Unattended Setup Error -- Winnt.sif Problem

[Jondar]

Hi,

I've been working on making an unattended and nLited CD for XP Home SP2. I've followed the Unattended Guide, and used the Setupmgr in the Deployment Tools.

Everything works OK (meaning it installs fine), except for one annoying error message at about T-33. The error message is:

Unattended Setup is unable to continue because a Setup parameter specified by your system administrator or computer manufacturer is missing or invalid. Setup must therefore ask you to provide this information now.

Once you have furnished the required information Unattended Setup operation will continue.

After accepting the error dialog box, the "What's your computer's name?" box appears, with the input box grayed out, but with the computer name I specifed in WINNT.SIF included. I click Next to accept the name, and Setup proceeds normally after that point.

I don't think it's an nLite problem, as the same message appears on a test ISO that wasn't nLited, so I'm posting it in this forum.

I've probably made some silly error that I just can't spot right now, so I'd appreciate it if someone can look over my WINNT.SIF file to see if anything is out of place?

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

[Unattended]
    UnattendMode=FullUnattended
    OemSkipEula=Yes
    OemPreinstall=Yes
    TargetPath=\Windows
    UnattendSwitch="No"
    WaitForReboot="No"
    ProgramFilesDir=\Programs
    CommonProgramFilesDir=\Programs\Common

[GuiUnattended]
    EncryptedAdminPassword=No
    OEMSkipRegional=1
    TimeZone=255
    OemSkipWelcome=1
    ProfilesDir=%SystemDrive%\Profiles

[UserData]
    ComputerName=VAROS
    FullName="xxxxxxxxxx"
    OrgName="xxxxxxxxxx"
    ProductKey=xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx

[Display]
    BitsPerPel=16
    Xresolution=1024
    YResolution=768
    Vrefresh=85
    AutoConfirm=1

[TapiLocation]
    CountryCode=61
    Dialing=Tone
    AreaCode=2

[RegionalSettings]
    LanguageGroup=1
    SystemLocale=00000c09
    UserLocale=00000c09
    InputLocale=0c09:00000409

[Identification]
    JoinWorkgroup=VAROSNET

[Networking]
    InstallDefaultComponents=Yes

[Components]
    Fax=On

[Shell]
    DefaultStartPanelOff=Yes

Thanks in advance for your help!

Jondar

[bauzer71487]

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

[Unattended]
   UnattendMode=FullUnattended
   OemSkipEula=Yes
   OemPreinstall=Yes
   TargetPath=\Windows
   UnattendSwitch="No"
   WaitForReboot="No"
   ProgramFilesDir=\Programs
   CommonProgramFilesDir=\Programs\Common

[GuiUnattended]
   EncryptedAdminPassword=No
   OEMSkipRegional=1
   TimeZone=255
   OemSkipWelcome=1
   ProfilesDir=%SystemDrive%\Profiles

[UserData]
   FullName="xxxxxxxxxx"
   OrgName="xxxxxxxxxx"
   ProductKey=xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx
   ComputerName=VAROS

[Display]
   BitsPerPel=16
   Xresolution=1024
   YResolution=768
   Vrefresh=85
   AutoConfirm=1

[TapiLocation]
   CountryCode=61
   Dialing=Tone
   AreaCode=2

[RegionalSettings]
   LanguageGroup=1
   SystemLocale=00000c09
   UserLocale=00000c09
   InputLocale=0c09:00000409

[Identification]
   JoinWorkgroup=VAROSNET

[Networking]
   InstallDefaultComponents=Yes

[Components]
   Fax=On

[Shell]
   DefaultStartPanelOff=Yes

That should do it for ya... i hope..

[PeonPower]

try this:

ComputerName="VAROS"

[Jondar]

@bauzer

@peonpower

Thanks for your tips, unfortunately they didn't help :-( I'm still getting the error message, and the greyed out computer name box.

[Dahi]

Not sure, but try

 UnattendSwitch="Yes"

[Jondar]

@Dahi:

Thanks for your tip, but it didn't work with the file I was using.

[Jondar]

I finally got it to work!

I'm not 100% sure what I did wrong, but I think that some how, the WINNT.SIF file I had made was slightly corrupt.

What I ended up doing in a fit of frustration was to run SETUPMGR in the Deployment Tools again, answering the questions with the information I already had. Once I had a WINNT.SIF from that, I rebuilt my ISO and tested it in VirtualPC... It worked fine, (the answers I had were identical to the one I posted).

Once I did that, I added back in the settings that SETUPMGR doesn't ask, like ProgramFilesDir and CommonProgramFilesDir. I added them back in by manually typing them into the relevant sections, instead of cut-and-paste. I then rebuilt the ISO again, and tested it in VirtualPC. Again it worked fine!

I'm happy now, and thanks to everyone for your help and suggestions, they've been great.

Jondar