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XPCREATE and XPSP2

dvokt

By dvokt
in XPCREATE

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dvokt

dvokt

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Well, last week I was trying to deal with my XPSP1A CD and the huge update list, as well as trying to do cool things like use RunOnceEx and INF files to install apps, etc.

NOW, I need to blow off XPSP1A/Updates and start over with XPSP1A/XPSP2. But there seems to be some rough spots...

  • I cleared all the subdirectories and set the following in XPCREATE.INI:
    • DLAUTO=NO
      COPYSOURCE=YES
      XPSOURCE=E [my CD Drive]

    [*] I ran XPCREATE.CMD and it recreated the dir structure.

    [*] I then copied WindowsXP-KB835935-SP2-ENU.exe into the SPACKS folder.

    [*] I ran XPCREATE.CMD again and it went to work. However, it displayed several "File Not Found" errors.

    [*] I was suprised to see that XPCREATE.CMD had MODIFIED XPCREATE.INI in a way to NOW use the CDSOURCE folder (OK?).

    [*] It did not however create an ISO (or burn a CD).

    [*] Things seemed sort of haywire so I tried it again.

    [*] This time it did create an ISO (nbut no CD) and I tried it out in VirtualPC. Seems to work, but I need to do more testing. At the very least a "My Computer | Properties" shows Service Pack 2!! YEAH!

My seeming success aside, I still feel that I am "abusing" XPREATE (meaning the "File Not Found" messages) and want to make sure I have set things up correctly.

I am including my LOGFILES.CAB. A zip of a listing of my dir/files is available if anyone needs to see it. Please let me know what things I may not have set up correctly, etc...

----

BTW, GreenMachine your contribution "XPCREATE" is one of the most wonderful hunks of software I have ever come across. I am looking forward to learning how to use it properly!

Oh, and yes, I've been through most of the posts on this and other MSFN forums, so I kinda have an idea of what's possible. Though I am mostly confused at this point. I know documentation is a pain, but it is also essential (otherwise how can we chide ppl with RTFM ;-)

Anyway, any help, clarification, etc. will be VERY much appreciated.

Thanks!

LOGFILES.CAB

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dvokt

dvokt

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OOPS! I guess I missed this one:

"File not found"

Its funny because I was looking at XPCREATE.CMD and noticed the same fact that output redirection would clean things up and was close to posting the same suggestion.

Well, I hope GreenMachine can fit in a little cleanup like that for all of us that are trying to make a new XPSP2 Unattended ;-) It always feels better when a process runs to completion without any "huh?" factors.

AND, I've pounded some more on the system generated by the ISO in Virtual PC, and it seems solid so far.

BTW, how do I squeeze the DOTNET stuff in with XPSP2. With XPSP1A it was done automatically...

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GreenMachine

GreenMachine

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COPYSOURCE is responsible for ... copying the source to the HDD, and updates XPCREATE.INI accordingly. (See Web Site section XPCREATE.INI :) )

Don't know why it did not create the ISO the first time. Disk space? It looks like it DID work for the attached log: XPISO=c:\tmp\XPCREATE.ISO (user modified in XPCREATE.INI). The bad run may have more info in the log.

It didn't burn a CD, as CDBURNER=F should be CDBURNER=F: (user modified in XPCREATE.INI), assuming F is your CD Burner.

As for DotNetFX, the What Goes Where and Current Hotfixes section of the Web Site should get you straightened out on that.

I'll be getting rid of those "File Not Found" errors ... soon. As they are not "critical", they will have to wait till I have time.

As for the documentation, even out of date, I did get to throw a couple RTMs at ya! I wont be updating that until AFTER any program changes.

Thanks for attaching LOGFILES.CAB. It makes it much easier to analyze, and find things that may be forgotten.

The simplest way is still to just do a clean install, double click on XPCREATE.CMD once for the directory structures, a second time, whilst connected to the Internet, and let it rip. (Or crawl.) Still, I'd say all in all you done good, and your XPCREATION is more than likely fine.

Welcome to MSFN, dvokt, and ... Happy XPCREATIONS!

(Thanks for the compliment/thanks as well - never hurts!)

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dvokt

dvokt

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Thanks for the feedback, GreenMachine.

OK, trying again from scratch:

GOAL: Unattended CD that combines my origianl XPSP1A cd with the new XP Service Pack 2. (plus user account creation)

Source CD in E: drive, Destination CD (blank) in F: drive.

PHASE I:

  • Create D:\XPDANV\XPCREATE folder. (D:\XPDANV is where I keep all related files for XPCREATE)
  • Clean install of XPCREATE to D:\XPDANV\XPCREATE (2004-06-11 is latest AFAIK) [edited]
  • Execute XPCREATE.CMD to create dir structure

So far, so good...

PHASE II:

  • Modify XPCREATE.INI:
    • CDBURNER=F:
      DLAUTO=NO
      XPISO=c:\tmp\XPCREATE.ISO (I put the ISO here because of disk space factors)

    [All other XPCREATE.INI values are left at defaults]

    [*] Copy WindowsXP-KB835935-SP2-ENU.exe into SPACKS folder

    [*] Copy my FILESCD folder and subfolders, containing WINNT.SIF, etc. into XPCREATE folder

    [*] Execute XPCREATE.CMD to slipstream XPSP2, create ISO and burn CD

YEAH! Got an ISO and a working CD!

