3 questions about XP Unattend installs

[jtindillier]

Hello everyone -

Have been working on building an image using Nlite and have everything the way I want it but have a couple of items that I'd like to incorporate.

1. Is there a way to format all drives when installing XP. I am aware of the REPARTITION option but this only seems to format the 1st available drive.

2. How can I add a user account? Do I need to go the $OEM$ route? If so, can I use the "distro" that I've created using Nlite?

3. How do I add a desktop icon?

Thanks

[Rambler]

1) It depends how you initiate your installations - if you use WinPE or DOS floppy, u could use diskpart tool (and script it if you wish) or use other tools.

2) Well I'm no expert regarding this, but IMO you could always add the user account at first logon using the "net user" command (preferably via RunOnceEx).

3) Add desktop icon when/where? Do you mean adding desktop icon for all users? You need to be more specific here as there's plenty options.

[Mike_Wilson]

2. Create a User Account:

You can do this in a .cmd or .bat file, shown below replace <Account Name> with your name for the account ie. Mike.

ECHO Creating Account..
net user <Account Name> /add
net localgroup Administrators <Account Name> /add
net accounts /maxpwage:unlimited

3. Create Desktop Icons:

You can do this with a little command prompt program called shortcut.exe.

You can create desktop or start menu shortcuts with this program.

Download Here

[DL.]

2. You can also use the oobeinfo.ini method.

Take a look at: The MSFN Unattended CD-guide's user creation section

(There might be something else of interest at that site if you haven't read through it already.)

3. Create a shortcut on your current comp and put it in "$OEM$\$Docs\username\Desktop\" OR "$OEM$\$Docs\All Users\Desktop\".

Edit the shortcut to represent the correct path, you can use environment variables such as %programfiles%, %systemdrive% and %systemroot%.

[jtindillier]

Thanks everyone for your answers - am testing my image now & will post back if I have any other questions!