hello all, i have created a successful unattended xpsp2 cd. my only question is of course, how would i make the computer to auto shut down and restart? i am familiar with the old dos command of [shutdown -r -t00] how would i incorporate this into the unattended cd? thanks for reading and suggestions that you may offer

i am familiar with the old dos command of [shutdown -r -t00] how would i incorporate this into the unattended cd? thanks for reading and suggestions that you may offer

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Add shutdown [options] to the last line your runonceex.cmd then after eveything is installed your can either reboot, logoff or shutdown.

and in case you didnt know 'shutdown /?' will show you the list of options...

I would be carefull not to shutdown to early. You need to put a decent enough timeout on the shutdown so that Windows can load correctly the first time (which if it doesn't can cause error later)

I use an over cautious 90 seconds. But I am usually away so it doesn't bother me.

shutdown.exe -r -f -t 90 -c "Restarting in 90 seconds"

The example page http://unattended.msfn.org/global/examples.htm has how to do it and how to call it from runonce etc. I personally would recommend setting it something around a minute. If you find that this isnt enough time, for example if using the driver packs, then hit CTRL-ALT-DEL and start a new process CMD, then you can type

shutdown -a

which will cancel the current shutdown. then you can time it to see how much longer you need to make it.

thank you very much for your help, all of you for your response and your suggestions, it worked and i am happy ps; if anyone has come up with a silent workaround for Microsoft Virtual PC service pack 1, please let me know. many thanks again