Nlite and RIS

[Stolly]

Hi,

I'm trying to use Nlite to integrate current hotfixs, in conjunction with Microsoft RIS.

I can run Nlite against a copy of the XP with SP2 CD that i have on the server, the problem is when i try to create a RIS flat file image from that CD copy.

When i try to add the image from the CD copy the wizard generates an error when it reads hivesys.inf.

Has anyone attempted this before ?

Thanks

[nuhi]

Even if you manage to bypass that there is a problem with 2-3 files which nlite adds, like nlite.inf, it won't be copied with RIS.

So basically I will need to make it compatible with RIS.

For start from this beta1 it keeps all RIS files, that's a start...but I can't promise the deadline for full support.

[fdv]

Sorry if this is obvious!

rca.inf exists in syssetup.inf. it's a junk inf with nothing of real value in it.

You could conceivably inject the contents of nlite.inf into such a "useless" inf file.

(At this point Stolly, you'd expand syssetup.in_ and add "rca.inf,DefaultInstall" under [infs.Always] and rename nlite.in_ to rca.in_ and comment out references to nlite.inf in HIV files, and recompress everything, and maybe more but that's a start, sorry to be so general)

[Stolly]

Thanks for the replies, i guess its a case of watch this space

Nlite is a great tool though, even without RIS support. Thanks for your hardwork.

[nuhi]

fdv, yeah, good point, i could put it to execute certain section of syssetup, why the hell not , no need for whole extra file.

Gonna dwell on it for a year or so, thanks

[RogueSpear]

I've been using nLite w/ RIS for several months now. First I make my RIS image from an SP2 source as usual, then I copy over the i386 directory from the RIS server over to my desktop computer. For the sake of completeness, I create a directory on my secondary hard drive (D:) named RIS. I copy i386 from the server to D:\RIS. Then copy over the tag files to D:\RIS. Run nLite. Delete the original i386 directory on the RIS server and replace with your nLited i386. Haven't had any problems thus far.

[nuhi]

RogueSpear, when you at it next time please test RIS with Manual Install removed, should work now.

So you need to copy only tag files, like WIN51IP ?, not nlite.inf and such new ones ?

[RogueSpear]

My last post was pretty sloppy to say the least. This guide will assume at least a basic understanding of the RIS process and that you will know how to find further documentation about RIS. Let me step-by-step it:

1. Windows XP Gold CD slipstreamed with SP2 to make a good source.

2. Using your new SP2 CD, creat a RIS image on the server.

3. Create directory called RIS on a local hard drive of your desktop computer.

4. Copy the i386 directory from the RIS server to the RIS directory on your local workstation computer (where you have nLite installed).

5. Copy the tag files (WIN51, WIN51IP, WIN51IP.SP1, WIN51IP.SP2) from your SP2 CD to the RIS directory on the desktop computer.

6. I use jcarle's Compression Bin program (a Godsend) to compress all .inf and .pnf files to cut down a little on the network traffic when performing a RIS install and to also eliminate duplicate entries when integrating RVM Update Pack. Example: Your RIS image will contain a file called SWFLASH.INF and when you integrate RVM you will now have a file called SWFLASH.IN_. Thus you will have two files for the same thing, but RVM's is more current. Here is a list of .inf files (and remember the corresponding .pnf file) that you should NOT compress using Compression Bin:

BIOSINFO.INF
DMREG.INF
DOSNET.INF
DRVINDEX.INF
HIVECLS.INF
HIVEDEF.INF
HIVESFT.INF
HIVESYS.INF
HIVEUSD.INF
INTL.INF
LAYOUT.INF
MSTASK.INF
NTPRINT.INF
SYSOC.INF
WAVEMIX.INF

7. This step I have not finalized yet. Use Compression Bin to compress .sys files. Your RIS image will contain lots of uncompressed sys files. On a standard SP2 CD the following .sys files are NOT compressed and should not be compressed in your RIS image either:

KSECDD.SYS
NTFS.SYS
SPCMDCON.SYS

I have tried to compress the remaining .sys files but the text mode portion of setup failed. This was a couple of weeks ago, so I need to revisit the issue and determine what can and cannot be compressed for certain. I will post an update when that is finished. Or for the time being you can just not compress any .sys files. EDIT and UPDATE: I tried this again today and with compressing all .sys files except those listed above, it worked. My previous issue must have related to the BTS DP Mass Storage as it was a going through a bit of a transformation at the time.

