McoreD

Test 0: (above) VMware with the Autounattend.xml. Couldn't make any judgement because of blank screen. Test 1: Virtual PC with the above Autounattend.xml There is something wrong in the section <settings pass="oobeSystem"> Wonder what it could be.

Intro: Extending Autounattend.xml using the knowledge gather from http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=52530 Goal: Have ProfilesDirectory, ProgramFiles in two seperate partitions other than the partition Windows is installed to. For example: C:\Windows D:\Users E:\Program Files\ This is one of my main need for an unattended installation. Testing: I have attached my current Autounattend.xml.txt To my disappointment, my last test with VMware didn't quite make use of <FolderLocations> <ProfilesDirectory>D:\Users</ProfilesDirectory> <ProgramData>E:\ProgramData</ProgramData> <ProgramFiles>E:\Applications</ProgramFiles> </FolderLocations> in the XML file. I am continuing to test this out to get it working. For those who are new and interested in Customizing System Folders, there is a Wiki setup for Windows XP/Server 2003. http://wmwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Unattended_MCE Bye for now, McoreD Autounattend.xml.txt

Much appreciated fizban2. Without your guidance and sample xml, I wouldn't have come this far! As the basic autounattend.xml appears to be working (a Virtual PC test is currently on test), requesting permission to create a new thread for extending xml functinoality: Unattended Vista with Multiple Partitions. Cheers, McoreD Edit: The "Windows is unable to install to the selected location" seems to vanish after 1. DISKPART, SELECT DISK 0, CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY 2. Restart Windows setup or 1. Using GUI, press NEW, FORMAT 2. Restart Windows setup

Seems I have a similar problem in VMware even with Safe Mode. Should try Virtual PC. Thanks.

fizban2, I am glad too that Autounattend.xml works no problems. I am sure the install went well in VMware. Just that due to compatibility issues, I guess, it has ended up with a blank screen. In a real PC, this should definitely work error free. Let me please confirm this one more time. In the autounattend.xml, for burning a DVD to install in a real PC, the follow snippet of XML is correct, isn't it? (to test in VMware I had to change X:\ to F:\). <ImageInstall> <OSImage> <InstallFrom> <Path>X:\sources\install.wim</Path> </InstallFrom> <InstallTo> </InstallTo> </OSImage> </ImageInstall> Thanks, McoreD Edit: The Autounattend.xml however did have no effect on FolderLocations. See http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?s=&amp...st&p=555909

I am not sure how it all of a sudden started working. We will find out in 6 hours.

fizban2, I copied your Autounattended.xml and removed <InstallTo> <DiskID>0</DiskID> <PartitionID>1</PartitionID> </InstallTo> using Notepad. That's pretty much it.

It's definitely the autounattend.xml causing this. This is in a real PC without <InstallTo> <DiskID>0</DiskID> <PartitionID>1</PartitionID> </InstallTo> causes problems.

It's interesting to notice that when you add <InstallTo> <DiskID>0</DiskID> <PartitionID>1</PartitionID> </InstallTo> you don't get the error in the above post. But then you get the old "cannot open image" error. But this time I tried every letter from teh beginning. <Path>X:\sources\install.wim</Path> - FAILED <Path>D:\sources\install.wim</Path> - FAILED <Path>E:\sources\install.wim</Path> - FAILED <Path>F:\sources\install.wim</Path> - FAILED <Path>G:\sources\install.wim</Path> - FAILED <Path>H:\sources\install.wim</Path> - WORKED! So depending on the number of VM HDDs you have, you might have to try every letter from the beginning to get it working in VMware. I would still to NOT have <InstallTo> <DiskID>0</DiskID> <PartitionID>1</PartitionID> </InstallTo> Can anybody with similar interest put some light on this? Thanks, Mcore

