Vumad

Great job with all the switchless installers. Are you working on an update to the VMware Tools package based on VMware Workstation v5.5.2.29772? Thanks again for all the hard work Vumad

The re-running of RunOnceEx is working fine for me following the advice from Nilfred My 'cmdlines.txt' statements looks like: . . Reg Add %ExtraKey%\062 /ve /d "PartitionMagic v8.05" /f Reg Add %ExtraKey%\062 /v 1 /d "\"%SystemDrive%\Apps\PartitionMagic\PartitionMagic.aai\"" /f Reg Add %ExtraKey%\063 /ve /d "nLite v1.0.1" /f Reg Add %ExtraKey%\063 /v 1 /d "\"%SystemDrive%\Apps\nLite\nLite.aai\"" /f Reg Add %Key%\999 /v 1 /d "\"%SystemRoot%\System32\RunOnceEx.exe\" MOVE_EXTRA RUNONCEEX" /f Reg Add %ExtraKey% /v ThisPass /d "2" /f Reg Add %ExtraKey% /v LastPass /d "2" /f Reg Add %ExtraKey% /v Title /d "Installing Applications" /f Reg Add %ExtraKey% /v MaxEntries /d "32" /f where RunOnceEx.exe is a small app created with AutoIt that given the appropriate parameters moves the entries from HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnceExtra to HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnceEx, installs itself as entry 999 in the RunOnceEx keys and then executes RunWait(@SystemRoot & "\rundll32.exe iernonce.dll,RunOnceExProcess") After all this I'm still none the wiser about actually re-booted during RunOnceEx processing but that requirement has now 'gone away' following the tips about running iernonce.dll and the SCSI Pass Through Direct driver Vumad

Many thanks victor_008 and dobbelina dobbelina - excuse my 'newbieness' but the installation of the 'SCSI Pass Through Direct driver' mentions Install this file @ T-13/12/9 - how do these stages map onto cmdlines.txt, svcpack.inf, etc victor_008 - thanks for the suggestion, but belive you me I've tried this and many other 'incantations'. The problem is not one of re-booting during RunOnceEx, nor resuming from the next entry, all that works just fine. The issue I have is that a re-boot adversely affects the running of 'Personalized Settings' which executes after the final RunOnceEx entry has completed. Cheers guys, Vumad

Brilliant - I take my hat off to you Nilfred - this does exactly what I was trying to achieve. It works great with my RunOnceExtra approach. ... but back to the original subject. I have one application (so far) that does indeed require a re-boot during the installation process - Alcohol 120%. So the original problem still exists, ie is it possible to re-boot during the processing of the RunOnceEx entries and not screw up the 'Personalized Settings' phase of the first logon? Thanks again for the help, Vumad

Thanks Nilfred (and apologies for being a newbie ) Do I place start /w rundll32.exe iernonce.dll,RunOnceExProcess as my final RunOnceEx entry or elsewhere in the first start-up / login sequence? Vumad

I've seen multiple posts about rebooting during the processing of RunOnceEx entries but none seem to address the issue I have. Like [just about] everyone else, I have a .cmd file in cmdlines.txt that creates the RunOnceEx registry entries. Via cmdlines.txt I also create an admin user account with autologon. Thus at the end of the XP Pro installation the user will be logged on and the RunOnceEx entries (application installs) processed. The list of entries I have in RunOnceEx is now pretty large (>70) and most of them drop off the bottom of the screen. I've proven an approach that writes ~30 entries into the subkeys of HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnceEx with the remaining entries being placed in ..\RunOnceExtra. The final entry in RunOnceEx executes a small AutoIt script that moves up to 30 entries from RunOnceExtra to RunOnceEx and then reboots. All this works just fine; I see the entries being processed in the visibile 'Installing Applications' window, and my 70+ apps are installed over multiple reboots. So "what's the problem?" you may well ask. Well, during one or more reboots I see the 'Personalized Settings' window pop up briefly, occasionally with a message about running a .dll having failed as Windows is shutting down. The net effect of this being that when all the RunOnceEx processing is complete I find that things like the Themes Setup have not been run (presumably that was the .dll that failed) and I have a clunky looking Win2K / 'classic' desktop. What I'd like to find out is what launches the 'Personalized Settings' window and is there a way of holding back the execution of this phase until after all my RunOnceEx etries have been processed? Failing that, can I somehow 're-lauch' the tasks that are normally executed as part of the 'Personalized Settings' phase? FYI - this problem has nothing whatsoever to do with my use of RunOnceExtra -> RunOnceEx. If I put several shutdown -r -f -t 0 commands in my regular RunOnceEx entries I get exactly the same problem with the 'Personalized Settings' window. AdvThanksance Vumad

Does anyone have this problem running Slipstreamer_v3? I have previously been installing Media Player 10 via RunOnceEx. However, my unattended ISO is now getting a bit bulky and I thought that I'd head down the slipstream route instead to install Media Player 10. Having read this thread I thought that I'd give Slipstreamer_v3 a go. I started with a base installation of XP Pro + integrated SP2 and then ran Slipstreamer_v3 (3.0.1.1). The slipstreamer runs for about 2 mins at 100% CPU (my test machine is an Athlon 850, 640MB, ATA66) and then pops up an error box: I/O error 103. So what gives? Is there an error or log file, or a switch to create one? How do I fix the error, etc? AdvThanksance

