ThaNerd

I've found on Microsoft's website a tool that will come very handy for all admins who want to create a cd with all the most recent security hotfixes, but EVEN WITH NON-ENGLISH VERSIONS. This tools is named Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA) and can be downloaded freely. Use this link. The principle is simple... Use your "base" xp install on a virtual machine, install MBSA on the VM, run it, and it will download the list of security hotfixes from microsoft, and determine which are suitable for you. After that, it will display a list of hotfixes. And if you click the links, it will lead you to a page explaining the implications of the security issue, and give you a link to the hotfix download. A link for each windows version affected. On the next page, change the language version according to your windows version, and download. I did all this on a non-virtual machine and downloaded 15 hotfixes for my (french) SP2 xp install. To apply them automatically, i ran this command for all of the downloaded updates WindowsXP-KB903235-x86-FRA.exe "/integrate:d:\long path\XP SP2" and all of them worked. This was one of the stones i add to this thread. Hope this will help some people! Note: I actually used version 1.2.1 of MBSA, whereas latest version of the tool is 2.0. I didn't test latest version, but i trust microsoft to make it better than the previous one...

I know there is a way of making bigger changes to the system properties dialog. I know because i had one under my eyes five minutes ago... I have no idea how "they" did it... But for sure, they did... I couldn't find the image anywhere... Could it be a resources hack of a system file? EDIT (20 minutes later): I investigated a little... Apparently, the guys hacked a .cpl file, and included a custom bitmap. The bitmap is 256 colors (215 indeed, but whatever), with the corners being the "ugly transparent pink" skinners know well... The guys just basically moved the "labels" around... If some people are interested, i could sum up some tutorial? If you want it, send me some PMs, emails, or reply here

I found an AutoIT script that exactly suits my needs on installing "some program". But despites it makes the process completely automatic, the setup still displays dialogs... Do you know of a way to hide them, while keeping the whole functional ?

Same here. i think you're gonna have to upload the thing somewhere and paste a link... I found an AutoIT 3 script that does everything, but i'm new to that proggie, and don't know how to HIDE the windows!

I wanted to slipstream all the updates that were added to Office 2003 into the CD, and thus, i followed exactly the step by step guide provided here. But there were moments when the process was a bit buggy, because when running the FOR %f IN (*.msp) DO msiexec /p %f /a......, all the MSI were ran at once... So i added "|pause" at the end of the line... And unexpectedly, it stops waiting after the slipstreaming is done. It's maybe a bug, but i like it ;-)

I downloaded the last french version of Skype a few minutes ago (1.3.0.54) on the official website, and ran the executable with "/verysilent" switch... It installed without any popup or anything. And i had a previous version on it installed before. All this to say that "skypesetup.exe /verysilent" works on french version 1.3.0.94.

