Hello MSFN!

I've read MSFN's excellent guide on how to make an unattended XP CD and I've got everything setup correctly on my harddrive. But why burn the CD?, why don't reinstall XP by launching the install from another partition on my harddrive?

What I'm trying to do is to format my c: (containing my current XP-boot) and then install my new system on the new and clean formated c: partition. I've looked at the different options for winnt32.exe but haven't been able to figure out what options to use. (what I'm using now:\\computer\windist\I386\winnt32 /s:%SetupFiles% /unattend:%AnswerFile% /dudisable /copysource:lang)

So I run winnt32.exe and everything works fine untill I try to format c: (after first GUI with dynamic update etc...reboot...). At that point I get the message that "this partition contaions temporary setup files".

So I guess my real question is: How do I get setup to place the temporary files on another partition and get the setup to use these files?

Thank you for your help!

/ Pollux

Yep it's do-able I've done it that way and also by LAN now

thanks to some great insight on this forum i shoud add

just replace the appropriate paths

I do exactly what you're trying to do, Pollux.

Here are the commands I use:

SET XPCD=X

SET INSTALL=C

"%XPCD%:\XPCD\i386\winnt32.exe" /syspart:%INSTALL%: /tempdrive:%INSTALL%: /unattend:%XPCD%:\xpcd\i386\winnt.sif /s:%XPCD%:\XPCD\i386

I do exactly what you're trying to do, Pollux.

Here are the commands I use:

SET XPCD=X

SET INSTALL=C

"%XPCD%:\XPCD\i386\winnt32.exe" /syspart:%INSTALL%: /tempdrive:%INSTALL%: /unattend:%XPCD%:\xpcd\i386\winnt.sif /s:%XPCD%:\XPCD\i386

Ok now...

I just modified my unattend.bat so it looks like this:

set AnswerFile=.\unattend.txt

set SetupFiles=\\<COMPUTERNAME>\windist\I386

set TempFiles=D

\\<COMPUTERNAME>\windist\I386\winnt32  /syspart:%TempFiles%: /tempdrive:%TempFiles%: /s:%SetupFiles% /unattend:%AnswerFile% /dudisable /copysource:lang

For what's important here it should be identical to yours although it looks a bit different.

I've tested to run this bat and everything seems to be ok. Now I got 2 folders named $WIN_NT$.~BT and $WIN_NT$.~LS on my D:.

So how do I go on from here?

That is:

1. format c: (my current system is on c:)

2. install new system on c: with the files from d:

/ Pollux

You would format c: before that batch file and then reboot.

set TempFiles=D should be set TempFiles=C

Would you be running this from Windows PE?

You would format c: before that batch file and then reboot.

set TempFiles=D should be set TempFiles=C

Would you be running this from Windows PE?

Nope, I'm not running Windows PE.

Here's the deal:

1. I got WindowsXP installed on c:

2. I want to format c: and then install a new Windows on c:

3. I can't format c: while using my current system since it's on c:

4. So I want to format it during setup of the new system

5. But the setup places "temporary setup files" on c: before I have a chance to format it (File copy phase is before Text mode phase).

So my question is: Could I place the temporary setup files on say d: so that i could format and install onto c: using the temporary files from d:?

This is essentially what I said in my first post...

/ Pollux

Ah, I understand what you're trying to do now.

So my question is: Could I place the temporary setup files on say d: so that i could format and install onto c: using the temporary files from d:?

Not as far as I know.

I would suggest you create a Windows PE CD to boot from. You could then format c: and run the batch file to install Windows XP from there.

Ok, I see...

Well, I'f all else fails I'll try WinPE. But I really hoped for a way to just dubble-click a .bat-file...go watch TV..come back to a fresh install.

So if anyone reads this and know how to do it please be heard.

/ Pollux

Have a look here, maybe it helps..

http://www.tech-forums.net/showthread.php?...goto=nextnewest

I've read the posted link now and I can't find anything in it that will help me.

Seems like there is no way to place the temporary setup files on another partition than the one you want to install on.

/ Pollux

I really hoped for a way to just dubble-click a .bat-file...go watch TV..come back to a fresh install.

Well, if you did it correctly, you could make it so all you have to do is put in your Windows PE CD, reboot, then hit any key when it says "Press any key to boot from CD".

You could put the batch file in PE's Startup (startnet.cmd) so that PE would boot up, copy the XP setup files to C:, reboot, and silently install Windows.

I really don't understand what is so complicated about answering his/her topic question...

see the following links

http://unattended.msfn.org

in particular this one:

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

when you create your answer file check the same directory for a file called unnattend.bat

edit that file (do not open! it will run right)

change the paths to setupfiles and answerfile to the drive letter/partition you are installing form. (as long as it isn't c:)

change all the paths in your cmdlines.txt/runonceex/etc to reflect the local hard disk partition that you want to install from, instead of the cdrom/systemdrive variables, in fact you do not need to use variables at all..you can use strictly drive letters/mount points if you want

I hope this enough to help

I really don't understand what is so complicated about answering his/her topic question...

see the following links

http://unattended.msfn.org

in particular this one:

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

when you create your answer file check the same directory for a file called unnattend.bat

edit that file (do not open! it will run right)

change the paths to setupfiles and answerfile to the drive letter/partition you are installing form. (as long as it isn't c:)

change all the paths in your cmdlines.txt/runonceex/etc to reflect the local hard disk partition that you want to install from, instead of the cdrom/systemdrive variables, in fact you do not need to use variables at all..you can use strictly drive letters/mount points if you want

I hope this enough to help

I'm already using unattend.bat and my cmdlines.txt/runonceex/etc works fine.

I'm using winnt32 with the following switches right now:

/s:D:\windist\I386 /unattend:D:\windist\unattend.txt /dudisable /copysource:lang

Well the problem is that there is no switch to get rid of the temporary setup files. As far as I know there is no way to just use the files from D:\windist\I386 to install, you always have to have temporary setyp files which can't be placed on another partition than the one you want to install on. And that poses a problem since I want to format that partition before install (edit: and as you know my current system is on that partition so I can't just format it before i run setup).

/ Pollux