Hi again! I think the "Image cannot open" error in VMware is now gone away with the recent builds of Vista. I am trying 5472.5 with Autounattend.xml now. Now there is a new problem. When I add the Autounattend.xml, Vista fails to install on the HDD. Same ISO without the .xml file, installs on HDD with no problems. <unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend"> <settings pass="windowsPE"> <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Setup" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"> <DiskConfiguration> <WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI> </DiskConfiguration> <Display> <ColorDepth>32</ColorDepth> <HorizontalResolution>1024</HorizontalResolution> <RefreshRate>60</RefreshRate> <VerticalResolution>768</VerticalResolution> </Display> <DynamicUpdate> <Enable>true</Enable> </DynamicUpdate> <ImageInstall> <OSImage> <InstallFrom> <Path>x:\sources\install.wim</Path> </InstallFrom> </OSImage> </ImageInstall> <UserData> <ProductKey> <Key>XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX</Key> <WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI> </ProductKey> <AcceptEula>true</AcceptEula> <FullName>McoreD</FullName> <Organization>BetaONE</Organization> </UserData> </component> <component name="Microsoft-Windows-International-Core-WinPE" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"> <SetupUILanguage> <UILanguage>en-US</UILanguage> </SetupUILanguage> <InputLocale>en-US</InputLocale> <SystemLocale>en-US</SystemLocale> <UILanguage>en-US</UILanguage> <UILanguageFallback>en-US</UILanguageFallback> <UserLocale>en-US</UserLocale> </component> </settings> <settings pass="specialize"> <component name="Microsoft-Windows-UnattendedJoin" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"> <Identification> <JoinWorkgroup>BetaONE</JoinWorkgroup> </Identification> </component> <component name="Microsoft-Windows-International-Core" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"> <InputLocale>en-US</InputLocale> <SystemLocale>en-US</SystemLocale> <UILanguage>en-US</UILanguage> <UILanguageFallback>en-US</UILanguageFallback> <UserLocale>en-US</UserLocale> </component> </settings> </unattend> the XML is based on fizban's, with source changed to sources and InstallTo removed. Cheers, McoreD

"Documents and Settings" folder in Vista is actually a Symbolic Link to "Users" folder for compatibility reasons. There is no such folder and hence you get access denied.

Tried with both Vista Beta 2 and build 5472.5 for 3 newly formatted NTFS hard disks. I am really not sure what's wrong. EDIT: It happens because of http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?s=&amp...st&p=555630

That's right fizban2; I should not forget that. Bitfrotter might be right or it can be a problem with my config? This is the error I get with WSIM in both Server 2003 and Vista build 5472. Cheers, Mcore

Hi fizban2, I am retrying this for build 5472. I wonder if <Path>x:\source\install.wim</Path> in your Autounattend.xml was really meant be source? or sources? Because in the DVD, it is sources, and I was wondering if that had any effect.

OMG. BDD installer copied over 800 MiB of data and yet didn't install WAIK? Thanks guys! It's all working now. Cheers, Mcore

In my configuration, I have a partition called PROGRAMS, and have a folder called Standalone. µTorrent.exe is in PROGRAMS\Standalone\µTorrent. That's it and is OS independant.

Hi All, This is a brand new OS install of build 5472 and I installed BDD 2007 straight afterwards. I having this error when loading BDD Workbench. Anybody else having this problem? Thanks, Mcore

Hi gamehead, It worked beautifully in XP but unfortunately not in Server 2003.

This is a clean install of Windows Server 2003, and installed Windows Live Messenger 8 build 792. Can confirm this is not due to BETA versions of WLM. But I am not sure why this thread is in nLite forums because the ISO of Windows Server wasn't created using nLite and I don't believe it has anything to do with nLite.

Thanks that was really helpful. Deserves credit.

Thanks rjdohnert for introducing Sudo for Windows. Looks like a nice thing to try.

Hi All, In Windows XP, it is very easy to disable/enable it using Registry. When you open Windows XP's My Computer System Folder you will usually see a set of folders at the top of the page under the group called Other Files Stored on This Computer. Even on a home PC shared among family members, I haven't found this useful. Certainly not on a work PC. To eliminate the Other Files Stored on This Computer folders you can use the following registry hack: Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE Key: Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer \MyComputer\NameSpace\DelegateFolders DelegateFolders has a subkey : {59031a47-3f72-44a7-89c5-5595fe6b30ee}. Once you delete this subkey, all of the Shared Documents folders displayed on My Computer will be gone. Effect of hack is immediate. No reboot needed in XP. Conversly if you add {59031a47-3f72-44a7-89c5-5595fe6b30ee} in XP, you get the folders back. Unfortunately this doesn't work in Server 2003, and it already has the key {59031a47-3f72-44a7-89c5-5595fe6b30ee}. Has anybody had luck finding how? Thanks, McoreD

Well, if Unattended Registry Tweakage DOTNET v0.4 has lost its source code, then I don't see the problem starting up a replacement project. While Mike Wilson has done a great job pioneering and implementing the idea, it is also great to see you guys attempting to revive the program. Not to make the same mistake again, it would be best to make it Open Source, so it is community developed.

Never - that's what imaging software is for http://wmwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Unattended_MCE http://wmwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Una..._Server_2003_R2 http://wmwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Cre...a_WINDOWS_Image http://wmwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Har...sk_Partitioning

Glad to hear from people thinking in the same frequency. Having Windows, Program Files and Documents & Settings in different drives gives number of advantages. With only Windows folder in one drive, backup image size goes down to around 2 GiB. Keeping a WINDOWS-VersionHistory.txt logging all the changes done to the system is fun too. Sharing some discipline related to the topic. http://wmwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Unattended_MCE http://wmwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Una..._Server_2003_R2 Maintaining well this way, can have a perfect Windows setup.