[WINNTBBU.DLL issue somewhere]

I have made my own customised winntbbu.dll file (yes, nothing new, but anyway), but when it's running, besides only being at a lower resolution than the 1024x768 I thought it should run at, where the text is in the right "frame", the borders sort of move the picture up around the text but everything else is fine.

I thought the text was just inserted at a certain point and not actually contained in boxes like it seems to be here. The picture has been edited because the rest isn't really suitable to post, but what's shown is where the problem is anyway, that's the main thing.

[2 Questions: Nvidia & Partition]

The easiest way I eventually found to install the NVidia drivers (or at least the Leadtek versions I use for the VIVO card I have), was to just delete the generic nv4.inf (or .in_) from the i386 directory then delete the 3 nv4_*.inf entries from the txtsetup.sif file, and that's worked fine for me so far.

I haven't tried it with later drivers and SP2 though, but should still work the same way.

[cmdlines.txt not processed & winnt.sif only partly]

I had the same problem with the Windows Messenger and MSN Explorer components being installed, though SP2 has some weird new msmq_ entries in the components section now it seems, but even the msnexplr = off didn't work. I had the msmsg = off option as well as the above msnexplr = off in winnt.sif and both still got installed, so I guess there's some other setting to totally disable them.

I tested through VMWare using a GUIAttended install, instead of a normal full unattended, but this was just a basic SP2 only install, with a few files in the $oem$ folders.

[No user account createted @ T-12]

Do I have a sense of deja vu here, or is it just me?

That's the same problem I had - I followed the instructions as per the unattended autologon page and it didn't add the user to the admin group, though it did create the user - and I did try running the commands through CMD using "fred" and "1234" as username and password (without the quotes), and it worked fine. My only assumption (yeah, I know, make an a** out of you and me), is that the NetUser.exe file I had residing in the $oem$\system32 folder had something to do with it, but I'm yet to test it, as I'm waiting to do a full SP2 slipstream install.

[Username cannot = PC name]

I think I've done it that since not long after I started using the unattended method - using that NetUser tool to rename the default Administrator account to the PC name. The only possible problems have been with network mapping, and drives coming up as disconnected, but working when clicked on (yes, I've seen this mentioned everywhere, but no real solution).

I'll probably just change the PC name to something different, to save me changing the user accounts on the server. I won't just yet, as XPSP2 is apparently due out soon, so I'll edit winnt.sif accordingly and redo both boxes properly.

[Username cannot = PC name]

This is what I got when going through a basic setup of XP SP1 yesterday on a system I had changed around a bit so had to reinstall. The weird thing is that my username on this PC is the same as the PC name and I haven't had any errors any time I've set it up previously, though it's usually done via unattended mode, and another odd thing is that I can logon with the PC name as the username, yet when the drive mapping batch file runs it doesn't work as it must actually logon as rusty (PC name is rustymm in this case) instead of rustymm. I have the same username as PC name on the file server too (though it's running 2k), without any problems.

In case you're wondering why I use the PC name for the logon - it's to make it easier to do the accounts on the shares on the file server, as I only have to add the 2 PCs, and not have to worry about actual users.

[Add user @ T-12 not working properly]

Is it meant to have the "" around the name, as the Unattended site doesn't show it?

Mine's actually run from cmdlines.txt too, just that I didn't think of that for the topic, though the file only has 2 entries - one which runs the adduser.cmd and another which run a batch to run a reg file to set the source directory, though I don't think it worked as came up with the cd drive source still later.

[Add user @ T-12 not working properly]

I have followed the add user and autologon routine over on the unattended site as mentioned at one stage in another topic, but it hasn't worked for me fully - it added the user, but it just didn't add it to the Administrators group.

Here is what I have got to work with so far...

adduser.cmd - changed passwords in next 2 files too

net user rustynet Pa55w0rd /add
net localgroup Administrators rustynet /add
net accounts /maxpwage:unlimited
REGEDIT /S autologon.reg
EXIT

Autologon.reg

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]
"DefaultUserName"="rustynet"
"DefaultPassword"="Pa55w0rd"
"AutoAdminLogon"="1"

The only thing I can think of is that I still had that NetUser exe file in the \$oem$\system32 directory on the cd, which I used to use to rename the default Admin account, but I'd have thought that it would only work with netuser as one word, and the net user command would be handled by CMD as usual - or am I obviously wrong and that was my problem?

[cleanup the rightclick on file menu?]

