grub4dos commandline questions...

[Siginet]

@ilko_t I placed a winnt.sif file inside the mini iso... but it doesn't seem to recognize it. Any ideas?

[ilko_t]

Nice progress, much closer now

So from what you are saying bove is we still keep the original info in txtsteup.sif... plus add info to also use the conversion files for each os type

Not keeping the original info, amend it just as you did.

Have you tried the first approach? They are two different, not completing each other. Seems easier to me, plus GUI may find them right away.

As for the missing files at GUI- have a look at setup log files in \windows, there could be something interesting.

About winnt.sif- I must be wrong then, as I wrote, don't quite recall if it was applied or not, apparently not.

For hexediting setupldr.bin for winnt.sif- would work just fine, for 2003 versions checksum check patch is needed:

http://unattended.msfn.org/unattended.xp/view/web/16/

Need modifype.exe

It's been a long time since I have messed with editing SourceDiskFiles and so on.

This may help:

http://gosh.msfn.org/txtsetup.htm

[Siginet]

Have you tried the first approach? They are two different, not completing each other. Seems easier to me, plus GUI may find them right away.

I'm not sure how that would work. Because then we would be overwriting the files. How would we be able to differentiate which files would be the ones copied over in the end? Maybe I misunderstand the idea?

Actually everything works perfectly now. Except for winnt.sif not working in the mini iso. Is there a way to make that possible?

Actually... maybe it's better to just edit the setupldr.bin to use a different winnt.sif file for each os.

So we can have multiple setupldr.bin and txtsetup.sif files on the mini iso and multiple winnt.sif files in the XP\I386 dir.

for instance...

Rename setupldr.bin to setupldr.vlk (not sure if changing the extension will be an issue)

Rename all instances of txtsetup.sif and winnt.sif to txtsetup.vlk and winnt.vlk in the setupldr.vlk file.

Rename the winnt.sif file in the XP\I386 directory to winnt.vlk

And do the same steps for oem and rtl files as well...

setupldr.oem, txtsetup.oem, winnt.oem

setupldr.rtl, txtsetup.rtl, winnt.rtl

Edited December 10, 2009 by Siginet

[ilko_t]

I'm not sure how that would work. Because then we would be overwriting the files. How would we be able to differentiate which files would be the ones copied over in the end? Maybe I misunderstand the idea?

oembi01.bin = 1,,,,,,,2,0,0,oembios.bin

tells setup to rename oembi01.bin to oembios.bin while being copied.

So alongside the original oembios.bin, you out oembi01.bin for corp, oembi02.bin for vlk and so on and replace in txtsetup.sif oembi01.bin with the desired one. It will be copied to the destination as oembios.bin. No need to create extra folders and 990 directives for the different files.

As for winnt.sif- it also could be put on a virtual floppy, mounted by grub4dos. Have a set of floppies gziped and mount whichever you need. Or have a blank floppy image and dd the desired winnt.sif to it.

Actually everything works perfectly now.

What was wrong with the missing files during GUI part?

And do the same steps for oem and rtl files as well...

setupldr.oem, txtsetup.oem, winnt.oem

Using txtsetup.oem as a file name wouldn't be a good idea, it's already hardcoded and read for other purposes, use txtsetup.oen or something similar.

[Siginet]

oembi01.bin = 1,,,,,,,2,0,0,oembios.bin

tells setup to rename oembi01.bin to oembios.bin while being copied.

So alongside the original oembios.bin, you out oembi01.bin for corp, oembi02.bin for vlk and so on and replace in txtsetup.sif oembi01.bin with the desired one. It will be copied to the destination as oembios.bin. No need to create extra folders and 990 directives for the different files.

Oh ok I understand now. Yeah that does sound easier in a way. But... if we used the other method then we would only have to change the folder name that the files are going to. Since all of the txtsetup.sif files will be pretty much the same. The 990 code would allready be changed to represent the folder where to get the files.

As for winnt.sif- it also could be put on a virtual floppy, mounted by grub4dos. Have a set of floppies gziped and mount whichever you need. Or have a blank floppy image and dd the desired winnt.sif to it.

Yeah I think we need to play with different methods to figure out which one will work the best.

Actually everything works perfectly now.

What was wrong with the missing files during GUI part?

In my next test I left the oem files in I386 (In my first test I deleted the files from I386). When I did this Windows Gui setup went perfect without any problems. In the end I had a fully operational Windows XP Pro Corp. Then I did 2 other tests with mini ISOs for OEM and RTL which also worked perfectly.

And do the same steps for oem and rtl files as well...

setupldr.oem, txtsetup.oem, winnt.oem

Using txtsetup.oem as a file name wouldn't be a good idea, it's already hardcoded and read for other purposes, use txtsetup.oen or something similar.

Yeah I was thinking that when I wrote it. Guess we'll have to come up with a different schema for renaming the files.

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I also think we need to add svcpack.inf to the list of different files as well. Because if someone integrated different programs into the svcpack method. For instance when integrating some oemscan addons for pre activating oem installs.