durex

thx!

I need a stand alone rar extraction program, which doesnt make any reg entries or tie itself to custom user files. Doesnt need to have the ability to create / modify, etc... just extract. Thanks!

you need to use msiexec with it?

Hmm.. I guess I did misunderstand you.. and to be honest, Im still not completely sure why you want to create an account, then delete it. I understand that each pc you install must use a different username, but there must be a much cleaner way to accomplish this, but why are you creating an owner account, only to delete it immediately after... this part doesnt make sense to me. A couple other options... what if you had cmdlines.txt run the useraccounts.cmd from a floppy, which you update each install? The only caveat to this is that you would need to make sure you insert it after the initial reboot and take it out prior to the final reboot. Sure.. still not completely unattended, but its a hellova lot cleaner than creating an account, then deleting it. Also, have you looked into this thread? I didnt look all the way through it, but if you can truly do a complete unattended install over the network, than you would have the luxury of being able to change your files, each time you do an install.

excellent.. cant wait to test it out!

Again.. theres absolutely no need to "install" it.. you just can copy the files I mentioned above. For example.. I have mine installed to "C:\Entertainment\Steam". Just make sure you grab the reg settings of an already installed version before you reformat, then apply them after you copy the necessary files into place.

You didnt read closely enough... like i mentioned previously.. you run this at the cmdlines stage... in other words.. replace your useraccounts.cmd batch file with this code.. so this will launch from you cmdlines.. you enter your account info and upon reboot it will automatically log on with this account and fire off your RunOnceEx. One thing I should mention is that I havent fully tested this yet.. I tested the batch syntax by replacing the actual commands with 'echo' statements and it worked without issue. For all intensive purposes, this script does exactly what the useraccounts.cmd and autologon.reg files do (outlined in the msfn guide), but simply gives you the option of using a username / password of your choice. Again... unless Im not understanding you correctly... and that the syntax is correct.. Im pretty sure this is exactly what youre looking for. As soon as I get a chance Ill test this with a VMWare install to make sure it runs without issue (or better yet, if someone else has a chance give it a shot and post up your results! )

Just answer 'No' to the 'Add to Admin Users' question Also how would I set windows to auto logon with the newly created restricted user? Ive updated the above code.. the only downside to this would be you cant add multiple users.... well.. you could.. but I really didnt feel like updating the code to allow you to do so. So with the updated code, I REM'd out the entire section on creating another user. Maybe when I have some more time Ill update it so that you can set the 1st user you add to autologon or something. One last thing to note, in case its not obvious.. just like the normal method of creating a user and having it autologon... you need to make sure this batch file it run during the Command.txt phase of your install and not the RunOnceEx. Let me know if you have any further questions!

I sfx everything except for whats in the SteamApps folder. Then I place all of my SteamApps\*.gcf files, my config.cfg files and my HL2 SAVE folder on one of my storage drives. I really dont bother rar'ing / 7zip'ing up these files, as I have a ton of space available on this drive and it would just take longer to extract them during the install/copy. Before I reformat, I always make sure to copy the updated gfc files and my config/save files over to where I store these.. so that theyre up to date. Then as part of my RunOnceEx, I actually copy these files (as well as some other save game files and config files from other games) back to their original location; which is after I have extracted my Steam SFX to its install location. In addition to this, I also exported my reg settings from HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Valve and HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Valve before I reformat, then import these settings as part of my RunOnceEx. Hope this makes sense...

