[Unable to delete a folder]

Did you try the 2nd method I suggested. For more info, look here.

[Needed/Unneeded Application[s]]

Look here.

[SP4 after hotfixes?]

SP4 includes all patches from previous service packs. I've installed SP4 on my machine for several months now, and it has ran, and is still running, flawlessly.

[Unable to delete a folder]

First run chkdsk to make sure the hd is not corrupted in anyway.

Then delete the file by replacing the 2nd char. with ?

del 3?FLOP~1.LNK

or

del \\?\c:\3ìFLOP~1.LNK

[Which OS do you think is/will be the best?]

windows 2000 professional

winxp = w2k w/ eye candy

["press any key..."]

Yeah, I also started at Bart's. To get more help, there's the forums at http://www.911cd.net/forums/

Creating bootable cds, I have still to scratch that itch!

["press any key..."]

Although I haven't test it myself, simply delete the file bootfix.bin in i386 should remove the message.

As for Bart's pebuilder, the reason why there is an option to generate 'press any key' message, is because it is usually used with bootscriptor (now cdshell) to create multi-boot cds. In the boot script which shows the menu, you can specify a timeout and default action to take if no key is pressed in the specified time. The default action is usually to boot using hd. Here is a sample of the boot script:

...

; timeout in 20 seconds, default key is esc

getkey 20 esc

onkey 1 chain images\bootwxpe.bin

onkey 2 chain images\booterdc.bin

onkey 3 chain images\bootdcmd.bin

onkey 4 chain images\bootrcon.bin

onkey 5 goto acronis

onkey 6 memdisk images\w98_cmd.img

onkey 7 memdisk images\di6.img

onkey 8 memdisk images\pm8.img

onkey 9 memdisk images\nav.img

onkey 0 memdisk images\memtest.img

onkey esc goto hdboot

...

Now because the boot script can prevent booting from the cd repeatedly, including the 'press any key' message is not absolutely necessary. That sounds about right, right! You would have to ask Bart for the real reason.

[FAQ: Synatx about unattended file]

I have checked my ram with memtest, and checked for viruses with norton, spyware with spybot. All is well.

Webmedia, what do you use to create the iso? Do you use vmware for testing? Have you come across any bsods during your experiences with creating unattended cds? Thanks for your help.

[FAQ: Synatx about unattended file]

Very early on, my winnt.sif looked like this

;SetupMgrTag

[Data]

AutoPartition=0

MsDosInitiated="0"

UnattendedInstall="Yes"

...

I was consistently getting bsod with the error

unknown hard error

%systemroot%\system32\ntdll.dll

When browsing ref.chm, I noticed this titbit in [Data] section

MsDosInitiated

Value: 0

Informs the Windows Setup Loader that an unattended Setup is running

directly from the product CD. The value must always be set to 0. If you

do not set the value to 0, Setup fails at the beginning of GUI-mode Setup.

So I removed the quotes, so that it looked like this:

[Data]

AutoPartition=0

MsDosInitiated=0

UnattendedInstall=Yes

The bsod mentioned above went away. Though everybody else in this forum seems to be running fine with the quotes.

[bsod during install in vmware]

To test my unattended xp pro cd, I use cdimage gui to create the iso and then vmware to run setup. The command line in cdimage looks like this:

cdimage.exe" -l"WXPSP1" -t09/01/2003,12:00:00 -g -h -n -b"E:\Temp\image1.bin" -o -w1 -m "C:\wxp\root" "c:\wxp\WXPSP1.iso"

The problem is on many occasions I get bsod during setup. The error messages are not always the same. The most common is

unknown Hard error

systemroot/system32/ntdll.dll

On another occasion virtual machine restarts after Installing Devices and gui setup runs again from the beginning. I have managed to create successful cds in my last few attempts. But with my latest cd, setup is completed, including the batch files. Then I found out I could not enter Display Properties. An entry in Event Viewer pointed me to setuperr.log, which contained

could not register themeui.dll

loadlibrary returned error 998 (3e6)

could not register mscandui.dll

loadlibrary returned error 998 (3e6)

WTF As I said before, I have managed to create working cds. This is the first time I have come across this error. And all I did was insert 2 lines to install powertoys tweakui (which worked, btw). Where am I going wrong, pls help me.

winnt.sif

----------

;SetupMgrTag

[Data]

AutoPartition=0

MsDosInitiated=0

UnattendedInstall=Yes

[unattended]

Repartition=No

UnattendMode=DefaultHide

OemSkipEula=Yes

TargetPath=\Windows

WaitForReboot=No

OemPreinstall=Yes

UnattendSwitch=No

; DriverSigningPolicy=Ignore

; OemPnPDriversPath="Drivers\Catalyst3_6;Drivers\Catalyst3_6\tv_out\WDM_XP"

[GuiUnattended]

EncryptedAdminPassword=NO

OEMSkipRegional=1

TimeZone=210

OEMSkipWelcome=1

[userData]

ProductID=xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx

FullName=""

OrgName=""

[RegionalSettings]

LanguageGroup=10,9

[identification]

JoinWorkgroup=WORKGROUP

[Networking]

InstallDefaultComponents=Yes

[Components]

msmsgs=off

[GuiRunOnce]

; %systemdrive%\install\main.cmd

; %systemdrive%\install\hotfixes.cmd

%systemdrive%\install\apps.cmd