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"Program Files" renaming no longer works?


bbliss

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All,

In the past, with a much older version of nLite, I was able to rename the "C:\Program Files" path in the "Unattended" tab of the installation process.

Doing the same thing today, starting with a factory installation disc of XP SP 1, slipstreaming SP3 plus a couple of dozen MS KBxxx .exe files, and using the most up-to-date nLite version doesn't seem to work any more.

I select the "Program Files" renaming option, and give it e.g. "win_apps" instead, not using any variable substitution or anything fancy.

The result is an iso that correctly installs XP SP 3, but with a "Program Files" folder instead of what I asked for.

I know that some people don't think that this option has much value, and that's fine, everybody's entitled to think whatever they want.

I'm just curious whether there's something specific that I'm doing wrong that prevents this option from working now when it has worked well for me in the past.

Any suggestions are appreciated. I've checked the LAST_SESSION.INI file, and the ProgFilesPath variable does get set correctly, e.g. to "\win_apps" or whatever.

Thoughts? I can attach more or better screenshots or ini files or whatever for debugging if necessary. If that feature just no longer works, that'd be nice to know too.

Thanks for all the hard work, nLite dev's and supporters. I really like the tool.

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I've used it 2 years ago and it worked (and nLite has NOT moved on since then). Do you do everything in 1 go ? Is the starting cd unattended ?

Edited by Ponch
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I've used it 2 years ago and it worked (and nLite has moved on since then). Do you do everything in 1 go ? Is the starting cd unattended ?

In the case several years ago when it worked, I took an off-the-shelf retail MS Windows XP SP3 CD, chose a whole bunch of configuration options, burned an nLite'd ISO, installed Windows by hand in an attended fashion, and "Program Files" was successfully renamed.

In the case today where it is not working, I tried to take an off-the-shelf retail MS Windows XP SP1 (not SP3, but SP1) CD, chose a bunch of similar options as before but added the slipstreaming in of the SP3 binary, burned an nLite'd ISO, installed Windows by hand in an attended fashion, and "Program Files" is still "Program Files" despite my choice to the contrary.

Neither of the CDs were what I would consider "unattended" CDs, though I don't really know what that means. They weren't OEM or otherwise special CDs, just standard off-the-shelf retail MS Windows XP Professional discs. I imagine that they can be run in some sort of unattended mode somehow, though I've never tried to do that.

So, I think the answer to whether I'm doing everything in 1 go is "yes", and I think the answer to "is the starting CD unattended" is "no", but I'm not 100% sure I know what you mean by those -- apologies, I'm a n00b to these forums and have only used the nLite tool a little bit.

One thing I have not tried is to first slipstream the SP3 into the SP1 cd, then burn an ISO, and then use that as a "SP3 CD" from which to start choosing options like renaming "Program Files". I'll probably end up trying that tomorrow unless somebody has a better idea.

I went back and looked at what version I was using a few years ago, and it looks like I was actually using the same 1.4.9.1 version from Sept. '08 both then and now. So, the question I guess is no longer "did something change in the last few years?", but more "this worked for me starting from an SP3 CD before, but is not working for me now starting from an SP1 CD, anybody know why not?"

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Okay, I've figured out what's going on.

For those who might stumble upon this post later, the answer was as follows.

Changes made in the "Unattended" tab of the nLite setup tool cause changes to the WINNT.SIF file in the resultant ISO. The .SIF file contains unattended instructions for the installer.

The unattended instructions file DOES get consulted when you boot the CD from the bootable ISO. It does not, however, by default, get consulted if the XP Installer executable is called from a running Windows installation. You can choose to call it, though, by passing the /unattend(n):Filename flag to the X:\I386\winnt32.exe program.

So that was what I was seeing. In the past:

-> Booted from ISO -> Unattended file parsed -> Program Files renamed

This last time:

-> Booted to Windows -> Made the ISO -> Ran the installer with no arguments -> Program Files not renamed

The answer is:

-> Booted to Windows -> Made the ISO -> Ran the installer with correct argument -> Program Files is renamed

Thanks for patiently ignoring my idiocy, everybody.

-b

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