midiboy

As an addendum: My root of the DVD contains all the necessary files I think and winnt.sif is in the i386 directory of course. (see picture)

Hi Nazgul, thanks for your reply. That is quite some editing one would have to repeat everything one updates the driverpacks (which should be quite often) I am currently trying to combine both XP folders again to make the DP installation easier but I have been running into problems there. unfortunately. Anyway, thanks very much for your help ! Alex

Hi guys, I hope you guys can help. I have made my own multibootDVD a long time ago, following the setup guide here. Everything was fine so far. Today I wanted to redo the DVD a little different from the guide above because I wanted to integrate Bashrat´s driverpack into one of the two Windows XP installations and the dual folder concept (Pro1 folder for XP bootfiles in root and \Setup\XP\Professional folder for the rest of the files) would make it necessary to manually alter Bashrat´s automatic driverpack installation. So I decided to combine the two folders again, by copying the content of the PRO1 folder over the Setup\XP\Professional\i386 folder, then moving the content of the Setup\XP\Professional directory including the i386 folder to the root of the DVD and then reediting the setupldr.bin, txtsetup.sif and PRO1.DAT files to point to the new locations again: setupldr.bin: I386 instead of PRO1 (4 instances) txtsetup.sif: SetupSourcePath: "\" instead of "Setup\XP\Professional\i386" PRO1.DAT: I386 instead of PRO1 (1 instance) If I then start the DVD, the setup will start correctly, present the F6 dialog, then the F2 dialog but then setup stops and tells me to insert the floppy disc named "windows xp professional Service Pack 2-CD" into drive A and press enter. Does anyone know where the problem might be ? Thanks for your help, Alex

Hi Bashrat, I am starting to integrate all your driver packs but I think your automated setup won´t work well for me because of my MultiBootDVD. I have created it using this MSFN Guide. I have read your comment on MultiBootDVD´s in the installation readme, however it does not seem to cover the problem. As you can see in the guide above, if I follow the guide I will end up with two folder for my XP installation, one folder is in the X:\Setup\XP\Professional folder ( that one contains the i386 folder ) I guess this is the folder where I should copy all my Driverpack files to. But then there is also this folder: X:\Pro1 This folder contains the Windows XP Boot Files, the winnt.sif, txtsetup.sif etc. Now, I only want to install the driverpack for this one Windows installation, not a second one. But the problem are those "seperated" folders for boot files and the rest of the Windows setup. Can you tell me what I should change in order to get your driverpacks (including massstore) working ? I am preferring method 1 currently (because I am able to use an older NVIDIA driver and a newer Intel inf (7.x) with it easily) Thanks for your help ! Bye, Alex

Hi faf4life, I understand. But this forces 8+3 Dos filenames, no ? How can I then make a multibootDVD containing Windows XP, ERD, Bart PE AND Knoppix if I use the j1 switch? All the long filenames in Windows would be destroyed, right ? Bye, Alex

Hi guys, unfortunately, I am not that lucky. I tried it Gozilla´s way. Knoppix starts properly but then I get this error message soon: Kernel Panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs on unkown block (1,3) Also, in Isobuster what part of the Knoppix 3.8.1 iso should I extract ? There is an "iso" part, a Joliet and a Rock Ridge part, all containing the same two boot and knoppix folders. Does it matter which one I use ? My cdimage command line is like this: start .\cdimage.exe -lAIW-DVD -b.\AIW-DVD\boot\loader.bin -h -n -o -m -d .\AIW-DVD .\AIW-DVD.iso I use that one for my multibootDVD with Windows XP and a few others successfully. Any ideas ? Thanks for your help ! Alex

Hi Benjamin, thanks, did not know about this variable ... but ... this variable is only available from within Wihu, right ? That probably won´t help me much if I am simply calling an external cmd file from Wihu where all the software installation commands are. Or do you know a way to "transfer" a variable from Wihu into a cmd file ? Thanks, Alex

