Nakatomi2010

You might be right about needing that entry in the autounattend.xml files.. I didn't notice I had tha tline in mine...

If anyone is interested Creative released their new RC1 drivers today... Vista x64: http://us.creative.com/support/downloads/d...mp;x=9&y=12 Vista x86: http://us.creative.com/support/downloads/d...p;x=24&y=19

No, if the $OEM$ directory exists on the root of the disc it'll copy the contained files to the directories they're associated with, so again files in the $1 directory will be copied to the root of your %systemdrive%. However, you WILL need to make entries inside the Autounattend.xml file to run any commands for the files inside of that directory... <SynchronousCommand wcm:action="add"> <CommandLine>%Systemdrive%\Install\ShowRun.cmd</CommandLine> <Description>Shows Run in Start Panel</Description> <Order>1</Order> </SynchronousCommand> The above code is pulled from the example in the first post, this line tells windows to run this command on firstlogon, and as such if you wanted to run more commands you would change the following entries... <SynchronousCommand wcm:action="add"> <CommandLine>[b]%Systemdrive%\Install\ShowRun.cmd[/b]</CommandLine> <Description>[b]Shows Run in Start Panel[/b]</Description> <Order>[b]1[/b]</Order> </SynchronousCommand> The text in bold is what you'd want to modify... Changing the command line to what you want, the description to what you want, and the order to a numerical value of 1 and up.... Also, does anyone know how to go about telling Vista to wait till a program completes before deleting a directory? Trying to figure out the best way to run a cleanup command.... Edit: WPI DOES work in Windows Vista... To run WPI you'll need a .cmd with the following code: cd /d %systemdrive%\install\wpi WPI.hta cd\ rd /s /q %systemdrive\install This will have the computer open a command prompt, change directory to the directory you've copied WPI to, (In this case I put the WPI directory in the $OEM$\$1\Install directory, which being in an $OEM$ directory will copy it to the %systemdrive%, so the path, once copied, would be %systemdrive%\install\wpi\ The next line runs the program, where (And if I'm wrong correct me), the Sleep program will freeze the .cmd window until it's done installing your programs, at which point it will back out of the driectry and then remove itself. Should work fine. To get the WPI.cmd to work you'll need another firstlogon command in your autounattend.xml file. <SynchronousCommand wcm:action="add"> <CommandLine>[b]%Systemdrive%\Install\WPI.cmd[/b]</CommandLine> <Description>[b]Starts WPI[/b]</Description> <Order>[b]2[/b]</Order> </SynchronousCommand>

My understanding was that RC1 was to be the last test release before RTM. This is still true, Microsoft reserves build numbers for different milestones, the 5600 series of build numbers were for RC1, the 5700 series build numbers were supposed to be reserved for RTM releases. Someone should load up 5724 and see if it also says RTM, if it does then they're RC2 release is most likely an RTM release...

Do you have created a configuration set in WAIK to copy the $OEM$ folder to HD? Martin I didn't use WAIK to make a configuration set, the $OEM$ directory functions almost exactly the same way it did for XP. The directory structure of the $OEM$ directory, for me, is basically: %Root of Vista Disc%\$OEM$ %Root of Vista Disc%\$OEM$\$1 %Root of Vista Disc%\$OEM$\$$ Where %Root of Vista Disc% is something I just made up to explain that the $OEM$ directory should be at the ROOT of the Vista disc. $1 and $$ are subdirectories IN $OEM$. Anything in the $1 directory gets copied to the root of %Systemdrive% (In my case C:\). The $$ directory copies all files into the $Windir%\system32 directory, where %Windir% is your Windows directory (For me, C:\Windows).

let me guess.. creative user right? they still don't have their act together for sound drivers and i hope they get it together soon, i miss using my sound card the way it shoudl be.. Yeah, Creative.... I figure since they released their Beta 2 drivers around the time RC1 came out that their RC1 drivers should be out in February...

