andrewpayne

NTOSKRNL.EXE resides in WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 - however care must be taken if you have any 'unusual' features on your computer - including Hyper Threading and to a certain extent Advanced Motherboard Power Management features. @ jrzycrim - which NTOSKRNL type did you use/patch to create these (excellent) files? Thanks

This Article best sums up how to Delegate OU Admins - complete with very useful screenshots. Hope this helps.. B)

I use CoreFTP - Freeware

ME stinks. Anyone who uses it must apply the Microsoft Fix asap - called XP!

Exchange stores users email addresses in Active Directory - the System Manager enables you to ensure that the correct addresses are assigned to your users (especially setting the Reply To address correctly!) You could also consider having a POP connector (such as the excellent mailEssentials for SMTP) to download a single pop account (ie all@domain.com) and then distribute the emails via Exchange's own mailbox system. This would then allow you to activate the excellent Outlook Web Access and also enable mail store backups rather than relying on maintaining several pst files dotted on users local hard drives. There are many ways and all of them work - I just prefer the simplest!

I have found this link to the Microsoft Exchange Server Best Practices Analyzer Tool. This tool is designed for administrators who want to determine the overall health of their Exchange servers and topology. The tool scans Exchange servers and identifies items that do not conform to Microsoft best practices. I have installed this on one of my domain workstations and run quite safely - the report produced is very useful for helping troubleshoot any exchange issues you may have. BTW - don't forget to install SP1!

This is a simple solution. Fire up Exchange System Manager Expand Recipients and click on Recipient Policies. Double click Default Policy and the select Email Addresses (Policy) Be sure to set your EXTERNAL email address (*direcway.com) as the default (it will then turn bold) or indeed add this if not mentioned. This will then ask if you want to update all existing users and any new users will also pick up this setting. It will take 15 minutes to update the policy (depending on how many Active Directory Domain Controllers you have) This should also remove the undeliverables as the Exchange will know that direcway.com is a locally managed domain. Advanced Tip - on the properties of the SMTP Virtual Server - you may want to add direcway.com as the masquerading domain. But make sure that the FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain Name) is set to SERVER.ABC.LOCAL (ie your local server name followed by your local domain name) - DNS has to be running correctly. MS also recommend running WINS for Exchange Server 2003 to function 100%.

try here - you can download the link from the second post for Shockwave and Flash 7

Try this topic

with a little tinkering - I found this topic (UpdateXP 2.0) which has a superb 'utility' called UpdateXP which together with QCHAIN installs all Type 1 and type 2 hotfixes that are placed in the corresponding folders. Although this utility was designed for XP (hence the name!) - I have used this for Windows 2000 Unattended. Works a treat (with the ONLY exception being the MDAC update which needs its own entry in RunOnceEx.cmd after the other Post SP4 hotfixes are applied) Any future hotfixes can then simply be copied into either Type1 or Type2 folder with no further coding (as fully explained in the Word Readme document downloaded with the UpdateXP utility from the above topic) I have used this method and now can have a fully patched/updated Windows 2000 Professional installation in little under 40 minutes! Thanks again to MrJ!m for pointing out my initial stumbling block (REG.EXE)! IE6 Tip - I install IE6SP1 using a call from CMDLINES.TXT [Commands] "INSTALL_IE6.CMD" "REGEDIT /S regtweaks.reg" "RunOnceEx.cmd" INSTALL_IE6.CMD @ECHO Installing IE 6.0 SP1 C:\INSTALL\IE6\IE6SETUP.EXE /Q:A /R:N so IE6 is installed before the first reboot, so when RunOnceEx.cmd is parsed and running after the 1st reboot - Media player etc will install without whinging that IE6 needs to be installed (IE's own RunOnceEx entries are also 'added' to my list so use a high number - such as 900 for the cleanup call) RunOnceEx.cmd cmdow @ /HID @Echo Off rem PP= SET KEY=HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnceEx REG ADD %KEY% /V TITLE /D "Installing Applications" /f REG ADD %KEY%\000 /VE /D "Preparing Installation..." /f REG ADD %KEY%\000 /V 1 /D "%systemdrive%\install\prepare.cmd" /f REG ADD %KEY%\001 /VE /D "Microsoft DirectX 9c" /f REG ADD %KEY%\001 /V 1 /D "%systemdrive%\install\DX9C\dxsetup.exe /silent" /f REG ADD %KEY%\002 /VE /D "Adobe Reader 6.0.2 CE Full" /f REG ADD %KEY%\002 /V 1 /D "%systemdrive%\install\Applications\Adobe602\AR602CE.MSI /qb" /f REG ADD %KEY%\003 /VE /D "Microsoft RDP Client v6 (2003)" /f REG ADD %KEY%\003 /V 1 /D "%systemdrive%\install\RDP\MSRDPCLI.MSI /qb" /f REG ADD %KEY%\004 /VE /D "Microsoft Java VM (Build 3810)" /f REG ADD %KEY%\004 /V 1 /D "%systemdrive%\install\JavaVM\MSJAVA_FULL.EXE" /f REG ADD %KEY%\005 /VE /D "Microsoft .NET Framework v1.1 SP1" /f REG ADD %KEY%\005 /V 1 /D "%systemdrive%\install\NetFramework\netfxsp1.exe" /f REG ADD %KEY%\008 /VE /D "Symantec Anti-Virus Corporate 9.0" /f REG ADD %KEY%\008 /V 1 /D "%systemdrive%\install\Applications\sav\SAV.MSI ADDLOCAL=SAVMain,SAVUI,SAVHelp,EMailTools,OutlookSnapin,Pop3Smtp ENABLEAUTOPROTECT=1 RUNLIVEUPDATE=0 REBOOT=ReallySuppress /qb" /f REG ADD %KEY%\010 /VE /D "WinRAR Corporate Edition 3.20" /f REG ADD %KEY%\010 /V 1 /D "%systemdrive%\install\Applications\WinRAR\WRAR320.EXE" /f REG ADD %KEY%\016 /VE /D "Windows Media Player 9" /f REG ADD %KEY%\016 /V 1 /D "%systemdrive%\install\WMP9\MPSetup.exe /Q:A /R:N" /f REG ADD %KEY%\900 /VE /D "Installing Post SP4 Hotfixes" /f REG ADD %KEY%\900 /V 1 /D "%systemdrive%\install\UpdateXP.exe" /f REG ADD %KEY%\905 /VE /D "MDAC Hotfix Q832483" /f REG ADD %KEY%\905 /V 1 /D "%systemdrive%\install\OTHER\Q832483.CMD" /f REG ADD %KEY%\990 /VE /D "Cleaning Up and Rebooting" /f REG ADD %KEY%\990 /V 1 /D "%systemdrive%\install\cleanup.cmd" /f EXIT

