cluberti

Have the unattend execute your script, and have the script do something like this: Option Explicit Dim strComputer, strChassis Dim objWMIService, objChassis, objItem, objShellApp Dim execOutput, isRunning, colChassis RunMeWithCscript() WScript.StdOut.Write vbCrLf & "Started at: " & Now strComputer = "." Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:\\" & strComputer & "\root\CIMV2") Set colChassis = objWMIService.ExecQuery( _ "SELECT * FROM Win32_SystemEnclosure",,48) For Each objChassis in colChassis strChassis = Join(objChassis.ChassisTypes, ",") If strChassis = 9 Then Set objShellApp = CreateObject("WScript.Shell") Set isRunning = objShellApp.Exec("msiexec /i <drive:\path\to\file>.msi") Do While isRunning.Status = 0 WScript.Sleep 100 execOutput = isRunning.StdOut.ReadAll Loop Set isRunning = Nothing Else '// It's a UFPO - Unknown Floating Point Operator!!! ALIENS!!! End If Next WScript.StdOut.Write vbCrLf & "strChassis: " & strChassis WScript.StdOut.Write vbCrLf & "Finished at: " & Now Sub RunMeWithCScript() Dim ScriptEngine, engineFolder, Args, arg, scriptName, argString, scriptCommand ScriptEngine = UCase(Mid(WScript.FullName, InstrRev(WScript.FullName, "\") + 1)) engineFolder = Left(WScript.FullName, InstrRev(WScript.FullName, "\")) argString = "" 'WScript.Echo ScriptEngine If ScriptEngine = "WSCRIPT.EXE" Then Dim Shell Set Shell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell") Set Args = WScript.Arguments For Each arg in Args 'loop though argument array as a collection to rebuild argument string If InStr(arg, " ") > 0 Then arg = """" & arg & """" 'If the argument contains a space wrap it in double quotes argString = argString & " " & Arg Next 'Create a persistent command prompt for the cscript output window and call the script with its original arguments scriptCommand = "cmd.exe /k " & engineFolder & "cscript.exe """ & WScript.ScriptFullName & """" & argString Shell.Run scriptCommand, , False WScript.Quit Else Exit Sub 'Already Running with Cscript Exit this Subroutine End If End Sub

It's OK to be upset, but taking it personal isn't going to get you anywhere, honestly. Good luck to you, though.

The question then is WHY? If he wants R2 already installed (it's considered a *separate product*, btw, from Server 2003 SP1 or SP2) it might be wise to consider installing everything (on a base machine) and using sysprep and imagex to capture it then. The problem with bosses is that they *want*, but they usually don't know *why* they want something or how silly their requests are. Anything can look good on paper, but the why's need to be asked (and answered) before you kill yourself over this. If your boss is just doing it because he wants it to be a seamless process, consider the sysprep/image option.

Sorry, there are lots of tutorials around here on how to image XP, restore it, etc. Unless someone wants to spend the time to write you a step-by-step tutorial, you're gonna have to do the legwork yourself.

You absolutely sure it's just that one machine? Seems odd that a reformat and patch without network connectivity would result in the same behavior (also assuming you only reinstalled XPSP3 and the patch from known-uninfected media, as well).

One, it's not a lie - someone activated Windows 8 times that day. It's likely true it wasn't you, but you're the one calling about the key, and how is the person on the other end of the phone supposed to know it wasn't you? They're protecting what is obviously a leaked Windows activation key, and you're the poor SOB in the middle. I know I sound like a broken record, but you're going to have to prove it wasn't you by providing evidence that you own a legitimate retail CD, a COA sticker, and probably a proof of purchase receipt. Once you provide that (and I would suggest escalating - don't deal with the front line if they're not getting you anywhere), you should be able to get a new, unused product key that will activate.As to hating tech support from another country, that's usually because those folks don't have the power to really do anything above and beyond very simple things. It's not because they're not capable personally, but because they're hired as cheap labor to handle the very basic 90% of issues that come in. Yours would obviously not fall into that category, so get yourself escalated to someone who was hired to deal with the other 10% (no matter where in the world they are), and you'll probably end up a happier man. Don't take things like this personally - it's not personal, it's business.

Well, unless you also own licenses to Drive SnapShot, ImageCenter 5.6 (PowerQuest - NOT the version that was rolled into Symantec Ghost, but the old PQ version from 2002), Windows 98, Windows XP, The Winternals edition of NTFSDOS Pro, Paragon's Mount Everything (now Paragon Manager 11) and Paragon Partition Manager, HDD Regenerator, the old PartitionMagic Pro package (again, before Symantec), Avanquest (then VCOM) Partition Commander, Active Password Changer, ...etc. I could go on - there's another 10 non-free packages on the disk, not to mention a whole host of DOS command-line apps (like pkzip) that are non-free. Unless you also have licenses for all 24 non-free software packages (plus each non-free DOS command-line utility), you're downloading and using warez. I find it hard to believe you have licenses for each and every non-free package on that disk above and beyond Symantec Ghost and Acronis TrueImage or DiskDirector, and probably a Windows XP license.

