DonDamm

What didn't work? How did you prepare the logo screen? Did you use Resource Hacker or another program to replace the standard screen? did you use the proper size? It sounds to me like you've made an error in creating your alternate kernel. If you did it right and followed the directions above, you will see a boot menu. I do it all the time. That's what Windows installation does when it first boots up. If you capture the boot.ini then you'll see that. Or perhaps, you've made an error in your ARC path. This isn't rocket science here. Go back to the beginning and retrace ALL your steps and make sure you've done each one correctly. Make note of what happens at each step. Then come back here and detail that. We can't help you if you just say "It doesn't work!" also, few folks are inclined to respond to that sort of attitude. go back to your drawing board and try again.!! Okay?

Try making it look something like this: multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn /kernel=ntoskrnl.exe multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Pro Special" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn /kernel=ntoskrnlw.exe With these two lines you should get the boot menu giving you a choice between the two. If no choice is made, then the default is booted after a set period of seconds. that is set in the boot.ini under [boot loader]. The default is timeout=30 but you can change that to 5 or 10 if you want. If you want the default to be your new os kernel than you must specify that under [boot loader] also.

Thank you for that, tbma! By inelegant, I meant having to run a cmd file before and after to do something like cahnge a system date. That shouldn't be necessary and you've shown me how. I appreciate that! ) The AutoGenerated scan is a nuisance to me and you I'm sure, but I'm just as happy to leave it in there for clents, most of whom don't do anything until I show up again and find defs out of date and various spy/adware on the machine! Thanks again.

Okay, the short version. Peer-to-peer is legal. How's that?

If the structure of your folders is correct, the files will be copied during the first phase of the set up just after all the Windows files have been copied over. If you post your winnt.sif as has been suggested, we can better see what you have done. Your RunOnceEx.cmd file must be in the $oem$ folder along with your cmdlines.txt file, and the stuff you want to be installed must be placed in $oem$\$1\Install. Please note the $1 folder. If you've left this out, it won't work as you expect. If you haven't done this properly, things won't be copied to the right place. During the first part of setup you can watch and see the files being copied over. Note: If you have more than a few programs and more than about 50 or 100 MB, I would leave them on the disk and change my path to reflect that. My own UAI is now over 3 GB and growing, but fitrs comfortably on a DVD. )

That is the foolproof method and will work. An alternative involves configuring your SCSI BIOS first to set the drive as the boot drive. The SCSI bios kicks in first, but usually hands off back to the system unless you tell it otherwise. Then all the SCSI devices are enumerated AFTER the ide and optical drives, which is why youu see the drive order you do. Either way will force your system to see the scsi drive first which will then become the system drive and be assigned C:

Well, yes you can delete it, but how you delete it and what you mean by "delete" it isn't clear. Also, it isn't clear why it just started to install with no CD in the Cd drive. Odd behaviour indeed. I presume there is another partition with data on it and probably an i386 folder with windows setup files in it somewhere. do you wan t to keep that data? or is it okay to zap it? In genereal you probably want to use a third party tool and clear the partitions altogether. Then lay down new ones and reformat them anew. If your paranoid about leaving data behind, then use a utility to "wipe" the disk with 20 or 30 passes. Then reformat. If you want to fresh install on the 5GB partition, that will work, but won't leave much room for expansion. If you're selling it, why not leave it clean? Unless your selling them the media and license too.

Don't want to sound too much like an echo here, but this is an artifact of the way you managed the second install. When you "reformatted" the what was then the C:\ or system partition, if you did so by removing the partition and then recreating it as I did once, then Windows will "see that newly created partition, not as the first one, but as the last one! (that's why it became F:\). It uses ARC which is a naming convention (check your boot.ini and you'll see an example of this!). The drives then get named in the order of that convention. The system drive is for all practical purposes, locked. That's why folks have made the suggestion of re-installing becasue only that way can you get the re-ordering of the drives that you want. MS doesn't explain this very well, in fact, not at all. Since so many folks have only one drive - C: it doesn't make a difference too often. It's when you start learning, but don't have all the information that things get screwed up! Years ago I wish that the install routine had been kind enough to let me know that Win2000 wouldn't install beyond the 8GB barrier! Well, it installed alright, just wouldn't function! MS just never bothered to indicate that in the install routine which would've been easy enough to do! Grrrrr.

