mmarable

Here is a simple batch file that will do the trick. set /p name=[Please Enter ID:] echo %name% set /p pw=[Please Type a Password:] echo %pw% echo. echo %name% echo %pw% net user %name% %pw% /add You can jazz it up all you want. Here is how it works: set /p name=[Please Enter ID:] This will put up a message [Please Enter ID:] and wait for the user to type in an ID. It will then assign this to the "name" variable. I then echo it just for fun. You can add in a message or something like, "You have chosen %name% as your ID." for the user. The same logic is used to get a password for the user. Again, I echo it just so that you can see it working. net user %name% %pw% /add This creates a local user account using the name and password that the user keyed in. You can add them to groups if you wish (the link to the Unattended guide in my above post shows how). That's it. I would add in an immediate reboot of the box after creating the account so that the user can't play around while the system is logged in as an admin. Change the prompts, set the screen/text colors, etc. Mike

Sounds easy enough to do. A simple batch file would work if you're not looking for anything fancy. Just prompt them for an ID and password, pipe those into a "Net User" command (http://unattended.msfn.org/intermediate/users.htm#net) and then reboot. If your automated CD is already logged in using the local admin account you shouldn't have any problems. You can get fancy and use VB scripts and/or HTAs to make a nice looking dialog box.

You're best bet is to just download them from Dell's web site. It's a pain, but it the best way to get the newest drivers.

It works just fine. It all depends on how you want to execute it. I just put it in $OEM$\$!\WPI and executed it from GUIRunOnceEx. It will not work running it from the network, unless you map a drive. So, if you're hoping to have a single WPI source on your server that each of your RIS images pulls from then you'll have to keep that in mind.

Well, using WMI might hold some promise. According to this documentation, the "Capabilities" attribute might work. If a drive supports writing, it will show that. http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default...._cdromdrive.asp So, if you don't mind doing a little VBScripting or JavaScripting you could check the capabilities of any CD drives and install the buring software on any that support writing.

I'd keep it simple. Check for the executable in the lcoation that you're intalling it to. If it's there, skip the install, if not install it. That's the simple way.

I had a similar problem trying to RIS over the onboard NIC on one of my desktops. I switched to a PCI card (Broadcom in fact) and it worked perfectly. I did have to replace the driver that Microsoft had for the Broadcom with the driver from the manufacturer. What kind of laptop is this?

If you're installing over the network, then yes, the $OEM$ folder is supposed to be under the I386 folder, so that's fine. When you say that the application installs don't work, what exactly is happening? You're OEM tree copies over correctly? Is your RunOnceEx working correctly? Do your installs work by themselves? Can you open a command prompt and run the install string and everything works perfectly?

systemsmb, RIS will work perfectly for you. I use it at home to build my machines as well as at work to build thousands of boxes. Think of RIS as just a network flavor of the unattended install process. Everything that is discussed here works almost identically in RIS. Here is how I got RIS working for me. F(orgive me if I explain things you already know, but I'm just going to assume you have very little experience with this stuff.) First, I started with putting together an unattended CD install of XP. It'll get you familiar with how the install process actually works. Use the guide here: http://unattended.msfn.org/ It won't be a waste of time, as everything you do with the CD will transfer to your RIS image. Next, create a simple RIS flat image with nothing fancy. Now, RIS works with 2 "flavors" of images, "flat" and "RIPREPed". Flat images are just complete installations. Nothing more than moving the install CD up to a server. The RIPREPed images are closer to Ghost images, or at least you can think of them that way. What you do is build a complete PC by hand. Installing all your apps, setting up all your settings and such and then you use the RIPREP tool (similar to SYSPREP in a way) to upload an image of that PC to your RIS server. Then, when you build a machine with that image, it runs the Windows install and then layers onto that all your settings and applications. So, no it isn't really a Ghost image, but you might as well think of it as one. Then, when your flat image is working right, start adding in the things you learned from your unattended CD. In general, work in small steps and don't dump everything in all at once in case something goes wrong. So, here is how I do things with RIS, just to give you some ideas. I have a single flat image of Windows XP. In there I have several SIF files (identical to Winnt.sif), each one for a different hardware platform. For example, I have one for my Dell laptop, another for my AMD64 box, etc. I also have a share on my server for all my application installs. I then use various batch files executed from GUIRUNONCE to install different applications over the network. That's it in a nutshell. RIS is awsome, and it isn't too complicated once you get the hang of it. Like I said, follow the unattended CD guides for info on how to do things like slipstream in hotfixes, or install applications silently, or adding support for SATA drives. That is the majority of the work. The only real gotcha you have with RIS is the fact that it's run over the network. Since it is over the network, you need your network drivers to work during text mode setup. This is easy to do, you just have to copy the driver(s) into the I386 folder of your flat image and restart the RIS service. I hope this helps, but feel free to ask any questions you might have. Mike

