ZenCoder

I mostly just build new PC's and I don't have much experience doing clean installes on OEM machines. Someone brought me a Dell XPS 2400 with seriously messed up partitions and infected with viruses and spyware. The system was purchased in 2003 and by now any Recovery CDs are long gone, if Dell even provided them in the first place. I pressed F12 and tried to enter Dell's Utility Partition - no joy, it just attempted to boot to Windows XP Home then bluescreened complaining of an umountable volume. Partition magic showed only one large NFTS partition, so I am guessing if there was a Utility partition it isn't there now. The partition had errors which PM was unable to correct. I managed to use the recovery console chckdsk /p & fixboot to and boot into safe mode. The system was barely functional I was unable to install antivirus software, but I was able to use a utility to recover the CD-Key and WPA.DBL file. The CD Key is not the same as the one the COA sticker, which I understand is normal for OEM PC's. So I create an unattended install file with said CD-KEY, pop in an XP Home OEM SP2 CD and reinstall windows. Everthing works fine until I try to activate. It tells me the CD-Key is invalid. So I reboot in safe mode and copy over the WPA.DBL file - no luck. Then I try the CD-KEY printed on the sticker - no luck So now I am stuck. I can't activate by copying over the WPA.DBL file. The CD-KEY Dell used won't activate. The COA Key won't activate. And I am not going to resort to some activation hack, as the PC has a legitamate COA sticker. --- Why won't this system validate, and what can I do to fix it. I am currently downloading something claiming to be a Dell XP Home OEM CD, I am thinking maybe the CD-Key used by Dell or the one on the COA sticker might only work with Dell specific version of Windows XP HOME CD?

This falls under the category of "if it ain't broke don't fix it". One of the reasons Windows has the market share it does is compatibility, you really don't want to make it less compatible without good cause. Many programs don't need to be efficient or make full use of the hardware they are running on, they just need to work correctly. So there is a more 16 bit stuff lingering arround than most people would guess.

Thanks, you are right WPI has zero problems with spaces or any of the characters I tried to use. I must have inadvertently fixed my real problem when I tried removing spaces and special characters from the file and foldernames. Most of my effort has been directed at learning AutoIt so I can automate applications which don't have silent install switches, so I just monkeyed with WPI for a few minutes to create a menu for the 25 apps I have automated so far. Now I realize that all the work renaming the files and folders was wasted! Truth is WPI is working out so well I probably won't spend any time studying it.

I just started working on creating unattended install scripts and most of my efforts has been toward the learning of AutoIt 3.11 for those programs that do not feature the appropriate switches. So I am using WPI, but haven't had much time to experiment with it. The only problem I am having is that it seems to not like folders with spaces in them. If there is a way arround this please let me know.

I just started learning how to create unattended installs using Windows Post Installer, switches, autoit and install rite 2.5. I was just curious if there is any good tutorials and if so why are they not listed in a helpful sticky?

Those are three free utilities to monitor changes to your computer. Any permanent change will occur in the file system or the registry. Filemon tells reports everytime any process accesses, creates or modifies a file. Regmon does the same with registry keys. So if you register your software and Regmon shows a modifed registry entry then the registration information is stored there, it all the happens is a file is writen to a hard drive then that file probably has the registration information. --- InstallRite 2.5, lets you install a program and captures changes to the registry and file system that happen durring the install. It will then let you edit what it captures and create an install program that will make the same changes to your registry and file system. Of course you are going to get changes to the file system/registry that have nothing to do with the program you are looking at. Also an installed may have to performe different tasks based on your operating system and other software you have installed. So InstallRite 2.5 may install Nero 6.6 correctly on one PC, but install a non-working versin on another, or even worse you may have accidentally included a registry modification that had nothing to do with Nero and might damage your PC! --- Best option when a program has no switches is AutoIT, a scripting language which will let you install the program normally by pressing the correct buttons, entering the correct serial numbers.

WinRAR360Beta5.exe /S Will take care of the silent install. I think registration infromation is stored in the rarreg.key file found in the program file directory. To make sure you might want to enter your information while running FileMon and RegMon or InstallRite 2.5 and see what changes get made.

I am learning WPI and AutoIT. Also I have no intention of integrating any unattended software installations with a Windows install CD. I am merely creating an software autoinstall CD to run anytime I want to automatically install software. So sometimes I will be installing software when a pervious version of the same software is already installed. Some programs require that you uninstall the pervious verison first. I think I can handle such problems with Auto IT.

I posted a method for automating Acrobat Reader 7.0.8 which I think works. I am just learning and would like someone to test it before contributing it to the sticky. I basically ran a file monitor to see where the installer was dumping files, grabed those files and tried various commands until I discoverd that the xxx.msi /passive switch was the only one that seemed to do anything. It shows a progress bar so its not a silent install, but there is no user interaction.

Considering that I am just learning, I don't want to post it to switches thread until someone else tests my method. Its cluttered enough with discussion already. I think someone should create a database driven web app to keep track of unattended install methods. Let people search by product and version, let others rate and add comments to the solutions. Unfortunately its been awhile since I did any php mysql work, I have a bad habit of getting 95% finished with software projects then abandoning them, and I can't afford the hosting. I like a kid in a candy store when it comes to learning new tech sills, but I tend to eat my self sick on a particular technology and jump to learning something else. I will probably learn enough to write my own auto it scripts, and learn to fully automate all my favorite apps then suddenly take an interest in Linux or something.

Sorry, posted in the wrong forum and realized my mistake. Still can't figure out how to delete a post. I guess some forums let you delete anytime, some let you delete as long as no one has replied, some won't let you delete at all. Followed a link from the unattended guide and didn't realize that unattended OS installs and unattended application installs were seperate.

I know others have packaged tweaked & switch-less silent install versions, but I wanted an untweaked install method that doesn't rely on a 3rd party for updates. 1 )Run AdbeRdr708_en_US.exe 2) Copy the real setup files from C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Setup Files\RdrBig708\ENU to my Install Directory 3) Rename the .msi file to AdobeReader708.msi (Windows Post Installer doesn't seem to like spaces, dots or special characters) 4) Use the AdobeReader708.msi /passive switch. Anyway I just started learning how to create an unattended application cd yesterday so if this is obvious, or if someone else has posted the same method and I missed it during my search I apologize.

I want to create an unattended software install CD, to run after my unattended XP install & Autopatcher XP. I only do clean installs about six times a year since every system I build/maintain gets regularly scheduled OS backups. I update all my software twice a year with the exception of security related software which gets updated as often as possible. My question are 1) I am not concerned about the initial learning curve, but will maintaining an extensive unattended install CD cost more time that it will save if I only use it every other month? 2) What method is best for me, Windows Post-Installer , Installation Helper Utility, XPlode. I want something that can run from wherever I put it, allow me to select what applications to install, and is easy to upgrade and maintain. 3) Anyway to check for previous versions of programs and uninstall them if necessary? 4) Anyone ever make and distribute an unattended Open Source Software CD, which the best Open Windows Applications? 5) Are there any other sites to look for unattended install configurations for my software or does all such information available find its way here? EDIT Windows Post-Installer runs from a Hard Drive or a CD, it seems simple so I am trying that. It looks like if it will only save me time if I only automate files with simple switches or well documented instructions. I haven't figured out how to check for previous versions that need uninstalled. So I am just going to but anything that can't be installed over the previous version in a seperate category so I know to manually uninstall if necessary. Haven't found an open source unattened software install CD. Haven't found any other sites for swithes/commands.

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