prathapml

7. Right click on CD drive to close drive tray (just like the "Eject" option but the opposite function offered in a graphical way) First get "cdr.exe" from the link in MSFN's official uA CD guide, or from attachment here. Then put it into "$OEM$\$$\System32" folder on your CD. Then put this registry tweak as part of your tweaks. ;Right-click any drive to close the tray of the optical drive [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell\draw] @="Close CD-&tray" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell\draw\command] @="cdr.exe close ALL" There are two shortcomings with the above: a. It closes all optical-drives one after another b. The option to "close tray" appears even if you right-click on your HD's partitions. But then, something's better than nothing. Also, I used to use Nero DriveSpeed to close CD-ROM's until now, but it has 2 disadvantages: a. It doesn't work for older drives. b. It's a third-party utility which comes bundled when you install a commercial app. CDR.zip

5. ;this is the important one - Turn off fast user switching [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon] "AllowMultipleTSSessions"=dword:00000000 6. ;Easily open any file - allows you to use Notepad by simply right clicking on the icon [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\open] @="Open &With Notepad" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shell\open\command] @="notepad.exe %1"

1. TweakNow PowerPack 2005 When you register, you get a license file created (PowerPack_Info.dat). Just put it in the "$OEM$\$$" folder on the CD. Then install the powerpack using the normal silent switches. 2. WinRAR 3.42 When you register, you'll receive a license file (named "rarreg.key"). Copy it to your uA CD, and set up your XPlode in such a way that the license file gets copied to the right place *JUST AFTER* winrar is installed. 3. Register/unlock UltraISO v7.5 so that it becomes full-mode (with no restrictions) Do the normal registration, then export the below key (it will also have your settings). This will not require cracking it. [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\EasyBoot Systems\UltraISO\5.0] 4. Prevent WinAmp 5 from popping-up the first-run dialog-box Save this text: [WinampReg] IsFirstInst=0 NeedReg=0as winamp.ini, and copy it to your %windir% after wa5 install (replace the existing winamp.ini).

Unattended CD tips: I may not be around on MSFN much for the next few days - so no questions can be answered by me. These tips may not be for beginners. Please do not ask newbie questions - in most cases, the tips here are easy to implement. It is recommended that you first familiarise yourself with the official unattended winXP CD guide on MSFN, and implement it before starting out with the below things. Let me declare that I use all these things through the XPlode tool, and in most cases, the same technique can be done through batch files or RunOnceEx method. These are meant for WinXP SP1 and above (may also work for Win2k SP3 or higher).

It still is. But don't you people think there's too much discussion about this? I mean, it shouldn't matter whether gosh is a girl or a guy. Though, if gosh clears the issue, it'd be better & nice.

@visaversa - its perfectly reversable (though manually). Go into the properties of the NIC you want to disable ICF for, then see the "advanced" tab there. Remove the check-mark from "Protect my computer and network from.......blah.........blah..........blah........."

I use this to auto-click a button, its part of windows itself, plus, it looks for a window of the exact name specified, so its safe too. Note that NAV will not allow scripts to run uninterrupted, so run this before NAV installs. nonStop.js: function getWin(win, inc) { while (!WshShell.AppActivate(win)) { WScript.Sleep(inc); } return true; } var WshShell = new ActiveXObject("WScript.Shell"); getWin("exact title of desired window", 5000); WshShell.SendKeys ("y"); WScript.Sleep(100); WScript.quit();In the sendkeys function, change the y (for clicking "yes" to o, if its "OK" that you need to click). I run it like this: ECHO Preparing for install start %systemroot%\system32\wscript.exe //nologo //B //T:600 %systemdrive%\install\Applications\vmware4\nonStop.js EXIT run that command from a supplementary cmd window, if you're using runonceex registry keys or XPinstall, other wise, windows waits for wscript.exe to finish, and wscript.exe won't exit unless it has found a window with *that* name, and has performed the scripted operation - so it may get stuck into a loop if it is not run from a secondary location.

@danard: I doubt that you can do it unattended. You may need to do that manually.

