deadbug

When I first started to test my AIO-DVD (a few years ago now) I would install in a VM, activate and check against windows update to make sure that I had the very latest updates integrated. After a few weeks I found that activation failed and - it turns out - that after a certain number of activations in a certain period of time I had to call Microsoft to get things reset. Now I slipstream fixes using RyanVM's post-sp3 pack and I've also slipstreamed WMP11 and IE7. So how can I find out how up to date I am without activating Windows? To clarify: I don't want to download any updates from my virtual install (I can do that from my physical machine) and I don't want to simply install everything from the hot fix topic here via SVCPACK (that wastes space and time). I also realise that I'll be up to date for on average only two weeks or so. But, given that it is so simple to do, I want to know I'm reasonably up to date at final burn time! -- deadbug

Yes, if you mean what I think you mean. Fire up nLite and get to the Task Selection screen. Click on Hotfixes, Add-ons and Update Packs. On the next screen, hit Insert and point it at your IE7. Mine is a 14.7MB file, IE7-WindowsXP-x86-enu.exe. Straight off the MS site (somewhere), I think. Bear in mind that this is what I did but it is the first time I've tried out nLite so who knows what's actually happened :-) That said, I had IE6 before doing this and IE7 afterwards, so it must be at least partially correct!

I've ended up using nLite - all I needed to do was point it at the OS to fiddle with and tell it where the IE7 fix lived. That seems to have done everything I needed (IE 7 shows up after the install). Thanks for the input.

FWIW I've not solved the problem, but VirtualBox doesn't show it either, so I'm going to assume that VirtualPC is the root of the problem.

There seem to be various methods available for slipstreaming IE7 (plus related updates if possible). In case it makes any difference, this would be on a Multiboot DVD for Windows XP SP3 with RyanVM's Post-SP3 pack slipsreamed and WMP11 slipstreamed (using boooggy's slipstreamer). HFSLIP and nLite appear to be the main contenders. Can anyone explain the pros and cons of either of these (or any dedicated slipstreamer that's available but that I've missed)? I've not used either HFSLIP or nLite (I prefer to know as much as possible about what's gone on to build up my AIO-DVD!). Thanks -- deadbug

I happened to be watching today as my unattended Windows XP install was being tested in a VM. I noticed that there was a pop-up window noting that LanTool was trying to access the network and would I like to Keep Blocking, Unblock etc. It so happens that nothing is held up by this, the install continued to load up applications and eventually it rebooted (as expected) so the "problem" went away. But I'd prefer to be able to tell the firewall to allow LanTool without a pop-up showing up to worry me. Is there any (reasonable) way to achieve this?

I'm using what I believe to be a typical multiboot setup, but I'm having an issue with Windows XP Professional. I have a syslinux-based menu system which will eventually pick a bin (say PRU3.bin). That will look in \PRU3 for a bunch of files and eventually start to install from \SETUP\XP\PRO\SP3. If I install under VMware, it all works. Except that with VMware player I cannot seem to get the ethernet to work. So I tried VMware Server (also free, but 500+MB!) but I cannot manage that via its webserver! So I downloaded MS Virtual PC 2007 SP1 and had a go with that. Unfortunately that gets upset at T-39 (I think). It's the "Preparing Installation" stage and says there are 39 minutes to go. A popup says: An error has been encountered that prevents Setup form continuing. One of the components that Windows needs to continue setup could not be installed. Manifest Parse Error: An invalid character was found in text content. Press OK to view the Setup log file. When I look at the error log it includes this: Error: SXS.DLL: Syntax error in manifest or policy file "D:\SETUP\XP\PRO\SP3\I386\asms\1\default\default.man" on line 0. Now that file looks OK to me: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?> <assembly xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:asm.v1" manifestVersion="1.0"> <assemblyIdentity type="win32" name="Microsoft.Windows.SystemCompatible" version="5.1.2600.2000" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="6595b64144ccf1df"/> <description>System Compatible Default</description> <dependency> <dependentAssembly> <assemblyIdentity type="win32" name="Microsoft.Windows.GdiPlus" version="1.0.0.0" language="*" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="6595b64144ccf1df"/> </dependentAssembly> </dependency> <dependency optional="yes"> <dependentAssembly> <assemblyIdentity type="win32" name="Microsoft.Windows.Networking.DxmRtp" version="5.2.2.3" language="*" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="6595b64144ccf1df"/> </dependentAssembly> </dependency> <dependency optional="yes"> <dependentAssembly> <assemblyIdentity type="win32" name="Microsoft.Windows.Networking.RtcDll" version="5.2.2.3" language="*" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="6595b64144ccf1df"/> </dependentAssembly> </dependency> </assembly> I've checked out other topics that match that error and the answers mostly boil down to "you have a problem burning or reading CDs". I'm installing from an ISO image build by CDIMAGE. On top of that, my image works under VMware and also worked (a few weeks ago) when tested on a real machine. Any suggestions? Does my default.man look out of whack? If so, any idea why that would upset MS VirtualPC but not VMware? Incidentally, this is a bare XP SP3 install. I've not yet integrated RyanVM's post-sp3 update. I get the same error from XP SP1 and XP SP2.

