[How to unattended install from harddisk under dos?]

Just put your winnt.sif on a floppy and make sure it is in your drive when you boot from the original CD.

[WINNT.SIF language settings]

The primary language of the CD will always be installed from txtsetup.sif before the GUI mode setup wizard. Unless you have a localized CD or changed the language in txtsetup.sif the primary language will be US English.

[Winnt.sif order]

It does't matter what order the sections are in or the lines within each section. My winnt.sif file is alphabetized.

[Change user registry etc. for all existing users]

You can set the registry key using policys. You will have to write your own ADM file that defines the policy.

[Image vs Unattended | Pro's and Con's]

I use imaging only when I need to deploy a specific application that has a complex manual installation procedure. Other then that I use unattended installs because it handles differant hardware better. When I was manufacturing identical PCs I used imaging but I always made my images with an unattended install.

[Generate a WinXP installation disk equivelant from a Restoration Disk?]

I wrote a HOWTO article a while back at http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?s=&sho...ndpost&p=427446 that describes how to make a vendor specific pre-activated Windows XP CD.

[[Question] - Recommendation]

I think He wants to be able to write CDs using the Mount Rainier (MRW) format. Windows XP SP1 includes read support for MRW CD and Ahead makes a reader for previous OSs. I don't know of any free tool that can write MRW CDs

[[Question] - Windows Server Update Services on Windows XP Pro]

You cant install WSUS on Windows XP, you need Windows 2000 Server or Windows 2003 Server. That's whay its called Windows Server Update Services.

[How to kill a running Programm]

The question that still needs to be answered is how do you know when to kill the process. My solution would be to start a second process that monitors all windows for the countdown window and kills the player process when it sees the countdown window. (I'm not going to write a code sample for this one but I hope my idea helps you.)

[[Question] - Windows xp hotfix size differences!?!]

There is an even smaller version called express updates available for WSUS users. These updates don't contain full versions of the files being replaced they only contain delta information for patching the existing files. You can install WSUS and download the full updates (without the package installer) or the express updates but its almost impossable to find the particular update when you navigate the content directory.

[[Question] - Windows XP on a Tablet PC]

You can use an MCE disk set to install TabletPC. It is the Product Key used that determines if the install will be MCE, TabletPC or Pro. If you just install Pro you can download the Wacom drivers for mouse functionality but you will lose the TabletPC software.

[Adding values under the "Default User" registry key]

Is there any method to add registry values for the "Default User"? (I know how to manually add the keys, I want to automate the process.)

[[Question] - Activating Home SP2 Problem]

Does the COA sticker say "OEM Product" or does it have the name of the manufacturer? If it has the manufacturer's name you can not avtivate online but will either have to call Microsoft to activate or get another copy of Windows from the manufacturer of your PC.

[Multiboot and txtsetup.sif into their own boot folder (recoverycons. i]

Why don't you make 3 copies of the entire i386 directory? As long as you optimize the CD it will only burn 1 copy of each unique file.

[Determine if CD-R drive exists]

this script will give you a list of CDRom drives and their drive letters.

strComputer = "."
Set objWMIService = GetObject("winmgmts:" & "{impersonationLevel=impersonate}!\\" & strComputer & "\root\cimv2")

Set colCDROMDrive = objWMIService.ExecQuery ("Select * from Win32_CDROMDrive")

For each objCDROMDrive in colCDROMDrive
	Wscript.Echo objCDROMDrive.Drive & " " & objCDROMDrive.Caption
Next

[Converting ActiveX installer (.CAB) to an .EXE]

Thanks, it works perfectly (and makes me feel like an id***).

[Determine if CD-R drive exists]

Based on the information on this page http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcen...04/hey0920.mspx I decided to parse the caption for "RW"

[[Help] | Which run command do I use..................]

If you remove Automatic Updates then WindowsUpdate won't work. Here are the keys that will disable Automatic Updates and the Firewall for Prefessional Edition.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU]
"AUOptions"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsFirewall\DomainProfile]
"EnableFirewall"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsFirewall\StandardProfile]
"EnableFirewall"=dword:00000000

[Remove cmpnents\netfx\i386\netfx.cab from source?]

