What is the maximum size of a file in the $OEM$ folder struc

[Ausmith1]

I've run into an odd problem on my unattended Windows 2003 install DVD. I have a very large SFX file that contains the complete install of SQL Server 2005, in the previous version of the unattended DVD this SFX only contained the x86 install of SQL Server 2005 and this managed to fit into a 880MB SFX file. Now I've added the x64 version of SQL Server 2005 plus SP2 and the latest hotfixes and the SFX file is now 2.3GB in size. (it's almost 6GB uncompressed so that's not an option as I would not have adequate disk space for everything I need even on a double layer DVD).

The problem I'm having is that the 2GB SFX file does not get copied to the hard drive during text mode install (the old 880MB file version always got copied) I'm wondering if there is a known hard limit to the size of files in the $OEM$ folder structure?

Since I couldn't find any data on this in my searching I decided to do a test to see what file sizes would actually copy, here are the results.

1023MB = copies OK

1026MB = copies OK

1100MB = copies OK

1200MB = does not copy.

1500MB = does not copy.

1700MB = does not copy.

2046MB = does not copy.

2049MB = does not copy.

Where 1MB = 1024 *1024 bytes.

A max file size of 1GB file isn't a whole bunch of use to what I need since it would take at least 3 such files to make up the 2.3GB SFX I have currently, not to mention that three separate SFX files would be bigger than the single SFX file I have today (It's 7-Zip compressed with the 4GB solid block option so it's as tightly compressed as is realistically possible), so that would put a further squeeze on the free disk space on the DVD. (I want to avoid using a double layer DVD if possible)

Here is the solution I came up with, it's not the only possible solution but it works well for my situation.

I edited \$OEM$\INSTALLS.CMD to add the line:

@ECHO Copying SQL Server 2005 install files to Support folder...

IF EXIST %CDROM%\WIN2003\STD\EVAL\$OEM$\$1\Support\Applications\SQLServer.2005\SQLServer.2005.exe COPY %CDROM%\WIN2003\STD\EVAL\$OEM$\$1\Support\Applications\SQLServer.2005\SQLServer.2005.exe %systemdrive%\Support\Applications\SQLServer.2005\SQLServer.2005.exe

This copies the file at T-13, I already copy the i386/AMD64 folders from the DVD in this script so this fits nicely for me.