Takeshi

This is MS Office Outlook Update, not MS Windows XP update. D/l it manually then.

The L pane in common dialog boxes is officially called places bar. 1. Easy: TweakUI 2. Harder: http://www.puppypc.com/windows/rt/comdlg_placebar.htm

So now it's the HKCU, not HKLM subkey that you can't change. Still, I'd like to know what the error message is exactly, I don't mind even if it's in French. Or upload a screenshot.

This is the only way that I'm aware of: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...rictions+policy

There're various ways to hide/restore these icons. My Computer, My Documents, My Network Places, Recycle Bin are all special folders. 1. R click Desktop > Properties > Desktop > Customize Desktop > General > Desktop icons 2. TweakUI 3. reg (as above)

The question is not specific to Windows XP, is it? It's a bit like whether you work in one room or you have to constantly go from one end of the building to the other. So it all depends on how you set it all up and what you do at the time. In practice: whether you'd notice anything yourself is another matter. There would be many other factors that will slow down the performance.

mazin: I haven't abandoned this. I've started testing using UACD iso. You're not interested in including the extra keys mentioned previously? For your tests, do you have anything else to run/install in RunOnceEx apart from the exe? I find that having something else in ROE would change the order slightly. Your method involves outputting to individual txt files, right?

Thanks mazin! Actually, on further scrutiny, using cmdlines.txt would in fact import move.cmd to the Default User Profile and hence to every user who subsequently logs on. So I can't see any other way to make it apply to only one user unless you use GuiRunOnce. Forget about cmdlines.txt for this. If you first logon as Tom, as I outlined above, then it should be fine. If you first logon as Administrator, you can still use GuiRunOnce, but this time use it to move the cmd to Tom's user dir rather than executing it directly. So when Tom logs on later, it runs. See how that goes...

Do you really need to logon first with Administrator? winnt.sif: leave these blank to disable autologon with Administrator. [GuiUnattended] AutoLogon = AutoLogonCount = With cmdlines.txt, use useraccounts.cmd to create a new user and autologon.reg for this user, then it won't logon using Administrator. Put <filename>.cmd in $OEM$\$1 to be moved during setup. move.cmd (same place as cmdlines.txt) [code all in one single line] @echo off move /y "%SystemDrive%\<filename>.cmd" "%Userprofile%\Start Menu\Programs\Startup" $OEM$\cmdlines.txt should have: "useraccounts.cmd" "move.cmd" ==================== EDIT Some problems with this: see #13 my further reply.

WGA Discussions

I've been following your various crashdump threads. This won't help or comfort you in any way, but I am perplexed (to say the least) that all the crashdump, bugchecks didn't give a hint that it's an impending HD failure. Just makes me question their usefulness...

This happens probably because the user Tom dirs you specified were created very early on (in Text Mode) and later Setup thought the ones you created were old and made new ones besides the old, appending the computername to them. This would be the case during install when you choose not to delete the old user folders. Why not try GuiRunOnce? Items there would run when a user first logs on. My method also works: use cmdlines.txt to run a cmd to move your reg from a location (say $OEM$\$1) to your desired userprofile and autologon using that same user. EDIT: corrected, should be $OEM$\$1

Cmd can use unicode.

Did you not read what he said? As to the real issue: It could be because the SR folder is too full...

Yes it does. You haven't said anything on the other questions...

ProductID was used for Win 2000. Here. correct.

winnt.sif needs to have this as well: [Branding] BrandIEUsingUnattended = Yes I'm intrigued by why can't you change the HKLM Start Page. Something is starting up in Normal Mode and either changes it back or monitors and blocks it from user intervention. Normally you can change it as admin. What's the error message? Examine what items are starting up - do a Startup List. Is your AV or other tool preventing changes to the key?

S-1-5-18 to -20 are not logged on users. Look here.

Applying regtweaks via cmdlines would be easier. You're simply trying to do TOO MUCH all at once for a newbie. If you don't try to get to terms with the basics (like cmd, reg) you won't get very far. If you only rely on progs to do the jobs you'll find it hard to troubleshoot.

I think the tool checks the format not the actual content of the reg files. The requirements for a server are very likely to be different from those of a workstation so you can't just say this tweak for XP can be applied to 2003 without understanding what it does.

That's too vague. Is it hotfix or software updates? What methods have you tried? What error message?

try: Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell] @="none"

I've been testing this evening and it happened I included some of the other keys crahak mentioned and two others he didn't. I only tested this out on an existing installation as I wanted to get the steps right first. My cmd scripts are somewhat simpler than mazin's. I just introduced a 10s delay with ping and all the cmd outputs are appended to the same log.txt file. I also included another cmd to repopulate the deleted runonce keys for repeated testing (optional). I actually wanted to see the cmd windows so I didn't put in @echo off. All the cmd files for the reg keys are in the root of C. *.cmd: echo %~n0 started %date% %time%>>C:\log.txt ping 127.0.0.1 -n 10 -w 1000 echo %~n0 finished %date% %time%>>C:\log.txt The last test (test 11) results: Abbreviations: L = HKLM C = HKCU R = Run (so LR = HKLM Run, etc.) RO = RunOnce AUPSM = AllUsers Start Menu\...\Startup dir. UPSM = Current user Start Menu\...\Startup dir. Two new keys tested and which actually executed: LU = HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Userinit CL = HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows\load Summary: • RunOnceEx cannot be tested as they didn't execute. • Policy keys (HKLM and HKCU) didn't execute the added cmd scripts, presumably they only execute pre-determined keys. • This key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnceSetup failed to execute. • The HKLM RunServices and RunServicesOnce keys failed to execute (the corresponding HKCU keys not tested as a result). • HKLM RunOnce started after user logon has actually started. • In Test 6, HKLM RunOnce and HKCU RunOnce did not run but they ran in all the others. • In Test 6, CR and AUPSM started in a different order. • In Test 7, CRO started earlier than AUPSM and UPSM. • In Test 7, the startup order corresponds to that listed in Insider Power Techniques for Microsoft Windows XP (MS Press). • The desktop has started to load (but not fully loaded) when HKLM Run executes. • The finished order differs sometimes from test to test. Not tested: GP startup scripts, legacy locations - autoexec.bat, config.sys, etc.

If it works, fine. I remember (if correctly) that was some discussion here (can't recall the topic right now) that copying a user profile to the default user profile might have potentital undesirable consequences. Something to do with default permissions.

mazin: that's very impressive. Very scientific and methodical. And your standard of English in your posts is truly excellent for a non-native English speaker and would put a shame to many native English speakers! Apart from the two user folders whose start sequences are not totally consistent, do the remaining reg keys all start in the same order in all the 10 tests? The info you have posted is similar but not identical to the other sources that I've seen. How do you time the start, finish to the sfx extraction (writing to a txt file?) and how to log when the desktop loads?