I figured someone should start a thread which that shares useful information about the unattended Vista installs... As an example, the following: Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\software\microsoft\windows\currentversion\explorer\advanced] "Start_ShowRun"=dword:00000001 @="" Put it into a '.reg' files (Like "ShowRun.reg") and coupling it with a '.cmd' containing reg import %Systemdrive%\install\showrun.reg Will import a registry entry which will show Run in the start panel on first boot. Note that the "%Systemdrive%\install\" is an example destination, it should be changed to point to where ever the .reg file is. In the Unattended.XML file you'll want the following entry: <settings pass="oobeSystem"> <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"> <FirstLogonCommands> <SynchronousCommand wcm:action="add"> <CommandLine>%Systemdrive%\Install\ShowRun.cmd</CommandLine> <Description>Shows Run in Start Panel</Description> <Order>1</Order> </SynchronousCommand> </FirstLogonCommands> </component> </settings> Note that this means that the registry setting will be imported during the first logon... Also note that to get the files ON the hard drive I used the $OEM$ Directories, unfortunatly I'm slow a learning these newer ImageX methods.... I've tested in Build 5744 (RC2) and it does work. Hopefully others will share their useful bits with us, get a jump on the Vista Bandwagon...

I've so far been able to just do a straight upgrade from Beta 2 to RC1 Build5600 to RC1 Build 5728 to RC2 Build 5744 All of which were successful, when the final release hits though I'm going to do a clean install. Also, after the upgrade from Build 5600 to 5728 I noticed that my games have not all been playing properly, with some minor glitching occuring here and there, tough to describe, but a noticeable decrease in performance due to this glitching. As of build 5744 I've gotten some graphical glitching issues which had been fixed in the release of 5600, however it was fixed by upgrading my ATi drivers, which I suspect will be the same solution here. Most of my current issues are all driver related, as it will be for many people. I want my 5.1 surround sound

I was wondering if anyone know of a free or cheap software solution which would alow a small computer business to allow an employee enter a work order into the program and print outnd have the work order information accessible on so that if the status of a computer is needed the front desk can check the software and see the notes of the technician to know where it is during the repair process... Must be able to be run at the same time from two computers...

In case anyone is wondering the OEM Information is now stored within the registry... Before it used to be OEMinfo.ini, or some such, but it's now stored in the following registry key... HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Currenversion\OEMInformation It's blank unless you typed something in, in the autounattend.xml However, if you want to manually enter information you can just grab the section titles from the Windows SIM OEM Section (What the string names should be) Basically you'd a string key called "Manufacturer" and then type in what you want to be shown... If you type logo you'll need to type in the complete path to the location of the logo. The logo must also be 120x120, which is SMALLER than XP's logo... I had to remake mine... The logo information is lisetd in the unattend help, but the rest I figured I'd throw in here..... Any ideas on how to tell setup to make the run menu available in the start menu when setup completes? I know you can right click, select properties, and chose to show run from deep in there, but it'd be nice to not HAVE to do that.... Edit: "HKCU\software\microsoft\windows\currentversion\explorer\advanced\Start_ShowRun" Is the registry key to show the Run command in startup, changing it from '0' to '1' shows it after a reboot... Another lcoation, which may be more beneficial "HKLM\software\microsoft\windows\currentversion\explorer\startpanel\DefaultValue", settings this to 1 during setup SHOULD make Run show up when setup is complete, though I haven't tried yet... Also, what's the best way to get the install to copy files where they need to be? Does the OEM directory work exactly like the Windoes XP one?

I know the 975x supports it, but it onlt supposrts it at 8x where as the RD600 would be 16x, so there's a bit of a performance loss there.... I'm not looking to spend an arm and a leg, unfortunatly I wouldn't be able to order more than about 1 part every two months or so...

Despite working with computers and keeping track of as much as I can I do miss a few things that I'd like to know... Basically it's time for me to upgrade my gaming rig and I was looking into doing an overhaul on it.... Currently it has the following specs... AMD Athlon 64 3200+ (S939) Asus A8N-E mainboard ATi Radeon x700 Pro (PCi-E) 1GB RAM (PC3200) 80GB HDD (SATA) Audigy Platinum sound card Now, I've been contemplating going to a Core 2 Duo system, but I'd like to go into something with Crossfire capabilities, I WAS going to get the P5W DH Deluxe, but since it's on backorder virtually everywhere I decided against that. And on further examination I found that when Crossfire IS enabled it only runs at 8x as opposed to 16x... This made me want to wait until the RD600 chipset gets released for the Intel platform so that I could get 16x crossfire and a third PCI-E slot for a physics card later on.... But then I got to thinking what if I stuck with AMD? The A64 X2 4600+ AM2 is not that far off speed wise from a Core 2 Duo, about 10 frames in a game, and 5 to 15 seconds in software involving timing... (These figures gotten from Tomshardware) that and cost wise it appears to basically be about 170 dollars cheaper to implement... My problem is that my system is starting to show its age and it's choking on some games like Company of Heros, I figure I could upgrade the processor, but then the video card would boottleneck, and I can't really upgrade the video card because this close to Vista's release DX10 cards aren't that far off and would probably be a better investment.... So ultimatly I'm asking is what would you guys do? I'm tempted to wait until Vista is released before I do any upgrading of my components, and then maybe even wait for DDR3 to be out and see if I can't skip the whole DDR2 thing.... Thoughts, opinions and name calling welcome....

