Newbie Questions Here!

[ank]

I found the learning curve for XPcreate and Unattanded installations quite steep, and have only recently figured it all out and gotten everything working in exactly the way that I want. Maybe there isn't much demand for a newbie help thread, in which case there won't be many responses, and that's fine. However, if there are people out there with basic questions on how to set things up, then I thought it would be useful to consolidate those posts into a single thread, rather than start a new thread each time (something I did myself with a few early problems). I would, of course, try to answer as much as I could from my relatively limited knowledge, and I'm sure veterens would pick up the slack. For my part, I've gotten my Unattended CD working, with all of the listed updates except about 7 that I didn't want. I;ve also integrated a desktop image, my settings, drivers for every device, and about a dozen programs/software through GUIRUNOnce. Plus a very large and rather comprehensive list of registry tweaks compiled from the regtweaks thread in MSFN. I'll assume I've done my initial duty to give back to the forums that solved my problems so quickly and efficiently, regardless of the number of responses, and of course, (hehe) I'm here to stay. I've very quickly found MSFN to be a place with exactly the kinds of people that I love to consult, and it is a community defined by its plethora of knowledge and ability. That being said, fire away.

[GreenMachine]

Thanks, ank. It's always a pleasure to see those that are ready, willing and able to help out!

[pinion]

Is merging .REG files from CMDLINES.TXT the only way of modifying the Default User profile during XP installation?

I attempted another way, editing the HIVEDEF.INF before burning my XP boot CD. I converted my custom .REG file from .REG format to .INF format and added the lines to the HIVEDEF.INF file under one of the AddReg sections but I receive errors at the T-39 mark (beginning of GUI setup) about no digital signature or something like that.

Currently I perform my XP install with, other than the slipstreamed SP2, a typical XP installation disc. Then, after first login I load the Default User NTUSER.DAT into REGEDIT (mounted as 'Default' under HKEY_USERS) and then merge my custom .REG file. The first login is done with a throw-away account created during OS installation so I don't care that it doesn't have the new default user profile settings. It gets deleted after joining the machine to our domain anyway.

[homiebrah]

T-39 should be your hardware portion of the setup. CMDLINES.TXT isn't called until T-12.

[GreenMachine]

@pinion: There are many different ways. The Undattended forum has many, as does the XPlode forum. Not really an XPCREATE specific thing.

[wiFFy]

I managed to make a working stripped version of windows 2000 with sp4, but since I can't use it to integrate hotfixes and drivers, should I use XPcreate to do the trick? Can XPcreate and nlite be used together so that they dont mess each other somehow? The biggest question is can I use the image created by nlite, or should I have "clean"(original) image of windows 2000 for XPcreate for integrating different hotfixes and drivers.

This is basicly what I want for my new windows 2000 CD(Important ones marked with [b ]:

-SP4 integrated

-useless stuff deleted from cd

-Some critical hotfixes integrated

-DirectX 9.0c

-VIA Hyperion 4.53

-Omega drivers for geforce

It would be great, if I could make this fit on small 8cm CD(210mt), if you have tips for what do delete from windows 2000cd, I would be most grateful

[Virindi]

XPCreate works from a "clean" cd.

NLite does not always work OK from an XPCreate modified cd.

Best to test and see how it goes for you.

[GreenMachine]

I'm afraid I need to give you my standard reply: make a XPCREATION with desired hotfixes and service packs, and then take that as the baseline for nLite. If there are any problems afterwards, please post them in the nLite thread: I cannot debug that part.

[pinion]

T-39 should be your hardware portion of the setup.  CMDLINES.TXT isn't called until T-12.

Okay, but I'm not using CMDLINES.TXT. That is my point. I wanted to insert my tweaks into the HIVEDEF.INF file (which is used to create the Default User NTUSER.DAT file during install). I converted format from REG to INF and copied into the HIVEDEF.INF file but XP SP2 install always fails at T-39 mark.

[GreenMachine]

As I've said earlier, test one modification at a time, and you will find the guilty party. I believe that the hives are read right at the begining of installation. I tend to suspect the modifications that you make to the hive, and not the fact that you have modified them, especially if you are adding values, not just modifying existing values. In any event, diligent trial and error always works ...

[WhtKnight]

I think my greatest question would be... is there a single page that defines the details around the folder structure arrangement eg the 001 etc layout and the way to modify the txtsetup.sif doc so as to be able to add drivers by hand ?

no insult to GM but one of my drivers seems to be conflicting when i use xpcreate so i wouldn't mind knowing the details behind the process so i can see if i can get around the issue personally

Oh and one more i'm trying to slipstream the new radeon drivers into the install and i was reading about using an iss file from the installshield setup (which i can see) but with the new set each item in the pack eg multimedia drivers, vid drivers and control panel each have one so would i need to extract out the install and include a path for each of the three iss's in the winnt.sif or would a single iss do for all three ?

i'm sure i've got more but these are the big ones on my mind atm

thanks guys, i appreciate the chance to ask

WhtKnight

[GreenMachine]

@WhtKnight: The directory naming conventions are "defined" by Microsoft, and can be found in the Unattended Guide ... somewhere. The actual names is not so important, the importance is in the (alphabetical) order in which they will be processed. First should be Motherboard Chipset drivers (001). As I remember, Mass Storage Devices, i.e. Disks, are number 6 (006). The reasoning behind this is to avoid conflicts. If you are only installing the RAID drivers, there will be no conflicts, and the naming will become less important. I would suggest installing only the RAID drivers until you have mastered that, to avoid confusion and ease debugging.

The Drivers Forum has a few threads that discuss RAID drivers, and TXTSETUP.SIF modifications. The method XPCREATE uses, and I believe (obviously) is the best is discussed on the GreenMachine Web Site, I have yet to see it fail ...

http://greenmachine.msfnhosting.com/READING/addraid.htm

As for installs using ISS files, that is a horse of a different color. You are not simply making the drivers available for Windows during install, rather running the vendors installation package. I have tried that once or twice, but really have very little experience with it. Again, I would direct you to the Drivers Forum, but remember it is more of an install than a driver question.

I hope this gets you going. So much for obscurity!

[Fyrespray]

I'm hoping for a bit of help to try and find out where I have gone wrong here.

I have added the directory $OEM$/$1/DRIVERS/006/via to FILESCD and inserted my drivers in the via directory.

I then created a winnt.sif in FILESCD/I386 and modified OEMPnPDriversPath so that it is now OEMPnPDriversPath=/DRIVERS/006/via/

I then ran XPCREATE and got the message SATA drivers not found.

I have tried modifying DOPATH in XPCREATE.ini (think it was DOPATH writing this from a work machine so don't have the ini file in front of me to check) to get XPCREATE to pull the drivers from the driver location automatically.

However I still keep getting the message SATA drivers not found when I build my image in XPCREATE

I get the $OEM$/$1/DRIVERS/006/via directory (with all files in it) copied to my ISO but when I burn the disk and try and get the install started I still don't find any via SATA raid drivers and because of this no hard drives in my machine.

Can anybody see what I have done wrong, i'm thinking its something simple that I have overlooked but can't for the life of me see what it is.

[GreenMachine]

I suspect that XPCREATE.INI has not been correctly modified, or you are using unsupported (by XPCREATEA) drivers. Post NEWFILES\LOGFILES.CAB, and I can take a look.

[Fyrespray]

Log file attached.

I'm using latest VIA raid drivers downloaded from viaarena the filename is VIA_RAID_V310E.zip

Link supplied below:

VIA Raid Drivers

The link says 300E but the download is actually 310E

XPCREATE.LOG