Here is my code from a reg file run from a batch file run at startup (sounds a mouthful hey! - basically on logon it runs the batch file which has this reg entry in it to run silently)

Batch file:

regedit /s f:\winsetup\regedits\del_right_click.reg

Reg file:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\ICQMenu]
[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\CuteFTP]
[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Applications\Winamp.exe\shell]
[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\ICQMenu]
[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\CuteFTP]
[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\ACDBrowse]
[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\Winamp.Bookmark]
[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\Winamp.Enqueue]
[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\Winamp.Play]
[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell\ACDBrowse]
[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell\PartitionMagic 8.0]
[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell\Scan with Ad-aware...]
[-HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\CuteFTP]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\*\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\CuteFTP]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Drive\shell\ACDBrowse]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Drive\shell\PartitionMagic 8.0]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Drive\shell\Scan with Ad-aware...]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Drive\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\CuteFTP]
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Classes\Directory\shellex\ContextMenuHandlers\CuteFTP]

I just went through the registry and found any reference to the offending items and exported what I found to be the relevant keys - mainly those relating to folders\directories and drives.

[VBScript to Create Favorites]

Wouldn't it be a lot easier to just have the favorites folder on another partition then have the necessary Shell Folder and User Shell Folder reg entries changed accordingly, e.g.

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders]
"Favorites"="F:\\Favorites"

Ths is cut from the reg file I have to setup my specific folder, some of which are on that same f: partition - "my documents" and "my pictures" mainly, which eliminates the need to back them up each time you reinstall (aside from normal backups of course). I know some people just have a huge 120Gb (111Gb effective) partition or whatever, but partitions make things like this a lot easier.

[changing default wallpaper?]

Maybe check the cmd files that you use, as I know that my prepare file (and others) deletes the c:\windows\web\wallpaper\*.bmp files, so either copy it over after you run that certain cmd file, or set it to look on another partition if you have one.

[Doubleclick titlebar != maximize]

I get that on certain web sites when I minimise the window before it's finished loading (using one of the thumb buttons on my MS mouse), and it either ends up with a bar about 3" long (or something non-existent - where you have to right click the IE indicator thing in the taskbar and maximise), which you then resize to suit.

I don't have any of those programs running, or even on here, so it's not necessarily one of them, but it's probably an issue with IE - try opening a window, resizing to what size you want, then I think you either go File->Close or hold shift and hit the X close button top right. This will (should) make any new IE window open at that size, though some sites will still cause the minimise issue like I've found.

If the problem isn't IE related (IE and explorer are somewhat related, so IE problems may be explorer problems), then ignore all this :-(

[I rename the Admin and use it]

I tried the autologon method mentioned on the main unattended site, with some slight changes which I didn't think would have an effect, and it didn't work properly, and came up with runonceex saying I needed admin rights, even though I had added the new account through cmdlines.txt.

[COMMANDS]
"RunOnceEx.cmd"
"adduser.cmd"
"source.cmd"

and adduser.cmd

net user rustyone "insert password" /add
net localgroup Administrators rustyone /add
net accounts /maxpwage:unlimited
REGEDIT /S autologon.reg
EXIT

I did have a line in there to rename the administrator account to guest2, which did work, but the add user to admin group didn't. I also had a password specified in winnt.sif, as that tutorial mentioned that it didn't affect the autologon user.

Can anyone see what/where I did/went wrong?

[Unattended Sp2 app issues]

[bM]Crusher - I only mentioned those regtweaks because it was mentioned in part in the initial question (yes, I know it wasn't the actual topic, but it was sort of asked as well)

The first app that installs is Alchol 120 when it installs xp finds newhardware and i guess its a new function of sp2 but the installer wants to connect to the net to install the new drivers.

I know it has nothing to do with Alcohol (I guess?), as mine comes up during Office 2003 setup asking "windows had finished installing new hardware, do you wish to reboot?", so it just solves a minor inconvenience.

[Unattended Sp2 app issues]

There was a registry key somewhere I saw (checking to see if I have it here in my regtweaks files) that disables the "Use Windows Update for drivers search" or something option - that what you mean?

This looks like it - found on here I think BTW.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\DriverSearching]
"DontSearchWindowsUpdate"=dword:00000001
"DontPromptForWindowsUpdate"=dword:00000001

[Installation Display Drivers using svcpack.inf]

The way I got my Leadtek/Winfast NVidia drivers to work properly was to create the \Drivers\002_video folder or whatever, and specify in winnt.sif under oemdriverspath=?? - THEN (as that method didn't work for me - used generic GF4 drivers, and not proper full resolution), I deleted the 3 nv4 entries from txtsetup.sif (and the corresponding files in \i386) and it's worked fine ever since.