That happens to me too! All the desired options are checkmarked or disabled as required, but they aren't *applied*. Does anyone have a solution? You want to put My computer icon on Desktop? And place it on the upper side of the desktop, parallel to the Task panel? You can put this section into winnt.sif, but then, visual styles are removed (you can't have everything): [Shell] DefaultStartPanelOff=Yes DefaultThemesOff=No

The default start menu look in XP now is the new style. So to get the win2k style start menu on XP, you'd have to disable the default start menu (I suppose that's clear). So, you simply have to put DefaultStartPanelOff=Yes. Now it will behave the way you want it to. There's "DefaultThemesOff=Yes" too, that setting will fetch you back the classic style windows desktop (the one without all the effects and eye-candy). :EDIT: no, just now saw that you actually want to have your XP-style start menu back. Maybe you have some registry tweak that locks your start menu to classic? Open the .reg files that you apply during install, and see if you know exactly what every line does. Don't use registry code which isn't properly documented, and delete those parts from the reg tweaks which you don't understand.

I've been using XP with SP2 integrated since 2 months, and whether its home edition or pro, the WMP9 first-time run invariably comes up, despite me applying my WMP9 regtweaks. In SP1, applying those tweaks used to be enough. I don't want to apply those .reg at first-logon, because it would then apply only to that user. I normally apply the wmp9.reg (attached below) at T -13 (through cmdlines), and SP1 never protested, it worked as it should. I suppose there's a new key in the registry that sets the first-time run flag on or off. Or maybe some WMP9 registry hives are applied after registering components (i.e., after cmdlines.txt stage). The interesting thing is that everything's being applied (all my preferences) perfectly, with no losses/rejections (I really ran regedit at T-13 and checked) and after a reboot, all my settings are retained, except that the first-time run dialog box still runs its **** self. How have you people done it? (Or has anybody been able to do it at all ?) I saw an entry in gpedit.msc that disables first-run, but there's no way I can export/import gpedit settings unattended. This Q may not exactly fit into this side of the forum, but there's no separate section for unattended SP2. wmp9.reg

Max Payne 2 and Age of Mythology : The Titans Expansion. That's what I'm playing since 2 weeks (I don't get much leisure time to play).

No long stories here (don't want to bore you), but I need to vote for both.

yeah.... murder me everybody !!! personally, I like Windows XP (it has a million reasons about why it's best among the *released* OSs). But since you all have an unnecessary bias towards Windows ME, I voted for it just to level out the playing field and to infuriate all of ya here. As for why, 3 years from now, if you want to use a supported win9x OS (I don't know why you'd want to, unless you have old,infirm hardware), ME is your only option. And, I've got to say....... public memory is very short. Any of you in the IT loop would remember all the storm and revulsion that 98 and XP caused even until 2 years after their release. And those same OSes are being embraced by the same people now. ............... LOL .......... What do you say about win95 today ? Let me see what you have to say about win98 2 years from now.

Roxio Easy CD Creator 5: Since it is an MS installer (.msi) based install, i'd be surprised if it doesn't support the "/QB" switch. Anyway, the setup.ini of ECDC5 informs that "/S" is the silent mode to install it. If it asks to reboot (Yes/No) after install, append "Reboot=suppress" to the install command line. For example: "<easy cd creator 5 setup folder>\ECDC5.msi /S Reboot=Suppress" must work. Please do check and tell us if it worked, or if it did not, did you get any other switch ?

Look for publisher XP info here : http://unattended.MSFN.org/xp/officexp.htm As for WinMX, just try the switches you know, one of those may turn out to be the right one. Identify which Installer it uses and look-up the guide at http://unattended.MSFN.org/xp/applications.htm for info on how to use that installer app in unattended mode. or type the installer's name: "winmx-setup-version.exe /?" the /? switch asks the setup program as to which switches it supports. If nothing else works, you know what to do - do what you used to do before you automated windows and apps setup.

