[[Delphi] Source]

Thought this might be useful to somebody. It will return the drive letter of the first available CD-ROM drive to the console.

program Project1;

{$APPTYPE CONSOLE}

uses
  SysUtils,
  classes, 
  Unit1 in 'Unit1.pas';

var
  envlist: TStringList;
  i: integer;

begin
  writeln(getcd(getdisks)+':');
end.

unit Unit1;

interface

uses classes, sysutils, windows;


function GetCD(availdisks: string): string;
function GetDisks:string;

implementation

function GetCD(availdisks: string): string;
var
  i :integer;
  root :pchar;
begin
  result:=chr(0);
  root:=stralloc(255);
  for i:=1 to length(availdisks) do
  begin
    strpcopy(root,copy(availdisks,i,1)+':\');
    if getdrivetype(root)=drive_cdrom then
    begin
      result:=availdisks[i];
      break;
    end;
  end;
  strdispose(root);
end;

function GetDisks:string;
var
  availdisks: string;
  i,n :integer;
  buf :pchar;
begin
  buf:=stralloc(255);
  n:=GetLogicalDriveStrings(255,buf);
  availdisks:='';
  for i:=0 to n do
    if buf[i]<>#0 then begin
      if (ord(buf[i]) in [$41..$5a]) or (ord(buf[i]) in [$61..$7a]) then
        availdisks:=availdisks+upcase(buf[i])
    end else
      if buf[i+1]=#0 then
        break;
  strdispose(buf);
  result:=availdisks;
end;


end.

[Secure build (no network during install)]

Hi there

I want to build a secure build for Windows Server 2003 where, even though the network cable may be connected during installation from CD, the machine is firewalled (either by IPSec policies or other means).

I want to then be able to load hotfixes before finally applying the production ipsec filter.

Any ideas on how best to achieve this?

[Optical drive variables & second CD install]

That's a good find pity it can't find all cd letters.

eg if I have two cdroms it could give back two variables (%cdrom%, and %cdrom2% etc)

I don't want much do I 

program GetCD;

{$APPTYPE CONSOLE}

uses

SysUtils,

classes,

Unit1 in 'Unit1.pas';

var

envlist: TStringList;

i: integer;

begin

writeln(getcd(getdisks)+':');

end.

--------

unit1.pas

--------

unit Unit1;

interface

uses classes, sysutils, windows;

function GetCD(availdisks: string): string;

function GetDisks:string;

implementation

function GetCD(availdisks: string): string;

var

i :integer;

root :pchar;

begin

result:=chr(0);

root:=stralloc(255);

for i:=1 to length(availdisks) do

begin

strpcopy(root,copy(availdisks,i,1)+':\');

if getdrivetype(root)=drive_cdrom then

begin

result:=availdisks;

break;

end;

end;

strdispose(root);

end;

function GetDisks:string;

var

availdisks: string;

i,n :integer;

buf :pchar;

begin

buf:=stralloc(255);

n:=GetLogicalDriveStrings(255,buf);

availdisks:='';

for i:=0 to n do

if buf<>#0 then begin

if (ord(buf) in [$41..$5a]) or (ord(buf) in [$61..$7a]) then

availdisks:=availdisks+upcase(buf)

end else

if buf[i+1]=#0 then

break;

strdispose(buf);

result:=availdisks;

end;

end.

[Optical drive variables & second CD install]

I have found the perfect tools for the job.

Look at

h**p://willowhayes.co.uk/

The program getcd.exe finds the drive letter of the first cdrom drive on the machine and can be used as a part of a batch file.

Thanks Oli for the great program!!!!

You're welcome. Sorry it took me so long to find you all!

[Creating fixed 8Gb partition from bootable CD]

I know this question's been done to death, but I wanted to seek the opinions of people here.

I've been using bootable CDs for a few years to install Windows 2000 workstations. They're cool, as they'll happily repartition the disk and use the whole disk as one volume. Great for a workstation.

Now I'm doing installations of Windows Server 2003 and I want to create a fixed 8Gb (16Mb maybe) partition to install the OS to. I can then create extra partitions with diskpart.exe later on.

However, it looks as if I'm stuffed with bootable CDs.

I don't want to boot to DOS, use disk imaging, use a temporary FAT partition or use WinPE. The latter isn't a preference -- I can't use WinPE due to its licensing restrictions.

Any ideas anyone?