Using DISKPART in a script

[Newman57]

Hoping someone can help me out.

I'm trying to install WindowsXP 64 bit unattended using WindowsPE and want to partition the HD with 1 partition with 30GB and the rest of the disk with the remaining space.

The trouble I'm having is that the computers vary in configuration. Some have a card reader which WindowsPE sees as a disk (or at least DISKPART does).

The disk number varies so I'd like to use a script which reads the first available online disk (some of the computers have 2 disks) and remove all existing partitions and create a 30GB partition and a second one with the remaining space.

Does anyone know how to do this?

Thanks in advance.

[hj_fr]

yes easy:

Launch: diskpart /s diskpart.script

and in your diskpart.script something like:

select disk 0
clean
create partition primary size=30000
active
assign letter=c
create partition primary
assign letter=d
exit

Edited September 11, 2007 by hj_fr

[mallen]

I see where you're coming from - I had a similar problem when I wanted to use diskpart to change the drive letter of the CDROM drive. I couldn't guarantee which volume it would be. In the end I put together a short VBS script. Use a script to identify which drive it is you want to change. Remember you can use drive letters when specifying the volume in diskpart. With the same vbs script, write out a diskpart.txt script that is specific to that machine, then use the method mentioned above to call it.

Here is how I managed to get this working for a cdrom:

Set FileSystemObject = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")

Set CDRoms = FileSystemObject.Drives

Set wshShell = WScript.CreateObject ("WScript.shell")

Dim DVDDriveLetter

For Each CDDrive in CDRoms

If CDDrive.drivetype = "4" Then

DVDDriveLetter = CDDrive.driveletter

End If

Next

Set objTextStream = FileSystemObject.OpenTextFile("C:\diskpart.txt", 2, True)

objTextStream.WriteLine "SELECT VOLUME " & DVDDriveLetter

objTextStream.WriteLine "ASSIGN LETTER=Z"

objTextStream.WriteLine "EXIT"

objTextStream.Close

Set CDRoms = nothing

Set FileSystemObject = nothing

set wshshell = nothing

You could use a similar method to check for a file you know is on the disk you want to change.

Edited September 11, 2007 by mallen

[Newman57]

Thanks mallen,

You've been most helpfull.

[mobious99]

I do something for my vmware builds to make sure the alignment is correct

I found part of this online but added some of the stuff I was already doing to it.

The volume labels you can change this does up to 4 drives and changes the cdrom drive to z:

@echo off

rem Create and Format partition(s)

rem first assign the cdrom drive to z:

:CDROM

rem Create Diskpart Script

echo select disk 0 >"c:\source\scripts\part.txt"

echo select volume d >>"c:\source\scripts\part.txt"

echo assign letter Z noerr >>"c:\source\scripts\part.txt"

rem change cdrom drive letter Partition

DiskPart /s "c:\source\scripts\part.txt"

:DDRIVE

echo select disk 1 > "c:\source\scripts\part.txt"

echo create partition primary align=64 >>"c:\source\scripts\part.txt"

echo assign letter=D >>"c:\source\scripts\part.txt"

echo active >>"c:\source\scripts\part.txt"

rem Create Partition

DiskPart /s "c:\source\scripts\part.txt"

format D: /FS:NTFS /V:ddrive /q /A:32K /y

:EDRIVE

echo select disk 2 >"c:\source\scripts\part.txt"

echo create partition primary align=64 >>"c:\source\scripts\part.txt"

echo assign letter=E >>"c:\source\scripts\part.txt"

echo active >>"c:\source\scripts\part.txt"

Rem creating partition

DiskPart /s "c:\source\scripts\part.txt"

rem Format Partition

format E: /FS:NTFS /V:edrive /q /A:32K /y

:FDRIVE

echo select disk 3 >"c:\source\scripts\part.txt"

echo create partition primary align=64>>"c:\source\scripts\part.txt"

echo assign letter=F >>"c:\source\scripts\part.txt"

echo active >>"c:\source\scripts\part.txt"

rem Create Partition

DiskPart /s "c:\source\scripts\part.txt"

rem Format Partition

format F: /FS:NTFS /V:fdrive /q /A:32K /y

:Error

rem Return ACCESS DENIED

set ERRORLEVEL=5

:EXIT