Tripredacus

Well first, you'd need to research what kind of installers you are using. Also, you can check any logs in the Windows folder, you may find something there.

I did a test install that did not install chrome, however GoogleUpdate.exe did appear in Task Manager but this system did not have access to the internet. setup_av_free.exe /silent /oem Available switches: /silent /verysilent /oem /msi /autorun I didn't try /msi or /autorun to see what that did.

Enable logging on those installs if possible. Also you can write to a log file or the Application Event Log with AutoIT as well.

I understand that idea, but I hadn't restarted into DOS mode or anything, just opened "command" from the run box.

I am actually surprised with the low minimum requirements of Deus Ex Human Revolution...

Also, if you search for 'recovery' in either the Unattended XP or Vista forums you will find a bunch of topics about this already.

I'll have to check those out when I get home. KC & the Sunshine Band - That's the Way (I Like It)

Ooops. I get used to referring to my computers by their names... Shiva is my Win98FE computer.

after installing my nic drivers in shiva, i can't run ipconfig or ping from command. i get the message "cannot run in dos mode." these can be run from the run box, but that doesn't do me any good. i was able to verify the ip from the router's dhcp table and was able to connect to it from a windows 7 pc using unc, so the underlying networking is working. any ideas about this error? ps, i'm using on-screen keyboard on another pc and i'm too lazy to use shift... i could use caps lock if that would be preferrable

Shiva got networking installed and doing a file transfer to Wind. keyboard in pic is from my regular pc so i'm typing this post with the on-screen keyboard! B)

Consider that I had used MBR to zero out the "mbr" on the disk (array) before attempting my test run of the RAID install prior to doing it. The subsequent IDE install was don't after both the MBRFix as well as deleting the array. Surely, deleting the array would have the same effect of erasing the MBR as well, then again it is Intel's IRST (Desktop) RAID which isn't the greatest in the world and is also primarily software based, especially the fact that if you use non RE drives you can break a mirror by simply restarting Windows. I will do an additional test tomorrow of zeroing the mbr, then capture the first track again. It could be that the mbr program is lacking in removing enough data? Since I brought it up, the test machine we are using has 2 WD RE4 drives in it.

Here is an idea about why it could be different. In each case (RAID or IDE mode) there is one difference in the setup. Since we are using the default pressed CD, it will get a 0x7B STOP error if we boot off the SATA ODD with RAID enabled. If we make a USB Key to install instead, the included WinPE will read the USB key as a hard disk. The "browse for Mass Storage driver" function that this Setup has is not a literal browse. It will search for a USB key with INF files in a folder called "drivers" and just shows a progress bar during this. Because of the limitation stated before, the browse will fail and the drivers cannot be loaded. So when doing a RAID install, we have to boot off a USB ODD and have a USB key inserted that just contains the drivers. When I do an IDE install, I can use the original CD in the SATA ODD. Seeing how it is already obvious to me that there are flaws in this entire process (USB key boot) is it possible that this is related to the MBR being written incorrectly?

Ah but it took so much work! Anyways, so I am guessing it is supposed to have some code in it then? I have come up empty on finding any white papers or support documentation for POSReady 2009. I suppose for now I can just report this as a bug, but it is strange that I would find it considering the age of the product. I attached them anyways. Mbrs.rar

I feel silly. You are correct. Sadly MBRWORK was run from a 1GB USB key that boots to DOS 7.1... and it captured that MBR. Unfortunately, it does not seem to see the RAID volume. Let me choose to "Change the Disk" and put that MBR up instead. In addition I will get the MBR after MBRfix, and also the MBR of the POSReady 2009 install using IDE mode instead of RAID. BACK1.rar

TBH, using Acronis is probably going to be the easiest and quickest way to make a recovery partition. Anything else is going to involve quite a bit of testing and some programming ability.

Welcome to the MSFN!

This song brings back memories! And One - Panzermensch

For technology I will agree. If you try looking up sports injuries or body parts/muscles you do not know, that is another story! While I agree to a point, everyone has their specialties. I think that given time, Jaclaz can possibly replace google since he has all the relevant links, while google likes to toss a bunch of other things in there, especially when it does that "we searched for this instead of what you typed, click here to actually search for what you typed in." crap.

