Unattend XP with Dual Monitors

[mobyzone]

Hi,

We are trying to do an Unattend file to set the display settings to extend across 2 monitors as per below:

[Display]

BitsPerPel=32

Xresolution=1024

YResolution=768

Vrefresh=70

Is there a way to set both monitors at the same resolution and to extend using the unattended file without doing registry changes which can be quite messy?

Thanks so much

[Tripredacus]

In my experience, you are going to need to know the exact hardware ID of each monitor, including the GUID and enumerated ID that Windows assigns to the device. I tried to do this for a client, and it ended up being impossible to use in a solution meant for multiple different configs. I was able to do it for ONE computer, but it did not work on another because all the values were then different.

Perhaps there is another way to do it, if so, I'd like to know as well.

Also I cannot divulge any of the steps or info I accumulated during my attempt to make that work, as all of my notes were retained by the client.

[cluberti]

The sysprep.inf file (or unattend.txt, depending on how you launch setup) doesn't have the ability to extend monitors (it can only set refresh rate and display). And as Trip has previously mentioned, most video drivers store their display information in the registry, but it's machine-specific blob that depends on the video card and the monitor and their hardware ID's, and if Windows doesn't detect the exact same setup on the sysprep'ed destination, the settings will not work.

This is the sort of thing you might be able to script post-setup, perhaps, but doing it in the sysprep itself is nigh impossible.