Flintstone

My problems are that I have a RAID setup and that the automatic method does not work ... the automatic method only works to install to the same partition as the system volume. At least this way works but I am sure that there must be a more efficient method of creating the boot loader. My method will also work on WinPE so I will update the method if I find an easier way. I would enable the F10 button rather than using boot.ini but none of the utilities used for doing that seem to work on RAID setups. I will be using the final system (with WinPE) when I ship PCs so the less licensing and more control I have the better. Thanks for all your help.

Okay, I am most of the way there ... none of the methods in the posts worked but they pointed me in the right direction. This is my method but I would like to make it a little more efficient: Create a formatted and active partition (XPE, R:) Copy the contents of the BartPE folder to R:\ Rename the copied R:\i386 folder to R:\minint. Copy Ntdetect.com from C: to the R:\ Copy R:\minint\setupldr.bin to R:\ntldr Restart the computer. The computer starts up using WinPE. Install the Windows Recovery Console using an XP Install disk (winnt32.exe /CMDCONS) Copy X:\Cmdcons\Bootsect.dat to C:\XPE.dat Add this line to your boot.ini - C:\XPE.DAT="Microsoft Windows PE" Mark XP Partition as active Boot into XP Erase the contents of R:\Minint Copy C:\BartPE\i386 to C:\Minint Although the method works it seems awkward to install the boot sector by installing the recovery console, there just has to be an easier way. I have tried using mkbt (mkbt -x -c R: C:\PE.DAT from XP, mkbt -x -c X: C:\PE.DAT from PE) but that only succeeds in booting into the recovery console on the C: drive. The other tools I have tried only work from floppy and I have a RAID setup so they do not work. If this is the only way that works for me then that is fine but if anybody knows a method of creating a BOOTSECT.BIN or equivalent without using the recovery console then that would be great.

Excellent, that is a great help. The reason it was mounted when in Windows was so that they could update the Windows version using SMS when a user was logged on. I am not sure exactly how they updated the files, probably just copied accross the files that were changed after applying hotfixes.

I saw this at a corporation I worked for and would like to know how it is done. Basically, if you pressed F8 during startup and then from there chose OS choices menu you had these options: Windows XP Professional Reinstall Windows A partition was mounted under system32\repair which contained a BartPE setup. This setup formats the Windows partition and reinstalls from scratch. Somehow they had a boot.ini option that allowed them to boot from the PE partition and reinstall Windows ... it saved them a fortune in Helpdesk calls and made local supports job a lot easier, any awkward problems and you just told the users how to restore their build. The whole thing ran locally and there was no requirement for networking. Does anybody have any idea how this should be done? I have searched and just can't find the information anywhere ... I guess because it is a fairly unique approach.

You think it would be a lot of work? As far as I can see, all I would need to do is copy my DVD to a partition, use diskpart to format the old OS drive and then boot from the partition containing the DVD drive. The only problem is that I am finding it hard to get information on how to do this. I noticed there is a PE forum here, maybe one of the mods can move this post to there? Simply Simon ... your pic scares me

I have noticed that on development PCs at work I have an option on my boot menu to restore Windows. This option in boot.ini looks like this: c:\windows\bootpart\boot.bin="System Recovery" When you select this option it boots into a partition containing an unattended install of the OS. This is a great way to recover your PC to its original base but I have not seen anything about this on the forums. Does anybody know how this is done? ... a howto would be perfect Also, I would be especially interested on getting this to work on a RAID setup.

There is an option that says something like 'Show applications in order'. If you select this then the applications will be in the order specified by the numbers (Like 999).

Hi gunsmokingman erm ... your second cleanup file also adds runonceex entries but I get the point. When I get back from work I can change my post so it reflects what I have really done. Most of the posts I saw were very vague on how to deal with this issue. I have chosen to do it your way because then at least the files are together. I can also move the current user registry entries into the second cleanup file and erase the shortcuts from under Default User ... in thoery it should all work better, especially the current user entries because there are often problems with the IE Toolbar changes and disabling the screensaver. I only use 1 user on my PCs but I will set .Default for each reg entry as well so other users will still get most of the changes. I do not see much point in doing too much more with it, especially because Vista will be out later in the year. I am planning on having a fully patched Windows and my main apps on one DVD (More if necessary). Thanks for the advice Flintstone

