InTheWayBoy

Can't believe I forgot about Notepad2...I usually replace it in the source, so I don't really install it. Best editor ever...too bad there isn't autoit syntax support.

Ahhh...I see. Any chance you have the reg key handy?

I'm gonna do ten best home, ten best work: Home 1. PowerDVD 2. Nero 3. WinRAR 4. WinAmp 5. XP Codec Pack 6. ABC 7. PowerMenu 8. Opera 9. Acrobat 10. M$ Antispyware Work 1. UltraVNC 2. Symantec Antivirus 3. WinRAR 4. Office 5. Google Toolbar 6. Everest 7. FileZilla 8. AutoIT 9. psTools 10. HoverIP

The benefits of SATA are speed...and since most came out after XP was pressed they don't have built-in support. Most new computers are now running SATA, as they are about the same in cost, much faster, and are soon to be the only option on newer chipsets.

I know this is for WMI, but this has a nice little bit about mid-way down...something about allow remote administration for the windows firewall. It's a GPO too, so it should be easy enough to impliment. http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default....ws_firewall.asp Otherwise I have no idea...good luck!

Tell us more! If I understand ya, you have a sysprep image that joins a domain during mini-setup, but then reboots and logs on locally with admin rights? I assume this is to install all the extra software and not have to worry about domain user rights...at least that's what I want it for! Now you say it was GPO...is this in the AD Server then? I don't remember setting that, but maybe it's a default that I need to disable. Also, do you have it to where when it's all done it goes back to domain login? I figure really all you would need to do is select the domain from the list...but is there a way to change the domain to default?

I can't remember where specifically...somewhere in the users internet temp files I think. But I was posting mostly to suggest RyanVM's Update Pack...it's for everything after SP2. Much easier to just use that in my opinion.

The built-in backup tool is horrible for anything other than a few specific tasks. To do what you want, to make a total backup straight to a CD...you best bet is Ghost. That said, there are a few free ways to go at it. However, I haven't seen a complete package yet. You would probably have to go through multiple steps...clone the drive/partition to another drive/partition, then reboot into Windows and burn that image to a CD...maybe spend some time and make it auto boot the drive software. You most likely won't get live backup, or backup to CD with anything free/opensource. You could look into a Linux LiveCD, there is bound to be some Ghost-like program for linux. Only problem there is the NTFS compatibility...you might run into an issue there since last I heard it's still Read-Only for the most part. Also, since it's running from a CD, you'll have to worry about how to get the image to a CD... BartPE, WinPE, and UBCD are other options, but they still require a commercial application to do the dirty work.

Domains, DNS, and DHCP...what a pain! 1. Buy a domain name from GoDaddy.com (Just an example) 2. Open a free account with ZoneEdit.com (Ditto) 3. ZoneEdit will tell you a few Name Servers to use (ns8.zoneedit.com) 4. Tell GoDaddy to use the servers ZoneEdit gave you for DNS. 5. Download any of the several freeware updating clients that support ZoneEdit. 6. Configure to your needs 7. Open port 80 in your router/firewall, pointing it to the computer running the web server. That's it...you're done! When you go to your domain name it will be configured to ask the ZoneEdit DNS servers for your servers IP address. The beauty of this config is that ZoneEdit allows for dynamic updates, so with a properly configured client (Step 5) you will almost always have the correct IP bound to your domain. I use DirectUpdate, which is awesome but not free. And there are other services like ZoneEdit, but I've never been unhappy enough to try them. Same goes for GoDaddy...I know there are others, but it's really simple and cheap! Also, doing it this way means you can use a normal domain, not some free sub-domain service. Much more professional this way... And yes, I know how old this is...just wasting some time

I think the problem is that maintaining a server is a very broad topic, one that needs to be tweaked for every situation. In a router only scenario, I can't see much other than standard taks...defrag, update, cleanup...you might wanna check and empty the Event Viewer as well. Other than that if it's a router it shouldn't need much else.

Download NUTS from this page: http://yizhar.mvps.org/ In that archive is a file called RegToADM.exe...guess what it does I've only played with it, but never actually tried to impliment it or test it...

If this was in the correct sub-forum: Application Installations Then you would see the sticky post detailing exactly what you want: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=16709

Sorry about the USB thing...didn't read it all the way As for the X64 question...you should be able to. You can do the F6 with any install that doesn't use an unattended answer file. If the image was downloaded from M$, then it should be a standard image and you'll be okay. But, I've never played with X64, so I don't know if they changed anything...I don't think they would have.

