Tark

Well, I'm stumped here. When I silently install the quicktime alternative codec, the GuiRunOnce batch brings up a prompt that the installer is readonly. It offers the chance to ignore this read-only property and then installs fine. Only problem is that this interaction isn't exactly unattended. Any reason this would happen? This doesn't occur with real alternative. The properties for quicktimealt135.exe aren't marked as read only. Any ideas here? Forgot to add the commands I use: ECHO. ECHO Installing Quicktime Alternative codec ECHO Please wait... start /wait %systemdrive%\Install\codecs\quicktimealt135.exe /VERYSILENT /SP-

Can you please explain what you mean by blacklisting?

Not sure exactly how I managed to generate a msi file for this install, but I did. The following seemed to work and suppress any user interaction: start /wait %systemdrive%\Install\alcohol120\trial_setup.msi /qb Reboot=Suppress How can I find out other switches such as reboot=supress? I mean to say, I understand some switches are within the scope of windows installer 3.0, but what scope does the reboot=supress exist? I can't figure out why this works.

Well, I've tried installing alcohol 120% via: ECHO. ECHO Installing Alcohol 120 ECHO Please wait... start /wait %systemdrive%\Install\alcohol120\Alcohol120_trial_1_9_2_1705.exe /qn However, no matter what, i get a warning screen to choose yes or no to accept the software install. I thought /qn supressed the UI. Thoughts?

You guys rock. Much appreciated. I'm getting to understand more and more of this as I go on. One minor edit to your above command: There should be 2 'P' characters in suppress: /qn reboot=suppress Everytime I feel like I'm about to wrap up this CD, I venture on to more stuff! Addictive!

Well, I read through both stickied threads in this forum and I found the general consensus to install this from cmd line is as follows: Daemon Tools Install Switch: /qn /Reboot=Suppress Extraction: After running the installer, get the .msi installer from C:\WINDOWS\Downloaded Installations\DAEMON Tools 3.46\ Or on whatever drive your installation may reside. Well, when I run daemon.msi /qn /Reboot=Suppress I get a Windows Installer pop-up message telling me that I'm using incorrect parameters. I tried daemon.msi /qn and this works, but unfortunately reboots which is bad for my GuiRunOnce routine. So it seems the /Reboot switch isn't supported by windows installer version 3.0 as you can tell from here. The best information I could find on installing Daemon Tools 3.47 was found at the AppDeploy.com site. Is there a way I can look at the msi file? Some sort of tool, maybe? That last site suggests there is a way to deal with rebooting in the msi file itself, thus eliminating the need for a command line switch.

That's embarrassingly simple. Just so I am sure, when I see the version listed in one of these kernel.exe files, I see a version like this: 5.1.2600.1106 Am I to assume the last node of "1106" is the build number?

forgot to mention that GAIM is actually a mutli-IM program, although I use it exclusively for AIM. It supports AIM, Yahoo Msgr, ICQ, Jabber, MSN and a few other protocols. May sound confusing, but it's rather simple to use. I highly recommend checking it out.

I apologize for my ignorance, but can someone tell me how to go about determining if a particular kernel.exe file is in fact build 2180? I'm sure there is some simple utility for this, but it would be appreciated if someone could point me in the right direction. Also, are people simply hacking their own kernels like BigPoppa, or are any of us just trying to find a boot screen that is already out there complete with the appropriate build 2180 kernel? Thanks!

Welp, I'm having problems booting up with a custom boot screen as well. My problem seems to be more severe in that when windows tries to reboot, I get the following message: Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: System32\Drivers\Ntfs.sys My process was downloading a custom boot screen that had an ntoskrnl.exe file, copying that file to $OEM$\$$\Resources\oemkrnl.exe. I made sure to use the bootcfg commands listed in the win xp cosmetic surgery guide. Note that this guide is dated back to October 2003 -- service pack 2 obv. hadn't come out yet. I see some other people had this problem in a few threads, but no answer. I can only surmise that SP2 is doing something different here ... Also, I read somewhere that there are approximately 4 differnt kernel.exe files. Can anyone help us out here with customizing boot screens for sp2? I've tried this numerious times, but always end up with corrupted ntfs.sys file.

