i'm trying to to make a winnt.sif file that results only in removing the prompt asking for the cd key, during installation. it, unfortunately, doesn't seem to be working . here's the winnt.sif file i have, thus far:

;SetupMgrTag
[Data]
    AutoPartition=1
    MsDosInitiated="0"
    UnattendedInstall="Yes"

[Unattended]
    UnattendMode=ProvideDefault
    OemPreinstall=No
    TargetPath=\WINDOWS

[GuiUnattended]
    EncryptedAdminPassword=NO
    OEMSkipRegional=1

[UserData]
    ProductKey=XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX
    FullName=""
    OrgName=""

[Identification]
    JoinWorkgroup=WORKGROUP

[Networking]
    InstallDefaultComponents=Yes

any help would be appreciated - thanks!

The problem is with the unattened = provide default line you need to change it from provide default.

[Data]

AutoPartition=0

MsDosInitiated="0"

UnattendedInstall="Yes"

[unattended]

UnattendMode=FullUnattended

UnattendSwitch="Yes"

OEMSkipEula=Yes

OEMPreinstall=Yes

TargetPath="Windows"

Repartition=No

FileSystem="LeaveAlone"

WaitForReboot="No"

DriverSigningPolicy = Ignore

NonDriverSigningPolicy=Ignore

Hibernation = YES

DefaultHide is what you want, if you only want the ProductKey gone

I use a WinXP CORP image (w/ SP2) and my install doesnt prompt for CD key - this could differ on OEM or RETAIL versions

[Data]
AutoPartition=0
MsDosInitiated="0"
UnattendedInstall="Yes"
AutomaticUpdates = 1

[Unattended]
Repartition=NO
UnattendMode=ProvideDefault
OemSkipEula=Yes
OemPreinstall=No
TargetPath=\WINDOWS
UnattendSwitch="yes"
DUDisable = No
DUStopOnError = Yes
ForceHALDetection = Yes
Hibernation = No

[GuiUnattended]
AdminPassword=*
EncryptedAdminPassword=NO
OEMSkipRegional=1
TimeZone=255
OemSkipWelcome=1

[UserData]
ProductID=XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX
FullName="Registered User"
OrgName="Registered Org"
ComputerName=WINXPPRO

ProductID removed for obvious reasons.

Pete

Use the 'DefaultHide' option for UnattendMode= if you want certain settings to be applied during setup - any options not specified in the WINNT.SIF file will be prompted by the user during install.

Changing "UnattendMode=ProvideDefault" to "UnattendMode=FullUnattended" results in an error because I haven't provided all the info in winnt.sif. I also don't want to provide all the info in it. I intend to use the CD on multiple computers, and like being reminded to set certain things. I just don't feel the CD key reminder is necessary, heh.

I tried changing "UnattendMode=ProvideDefault" to "UnattendMode=DefaultHide", and it didn't work, either (although I didn't get an error).

Of course, now I seem unable to use any sort of UnattendMode, without getting the following error:

Line xx of the INF file \i386\winnt.sif is invalid

Line xx is always an empty line after "InstallDefaultComponents=Yes". If I delete all empty lines, it is the InstallDefaultComponents line.

any ideas as to what might be causing this?

finally, i've been creating ISO's using Nero, but having to create a new ISO image every time i want to update the UnattendMode line of winnt.sif seems a bit overkill. is there some ISO utility that will allow me to edit ind. files, and place them back into the image? I tried WinRAR, to find out it doesn't write to ISO files, and WinImage, to find out that it can't insert because the image is full (whatever that means)...

Try ProductKey instead of ProductID.

nevermind, was looking at the wrong winnt.sif...

Just a possible solution....

Try using nLite to make your winnt.sif (you'll have to read the already existing info there in that section).

Or use setupmgr.exe in your CD's "SUPPORT\TOOLS\Deploy.cab" to make it. Its probable that you might have had errors creep in while making it by hand - we all do.

as an update - i got it working

and it did work, this time around, with DefaultHide.

thanks for the help!