ArqFaim

Ok. I solved my problem. Thanks to all that contributed. The one that led me in the right direction though, was Buletov on his second entry. A simple solution to a basic problem, so here it is again: The way to force a format of C: while installing with an answer file is to boot from the installation CD and have winnt.sif on a floppy where it will be searched for. Of course the parameters on the answer file (must be winnt.sif not *.txt) have to be correct. Thank you all

Mazin, thank you for your reply. I tried the new command but it didn't work because I ... I also tried to boot from a CD to FreeDOS. But it didn't find my floppy drive and the modified unattend.bat on it. It also didn't find my HD partitions but that was expected because they need the fasttrack.sys driver because its a SATA drive so it probably needs an entry ina config.sys...

Well, that's a dead end for me. I have no software or hardware to burn CDs.

Hi RyanVm, Doesn't that imply that winnt.sif be also burned on CD? Should I copy the cd to the HD along with the winnt.sif? Won't that cause the same type of problem? Thanks for the help!

How should I start Unattend.bat then ? Click-click in Explorer? Edit: I have since tried double clicking to start the batch file. It's the same as running from the run box or a cmd window (actually all methods open a cmd window). Also it seems this is not equivalent to , RyanVm. If so WINNT32.EXE wouldn't work and WINNT.EXE would. This is not the case.Thanks for trying anyway.

Hi Buletov, Since you have the same type of problem... Do you know what "temporary setup files" won't let setup format or delete my C: partition? Details in http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=27510 Thanks in advance

Hello to all. I'm trying to do a clean install of Oem XP Pro via an answer file. No drivers or apps install so it should be a straigthforward task ... not so. What I have: Unattend.bat (vars substituted below) and unattend.txt on floppy disk, XP Pro Oem on CD drive: F:\i386\winnt32 /s:F:\i386 /unattend:.\unattend.txt /copysource:lang ;SetupMgrTag [Data] AutoPartition=0 MsDosInitiated="0" UnattendedInstall="No" [Unattended] UnattendMode=ProvideDefault Repartition=No FileSystem = * OemSkipEula=Yes OemPreinstall=No TargetPath=WinXP What happens: Start setup batch from cmd under existing XP (which I want to discard), press F6 and install Promise SATA driver, finishes copying files and reboots 2nd time. Then it shows me the partition table and when instructed to delete C: it answers it can't do it because it "contains temporary setup files" that it needs to complete installation. P.S. I have two additional partitions. Conclusion: I've been trying to install for two days now, reduced automation of the processes, quit the intention of automating drivers install, added Repartition=No, FileSystem = * after reading another post to this forum. Tried variations of Autopartition and Msdosinitiated. The problem subsists. I would be happy with a pre-setup format of C: but, given the SATA drive and the need for some kind of DOS to start setup from I'm guessing it would be more complicated. Help me please