Hmm ... this problem was caused by the shortcuts not being created before I attempted to delete them. I found some other posts and worked out a more efficient way to get around the problem: Here is my new cleanup.cmd: DEL "%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Windows Update.lnk" DEL "%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Set Program Access and Defaults.lnk" DEL "%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Windows Catalog.lnk" move /y "%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\msn.lnk" "%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Internet\" move /y "%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Windows Messenger.lnk" "%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Internet\" move /y "%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Windows Movie Maker.lnk" "%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories\Entertainment\" I have created the following folders on my DVD $OEM$\$Docs\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Anti Virus & Anti Spyware" $OEM$\$Docs\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\CD & DVD" $OEM$\$Docs\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Church" $OEM$\$Docs\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Development" $OEM$\$Docs\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Disk Utilities" $OEM$\$Docs\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Graphics" $OEM$\$Docs\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Health" $OEM$\$Docs\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Internet" $OEM$\$Docs\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Languages" $OEM$\$Docs\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Sound" $OEM$\$Docs\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Viewers & Editors" And created the following self destructive batch file under $OEM$\$Docs\Default User\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\smenu.cmd move /y "%USERPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs\Internet Explorer.lnk" "%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Internet\" move /y "%USERPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs\Outlook Express.lnk" "%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Internet\" move /y "%USERPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs\Remote Assistance.lnk" "%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories\System Tools\" move /y "%USERPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs\Windows Media Player.lnk" "%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories\Entertainment\" del smenu.cmd This will be copied to each new users profile and ran it should work fine ... I just need to create the ISO and test

I have a problem with my cleanup script and cannot work out what is wrong. Can somebody have a look because I will go blind if I look for much longer This part is working fine: DEL "%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Windows Update.lnk" DEL "%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Set Program Access and Defaults.lnk" DEL "%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Windows Catalog.lnk" md "%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Anti Virus & Anti Spyware" md "%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\CD & DVD" md "%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Church" md "%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Development" md "%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Disk Utilities" md "%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Games" md "%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Graphics" md "%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Health" md "%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Internet" md "%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Languages" md "%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Sound" md "%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Viewers & Editors" move /y "%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\msn.lnk" "%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Internet\" move /y "%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Windows Messenger.lnk" "%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Internet\" move /y "%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Windows Movie Maker.lnk" "%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories\Entertainment\" The rest of the script fails to work: move /y "%USERPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs\Internet Explorer.lnk" "%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Internet\" move /y "%USERPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs\Outlook Express.lnk" "%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Internet\" move /y "%USERPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs\Remote Assistance.lnk" "%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories\System Tools\" move /y "%USERPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs\Windows Media Player.lnk" "%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories\Entertainment\" I call the above cmd file from RunOnceEx. This works fine for 90% of the file but the other 10% fails. The lines that fail appear to have no effect ... the shortcuts remain under "%USERPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs\Windows Media Player.lnk". If I copy the script to the desktop and run it then it seems to work without any problems. As you can see, the offending lines use the %USERPROFILE% environment variable. I just cannot understand why it does not work, surely running this script from runonceex should be the same as running it from the desktop? Does anybody here know what the problem is ... please?

I used all the registry changes produced by regsnap (No files were changed). All my other regtweaks work and IE comes up with no text in the IE Toolbar without any problem so the settings are imported into the registry. For some reason the icons are still large though. Strangely, the registry tweak works perfectly when merged manually (double-clicking on it). mmm ... I am stumped on this one.

If the registry file works when you apply it manually it is not the problem ... it has to be the way you have it set up on the XP CD. You should have a file called cmdlines.txt in the $OEM$ directory which should contain at least the following: [COMMANDS] "REGEDIT /S regtweaks.reg" Your registry file should then be called regtweaks.reg and should also be in the $OEM$ directory.

I like the links, they are useful. I like regsnap, a useful little utility I have not use for a couple of years It works when running it from the Desktop so it should work just fine for the unassisted install. Thanks Astalavista for your help. Fred

Hi Astalavista, Funny but I am already one of the 20 million who prefer Firefox (I am used to Mozilla because of my Linux boxes). The reason I want to do this with IE and not Firefox is because I need to build totally clean PCs for testing freshly packaged software. Because the PCs need to be totally clean I can not use any third party apps or even have a normal user log into the system (I need to use the Admin account only). It would just be much more convenient if IE had small icons and no text labels but it seems like nobody can work out how to do it. Surely somebody has the knowhow?

I have managed to do everything I want with my unattended installation except to give the Internet Explorer toolbar Small Icons and No Text. Has anybody been able to do this successfully?