This has now been answered - here

Found it! REG.EXE is a command line tool provided by MS Resource Kit to alter and query the Registry! More info on I386.com

Thanks! I knew there must be a reason for the RunOnceEx.cmd to be apparantly ignored! BTW - where can I find this REG.EXE file? I can only find REGEDIT.EXE and SETREG.EXE after installing Windows 2000.

With Windows 2000 - I have had no joy with CMDLINES.TXT and RunOnceEx.cmd as per the XP Unattended Guide - has anyone else? The keys should be the same - but do not appear to run or even start - just ignored! I'd rather not go back to batch files...

Click Start/Run and type 'gpedit.msc' Under Local Computer Policy, explore to Computer Configuration - Windows Settings - Security Settings - Local Policies - User Rights Assignment - Deny Logon Locally and add 'Domain Users' You might also consider placing users in a new group (DENY LOGON) and then add that group to Deny Logon Locally to make clearer to the other (and future) Doman Admins so there is no confusion DO consider the implication of putting users in this Deny Logon Locally group and ensure that the Domain Admins are not also members of Domain Users ('deny' usually overides 'allow').

Hi! Did you have any joy getting RunOnceEx.cmd (called from CMDLINES.TXT) to run successfully for Windows 2000 Professional SP4? Are the reg keys the same for RunOnceEx.cmd as I have tried but my c:\install folder remains after 1st reboot and the RunOnceEx.cmd has not run. The other thing which is bugging me is that most of the updates for 2000 classed as critical appear to affect Internet Explorer. As IE6SP1 cannot be installed (?) until AFTER the svcpack.inf method (as described above) - you must have to run any IE-related updates/hotfixes after IE6 as part of the RunOnceEx.cmd? As I cannot get RunOnceEx.cmd to run - this is speculation RunOnceEx.cmd (Windows 2000 - called from CMDLINES.TXT) cmdow @ /HID @Echo Off rem PP= SET KEY=HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnceEx REG ADD %KEY% /V TITLE /D "Installing Applications" /f REG ADD %KEY%\000 /VE /D "Preparing Installation..." /f REG ADD %KEY%\000 /V 1 /D "%systemdrive%\install\prepare.cmd" /f REG ADD %KEY%\001 /VE /D "Internet Explorer 6 SP1" /f REG ADD %KEY%\001 /V 1 /D "%systemdrive%\install\IE6\ie6setup.exe /q:a" /f REG ADD %KEY%\002 /VE /D "Adobe Reader 6.0.2 CE Full" /f REG ADD %KEY%\002 /V 1 /D "%systemdrive%\install\Applications\Adobe602\AR602CE.MSI /qb" /f REG ADD %KEY%\004 /VE /D "Microsoft Java VM (Build 3810)" /f REG ADD %KEY%\004 /V 1 /D "%systemdrive%\install\JavaVM\MSJAVA_FULL.EXE" /f REG ADD %KEY%\005 /VE /D "Microsoft .NET Framework v1.1 SP1" /f REG ADD %KEY%\005 /V 1 /D "%systemdrive%\install\NetFramework\netfxsp1.exe" /f REG ADD %KEY%\008 /VE /D "Symantec Anti-Virus Corporate 9.0" /f REG ADD %KEY%\008 /V 1 /D "%systemdrive%\install\Applications\sav\SAV.MSI ADDLOCAL=SAVMain,SAVUI,SAVHelp,EMailTools,OutlookSnapin,Pop3Smtp ENABLEAUTOPROTECT=1 RUNLIVEUPDATE=0 REBOOT=ReallySuppress /qb" /f REG ADD %KEY%\009 /VE /D "Lavasoft Ad-Aware SE Build 1.05" /f REG ADD %KEY%\009 /V 1 /D "%systemdrive%\install\Applications\AdAware\aawse105.exe /s" /f REG ADD %KEY%\009 /V 2 /D "taskkill /IM Ad-Aware.exe" /f REG ADD %KEY%\009 /V 3 /D "taskkill /IM hh.exe" /f REG ADD %KEY%\009 /V 4 /D "taskkill /IM Ad-Aware.exe" /f