Install returns to Windows PE command prompt

[crash_n_burn]

I am hoping someone can give me some help with this...

I am using WinPE , unattend.txt and a network share to install windows XP.

I successfully boot into winpe,

Then I manually partition with diskpart commands as follows

diskpart

select disk 0

clean

create partition primary size 4096

active

assign letter c

exit

Then I do

FORMAT C: /fs:ntfs /q /V:syspart /y

I map a drive

net use j: \\servername\sharename

and start installation using the following command

J:\windist\i386\winnt32.exe /syspart:c: /unattend:J:\windist\unattend.txt /s:j:\windist\i386

windows xp gui screen comes up saying preparing installation and copying installation files

but after it finishes doing this it just returns to the Windows PE command prompt

when i then type exit it reboots and precedes with text mode part of installation and continues until it has successfully installed windows xp professional

Is there any way i can eliminate the need to manually type exit (to reboot the machine so it continues the installation)

and is there an easy way to automate the diskpart commands ? can they be integrated into startnet.cmd ?

I want to do this ideally without writing/using long vb scripts or overly complex batch files (which i can't do/cant understand) I realise there probably isn't and that I'm asking alot..

my unattend.txt file is as follows

;SetupMgrTag

[Data]

AutoPartition=0

MsDosInitiated="0"

UnattendedInstall="Yes"

[unattended]

UnattendMode=FullUnattended

OemSkipEula=Yes

OemPreinstall=No

TargetPath=\WINDOWS

[GuiUnattended]

AdminPassword=blahblahblah

EncryptedAdminPassword=NO

AutoLogon=Yes

AutoLogonCount=1

OEMSkipRegional=1

TimeZone=85

OemSkipWelcome=1

[userData]

ProductKey=xxxx-xxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx

FullName="crash_n_burn"

OrgName="it1"

ComputerName=xpt1

[RegionalSettings]

LanguageGroup=1

SystemLocale=00000809

UserLocale=00000809

InputLocale=0809:00000809

[identification]

JoinWorkgroup=WORKGROUP

[Networking]

InstallDefaultComponents=Yes

Thanks.

[gadget]

Put the commands in batch file and call setup using start /wait J:\windist\i386\winnt32.exe /syspart:c: /unattend:J:\windist\unattend.txt /s:j:\windist\i386 then on the next line use the wpeutil.exe to restart the server [wpeutil reboot]. If your PE only does this then put it into the startnet.cmd

Diskpart you type all your commands into a txt file and call it by diskpart /s diskpartscp.txt

[jpmorgan]

I know in Pe2 you can use the WPEUTIL command, in a Batch ,to achieve the EXIT/REBOOT.

A URL to MS is

http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsVista...3.mspx?mfr=true

Also the Diskpart can run with a script : Diskpart /S "myscriptfile"

You should be able to automate in a Bat, every thing that you are doing manually

Hope this helps.

J P Morgan

[crash_n_burn]

Gentlemen thankyou for your replies, I have the feeling I am out of my depth here i dont really know how i have managed to get this far. Anyway, i have made a batch file with the following in it, i boot into pe and run it, it works but i dont have wpeutil ?

diskpart /s dp.txt

FORMAT C: /fs:ntfs /q /V:syspart /y

net use j: \\sitssdb2\xchange /user:domain1\administrator /user:domain\administrator blahblahblah

start /wait j:windist\i386\winnt32.exe /syspart:c: /unattend:j:\windist\unattend.txt /s:j:\windist\i386

wpeutil reboot

i'm pretty sure i have pe 1.6 but i dont know how to tell for sure ? it works with xp sp2

how do i include wpeutil should i try to get winpe2.0 and use that ? or do i build another disk and somehow include optional components ?

Thanks for all your help

[jaclaz]

More simply, try to add to the batch you have:

diskpart /s dp.txt

FORMAT C: /fs:ntfs /q /V:syspart /y

net use j: \\sitssdb2\xchange /user:domain1\administrator /user:domain\administrator blahblahblah

start /wait j:windist\i386\winnt32.exe /syspart:c: /unattend:j:\windist\unattend.txt /s:j:\windist\i386

this:

EXIT

and remove the wpeutil line

when i then type exit it reboots and precedes with text mode part of installation and continues until it has successfully installed windows xp professional

jaclaz

[zorphnog]

Sounds like you have a previous version of PE. You can use the exit command or shutdown -r -t 0.

[crash_n_burn]

Exit, should have thought of that.

Thanks for your help with this.

Is PE 2.0 better ? could i use the same procedure with it ? is it worth me downloading it ?

Where can i learn more about hta's and pe2 and other things you can do with winpe for unattended installs ?

What would be a more efficient way of doing this, - using images ?

Thanks again.

[gadget]

PE2 is part of the WAIK (Windows Automated Installation Kit) which is freely available from Microsoft. In many ways it is a major improvement over 1.x but it still fails in some areas. I use a mixed bag of 1.6 and 2.0 here.