The link to the "new and better msi" pack is dead I guess i'll make a NSIS myself. I made one in 5 minutes that installs a set of winamp skins in the right location, and that works absolutely silently... So... Well... Actually, it took lesser time to achieve than expected... Done Run with DamnNFOViewer.exe /S to run silently. !define APPNAME "**** NFO Viewer" !define APPNAMEANDVERSION "**** NFO Viewer 2.10" ; Main Install settings Name "${APPNAMEANDVERSION}" InstallDir "$PROGRAMFILES\**** NFO Viewer" InstallDirRegKey HKLM "Software\****\${APPNAME}" "" OutFile "DamnNFOViewer.exe" LicenseData "C:\Program Files\**** NFO Viewer\license.txt" LicenseText "If you accept the terms of the agreement, click I Agree to continue. You must accept the agreement to install ${APPNAMEANDVERSION}." ComponentText "Choose which features of ${APPNAMEANDVERSION} you want to install." DirText "Choose the folder in which to install ${APPNAMEANDVERSION}." Section "**** NFO Viewer" ; Set Section properties SetOverwrite on ; Set Section Files and Shortcuts SetOutPath "$INSTDIR\" File "C:\Program Files\**** NFO Viewer\**** NFO Viewer.exe" File "C:\Program Files\**** NFO Viewer\ReadMe.txt" File "C:\Program Files\**** NFO Viewer\history.txt" File "C:\Program Files\**** NFO Viewer\license.txt" CreateDirectory "$SMPROGRAMS\**** NFO Viewer" CreateShortCut "$SMPROGRAMS\**** NFO Viewer\**** NFO Viewer.lnk" "$INSTDIR\**** NFO Viewer.exe" CreateShortCut "$SMPROGRAMS\**** NFO Viewer\Uninstall.lnk" "$INSTDIR\uninstall.exe" SectionEnd Section "Optional Languages" ; Set Section properties SetOverwrite on ; Set Section Files and Shortcuts SetOutPath "$INSTDIR\LangDLLs\" File "C:\Program Files\**** NFO Viewer\LangDLLs\DAMN_NFO_Viewer_CHI.dll" File "C:\Program Files\**** NFO Viewer\LangDLLs\DAMN_NFO_Viewer_DEU.dll" File "C:\Program Files\**** NFO Viewer\LangDLLs\DAMN_NFO_Viewer_DUT.dll" File "C:\Program Files\**** NFO Viewer\LangDLLs\DAMN_NFO_Viewer_ENG.dll" File "C:\Program Files\**** NFO Viewer\LangDLLs\DAMN_NFO_Viewer_ESL.dll" File "C:\Program Files\**** NFO Viewer\LangDLLs\DAMN_NFO_Viewer_FRA.dll" File "C:\Program Files\**** NFO Viewer\LangDLLs\DAMN_NFO_Viewer_ITA.dll" File "C:\Program Files\**** NFO Viewer\LangDLLs\DAMN_NFO_Viewer_NOR.dll" File "C:\Program Files\**** NFO Viewer\LangDLLs\DAMN_NFO_Viewer_POR.dll" File "C:\Program Files\**** NFO Viewer\LangDLLs\DAMN_NFO_Viewer_RUS.dll" File "C:\Program Files\**** NFO Viewer\LangDLLs\DAMN_NFO_Viewer_SVE.dll" File "C:\Program Files\**** NFO Viewer\LangDLLs\DAMN_NFO_Viewer_TUR.dll" SectionEnd Section -FinishSection WriteRegStr HKLM "Software\****\${APPNAME}" "" "$INSTDIR" WriteRegStr HKLM "Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\${APPNAME}" "DisplayName" "${APPNAME}" WriteRegStr HKLM "Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\${APPNAME}" "UninstallString" "$INSTDIR\uninstall.exe" WriteUninstaller "$INSTDIR\uninstall.exe" SectionEnd ;Uninstall section Section Uninstall ;Remove from registry... DeleteRegKey HKLM "Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\${APPNAME}" DeleteRegKey HKLM "SOFTWARE\****\${APPNAME}" ; Delete self Delete "$INSTDIR\uninstall.exe" ; Delete Shortcuts Delete "$SMPROGRAMS\**** NFO Viewer\**** NFO Viewer.lnk" Delete "$SMPROGRAMS\**** NFO Viewer\Uninstall.lnk" ; Clean up **** NFO Viewer Delete "$INSTDIR\**** NFO Viewer.exe" Delete "$INSTDIR\ReadMe.txt" Delete "$INSTDIR\history.txt" Delete "$INSTDIR\license.txt" ; Clean up Optional Languages Delete "$INSTDIR\LangDLLs\DAMN_NFO_Viewer_CHI.dll" Delete "$INSTDIR\LangDLLs\DAMN_NFO_Viewer_DEU.dll" Delete "$INSTDIR\LangDLLs\DAMN_NFO_Viewer_DUT.dll" Delete "$INSTDIR\LangDLLs\DAMN_NFO_Viewer_ENG.dll" Delete "$INSTDIR\LangDLLs\DAMN_NFO_Viewer_ESL.dll" Delete "$INSTDIR\LangDLLs\DAMN_NFO_Viewer_FRA.dll" Delete "$INSTDIR\LangDLLs\DAMN_NFO_Viewer_ITA.dll" Delete "$INSTDIR\LangDLLs\DAMN_NFO_Viewer_NOR.dll" Delete "$INSTDIR\LangDLLs\DAMN_NFO_Viewer_POR.dll" Delete "$INSTDIR\LangDLLs\DAMN_NFO_Viewer_RUS.dll" Delete "$INSTDIR\LangDLLs\DAMN_NFO_Viewer_SVE.dll" Delete "$INSTDIR\LangDLLs\DAMN_NFO_Viewer_TUR.dll" ; Remove remaining directories RMDir "$SMPROGRAMS\**** NFO Viewer" RMDir "$INSTDIR\LangDLLs\" RMDir "$INSTDIR\" SectionEnd Function un.onInit MessageBox MB_YESNO|MB_DEFBUTTON2|MB_ICONQUESTION "Remove ${APPNAMEANDVERSION} and all of its components?" IDYES DoUninstall Abort DoUninstall: FunctionEnd Function .onGUIEnd MessageBox MB_YESNO "Would you like to run ${APPNAMEANDVERSION}?" IDNO NoRun Exec "$INSTDIR\**** NFO Viewer.exe" NoRun: FunctionEnd BrandingText "Compiled by ThaNerd" ; eof Using NSIS 2.07 and LZMA solid compression, resulting installer is 141.143 bytes. Oh, and it has an ugly icon

I didn't intensively test it, i didn't do anything but trying to see if there was something showing or not after i installed it for the first time. It's not a big phat quality image, but well, if all you wanna do is to chat with friends on the net, it's ok. All i know is that it has a microphone inside, and its own sound recording device driver. She just bought the second cheapest webcam there was at the shop (the cheapest was a Sweex one, and i told her "don't take this sh*** webcam". She just wanna chat with friends in her country (Italy) which she left two years ago for Belgium. I'd say it is decent for the (low) price she paid for it... Years back, i bought webcams for 4x the price with a lesser good image, and no mic inside, and had yet fun with them...

If you re smart, you may guess that you can simply add Wihu executable as the program to start thanks to the "autorun.inf"... Use some of the command line switches that Wihu supports so that it sips the parts you don't need... In global terms, in your "runonce", you run it normally (ie so that it lets you create main user account and all), and in your autorun.inf, you add the command line switches to skip the user accounts part of the wizard.

I'm creating an unattended WinXP Install CD for a friend of mine who doesn't know anything at all about computers. I'd like to preinstall all the drivers for the hardware she has bought, which includes a Logitech QuickCam Communicate. The drivers installation CD contains obviously drivers for many versions of webcams, and the files/directories naming are quite not evident to understand. The CD autorun is easy to use, but looks non standard (ie, not msi, not installshield,...), so i don't know which command line switches to use. And when browsing the CD to find which drivers to install, it's hard to guess, as many of the .inf files contain exactly the same description, despite being in different folders. Has anyone of you experienced a successful installation of that webcam's driver, in silent/unattended mode? And if so, could you point me to the right directions? Thanks in advance!