I had that error earlier today. In my case I'm updating my multi-boot DVD, based on flyakite's original method but modified slightly to use ISOLINUX. That means I need a bin file (PRR3.bin in my case), hacked to point to a \PRR3 directory. In that directory txtsetup.sif needs SetupSourcePath hacked and winnt.sif also needs changing. setupldr.bin also needs to be hacked. Finally, my machine needs some extra drivers, provided by $OEM$ in the directory with the SP3 kit. I don't recall exactly which of those areas it was that I had forgotten, but after checking everything by hand, I found a mistake and fixing that fixed the error. It's been a long time since I built a single-install CD, so if that's what you are doing, then you'll have to check all the steps by hand, paying close attention to directory names and the like. I *think* my problem was that my SP3 \PPR3 txtsetup.sif pointed at an SP2 kit directory. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the suggestion. My Win2K starts out as the basic Win2K with slipstreamed SP4 (iirc) so it won't have the latest IE. I'll try out your idea after Christmas (bit busy right now!) and see what happens! Thanks.

I've reported this before checkExclusions fails on Windows 2000 SP 4. The relevant code looks like this: function checkExclusions(i) { position="check.js"; whatfunc="checkExclusions()"; var n, k; var nArray = new Array(); var elem = document.getElementById("chkbox"+i); if (elem==null) return; if (!excl[i]) return; tabs++; for (k=0; k<rekArray.length; k++) { if (rekArray[k]==i) return; } rekArray.push(i); and it is that rekArray.push(i); that upsets Windows 2000. I know I'm probably the only person testing Windows 2000 installs at this point :-) but is there an easy workaround?

Thanks - that worked a treat. For the record, the exact command was: VMware-player-2.0.2-59824.exe /s /v"/qn REBOOT=0"

Thanks - that worked first time!

I have a .reg file that adds Control Panel to My Computer. It's the usual entry from the tweaks: Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 ;======================================================================= ; My Computer Right Click ;======================================================================= ;----- ;----- Adds Control Panel to right click of MY Computer ;----- [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}\shell\Control Panel\command] @="rundll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL" I want to add this using Window XP's built-in "REG ADD" command, but I cannot find a syntax that works. If I dump a working example with REG QUERY I get this: ! REG.EXE VERSION 3.0 HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\CLSID\{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}\shell\Control Panel\command <NO NAME> REG_SZ rundll32.exe shell32.dll,Control_RunDLL But my various non-working attempts (in a VM) show an extra REG_SZ after the final RunDLL. Anyone know the correct sequence of commands that I should use? BTW: I'm doing this because I want to be able to apply tweaks individually to other machines, not just when I want to perform an unattended install. I want all the tweaks in one place (WPI's config.js) rather than in umpteen itty-bitty files.