Not certain, but that key looks like it pertains to the new built-in MS Security Center. I kdon't know if the mesagge box that pops up is from the security center or from Symantec! If it is MS, then that would work also. In either case it requires running and cmd file before and after, which is a bit of a kluge and inelegant, even if it works. I would prefer to disable it in the msi file itself, but I don't have time to look into it right now because I have to finish my tax declaration by the end of the month!!!! I found a program, MakeMSI which is free and allows you to manipulate and look inside msi files. If I'm successful I'll post the results here. Until then, a quick change of the system date does the trick and after reboot it automatically goes out and gets the updates. Addendum, I also found that if you set LiveUpdate to Express Mode you can copy over the ini file which is Setting.LiveUpdate to %AllUsersProfile%\Application Data\Symantec\LiveUpdate\Settings.LiveUpdate it will update without any necessary input from the user! )

clever!! Thanks for that tip. I'll remember that.

If I'm not mistaken, it may be that the set50.exe file which runs at the end after RunOnceEx.cmd is through and creates the IE, OE, and WMP icons in the current user Start menu, may also create the standard links and folders for Favorites. To address that without making any other structural changes to the default user, you could do one of two different things. Kill the process of setup50.exe as soon as it starts or just delete the thing from the Outlook Express folder in Program files. If you do that as your last command in Cleanup.cmd and don't give a long time for reboot (20 sec is enough or even less), the file doesn't have enough time to regenerate (it is a protected file that is automatically replaced by Windows File Protection), and the icons and folders don't get created. A better solution is to create a small command file to delete the links you don't want and add the command to run it RunOnce (I think this is HKLM\software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce). That way it will run when you reboot and you won't even see it and your folders will be gone! ) Any new users add after that, of course, will have the standard default folders.

This question is an old debate, but it is still a valid one to ask. Is it right? Well, that has a lot to do with how you view the copyright laws themselves, who they were intended to benefit and who they now actually benefit. I would argue that the current laws regarding copyright and incidentally patents are woefully in need of reform as they've lost their original intent of protecting the work of individuals and fostering innovation. Currently, the major beneficiaries seem to be extremely large corporations with huge political clout. They are afforded all the same rights as single individuals without accounting for their colossus - their ability to ignore, overwhelm and otherwise overtake an individual. That needs to change. Ask any musician if it is they or the labels who benefit. I personally have known folks who have invented things that have netted their companies in the millions and they were rewarded with....squat! One was a medical device for transfusing one's own blood back that required some tricky engineering and some clever insight to get it to work right. He got taken off the project and got a $1000 bonus - the company made several million on it and continues to do so today. Another friend who worked for HP years ago developed a very much faster A to D convertor that was being used more in more in electronics (think sound). Though it has been surpassed today, at the time we went round and round on it and ended up not tryin to patent it because he knew from working at HP that patents would be ignored if they could profit from it. They would've tied him up in court along with any cash he had and essentially prevented him from production. He ended up shelving the idea. I used to be very gung ho about "property rights" and felt the Chinese were just laughing at us because they ignored our system of copyright. However, while I don't believe it is right to steal from somebody, I also don't feel it is right to allow the big guys to crush the small ones. The case of the guy who eventually won against Sears after they stole his idea for the socket wrench after 16 odd years and destroying his life in the process is a rare one indeed! The current laws not only discourage true innovation and protect huge multinational coporations as they manipulate markets, but they also don't take into account the vastly different environment the Internet presents us. Those who've embraced the net have often found that it can increase book and music sales, not hinder them. I know some authors who told their publishers they'd put their books on the net, much to the horror of the publisher, only to find 50%, 100% or more increases in sales volume! The forces of the RIAA and MPAA arenot going to go away lightly, nor will we be able to easily convince our politicians that the current laws are outmoded, unworkable and counterproductive. Perhaps, the activity is one way of age old and respected silent protest. Is it right? Probably not according to a strict interpretation of the current legislation. But, then again, jay-walking is also against the law in most cities that I know or have lived in. The idiocy of mamking a few xerox copies of pages in a book was thankfully addressed by the Fair Use doctrine in the US years ago, though the UK is more fanatical about that sort of thing. Most of the large software houses have a love/hate relationship as a certain amount of it is very cheap advertising indeed so they don't really want to shut it completely down. On the other hand, they don't want to send the message that it's okay either. They get self-righteous about it, but in fact could easily stop it - they'd just lose customers in the end and they know it. Look what happened to Quicken! They got speared for adding activation like others had already done! They backed off in a hurry! I know folks who work there and they ain't poor! This question won't get settled quickly, nor will it get settled here. I just know that I've come about 180° from my former position on it. Besides, I've been a beta tester since 1996 or so and as soon as MS or others finally release a full system that's ready for prime time, I'll consider getting out of the beta program. I pay for things like Dieter Prilfing's FmView (www.windowscorners.com) because it simply works as advertised and continues to do so. He deserves the recognition. Bill P's WinPatrol is another example, and I'm sure many of you have others.

