HOW TO: Minimal WINNT.SIF - Product Key ONLY

[NickAtNight]

Situation: You want a generic Windows XP installation CD that has all the screens intact for entering user and computer information, partitioning and formatting your drive(s) and the options for repairing Windows installations, but you are tired of typing the product key in each time you install Windows XP

Solution: Use the following WINNT.SIF files

XP SP2 slipstreamed CD

[Data]MsDosInitiated="0"

UnattendedInstall="Yes"

[userData]

ProductID=xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx

XP SP1 slipstreamed CD

[Data]MSDosInitiated=0

UnattendedInstall=Yes

[userData]

ProductKey="xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx"

kind of silly that Microsoft places such emphasis on where you use quotes in an unattended setup answer file... this drove me nuts for a few days, until I finally got it right, with some help from people in this forum. so hopefully, this will save someone else a lot of time and headaches

[RoXoN]

**** that didn't work for me, it's still asking for my serial. My windows xp cd is slipstreamed with sp2. This is my winnt.sif. Can someone see what's wrong?

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

[Unattended]
	OemPnPDriversPath="drivers\000_chipset;drivers\001_netwerk;drivers\002_monitor;drivers\003_nvidia"
	DriverSigningPolicy=Ignore 
	UnattendMode=FullUnattended
	OemSkipEula=Yes
	OemPreinstall=yes
	UnattendSwitch="yes"
	TargetPath=\WINDOWS
	WaitForReboot="No" 

[GuiUnattended]
	AdminPassword="1234"
	EncryptedAdminPassword=NO
	AutoLogon=Yes
	OEMSkipRegional=1
	TimeZone=110
	OemSkipWelcome=1

[UserData]
	ProductID=XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX
	FullName="mekker"
	OrgName="test"
	ComputerName=blaat

[Display]
	BitsPerPel=32
	Xresolution=1280
	Yresolution=1024
	Vrefresh=85


[GuiRunOnce]
	%systemdrive%\install.cmd

[Branding]
	BrandIEUsingUnattended=Yes

[URL]
	Home_Page=www.google.nl
	Search_Page = www.google.nl

[Proxy]
	Proxy_Enable=0
	Use_Same_Proxy=1

[Identification]
	JoinWorkgroup=bliep

I tried: Productkey with/without quotes

productid with/without quotes

[prathapml]

First, try a basic winnt.sif - no extra sections like [Components] etc.

Then add things to it, when you confirm it works.

[RoXoN]

Oke i'm gonna try that, vmware can read winnt.sif in I386 folder? or should i test with a floppy?

[prathapml]

Yes, it can. No need for floppy. Everything in VMware is same, except that your hardware is different, so your drivers can't be tested.

[RoXoN]

i hope you can help me, I used this winnt.sif

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

[Unattended]
    UnattendMode=FullUnattended
    OemSkipEula=Yes
    OemPreinstall=No

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

[UserData]
    ProductKey=xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx
    FullName="mekker"
    OrgName="aap"
    ComputerName=Dianeman

[Identification]
    JoinWorkgroup=familie

[Networking]
    InstallDefaultComponents=Yes

It's asking for my productkey. If i type it in the installation continues. The winnt.sif has been read because the Fullname and orgname are applied. What's wrong with the winnst.sif !!!

[RyanVM]

I think it's ProductID for SP2, not ProductKey

EDIT: But maybe not.

[Sanjay]

With SP2 it should definately be Product Key

[RoXoN]

i tried

ProductKey=xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx

ProductKey="xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx"

ProductID=xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx

ProductID="xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx"

nothing worked, the serial is valid.

My pid id ends at 270

[RoXoN]

it's working now !!!! i changed the product key for another that i found on the inet

[Sanjay]

it's working now !!!! i changed the product key for another that i found on the inet

Sounds like 'Warez' talk to me.

[Guest]

This is the minimum you need for SP3

[Data]
MsDosInitiated=0
UnattendedInstall="Yes"

[Unattended]
UnattendMode=ProvideDefault

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

ProductKey and UnattendedInstall can be with or without quotes.

Edited April 2, 2009 by -X-