Honestly, no, MCE is fine for anyone to use. However, so is TiVo, and the TiVo remote is much better than an MCE remote (yes, I'm nitpicking here, because honestly they're fairly equal in all other ways TV and recorded video). If you use Zune or iTunes, or a Windows Home Server, want to stream protected content, want to store and watch movies on the same device from your DVD collection, and want convergence in one "box", the MCE box + extenders is better. If you don't do any of these things (or can find ways to do these with TiVo), then that's the choice for you. TiVo is a *very* specialized device, and is *really* good at the limited stuff it does (do one thing, and do it better than anyone else). However, as a DVR + media machine, MCE trumps it in almost every other way, and watching TV on MCE isn't really much behind in experience either. I know you probably wanted an answer, and I danced, but you're getting into nuance here so I don't think I can really give you an "A" or "B" answer - you're gonna have to eventually decide which you want (use your gut too - read reviews, talk to people who use both, etc).

Given your setupcomplete.cmd, it looks like it could be one of the start /wait commands, although that's just an educated guess. Perhaps a bit more logging from your setupcomplete.cmd would be in order to track this down - what did it do last, and what does it think it's doing now?

nLite would be overkill if that's all you wanted to do. See this thread from 2006.

It's normal towards any version - as with anything, they don't know who you are (they sold that retail copy to a wholesaler, who sold it to a retailer, who sold it to you), so they want to verify you actually have a valid key. If you can prove the key is yours (with aforementioned faxing of documentation), you should be able to get a new key. And going to a website is just them saying they don't want to deal with you if you don't provide them documentation, honestly - the link is http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/downloads/RunHTA.aspx?displaylang=en&Page=comparekeys, which validates your OS. However, it isn't going to activate your install, so it won't help you. You will *have* to give them what they need, and they're either going to have to blacklist your key and give you a new one, or find a way to allow that key to activate again. There's no way around this.

Read my previous post very carefully.

If you call MS and tell them it's not you activating the key, they're going to ask for you to fax over copies of the proof of sale, the COA sticker, and probably the retail media disc (I've done this myself more than once, unfortunately). Once you prove it's you (and they'll be able to verify the sale to the vendor as well), they'll give you a new, unadulterated key. If they didn't do this, you didn't talk to the right folks or you really have activated it many times. I'm guessing it's probably the former, and your key has somehow been hit by a random keygen and leaked when it worked. Call back to the clearinghouse and ask to speak to someone to whom you can provide proof that the media and key belong to you and who will be able to provide you with a new key for a validly-licensed copy of Windows.

Emphasis mine:

You can either use reg add/reg delete or regedit /s <reg file containing settings> from a batch, or use a vbscript calling the StdRegProv (you could even do it with a powershell script for Vista or Win7) to add/delete reg keys. This is the easy part, I expect you've at least written a batch or vbscript before, yes?

Yes - take a look at a very small-scale production and see if you can do it (it talks about deployment from a USB key, but everything to the point of actually creating the USB media would be the same as doing it any other way). If you can do this, you can do a large-scale network rollout (really, it's about as easy as breathing once you get the hang of it, and moving from these skills to System Center ConfigMgr aren't that much a stretch either... ). You'll need a few things to do this, and I'm making the assumption you already have these things on hand other than MDT itself: 1. A Windows Vista or Windows 7 client, or Server 2008 or 2008 R2 machine to use for installing the MDT "deployment workbench" (it's what it's called). If this is going to be permanent, ultimately it helps to use Server 2008/2008R2 for this if server space is an issue, because you can also use this as your WDS network deployment machine later, and because some of the MDT files are copied from this machine over the network if you do end up doing WDS for deployment. 2. Your Windows installation DVD, copied to the hard disk in a temporary folder. 3. Any applications you want to install in your rollout, copied to the hard disk in a temporary folder. 4. The WAIK for Windows 7. 5. MDT 2010 (x86 if your MDT machine is x86, x64 if it's x64 Windows). 6. Optional - download the MDT 2010 print-ready documentation if you want to do a deep read on MDT. To set up MDT 2010 in a nutshell, assuming a Server 2008 R2 machine as the "MDT box", you obviously #1 install and patch Windows, #2 install the WAIK, #3 install MDT 2010, #4 (optional) install the WDS role. Once MDT is installed, you open the deployment workbench mmc and download the pre-requisites you need from Deployment Workbench > Information Center > Components. You really only need MSXML 6.0 and the WAIK, and if this is Server 2008 R2 you'll have both if you've already installed the WAIK. Once you're here, read the guide linked above. Getting a basic working deployment shouldn't take more than an hour or so.