Hi again, as an addon .... even though I may have acted like a newbie this time (by not trying to click into more areas of Wihu to stop the countdown) I may not be the only one doing this (if I can do it, I am sure others can too). So why not make Wihu stop the countdown no matter where I click in Wihu ? Bye, Alex

Hi ! Thanks for fixing this so quickly ! Very cool ! :-) Bye, Alex

Hi Benjamin, I just tested this again in more detail and I have to agree: the position of the switches do not matter. I know the reason for my troubles: Sometimes I only clicked on the Wihu top menu or in the right hand help pane or on the scrollbar. This does not stop the countdown. But clicking on one of the software entries or any of the buttons stops the countdown. SORRY ! This really was a stupid topic after all ;-) Bye, Alex

Hi Benjamin, I just found a work around: If I move the /AutoInstall switch to be the first switch, Wihu will correctly stop the countdown if I do something in Wihu: "%CDROM%\Setup\Wihu\wihu.exe /INI=%ini1% /AutoInstall=999 /beep=4 /NoCancel /NoRestartChange /SkipSettings /UseCurrent /SkipRestart" /f Does this mean that the location of the switches are in any way important to the operation of Wihu ? Bye, Alex

Hi Benjamin, I think I found a small bug with this new feature. Sorry ... It is kind of complicated to explain: I have set the shell folders to be like this in Wihu: [Environment] Personal=D:\%ThisUser% My Video=D:\%ThisUser%\Eigene Videos My Music=D:\%ThisUser%\Eigene Musik My Pictures=D:\%ThisUser%\Eigene Bilder Favorites=D:\%ThisUser%\Favoriten Desktop=D:\%ThisUser%\Desktop Now, if the drive D: is NOT formatted, Wihu will correctly present me with the "format/change path" dialog box. Wihu does this 6 times (because there are 6 folders above that point to D:) I did the following: The first time, Wihu asked me if it should format or change the path for the Desktop I decided not to format the drive but change the folder from Desktop=D:\%ThisUser%\Desktop to C:\Desktop The second time Wihu asked me to format or change the path for the next folder I decided to format the drive D. Of course Wihu did so. Now the problem appeared like this: Wihu created two Desktop folders: One at D:\%ThisUser%\Desktop AND one at C:\Desktop. The folder at this location: D:\%ThisUser%\Desktop was also added to the registry as the Desktop folder: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders] "Desktop"="D:\\Alexander\\Desktop" However, all the lnk files from the "Default Desktop folder" in D:\Dokumente und Einstellungen\Default User\Desktop were copied to this folder: C:\Desktop instead. Do you see the problem ? Maybe it is just a small thing and you are able to fix this without spending too much time ... Thanks, Alex

Hi again, Benjamin ... I think I found a small bug ... I am now starting Wihu the first time using those switches: "%CDROM%\Setup\Wihu\wihu.exe /INI=%ini1% /beep=4 /NoCancel /NoRestartChange /SkipSettings /UseCurrent /AutoInstall=120 /SkipRestart" As far as I understand it, the /AutoInstall and the /beep switch will stop the countdown/beeping if the user interacts once with Wihu. This works fine normally but not in the above combination with the other switches. Instead, when using the above switches the countdown and the beeping continue even though I am actively working in Wihu. Could you maybe fix this soon ? Thanks, Alex

hehe, sorry, me again. It seems like Wihu will exit automatically anyway if /autoInstall is being used. This is good actually. Is there a way to influence the time it takes Wihu to exit after installation ? But this looks good anyway. Bye, Alex

Hi again, seems like the only thing missing to do what I want is some sort of switch that will tell Wihu to exit automatically after installation. Seems like there is no such switch yet. There is the /SkipRestart switch, the /Autoinstall switch and the /Autoexit Switch but the latter exits Wihu without installation. Something like a /Autoexit switch would be great that would work in combination with /SkipRestart and would simply cause Wihu to exit after installation is complete. Don´t know if this is easy to do with the current code ... Bye, Alex

