mmarable

You could just use the version of PE that you currently are using to deploy the 32bit version. Although I'd have to agree with Jazkal, if it were me I'd go with 2.0.

You are going to have to use WinPE to accomplish this, but since you are using illegal, pirated software you're probably not going to get a lot of help.

That's what got me this morning. Take the .UL file in the Zip and just copy it to your WUD program folder.

I'm trying it now. Seems to work, once I stopped double-clicking the .UL file trying to import it.

Using WinPE 2 is going to get a little dicey. You're going to want to put your files into the ISO folder. That way they'll be on the CD/DVD right off the root. The problem comes about because in WinPE 1.x, the CD was assigned letter "X:", so you always knew were to find you i386 files. In WinPE 2, the WIM is loaded into a RAM disk assigned to "X:" while the physical CD contents will get the next available physical drive letter. On one machine it could be letter "E" on another letter "D". When I asked Microsoft about this, they suggested putting a tag file in the root and looking for that (just like we do to install apps from CD here). It seems that Microsoft is really pushing WinPE 2 as a tool to install over a network (using the BDD of course).

There are a couple of things you will want to check. What happens when you select the Royal theme after Windows is installed? Do you get an error message of any kind? If so, there there is something out of place that it needs (i.e. cursor files, or icons, etc.). If you don't get an error, but it looks wrong in the little preview screen, then you dealing with an "unsigned" visual style and your UXTheme.dll isn't patched. The Royal theme is from Microsoft and does not need the DLL to be patched, so if this is your case then you have a modified theme. I would first check to make sure that you have the correct folder structure. It sounds simple, but it's worth checking. Does your themes folder have the "royal.theme" file in its root, and then a folder called "Royal" in it? Inside that Royal folder you should have a file called "Royal.msstyles" and another folder called "Shell". Inside Shell will be a folder called "NormalColor" and inside that a file called "ShellStyle.dll" Now, if you get an error when you try to manually select the theme, then something is out of place or missing. If you got the theme in its original form than you shouldn't have a problem, but if the .theme file has been modified it could be trying to find icons, cursors or other files that either don't exist or are in different locations. The theme file is just a simple text file, so you can easily look at it if you want. You can open Explorer and browse to the Royal folder and doubleclick the Royal.msstyles file. This will apply the visual style while bypassing the theme file, just in case is has been edited. More than likely though your problem won't be that complicated. It is probably one of two things, first the folder structure isn't correct in the Themes folder, or second the themes service isn't started. Try selecting the theme manually, if it doesn't appear in the list, or you can select it but get an error that will tell you the problem is with the folder layout. If you get an error that the themes service isn't running, well that's clear enough.

You will need to move the $OEM$ folder into the i386 folder. If you're installing from a RIS server or a standard Windows CD the $OEM$ folder is at the same level as the i386 folder. If you're installing from within WinPE then it has to be inside the i386 folder.

We get this all the time with remote users. Log onto your machine with your cached credentials. Establish your VPN remote connecton. Lock your screen (WindowsKey + L) Unlock using your new domain password. This will recache your credentials and you should be good to go.

I've found some real nice themes on DeviantArt.

Well, the WAIK was RTMed a while ago. Windows Automated Installation Kit (It's about 830MB.)

I think it's getting closer. Earlier this morning the link to it on MS TechNet Deployment page linked back to Connect. Now it ends up with a dead download message: The download you requested is unavailable. If you continue to see this message when trying to access this download, go to the "Search for a Download" area on the Download Center home page. Maybe by morning it'll be sorted out. Update: It's working, sort of. By accident I refreshed the link and it came up with the downloads. After downloading the files I refreshed once more and again got the message that the download is unavailable. So it seems like it's out there, but hasn't synced to all of Microsoft's download servers. Here's the download link: BDD2007 RTM

Jondercik is right. Win2003 does not automatically assign drive letters to external drives like WinXP does. You will have to fire up Disk Manager and assign a letter to it. After that, each time you plug that drive into the Win2003 box it'll get that same drive letter.

Here is a pefect step by step guide for you. MSFN's Unattended Guide It will take you step by step through everything, from creating an automated installation of Windows to all your applications. I would go through it before you go jumping into anything like nLite, XPCreate or any of the other tools. It's best to get an understanding of how the processes work. That way if something goes wrong or you want to add or change things later on you won't be lost.

Yes, it was created by Microsoft employees. It's the template unattended.txt file from Microsoft's Business Desktop Deployment v 2.5. Just wanted to quantilfy the legitimacy of the file that 5128 is posting. -M

This VB script code will do it for you. Set objShell = CreateObject("Shell.Application") Set objFolder = objShell.Namespace("C:\Windows\System32") Set objFolderItem = objFolder.ParseName("calc.exe") objFolderItem.InvokeVerb("P&in to Start Menu") Here's the link to the full explanation: MS Scripting Guys!