It has come out - its called CS not 8. Now, whether it has turned out to be a godlike app is open to debate. I've bought ACDsee 6.0.2 PowerPack, and I find it sufficient for all my imaging needs (unlike what you might expect, it does lots more than just image editing/resizing/conversion etc.)

thanks for the ZA pro info, pfear, i was looking for it. well, I know that this thread now resembles a dead one and is unwieldy large, but anyway, here goes some info I had discovered - Most apps that use InstallShield or MSI for an installer support the "blah-blah.exe /A" syntax, i.e., the /A switch is something that you'd execute on the exe or the msi file yourself, and create a "network server image" for the install. In simpler terms, "setup.exe /A" allows you to create an administrative install point. Just compress and SFX the resultant folder with winrar or 7zip to see major size drops. Then, during install, run the exe to silently extract itself to a known location, and run "XYZ-app.msi /QB" to install silently. In most cases apps can be converted from "XYZ.exe /S /v/qb" to "XYZ\setup.msi /QB". An example below: ECHO Installing Adobe Acrobat Reader 6.0.1 start /wait %systemdrive%\install\Applications\AR6.exe start /wait %systemdrive%\install\Applications\AdobeReader6\AcroRead-6.0.1.msi /QB I've found that this method of installing from an administrative install point works for Acrobat Reader 6, VMware 4.0.5, Partition Magic 8, Sun Java VM, and many other apps. The biggest benefit is the space you save. The above three apps went from 45 to 33 MB for me. If you want to eliminate some junk, you can do so by deleting the win9x, NT4 and win2k related files from the administrative install point folder. Advantages : You can cut down an installer's size by half, and also the time taken for that app to initialise setup and install is slashed. Diskeeper 8 Pro can be installed the above way, but it for some reason it doesn't seem to like it - you keep getting error messages after install that "dkservice.exe has encountered an error and needs to be shutdown". Also, some apps can be installed, and then copied over directly, they don't need an installer to import stuff into your "Windows\System32" and "Program Files" folders. Some of these are - 1. Abiword 2.0.2 2. IrfanView 3.85 + plugins 3. mIRC 6.12 4. Mozilla FireBird browser 0.7 5. Mozilla ThunderBird e-mail client 0.4 6. MyIE2 web browser 0.9.13 7. Reget Download Manager 3.3 8. WinImage 6.10 Hoping this helps a lot of people slim their CD and\or add new programs to it.

>> Are you constantly being told to get off your PC? you bet !

winrar, because of its ability to create SFX files that can extract to defined paths (%programfiles%, %appdata%, etc.) winzip is out of contention for me, but it's amazing the way winrar's gained reputation - when I started using winrar 2.50 in 2000, it had no attraction for me except that it could repair zips and rars, and winzip was pretty good at ver7.0.

Thanks bachus and gosh for your responses. I guess i can't modify these things too much. Would this work ? This is a pretty accurate illustration of my CD's folder structure: Folder PATH listing for CD's root folder H:. | AUTORUN.INF | README.HTM | SETUP.EXE | spnotes.htm | WIN51 | WIN51IP | win51ip.SP1 | +---DOCS | +---PRO1 | |--I386 | +---Extras | +---ezboot | \---$OEM$ \--cmdlines.txt Or do $OEM$,DOCS,SETUP.EXE, spnotes.htm, WIN51, WIN51IP, win51ip.SP1 need to be in the PRO1 folder too ? If the dir structure was modified to: CD root | +--PRO3 +--PRO2 +--PRO1 |-- cd ident files |-- I386 |-- $OEM$ what would "OemFilesPath=" in winnt.sif say ? =\PRO1\$OEM$ ? or is it =PRO1\$OEM$ Cheers !!!