I see that a lot of people try to use AutoIT to automate installs, even if said installs can automate themselves. Have you checked to see if you can do an unattended install of this product that includes an option for that setting? In addition, if the setup is recordable (like InstallShield) check that out. Also, I'd try to stay away from using coordinates in AutoIT scripts, as those values are dependent on every instance having the same resolution and the dialog boxes being in exactly the same place every time. You can try out your app using the InfoTool and (hopefully the install is Modal) you can specify actual buttons rather than resorting to screen coordinates.

I am starting up an installation now, albeit on different hardware.. (previously mentioned notebook with RAID enabled) The CD boots to a command prompt, where I can type "install" to begin setup. Prior to doing that, I decided to run ver which returned: Windows 5.2.3790 After my struggles to get this installed (it isn't very fun) I will try to get a copy of the MBR for ya. Update: I can't recreate the issue with this notebook. It is booting every time. I will try going back to the original hardware... Perhaps it works differently when there is a mirror involved. BTW all the questions it asks in setup is used to build an answer file that is used during the actual setup. Among them is an option that lists the drive type, and even if using RAID mode (at least on this notebook) it says the drive type is IDE. Update 2: It appears the notebook itself is a root cause for some of these strange behaviours. The "RAID" setting does not operate in the same way it does on the desktop board. While it is still puzzling that the WinPE detects a broken mirror consisting of the HDD and the Card Reader, this is likely due to the fact that these Realtek Card Readers are capable of getting a drive letter without media being inserted, and that they run on the USB bus. Why specifically WinPE thinks the card reader is a 500GB drive is unknown. In addition, oddities also found are the following observations: 1. Notebook set to RAID, but XPe setup sees the HDD as IDE mode. 2. Notebook set to RAID can boot the finished RAID image without error. 3. Notebook set to AHCI or IDE will receive a 0x7B when booting the RAID image. 4. Notebook set to RAID will boot the install DVD without a problem. 5. Desktop set to RAID will receive a 0x7B when booting off the install DVD. So it would appear that the Notebook doesn't really use its RAID function 100% while running in JBOD, or that the RAID setting isn't really a setting at all, except that it can boot XPe images that have only a RAID driver in them. Another strange thing is that by default, on the full install of this OS, Disk Management is not included! Either way, since this is going back to my original question regarding the inability to boot after setup, I will move this topic back into the XP forum and merge it with my original topic. Update 3: I was finally able to reinstall POSReady 2009 and get the flashing cursor back. It is a real pain! Here is the screenshot of Disk Management from Make_PE3, which did not prompt to format or import. It got a drive letter and all files were visible. See attached for first track BIN file as created by MBRWORK. BACK0.rar

Older versions as well as the deprecated Matrix software required a RAID controller to be present. The newer versions of IRST will install on a system that only has IDE or AHCI options in the BIOS. I haven't seen a system without AHCI for a while so not sure if it would install on a controller with IDE as the only option.

Since this has moved away from being an XP question and become more general... since the inclusion of Windows 2000 and Debian, I'll stick this in Software Hangout.

It would take a bit of work in order to update your recovery partition with a new snapshot. If it is a SoftThinks partition, you won't be able to do it without a license key. If you are lucky it will have a WinRE in there.

You could just change the date in your BIOS and block Windows time synchornization... Of course Windows Update won't work with such a configuration.

After taking a look, it would appear that POSReady2009 may have a unique Setup method that is definately not exactly normal compared to XP at all! From what I can tell, this POSReady install is just like a Vista install, including the "browse" option to find Mass Storage drivers. It's "PE" or whatever shell setup runs from does indeed support USB PnP like WinPE 2.0+ does. Looking at the disc contents, it looks to be a transition type setup that combines BOTH XP and Vista style setups. This means it does have an i386 folder and a WINBOM.ini that you would normally see on an XP install CD, but it also has a WIM file as well. As far as checking it after every step, I don't see that as being viable, since I wasn't able to get any programs to run in it... which is why I switched to the WinPE v2.1 (x86) to run MBRFIX, since it wouldn't run in the PE that ran Setup. I can try to do a reload tomorrow to see if I can get some behaviour from Disk Management using either Make_PE3 or even another HDD with Windows 7 on it.