Well, when the final release came out it had the VIA drivers included so I got lucky I guess. I never could get it to work with the pre-release betas.

It sounds like the RunOnce is executed after the GUIRunOnce sections. My guess is that the reboot at the end of the IE6 install, clears the RunOnce registry keys. Try this, create 2 batch files. The first runs from GUIRunOnce in the SIF file and all it does is echo some message to the screen and puts the second batch file in RunOnce. The second batch file just echos some message to the screen (i.e. "This is batch file #2") and pauses. From what you describe, #1 will run and immediately after it completes, #2 will run. Now, put a reboot command into the end of batch file #1 and see what happens. Maybe you could put your second batch file into GUIRunOnceEx instead of RunOnce. Maybe then it will execute after the IE6 reboot.

I'm looking for a good reference for working with the OSC menu files for RIS. The main problem I've run into is on one RIS install I have the options for doing a automatic or custom setup (choice.osc), but on another set of servers I don't have that option. After logging in it skips that screen. So, does anyone know of some good info on customizing and creating OSC files? Thanks Mike

I ran into this as well. Here's how to get it to work: user.exe -s -f1"C:\Full.iss" The -s does the silent install. The -f1 points it to your ISS file as opposed to the one inside the compressed executable (user.exe in my case).

You don't need the autopartion line in the [Data] section. All you need are these two lines: [RemoteInstall] Repartition=No UseWholeDisk=No This will pause the RIS install so that you have to manually create the partition. I've used this on machines with no partitions as well as multiple existing partitions and it works every time.

If you're RIS server is running Win2003 it may be due to the HALs being different. MS KB Article I guess on Win2003 the RIS application will only present images that are compatible with the hardware you're targeting, and since the flat images are not hardware specific you can see those. On Win2000 servers RIS isn't that smart.

RIS does not use the winnt.sif file like a CD install would. It uses the ristndrd.sif (for "flat" images) found in the "Templates" folder inside the I386 folder on your RIS server. It's formated almost identically to the winnt.sif, and so far I haven't run across anything from my winnt.sif that I couldn't put into the ristndrd.sif file. Put your WPI stuff in the [GUIRunOnce] section (just like in a winnt.sif) and leave the [OSChooser] section at the end alone. [OSChooser] Description =" - > Windows Server 2003, Enterprise" Help ="Automatically installs Windows 2003 Enterprise Server as well as Big Brother, Control-M, TSM and Symantec." LaunchFile = "%INSTALLPATH%\%MACHINETYPE%\templates\startrom.com" ImageType =Flat Version="5.2" You can change the Description (which will be the title that appears on your list of images on the RIS server) and the Help (the long description displayed when you select an image). You will need to make sure that your network card(s) are supported nativly by RIS, otherwise you'll have to drop them into the image. But you said that it was working but not running WPI and such you're past that point. Just keep it in mind if you try your image on other machines. Microsoft's Knowledgebase has a bunch of articles on adding additional drivers, but essentially you pretty much just drop them into the I386 folder and restart the service (BINL on a Win2000 or Remote Install... on a Win2003).

I'd start simple. Go with an unattended vanilla install, don't add in any drivers or do any app installs. Then start adding things in one by one. I know it's a hassle, but obviously something is triggering the reboot cycle.

