johann83 Posted June 5, 2004 Share Posted June 5, 2004 I recently reinstalled Windows XP on my machine using the same unattended CD I always use. The problem is that, this time, something went terribly, terribly wrong. There are two obvious symptoms to the problem I am having.Internet Explorer asks if you want to set it as the default browser EVERY TIME you start it. It seems as though there really is no default browser somehow.Outlook Express does not appear to be installed correctly. There are no shortcuts for it, and manually running the executable results in an error about MSOE.DLL.I have tried several things, to no avail.The first and most obvious was to cut out all the extra stuff from my unattended disc. No extra apps, no drivers, no hotfixes. Nothing except the XP source and a WINNT.SIF file. Same problems here.The next was to try looking up the error message/symptoms on the web (e.g. MSDN, Google etc), this resulted in a KB article about how to reinstall IE6 and OE on Windows XP, which I attempted. No luck here either.Now I've resorted to examining the setup logs for any possible problems. I have found only one, which I can't explain. The error is, "Could not register OLE Control activeds.dll..." Not sure if this is normal, or even related to the problem.I'm really out of ideas, and can't think of any other options, short of trying a normal ("attended") install to see if the error persists. Just wondering if anyone here has any thoughts or ideas that I could try...Thanks,Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCT Posted June 5, 2004 Share Posted June 5, 2004 im guessing OLE.dll is an outlook express .dll file,(i dont use it)would u have had outlook turned off in your winnt.sif file?what about trying sfc /scannow from the run menu?note: u will need your XP cd handyhope this helps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johann83 Posted June 5, 2004 Author Share Posted June 5, 2004 I don't have any [Components] section in my WINNT.SIF, so it shouldn't be turned off. I even recreated a new file using setupmgr.exe, but with the same results. I don't use Outlook Express personally, but it is required for Outlook to work (which I do use). Outlook gives me an error about OE not being installed.I also tried sfc /scannow but it didn't report any problems.Thanks for the ideas, keep 'em coming.Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCT Posted June 5, 2004 Share Posted June 5, 2004 u sayin outlook express is required for outlook 2 work? cuz i dont think it is :Swhat about reinstalling XP over itself? or testing your CD in vmware/virtual pc, seeing if it was just a bad install maybe? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johann83 Posted June 5, 2004 Author Share Posted June 5, 2004 u sayin outlook express is required for outlook 2 work? cuz i dont think it is :SYes, that is exactly what I am saying. Straight from ole Billy himself...As far as reinstalling XP, I have done it about 10 times in VMWare over the last three days. I was using XPCREATE, but decided maybe that was causing a problem, so I went back to just the original CD + WINNT.SIF with the same results each time. The only thing I could really think of is a corrupt CD somehow...Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCT Posted June 5, 2004 Share Posted June 5, 2004 i removed outlook express long ago, and im using Outlook aswell, and it works fine (i use outlook 2003) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johann83 Posted June 5, 2004 Author Share Posted June 5, 2004 Perhaps it is because I only have Outlook XP (i.e. 2002). But a discussion of whether Outlook requires OE wasn't really the point of the thread... Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCT Posted June 5, 2004 Share Posted June 5, 2004 have u tried redownloading OE?EDIT: try this http://theeldergeek.com/repair_reinstall_ie_and_oe_6.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johann83 Posted June 5, 2004 Author Share Posted June 5, 2004 From my original post......this resulted in a KB article about how to reinstall IE6 and OE on Windows XP, which I attempted. No luck here either.Which is exactly what is recommended in the link you provided. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johann83 Posted June 6, 2004 Author Share Posted June 6, 2004 Found something interesting about this problem. It goes away if I install windows "attended" (i.e. the normal install works perfectly). For debugging the unattended, all I did was take the attended install source and added a stripped down WINNT.SIF file. The contents of this file are below, it came directly from setupmgr.exe and I added the UnattendSwitch=Yes line. Any thoughts?;SetupMgrTag[Data] AutoPartition=1 MsDosInitiated="0" UnattendedInstall="Yes"[Unattended] UnattendMode=FullUnattended OemSkipEula=Yes OemPreinstall=No UnattendSwitch=Yes TargetPath=\WINDOWS[GuiUnattended] AdminPassword=361902e619afae135e34749e73fa9c64c37021a83fcd318d220b82eb191a53dd EncryptedAdminPassword=Yes OEMSkipRegional=1 TimeZone=35 OemSkipWelcome=1[UserData] ProductID=XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX FullName="Matthew J. Volkar" OrgName="" ComputerName=JOHANN83[Display] BitsPerPel=32 Xresolution=1280 YResolution=1024 Vrefresh=75[Identification] JoinWorkgroup=WORKGROUP[Networking] InstallDefaultComponents=YesAgain, the normal ("attended") XP install works as expected, while the same source with the above WINNT.SIF file added exhibits the IE/OE problems discussed in my first post. Any thoughts would be appreciated.Thanks,Matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
monstersnatch Posted June 14, 2004 Share Posted June 14, 2004 hi, i've experienced a strange behaviour at first startup:the IE desktop icon dosn't have a valid shortcut to the needed path, so i have to enter it manually; does anyone know where the problem could be?! thanx in advancewinnt.sif Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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