Installation not reading winnt.sif

[lp1290]

I've been trying to create an unattended install, but it just won't work. I think it's not reading my winnt.sif at all—I've tried it about a jillion different ways, but it won't listen to me. The file I'm using now looks like this:

[Data]

MsDosInitiated=No

[unattended]

OemPreinstall=Yes

DriverSigningPolicy=Ignore

NonDriverSigningPolicy=Ignore

That's the really basic version I've been trying to troubleshoot with. What I really want to use is:

[Data]

AutomaticUpdates=1

AutoPartition=0

UnattendedInstall=Yes

MsDosInitiated=0

[unattended]

DriverSigningPolicy=Ignore

NonDriverSigningPolicy=Ignore

OemPreinstall=Yes

OemSkipEula=Yes

TargetPath=\WINDOWS

UnattendMode=DefaultHide

WaitForReboot=No

[GuiUnattended]

AdminPassword=e52cac67419a9a224a3b108f3fa6cb6d8846f7eaee8fb117ad06bdd830b7586c

EncryptedAdminPassword=Yes

OEMSkipRegional=1

OEMSkipWelcome=1

TimeZone=35

[userData]

ComputerName=XP_PC

[TapiLocation]

CountryCode=1

Dialing=Tone

AreaCode=860

LongDistanceAccess="9"

[RegionalSettings]

LanguageGroup=13,17,3,2,5,16,4,12,15,7,8,10,11,9,6,14,1

Language=00000409

[branding]

BrandIEUsingUnattended=Yes

Home_Page=http://www.google.com

Search_Page=http://www.google.com

[Proxy]

Proxy_Enable=0

Use_Same_Proxy=1

[identification]

JoinWorkgroup=WORKGROUP

[Networking]

InstallDefaultComponents=Yes

The path to it from the CD is \i386\winnt.sif. It's definitely not winnt.sif.txt. I could even deal with it skipping the unattended part, but it won't even copy files from my \$OEM$\$1 folder

It definitely recognizes that $OEM$, at least, is there, because it executes cmdlines.txt. My RunOnceEx works, except for that none of the files it refers to exist (besides the driverpacks finisher, but that's because it's copied differently. But, because it's not reading the DriverSigningPolicy in winnt.sif, it gives me a zillion warnings about the drivers). So I end up getting "this file does not exist" messages for each RunOnceEx item except for importing registry edits—for them, there's no warning, but I know it's not importing them because the file containing them isn't on the hard drive.

I've even tried restarting the whole process from multiple CDs, to no avail. I just can't figure out why XP hates me so much. Is it possible that one of the updates I'm slipstreaming (all from Microsoft and with nlite, though, except for the driver packs) is somehow breaking it?

I plan to see if it works from an untouched (besides adding the $OEM$ folder and winnt.sif) CD to try to narrow down the cause—but until I do that, does anyone have any suggestions? Or maybe there's something crazy in txtsetup that's messed up and causing problems, but I don't get I feel like there's probably a simple solution to this that I'm missing.

Edited March 30, 2010 by lp1290

[DaveWI]

I'm new to this too... so please excuse me if I am giving poor advise.

in the default i386 folder if you copied it from an XP cd I know there's a default winnt.si_ or something like that. is that file still there possiblly overwriting yours or being used in place?

Also I see nothing regarding InstallFilesPath in the [unattended] section

I don't know your source, or what your goal is, corporate, personal, but I can say I followed Ashley's to make my source (except did it on a live box), and Iceman's to make my PE ISO disk, and apart from some things my boss wants I am good to go.

[Raoul90]

This is my working basic winnt.sif, just compare with yours:

;SetupMgrTag
[Data]
    AutoPartition=0
    MsDosInitiated=0
    UnattendedInstall="Yes"
    AutomaticUpdates=Yes

[Unattended]
    UnattendMode=DefaultHide
    OemSkipEula=Yes
    OemPreinstall=Yes
    TargetPath=\WINDOWS
    UnattendSwitch=No
    AutoActivate=No 
    WaitForReboot=No 
    DUDisable=Yes 
    DriverSigningPolicy=Ignore
    NonDriverSigningPolicy=Ignore
    ExtendOemPartition = 0 
    TargetPath=\WINDOWS 
    FileSystem=*

[GuiUnattended]
    EncryptedAdminPassword=NO
    OEMSkipRegional=1
    OemSkipWelcome=1
    TimeZone=110

[UserData]
    ProductKey=

[TapiLocation]
    CountryCode=31
    LongDistanceAccess="31"

[RegionalSettings]
    LanguageGroup=2,7,8,9,10,4,1

[Branding]
    BrandIEUsingUnattended=Yes

[Identification]
    JoinWorkgroup=Werkgroep

[Networking]
    InstallDefaultComponents=Yes

[URL]
    Home_Page=http://www.google.nl
    Search_Page=http://www.google.nl

[SystemFileProtection]
     SFCQuota = 0

[Shell] 
    CustomDefaultThemeFile ="%WinDir%\Resources\Themes\Sunrise.theme"

[lp1290]

I tried it using your exact winnt.sif....no luck. This is so weird.

There's no winnt.si_, and I don't know what InstallFilesPath is, but I've set up unattended installations before without using it.

I keep switching which CD I use as a source, but I've been rotating between a Dell XP Pro Corporate reinstall CD, an XP Pro Retail CD (just to see if it would work—I need the final product to take corporate keys, though), and a few other disk images I downloaded.

This is such a headache...sooo frustrating.

I've been testing these by installing them in a Parallels virtual machine—does anyone think that could have something to do with it? I'm on a mac and don't have an extra computer to play with. I can't install in boot camp from a disk image and I don't want to burn a zillion CDs trying to figure this out, if I can avoid it.

[lp1290]

Figured it out—it was Parallels. When I set up the virtual machine, I specified that it was for XP...I think Parallels probably played with some settings when it knew this, and broke the "unattendedness" of the install. When I made a new virtual machine and just selected "other" for what OS would run on it, the problems stopped.

[mike250]

Hi,

I wish i could help you but never got round to running an unattended before but will do. i have a ris logon issue. maybe will catch at a later date. hope you sort it!!