Atari800XL

I tried some stuff with the new beta, but couldn't figure out if you've changed anything pertaining to UUP/ ref/ ESD stuff? What's new in the beta?

So that's not a flat-out "no" to the idea? What did you use to download the UUPs? The tools are in constant development at the moment... Did you use a fully automatic solution, or did you start the download from a list of URL's (they sometimes time-out after a few minutes already!)

I'm really not so sure about asking this, but I just "have to", somehow... I don't know if you've heard about the great new "UUP Dump" project by MKuba50, but it's a very nice set of php scripts that allow you to download Windows UUP files directly from the Microsoft Update servers. I know, I know, you don't want to mess with Insider Previews, but I'll try to restrict this purely to Release versions of Windows 10: Version 1703 (build 15063) is also available as a "UUP" edition. I have done some tests applying these files directly (without going through converting all ESD's to WIM, making ISO, etc.) and it seems to work just fine: (1) There are a bunch of CAB files that need to be converted to ESD (done in a few seconds, best done before hand, I guess). The bulk of the files are already in ESD format, though. (2) After that, all different SKUs are available from the set of ESD files (Pro, Edu, etc.) (3) Apply can be done by adding an extra command line option for the ESD stuff, for example: using DISM: DISM /Apply-Image /ImageFile:Cloud_en-us.esd /Index:3 /ApplyDir:Z: /SWMFile:*.esd using Wimlib-Image-X: wimlib-imagex.exe apply professional_nl-nl.esd 3 c:\ --ref=*.esd Once again: I really don't expect you to jump on this immediately, but I'm sure you understand I was thinking of WinNTSetup as well, when I was experimenting with this. The new 1709 version will probably be out this week, and I expect that the UUP files are available a week (or more) earlier than the ISO/ "normal" full ESD version.

Yes, that's it. Best solution, case closed. Thanks again!

Yes, I will try all of that (in time). And to perplex you even more: maybe the coolest idea would be for WinNTSetup to modify an existing "autounattend.xml" on the fly with the new name (if desired). That way there would be no misunderstanding on when to apply what. But I'm sure JFX will not bother :-) Thanks again for listening guys, just trying to learn here...

JFX, yes, this would normally be done in unattend.xml, just wondering if I could make something to act as a sort of "override" for incidental use. Jaclaz, yes, I asked if WinNTSetup could "manage" it, but *if* that would be the case, I don't know at what particular stage that would happen, like JFX said, it would normally be done by unattend.xml, so I was just wondering if setup would execute that *earlier* or *later* in the process than changing it in the registry myself (=after apply, before first boot). But from your reactions, I can already see that this will not be the new "killer" feature for WinNTSetup 4.0! :-) (meaning: it wasn't such a great idea in the first place. I believe I first got the idea when a buddy of mine was setting up Server 2016 in a VM, which doesn't ask for a computer name, and thinking this would be nice to spare a reboot later. Something like that... This also brought up the question of why a Hyper-V generation 2 VM is so picky when it comes to bootable iso's, but that's a whole 'nother topic). Thanks for listening, anyways.

So after WinNTSetup is done with the apply fase (just prior to first reboot), would that be the appropriate time to do the settings for a name change, or is that "too soon"? (ie. is the random name fase still to come, so changing the name this early would have no effect?). Just wondering (before having done any testing yet).

Thank you! I will start experimenting...

JFX, with all the nice new releases lately, I wonder if I can ask you something: - What would be the best way to name/ rename the computer after apply/ before reset? I know it can be done with autounattend.xml, but it would be great if WinNTSetup could name the PC on its own. At this moment, I'm using this in "PostInstall" to rename the PC, but doing it in WinNTSetup would shave off one reset in some cases. WMIC ComputerSystem where Name="currentname" call Rename Name=newname WMIC isn't normally available in PE, is it? Do you know of any other way to do it in PE (maybe using WinNTSetup -runafter, or maybe a new option?) Thanks for any info...

Very interesting... Thanks again for testing. Hope we can find out why your first attempt didn't work (JFX?) At least your test confirms it can work in WinNTSetup, so I can still suggest this solution to others (forced w10 driver updates are a big problem for some, specially on older hardware).

Thanks for taking the time to test. (Just put the reg file in a folder and point the "tweaks" button at it). I'm very interested in your results...

OK, sorry for giving wrong information. On a test laptop, this does seem to prevent a Synaptic driver from getting updated (and borked), but maybe there are other settings that I forgot to mention. Maybe JFX can help out here... (Maybe it also helps that I use this setting from the earliest stage of setup? Nah, that can't be it).

I have been using this, it seems to work for preventing driver updates (added to the WinNTSetup tweaks section): Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\DriverSearching] "SearchOrderConfig"=dword:00000000

Guimenez, there are other sites that explain how to do that, but even then: I would not advise to make updated iso/wim/esd files anymore. Here are my reasons: (1) For windows 10, there are only 3 updates you need, wether you install from an "old" or a "new/ updated" iso. You only need the latest Cumulative Update, one other update, and maybe Flash update. In the old days, an "old" source file would need more updates than a newer source, but with Cumulative updates, that's a thing of the past. (2) Better wait for next week anyway: There will be a new "Windows 10 1607.1" esd directly from microsoft. So that's version 1607 (july 2016), "with update".

belivakov: Thanks for the tip, but I already know how to convert esd to wim or iso. I even know how to "capture" these esd files (using Fiddler etc) and the new UUP files (and convert *them* to single wim or to iso). I just wanted to ask if JFX was playing around with these new UUP files, but I already got a clear answer: He is not :-) On the other hand: Microsoft doesn't even have everything setup correctly with regards to UUP, because even though they were planning some kind of "delta" upgrade system, the last three previews have been "full" downloads, which means all the files were there, so there's no download size/ speed advantage yet. Finally: WinNTSetup is great for testing these previews, as long as you at least have a single ESD file: WinNTSetup can apply straight from esd, but converting to wim might be a bit better, because it allows servicing (changing/ adding/ removing) and setup is a bit quicker that way.