1. Yes - assuming you're doing this under the previous Windows install or a WinPE booted with WMI support, you can use the Win32_SystemEnclosure class, specifically the ChassisTypes array return (for example 3 is desktop, 9 is laptop). If you use MDT to build and deploy your desktops, you can use (or set) Task Sequence variables to act based on machine type for installing apps, drivers, etc. I strongly suggest you look into MDT 2010 for this project as it's a really great front-end for WSIM/unattend, and it's PE images it creates to deploy can be booted over the network from WDS if desired (or run from USB or DVD media, although that's definitely the harder way to do a rollout of a few hundred PCs). 2. There are a few posts about this already; I suggest looking into those.

You're assuming that Save and Save as run through the same code paths in the program, but if that was the case why have two options? The hint is that they likely do not (especially when one loads code from explorer to provide a browsing shell box, and the other does not... hint hint), and given that it's Office (and it's storied history with SMB and oplock issues), I'd be checking into what happened over the wire (especially with redirected profile folders - other apps have issues with this too, like Internet Explorer). Just because it works one way and not another doesn't mean your assumptions are correct (and there's another hint - I suggested a netmon or wireshark trace because there's the likelihood it's an SMB issue if the server on the backend is 2003 or older). Not sure why a deskside technician shouldn't have access to at least run wireshark or netmon though - that's pretty odd. How do you support your clients if you can't look at a network trace? That's insane .

Try the following registry modification (documented pretty well here) before running WPI: Key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Associations Value: LowRiskFileTypes Type: REG_SZ Data: .exe

It's a time sink in the end - without highly specialized equipment and a very clean room, you aren't going to even get close to recovery (and again, there's no guarantee the folks WITH said equipment and room would either). Best to chalk it up to a loss, learn your lesson(s) or teach whomever the owner of this disc was thiers, and move on.

There's nothing wrong with your winnt.sif (CommonProgramFilesDir and ProgramFilesDir in [unattend]), and there aren't any typos that I can find. However, I'm wondering what would happen if you first booted to a WinPE environment, formatted, partitioned, and assigned drive letters to the disk, and THEN ran winnt32 /debug4 /dudisable /makelocalsource /unattend:<path to unattend.txt> (unattend.txt is the same format of winnt.sif, you could copy your existing .sif file and then rename to unattend.txt). It should work (there would presumably be an E: drive before setup starts), but if not there would be a winnt32.log in %windir% that would say why it didn't.

What file throws the warning, and from what path is it running? Usually you get that warning when a file has been downloaded from the internet (and still has the unsafe flag set in it's file stream), or you're running something from a network source (and the network server's path isn't listed in the Local Intranet Zone in IE).

As others have said, optical drives don't work like magnetic drives. There's no way, even with a small break (not scratch, but actual break) that you're going to be able to get anything off of that disc again. You may find a data recovery place that has equipment to put all of the miniscule pits back together on a new disc, but that will cost a (very) pretty penny as it's both time and equipment-intensive. After all that, there's still no telling if the data would even be recoverable at that point without the missing pits due to the way data is stored on an optical disc.Your best bet is to find another backup, and never trust any one media as a sole backup ever again, unfortunately.

Depends on how the event logs look, but according to that screenshot MSDTC is working again, so that's good news. Assuming you don't get this any other time, you probably have an Explorer shell extension that's COM object is broken due to what was done previously, although it'll be hard to give you a culprit pinpointed without a dump of explorer crashing out. It might be easier for you to use ShellExView and disable anything non-Microsoft, and play the roulette enable/test game to see if you can pinpoint the exact one that's failing (it'll probably work fine once you disable anything non-Microsoft). I don't see a third image, so I can't state anything about it. However, I would suggest doing something a little drastic (sort of) - if you had to restore COM components from an old backup image, you probably now have mixed versions of files. It would be best to reinstall whatever SP you have (I'm assuming XP SP3) and then use MBSA 2.1.1 to find out which hotfixes you need to reinstall after that.

We've already got tools and threads for this all over the forums. Also, you seem to be looking for help on this in multiple other topics - it might be wise to, instead of spamming about the forum, be more precise in your postings, and search before posting. These questions have been asked before - if you need something more specific, feel free to ask. However, up until now all of your questions are a little to vague (or have already been answered / discussed here), so please be a little more industrious before asking for help in the future. Thank you.