Well, just a thought...when you are doing the F6 method, is that with an original Install CD, or a custom Unattended Install CD? Cause you can't use F6 on an Unattended Install. You could try integrating the driver...I use a method (Don't have any links handy, sorry) that requires you to hand edit a few files (TXTSETUP.SIF) by hand, but I find it's the best for stability. As for the USB, I'm pretty sure that WinXP will recognize a USB Floppy Drive...but I'm not so sure about Win2000.

Instead of: $OEM$\$1\Documents and Settings\All Users\ Try this instead: $OEM$\$Docs\All Users\ The $Docs is a special folder that resolves to your Documents And Settings folder. I personally use AutoIT to make shortcuts...there is also a application called nircmd that has an easy to use shortcut creation function...never used that one though.

Sysinternals...ahh...what would we do with out them Thanx for backing me up with the link!

Do you have this in your winnt.sif: OemPreinstall="Yes" Cause if you don't, then the OEM files are ignored. Check that and let us know...

Was looking into something totally unrelated and came by this: RISME and CMS allow you create DOS-based boot image to access resources on Windows-based servers such as Windows NT, 2000 and 2003 server. By default, Windows 2003 server does not allow DOS-based clients to access shared resources. This document explains how to configure your Windows 2003 server to allow access by legacy clients. Windows 2003 (formerly Windows.NET) is much more secure "out-of-the-box" than prior version of the Windows NT family. As a result, legacy clients such as DOS, Windows 3.x, and Windows 95 that use NTLM method of authentication may not be able to logon by default. Steps: To correct this problem, you should do the following: 1. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Administrative Tools, and then click "Default Domain Controllers Policy". If your server is not a domain controller, open Local Security Policy instead 2. Go to the following location: Windows Settings\Security Settings\Local Policies\Security Options 3. If any of the following policy settings are set to Enabled, double click the setting, click to select the "Define this policy setting" check box, click Disabled, and then click OK. Domain Member: Digitally encrypt or sign secure channel data (always) Microsoft Network Server: Digitally sign communications (always) 4. Reboot the server. Sounds like something you might need to think of...hope that helps!

1. Yes...but you Win98 client won't be able to see the others anymore 2. Yes...WinNT/Win2000/WinXP/Win2003 all can copy to and from NTFS AND FAT32. 3. It's better...faster...more secure...we could go on and on but it's basically the new standard filesystem for a Windows based computer. 4. Should you? Yes...but only if you've got a backup. Even though tools like convert.exe and PartitionMagic claim no data loss you should never leave it to chance...make a backup to CD/DVD/Another HD, and then try it. But know this, your E, F, and G drives probably are shared between both Win98 and WinXP. After you convert those to NTFS they will not be visable in Win98 without extra software. There is a free win98 read-only driver somewhere, which when installed will allow you to access those files.

Just so you know: In step 3 you say to delete osloader.exe since there is already a compressed copy... But in step 4 you say to compress osloader.exe... Just a little typo I would think, but just helping out where I can!

Take that back...sitting right there is winnt32.msi...never had to use that though, I wonder what functionality it has?

Maybe you mean winnt32.exe? There is no msi installer for windows...

Eh? You shouldn't have to give them local admin rights to login... But, if you want to, you might wanna look at Restricted Groups...it's a Group Policy section that allows you to add or remove users from local security groups. You could use that to add your domain users to the local admin group of all your machines...and since it's Group Policy, it should apply to all clients, not just the ones you've installed with your Unattended.

Basically M$ gives a company a CD that allows for unlimited use...but that company is responsible for telling M$ how many clients it's used on, and is charged accordingly. Personally, I think it's odd that M$ would put that much trust in an external company, but they probably audit them occassionally to make sure all is well. Know this, if for some reason you do get caught, they will probably take it back to the company you got it from and someone will get in trouble...not likely to happen, but if this guy is a friend I wouldn't put him in that position to begin with.

Nice call on adding the script source...gonna have to pick through that and see what I can use I use AutoIt exclusively, as I find the syntax a litter easier to jump to from batch scripting...haven't tried any VBS yet, but it's on my my mind. Thanx for the excellent updated guide!