IcemanND

You typically need an application to do this. quick google search for 'create msi' reveals 1.4mil results in less than .06 seconds http://support.microsoft.com/kb/257718 http://www.advancedinstaller.com/

http://unattended.msfn.org/

MSI files are Microsoft Installer files which allow you to install programs. Has nothing to do with installing the OS and yes they can be created or modified to install silently or switchless.

Active directory with or without SMS Cloning using either sysprep to set a random name, or write a script that would query your DNS server for the correct name if avaailable and rename the machine. If you have admin access to all the machines and you have the appropriate firewall holes you could also script it to install remotely.

yes you can compress them and then copy/decompresss them during the 'detachedprogram' portion of setup. There are a few post/ guides around for doing that.

it sounds like you are trying to clone the local disk in the machine to the next machine's hard drive which is connected externally? If so reverse your process and use the source disk as the external drive and clone to the hard disk in the machine. Also are the machines all the same? If not do they have compatible HALs and internal hard disk controllers?

startup.cmd: Const OverwriteExisting = TRUE Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject") if not objFSO.FileExists(getENV("%SYSTEMROOT%") & "\system32\myscreenssaver.scr") then objFSO.CopyFile "\\myfiles.mydomain.com\screensaver\*.*", getENV("%SYSTEMROOT%") & "\system32\", OverwriteExisting end if set objFSO=nothing wscript.quit Function getENV(ENV) On Error Resume Next Dim objWSS Set objWSS = CreateObject("WScript.Shell") getENV = objWSS.ExpandEnvironmentStrings(ENV) Set objWSS = Nothing End Function

open a command promt and type GPRESULT press enter and any group policies being applied will be list for the local computer and the user.

if you remove the 'On Error Resume Next' do you get errors? Does it work if you run it manually rather than as a login script? Why not run this as an HTA rather than create an IE nstance to post messages to?

have a startup script check for the files on the local machine and if not there copy them from the network share to the local machine. Then use the GPO to set the display settings to those files. That way even the laptops that are not always on the domain will get them the next time they are in the office and connect to the domain. If you wanted to know who got the files you could also have it logg the computer name to a text file on the share.

And how do you propose that we detect what the correct HAl should be? I have yet to figure out a way to do this from a loaded version of XP. Everything I have tried always returns the installed HAl not the one it should be. Got any suggestions?

that or create a pivot table

not sure how to change the default, that would be nice, but to gwet your domain\uberaccount listed in the drop down you need to log into windows on that machine with that account. Now how do you get the 'Run As' to stay on the stupid menu? Mine seems to come and go on a whim. Shift + right click and it is always there but sometimes it is just there when I just right click sometimes not.

ouch. take all the executables and put them in one folder. Then use a for loop to loop through them all like Ywozl did for going trough the folders, or create a CMD file calling each on individually.

Oops. missed a comma when I posted it. for /f "tokens=1,2,3 delims=: " %%a in ('time /t') do ( set hour=%%a set min=%%b set ampm=%%c ) set /a min+=1 at %hour%:%min%%ampm% /interactive "c:\sysprep\sysprep.bat" exit

for /f "tokens=1,23 delims=: " %%a in ('time /t') do ( set hour=%%a set min=%%b set ampm=%%c ) set /a min+=1 at %hour%:%min%%ampm% /interactive "c:\sysprep\sysprep.bat" exit

hate to say it but the only time I have ever seen that error it had to do with a failing hard drive. Yes there is an easier way that that monster script of yours. I'm working on it now and will post it later.

I manully start off my scripts but this could be automated. Create a scheduled task for an interactive CMD window which starts one minute from current time. The command window runs under the System user account. Then run sysprep from this CMD window and you won't get that error. This problem is supposedly related to a registry permissions issue but I never managed to find out just what caused it.

when you run sysprep and build the mass storage section it adds all of those devices to the critical devices database in the registry. HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase

performing google search of forum on: change computer name vbs returns 159 results first two should get you what you want. Please don't open another topic on the same subject when you already have one open. merged.

you will need to expand/extract the file contained in the EXE to a folder in order in import them into nLite, or to use them to manually create a cd. Many have their own switches to do this or you can see if 7-zip can extract them, or the universal extractor. Some will also extract to a folder while installing and you can just copy the contents of that folder.

That is just more things I have to configure for my image. A one stop shop would be nice but not required. Nice work by the way.

is there a way to set the white/black list settings unattendedly? And is there a way to get it to work with browsers other than IE? Worked great with IE, didn't even slow Firefox down.

google is your friend. 'usb file transfer' : http://www.google.com/search?client=firefo...G=Google+Search 'usb file transfer software' : http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&cli...amp;btnG=Search

what happens when it won't boot? just get a blank screen? do you get error messages when a windows cd is not in the drive?