Why not just do away with AOL IM altogether and use GAIM. It has a version 1.0 windows port which is pretty sweet. I've been using it since version 0.83 once I found out about AOL's crappy installation policies.

Well, I couldn't find boot.ini on my C: drive, but I was able to pull up System > Properties > Advanced > Startup & Recovery Settings and then edited the boot.ini that way. i was able to simply remove the /kernel=OEMKrnl.exe switch. Thanks a lot Simonsays.

I've been trying to get an alternate boot screen for my slipstreamed xp disc. However, I was just trying my guirrunonce.cmd file on my current working OS to see if the commands would run. I managed to execute the following successfully: bootcfg /RAW /A /Kernel=OEMKrnl.exe /ID 1 bootcfg /Timeout 0 I'm very worried that when I reboot, my machine will be corrupted, as I don't have a custom oemkrnl.exe on this hard drive. How can I undo these so my machine will boot normally?

Well, I was able to determine a lot with my first test of unattended install on virtual pc. I definitely had the right uxtheme.dll and windows file protection turned off. I was able to choose the ximian theme manually. While it is true that this isn't a fully unattended install, I have made vast improvements in that I now have a mostly unattended, bootable xp slipstreamed with sp2 cd. I'd say this was at least a milestone for myself.

how? 1) Windows Explorer > Tools > Folder Options > View > Make sure "Hide extensions for known file types" is unchecked. 2) Windows Exlplorer > View > Details Now you should be able to tell whether your winnt.sif file really ends with .sif or .txt.

I saw that [shell] section for the winnt.sif file, but it explicitly states that you have to have a path to a yourtheme.theme file. I meant to mention that the ximian theme I downloaded does not come with a ximian.theme file. I saw a post/guie on how to create a yourtheme.theme file on these boards: first post, section about themes I think I may be in over my head with this particular theme and creating a .theme file. Is it acceptable to simply place your themes in the $OEM$\$$\Resources\Themes directory, and then manually change the theme? (i.e. the win xp installation doesn't default to this new theme, but it is still available.)

Hello, all. I've been reading up on the unattended install materials available on this site. I managed to slipstream winxp with sp2. 1) Uxtheme.dll -- I obtained this from http://unattended.msfn.org/xp/hacked_files.htm, and simply copied it to the I386 directory. I also made sure to have WFP turned off in my registry tweaks reg file. I was curious as to how I go about making one of my favorite themes, ximian curve theme my default theme. I have a file structure like so: XPCD/ /I386 /$OEM$ /$ /$$/Resources/Themes/ /Ximian The problem is that ximian theme didn't come with a .theme file pointing to its own components. I was following the guide in this board's how-to for making a theme your default theme. I'm not really sure what to do with creating the .theme file, as there are several components in the ximian theme that don't follow that example such as shell DLL files. Can anyone advise me here? 2) I see in the batch file examples page that there are two methodologies for running these batch programs upon completion of windows setup. There seems to be a start.cmd way, which is described in the tutorial, and then there seems to be this RunOnceEx.cmd way which has a whole different syntax involving the registry for install. Can someone clear up for me what is the best approach, or at the very least the pros/cons of each? Thanks in advance.

I read the guide to slipstreaming xp with sp2 using nlite and dot net framework. Looks very simple to use. I have a question regarding use of this nlite program with a non-bootable XP disc. I work for a company that allows use of their license for employees at home. The only catch is that one has to use that bootable floppy program that creates 6 floppy discs to start the XP install process. Needless to say, this is annoying. So I want to slipstream my XP disc. How can I get that disc to become bootable? Thanks in advance.