If you just copied over the altered ntosknl.exe you prepared on the workstation, it might be because it has the wrong SID or something. When I do it, I don't change the original, but just add a second or third ntosknl1.exe or ntosknl.2.exe, etc. then in boot.ini just specify which kernel file to use for booting or let it provide a menu. The ntosknl.exe file is a protected file anyway and will be recreated if it is corrupted or the name is changed. The only way around this is to turn off System File Protection, but I don't recommend that.

Hmmm. Why are you putting in v3.10? The way I did it was to start the installation of ACDSee which unpacks the files to a temp directory. Then, before you do anything else go to the temp directory and copy the msi file to another folder (like C:\Temp). Now you have the install file for the program and can just run it with the /qn or /qb switch to run it silently. If you have a serial number for it you can also put that into a reg file and run that. The newer version, 7.0 is basically the same, but you may want to remove the Device Detector from the Run key in the registry. Also, 7.0 is a bit trickier between the retail and demo versions. If you install the Demo version you can't just stick the key in the registry as it detects it. Paint Shop Pro as far as I know also uses an msi file, so you can use the same /qn switch for that. Hope this helps.

No, thye're not all made by the same factory in China, though it might seem that way! lol Plextor has the best build quality and longevity. They keep proving it. They also cost about twice as much. You decide. I have a pile (yes a real pile!) of Liteons from failed machines on my bench. I will never buy one. They work, but don't last long. I've installed several NECs and found they are quite good, but be sure to upgrade the firmware as the delivered firmware sometimes causes conflicts (drive not seen, crashes, etc). LGs have a pretty good rep and are pretty solid, but who uses DVD-RAM? I've personally been using a Sony for the last couple of years and have nothing but praise for it, though I don't like the open/close button and again, make sure you upgrade the firmware. You want to test two? Go with an NEC and Plextor. Update: I just read a review about the new LG. For the price (~$50) it is fast and quiet and beeat out both NEC and Plextor on CPU usage.

You guys make me laugh!! ) Without the folks here and all the work that's gone before I'd be dead in the water! What's more, they've all given out their knowledge to me and asked nothing in return save that I try and learn. I'm grateful for that. Yes, guides with more and better pictures which hold my hand tighter are always easier to navigate. but those guides represent a lot of unpaid work. I was frustrated at first by the section on Install Shield, but then I found out that IS has about three or four different ways of dealing with things and their switches weren't consistent. This wasn't the fault of the guide writer. The guides and this forum are a resource to be treasured. We are lucky to have it, so I don't see that complaining about it will ever encourage anyone. My 2 cents. )

Replacing the Bliss.jp_ of course works, and when I do it I make sure to include the horrible Bliss_orig.jpg in the Wallpaper folder. Rather than fiddling with any of that, I've found it easier to just use a theme file reference in the winnt.sif file. using the default location for themes: [Shell] CustomDefaultThemeFile = "%WinDir%\Resources\Themes\YourTheme.theme" If you use a non-standard bmp. jpg or gif for the background, then make sure you include it in your $oem$\$$\Web\Wallpaper folder and it will be copied over early on. This works for the current user only and all new users will get the standard yucky Bilss to start with. If you replace the Bliss.jp_ then, you avoid this problem, but are stuck with a stupid name for your file. Your choice! )