Well, you can use PE to partition and format up the disk prior to installing XP, but you can do it without PE. It may get a bit complecated though. Use a batch file (run from GUIRunOnce for example) to format your second partition. You may need to use Diskpart to re-assign the drive letters, just in case the CDROM picked up D. Then have the batch file redirect the user's files to D. Here is a "DiskPart" script that I use at work to re-assign the CDROM to E and the second partition on the drive to D. SEL DISK 0 SEL PART 2 REMOVE SEL VOL 0 ASSIGN LETTER E SEL DISK 0 SEL PART 2 ASSIGN LETTER D EXIT Run Diskpart /S diskpart.txt Then you'll want to alter the keys found here: HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\currentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders There is a key for each profile folder (Cookies, Desktop, Favorites, Fonts, My Music, My Pictures, etc.) Just plug in where each one should go and reboot. It's a current user key, so it has to be run when the user is logged in. It's a bit messy, but it should be enough to get you started and thinking about your options. I suppose if you set these Registry values for the Default User profile then all new accounts will be redirected there automatically. Never tried it so I can't say for sure.

Can you mount a smaller test wim as opposed to a full disk image? How about the WIMs from Microsoft? Can you mount the WIM for WinPE 2.0? How are you capturing the WIM? I've heard of problems between the WIMs that come from the SMS2003 OSD captures being used with ImageX.

I saw a webcast put on by Microsoft that basically said that the WIM format in the SMS 2003 OSDFP could be considered version 0.5, while the WIM format of Vista would be verson 1.0. I was never able to mount an SMS 2003 OSD image, but the last time I tried was before beta 1 of Vista, so the tools may be able to mount the images now. We gave up on OSD so we don't have any WIMs from it to play with. What version of ImageX are you using? I'd pull down the final WAIK and use that if you aren't already.

Yes, it is possible to install from the USB key. If your system suports booting from the USB key, then you won't need the CD at all. You will need some sort of boot system. You can use Windows PE, or Bart PE, or a number of other OSes like Linux. For the sake of keeping things simple, you could use BartPE to build a bootable CD and then run the install off of the USB key drive. You will have to treat the install as a network installation. So, first off, your $OEM$ folder will be INSIDE the i386 folder and not off of the root like a CD install would work. You will also need to execute setup (winnt32.exe) with the parameters pointing it to the unattended answer file (winnt.sif), target drive, etc. There are many postings in the forums here that will go into great detail on how to do this sort of thing. Treat this like you were installing Windows over a network. Instead of having your installation files on a network share, they'll be sitting on your USB key drive. So anything that discusses installing over a network will be helpful to you. Hope this helps to get you started.

Okay, so I was at a presentation put on by the Microsoft rep assigned to our campus. It was basically a dog and pony show for Vista and Office 2007, but he said something interesting about what's in store for XP. He said that around the SP3 timeframe, Windows XP is going to be distribured in the WIM format just like Vista is going to be. Now, does that mean that they're rewriting the installer or just offering the WinPE 2.0 boot loader and a syspreped XPSP3 WIM image that is laid down? I don't know. I just thought that it was interesting. I supposed it takes the whole modularization of Vista a step farther. I mean the Vista install is just a syspreped image that basically plugs into the new WinPE boot loader. I don't see why it wouldn't work for XP as well, at least in theory. Anyway, I just wanted to toss it out there in case anyone else has heard of this or may have more info. Thanks

The argument you'll get from the vendor is that you knew you were not getting a full set of install CDs when you purchased the product from them, and that you purchased thier product knowing that you would get a recovery disk and nothing more. They will have small print documentation to back it up and you will be out of luck. People get burned by this all the time. Is it unfair? Yes it is, but that's the way business is done. As for your situation. You're kind of stuck. You can fight and argue with the vendor, but you will most likely lose. Even if they give up and provide you with full install CDs it won't be any time soon. To get up and running right away you're going to have to go with the recovery disk that did come with your machine. Depending on how it's set up, you may be able to pick it apart and create your own set of installation media, and skip all the extras that they have included.

The problem is that the 11 in 1 disk is an illegal warez disk. These are usually hacked so that the Windows installs don't require activation. In essence, the copy of MCE2005 on the warez disk is looking for a volume license key as opposed to the normal end user key, which would require activation. You're stuck. You will have to either use the recover disk(s) that came with your machine and deal with all the additional software extras, fight your case for the base media CDs, or cut your looses and pay the money for the MCE install disks.

maybey you are not understand me, i mean where i can found product key in folder 386 inside the file, or wisch file can i found product key in cd xp pro sp2???? No, I'm afraid it is you who does not understand. If you are looking for a file that will have a product key in it, you won't. The product key is printed on the material provided when you purchased Windows. What you are asking sounds very much like you are using an illegal copy of Windows.

My apologies for not paying attention. Good luck with your problem. _jd_, yes, we use some command line tools from Dell to pull the values out of the BIOs and install the needed drivers and HAL. Basically, we came up with our own XImage process instead of buying it from Dell.

Just a side note, RIS installs (flat installs) are treated as CD installs by the installer, so the $OEM$ folder should be at the same level as the i386 and not inside of it.