Vann

That's a lot of periods you have there. Anyways, yes, I've been told that Norton's gdisk is able to do it also.

The unattended process cannot do this, you'll have to use something like WinPE or BartPE to partition and format the drive, and then run the Windows Setup utility. All that can be automated completely.

RunOnceEx programs are run after drivers are installed, so it's not ideal to install drivers during that stage. In fact, that's why cmdlines.txt exists, so you can install necessary drivers before booting into Windows (e.g., video or network drivers that Windows can't automatically detect).

The problem is that that REG_EXPAND_SZ type variable is much nicer and allows you to use system variables, but looks like gibberish when in the .reg file. For example, I set the wallpaper to %SystemRoot%\System32\rhc-lab.bmp, and the registry stuff to do this is: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop] "Wallpaper"=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,00,\ 74,00,25,00,5c,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,72,\ 00,68,00,63,00,2d,00,6c,00,61,00,62,00,2e,00,62,00,6d,00,70,00,00,00 What I do is set some dummy REG_EXPAND_SZ string to whatever I want then export it. This solves problems 2-6 in prathapml's post, and does work unless you specify a system-wide wallpaper using local policies.

I'm pretty sure that all enabling that plugin does is copy the file anyhow. Another reason why the "plugin" system for BartPE is just sort of silly.

Oops, I'm sorry. I did enable one other "plugin," namely, the one that shows "Press any key to boot from CD..." thing on boot.

The BartPE plugin system is dumb, yes, but I just created a new plugin -- it's just an easily-understoof INF file in a directory -- called "Install" and disabled every other plugin. The INF file for "Install" sets a batch file it as the default shell, so it is run on boot and the machine restarts when the batch file terminates. Personally, I had no problems with BartPE, and now have a 100% automated install. I just stick in a CD and 20 minutes later have a machine partitioned, formatted, and running Windows as I like.

jest, Windows Setup itself has no ability to partition and format anything but the system drive, as far as I know. If there is some utility that does this it will be functionally equivalent to BartPE in the sense that, well, it's doing something before installation. I'm sure something could be written quickly that isn't as general as BartPE (or WinPE), i.e., the only thing it can do is partition and format. As for booting into DOS, that won't work. The DOS version of format can't format as NTFS, and has other 16-bit limitations (e.g., the drives can't be larger than a certain size). I tried doing this first, of course, but found that I needed the 32-bit WinNT command shell.

Sure. In BartPE I set \install.bat to be the shell by looking at how nu2menu does it, so the machine reboots when the process ends. Then in the root directory of my CD I have this file, named install.bat: @echo off net start dmserver if NOT ERRORLEVEL 0 ( CALL :error GOTO:EOF ) diskpart /s %SYSTEMDRIVE%\diskpart.cfg if ERRORLEVEL 0 ( CALL :format CALL :install ) ELSE ( CALL :error ) GOTO:EOF :format format C: /FS:NTFS /V:System /Q /y if ERRORLEVEL 0 ( ; CALL :copy ) ELSE ( CALL :error ) format R: /FS:NTFS /V:Profiles /Q /y if NOT ERRORLEVEL 0 ( CALL :error ) GOTO:EOF :install %SYSTEMDRIVE%\files\i386\winnt32.exe /unattend:%SYSTEMDRIVE%\files\i386\winnt.sif /s:%SYSTEMDRIVE%\files\i386 /syspart:C: /tempdrive:C: /makelocalsource GOTO:EOF :error start /wait cmd GOTO:EOF The diskpart.cfg file creates one system partition of 8GB and a second partition that is the rest of the drive, labels them C: and R: respectively, then formats them. The first line is necessary because otherwise diskpart will complain about not being able to connect to the Logical Disk Management Service, or something like that. I guess most things start that by default. Also, in BartPE, %SystemDrive% will refer to the CD-ROM from which you're running the preinstallation environment. Also, there's no line break on the winnt32.exe line, it's just really long.

