Windows XP - Ask all questions in OOBE

[johnyept]

Hi all.

 

I was wondering how to make XP ask all questions (timezone, computer name, workgroup) in OOBE right before first start up, instead of during the installation process. I noticed before that when restoring XP using the recovery partition on some laptops, that XP asks for these questions in OOBE right in the "Welcome to Windows XP" blue screens, along with Account names, etc.

 

The purpose is to create a OEM XP installation disk that only asks for partition creation, installs without stopping, then asks for all info in the end instead of stopping several times. I would prefer this info to be added manually instead of predefined in WINNT.SIF, the only info on the file should be the OEM key and the necessary commands to "push" the questions to the end of the installation, if possible.

 

Can this be done?

[submix8c]

OEM Recovery Partition "install" (not an install) isn't the same as Install "install" (what you want to do).

It's a pre-installed Sysprep Image (Ghost, PC-Angel, whatever you choose to use and have access to).

Can't be done with regular install.

1 - Sysprep-type OEM Install + customize

2 - Image it for Recovery ("restore") purposes

That's an *extremely* rough/limited description (obviously).

You would need the OEM Preinstall Kit (OPK) and an Imaging/Restore software/procedure.

Undoubtedly the XP one is no longer available.

[johnyept]

I mentioned the recovery partitions as an example, I do not want to create a recovery partition myself. Just wondering if it's possible to make a normal Windows XP installation ask all questions in the end of the installation (oobe section) rather than during installation.

[submix8c]

See -

http://unattended.msfn.org/unattended.xp/

Also see -

http://www.xdot.tk/nliteimages.html

 

They will happen as when they're coded to happen. It can't be changed. That's the best it gets.

[jaclaz]

Probably what you can do is "trick" the Windows setup, by providing a (partially) unattended set of "defaults" and then *somehow* at OOBE time ask the user to change these already set defaults.

 

In other words the questions are asked once when they should be asked and answered automatically, and then the same questions need to be re-asked and the answer overwrite the previoius ones.

 

jaclaz

[johnyept]

Probably what you can do is "trick" the Windows setup, by providing a (partially) unattended set of "defaults" and then *somehow* at OOBE time ask the user to change these already set defaults.

 

In other words the questions are asked once when they should be asked and answered automatically, and then the same questions need to be re-asked and the answer overwrite the previoius ones.

 

jaclaz

 

Actually that's what I did! I created a WINNT.SIF with enough instructions to automate the installation except for the partition setup and the "Welcome to Windows XP" (I believe it requires OemPreinstall=No in [unattended] section).

At first run, I added the following instructions:

[GuiRunOnce]"%systemroot%\System32\control.exe sysdm.cpl,,1""%systemroot%\System32\setowner.exe"

The first line opens the "Computer Name" tab in System properties, the second is an utility that I added to the $OEM$ folder to change Name/Organization (unfortunately not keyboard friendly, requires mouse to click Apply). The $OEM$ folder is not copied when using an unnatended install, but $OEM$\cmdlines.txt is ALWAYS executed, so I added this inside it...

[COMMANDS]"OemPreinstall.cmd"

... and stole $OEM$\OemPreinstall.cmd content from another forum, so here it is:

@CMDOW.EXE @ /HID 2>NUL||@ECHO OFFSETLOCAL ENABLEEXTENSIONSFOR %%? IN (C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z) DO (  IF /I "%%?:" NEQ "%SYSTEMDRIVE%" CALL :SUB "%%?:" &&GOTO START)GOTO ENDIT:STARTIF EXIST %MYOEM%\$1 XCOPY %MYOEM%\$1 %SYSTEMDRIVE% /S/I/Q/Y >NULIF EXIST %MYOEM%\$$ XCOPY %MYOEM%\$$ %SYSTEMROOT% /S/I/Q/Y >NULIF EXIST %MYOEM%\$Docs XCOPY %MYOEM%\$Docs "%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\.." /S/I/Q/Y >NULIF EXIST %MYOEM%\$Progs XCOPY %MYOEM%\$Progs %PROGRAMFILES% /S/I/Q/Y >NUL:ENDITENDLOCAL &GOTO :EOF:SUBIF NOT EXIST %~1\$OEM$ EXIT/B 1SET "MYOEM=%~1\$OEM$"EXIT/B 0

Basically it does the same as Windows XP does when processing the $OEM$ folder.

 

The resulting CD/ISO contains XP Home/Pro OEM, both install an OEM key and all I have to do is select/create the partitions, let it install, create a user on the "Welcome to Windows XP" menus, change name/organization/computer name on first run and add the correct OEMBIOS files. Done!

Edited April 9, 2015 by johnyept

[jaclaz]

Good.

The "name and company" data should not be a problem, they are a couple Registry entries, you can use a batch fine for that.

http://www.pctools.com/guides/registry/detail/32/

Or you can use this one:

http://windowsxp.mvps.org/owner.htm

(which is GUI but keyboard friendly)

or you could adapt to suit your needs/wishes any of these:

http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/55188-change-registered-user-name-and-company/

 

jaclaz

[johnyept]

Thank you, ChangeOwner.exe works perfectly! I'll use it for now but I'll probably make a batch later to change Name, Organization, Computer Name, and reboot to apply changes. If I don't want to change anything I can always use Ctrl+C to stop it and then run it later