Substitute for unattended section in winnt.sif?

[dermarcus]

Hi all.

thanks to your work i have successfully installed XP from USB without a glitch. I understand that we cannot use the [unattended] section from winnt.sif right now, but i need to set some installation options that are usually placed in that section. How can i manage that? Is this not possible with the current version of usb_multboot or is it not possible at all?

What i want in detail is:

1. specifying an alternative location for program files, ProgramFilesDir and CommonProgramFilesDir in [uNATTENDED] section

2. specifying an alternative location for user profiles, ProfilesDir in [GUIUNATTENDED] section (should work afaik)

3. creating directories in %systemroot% before setup fills ProgramFilesDir and ProfilesDir

(3) is needed because i want these directories to be placed relatively inside windows directory and i have read that setup fails when it has to create ProgramFilesDir and ProfilesDir as non-toplevel directories, but fills them correctly if they already exist.

Can someone shed some light on the above issues?

Best regards,

Marcus

[wimb]

For USB-stick the [unattended] must be removed completely (is necesssary, no other solution)

but XP Install is nevertheless Unattended

Use the winnt.sif file supplied with USB_MultiBoot4.zip

For Unattended Install give your key in productkey="XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX" and remove leading ;

May be you can use ren_fold.cmd

Will be realised in USB_MultiBoot5.cmd, coming soon ....

ren_fold.cmd can be changed such that $OEM\$1 and $OEM\$$ folders are copied

as usual to systemdrive (usually C:\) and systemroot (usually C:\WINDOWS) respectively.

For anything else you want to copy from USB-Drive, you can add similar lines to ren_fold.cmd,

which is executed at T-9 by the Section SetupParams of winnt.sif file

Also Read Here:

http://www.msfn.org/board/FIXEDUsing-USB-M...ot-t112784.html

wimb

Edited February 26, 2008 by wimb

[dermarcus]

For USB-stick the [unattended] must be removed completely (is necesssary, no other solution)

but XP Install is nevertheless Unattended

Use the winnt.sif file supplied with USB_MultiBoot4.zip

For Unattended Install give your key in productkey="XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX" and remove leading ;

I knew about these outside-of-unattended-section options. But they do not cover the very options which i want to tweak, namely 'ProgramFilesDir' and 'ProfilesDir'. Can i just add them there and expect it to work as if i had entered them in the forbidden [uNATTENDED] section?

May be you can use ren_fold.cmd

Will be realised in USB_MultiBoot5.cmd, coming soon ....

ren_fold.cmd can be changed such that $OEM\$1 and $OEM\$$ folders are copied

as usual to systemdrive (usually C:\) and systemroot (usually C:\WINDOWS) respectively.

For anything else you want to copy from USB-Drive, you can add similar lines to ren_fold.cmd,

which is executed at T-9 by the Section SetupParams of winnt.sif file

Also Read Here:

http://www.msfn.org/board/FIXEDUsing-USB-M...ot-t112784.html

wimb

I am familiar with Unix shell scripting but not so familiar with NT shell scripting, so i have no problem waiting for your next release. But i wonder whether the mentioned script is executed early enough. Having read your link i assume that the script is called from either cmdlines.txt or from SetupParams. But i need the copying taking place even before the startmenu items are created. How do your ren_fold integration plans fit into that scenario?

Best regards,

Marcus

[ilko_t]

You can use presetup.cmd, it's executed at the beginning of the GUI part, before anything else.

Find the registry changes you need to make for your purposes and use REG .....

I don't recall whether regedit was available at that stage, but you can give it a try too.

[wimb]

New Release USB_MultiBoot5.zip

ren_fold.cmd was changed such that $OEM$\$1 and $OEM$\$$ folders are copied

as usual to systemdrive (usually C:\) and systemroot (usually C:\WINDOWS) respectively.

Format Menu was added allowing to use HP USB Format Tool

for making USB-sticks (greater than 2 GB) with NTFS Format allowing Install of XP in 16 minutes.

USB_MultiBoot5.cmd has now Option for Adding BartPE instead of using PeToUSB.

Possible source of Error in SOURCE Pathes is Detected e.g. when XPSOURCE path contains SPACES.

More Info Here: How to install XP from USB

Download Direct USB_MultiBoot5.zip from CD Forum: USB_MultiBoot5.zip

wimb

Edited February 28, 2008 by wimb

[Gew]

Oh!

I guess this is to be considered quite a big bump. However, the thread fell right on spot in my case. I.e. I have the exact same question as dermarcus. Tonight I fetched the latest USB_Multiboot (11) and installed. The process was more or less automatic, and I could install Windows XP SP3 from my MP3 Player (USB-isch) without any hassle just afterward. However, what I miss from my -- regular -- unattended disc installs is the possibility to change the directories that dermarcus mentioned. TagetPath, CommonProgramFilesDir, ProgramFilesDir, and ProfilesDir. I am still able to change the last one (Profiles) since this value is within the [GuiUnattended] section, but I seem to be more or less stuck with the other ones. This thread started back when USB_Multiboot was around version 4(?), right. Has it been any progress when it comes to simplifying this process since that? All ideas would be much appreciated.

Ty in adv~

[ilko_t]

As far as I am aware you cannot do that using the current USB_multiboot package. Use any of the alternative methods/programs in the pinned topics instead.

Actually, a dirty workaround if acceptable for your needs:

Read edited part. Put back your unattended section in winnt.sif in ~BT folder on the USB stick.