customizing the winnt32.msi

[PipeDream]

Hi all,

I have been working on a network unattended upgrade to Windows XP for my campus. We use server 2000, and we have recenty begun deploying all of our campus software using the Active Directory GPO. Because of the coolness of GPOs, we have decided to use the MSI that is included on the WinXP CD. The MSI points to the winnt32 exe that most people use, but you can specify the answer file and all other command line options within the MSI.

The MSI runs perfectly using default settings, except that we have some slowwer machines, so in order to improve perfomance, we kill the theme service, disable all the nifty GUI aniations, to as to waste as few precious clock cycles as possible. Because of this, we had to make something that would impliment the changes post_install.

Finally, here's the problem. We have built an EXE that makes all the necessary registry changes, and the EXE copies over with the installation, but when we add the path to the file to the registry (run or runonce) of the MSI (using AdminStudio), it never stays in the registry fot the first bootup.

I have used two different methods for putting this data in the registry:

1.)When I open the MSI in AdminStudio, I edit the registry section under "System Configuration"

2.)Create a new component, and put the registry data there.

If this has already been posted on here, I'm sorry...just post the link. I think I searched everywhere. I have only recently begun packaging MSIs, so this may be a pretty simple problem.

Thanks!!

[rdalling]

There are several ways to do this, but using the sysprep is probable the most efficient.

Sysprep.inf

[GuiRunOnce]
    "cmd /c command.exe"

Let me know if you need other ways to do this...

Roger

[PipeDream]

[Unattended]
NTupgrade = yes

[UserData]
ProductKey = xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx

[GuiRunOnce]
   "c:\post_install\post_install.bat"

Well, Sysprep didn't work so well for us, but I used an unattend.txt (full contents above), and told the MSI to point to it. The MSI keeps all of the settings from the 2000 install.

Thanks!!