Mango

Hey Mango, Thanks for that, although I was aware of it. I have said in an other thread that that's not really an option for me. I had my WPI 3.5 version all setup with UNC paths (about 50 apps) only to find out it didn't work; hoping someone would find a fix soon. It seems I'll be sticking with good old batch files for now. Cheers, 'nuff <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Hmm, maybe it's possible to use a temporary environment variabele? For example: Set SERVERPATH=<UNC path> and then use %SERVERPATH% in your wpi ?

Just map a drive (let's say X: ) to your server share, that way you don't need to worry about UNC paths Oh and the new WPI is running kinda jerky on my system and is using around 50% cpu. When I stop the clock, things are good. BUt as soon as I hover above the buttons, the cpu usage is going through the roof! Maybe it's worth looking into it. I'm at work atm testing the new WPI using a P4 1.7 GHz with 256 MB ram. on it is running Windows XP with service pack1. oh it's a Dell optiplex GX240 if it helps.

I'm using bernr's version for a while now. I really hope you implement it in your future releases of WPI, kelsenellenelvian. And maybe a bit of an easier way to add 10 or 20 different configs for computernames or something like that. Maybe even importing a list of configs/computers ^^

Hmmm I'll try that sometime, thanks The problem is though, I'm using a modified version from bernr wich uses multiple configs based on computername (since that's a bit easier to use in a networked environment). You can find the thread here http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=41785 and it's based off of v3.5 Unfortunately, the downloadlink is dead. I still hope that kelsenellenelvian will add the feature of multiple configs to the latest version of WPI so I can try it.

You can use the local policy editor to prevent users from even viewing the services by using: start -> run -> gpedit.msc [enter] then browse to: Administrative Templates\Windows Components\Microsoft Management Console\Restricted/Permitted snap-ins And then disable the 'services' snap-in. Though I read your users are logged in as administrator, that's not really a good idea IMHO. They can disable the policy again, but it's worth to try. Or make them power users or something. [edit] ugh I only read just now there are 4500+ pc's, so going over each pc setting the policy isn't really an option lol. Guess it'd be easier if you had a domain with AD.

For your first problem, Enable the policy "Force classic start menu" in User Configuration -> Administrative templates -> Start Menu and Taskbar. This will set your start menu to act and look like the start menu in Win2000, and puts the icons on the desktop. As for your second problem, wich policy are you using for that?

Make a network mapping before you start WPI I use X: for my applications, so in your case it willl be something like: "X:\dd\ff\r\office update\ofsp1" (or whatever the share is). Then in WPI just add the correct paths to your programs.

I'm trying to get WPI to work on a WindowsNT4 machine with the last sp. I'm just trying to configure it to use on a future WindowsXP machine -not- to use it to install apps on WindowsNT4. I installed InternetExplorer 6 sp1 on the nt4 machine, but I keep getting scripting errors, eventually resulting into a white screen. After that I have to kill the wshta.exe process to get back to my desktop. I want to know if it even works under NT4? if so, what are the requirements? I cant post any screenshots of the errors for now unfortunately.

Great job bernr! There are some minor 'bugs' I noticed so far: -the Popup box falls behind the config listbox (when hovering on 'Begin Install' -When adding a program in the config, the category only lists 'other' and 'none', but when I save the entry, only then I can select from the categories I list in the options. For the rest it works fine, you did a great job

Does this also automatically select the current computername, and thus the correct config? So I wont need to select the right config for the right computer manually?

Well I just create a temporary network drive at first boot wich is the same for every comp (X:), that's where all the applications are. I'd love to have a textfile per comp wich lists the software for that comp only, but I'm not much of a programmer to get that to work with javascripting (I don't know anything about it lol). So the thing i'm doing now is, instead of a textfile, just have a config.js with "dflt[pn]=['yes']" added to the programs I want (I understand that much of the java being used ). I just don't really have the time on my hands to begin studying java and everything, so maybe someone could help me out?

Seems to me you added (") at the end of the line calling for dgt.exe, according to your error msg.

Maybe use the same kinda script to determine your cd-rom? for example put a file in the root of the USB stick, and let the script look for it? I don't think you have to change much for the cd-rom find script. don't pin me down on it however lol

lol hasi001, didn't notice your reply, I was in the middle of mine Thanks for replying tho

Well I figured out a way, tho I'm still tinkering with it a bit. I still need to good a good test (luckily I have a client I can use freely for it). At the moment I'm doing things like this: - At first boot, I map a network-drive to the application directory ie. X: - On that drive there is a directory with the directories of all the computers, something like: \000\PC01 \PC02 \PC03 etc. Inside each directory, I place a modified config.js file. In that file I place a "dflt[pn]=['yes']" for each application I want to install (so that it's checked by default when WPI starts up). - What I do on first boot after I made the network mapping is the following, I copy the config.js file for that computer into the %systemdrive%\install\wpi\wpiscripts\ directory. the syntax looks a bit like this: xcopy /Y X:\000\%computername%\config.js %systemdrive%\install\wpi\wpiscripts\ All this (the networkmapping and the xcopy is executed in a .cmd file -before- wpi.cmd is executed. I need to test a bit more if it works smoothly. Also I'm looking for an easier way to somehow check the default applications for each computer. If someone has an idea, please reply I hope this helps you.

Hello, this is my first post here so I'll try to be clear I currently got a network with alot of PC's (around 150), and I'm using a Windows2000sp4 with RIS to install WindowsXPpro on the clients. I'm currently still testing the installation with vmware on my client comp, wich is proceeding nicely. So far I got WPI working too and it's installing a few freeware/shareware as test (I still need to know the applications being used for the 'real' clients). After the GUI installation of windows, I execute a .cmd file wich maps to the applications directory on the network (ie. X:\%servername%\applications). The thing is, almost every computer is using different kinds of software. This software is listed per computer, so somewhere on the server there's a directory structure wich looks like this: \epc001\office \app01 \app02 \epc002\app02 \app44 \epcxxx\etc. 'epcxxx' is the clients computername. Inside that directory is the list of software to be installed (maybe just a textfile or reference to the software to be installed(you don't want to have 150x an office installation on your server ). What I want to know, is there an (easy) way to get a config file at the first login per client -with- the right settings for each application for that client checked and ready to install within 30 secs or so. Thank you for reading this