initial drivers + fixes + apps and D isc B -> OS install... .(on the predicament that repointing to D:\PROGS and E:\USERS does not overwrite the current residing folder system). So the solution I guess is that I have to set up a manual task schedule which backs up the registry (lets say daily) onto E or so... Then when I reinstall OS , I apply my latest reg backup which is no more outdated than by a day (of course if one is reinstalling there might be a reason for a crash in the reg but hey)... then run ccleaner + regclear pro for example and I should* be updated to my system I had just before install right? Would this solve a registry inconsistency? A problem with this is of course one never knows what one does down the road over the months with other reg tweaks I occasionally come over sigh but anyway.. please share some thoughts if you are experienced with this. PS. Does Office 2007 install easily with WAIK? And also another question.. installing non MS programs etc on the autounattend.. if installers require install parameters etc... will they all be repressed with the /quiet switch?? Thanks a lot!

Alright.. This is my first post and certainly I am sorry if I am on the wrong forum altogether (perhaps microsoft or?) Either case, I hope to pick up on a good technician who knows what I wish, what problems I might have and how to solve it. (this i wrote over at vistax64, ,definitely wrong forum .. no answers)! My problem(s) are these: I have a V64 ultimate Disk to install Vista Ultimate x64. I am on a HP laptop which I wish to reconfigure to a truly personal computer. Thus... I have one physical disk of 320 GB which I wish to partition to C, D, E and F. The relevant files and date on these partitions are to be: C: OS D: Programs (Yes, programfiles(x86) and programfiles) E: Profiles (aka Users) F: General Data storage. Why am i DOING this? A: Because I want to be able to reinstall later on C_OS without compromising current program structure and user structure/data! Conceived problems: - IF I reinstall OS , I need to have an unattend file which still points to users and progs on D and E.. Will it overwrite the old folders (emptying them? or just point to them but leave the data intact?) -registry inconsistency.. Surely the programs and many pointers will now be gone. (product licensing , folder pointers etc etc) I know from XP once I did this structure.. my programs on D still worked (many of them) although of course many auto associations etc were gone. Can soemone PLEASE give me useful advice on registry issues here A. Mainly because I wish to be able to integrate a simple recovery method. So I wish to remake my image so that if I put in my disc... C is formatted , installs OS (and retains the junctions which point to USERS and PROGRAMS to the other respective partitions). So.. some problems are these... If I choose wipedisk in WAIK , I will obviously lose my old data on the partitions.. so this is not an option... Hence, I have to set this to false... and then what? How to create the C, format it .. and make sure it still will understand that Users and programs are on D and E? (I know how to specify this in WAIK.. this was more a question regarding if I can do all in this post with ONE disc or TWO discs.. and even so, if it's possible given the problems I am raising and potentially others). I think I probably will need 2 discs? The original one to perhaps Create the partitions C, D, E, etc. and use an attended disc "1" to set up freshly created partitions (now wipedisk is ok)... But lets say in two months time I need to reinstall my OS... So then I take Disc "2" which I have modified in such a way that it formats C, installs OS (I guess I must be careful to never change the partition size of C eh?) , links USERS AND PROGRAMS to the existing USERS and PROGRAMS in D and E but does not wipe out any data (or overwrites the old users and programs with fresh folders!). Does this make any sense? I wonder how to set up disc 2 then? to 'understand' this layout. SO Disc 1 = complete reformat fresh install of WHOLE PHYSICAL DISK(with whichever drivers, programs I am adding) ... and Disc 2 = ONLY FORMATS THE OS PARTITION C but retains all other paritions and updates only the junctions which point to the other drives(but retains my good old programs and users)??? In both cases (discs) I would automatically create a same user USER1 with a password and so will that be a problem , etc etc... ANOTHER THING... I also add programs to be installed for first time install... (which leads me to believe to keep 2 discs).. firefox..foxit...regtweaker..ccleaner..nod32.. etc .. however if I later on some months down the road use disc 2 then to reinstall C.. I do not want these programs to reinstall right? :/ So I should only include programs on disc1? sigh. And to add a bit about vlite (v 1.2): ******************************* Started off with vlite to remove compns and added some drivers etc. But when I go to ISO .. regardless if I choose burn image or create image , device doesnt show up etc etc.. it just rebuilds the image back itno the source folder (so my unpacked dvd at around 3 gb becomes 1.7 gb). I also see the unattended.xml is updated from vlite in that folder so it must be there it is saved.. but why does this happen? why can I not choose where to save image or indeed save it as image (the DVD folder remains an unpacked image as such.. well I guess install.wim is the rebuilt image). Why I am asking and a bit sceptical is because in vlite I changed the label to Windows Vista Tiger or something , just so I could trace it.. but I do not see this label anywhere. Is it because it will show up in WAIK when I load the rebuilt install.wim? Ok, sorry for long post and perhaps messy... but I will happily answer more if someone is willing to try and see where I wish to go with this build. If this post is incomplete for now or inaccurate or inadequate , please feel free to ask me specific questions so I can further answer properly what I have in mind. If anyone sees problems or solutions with this , please let me know!!! The OS is 64 bit on 64 bit laptop and thats about it.