[Complete $OEM$ folder structure in XPCD.]

Space isn't really an issue for me, as the partition the files are on has about 4.5Gb free, and the 2 folders only take up 40mb. It's also easier to work with, as I have a few xcopy lines in my shutdown and restart batch files (double click desktop icon to shutdown/restart), which copy Emule/Agent/mIRC folders into the xpprogs folder, which saves me having to worry about not having them up-to-date when I reinstall - and this way I don't have to do anything to have the folders ready.

[Original partition gone when installing]

It sounds like one of the options in winnt.sif isn't set correctly to allow you to select which partition to install to, so windows gets installed to the first drive with enough room - think it's Autopartition=1 instead of 0 - i.e. yours probably has 1 which means Windows will install where it wants, whereas if it's set to 0, then it won't do it automatically but have the drive options of where to install to.

[Complete $OEM$ folder structure in XPCD.]

I discovered why using the $Docs\administrator doesn't work when I tried it one time - it created an administrator-PCNAME (insert actual PC Name obviously) account. So instead of fiddling around with the $Docs (and even the $progs folder now) and burning a new cd each time you need to reinstall (for programs like Agent and mIRC, which change each use - mIRC scripts and newsgroup "last update" settings and any groups added since last install - I use the following code in my prepare.cmd file.

start /wait xcopy f:\winsetup\xpprogs\*.* "c:\Program Files" /E
start /wait xcopy f:\winsetup\xpdocs\*.* "c:\Documents and settings" /E

This also eliminates the need to do any attrib -r coding, because the attributes are already set to read only off (archive).

EDIT/PS: xpdocs folder only has All Users profile start menu and desktop icons, as it's a copy from when I used to use it on the cd and hadn't bothered changing to add any administrator icons, as all icons in all users are either from xpprogs folders copied over, or from programs setup during RunOnceEX. Hope that clears things up if you're wondering anything.

[setup ask for sp cd]

I've noticed that at times too, though usually only when installing drivers through normal setup.exe method, as I have the prepare.cmd file run a reg file which specifies a folder on the drive where the xp files are (f:\xpsetup or similar usually), but it seems to want to be forced to look into the \i386 directory under that folder, even though it should do that automatically anyway I'd have thought.

Or would it be a better idea to have the source files set during cmdlines.txt? (slightly off-topic, but still related)

[I rename the Admin and use it]

Or, if you follow the method mentioned to create the new admin account to use for yourself, can't the default admin account be renamed to guest (which gets disabled anyway, or is there a guest account at that stage too?), or even guest 2 or something, with some ridiculously long forgetable password, i.e. iudkfdvkbkb or some random alpha/numeric/symbolic sequence. I suppose you could set the long admin password through winnt.sif as mentioned in the autologon page linked, so that it will still logon as the new user but have the admin account as well.

[I rename the Admin and use it]

I was mainly thinking of it's effect on the admin autologon, but then I remembered that I have a reg file that sets the shell folders, i.e. favorites, My Documents, etc, and most of the entries in it are c:\d&s\administrator, so would I just need to change them to the new username for them to work then? I suppose I could just have them in %userprofile% mode instead, as that's what the UserShellFolders reg entry has.

[I rename the Admin and use it]

Is it alright to add/ask something in here as an extra question relating to the main one?

As GreenMachine said a few posts ago,

Rename user before reboot (e.g. CMDLINES.TXT, not GuiRunOnce), and the directory will have the correct name.

will this have any effect on the winnt.sif autologon as admin routine, as the admin account has been renamed?

Or would I just add the line "AccountName" = "rusty" for example, where rusty is the renamed administrator account?

[Changing source files location]

I have a reg file which sets the source files location (to a local partition and folder - f:\xphost\i386 for this box), and normally runs through the prepare command script (start of runonceex), but I'm wondering if there's a simple way to have it configured so when the GUI mode starts, it will look to the directory on the HDD, rather than the CD.

Or would it be easier to just use a bootable (somehow) USB thumb drive with the winnt.bat file on it to run the unattended install directly from the source directory?

[integrating NIC drivers in Textmode]

It works for my Intel E1000 Gigabit onboard NIC - just add the XP drivers to a folder under the $oem$\$1\Drivers sub-directory (mine is 002LAN), and have the OEMPreinstall=Yes and OEMDriversPath=Drivers\002LAN (among others) in winnt.sif.