Unattended Install. Simple but Complex!

[vaempire4wii]

Hi. Can you tell me how to make windows installation unattended from within windows [only new installation] coz these commands:

winnt32.exe [/unattend[10]:[WINNT.SIF]]

winnt32.exe /unattend[10]:[WINNT.SIF]

winnt32.exe /unattend:[WINNT.SIF]

is not working or is that i am making some mistake

I want to confirm that there is no spelling mistake. + I have tried this in command prompt also.

Thanks in anticipation Looking for a working reply

[Henkes]

Try using winnt32.exe /unattend:unattendedfile.sif

So no brackets

Hope this helps!

[vaempire4wii]

Soory had no luck

Explaining again:

I am running windows Xp Sp2 and have made a successful unattended cd. I have also made a autorun for that cd, and want to include a button in that autorun with which I can install Windows Xp Sp2 Unattended from within the installed windows. Though adding /unattended is working fine but the other command with which we installs windows unattended as a fresh install from within windows is not working.

Windows help says this:

Windows winnt32.exe supports two silent switchs:

01. winnt32 /unattend

What this switch do is just silently install windows XP on your system whether it is 98, 2000, xp or any other [but should be previous ofcourse] + in this install all user settings are taken from the previous installation which it is going to upgrade.

This switch is working fine and is not a problem to me.

02. winnt32/unattend[num]:[answer_file]

Now in this switch installation, Windows XP installs itself as a fresh installation in which it takes values from a specified file, named answer_file here. In above command num is the time between, the time that setup finishes copying the files and when it restarts your computer [by default it is 15sec].

Now the problem I am facing is with my answer file WINNT.SIF, whenever I use this switch pointing it to WINNT.SIF file it starts with a error and installation doesn't starts. Now I need someone to tell me how to properly use this switch so that Windows can be installed from within installed windows as a fresh installation unattendedly using my answer file i.e. WINNT.SIF.

Thanks for reading this whole and coming forward to help me

[ElGranados]

Try this one:

winnt32.exe /s:D:\XPCD\I386 /unattend0:winnt.sif /tempdrive:C: /syspart:C:

You only have to customize the path to your I386 folder of your XPCD.

[vaempire4wii]

Thanks ElGranados for the reply but can you explain a bit. Thanks in advance

[ElGranados]

The Syntax is "winnt32.exe /s:[%xpcd%\I386] /unattend[time in seconds for reboot]:winnt.sif /tempdrive:[windowsdrive] /syspart:[windowsdrive]"

/s:[path to the I386 folder of your CD]

/tempdrive and /syspart should point to the same drive

For the exactly explanation of the syntax write "winnt32.exe /?" in the command line.

[Henkes]

winnt32.exe /s:[%xpcd%\I386] /unattend[time in seconds for reboot]:winnt.sif /tempdrive:[windowsdrive] /sypart:c:

/s switch means: here can you find the source files for the installation (for example the winxp cd)

/unattend switch means: here you can find the answer file. The number after unattend indeed is for the number of seconds for reboot

/tempdrive switch means this is the drive Windows copies it's temporary files for the Text Based Setup portion.

/syspart swich mean: this is the system partition, mark this partition as active so it's bootable.

hope this helps

-Henk

[vaempire4wii]

First of all thanks a loot to both of you for being so kind and trying and helping me out.

I tried your way, but still not working :| I used below command:

%CDROM%\i386\winnt32.exe /s:[%CDROM%\i386\]/unattend[10]:winnt.sif /tempdrive:[%WinDir%] /syspart:[%WinDir%]

and this message was pooped up when I ran the command:

http://i15.tinypic.com/4mtc7b6.jpg

PS: I am using AutoPlay Menu Builder v5.2 [because in this software we can use %CDROM%, %WinDir% etc.] Also my windows drive is C:

Hopefully this time we will make it working

Thanks again for the help shown :worship:

[Henkes]

%CDROM%\i386\winnt32.exe /s:[%CDROM%\i386\]/unattend[10]:winnt.sif /tempdrive:[%WinDir%] /syspart:[%WinDir%]

%windir% is the error here i think

it needs to be set to C.. not C:\Windows

-Henk

[vaempire4wii]

Soory no luck

[Henkes]

Assuming D: is your CD-rom drive letter:

D:\i386\winnt32.exe /s:d:\i386 /unattend:winnt.sif /tempdrive:C /syspart:C:

Notice the : after /syspart:C:

This is only for windows XP and 2k3 installations by the way.

For Vista you need an entirely different method.

Take a look in the Unattended Vista forum, especially this post: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=95462

I have no experience with Vista unattended installations, so I can't help you there.

But what I read so far is that you basically need 3 steps:

1. Create a Autounattended.xml using Windows System Image Manager (EDIT: Windows System Image Manager is available from the Windows Automated Installation Kit, downloadable from Microsoft.com)

2. Put Autounattended.xml on a floppy

3. Boot from Vista DVD with floppy inserted

Hope this helps

-Henk

Edited August 28, 2007 by Henkes

[vaempire4wii]

Still same error follows :|. In btw I am upgrading from XP to XP. and thanks again for your interest, I really appreciate that.

[Henkes]

d:\i386\winnt32 /syspart:c: /tempdrive:c /unattend:unattend.txt /s:d:\i386

This is what I use.. maybe try that

Assuming D: is your cd-rom drive letter.

If you type it from run box you might want to add " " to both ends so:

"d:\i386\winnt32 /syspart:c: /tempdrive:c /unattend:unattend.txt /s:d:\i386"

[vaempire4wii]

Soory to say, I tried every possible way out. I even tried what u told me over msn, but its also not working.

But good news is that, this method is working fine when I am using it through run command window. So may be there is a way out so that I can tell my autorun to open run window and then execute this command. Because its a bit messy to tell setup each time where setup files are kept. Hopefully we will get over this problem soon. Thanks a bunch for all the support shown

PS: I am using AutoPlay Menu Builder v5.2 to build my autorun

Edited August 29, 2007 by vaempire4wii

[vaempire4wii]

Found a alternative to do it successfully

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=62934&view=findpost&p=435926

But I will be thankful if someone can still solve this problem. Thanks!