Some of my tweaks are not effective ?!?

[vikingstf]

Hi

I'm a new user of NLite and I got to say times are really better for me since I got this !

But I encounter some strange comportments from it : sometimes some of my modifications are not effective, and I don't undertsand why....

One example : I configured custom network connection settings, but I still got the default one instead ? (And yes the driver of my network card is inetgrated to my NLiteOS and well working )

Can someone explain me what I missed ? I attached my last .INI (but sorry french version...)

THX a lot

STF

PS : I can work with the english version if needed, but would NLite in english version be able to work with a french version of XP ? I imagine it won't be a matter at all, but prefer to ask

DERNI_RE_SESSION.INI

[johnhc]

vikingstf, make sure to always start with a fresh copy of your CD files/folders, do all your work in one nLite session and integrate only one SP. You need to specify the MAC address for your adapter. That is the way nLite finds the right adapter to apply the changes you request. To see the MAC address, open a Command Prompt and type GetMAC. The Physical Address shown is the MAC address. I think the English version of nLite will run fine on your system, but I don't think we'll need to do that, at least not yet. Let us know about other modifications that don't work, but be sure you have adhered to the rules at the top of my post. Enjoy, John.

[vikingstf]

Hi and thank you for replying so fast

Get with a fresh copy of my OS ? You mean I shouldn't start from my last folder session of NLite ? Waouh, so many things to remember... Or can I still keep my session.INI even with a fresh and complete copy of my OS ?

For the Network I don't understand : you mean I got to know and specify the mac address of my card in NLite ?!?!? Euuuh I'm tweaking my installation cd's to earn some human time when making a new master clone of my OS installations, and I won't do a CD by computer

And more than all with my previous tweaked CD's the network settings were working great without specifying any mac address

No, reading you I imagine it must be cause I'm still using the same folder with my copy of windows for my successive NLite's tweaks, which I thought was good, cause I want to keep the same modifications on all my OS, I'm just adding some drivers with the time...

Hope it's this, cause I got some others modifications which are not working anymore, like the first start which I want full automated (and it was working before) but which is not anymore...

Best regards

STF

[johnhc]

vikingstf, you certainly can use previous Presets. They are stored in C:\Program Files\nLite\Presets and are listed in the Presets page when nLite runs. You can also save and Import presets. I copy the Last Session.ini and the Last Session_u.ini files from my source folder after running nLite and I think I want to keep a copy of this configuration. You should not run nLite more than once on the same Windows files/folders. This will produce many varied and bizarre symptoms. I simply copied my CD to a folder and before I run nLite, I copy these files/folders to my working folder.

If you will click the ? on the Networking tab of the Unattended section, you will see an explanation of why the MAC address is needed. In my last post, I told you how to find the MAC address in a running system. Because I am planning a new build, I looked in my old machine and the MAC address is on the NIC card in the form of a small sticker. In this case a 'Master' CD would not be possible. It would seem that the IP addresses you specified would vary per machine also. The only thing I can think of is to modify the winnt.sif file, then create an ISO/CD. You can run nLite more than once to do this. Here is the area of interest from my winnt.sif.

[params.Adapter1]
NetCardAddress=0x000fffffffff
ConnectionName="Road Runner"

Simply edit this file, which is in your i386 folder, then create an ISO/CD.

Enjoy, John.

EDIT: Corrected winnt.sif. John

Edited January 12, 2009 by johnhc

[vikingstf]

Hi JohnHC

It's really amazing cause I assure you I got a CD (done with NLite ofcourse) where the network pre-configuration is working

Realy hard to understand....

Forr my part I need this configuration to have the IP on every computer I'm cloning with my masters cause of my network's restriction (every PC get a new VLAN on which only one IP is allowed to reach the database server where the applications are stored for deployment, quite complicated I know... )

And the full automation of the OOBE is still not effective..... I got to say I'm not understanding anymore what's happening here

[johnhc]

Forr my part I need this configuration to have the IP on every computer I'm cloning with my masters cause of my network's restriction (every PC get a new VLAN on which only one IP is allowed to reach the database server where the applications are stored for deployment, quite complicated I know... )

vikingstf, I am not sure if you are asking a question now. I can see from the quote that you would like a master CD because the server IP address needs to be the same for all clients. If you do it the way you have, the IP address of all the clients will be the same and this is a problem. Perhaps you could define everything, then edit the winnt.sif (I was wrong on the name in my last post and will edit it), removing the IP address for the adapters. NLite will not let you leave this field (ipaddress = "172.16.32.200" in your .ini) blank, but if you remove it then the card should discover its address via DHCP. The problem is, if you don't specify the MAC address the card cannot be found. You said it did work, though, so give it a try and see what happens. Things are getting a little complicated. What is the OOBE problem? Enjoy, John.

[vikingstf]

vikingstf, I am not sure if you are asking a question now.

Not really, it's just I would want this pre-configuration of my network connection to be effective, not a big deal if not but it would be cool....

I can see from the quote that you would like a master CD because the server IP address needs to be the same for all clients. If you do it the way you have, the IP address of all the clients will be the same and this is a problem.

In fact I need to have the same IP for all the computers I'm deploying with NLite, whatever its mac address is... I know it must look like it doesn't make sens so let me explain you quickly what's the point of this : I'm in a little structure with some very different kind of users, and I'm using NLite to have a tweaked CD of windows for all my type of computers, that's why I'm happy to use NLite to easily and quickly integrate new drivers, make a lot of presets and to remove every boring stuff which are still refurbished by M$ for our pleasure . For many bad and good reasons, after this fresh install I need to have always the same IP to reach the server where my applications are stored, then I'm doing all my others tweaks and post-installation tasks and then I'm doing a master from this... Quite complicate I know but I can't actually protect my server otherly than by IP-filtering

Perhaps you could define everything, then edit the winnt.sif (I was wrong on the name in my last post and will edit it), removing the IP address for the adapters. NLite will not let you leave this field (ipaddress = "172.16.32.200" in your .ini) blank, but if you remove it then the card should discover its address via DHCP. The problem is, if you don't specify the MAC address the card cannot be found. You said it did work, though, so give it a try and see what happens. Things are getting a little complicated.

Yes why not... But complicating the all stuff like you said, and more important : I'm pretty sure my previous install CD done with NLite was configuring my network connection properly without any mac address registered anywhere

But ofcourse not able to test it right now, will tell you in one or two days...

What is the OOBE problem?

In fact it's about the full automation of the first start which is also not anymore effective

Enjoy, John.

You too, and thanks again for your time

STF

Edited January 13, 2009 by vikingstf