No problem dude...

BTW, JFX: Have you already looked at the new Windows 10 UUP files that have been around since build 14986? The new 15002 build was supposed to only have a set of delta files to minimize the download, but I guess the first test of this system already failed, and 15002 has another "full" set of UUP files. They're just a lot of bigger and smaller esd and cab files, how Microsoft is going to use these to make future preview versions download faster is still anyone's guess, but at least people like Abbodi1406 and Adguard developed some tools to convert the files into a normal (single) install.esd/ install.wim/ iso. I'm just curious: In theory, do you think all the separate cab and esd files could be used to do a full install (that's without the need to convert to single esd/wim first)?

I ran into this Vista thing as well, a few years ago. JFX helped me back then, around December 19, 2014. Maybe you'd like to read the tips from then, they're right in this topic, just try to page back to late 2014. EDIT: Hope this link will take you there directly:

Thanks JFX, for pointing me to WinNTSetup_Dism_stdout. I believe it was my stupid mistake (once again...), because this is what that file reads: "You cannot service an x86-based image from an x64-based host that does not support WOW64." Sorry, I forgot about the fact that I have been testing some "x64 only" PE builds (both SE and normal ADK PE's) without WOW64. Thanks for replying so quickly, so I can nip this (self-created) problem in the bud. I will have to adapt my PE scripts to include checks on this. I must admit I didn't know about this issue until now, so I've learned something new! I will test again and add a small edit to this post if everything goed well again. THANKS again!!! EDIT: Tested and confirmed. Thanks again JFX, I'm sorry for wasting your time, but I'm very happy that I found the solution!

JFX, for a few years now, I'm using the command line option "-drivers: L:" to add drivers at "setup time" with WinNTSetup. I'm checking which PC I'm using, then I'm mounting drive "L:" with the corresponding drivers. This has always worked perfectly (with one XP exception, I've asked about that case before, but that's not the issue now). With the latest Windows 10 versions (tried both Pro1607 and LTSB1607), something seems to have changed, because the drivers (video, in this case), are not auto installing anymore. Can this be solved by adding the latest DISM to the tools folder? From a different thread (GetWAIKTools) I seem to recall this might cause some problems with Windows-7 based PEs? I'm using lots of different PE's, so I would really like your advice on this before I start messing with DISM versions... (EDIT: My current DISM folder has the oct-2015 files). Can you confirm that indeed something has changed with adding drivers? Thanks!

I'm using OSFMount for mounting iso's in WinPE (it's based on IMDisk). It's fully portable, I use it like this in (any) PE: osfmount.com -a -t file -f y:\portable\q.iso -m q: This example mounts an iso of portable software to letter Q: in PE. As I said, the IMDisk developer probably deserves all the credit, but for me OSFmount is just a bit easier because it is completely portable. The only problem I've found so far is it doesn't run in w10-10586x86 PE (it's fine in the x64 version, just not in x86). It looks like 10586 is not very good anyway (there are several problems with it), for now I'm testing build 14295 PE, and here everything seems OK again. If I only needed to mount iso's for WinNTSetup, I would have used the standard JFX method, but if you need it in PE for other things, OSFMount might be an option. I use it for mounting my Q: drive, but also to mount driver iso's for WinNTSetup. A script determines which hardware I'm on, OSFMount mounts the drivers for that PC (and bitness), then WinNTSetup is started with the "-drivers" command line option, and it integrates them just fine! I like this a lot better than manually inserting the drivers into the wim files (which can lead to all sorts of interesting problems).

"Flashed", WinNTSetup supports Vista, I have done some testing on that last year (I'll try to find the exact post later). You just need to install it once in the standard way (create a usb, do a normal setup, sysprep, capture), then after that this .wim can be installed with WinNTSetup (without the system partition being "D:" instead of "C:") EDIT: Read the posts from 18 December 2014 onward in this topic. The next part of your question is not very clear, I'm afraid. You say that "from" and "onto" is not clear in your language. So please try to rephrase what you mean: Install XP **from** USB with WinNTSetup? YES, that's possible, I use it all the time... You can use a POS update pack to create a fully updated XP iso. Install XP **onto** USB? I would use a "live" XP for that, maybe try "Gena" from TheOven (google it).

Thanks JFX, I really appreciate your help. This is a strange case, I never had this problem before (a driver that installs fine when done manually, but not automatically through WinNTSetup). I will try your suggestion ASAP and investigate further...

This is the driver install section, it's in Dutch, but maybe you see something special, of course I can translate some sections if you want me to (just testing the new board "spoiler" thingy).

Thanks for your reply, but I have those lines in winnt.sif already, it must be something else. It must have something to do with the fact that this might not be an official driver, I can't find any official download (just the DriverPackSolution version). As I said, manual install does work, after I click "continue anyway" at the "Windows logo warning" prompt. It's a a driver for ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4200.