Still no luck. I ran across something earlier this morning, someone mentioned that the VIA drivers for XP64 will only work if you have an array set up, and will not work with a single drive. To me that sounds pretty lame of VIA if that's how it is. I don't know, I don't really have the money to buy another drive just to see if it's true. I wish I could remember where I saw that. Maybe I should just stick one of my old ATA drives in there and wait and see how things pan out.

Okay, here is what I've done so far. I've used the info here on slipstreaming ito the 32bit version of XP as well as the process from this site: http://www.collosumus.net/amd64/addhw_1.html Now this site basically echoes what has been discussed here at MSFN. I got my drivers from here: http://america.giga-byte.com/MotherBoard/F...a_8237_xp64.exe Here is what I added to the end of the TXTSETUP.sif file: [SourceDisksFiles] viamrx64.sys = 1,,,,,,3_,4,1,,,1,4 viamrx64.inf = 1,,,,,,,20,0,0 [HardwareIdsDatabase] PCI\VEN_1106&DEV_3249 = "viamrx64" PCI\VEN_1106&DEV_3149 = "viamrx64" PCI\VEN_1106&DEV_3164 = "viamrx64" [SCSI.Load] viamrx64 = viamrx64.sys,4 [SCSI] viamrx64 = "VIA VT8237/6421/6410 SATA RAID Controller(SRV2003/XP-x64)" I have the SYS and INF files in the AMD64 folder. All I have is an AMD system, so I'm not worried about ia64 support, just AMD64. That's what I've done, but it still fails to find my SATA drive. I did the exact same thing with my 32bit WinXP CD and it works perfectly. Let's see, what else. I'm using the latest public beta of XP64 from Microsoft. It's a single Maxtor 120GB drive attached to the onboard SATA controller on a Gigabyte K8VT800 motherboard. I appreciate the help and any ideas you might have. Thanks Mike

Has anyone been able to work out how to slipstream SATA (in particular VIA) drivers into the 64bit WinXP? I've been searching and finding info on what drivers to use with the F6 disk, but nothing about adding them in. I tried the same method for adding them into the 32bit version but used the AMD64 folder as opposed to the I386 one, but no luck. I run the install and it doens't see my SATA drive. Anyone have any luck?

RIS really wasn't meant to do that, if I understand what you're looking for. You want to use RIS, but manually step through the install. Is that right? Why do you want to do that? The point of RIS is to automatically install Windows and such with almost no user intervention. If you have custom images with various apps installed (Office, etc.) and you just want to install Windows alone, you would select one of the flat images (or the flat image if you only have one.) They're at the end of the list of images (unless you've tweaked the folder names to organize them differently). If you're looking to install Windows and manually set eveything then RIS isn't going to work for you. You would be better off doing either a CD install, or boot from a floppy to connect to a network share and install from there.

No, just create a basic shortcut and put any parameters on the Target line. Make sure you have the path to the BGInfo.exe file in there as well. Drop that into $OEM$\Docs$\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup and you're good to go.

No, don't put the executable into the Startup folder. Just put a shortcut into Startup and you can then add in the parameters to use your own config file and such. I put a shortcut into the All Users Startup group and it works perfectly.

What about adding in the escape characters, quotee? http://unattended.msfn.org/intermediate/me...s/runonceex.htm » Applications that use Quotations You will find that if you add additional " " quotation marks in the REG ADD entries, it won't be imported to the Windows Registry. To work around this, use a backslash \" for every quotation you intend to add, for example: %KEY%\005 /V 1 /D "\"%systemdrive%\install\AdobeReader6\Adobe Reader 6.msi\" /qn" /f By doing this, you can execute applications that contain spaces in the filename, or application switches that need to be enclosed in quotations. If there is an application that has a series of complicated switches with lots of quotation marks, consider putting them into a separate .cmd file instead and launching from RunOnceEx, because it would get too messy putting those switches directly into RunOnceEx.

Looks pretty cool. I'll like to give it a shot.