mbrock5532

That doesn't sound like a normal length of time to me, Pauly. It usually takes about 45 minutes from start to finish for an Unattended Install on my VPC2004. I have a fast machine, but I can't imagine it makes THAT big of a time difference!!! Have you tried it on an actual macine to see if it takes a long time there as well? Sometimes if you don't get a good burn, it will work but it will take forever in some parts. Check and see if it is hanging somewhere that has feedback such as the copying phase, etc. where it shows what it is doing. On a bad burn, I have seen it paus on one file and just sit there forever before finally moving on. Another burn fixed the problem. Also, if you have a corrupted file, it can cause problems as well, but usually it will just come up and tell you it can't read the file from the disk and let you skip it and go on. I had this problem when using XPCreate and it put in a bunch of fonts that looked liked for foreign languages in the files list, but they weren't on my CD because I had used nLite to trim out all languages other than English. (I know - arrogant American, but since I only speak and write in one language, no sense in having all the others! )

Hmmmm, I haven't noticed VPC being too much of a dog. I basically just use it for testing. Also, sometimes you go to sites that insist on installing something. VPC lets you run in a mode that tracks all changes made in a session. When you go to shut down that VM, it asks if you want to keep the changes. If you say no, the next time you start your VM, it is as it was before you did anything to it. Of course, having an AMD64 with 1GB RAM and a 200GB SATA drive may mask some things, but even on my old system (AMD Athlon XP 2600+ Barton w/ 512MB RAM and 120 GB HDD) it didn't seem to be much of a problem.

I understand the frustration. I have written some utility programs using Borland Delphi to help me with some of the more tedious stuff, but I agree that the problems of implementation of this idea most likely won't work. Look through all the forums threads. You have several people who have different ways of doing things, and their techniques don't mesh very well. Then, look at issues of making things work. I have one type of SATA set up, someone else has another. They post a guide that says, "SOLVED! The absolute definitive way to make your SATA drivers work in Textmode!" Well, their great method works wonderfully with their brand of SATA controller, but when I follow the instructions with my brand, it doesn't work! How do you fold all the different methods into one program so it will work with everyone's hardware setup? Then, as mentioned previously, what about the language problem? I don't write anything in Visual Basic, and I don't like it very much. The VB guys mostly feel the same way about Delphi (even though they are wrong! ) I'm not going to learn a different language just to integrate with someone elses code. I have basically built a baseline Unattended Install setup that contains everything I want done in every computer. Then, I have a folder that contains the $OEM$ folder structure and and I386 folder. I put in the drivers and apps that are specific to the machine I am setting up. My custom program gets the user or users inforrmation and creates the cmd file to add them during set up with the proper groups, passwords, etc. Then, it scans my Driver folder and creates the OEMPnPDriversPath line so I don't have to type it in manually. It creates the cmd files to install drivers, hotfixes, apps, etc. automatically for me, puts in the Install Key, Users Name, Company, etc. Then, it stores all the information in a database so I can recreate it at any time if need be, copies everything to the baseline set and then creates the custom CD. I have an Epson R200 that prints directly onto a CD, so I use a nice background and print a CD with Windows XP SP!, the customers name, the system identifier, my name and email address and the install key. It looks nice and professional and gets a lot of comments from my customers. This has worked well for me. It took awhile to get the baseline system working, but now it only takes me about 15 minutes to create a custom installation for any new system. The exception is when I run into something like the new Shuttle SFC system for the Athlon 64 chip. It only holds one HDD and if that HDD is SATA, you have to hang a floppy to read in the drivers. So, I have to tweak that setup more to integrate the SATA drivers so Windows seeis it in text mode without needing a floppy. I used a bunch of different guides before I finally got it to work. If you go ahead with this, good luck! It should be a daunting effort but probably a lot of fun. I know I have a lot of plans for my custom program, but it takes time!!