Is netfx.cab even installed when xp installs? or is it an extra optional component?

That is version 1.0 of the framework. It is installed on MCE and TabletPC Editions. What edition of Windows do you have? My Pro and Home CDs dont have this file.

[Windows XP Proffessional Security Concerns]

There are different types of BIOS passwords. A user password will prevent the computer from loading the OS without a password. An administrator password will only prevent the user from changing BIOS settings (such as boot order) but will allow the OS to load withot any passwords. An administrator password combined with a case lock can prevent a user from being able to boot from an alternate media.

A few years ago I setup an IBM laptop with an encrypted HD. The user didn't have to enter the key on every boot, it was stored in the BIOS. The BIOS also had an administrator password so the boot order couldn't be changed. If the laptop would have been stoled the theif wouldn't have been able to access the data on the hard drive. If the theif would have cleared the BIOS it would no longer have the key to decrypt the HD.

[Backup Question]

Here are my instuctions for making a Pre-Activated Windows CD. To complete these steps you will need an OEM windows CD of the same edition(Preferably a Hologram CD but using another vendors CD should work as long as the vendor didn't make too many changes) and a working Pre-Activated PC.

Create a folder named OEMFILES.

Change your folder veiw settings to show hidden files and to show extesions.

Search your hard drive for files named oembios, you should find at least 4 files, oembios.bin, oembios.cat, oembios.dat, and oembios.sig. You also may find the following files oembios.bi_, oembios.ca_, oembios.da_, and oembios.si_.

If you have the files that end in _ copy them to the OEMFILES directory and skip the next 3 steps.

Copy the 4 oembios files to the OEMFILES directory.

Run makecab on each of the 4 oembios files.

Delete the copies of the oembios files.

You should now have the following files in your OEMFILES directory: oembios.bi_, oembios.ca_, oembios.da_, and oembios.si_.

Create a file called winnt.sif in your OEMFILES directory with the following contents:

[UserData]
ProductKey=XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX

[Data]
MSDosInitiated=0
UnattendedInstall=Yes

Replace the Xs in the winnt.sif files with a valid Generic key using one of these methods:

Method 1: Use the Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder to find the key used by your OEM in the factory

method 2: Use a key listed at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechn...y/oempreac.mspx or one of the System Builder keys listed at http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechn...oy/wpadepl.mspx.

DO NOT USE THE KEY ON THE COA STICKER

Copy the contents of your Windows CD to your hard drive.

Copy the contents of your OEMFILES directory (it should b 5 files) to the i386 directory.

Make a bootable ISO using nLite, CDImage, or mkisofs.

Burn the CD using your favorite CD recording software.

This process has worked on every computer I tried it on. I'd suggest installing on a spare HD the first few times you do this process

[Tool to Parse Your Drivers Tree]

Can I see your current code. You might be able to create a srting variabe called LastFldr and check if the current folder is the same as the last folder.

[Tool to Parse Your Drivers Tree]

You don't need to specify the length for the Mid function so the following should work.

DrvPath = Mid(Subfolder.Path,Len(SysDrvFldr))

With this line you can remove the lines for L1, L2, and StrLenth.

length

Number of characters to return. If omitted or if there are fewer than length characters in the text (including the character at start), all characters from the start position to the end of the string are returned.

[Tool to Parse Your Drivers Tree]

Try replacing the line:

DrvPath = Mid(Subfolder.Path,68,StrLenth)

with:

DrvPath = Mid(Subfolder.Path,Len(SysDrvFldr),StrLenth)

You might get an off by 1 error but its easily fixed.

[Tool to Parse Your Drivers Tree]

I have 2 suggestions for this script;

check for the existance if .inf files before adding a directory to the file

replace the 68 in the following line with a variable determined earlier in the script

DrvPath = Mid(Subfolder.Path,68,StrLenth)