Duckfather

Hi all I have a WinPE based (not BartPE) installation system for Windows XP running from a DVD. The WinPE was built from Windows XP SP2 (don't know exactly what version that makes it). On a HP Compaq nx8220 laptop (and many other IDE machines) it boots fine. However, on a SATA box, namely an nc6400 laptop, it boots fine (I've added the SATA drivers to WinPE manually), detects the drive, and then decides to create a pagefile on it! This kills my build, as I then can't blow away the drive as the pagefile for the WinPE boot is now on it As far as I'm aware, WinPE is supposed to make a pagefile if it has low memory (this laptop has 512MB of RAM) Recap :- system1 laptop : nx8220 memory : 128MB disk type : IDE NO PAGEFILE system2 laptop : nc6400 memory : 512MB disk type : SATA PAGEFILE CREATED I found a similar post from August, but the thread tapers off with no fix (link to similar post) Anyone any ideas? I'm stuffed if I can't get this working Thanks in advance Andy

I've managed to find the root problem of all my issues with $OEM$ contents. For some reason, all things that were supposed to run from there were failing because of the old 8.3 naming conventions! As a result, all the RunOnceEx, user setup etc commands that I've been using from this site just wouldn't work because of their long names. They were just being ignored! I've shortened all of the names to 8.3 formats and now everything is running sweet Just something that may be worth noting for anyone having similar problems Andy

Ok, so I've found out why this wasn't working in the first place. My $oem$ folder wasn't being found, which hints at a bigger issue, as my $oem$ folder is now being seen, but the scripts still don't seem to run. I beleave that the reason for this is that certain variables are set by the Autobooted setup program (setup.exe), which I'm not running. The reason for this is that I have a pre-installation portion which destroys any corrupt partitions, installs a 2GB MS-DOS partition and boots from this to run winnt.exe with an unattend.txt file. I have to do this because I have not guarantee that an intact partition will be available for file copies, or that there will be a bootable CD ROM. In fact, my installation is coded to boot from floppy, CD, NIC or USB drive before re-creating local partitions and then kicking off winnt.exe (using a source on either CD, network or USB drive). Does setup.exe set certain system variables at installation launch? Certain system variables are used by the scripts (%I, %J, %CD%, %SystemDrive%, %SystemRoot%) which I obviously don't have set if I boot from my MS-DOS partition as opposed to the CD. Cheers Andy

That worked with only a slight tweak :- I changed the OemFilesPath="..\$OEM$" to read OemFilesPath="D:\$OEM$", which I'd tried before, but not in combination with the [Data] entries. Thanks guys Now my $oem$ folder is being read, I've got loads of other problems with the cmdlines.txt portion of my install, but hey, at least it's progress of a sort, hehehehe

Nope. It just doesn't seem to see the $oem$ folder so doesn't run anything in it. This includes my cmdlines.txt file as well as the drivers. I'm getting desperate now Anyone got any further ideas? Andy

Do I have to use the OemFilesPath switch in my [unattended] portion of the answer file to point at d:\$OEM$ ? In all the documentation I've seen from Microsoft they tell me to place the $OEM$ IN the I386 folder, where as all documentation on here that I've seen tells me to place it OUTSIDE the I386 folder. Microsoft then say that you must use the OemFilesPath switch if it's outside the I386 folder, but I've seen no mention of it on here. I'm really confused now and using way too many CD's trying to get this sorted

Hi all I'm having problems getting cmdlines.txt and drivers installed from my $OEM$ folder. It just doesn't seem to want to run anything in there. My $OEM$ folder is in the root of my install CD (ie the same level as my I386 folder) and the [unattended] portion of my answer file is like this :- [unattended] Unattendmode = FullUnattended OemPreinstall = Yes OemPnPDriversPath="Drivers\audio;Drivers\nic;Drivers\video;Drivers\nic\Broadcom;Drivers\nic\Broadcom\Gigabit" OEMSkipWelcome = 1 TargetPath = * FileSystem = ConvertNTFS ExtendOemPartition = 1 ConfirmHardware = No OEMSkipEula = Yes KeyBoardLayout = "United Kingdom" UnattendSwitch = Yes DriverSigningPolicy = Ignore I've also tried placing my drivers in a $OEM$\$1\ folder, but still no joy. Can anyone see what I'm doing wrong? Cheers. Andy

I've attempted this method, following the instructions to the letter (unless I've been stoopid and done something wrong, which is a possibility ) and I don't see a batch file running at any point of the install I've cut and pasted the [GuiUnattended] section that should show the batch file and copied the zipped files to $OEM$ as suggested. I have a $OEM$\Drivers folder containing my drivers (in subfolders under this). I've even shortened all folder names to less than 8 chars just in case there are issues with 8.3 naming conventions. I still see nothing and no OEM drivers get installed. The only thing that I can see is definately different is that I have extra entries in [GuiUnattended] for the time zones, admin passwords etc. I've tried reming these out, but no joy. Any ideas as to what I'm doing wrong? What sets the %I and %J variables? Andy

Ok. I posted before doing much research winnt.sif is the CD version of unattend.txt or answer.txt (or whatever you would like to call the answer file). Unfortunately, the version I'm writing here is intended to boot from either floppy, CD, USB drive or network and use an install source from either CD, USB drive or network. While I can call the answer file anything I want, actually having it in the i386 folder isn't cool for me as I have a DOS menu portion before the install that will overwrite portions of the answer file dependant on user input, and this is obviously not possible if on a CD (the idea being to provide a very customisable menu driven install for relatively none technical IT department members if required). Can this version be 'tweaked' to look at a none CD version of the answer file? Andy

I'll give it a try. One problem though. I can't find winnt.sif anywhere! I vaguely recall seeing it in the distant past, but I can't find it anywhere on any i386 source I have access to. Is it hidden in a .cab file? Andy

Anyone?

I'm not using nLite as it doesn't seem to let me add any more drivers after I've added a few (ie started another nLite session at a later date and attempted to add more drivers) which I may need to do. Is there a way around this?

Hi all I'm attempting to add OEM drivers to my CD. I've followed the section on the website entitled 'Drivers via CD' and am getting an error at the file copy stage of the install :- Setup cannot copy the file presetup.cmd I've edited txtsetup.sif as stated, placed all the relevant files in the I386 folder etc. Anyone got any ideas?

Hi I have a problem copying the I386 folder from the WinXP CD. Whenever I burn it to myUnattended Installation CD, the install gives me errors copying the following files at the blue screen section of the install :- cyclad-z.inf cyclom-y.inf headsp~1.wmz minipl~1.wmz utopia~1.wav utopia~2.wav utopia~3.wav utopia~4.wav sv-262e1.png sv-262e3.png sv-262e4.png The install is unable to copy the files and has to skip them. This happens consistently despite using 5 different source CD's, 2 different laptops to burn my unattend install CD's, 2 different recordable CD types and using 2 different versions of Nero to burn them as well as using the Windows XP native recording system. I've also managed to tweak the setup so that these files are ignored during my UI, but the resultant operating system has a corrupt Internet Explorer! Can anyone help me in getting these files copied / a none corrupt version of I386? Thanks in advance. Andy