Hi Benjamin, another topic today ... I was wondering ... since it is currently not possible to define which user installs a given software I came up with the idea to first call Wihu from runonceex using the /SkipSettings /UseCurrent switches to let it install all the software as an administrator. Then, afterwards, I would like to call Wihu again for the user installation (using the /SkipSoftware switch) However, there seems to be the problem, that Wihu does not exit automatically after Software installation is finished. Instead it waits for the user to acknowledge the installation. Also, it shows the reboot button which I don´t want a user to accidentally turn on. Now, what is the best way to solve that ? I want to call Wihu for the software installation part first. Then, after installation is finished, Wihu should exit automatically without rebooting and without requiring the user to press the OK button. Then, Wihu would be called again from runonceex simply for user creation. Is this currently possible ? If so, please tell me how. Thanks, Alex PS: You said there are too few newbie questions in here ... I hope I qualified for the newbie of the day title with this message

Benjamin (or others), I just used your latest version 2.1.18 for my new installation and since moving the Desktop to another location works correctly now I tried it and told Wihu to move the shell folder "Windows Desktop" to D:\Alexander\Desktop. Worked perfectly. However, I now have a problem with some of my unattended installations. Some installers add a Desktop icon to the User Desktop. In my installation script for those apps I usually have a line like this: that gets rid of the Desktop icon. Obviously, if the desktop is not at the the default location, the script fails and Wihu then shows an error message: Now, I know that there is a place in the registry where I can check for the location of the desktop. But the user Wihu uses to install the software is not logged on so a reg query will probably not get me the correct location of the desktop. Is there an (easy) way to check where the Desktop for the user that is installing the software is if the location was changed in Wihu ? Note that I am using cmd files to install the software and I am calling those cmd files from within Wihu .... I hope someone can help ! Thanks, Alex

Hi BEnjamin, thanks for adding this. I will try that soon. Will this alternative path be used for all the specified shell folders automatically ? If one has specified two or more shell folders, which one will be adapted if not all ? Thanks, Alex

Hi Maelstrom, Have a look at Benjamin´s Website. At the bottom you will find a donation section with his bank account details. I also did not fly to Bingen, Germany to have a few beer with him ( how about it, Benjamin? ) .... Bye, Alex

Hi ! First of all ... maybe Benjamin would be more inclined to continue development of Wihu if all of you guys actually using his tool on a regular basis would make a little donation. I still can´t believe that I am the only one who did that so far. I just feel that if I am relying on a tool that someone created using lots and lots of time and effort he should at least be able to get a few beer for free or go to the movies ... I am using Wihu more often than MS Office and there are more alternatives to Office than there are for Wihu so my decision on that one was clear from the beginning. Benjamin never asked for money but I am sure he would be a little bit more motivated if people would appreciate his work in a more material way so to say ... Well, first you have to make a decision for yourself I think. Your main argument for stopping development was lack of time because of your studies. If that is indeed the main reason behind your decision, nobody will be able to convince you otherwise. You would simply have to know if you can either continue your studies more slowly while continuing developing Wihu on the side or if you need to spend all your time on studying. If, on the other hand, your main reason for stopping Wihu was the lack of response and feedback from your userbase, THEN it might be a good idea to continue developing Wihu (even if that means less updates and slower response) because in my opinion, it IS the best tool for the job, even if the ini creation process is not the best yet. Maybe the ini creation tool could come from someone else ? Also ... I have no idea how much of a problem the status of your code is right now. You once said that it is impossible to manage by now and you need to start again. If that is indeed the case and progress is impossible with the current version you might consider working on 3.0 when you have free time. I am sure no one here will be angry if it takes a few months but it would be a pity if you stopped development completely just because you THINK no one uses Wihu anyway. Maybe the ini creation tool is indeed more important than Wihu 3.0 though to get more people to use it. Dann hast ja jetzt eh Zeit Ciao, Alex

