un4given1

Greenmachine: Yes, you are correct with a CD install. I do not deal with many CD installs and that is why we had an argument about this. In a network installation or using RIS it is completely different. At this point of the setup Windows cannot authenticate to network drives/servers so in such installations these files ARE copied locally. Sorry to have caused a fuss over this days ago.

Yes... it will work in 2000 as well.

This can only be accomplished in RIS by prepping the systems and their names in AD. Sorry.

Here's my recommendation. You put that drive in as a secondary in another system. Using a network boot disk you boot to the network and connect to that drive. You can then launch the setup from there. Or, you can use RIS. Someone else mentioned it earlier, but I believe that they were under the impression that you HAVE to use RIS for a network install, and this is not true. One of my job functions is administering a RIS server and it's images. This is the best option for multiple installations, but I don't know if 10 PCs is enough to justify it. Good Luck!

I would be interested to see your SIF file. Do you have the following item in it? OemPreinstall = yes

Give this a try... http://old.bink.nu/xpbootcd/

just noticed that the very first reply would have fixed this for you.

glad I could help

you mean cmdlines.txt right? that's what it's supposed to be.

SP2 isn't due out for almost a year (ok, so 9 months)... The rollup package was due yesterday but had problems, probably won't be due out until next wednesday. When you "slipstream" an SP it overwrites the necessary files. It does not really add any size to the CD/image You should never slipstream a SP into an image that already has a SP or hotfixes in it.

Slipstreaming hotfixes is too much administrative work. My method does not require you to do anything but drop the file in it's directory. It's safe, and it's been tested hundreds of times

I am not using outdated info. I have been following this thread. I happen to administer a RIS server and all of it's images as well as all CD images. I have tested and tested and tested the techniques. I have built over 500 PCs using unattended installation methods. I don't mean to brag but I concider myself somewhat of a pro. I have been doing it for a year and a half. I have managed to accomplish almost anything that can be accomplished during unattended installs, and even things that Microsoft says is not possible on it's websites. You are wrong about the $OEM$ directory. Watch during the text mode setup. It will copy the files you have in your $OEM$ directory to the local PC.

I wanted to also add... You should keep in mind that when you are running your CMDLINES.TXT file it is using it's local directory which is "C:\$WIN_NT$.~LS\$OEM$" If you wish to create a log file you should do more than include a file name. Use an exact location such as c:\logfile.txt

RyanVM: which comment are you talking about?

OK... I have a few points... (this is my first post here) Your hotfixes are in c:\updates, correct? lose the %systemdrive% variable since the unattended install makes you use C anyways, right? Your hotfixes are on the CD in $OEM$\$1\updates right? If they aren't that's where they should be. Try losing the @echo off command so you are able to view everything, and ad a PAUSE statement at the end of it. (only for the purposes of testing) You are walking the edge not using qchain.exe at the end of the installs. and.. I will take a second to show you MY method for installing hotfixes Create a directory called $OEM$\$1\hotfixes Create sub directories called IE and WIN Create sub directories beneath the WIN directory called 1 and 2 So, here is what you should have $OEM$\$1 HOTFIXES WIN 1 2 IE There are two different kinds of hotfixes for Windows and one for IE (the reason for the directory structure) One type of hotfix uses -u -q -z switches where as the other kind uses /q:a /r:n switches. Drop the first kind in the 1 directory and the second kind in the 2 directory. If you have trouble determining which is which you can launch it from a prompt with a /? switch to find out. Drop the corresponding IE hotfixes in the IE directory. Drop QCHAIN.EXE in the HOTFIXES directory. Create a batch file in the HOTFIXES directory called HOTFIXES.BAT with the following contents ------------------- :START @ECHO OFF DIR /B c:\hotfixes\win\1\>>c:\hotfixes\win1.txt DIR /B c:\hotfixes\win\2\>>c:\hotfixes\win2.txt DIR /B c:\hotfixes\IE\>>c:\hotfixes\ie.txt FOR /f %%i IN (c:\hotfixes\win1.txt) DO ECHO %%i -u -q -z>>hotfixrun.bat FOR /f %%i IN (c:\hotfixes\win2.txt) DO ECHO %%i /q:a /r:n>>hotfixrun.bat FOR /f %%i IN (c:\hotfixes\ie.txt) DO ECHO %%i /q:a /r:n>>hotfixrun.bat ECHO qchain.exe>>hotfixrun.bat hotfixrun.bat RD /S/Q c:\hotfixes -------------------- I myself use the [GuiRunOnce] for hotfixes and service packs because of problems I have run into in the past. Windows is not completely finished updating it's files when the cmdlines.txt file is launched. It is possible for Windows to overwrite one of your updated files with an older version. Oh, I forgot to add... the beauty of using the script I created is that every time you have a new hotfix you just drop it in it's corresponding directory and it automatically uses it.