GreenMachine

Keep it up: That is what this thread is for. That update has been out a while, but was not made available for public download until very recently. It can be "integrated" with the ... "/integrate" switch. I have not yet checked to see if it shows up on Windows Update yet.

Well ... I really only have enough time (3 days) for the current release before I go on the road for another week or two. We can go over it together when I get back (again) to my lab. To tell if your drivers are signed, just look for a .CAT file (in your case Si3114r.CAT). Since you have "mainstream" drivers, I assume that they are. I think "IGNORE" does not always ensure success. One interesting test would be to try WITHOUT any IDE drives. This would only work if the SATA drives were operable during setup. I know that it can be a pain with the "Documents And Settings", but I manage to get them to go where I want them: some stuff I leave on the system drive (stuff which I do not care about saving, like History and Cookies), the rest I put on a seperate drive that does get backed up. In short, I think that though sometimes cumbersone, the desired result can be achieved. I know the XPCREATAE learnig curve can sometimes be slow, but once you get it licked, it can sure ease the update process, and simplify the task of keeping a harmonious park. Good luck! (And Good Night!)

Actually, I think I closed that thread at 29 pages, celebrating my new found powers (at the time). Of course, some users are not as clever as you and I, and only show 10 posts per page, not 30. Still, prathapml, I have to disagree with the closing of this thread. This is the Internet, this is Anarchy at it's finest. Please don't try to rule us. As long as one remains cordial, and respects the rules of the forum, closing a thread just because many people use it seems more like dictatorship. I, personally, find it (closing) to run against the whole idea of a forum thread. If people have a problem with using this thread, let them start a new one.

Pheeeew! I think I'll close the door here on any more modifications ...

I'm not quite sure I understand ... In the next version, I allow the user to add their own MassStorageDevice driver files, where the following *.OEM file is added, and the .SYS driver file placed somewhere in the DRIVERSDIR path. [SourceDisksFiles] si3112.sys = 1,,,,,,3_,4,1 [HardwareIdsDatabase] PCI\VEN_1095&DEV_3112&SUBSYS_31121095 = "Si3112" [SCSI.load] si3112 = si3112.sys,4 [SCSI] si3112 = "Silicon Image SiI 3112 SATALink Controller" This information is added to TXTSETUP.SIF. Is that what you mean? Anything more will need to wait: I have already added more to the forthcoming release than I like to, and now just want to test it and get it out the door.

I have been basing my tests on Windows 2000 Server, as that seems to give me the most trouble. Only the latest and greatest are "supported": XP SP2, Windows 2000 SP4, Windows 2003 RTM. As for test cases, I guess just trying different things, as in XPCREATE.INI settings and Hotfix sets. The Hotfix Lists are done. Next step will be to document the many new values in XPCREATE.INI. I have also made a few updates to the test version, so you may want to re-download. Also, please try each new "release" in a blank directory just to make sure that nothing is left over. Thanks again for your help.

Geez, don't you have any easy problems? Unfortunatly, I don't have much time for this these days, and it is very tough to debug without the hardware. If you could try a few workarounds, and let me know if you find something that would help. Questions would include: Do you have only SATA drives, or IDE as well (I think you must have IDE, if the SATA drives are not found, the data has to be somewhere ... ). Can you change the location of INETPUB, and have it work that way? Are your drivers signed? Are your drives partitioned? Who won the 1918 World Series? As I said, I'm afraid I cannot do much right now. Please keep me posted with any more information you can provide, and, as I also said, any workarounds that you may have found. P.S. Please check your Message Box http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?act=Msg&CODE=01

OK. I have added that option. I'll leave it until it causes me problems ...

Thanks, MindMaster, for the clear descriptions. After reading your post, I have made a few modifications to the "in progress" version. (Lucky you caught me just before my quarterly release!) 0) After pondering, I decided to delete the CDSOURCE directory before copying files to it. If the delete does not work (e.g. some wiseguy has it open in Explorer!), XPCREATE errors out. 1) XPCREATE now creates all needed directories by default at the begining of EVERY run. That should eliminate this problem. 2) I'll have to do some time trials, but while I know that displaying DOES add some time, I will need numbers to be convinced it saves more than, say, 30 seconds. Given the time needed for the rest of the XPCREATION, a 30 second gain does not seem important to me. I'll keep it in mind, but before seeing a real savings, I'm leaving it alone. I find the copy phase too long to not have some sort of visible progress, even if the window needs to be maximized to see. A big part of my decision has to do with the fact that I often find myself looking at that window, and me being my favorite client ... 3) After a few readings, this made sense. I have changed XPCREATE as you suggested to erase the CD/DVD at the begining. I just wonder how long it will be before someone complains that I erased thier CD. However, I have stated many, many times that ONLY ORIGINAL MICROSOFT WINDOWS CDS should be used as source. These I cannot erase ... Before a CD/DVD is erased, the user must change both the CDERASE and CDBURNER values. Be forewarned ... Again, thanks for the suggestions (and for not posting modified XPCREATE code!)