Nevermind, I hit F8, and from the menu I chose "Enable VGA Mode" ad that did it...

My money's on a bad hard drive

Customer came complaining of an error (Bad hard drive) and then proceeded to explain to us how his monitor cable was stuck on his monitor port, so he ripped out the cable while it was screwed into the port... Needs a new video card, video card installed and to repair the damaged hard drive a repair install of Windows was required... So, now the repair install is complete and Windows wants to be activated, problem is that Windows wont start using the new video card until I boot in properly and Windows detects and installs drivers to it, so in the mean time Windows continues to use the onboard video, I cannot diable the onboard video in the bios (eMachines), and I can't disable it through safe mode (Windows needs to be activated)... How do I disable the onboard video in Windows without logging in?

You cannot install XP64 from XP32, you'll need to boot from the CD to make it happen.... Check your boot order, or contact Microsoft for a replacement disc...

Which games, what settings?

So you would buy a X1900 XTX regular version, then buy an X1900 XTX Crossfire Edition... Correct? (Example)

Bit of an odd thing here.... I like quality and play with the best my card can handle... Athlon 64 3200+ (Venice Core) Radeon X700 Pro PCI-E 1GB of RAM The settings are 1280x1024, with everything set to high and AA set to 2x and AF set to 4x... Any higher and the game gets laggy... So today I increase the AA to 4x and I'm not geting any video lag... Has anyone else noticed increased game performance at all compared to Windows XP? Or is hthis just a fluke?

I'm currently planning to slowly build a computer that's going to be Crossfire copmatible... I'm going be ordering an Asus P5W DH Deluxe which is apparently Crossfire ready, then get a Core 2 Duo E6600, (In an effort to build up my credit I'm going to pay off these things over a few months, allowing the processor to drop in price and the DX10 video cards to be released for Vista, then get get a video card that can be Crossfired, then buy another one later on... When I buy cards in preperation for Crossfire, do they both need to be the same make and model, or can I mix and match? Can I buy an X1900 XTX, then buy a Crossfire edtion card, or do they both need to be Crossfire Edition? Not entirely too clear on it....

When I run into that issue it's the registry is corrupt, doing a registry restore (Using UBCD4Win, or recovery console to pull registry snapshots from the system volume information directory) you should be able to restore yourself to a day or two ago... This problem is potentially caused by a failing hard drive...

The repair option is the 3rd screen of the text mode setup and is dependant on a few things to even be displayed. The registry must be functional, ntldr and ntdtect.com must be present, the boot.ini files must be present and correctly pointing to a good copy of XP, and the %Windows% directory must also be valid.... There's probably a couple of requirement too, but those are the big ones, if one of those conditions aren't present then you probably wont get the repair install option... I know the OEM copy HAS a repair install as I have to do several of them to make a non-genuine machine genuine using a valid OEM key which we sell them...

In case anyone was wondering... OneCare is installed on my Windows Vista box, however the WinSS.exe (Virus scanner) and msfwsvc.exe (Firewall) services wont start. The firewall I'm not so concerned over as I typically leave it off, however the virus scanner (WinSS.exe) wont start, says that I need a newer version of Windows (Which makes me giggle a bit since I AM insatlling it on a newer version of Windows).... Is there a way for me to start a service in some sort of "Compatibility mode"? Once this issue is resolved I believe I'll have a functional One Care insatll in Vista...

Supposedly AMD or Intel was working on something called Mitosis, which was supposed to be a reverse hyperthreading, meaning that both cores would act as one... Supposedly, I seem to remember reading something about it awhile back, then nothing...

My recommendation is to get a copy of XP and use it and if you have software that NEEDS to be run in a 9x based environment just use Microsoft Virtual PC 2004 software which is free through Microsoft now....