I saw again your edited first post and saw your site - no info about this. while you mention there to put the i386 directory under the PRO1 directory, in my case the PRO1,PRO2, and PRO3 are *the* i386 folders. [maybe that was a crucial difference and that's what is causing errors for all these people, but I see no reason why it can't be adapted to my directory structure] I already said : 3. i've edited txtsetup.sif - SetupSourcePath = "\PRO2\" is the only modification i made. I changed the path appropriately in each of these - PRO1, PRO2, and PRO3 are the former I386 directories. To describe what I did: PRO1 is NOT containing any other files or the I386 folder. It is *the* I386 folder itself (renamed and no other mods except for txtsetup.sif). So, for example, if E:\ is my cd drive, I edited E:\PRO1\txtsetup.sif as per above. My cd idents are not corrupted and are in the root of the CD (just to remove ambiguousness, they aren't in a folder "ROOT" on the cd, they exist directly as files in the CD's root). >> It would be easier to use boot folders to boot the cd from. if you meant this - C:\$WIN_NT$.~LS - rename this folder to install C:\$WIN_NT$.~BT - rename this folder to BOOT (all capital letters) I tried to keep modifications to a minimum, so I'm not using the "reducing source" at all. if you mean that I can put the boot sectors of the CD in a single folder, i'm already doing that. I use EasyBoot. Before anybody says that the problem could be with using EasyBoot, see the relevant "point No.2" in my previous post here. Some more details - 1. my setupldr.bin is in the PRO1,PRO2,PRO3 folders (which were previously the I386 folder). 2. That's the proper location, and it's properly hexed, that's actually why the text-mode install starts up at all. So that rules out any error with the setupldr.bin or the xpboot.bin 3. Just to clarify, I declare I don't have any other setupldr.bi_, txtsetup.si_,dosnet.in_ and such lying around on this CD - the only such files are the edited ones. I tried editing dosnet.inf from to because PRO1 is my I386 folder now. But dosnet.inf can't be the reason because as far as i know it's used only at the file-copy stage, and here, I haven't even got past the EULA. I even tried leaving txtsetup.sif at default: SetupSourcePath = "\" It still doesn't work. To be exact, this is the problem many of us here are facing: 1. Starting the normal install after booting from CD gets past the "press Enter to setup windows", "Press R to use Recovery Console", "F3 to exit setup" stage. Pressing Enter brings up the Agreement screen - it then searches a bit for the EULA, and gives up saying "eula.txt not found, press F3 to exit setup". That's the end of that route. 2. On the other hand, booting and choosing the unattended setup directly pops up a screen saying "this is an upgrade CD, please insert the retail CD, or press F3 to exit setup". No option works at that stage, except to exit. My opinion is this variance with unattended happens because the winnt.sif file was accessed and it tells setup to skip the initial screens and stop for input at disk partitioning. But right where it is supposed to show the EULA and "Press F8 to agree", it finds that it isn't able to even see the eula.txt file that's meant to be skipped. So it deduces somehow that it's got to be an upgrade CD and not a retail. I am puzzled seeing that if it is able to follow the winnt.sif file, why not also see the eula.txt. In both cases, Setup loads as it normally would - with all the million RAID and SCSI hardware drivers. I hope this post gives enough info for someone to detect the error, or for someone to duplicate the error, and tell us what's wrong. Cheers !!!

my XP pro install: (3 versions) normal says didn't find the EULA unattended says "this is an upgrade, insert your XP pro cd for setup to continue" plain-but-auto-uses-winnt.sif says the same -------------------- how did you solve the problem, if you had faced it before ? (you might know with your experience as to what causes this) details of relevant things: 1. i haven't made the "BOOT" folder, since anyway it doesn't speed-up things at CD-boot text-mode setup. 2. i've properly hexed the boot-sector and setupldr.bin - these problems can't be relevant to these files because, then it wouldn't get to the point where it can complain this error. 3. i've edited txtsetup.sif - SetupSourcePath = "\PRO2\" is the only modification i made. I changed the path appropriately in each of these - PRO1, PRO2, and PRO3 are the former I386 directories. 3. there's no error with winnt.sif or svcpack.inf. Do I also have to edit "dosnet.inf" ? An example of my CD structure: MYCD-ROOT | |--autorun.inf |--win51IP |---OEM |---PRO1 |---PRO2 |---DOCS |---SUPPORT and so on, this was just an example - all my files are in the right folders just as gosh said - dont point out that this/that file is missing. this is just a rough sketch. i'm pretty familiar with unattended CD making - been following most of the posts on the forum since july 2k3. The problem is almost certainly in txtsetup.sif as it has many other references to I386 folder too, but i don't see anybody here talking about anything other than modifying SetupSourcePath = "\" The entire setup and configuration works perfectly (as tested the normal way instead of PRO1,PRO2,etc.) and no modifications since then, except what the guide here says. Please help me.

@devil, could you please describe how you converted your .bat to an exe ? It seems like a very good thing to do. Cheers !!!

DESPERATELY QUICK HELP NEEDED: would somebody here know how to silently install myIE2 ? please, AaronXP ? looked thru its installed documentation and on its website. neither googling nor searching the forums gave me an answer and my new unattended CD is about an hour away from finalising. Thanking all in advance, prathapml