You don't do this in winnt.sif. You can do this using diskpart.exe, which is part of the Windows OS. It needs a script to tell it what to do and where. I use it at t-12 to change my two DVD drives to Y: and Z: I do it as follows: - Create a file DriveAssign.cmd and place it in your $oem$ folder. - Add a line in your cmdlines.txt file under [Commands] for DriveAssign.cmd - Create Drives.txt and place it in your $oem$ folder DriveAssign.cmd cdmow @ HID @echo off DISKPART /s drives.txt exit Drives.txt select volume 0 assign letter=Z noerr select volume 1 assign letter=Y noerr select volume 2 assign letter=C noerr select volume 3 assign letter=D noerr cmdlines.txt [COMMANDS] "DriveAssign.cmd" "useraccounts.cmd" "RunOnceEx.cmd" "VMware.cmd" Note that your CD/DVD drive will show up first as volume 0 or 1, and then you other drives in order. You can check this out first by using the the diskpart command and then "list" which will show you the corresponding volumes on your system. Hope this helps.

Hmmm. Did you use an original CD to build your unattended, or is it DevilsOwn or something similar?

One way to achive this is using a WinPE like Bart's PE (which is free!!) and integrating the unattended folder into the whole thing. It does take some extra work and that's why I decided for the one I built for a frined to just send along a copy of ERD Commander 2005. That boots first into WinXP-like environment and and has a good disk manager there. Then you can reboot and put in the unattended and away you go! If you build a CD/DVD with a boot manager, then you could put them both onto the same disk, as mentioned. If you are working with a single target machine, then ok, but it seems a lot of work and it would only be good on that machine. You'd have to write a new script for a different machine with a different number of partitions, etc.

If you are there, you can use the F5 key during the text mode portion of setup at the beginning. This is not the key for other drivers (F6), but leads you to the another screeen where you can force the loading of any of several different HAL layers. For unattended I believe you can set it in your Winnt.sif file, but I'd have to check it to be sure as it is not a standard setting. Nevertheless, the setup routine normally detects whether the machine is capable of ACPI function and will load the appropriate HAL. If it is not doing that, maybe a check on a slightly newer BIOS or even one older might help. That machine is new enough to support it.

@coucou, I have the same problem as I'm buildingan install for a friend who may not install it for a few weeks or even a couple of months. HIs dsl won't be setup until after install, so the "old virus def" box is sure to pop up. I solved this in the following way. I use one cmd file called GetCurrentDate.cmd and first grab the current date and put it into a text file. Then it changes the system date during the installation to 1 May 2005 (a date with in 30 days of the build). After installation I run RestoreCurrentDate.cmd which take the date from the previously created file. GetCurrentDate.cmd cmdow @ /HID @echo off for /f "tokens=2 delims=/ " %%x in ('date /t') do for /f "tokens=3 delims=/ " %%y in ('date /t') do for /f "tokens=4 delims=/ " %%z in ('date /t') do echo %%x-%%y-%%z > "%tmp%\CurrentDate.txt" date 05-01-2005 exit RestoreCurrentDate.cmd cmdow @ /HID @echo off date < "%tmp%\CurrentDate.txt" exit The "for" command is necessary to parse the date into the correct form which will be accepted by the date function. It took me a while to finally get this working, but now it works a charm and can be used for any program which has date sensitivity without disrupting the unattended installation! )

Alanoll is correct. Dell uses a key that will allow the install to complete, but it won't activate, thus causing the Enter product key screen to appear on first boot. Very sneaky of them. This caused a lot of headaches when I was preparing a network with Dell machines, some new and some old, but not with VLKs! In the end we just wiped the delivered installations and put on our custom build based on their CD.

I've just tested both Personal and Pro v1.06 with just the /s switch and there was no need for taskill as it didn't open after install! Maybe they fixed it in 1.06. Anyway, the only thing that shows is an icon in the system tray during the install.d No need to repack now!! )

svortevik, I don't know what your %pp% expands to, but at first glance I noticed that for the first two you might have a problem with the quotes. With RunOnceEx if you need more quotes you will need to preced them with a "\" to get them to transfer properly. So, your line REG ADD %KEY%\016 /V 2 /D "taskkill.exe /IM "DVD Identifier.exe"" /f should be... REG ADD %KEY%\016 /V 2 /D "taskkill.exe /IM \"DVD Identifier.exe\"" /f If you expansion variable includes any spaces when expanded, then you'll have the same problem (I know as I learned the hard way!). Your first line has the executable being executed just after you've killed it!!! The other two I'm not too familiar with, so I can only ask why use sleep.exe and then taskill?? You might be able to wrap them in a Winrar sfx file or use 7zip for a silent install, but others here can better advise you.