Does anyone have this problem running Slipstreamer_v3? I have previously been installing Media Player 10 via RunOnceEx. However, my unattended ISO is now getting a bit bulky and I thought that I'd head down the slipstream route instead to install Media Player 10. Having read this thread I thought that I'd give Slipstreamer_v3 a go. I started with a base installation of XP Pro + integrated SP2 and then ran Slipstreamer_v3. The strilstreamer runs for about 2min at 100% CPU (my test machine is an Athlon 850, 640MB, ATA66) and then pops up an error box: I/O error 103. So what gives? Is there an error or log file, or a switch to create one? How do I fix the error, etc? AdvThanksance

Alas this doesn't work - Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0: x86 (KB829019) is still listed when I run Windows Update. So into RunOnceEx it must go Thanks for the suggestions everyone.

Alas this makes no difference - the quotes are still lost when the svcpack.inf entries are executed. Was this a guess or does it work for you [Alanoll] ?

Hi, I'm trying to include .Net framework v2.0 (KB829019) in my unattended build but with no joy. My 'build' generates an entry in svcpack.inf of the form: dotnetfx.exe /q:a /c:"install /l /q" But when this entry is executed the quotes get removed and hence the command fails (confirmed by replacing dotnetfx.exe with cmdline.exe (a little AutoIt script that displays the raw command line). So before I waste any time on [another] wrapper my question is - "Is it possible to include such entries in svcpack.inf and if so how do you escape the quotes such that they are preserved?" Adv Thanks ance

I have found that specifying a theme in WINNT.SIF causes a small corruption to the menu of applications such as notepad and regedit (the menu options File, Edit, Help, etc all appear with a white background). I notice exactly the same behavior if I manually select a theme after XP has been installed. I've tried it on several machines and see the same unwanted behaviour. Is this common behaviour and is there a fix / patch? My workround is a small AutoIt script that has the file "Windows XP.bmp" installed inside the executable. When the .exe is run (from cmdlines.txt) "Windows XP.bmp" is installed in %SystemRoot%\Web\Wallpaper. I then make four registry changes to make the default wallpaper point to Windows XP.bmp rather than Bliss.bmp ; First we must install the bitmap Dim Const $sWallpaper = @WindowsDir & "\Web\Wallpaper\Windows XP.bmp" Dim Const $sRootpaper = "%SystemRoot%\Web\Wallpaper\Windows XP.bmp" FileInstall("Windows XP.bmp", $sWallpaper); Install the 800 x 600 bitmap If Not(FileExists($sWallpaper)) Then MsgBox(0, $sAppName, StringFormat("Can't find desktop bitmap '%s'", $sWallpaper), 1) Exit EndIf ; Now change the registry to point to the preferred bitmap RegWrite("HKCU\Control Panel\Desktop", "Wallpaper", "REG_SZ", $sWallpaper) RegWrite("HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Desktop\General", "BackupWallpaper", "REG_EXPAND_SZ", $sRootpaper) RegWrite("HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Desktop\General", "Wallpaper", "REG_EXPAND_SZ", $sRootpaper) RegWrite("HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Themes\LastTheme", "Wallpaper", "REG_EXPAND_SZ", $sRootpaper) Vumad

Thanks MHz - it was a simple mistake on my part. I had assumed (wrongly) that HKU\.DEFAULT was the template for HKCU for new users. I now see that it's the settings in HKCU during the execution of cmdlines.txt that are the template. IT's all working now. Cheers for the pointer to Themes - that bit is sorted out now. FYI I'm also working on a nested installer but it's completely data driven rather than separately coded .au3 scripts. So (for example) my ini / data file for installing WinZip has entries in it like [WinZip] Title = "WinZip® 9.0 SR-1 Setup" Text = "Thank you for your interest in WinZip!" Action = Disable("Quick_Start") Action = ClickButton(Button1, "&Setup") ; [Registration] Title = "WinZip" Text = "Click on OK to confirm that this is your correct registration" Action = ClickButton(Button1, "OK") [Folder] Title = "WinZip Setup" Text = "Setup will install WinZip into the following folder" Action = ClickButton(Button2, "OK") [Complete_1_2] Title = "Setup Complete 1 of 2" Text = "" Action = ClickButton(Button1, "OK") The installer is written in AutoIt and is very much 'work in progress' at this stage. I will post the code once it is complete. Thanks again, Vumad

Help please. I've spent many days and nights building and AutoIt script that creates an unattended XP installation (SP2, hotfixes, GWA, WUv6, user accounts, registry tweaks, etc). But one thing has beaten me so far. I want to run an application the very first time each user logs in. Given that there appears to be no simple way of tweaking the registry to enable the Quick Launch bar and set the desktop wallpaper then I have a small .exe (produced by AutoIt) that sets the above features - but how do I make this run for each new user? I had thought that HKU\.DEFUALT\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce was a template for all newly created users and that would be the answer but this appears not to work. I can't imagine that no one else has a similar need but I'm baffled so far. Adv(Thanks)ance for any replies. Vumad

Thanks Gee - I'm already holding my head in shame for missing this one! Cheers, Vumad