LiquidSage: Thanks for posting but I don´t quite understand your answer. I am starting installation from CD using the Windows XP bootfiles. I am just trying to get Windows to recognize the i386 folder on my harddisc. Why doesn´t this work ? Am I missing something ? Bye, Alex

Hi Benjamin,ich will dich nicht wieder vom Studium ablenken, wie gesagt, wenn es leicht geht wärs echt super, ansonsten lass es. Danke auf jeden Fall ! I agree. There are NOT many options. I did not look at WPI yet but I did have a look at Xplode and I have no idea how to use that tool. That may be because I could not for the life of it find any sort of beginners guide ... it certainly looked intimidating enough for me to forget about it. Agreed. It could also mean that people use it and have no problems with it ! Which is a good thing ... Yeah, Wihu is certainly worth it ! Bye, Alex

Hi Benjamin, vielleicht bringt das "format feature" ja wieder paar user zurück zu Wihu Ich habs gerade in einer virtuellen Maschine ausprobiert. Funktioniert super ! Du bist echt genial !!! Eine kleine Verbesserungsmöglichkeit gäbs da aber noch ... Es sollte aus dem Formatierungsdialog heraus möglich sein zurück zur Userinstallation in Wihu zu gelangen. Es könnte ja zb. sein, daß man vergessen hat die Shellfolder zu ändern oder zb. während des Formatierungsdialogs draufkommt daß das Laufwerk zb. mit einem Linuxformat formatiert wurde etc. Wäre das schwierig, das noch einzubauen, das die Installation sozusagen abgebrochen wird und man nochmal zurück gelangen kann ? Wenn ja, vergiss es. Wenn nein, wärs schon cool ! Und eine kleine Frage noch: Es kann garantiert nicht passieren, dass Wihu ein formatiertes Laufwerk als unformatiert erkennt oder ? Nicht, daß da mal was passiert ... Thanks, Alex PS: SORRY guys for writing all this in German, I only realized this half way through and was too lazy to write everything again ...

Hi Benjamin, many thanks for fixing this bug. I just tested it. Works fine now, thank you very much ! As for the format feature ... wow ... that was quick ! I thought that would take longer .. Can you quickly describe how it works ? I guess it works "automatically" if user shell folders are set to D:\ for instance, and Wihu tries to create them there and the volume is not formatted yet, it will pop up a message and ask for format parameters ... at least thats what I could think of. ´Verstehe ich ehrlich gesagt nicht ganz. Wo sind die Leute alle hin ? Was benutzen die jetzt ? Xplode scheint das einzige "Konkurrenzprodukt" zu Wihu zu sein (zumindest hab ich nichts anderes gefunnden) und das hab ich nicht ganz durchschaut ... Ich find´s schade. Wihu ist echt cool und funktioniert wirklich zuverlässig. Das einzige "mühsame" ist das neunummerieren von Einträgen in der Installationsliste wenn man mal wo was einfügen will, aber das stört mich persönlich ned so wahnsinnig. Die Leute da draussen sind wohl alle xml freaks, obwohl ich persönlich xml noch ned wirklich durchschaut hab, naja ... bin ja auch kein Programmierer. Danke jedenfalls nochmal für deine hilfe und Arbeit über die letzten Monate ! Ich hoffe ich werde dich bezüglich bugs nicht allzu oft quälen müssen ! Bye, Alex

Benjamin, sorry to say that but you must be wrong ... I just checked this. I am using the latest version ( I think) of Wihu: It is 2.1.17.1 I have quite a few lnk files in C:\Dokumente und Einstellungen\Default User\Desktop. Those files should normally be copied over to the Desktop of a new user. I created a new user in Wihu named Bernd. I set Windows Desktop to D:\%ThisUser%\Desktop in Wihu. I then logged on as that user and the Desktop was empty. Sorry ... Bye, Alex