REG ADD %KEY%\010 /VE /D "WinRAR Corporate Edition 3.20" /f REG ADD %KEY%\010 /V 1 /D "%systemdrive%\install\Applications\WinRAR\WRAR320.EXE" /f REG ADD %KEY%\014 /VE /D "Macromedia Shockwave 8 Plug-In" /f REG ADD %KEY%\014 /V 1 /D "%systemdrive%\install\Applications\FLASH\SHOCK8.msi /qb" /f REG ADD %KEY%\015 /VE /D "Macromedia Flash 7 Plug-In" /f REG ADD %KEY%\015 /V 1 /D "%systemdrive%\install\Applications\FLASH\FLASH7.msi /qb" /f REG ADD %KEY%\016 /VE /D "Media Player 10" /f REG ADD %KEY%\016 /V 1 /D "%systemdrive%\install\WMP10\MP10Setup.exe /q:A /c:\"setup_wm.exe /Q /R:N /DisallowSystemRestore\"" /f REG ADD %KEY%\019 /VE /D "Cleaning Up and Rebooting" /f REG ADD %KEY%\019 /V 1 /D "%systemdrive%\install\cleanup.cmd" /f EXIT

There is a FREE virtual OS application called FreeOSZoo - http://www.freeoszoo.org/index.php Haven't tried it but colleagues reckon it is slower than VMWare - but hey! it is free!

You can download MS VirtualPC 2004 45 day trial from here or a 30 day trial of VMWare Workstation v4 from here

There are no 'unique' files for Office 2003 SP1 - the only way is to check the properties of certain dll files - as listed in this MSKB 821549

You need to make sure the beginning of your WINNT.SIF is like this: ;SetupMgrTag [Data] AutoPartition=0 MsDosInitiated="0" UnattendedInstall="Yes" AutomaticUpdates=yes [Unattended] Repartition=No UnattendMode=FullUnattended DriverSigningPolicy=Ignore OemSkipEula=Yes OemPreinstall=Yes UnattendSwitch="yes" TargetPath=\WINDOWS WaitForReboot="No" KeyboardLayout="United Kingdom" and this will then allow F6 before continuing Unattended..

I am not a programmer so I have to keep things very simple so even I can follow them!

Well Done smc1979! Excellent and it works! I wasn't too optimistic - but have just tested on my VMWare and the Visual Styles have been applied successfully for the first time! As a step by step resume for others trying this method - 1. Download smc1979's file from his first post in this topic 2. Run the executable SetVisualEffects.exe and then select and apply the options you want. 3. This will then save your settings in 'settings.ini' 4. Copy the settings.ini and SetVisualEffects.exe into your $OEM$\$$\SYSTEM32 folder on your XPCD (thus automating the copy to your windows\system32 folder) 5. Copy the setstartup.reg to the $OEM$ folder (alongside cmdlines.txt). 6. Edit cmdlines.txt and add "REGEDIT /S setstartup.reg" to the second line (before any accounts are created) et viola! Visual Effects that finally works! EDIT - I just tried creating a second account and the initial visual styles were back to default - however, as I am sure smc1979 did mention, after a reboot the new custom settings came into effect with no intervention.

Create a folder under $OEM$ called $$ and then another under that called SYSTEM32 -->$OEM$ ------>$$ ----->SYSTEM32 and copy your two files here. Anything in this folder is automatically copied to your System32 Folder under Windows. No need to batch command copy. There is an excellent Overview of $OEM$ in the Unattended XP Guide - here

My method keeps the System Restore on until the last possible moment - ie just before Shutdown after RunOnceEx.cmd completes.

My method keeps the System Restore on until the last possible moment - ie just before Shutdown after RunOnceEx.cmd completes.