have Long file names copied on hd

[cyberchicken]

I made a search in unattended forum for +long +file +names and found nothing, so don't bash me if it's a faq or boring

My setup disk is dos based (floppy emulation). This allows me to use tools I am used to and to launch winnt.exe choosing wich unattend.txt to load and using udb files to differentiate various machines.

I'm considering to include cdshell to be able to load even xpboot.bin to be able to do such things as a repaira installation and a "standard" installations.

I use xcpcreate to slipstream hotfixes but this is irrilevant.

I'm also considering to use xplode to deploy my preconfigured user and applications.

Now.

I want my cd to hold the normal stuff plus my default user, some preloaded software (that dont need installation) and software to be installed. The problem is that those 3 things use long filenames so they get screwed by $oem$ textmode copy.

Also lfn support in dos exist but is experimental and basically doesn't work.

Also WinPE is not considered because is quite big and I would like to maximise the software payload on my cd.

Also $$Rename.txt is somhow too dirty and difficult to maintain (I should create a script that creates $$Rename.txt from the image of my cd but the short name of a file is not certain before burning)

Also copying files during guimode setup has the difficulty of finding the cd (if the cd hasn't been removed at all)

Also had considered zipping lfn files and extract from copied $oem$ the during guimode. This works (tried), but I'dl like to have a nicely browsable cd even for after setup operations.

I made a lots of statements, hope you don't think I'll never be happy! I just wanted to ask your advice. Tell me if I was wrong or if I forgot something!

Am I the first who has those needs?

PS. I KNOW it's not the right place, but, do you know how xpload identifies #sourcedrive#?

Thank you

[cyberchicken]

Please!!! Someone post here!

You can even say f****ff if you feel so But let me know I'm alive

[killerbee]

hi,

you should use a winrar-sfx with all needed files inside and run it via [DetachedProgram] in winnt.sif to automatically extract it where u want to...

hope this helps a bit

cya

Killer Bee

[cyberchicken]

Well at least it makes me feel less lonely

archive or sfx archive are fine but are not browsable on the cd

well xp supports zip/folders but that's not very neat

Thank you anyway

really I'm the first with this "problem"?

[killerbee]

hi,

wouldn't the SFX be browsable if u would integrate a WinRAR-installation within ur Setup-process??

cya

Killer Bee

[Alanoll]

ooooh, I know this....

Converting Short File Names to Long File NamesIf you use Winnt.exe to preinstall the operating system, all files and folders in the distribution share must be in 8.3 format for Windows Setup to copy the files. In addition, you must always use 8.3 file names when copying a set of files from one computer to another using MS-DOS.
Use the $$Rename.txt file to restore these 8.3 names to long file names during Windows Setup. $$Rename.txt must be located in the $OEM$\$1 folder.
Syntax for $$Rename.txtThe syntax for $$Rename.txt:
[section_name_1]Short_name_1 = "Long_name_1[$$]"Short_name_2 = "Long_name_2[$$]"     .     .Short_name_x = "Long_name_x[$$]"
[section_name_2]     .     .
ParametersSection_name_1, Section_name_2, and so on Paths to the folders that contain the files. A section can be unnamed, or it can have a backslash (\) as its name. The backslash indicates that the section contains the names of the files or subfolders that are on the root of the drive. Short_name_1, Short_name_2, and so on Names of the files or subfolders in this folder to rename. Do not enclose the names in quotation marks. Long_name_1, Long_name_2, and so on New names of the files or subfolders. Enclose these names in quotation marks if they have spaces or commas. If Long_name_x is the name of the Profiles directory and has a "$$" appended at the end, Setup merges this directory with the current Profiles directory.
For example, if the $$Rename.txt file contains these entries:
[\]D = "Documents and Settings$$"then files listed in this section are placed in the "Documents and Settings$$" Profiles directory.

[cyberchicken]

wouldn't the SFX be browsable if u would integrate a WinRAR-installation within ur Setup-process??

Ehm... browsable for me is plain joliet

I think i would stick with zip then, since xp has zip/folders support

thanks

[cyberchicken]

ooooh, I know this....

Converting Short File Names to Long File NamesIf you use 

...

I DO have ref.chm (and read it) and as I wrote

$$Rename.txt is somhow too dirty and difficult to maintain (I should create a script that creates $$Rename.txt from the image of my cd but the short name of a file is not certain before burning)

Really, does anybody had ever used $$rename.txt?

As I said I found this FreebyteZip wich is extremely small and... works.

[Alanoll]

ah. Sorry.

i've never actually used it. But then again, i don't use DOS on the CD except for installing Win98 and then i keep 8.3 naming for the Win98 files and what not.

I personally use PaquetBuilder to make SFX's. Gotta buy it, but it's really nice. www.gdgsoft.com

never tried FreebyteZip.

hmmm, if you're really good with DOS commands, for the script you could use FOR commands along with the DIR command to output the list to rename.txt

[cyberchicken]

hmmm, if you're really good with DOS commands, for the script you could use FOR commands along with the DIR command to output the list to rename.txt

Don't tease me I AM good with scripting but let me underline some issues:

a file can have a costant long filename but its shortname may vary depending on the logical loacation in which resides/is moved.

Example: imagine a dir with

"my long file name A.txt" ---> mylong~1.txt

"my long file name B.txt" ---> mylong~2.txt

now copy file 'B' elsewhere alone

you'll have:

"my long file name B.txt" ---> mylong~1.txt

the file has changed short name!

also numeric index(~1) is not univoque from a given directory, it matters als the ORDER, the TIME in which the files hav been added in the dir (first get first free number)

consider also that having ~# is optional on fat32 and ntfs

and joliet on cd is similar it seems

to know for sure what short name a file has I should burn the whole cd first

run a simple script to create the $rename.txt (sfn-lfn pairs) and then add $rename to the cd

:-) very impractical

thank you microsoft for non implementing long file names in dos 7!! They're geniuses!

Thank you

bye