ran

Thanks for the idea, Agenta This just gets weirder and weirder. It's definitely something with the %OFFICECD% parameter. If I enter this into my Office2003.cmd: copy %officeCD%\setuppro.exe h:\tmp I get the message, "The syntax of the command is incorrect." That's just bogus. If I replace the %OfficeCD% string with the drive letter I use for testing purposes (using Daemon tools) it works flawlessly. So, I'm clearly having a problem here with the %OFFICECD% string. As to the MSI installer, it tells me I have "Incorrect command line parameters" when I attempt to use it. Well, here's the OFFICE2003.CMD I've generated (with *MUCH* thanks to SiMoNsAyS ) Note, it's still got some error checking code, ignore that. cmdow @ /hid @ECHO OFF TITLE Installation of Microsoft Office 2003 COLOR 0a :CDsearchA FOR %%a IN (c: d: e: f: g: h: i: j: k: l: m: n: o: p: q: r: s: t: u: v: w: x: y: z:) DO Dir %%a\XPProSP2.txt >NUL && SET XPCD=%%a || echo %%a failed IF NOT Exist %XPCD%\XPProSP2.txt GOTO NeedXPCD :CDsearchB FOR %%b IN (c: d: e: f: g: h: i: j: k: l: m: n: o: p: q: r: s: t: u: v: w: x: y: z:) DO Dir %%b\setuppro.exe > NUL && SET OFFICECD=%%b || echo %%b failed IF Not Exist %OFFICECD%\Unattended.mst GOTO NeedOfficeCD REM ******Now starting Office 2003 SP1 Installation****** ECHO. ECHO Installing Microsoft Office 2003 SP1... start /wait msiexec /i %OFFICECD%\pro11.msi TRANSFORMS=%OFFICECD%\Unattended.MST /qb- GOTO END :NeedXPCD cmdow @ /RES ECHO. ECHO Your Windows XP SP2 CD was not found. echo. echo Please insert Windows XP SP2 CD into upper CDdrive... ECHO. PING 1.1.1.1 -n 1 -w 3000 >NUL cmdow @ /HID GOTO cDSearchA :NeedOfficeCD cmdow @ /RES ECHO. ECHO Your Microsoft Office 2003 CD was not found. ECHO. ECHO Please insert Office 2003 SP1 CD in lower CDdrive... ECHO. PING 1.1.1.1 -n 1 -w 3000 >NUL cmdow @ /HID GOTO cDSearchB :END EXIT

to: Cannabilistic Humanoid Underground Dweller: I hate those mistakes......and boy do they crop up when you are *SO* sure you've gotten it all right.... (ok, ok..I just had to respond with that..I couldn't help but think of C.H.U.D - that terrific B movie of the 80's..... heeheehee) Ran

Thanks for responding, The msi installer is in the root directory of the Office 2003 CD. In other words, the setuppro.exe and the Unattended.mst are in the same directory. If I use a cmd shell and simply type theat line, it works..but not if I execute from the batch....I think it has something to do with the %OfficeCD% variable..but I can't for the life of me figure out what the problem is.... Ran

Well, I need more help, I think. I've setup a 2 CD install batch file that, after checking for the presence of the XP CD and the Office CD, should run my unattended.mst file with the setupPro.exe of Office 2003 (SP1 slipstreamed). If I execute the following command: start /wait %OfficeCD%\setuppro.exe TRANSFORMS=%OFFICECD%\Unattended.mst /qb- from the batch file, it just opens up a windows explorer folder window browsing the drive containing Office 2003. However, if I execute the same command from the commandline, or another batch file (in which that command is the only one), it seems to work fine. (NOTE that I have to change the %officeCD% string to the actual drive letter.) I have no clue why it is doing this. I know that %officeCD% is getting the write drive letter, because I checked (running @echo %officeCD% to see what the variable was) and by the fact that it opens up the windows explorer folder window in the correct drive. any ideas? Ran

OK, Here's my problem. I'm setting up an unattended Windows + Office Install. To do this, I'm running a batch file that screens each drive letter for the existence of a particular file in the root directory of that drive. Here's some example code: FOR %%a IN (c: d: e: f: g: h: i: j: k: l: m: n: o: p: q: r: s: t: u: v: w: x: y: z:) DO IF EXIST %%a\XPProSP2.txt SET CDROM1=%%a (courtesy of SiMoNsAyS ) However, if there's no disk in one of the drives being checked, I get an error message, "THERE IS NO DISK IN DRIVE, etc..." and the batch is halted, requiring user input I want to avoid this yet still screen each possible drive letter!! Ideally, I want to suppress any halting as well as any error messages... Any ideas?? Ran

Alright, I'm very new at this myself...but let me give this a shot, and then the experts can correct me as need be... I believe that you need an XP Pro answer file (winnt.sif) if you wish to avoid all the user-interactive GUI's. If you don't have that winnt.sif file, then you'll have to enter all that info on each machine you install... It's actually quite easy to make the file, though. Took me 5 minutes, once I downloaded the XP SP2 deployment back and ran SetupMgr..... Ran

I'll have to agree with Alanoll.... It does take a lot longer, but at least all the glitches/bugs you're ironing out are your own coding/setup issues. ... AND the big plus in my book is that you get a clue as to what you're doing....which helps immensely for troubleshooting and when you finally step out there on a limb and start adding your *OWN* modifications and additions... Ran

OK, First, thanks so much for the batch code... Second, I've been modifying it to utilize the fact that I have two CDROM drives. Hence, I just want to put the WinXP disc in the first drve, the Office 2003 disc in the second drive and let the whole process run its course. However, I find that during testing, if the batch finds an "empty" drive, I receive an INT 24 error and it halts the batch. Is there a way to avoid or make this errorcode silent? I've found this Code that calls %comspec% with the '/f' switch which silences the "empty drive" problem. @echo off if "%1"=="" goto _help ctty nul %comspec% /f /c dir %1: | find "Directory of " ctty con if errorlevel==0 if not errorlevel==1 goto _isready echo Drive %1 is NOT ready goto _end :: :_isready echo Drive %1 is ready goto _end :: :_help echo Usage %0 [DriveLetter] :: :_end Is there a way to adapt this to your batch? I think I could modify it at each drive letter call, but then I'd have a long series of checking if each drive letter exists, then checking to see if that drive letter contains the CD with my "detection file".. Is there something altogether different (& easier) that I could use? .....I'm must too tired right now to figure it out..... 8-) Ran P.S. You may wonder why I want this? Well, sometimes I have a number of drives in the computer - some of which may contain unformatted partitions or be empty. Hence, I'd like some way of overcoming this....

Hmm..well, ya' got me there, I have no idea Perhaps there're some command line switches for it..... ran

Heh, well..ok!

I'll give it a whirl, thanks benners!

Thank you, sir Prathapm!

ok, With the assumption that I'm not very good at this, let's pretend: I'm staring at my downloaded Adobe 6 executable. Now, I........??? Would it be possible for some kind soul to outline what I should do next to get a nice streamlined adobe PDF reader? Thank you in advance.... Ran

benners, That's a good tip for things like notepad and such, but what about MS Office? Office programs seem to have their *own* ideas of what should be over there. Can that be changed as well? Ran

umm..this may be rather simpleminded, but why not use that free bootscreen program, bootskin? Seems to work pretty easily.....haven't had a problem with it.... 8-) ran