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For Experts... Need help


ali1978

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What i need is very rare. I searched for hours in the web for an answer, couldnt find any......

I am running on winxp and i want to have an extremely fast way (without having to boot the OS) to run batch files containing regisrty modifications.

For example after i have finished multicasting an image of 113GB to 120 computers, i need to open each one of them going in some sort of command line feature (win98 start up or anything else that could work) and be able to change the ip, the cs serial, the generals serial, the locks that need to be putted(disabling right click etc.) and all sorts of modifications from client to client that u can imagine with a single batch file containing the registry modificationd needed to be that possible(i already know those).

Now the fastest way i found was booting the **** system in "safe mode with command". Not good enough because it takes too much time.

I was able to setup a netcafe of 120 pc's in just one night, when i was using win98.

Now i HAVE to move in winXP becasuse some games just wont play in win98(DOOM3). And if u people cant tell me a way to do the reg-modifications faster than having to boot up and then run the batch file.......then i will have to work something like a week(with the store closed) to be able to upgrade my netcafe.

THANKS IN ADVANCE

James Tsoukalis

cell: 00306945393276

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It's really difficult to boot an 2000/XP system minimally in the way you want. The difference, ofcourse, lies in the architecture of these operating systems. The boot up process is fundamentally different than those of 95/98/ME........

But then again, there MIGHT be a way to get the system to bootup in the way you want, you gotta keep searching.

Alternatively, you can call MS tech support, if you own legal copies of the OS, that is..

Best of luck to you, and ;et us know if you do find a way :)

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You should look into getting a domain controller and putting all those machines on a domain. That way you can run all required scripts and even change some of the client configuration at system startup through group policies.

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Have you tried using the Recovery Console on the Windows CD? It's kind of like a "dos" command window, and it doesn't take as long to load. You can install it on the computer using winnt32.exe but I forget the switch (that way it would come up as an option when you boot from the hard drive).

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Windows PE?

I don't lnow about your WinPE, but mine boots slower than XP itself because it's booting from a CD. Maybe he could do a dump of PE to a flash drive and boot that. That should be exponentially faster than booting from a CD.

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All these PC's have floppy drives, right?

Well, then do it the professional way and use a unattended automated XP installation with the winnt.sif on a floppy disk. Boot from the auto-build CDROM and have the winnt.sif in the floppy drive as the CD boots. The CD will read the winnt.sif off of the floppy drive automatically and setup the system unattended. A quick modification of the winnt.sif using notepad and you move on to the next PC.

You will need to write some scripts and load some registry settings during this procedure, so you do have a bit of work in front of you. If all you are familiar with is windows 98 then you are in for a world of pain. XP isnt 98 and cant be hacked nearly so easily.

If you have 120 PC's to do, my advice is to use active directory to lock down the systems and use RIS over the network to deploy the PC's. Setup the PC's to use PXE to boot over the network. It's a 1.5 day setup for the infrastructure and maybe another day to install all the PC's. On the plus side of this, if you need to rebuild a PC later on it will be a snap.

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Ali1978,

if I get it right, you just need to make some remote registry modifications, right?

Could you not just boot up all PC's normally, then remotely modify the registry, something along the lines of this articles?

http://www.windowsitlibrary.com/Content/69/07/1.html (old)

http://www.winnetmag.com/Windows/Articles/...714/pg/2/2.html (new)

jaclaz

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i agree with most here - getting these pc's onto a domain is key. not only will you be able to lock them down quicker and more efficiently, but you'll also be able to monitor them better and deploy them faster if they need to be reimaged. 120 pc's is a fair amount, i'm surprised you'd have them all standalone pc's this long.

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On your master image add a runonce command to the registry:

regedit.exe /s a:\unique.reg

put your unique changes for each machine on a floppy and image then stop by each machine and insert the floppy and pull the network cable and reboot. On your next round to each machine, pull the floppy and insert the network cable -reboot a final time.

On and uh - you're done. (send my check to MSFN)

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beenthereb4

"regedit.exe /s a:\unique.reg" this could actually work as a runonce command in registry.

And i am not setting up 120 machines from the begining (this is for the other people who replied in my post). I am just multicasting through ghost an image already made. And i wanted to be able to change some things in registry very quickly.

Recovery console could be another solution......if only there was a registry console for SP2....:-(

Anyway i am gonna try that registry entry as u suggested beenthereb4.....but wait a minute........ wound that actually need to boot the machines............. **** winXP.

I wish there was a regedit command that i could run from dos, and actually worked with XP registry. The reg command as u know works only in windows. And when i tried regedit i get "wrong OS version".

**** DOOM3.......

Thank u all for the help. If anyone has another idea.....reply to this post.

p.s: I am running linux SuSe 8.1 as a server and domain controler......ofcourse :D

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