As far as changing the username after its been set, I probably wouldnt recommend that as there are a few references windows uses for it that may not be covered. What you could do is make a simple batch file that runs during your RunOnceEx stage that you can pass a username with... EDIT: So I got bored and decided to make the batch file for ya.... this should be just what you need, if I understand what youre looking to do here. This will prompt to create a user account and ask if you want to add it to the admins group. You can obviously modify it if you want youre users to be added to a different group.. Hope it helps! @echo off :START cls echo. echo Create Windows Account echo ====================== echo Enter a Windows Logon Name and Password you would like to create... echo. set /p UserName=Name: set /p Password=Password: echo. :ASKADMIN set /p CreateAdmin=Add User to Administrators Group? (Type Y or N): if /I %CreateAdmin%==N goto CREATEUSER if /I %CreateAdmin%==Y goto CREATEUSER cls echo. echo Invalid Choice. Please type 'Y' for Yes or 'N' for No. (Without quotes) echo. goto ASKADMIN :CREATEUSER REM Create User cls echo. echo Creating User Account "%UserName%" with Password of "%password%"... net user %UserName% %password% /add echo. echo. if /I %CreateAdmin%==Y goto ADDADMIN REM echo Done. goto ADDANOTHER :ADDADMIN REM Add User to Admin Group echo. echo Adding User "%UserName%" to Administrators Group... net localgroup Administrators %UserName% /add echo. REM echo. REM echo Done. goto ADDANOTHER :ADDANOTHER goto EXIT REM This section will be skipped so that the only user you setup will also autologon. REM Ill try to update this later so you can still add multiple users AND have a user autologon. set /p CreateAnother=Create another User? (Type Y or N): if /I %CreateAnother%==N goto EXIT if /I %CreateAnother%==Y goto START cls. echo Invalid Choice. Please type 'Y' for Yes or 'N' for No. (Without quotes) echo. GOTO ADDANOTHER :EXIT REM Set user to autologon echo. Setting User "%UserName%" to Autologon. REG ADD HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon /v DefaultUserName /t REG_SZ /d %UserName% REG ADD HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon /v DefaultPassword /t REG_SZ /d %Password% REG ADD HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon /v AutoAdminLogon /t REG_SZ /d 1 echo. echo. echo Done. pause exit

Viva la Diskeeper! Windows Defrag sucks! heh....

I guess Im confused... how does what you want to do differ from this?

If you use Diskeeper for defraggin (which you should be if youre not), theres this thread that walks you through it... It seemed a bit involved when I first took a peak at it so I never bothered in getting around to trying it, but give it a shot if youre determined to do so! Let us know how it works out!

Thanks as always for the suggestions guys!

I need it got avi's mainly... and this dfx tool it extremely limited unless you buy it.... any other suggestions appreciated!

Anyone know if its possible to get around restricted internet zones which force you to pay prior to allowing access to the internet such as airports and hotels?

Ive noticed some of my movies are still a bit quiet even when I have the system volume and wav volume maxed out. Is there any utility out there that can 'boost' the volume even higher without creating the need to physically changing the actual file itself? Thanks!

regardless.. wrong forum

i use winrar, but i hear 7zip does better compression..

But thats not going to install any games or configs... only the steam portion... so youre still going to need to wait 6 hours to get all of your games after the fact.. unless you back up the files I mentioned.

Yea.. Silver is partially correct in regards to steam. There isnt a way to silently install it, but all you really need to do is copy most of the files. I would discourage using Steams "backup" function... as all it really does is combine all your *.tcf files into one file.. or several depending on how you configure it. The huge downside to this is that it does absolutely no compression whatsoever... so youre better off rar'ing these files up... or what I do is copy these files to a seperate drive and copy them back after re-install, since theyre so big.

I think what fluid is looking for is how to change the install location for Firefox... not actually how to change the location of Program Files. To do this all you need to do is extract Simonsays installer, open config.ini and change the line: Path=[PROGRAMFILESDIR]\Mozilla Firefox to whereever you want to install it to.. for example I have mine install to 'C:\Internet\Mozilla Firefox' Youll also want to make sure you edit the 'Setup\setup.cmd' file to reflect the change in location. Once its all said and done.. repackage it and you should be good to go. Hope this helps!

I use his technique in RunOnceEx. I remember initially trying to call the vbs during cmdlines (prior to runonceex), but cant recall if I had issues with it or not... which I suppose doesnt help at all does it?

Right click on your C drive, click on the Security Tab and post up what names / groups you see in there...

I dont know if perhaps the nLite section would have been more appropriate for this (admin feel free to move if you think it is), but I was wondering if it was at all possible to add a windows component back after youve installed with it being removed from source. For example, I removed the Windows Help System using nLite and now I want it back. Is there anyway I can simply add files back or do I have to perform a complete re-install of the system using source with this item included in it? Thanks!