I'm not perfectly sure, but I believe this is the lowdown on HKEY_USERS/.DEFAULT. I believe that in the single-user days, i.e., Windows 95/98/ME, the .DEFAULT key did actually apply to all users. However, as Windows started to become more truly multi-user .DEFAULT was no longer used. Instead, the file you want to edit is the ntuser.dat in the Default User directory (I know that for a fact). However, during the unattended install process when you're applying the registry tweaks (at the T-13 stage), %DefaultUserProfile%\ntuser.dat is mounted at HKEY_CURRENT_USER, and hence all edits there apply to the Default User. If you want to apply settings to the Default User after first boot, you'll have to do something like: reg load "HKEY_USERS\Default User" "C:\Documents and Settings\Default User\ntuser.dat" regedit /s tweaks.reg reg unload "HKEY_USERS\Default User" where all the tweaks in tweaks.reg now refer to "HKEY_USERS\Default User" instead of "HKEY_CURRENT_USER". reg.exe isn't available by default in Windows 2000, but it is in Windows XP. It seems now that the .DEFAULT key applies to things as they are when nobody is logged in. For example, if you want to change how the classic logon screen looks you edit stuff in HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT. I've never had a problem with properties not sticking when importing reg f iles at the T-13 stage, though. Make sure some of those settings don't actually belong in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. If that's not the problem then I'm not sure what is. Hope that helped.

You're right that it doesn't make any sense. Or rather, there ought to be a way to partition and format prior to an unattended install without using BartPE or WinPE. However, the fact of the matter is that it is impossible otherwise. BartPE and WinPE are preinstallation environments, which means they are there to "prepare" your machine for installation. I got my unattended CD working exactly as I wanted by doing the following: Configuring BartPE to automatically launch an arbitrary script upon boot This script would read my diskpart configuration file and partition the drive accordingly, and then format the newly created partitions Run the Windows Setup from the CD by using winnt32.exe Reboot into Windows Setup, and from here on the answer file does the rest There is no way around it. This is the way to do anything more complicated than format the one system partition automatically with an unattended install. Perhaps there is some secret documented command somewhere that is launched before the graphical part of Windows Setup begins, but I sincerely doubt it. I don't even think Windows Setup can run what needs to be run prior to the graphical part of the installation, i.e., 32-bit executeables. It sounds like you're where I was about three weeks ago. I had my answer file, and diskpart configured out but didn't have the slightest idea of how get my partition table and filesystems as I wanted. After playing with BartPE for a day or so, though, I figured it out and it was really quite simple after that.

I don't know what you mean by "old style pattern," but Windows has no built-in ability to rename a user without using a GUI. I downloaded a program called renuser.exe (you can find it via Google easily) and simply added "renuser Administrator new_admin_name" to cmdlines.txt.

Each user has his registry hive stored in %UserProfile%\ntuser.dat. Just mount that hive, either via regedit or the reg load command-line command, and edit whatever settings you want. This is assuming you're running Windows XP. Under Windows 2000 this is more difficult, because there is no reg load command and there is both a "regedit" and "regedit32." If I recall correctly in Windows 2000 only regedit32 can mount/unmount registry hives. In Windows XP, there is no regedit32 (thank God) and regular ol' regedit works fine. The "My Documents" folder is also specified in the registry, as I'm sure you know. In XP all this can be scripted by using the reg command.

You don't. The answer file only plays with the system partition. If you want to automatically partition and format a hard drive you'll need to use a preinstallation environment like BartPE or WinPE. That is, if you don't want to do the partitioning and formatting by hand before the install.

I LOVE YOU!

ntuser.dat is a registry hive that is mounted in HKEY_CURRENT_USER when the user logs on, which means it is stored somewhere in the registry. But where? I've also used regshot and it shows no changes being made to the registry.

Also, setupmgr.exe obviously didn't have much thought put into it. For one, it can't decide if it's a wizard or a regular application. It starts up and exists funny. Finally, it doesn't give you all the options available during unattended installs. An application that does this better might be nice.

I would also like to know about this. The behavior is copied over when one copies a profile, so it has to be stored somewhere.

