DoomMunky

I wanted to be able to test whether my drivers work or not, too. But, I guess I already tested that successfully the hard way: by formatting everything and reinstalling with my XPCD! It was Take 3 for me, and it worked like a charm, basic drivers and everything going in just like I told it to. So maybe now I'll just use VMware (VPC was way slow) to test... I use CD-RWs anyway... What I don't have is very much HD space, and I like the idea of a totally self-contained partition that I can test away in and then format and re-merge with my main partition down the line. I hate getting cluttered up on my main drive (it's why I like to reinstall windows!). Thanks for the help, though, guys. Now I have the info that I need to start making decisions.

Hey there, guys! I just downloaded some partition software, made myself a brand-new primary partition, and now I'm wondering how I can use it to test my XPCD. Do I just boot with the XPCD in, and choose that new partition as the one I want to install Windows to? I'm using PowerQuest Partition Magic 8.0, and my XPCD only asks me where I want to install WinXP to, then is Unattended from there... Thanks for any ideas! (A basic walkthrough would be really helpful, as you guys tend to make assumptions about what people know, and I don't know much, as is obvious by my post!) Thanks again!

@Astalavista Thanks for the gentle reminder of how to be gentle. I wrote that post when I had been up reading this thread for 2 hours, and was really fed up. @Buckeye: I think you missed it but I'm sorry. I hope you post the guide there in the 1st post. That would be greatly helpful to everyone coming across all this for the first time Thanks for all the great work, both of you. Keep it up!

Heh, nobody wants to answer this. I'm brand-new, too, but here's what I understand: Slipstreaming is a method for integrating updates into previous version installers. You basically update your source files to the latest versions. For example, if you had the Windows XP Home SP1 CD, and you wanted to make it into an XP Home SP2 CD, you would follow the instructions in the guide under Basic, and 'slipstream' the SP2 files and updates INTO the files of your XP SP1. Of course you have to do this on the hard drive, and then burn a new CD with the result. So, um, confused? I obviously don't quite have a handle on it either. You integrate new files into your old ones. Get it? Got it? Good.

Heh, I learned this shortly after posting/testing further. This should maybe be included in the guide, which basically says that VMWare or VPC should be used for all testing...otherwise dumb kids like me think the wrong thing. Thanks for the help though, guys!

Man, this thread is a freakin' mess. WHY HAVEN'T THE SIMPLE INSTRUCTIONS, INCLUDING BASIC ASSUMPTIONS, BEEN POSTED ON THE FIRST PAGE???? Then guys like Astalavista wouldn't have to get snooty about reading and using the search function so often. You guys, coming into this stuff is REALLY HARD for non-programmers. Yes, we know answering the same questions a million times is really obnoxious for you good programmer-types, but you wouldn't have to if you realized what the holes in your information were, what people obviously weren't getting about the operation of the program, and posted it at the beginning of a ridiculously long thread! For God's Sake! Here's how this program works: To begin with, you don't need a clean install of Windows, you just need an installation of Windows that DOESN'T HAVE OFFICE ON IT. If you've got that, fine. If not, reinstall Windows, install a Virtual machine, whatever. Make sure your OS has no previous versions of Office on it. Now: 1) Download the shrinker from the first post and forget about it for a while. 2) Get your office cd and put it into your computer. 3) Go here: Office XP for the Office XP version and here: Office 2003 for the Office 2003 version of the instructions you need to slipstream all the latest updates into your computer and SET AN ADMINISTRATIVE INSTALL POINT. 4) Apparently, you've got to do that. Set an Administrative Install Point, okay? 5) Keep following the instructions over there on the guide. Eventually, you'll download the Office Resource Kit, which will take you through everything you'll need to do to install ONLY THE OFFICE TOOLS YOU WANT. This step creates the .MST file that you need to run the shrinker. 6) NOW you can run the shrinker, okay? What it does is ask for the Source files of Office, which I think means the CD you're installing from, and then asks for the destination you'll be installing to. Then, it wants the Setup.exe file, and then the .MST file you made with the ORK. 7) The shrinker watches the install of Office that you're now doing, and copies all those files, and ONLY those files, into the destination directory. Those are the files you specified in the ORK, and are only the applications and inclusions that you want. So you're only getting the Office that you want. 8) At the end, the destination directory has ALL the files you need to run ONLY the Office tools and programs that you specified in the ORK, and should be zipped up using WinRAR or some similar program. 9) Then, finally, it should be referenced in the start.cmd file on your Unattended CD for installation at the end of the Windows install process. The lines for the start.cmd file are as follows: ECHO. ECHO Installing Office XP [Home or Pro] with [name your applications here] ECHO Please wait... start /wait %systemdrive%\install\Applications\OfficeXP\setup.exe TRANSFORMS=Unattended.MST /qb- And? The final file should be placed here: C:\XPCD\$OEM$\$1\install\Applications\OfficeXP\ There. And I haven't even used the program! This, or the awesome .pdf on page 34: Kickass Guide or any of the other good guides in the last THIRTY-SEVEN pages ought to be posted in that first freakin' post... It's just ridiculous that something like that hasn't been done. Good night. I hope this helps. PLEASE correct any mistakes, so I can update them, and then follow this in the morning when I've utterly forgotten how to do all this... Thanks! Great site, and great guide!