Please post your LOGFILES.CAB file, and I can take a look.

Right on! 3-2: One for The Good Guys! (Take that Mariano!)

Actually ... It installs fine from SVCPACK.INF, and it is delivered in an .EXE wrapper. This should work: HMTCDWizard_enu.EXE /QN (**** Yankees!)

A couple weeks of testing (and finishing off the summer), and I will make it public. Until then, I think we have "workarounds" for all the problems so far.

Welcome to MSFN, MindMaster! As hard as it may be to believe, most every command and switch in XPCREATE has a reason to be. In this case, you are only getting the error as XPCREATE is creating a local copy of the source where there are already files. It was not designed for that, and you are the first to notice/report it. I will have to re-think what I would like to happen in that case, but I am tending more towards erroring out, with a message to the tune of "You have chosen a non-empty directory to copy your source files to. Please delete these files and try again." The reason for this is the same reason I insist on starting with an original Microsoft Windows CD: I want to start from a known point. There is already enough room for error, so I want to eliminate as many unknowns as possible. My question to you is: Did you intend to copy the source somewhere where there were already files? If so, why. If not, how did this come about? Thanks for your help!

I know: it is probably not a big deal, rather a technicality. However, I strive to keep XPCREATIONS compatible with Microsoft guidlines, and the only files created or modified are done according to KB articles. In this way, XPCREATIONS can be used in the corporate environment with no worries.

Thanks for that, VAD, sounds interesting. The only problem would be that by modifying the files, there may be support/EULA issues with Microsoft. That could cause problems in a commercial environment ... I do like that site, though. Have to do some more reading ... I'm not sure how the question got here, but I felt it was interesting enough to think about, instead of just sending him off to the Unattended Forum.

Hey, I don't like it, either ... For the record, running this CMD file should "fool" Windows Update: @ECHO OFF REG ADD HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\GdiDetectionTool /V GDITool /T REG_DWORD /D 00000001 EXIT That can go in SVC-EXE.

Should have wandered in by now ... if you could get up in time! Anyway, I only tested it once, so perhaps I missed something, or it has to do with the current path, or the DRIVERDIR. Good luck with the assignment!

@RyanVM: Go Yanks? Aw come on! Tigers, Phillies, even the Pirates and Orioles would be better. I mean, that's like rooting for Microsoft over Sun, IEXPRESS over 7ZIP! The registry entry for GDI Tool is here: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...ndpost&p=189947 As for a better way for the hotfixes, one option would be just to extract the relevent part of the hotfixes' INF file, and run that without the extraction, copying, etc. Another would be to merge the different hotfixes, a la security rollup. Neither would be that complicated, but unless Microsoft does it, both would still be unsupported. In fact, many of the hotfixes can just have the files copied and work as designed, except for missing, often useless, information in the registy (e.g. add/remove).

This update has not been incorporated, as there is not a "silent" installation possible. You can add it to SVC-HF2, but you will be promted with a dialog box during setup, which will halt setup until dismissed. This eliminates the "unattended" aspect of the installation.

The benifits of Sun's Java over Microsoft's version is that it is up to date, and adhers to the Java Standard, also written by Sun. It will also continue to be updated/upgraded, which is not the case for the "no longer in development" Microsoft version. It is also considered more secure by some, though I believe the latest patches to Microsoft's version are secure. I use Microsoft's version, as it meets my needs just fine, and is a lot smaller, faster, and less obtrusive then the Sun version. To add Microsoft's version to the XPCREATION, the package can be added to SVC-EXE, if it is switchless. (I believe it is.) There is no mechanism to add Sun's Java, but any of the "standard" unattended methods should work fine.

You will need to use MODIFYPE or similar to "fix" any files that you compress your self. However, you really shold not need to: when you start needing these work arounds, there is generally a "real" problem that you are not seeing. For the moment, the automatic download lists are not up to date. To create a failsafe CD, get the correct versions of the files listed on the Web Site, and try that. Also, try without the drivers, and add them one at a time. Please post back your results, and include LOGFILES.CAB if you run into errors.

Geez, has it been a long winter down under? Well, I added RyanVM's pack, set DOPATH to YES, and everything was hunky dory for me. Care to elaborate after a nap, some fun, and some food?

Welcome to MSFN, kuffs! Again, it is always difficult to diagnose these questions not having the hardware to test. If you would post the LOGFILES.CAB, I can look into it further.

This sounds like the answer I hoped for: Setup uses WINNT.SIF from the CD, unless there is a WINNT.SIF on floppy. Perfect ... except now that there are more and more machine without floppies. Thanks, agenta.