QUESTIONS:

1) How (and when) can I start using the automatic download feature (DLAUTO=YES) to catch up with post SP2 hotfixes? (we know they're coming ;-)

2) The WindowsXP-KB835935-SP2-ENU.exe got moved to OLDFILES, can it be deleted now (I have a master copy elsewhere)?

3) I would like to continue enhancing (and testing). What settings in XPCREATE.INI would allow me to preserve as much of the work done already as possible? For example, I want to work on the settings in WINNT.SIF, can I just make changes there and have them propagate to CDROOT and create another ISO (to test in VirtualPC) WITHOUT copying from CD again and slipstreaming the SP2 again. I tend to be very iterative and would like to speed up the process as much as possible.

4) When is it safe or advisable to set the following to yes: DELISOS, DELROOT, DELTEMP? IOW, does preserving these directories in any way speed up ISO generation?

Again Thanks for this great tool. I am already saving time and energy with all the flaky windows systems I have to deal with!! :-)

---

FYI I ave included my LOGFILES.CAB and a dirlisting as LOGS.ZIP if you need to look at them...

LOGS.ZIP

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richsmif

richsmif

Posted
Posted

Hi,

I've had simular trouble, when XPCREATE runs and downloads SP2, it merges SP2, then SP1 over the top!!

What shall i do wipe out and start again?

I downloaded a new xpcreate but it was still dated 11th june.

????????

:blink:

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dvokt

dvokt

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When I said "start from scratch" I really should have been more specific. I meant to say:

Do a clean install of XPCREATE (2004-06-11 is latest AFAIK).

I will edit my post so that this is clear.

If you follow the rest of my steps (substitute your own FILESCD stuff), it should work as it did for me.

Bear in mind that I am starting with the XPSP1A CD from MSDN (Disc 1847.1 July 2003).

Also, make SURE you set DLAUTO=NO in XPCREATE.INI

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homiebrah

homiebrah

Posted
Posted
Hi,

I've had simular trouble, when XPCREATE runs and downloads SP2, it merges SP2, then SP1 over the top!!

What shall i do wipe out and start again?

I downloaded a new xpcreate but it was still dated 11th june.

????????

:blink:

Try disabling the download option in xpcreate.ini. I had the same problem, and that was my fix. There are no hotfixes/updates out for SP2 now. Also, remove the SP1 file from SPACKS, if it is there.

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GreenMachine

GreenMachine

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@dvokt:

1) Don't know. Certainly not before any post SP2 fixes come out.

2) Yes.

3) You could just edit the files in CDROOT, and create another ISO from there, using your favorite ISO creator. XPCREATE doent have an opion for that: it would need to re-run the whole shebang.

4) Change to YES any time: does not effect future XPCREATIONS, and they are deleted first thing of a new run.

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dvokt

dvokt

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@GreenMachine

This is a little off topic, but relates to clarifying (at least in my mind) the directory structure of XPCREATE:

After the Phase II pass (as described above) I thought I would compare the CDSOURCE folder to the actual XPSP1a cd that was used to create it. I was suprised to find that they are NOT the same. Am I missing something? I was under the impression that the CDSOURCE was a convenience that was a hardrive copy of the original CD.

I have included a summary of the differences in the attachment Report.zip.

Thanks for any insight on this...

Report.zip

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dvokt

dvokt

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OK, so CDSOURCE becomes the original CD plus slipstreams; and CDROOT is CDSOURCE plus FILESCD?...

I suppose it is a moot point, because it is working just fine. So, I am now moving on to figuring out what drivers I need for different systems, and how to do silent installs for all the apps I want, as well as nifty reghacks. And whether to use RunOnceEx or .CMD files. And .INFs versus .CMDs versus .WSF wscripts. And wow!

But, man it takes lots of time testing this stuff, any tips on speeding things up? (I'm using VirtualPC 2004, but it seems awfully sloooowwww....). What would be real cool would be to be able to somehow freeze the install at the first reboot stage(after all the files have been copied to the hard drive) and be able to modify files and continue from there, over and over again. Oh well :-(

One last request, again a liitle off topic. But does anyone know of a really comprehensive (step by step) description of the XP setup process. You know, what files get processed in what order and in what user context, etc. I have (somewhere) something like that for the old WinNT 3.51, but I am sure its too far out of date to be of much use. I googled around, but most of what I found had to do with DOING an install and not the "under the hood" processes.

Thanks GreenMachine and ALL for the past help (and any future input)!

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GreenMachine

GreenMachine

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OK, so CDSOURCE becomes the original CD plus slipstreams; and CDROOT is CDSOURCE plus FILESCD?...
Yes, CDSOURCE becomes the original CD plus Service Pack slipstreams. CDROOT becomes CDSOURCE plus hotfix, etc., slipstreams.

As for speeding things up, I have no answer. You can use CDROOT, and make modifications there, and create an ISO each time. I think things should be tested one by one, so I make a few modifications, start up VPC, let it run while working on the next modifications. If the last run is OK, I go on to the next. The key for me is planning, and having something else to do while VPC is running.

I don't know of a guide, but I believe you can press Shift-F11 during setup, and see the billboards of the install process.

Good luck ...

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  • 2 weeks later...
tarquel

tarquel

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Posted

Regarding no hotfixes for SP2...what about this?....

Go to:

http://v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/catalog/en/default.asp

Choose Windows XP SP2 from the list, leaving the Advanced Options as they are (all ticked)....

There's a good number of things that appear but not quite sure if they are relevent.....

i.e. Managed DirectX - not the directx 9.0c that comes with it hehe

any thoughts?

Regards,

N.

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