jimuk

I'd be interested in a link, and the "echo" command is very old bust still used! I understand a MS-DOS version of this program is available too. Here too: xchange a:\test.txt "Join^13^10Line" "JoinLine" But that was why I wanted a DOS program, as I wanted to be able to configure all these things from the PC's most basic platform, to do it all before the install even started and be able to tweak things at the last minute without having to write to anything.

I'm pretty new to this whole "Unattended" scene so maybe the experts will find flaws with this. Maybe there's other/better/similar ways of doing this but I thought this little util can be very useful for people who do network/DOS based installs of Windows. Xchange is part of a pack of old DOS utils by Clay Ruth - http://ww2.netnitco.net/users/cruth/download.html It's basically a util that does a find/replaceAll in any file. I am thinking there's a million and one uses for this XChange util in all stages of the install, but here's a simple example: At present I have a different unattend.txt file for both my laptop and desktop. The only major difference is the computername & product-key are different - any other changes I make I have to make to both. But now using XChange I only need to have one unattend.txt file which gets modified at install time. I just run laptop.bat to install on my laptop or desktop.bat to install on my desktop, these change a local copy of unattend.txt and then kick off a generic insxp.bat file: unattend.txt (generic file on the DVD/server) [userData] ComputerName=<compname> ProductKey=<prodkey> laptop.bat rem Set the stuff I want to change using the simple set command set compname=JimsLaptop set prodkey=AAAAA-11111-AAAAA-11111-AAAAA insxp desktop.bat set compname=JimsDesktop set prodkey=BBBBB-22222-BBBBB-22222-BBBBB insxp insxp.bat rem Copy my generic unattend file from network folder to local C drive copy z:\unattend.txt c:\unattend.txt rem Run xchange to modify the locally copied file based on the variables set earlier xchange c:\unattend.txt "<compname>" "%compname%" xchange c:\unattend.txt "<prodkey>" "%prodkey%" rem Let's go! Z:\i386\winnt /s:Z:\i386 /u:c:\unattend.txt All sorts of interesting things can be done with further enhancement and effectively you'd be able to create a install where the user is asked all the questions before the install even starts - "Name?", "Company?", "Do you want to install Windows Games?", "Do you want to install Word?", "I know you are going to answer yes and use Firefox anyway, but you don't like the Firefox loving nerd who made this DVD forcing all his favourite programs onto your machine without your choice. So go on hit Y!?" These could of course timeout to generic defaults in situations where a real unattended install is required, or for granny's computer all these questions are automatically answered as your batch files worked out they were running on her computer from her macid. I know many people who don't know too much about computers but get p****d off having control of their machine taken away by a full "Unattended Install For Dummies" that I made for them. I don't like having to remember personalising their username in the unattended file and they don't like having a generic one. I haven't used them but I am sure Microsoft corporate-based installing software, the unattended sourceforge project and other such things maybe offer similar features but the beauty of this is that it only requires imagination, batch file knowledge and one simple DOS command and not having to learn a new system. As it's all DOS based it's flexible and simple and doesn't rely on servers, Linux or Microsoft Corporate stuff that you somehow obtained. When you've burned a unattended super-tweaked DVD, taken it to your friends and realised you spelt his username wrong you don't have to wait until XP has installed to modify it, you want to be legal and use his product-key but you didn't know this until after you got to his house. Just typing a basic "set compname=???" or "set prodkey=???" at the command line will fix this and you can kick off the same install without having to hack files or reburn anything. I did a search for a similar method on this board but didn't find anything, apologies if somebody already thought of this idea.

I've been away for a few days,. Thanks for the replies, I'd have thought someone would have done this before or tried it - but maybe not? It looks like I'll be trying the regshot on my next install, and will of course update this thread as to my findings.

After a clean XP SP2 install the first thing I do is go to Windows Update and hide stuff I don't want to be reminded of again - e.g. Windows Media Player 10, I don't want any WMP s*** Is there any way of doing this automatically when installing Windows XP?

Hi, First I just wanted to say thanks for the great info, and all the work people in this community do. Being quite an experienced Windows XP user I decided it was the time to start making my own custom installs, as I'm regulary repeating the same boring things every time I reinstall a friends PC or whatever. I'd also reinstall my own PC's a lot more frequently if I knew it was a 1 hour job rather than 1/2 day getting everything just how I like it and installing all apps. Whilst this site appears to have all the info, there are a few things that make finding it confusing, I hope the powers-that-be take it as constructive criticism rather than an invitation to flame: 1 - I cannot see a "Search in this thread" button. Sometimes thread's can be over 30 pages I think the popularity of this site is sometimes a hindrance as the search functions don't seem adequate enough to me (Yes, I do use other forums so know how to search). The problem with this forum is there are many results for the keywords, mainly because most keywords are used often due to the nature of the forum. 2 - People don't update their original threads often enough, or state clearly that they have done it. e.g. UserA starts a thread entitled "How to slipstream KB123456". I try this and it don't work. Upon examining the thread more closely I see that 10 pages later UserB stated that the switch UserA used was wrong. If UserA had updated his thread after being informed of this then things would have been more simpler. OK, sometimes this happens but then there's not always a "This has been fixed" comment so you're still unsure and have to read 30 pages anyway. Nobody likes to waste time, that's why we're all here after all isn't it, so we can have automated XP installs? 3 - Sometimes the answer to a question is responded with "It's included in my/his utility/pack, download it from......". Whilst users creating ready-made hotfix packs etc... to make things simpler is a great thing, sometimes it's frustrating when you like to learn more and see what every change does and the answer is not very forthcoming. I understand that people will have a certain "This is my baby" attiitude (we're all proud of things we make) but it's not like it's top secret, it's just that sometimes the answers are hard to find - or require much work. Well, that's what I think so far. Maybe I'll post another post later, but for now I'm just perfecting my XP install and relentlessly searching for my questions and discovering more. Maybe once I've collated all the info and tested my stuff I'll post a FAQ or instructions aimed more at people new to this game, but who want to learn without ready-made solutions.