"Quick" and "no effort" - music to my ears :-) Those places you pointed me at were exactly where I needed to look. Thanks. I looked at adding a %JSCRIPT% piece of magic but it looks like anything between % characters _always_ gets replaced, either with magic or with the contents of an environment variable. What I want is for the code that normally invokes WshShell.Run() to call eval() instead. So I opted for a slightly different approach. I assume that anything that starts with "JSCRIPT=" should be invoked as JavaScript. In installer.js I added this: if (cmdName=='regb' || cmdName=='rega') { // EXISTING STUFF HERE } else cmdLine=handleCommand(cmdLine); // <NEW STUFF> // Treat an inital 'JSCRIPT=' as a request to evaluate a javascript expression if (cmdLine.indexOf("JSCRIPT=")==0) { cmdLine.replace(/JSCRIPT=/gi, ""); try { ReturnCode=eval(cmdLine); result=getText(InstallSuccess); programs[item].success=true; WriteLogLine('JSCRIPT Function SUCCEEDED: status='+ReturnCode+' {'+cmdLine+'}'); WriteRebootSuccess(item,true); } catch(ex) { result=getText(InstallFail); programs[item].fail=true; WriteLogLine('JSCRIPT Function FAILED: status='+ReturnCode+' {'+cmdLine+'}'); WriteRebootFail(item,true); } return } // </NEW STUFF> // Here if not JSCRIPT try { } Well if it eventually scratches my itch, I'll probably hop over to the "new features request" thread and beg for someone to implement it properly :-) For now I've modified installer.js to spot JavaScript functions and I've slapped my TimedWaitForFile() function in api.js. If invoking arbitrary JavaScript functions makes it into the base product, then I guess it would be worthwhile having a userfunctions.js that WPI invokes but never tocuhes (and doesn't ship, so there's never any danger of altering the user's code). Shouldn't be more than one line of code somewhere to read it if it exists. Here it is, in all its ugliness: function TimedWaitForFile(filename,timeout) { position="api.js"; whatfunc="TimedWaitForFile()"; count = 0 while (!FileExists(filename) && count < timeout) { count = count + 1 Pause(1,0) } if (FileExists(filename)) { return 0 } return 1 } I've tested it thusly: prog[pn]=['New Function Test 2'] uid[pn]=['TESTNEWFUNCTION 2'] desc[pn]=['Tests a new function'] ordr[pn]=[14] cmd1[pn]=['JSCRIPT=TimedWaitForFile("C:\WPI_Log.txt",20)'] cmd2[pn]=['JSCRIPT=TimedWaitForFile("C:\WPI_LogX.txt",5)'] cond[pn]=['']; dflt[pn]=['yes'] forc[pn]=['true'] cat[pn]=['Startup'] pn++ It seems to work in isolation; now it's time to go build a DVD! Many thanks for the pointers.

No, I mean I have a function in api.js that looks like this: function Test() { // does something cool } and an entry in config.js that reads like this: prog[pn]=['Test'] uid[pn]=['TEST'] desc[pn]=['Test.'] ordr[pn]=[10] cmd1[pn]=[' ... invoke Test() from here ...'] cat[pn]=['JS-Test'] pn++ So I want to use my home-grown function, Test(), in the cmd[] block. I can achieve the same thing (in this specific case) by doing some AutoIt tricks and throwing together a more complicated cmd[] line, but I'd prefer to do it all in Javascript (for maintainability).

I install VMware Player 2.0.2 like this: VMware-player-2.0.2-59824.exe /s /v/qn but it reboots the machine. So I tried /norestart and /noreboot but to no avail. Has anyone successfully installed this without being bitten by a reboot?

While working on my AIO-DVD, I've found that some installs seem a little "temperamental". For example, WinRAR will sometimes leave a WinRAR folder in the Start -> Programs menu even though I've written a cmd to shift it. I've experimented with adding a "sleep" after the WinRAR install and that helps, so it looks like I just need to find a way of being sure that the install has completed. I've decided to achieve this by watching until the WinRAR folder appears and then waiting a further 10s or so (while the install finishes up). Alternatively, I might just wait until the install process has vanished from the system (once I figure out which process it is ...). Either way, I don't want to wait forever, just in case something goes wrong: I'd much rather have an unattended install that finishes even though it might not have completely swept up after itself rather than have an install that hangs! I can achieve this by cobbling together a js function, but I cannot find a way of invoking it from a cmdN[pn] statement. So if I have a function called like this: LimitedWaitForFile("C:\x.txt", 122) how can I invoke it from cmd1[pn]?

I'm in the middle of tracking down which ?*&&?* apps are causing reboots during my WPI run. Since there are at least two apps doing this (it seems) then the WPI_Log.txt gets wiped (twice), which means I get to fix the most recent offender, rebuild the DVD and start all over again. This quick hack in installer_log.js appends to WPI_Log.txt if it happens to be there already: if (ResumeInstall) { .... not here ... } else { // This is the new bit - try an Open before the create .... try { logHandle = fso.OpenTextFile(logFile,8,false); logHandle.WriteLine(getText(WPIInstallLogFile)+"\r\n"); logHandle.WriteLine("Installation started (possibly after a reboot) at "+LogTimeStamp()); // needs I18N here !! } catch (ex) { // Original Open code here (try {} catch{}) .... } }

I'd forgotten about that one. It's also available (in the resource pack) for Win2K, so I can ditch at least some of my nircmd uses! Thanks

