some ideas

[gosh]

Here's some ideas i have if anyone is interested

xp upgrade uses some special folders for migrating the data such as $Docs and $Progs. We know about those folders but there's other folders like $$DEFAULT_USER$$. I wonder if you make $OEM$\$$DEFAULT_USER$$ if it'll make the default profile?

I'm also wondering if you could add catalog files using an exception pack. For instance directx adds this key:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup\ExceptionComponents\{44BBA855-CC51-11CF-AAFA-00AA00B6015C}]

"FriendlyName"="DirectX"

"ComponentGUID"="{44BBA855-CC51-11CF-AAFA-00AA00B6015C}"

"Version"=dword:00040009

"Sub-Version"=dword:00000386

"ExceptionInfName"=D:\WINDOWS\RegisteredPackages\{44BBA855-CC51-11CF-AAFA-00AA00B6015C}\dxxp.inf

"ExceptionCatalogName"=D:\WINDOWS\RegisteredPackages\{44BBA855-CC51-11CF-AAFA-00AA00B6015C}\dxxp.cat

I wonder if you manually created the key would it register the catalog files? It should honor the keys.

Someone also mentioned including a driver on the XP cd. This made me think of some hidden unattend settings i found

updatehal.oem

OemInfName

OemDriverFlags

OemDriverPathName

OemDrivers

I wonder if you could put those in an unattend file?

I also notice dynamic update uses updates.inf, which lets you install catalog files. I wonder if you could use updates.inf to install your catalog files? There's already documentation on using DU in unattend file.

There's also undocumented setup switches. Open setupreg.hiv and go to this key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Setup

For cmdline you can put the following:

setup -asrquicktest (undocumented?)

setup -asr (runs asr, same as pressing f2 booting from cd)

setup -mini (runs mini setup?)

setup -newsetup (runs a clean install i believe)

So if you wanted to make a cd that auto went into asr you could just use the above command, to save pressing f2 when booting from CD (pro only).

I also think cmdlines.txt is mapped to a registry key. The code below is from syssetup.dll

.Y.S.T.E.M.\.C.u.r.r.e.n.t.C.o.n.t.r.o.l.S.e.t.\.C.o.n.t.r.o.l.\.W.i.n.d.o.w.s.....C.o.m.m.a.n.d.s.....C.M.D.L.I.N.E.S...T.X.T

I'm curious if that registry key has cmdlines.txt during setup.

Also, syssetup.dll calls section EnableSREx to install system restore tab. As you see, it registers srclient.dll

-gosh