Sweet!! I'm totally going to try that next! Thanks for the totally clear (if rambling ) reply! It really helps n00bs like me if you smarty-types are really basic. Thanks so much, and I'll report back with my results.

Whoa, is this true? Why doesn't anybody else confirm this?

No Drivers. Phooey. Okay: Failure. Ouch. It didn't work. A total bummer. I did get a working Unattended XP CD out of it, but I have to put in all my drivers and apps myself. Unless, of course, a Virtual PC installation is not a true test of the working-ness of my Unattended XP CD. Virtual PC still has the s3 graphics driver, not my nVidia GeForce 5600, and I can't even tell if my nForce2 drivers are in there... Poo. I did everything suggested, too, going off of the official guide and using the comments in this post. Grrr....no drivers! My final installation on the Virtual PC has a weird thing, too. Is this right: I have, in my C: directory, a folder for Install and for Drivers, as well as Docs and Settings, Program Files, and Windows. Is that right? Any thoughts, smart folks?

Holy cow, thank you so much! Such good, simple info, and so timely, too! Any idea when the Application Switches section will be back up in the guide? I'm looking forward to getting this CD out the door!

Okay, I know this has been covered in other places, but I'm so completely brand-new to this batch-file thing and all the 'referencing' files and 'calling' files and the winnt.sif file and EVERYTHING that my butt hurts a little when I try to read any of this. PLEASE go gentle on me, as I am a stupid gamer who is totally brand-new to this world, and know NOTHING of the assumptions all you take for granted. I just need a few clarifying points: 1) When installing drivers in my Unattended XPCD, do I need a seperate NUMBER at the beginning of every motherboard driver folder, or is it okay to have them all with the same number? ex. This? ----------> In the $OEM$/$1/Drivers folder, seperate folders that look like this: 000_nvidia_audio, 000_nvidia_audioutils, 000_nvidia_IDE, 000_nvidia_ethernet, etc. Or This? -------> In the Drivers folder, seperate folders that look like this: 000_nvidia_audio, 001_nvidia_audioutils, 002_nvidia_IDE, etc., with the subsequent drivers like Display starting with 010, 020, etc. 2) In those folders, whatever they look like, do I need ALL of the files in the nVidia installer package (for example, in the audiodrv folder in the nForce 3.13 installer there are a lot of .dll files and .sys files) or ONLY the .inf file? 3) Is the [GuiRunOnce] section of my winnt.sif file just an order to start the start.cmd file over in my $OEM$/$1/Install folder, or do I need other things under that heading as well? Thanks for any help, you guys. I'm using the MSFN Unattended guide, and for the most part, it's really clear and n00b friendly, but there are certain things that are glossed over or unclear. Any help will be much appreciated!