I'm trying to make my AIO-DVD a little easier to maintain. In particular, I'm trying to gather all the related stuff together. So, for example, when Firefox is installed, I want to keep all the related commands together in config.js rather than having the installation happen in config.js and then having a batch file come along later and twiddle the Quick Launch area, kill of any autostart registry keys etc. I can fiddle with registry keys using nircmd.exe like this: cmd4[pn]=['%CDROM%\\DVD-Tools\\nircmd.exe regdelval HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\\SOFTWARE\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Run "Mozilla Quick Launch"'] That's fine but it's a tad unwieldy. Slightly worse than that, I've found that nircmd.exe has issues when run under Win2K. I don't recall exactly what the issues are and I'm not too worried since I rarely use Win2K, but if there's a built-in WPI feature I'm missing, I'd like to know about it. One other minor tweak I'd like to be able to make (while I'm fiddling anyway!) is that, where possible, I'd prefer to not disturb the original environment. Taking the Firefox installation above as an example, I'd like to check, before installing Firefox, whether the "Mozilla Quick Launch" value already exists in the specified key, and, if so, I'd like to not touch it afterwards. This would allow me to try a basic sanity-test of my WPI config on a running machine with having to go through the whole "build-DVD, perform full unattended OS install" cycle. Thanks for any ideas.

That does indeed also fix it - until AVG becomes a bit brighter, I guess :-)

I was merrily updating my config.js today only to find AVG becoming upset with it and refusing to let me write it to disk, complaining that it had been infected by KillAV. It was quite happy with exactly the same words in a .txt file (which obviously is not much use for WPI!). A little chopping and hacking later and it turns out that it was objecting to a line that read (more or less) as: cmd2[pn]=['taskkill /F /IM zlclient.exe'] I'd added this in to kill off a screen that Zone Alarm pops up during it's (otherwise) silent install. The workaround was simple enough (construct the offending text so that AVG doesn't see it). Obviously this is not an issue with WPI, but I thought a heads-up might save someone somewhere some head-scratching! The descriptions of KillAV I found suggest that AVG will probably be objecting to other variants of the text; I just happened to stumble on the ZoneAlarm one!

I have a multiboot DVD that works perfectly well on my old Athlon XP 2600+ system. When I recently tried it on my Athlon64 box I found that it would happily start the install of Windows XP SP2 but after 30 minutes of installing when it came to the required reboot it would not restart properly (i.e. it crashed). Once I set it to not restart-on-crash (AutoReboot 0 in the registry) I could see that it was blue-screening with: STOP:0x0000007E (0xC0000005, 0xBA3B5184, 0xBACFED3C, 0xBACFEA38) The odd thing is that it would install Windows XP SP1 properly and from there I could manually apply SP2 (and a bunch of patches). A quick search of the forum here didn't shed any light and this specific STOP code doesn't crop up in google (lots of 0x0000007E with 0xC0000005 but nothing if I add any of the other three addresses). This particular disk also works perfectly when run in VMware on that same Athlon64! Any ideas?

I like to test things out in VMware. For most things that does not need activation but if I want to check that things are up to date in Windows Update I do have to activate. After some number of such activations you get the pleasure of calling MS (been there, done that). As noted, backing up WPA after a successful installation is not enough. So is there a way of preserving the activation status of a virtual machine under these circumstances?

I had a nice multiboot using CDshell but given all the activity here and the fact that the Ultimate Boot CD went over to isolinux, I decided to have a go too (it was either that or watch the Eurovision song contest tonight ). My CDshell version had a set of cascading menus to cope with installing WXP with no SP, SP 1, SP2, SP2 + fixes (and each option as regular, unattended and unattended+apps). And then more menus for W2K (4 service packs) and UBCD and a bunch of other bits. That was quite painful in CDshell I can tell you. So when I switched over I took complex.c from syslinux and turned it into a clone of my old menu system and called it aio.c (which compiles to aio.c32). I've got UBCD integrated reasonably nicely and the Windows stuff seems to at least start installing, so now I'm back to my old problem of getting Debian to install from a netinstall.iso file. I finally tried the "pretend to be installing from USB" trick that I mentioned ages ago and it _nearly_ works ... I think it would have a much greater chance of working if it successfully detected the CDROM at some stage ... anyone here know how the flow of control goes after vmlinuz drags initrd into the picture (it was _so_ easy when I opened up SLAX some time ago but Debian seems a tad more complex!).