1) Well, yes, I could. I won't, but I could. If that was my intention, I could just build that into the BeUpdate executable, now couldn't I? Just to mention it, so could GreenMachine with his XPCreate and nuhi could basically have a key-logger included in his nLite.exe file. But they don't. And why would I? If you see the configuration file, you could choose not to trust me, and keep a list of your own. I'll be using a method similar to the one GreenMachine uses. You don't have to trust me, but I can promise you that I won't do something like that. 2) I'll try to keep it updated myself, (like GM) but if it becomes too much of a hassle, I'll maybe let someone else help me as well. In any case, this program will have a file list more updated than the one your CD has. Of course I can't sit all day updating it, but I'll update it at least twice a week when I'm ready. So you won't do anything bad because you say you won't do anything bad? Sounds trustworthy to me. *cough* As for those other programs, I don't use them either. However, in your original post there was no intimation that this list would be maintained by anyone except you or that it would even be possible to maintain separate lists. If the location of the list is in fact configurable then that mitigates most of my concerns. As for it being more updated than my CD, that's just not true. I have a setup functionally equivalent, though perhaps less broad in scope, to what you're proposing.

It sounds like his idea is to keep a list of applications and version numbers online, and then have a program (BeUpdated) download some (or all) of those applications and create a Windows installation CD that will automatically install the (hopefully current) applications downloaded at the beginning. Then, during the install, it looks to see what programs you chose to put on your CD and installs any updated versions that have been updated. The idea, of course, is to have your installations as up-to-date as possible without having to burn a new CD every time a new version of XYZ application is released. The problems, of course, are 1) How can we trust this list? and 2) How will the list be maintained? After all, couldn't you change the list to surreptitiously install a, say, key-logging program?

Make sure in the [unattended] section you have UnattendMode=FullUnattended, if that's what you want. Aside from that, if winnt.sif is in your i386 directory then Windows Setup will use it. Make sure the file is winnt.sif, not unattend.txt or winnt.txt (that confused me when I was first trying to set up an unattended CD), too.

I recommend downloading regshot and using that. It makes finding registry tweaks very simple. Regshot can take a "snapshot" of the registry. So you take a snapshot, change a setting, take another snapshot, and then regshot compares them for you, giving you the differences.

Hmm, looking into what findcd.exe actually does, it seems to only print out the drive letter of whatever drive the CD is actually in. That is, of course, functionally identical to %CD~0,2%, assuming the current working directory is somewhere on the CD-ROM. This still isn't a very reliable way to check, though, since there are perfectly normal processes that can break it. For example, it would be impossible to use /makelocalsource and have this still work. Also, if you're in a preinstallation environment %SystemDrive% will refer to the CD-ROM drive.

And why is it bad to add one more, little tool? Windows' lack of "little tools" is what makes the monstrosity that is an unattended install necessary in the first place. In MacOS or UNIX/Linux the process is infinitely easier because they have a collection of little tools that do one thing very well, and the ability to effortlessly pass information between programs. That Windows lacks these things is why people have to write them. In *ix I could just do: CDROM=`echo list volume | diskpart | awk '/ROM/ {print $X}' | head -1` where X is whatever column the drive letter is in. That would set CDROM to the first CD drive, whether it's a CD-ROM or a DVD-ROM. I'm not familiar with all the variations of what diskpart can output, but changing "ROM" to a more comprehensive regular expression would certainly be simple. So, in conclusion, don't bemoan little tools. Little tools let you do stuff like that above, which Windows can't do out of the box. And it's certainly less "nasty" than 26 "IF EXIST" lines. Give me findcd.exe any day.

I have my unattended Windows installation pretty much how I like it, but one thing is annoying me. I switch to the classic start menu, but the recycling bin icon is still in the bottom right-hand corner. Is there any way to "sort by type" during the installation process? I used regshot but no registry settings appear to be changed when I click "sort by type" so I'm not sure what to do. But something, somewhere has to remember the placement of icons on the desktop. Thanks.