8. Perform a manual integration of RVM Update Pack. I did test auto integrate using nLite V0.98 (maybe?) and a version of RVM prior to V1.2.1 and it worked fine. However nLite and in particular, RVM, have changed a bit since then so I don't know if this still works as it did previously.

9. Theoretically speaking, I imagine you could run XPize at this point, though I have not gotten around to using this at all yet, whether we're talking about UA or RIS. Simply have not had the time.

10. nLite the RIS image you copied over to <local drive>:\RIS. nLite patching for SFC and themes works as usual. To answer Nuhi's question, you can select manual install and upgrade files for removal. Removing language files, merging CAB files and higher compression of drivers also works without issue.

11. If you have a .sif file for your image, copy it over to the i386\templates directory. I always delete the default .sif file in \templates so it doesn't even show up as an option when you perform a network boot. In fact if your custom .sif file is the only one in \templates the user performing a RIS install will not even be given a choice of what image to install. This is nice to cut down on folks selecting the wrong image to install.

12. Completely unecessary and totally off topic, but I like it. I take Notepad2 and rename it to notepad.exe, send it through Compression Bin and plop it in the i386 directory to replace Microsoft's standard notepad application. It's freeware and I simply LOVE this program.

13. At this point I integrate the BTS Driver Packs using method 3. You will need to put the BTS DP 7z files in $OEM$\$1 on the RIS server and modify the batch that runs from DetachedProgram to decompress the 7z files from the root of your system drive. Normally in UA mode, BTS Method 3 will decompress the 7z files from the optical media, but this is not an option using RIS. Actually I recommend this method using optical media anyway since with a fast CPU, the archives will decompress faster from the hard disk and tie up the CPU enough so that they will finish decompressing prior to the Device Installation portion of the GUI setup.

14. Delete the i386 directory on your RIS server in the setup directory. Copy over the i386 directory from <local drive>:\RIS to the RIS server. In case it isn't obvious, you do not need to copy the tag files mentioned in step 5.

15. If you have clients using a pretty recent NIC from Intel, or possibly some other vendors, you will need to integrate the drivers in your RIS image. Look here and here for information on how to do it. After doing this, don't forget to restart the BINL service on the RIS server. Now attempt a RIS install for a workstation. It will most likely fail, but the idea here is to get the RIS server to create the .pnf file to go along with the .inf file of the NIC driver. Now you can send the .inf, .pnf, and .sys files through Compression Bin.

Some of this may seem a little bit obsessive compulsive when it comes to cutting down on file size, but the way I look at it is that if you're going to be pumping out RIS installs to a few dozen workstations in the course of a day, you should do everything possible to make sure that the file copy portion goes as quick as possible and sends the least number packets as possible. Especially when you consider that after the OS setup is complete you will probably have a lot of applications being deployed via GPO.

Now for my own personal problems... as you can see I have been around for a little while and I like to think that I can problem solve with the best of them. But lately I have been stymied by this dang framedyn.dll issue. At first I thought it was me improperly integrating the RVM Pack, then I thought I was removing too much stuff with nLite. Well now I just don't know what the hell is doing it. I never had this problem until very recently either (nLite V1.0 beta and RVM V1.2.2). Has anyone gotten to the bottom of what causes this error? It's killing me and has set me behind by weeks in my work. Any and all help would be GREATLY appreciated.

I hope that the guide helps out...

Edited June 7, 2005 by RogueSpear

[XiXora]

i will try this in the morning, it takes me about 7 hours to copy over the install files for just on 16kb driver ( hopefully this fixes it ).

was so disappointed ris didnt work with nlite. tme to try this fix

if not how soon til nlite would be patched to work?

[nuhi]

RogueSpear, don't think I missed your post...just wanted to say thanks and one day I'll deal with this, saved your instructions.

[RogueSpear]

Update: *.nls and *.ocs can be compressed as well.

[REDRUM]

Please excuse my ignorance but what is method 3 when installing drivers. I have searched the forum but can't find anything and DriverPacks BASE only has 2 methods available

Great guide by the way

Edited May 21, 2007 by REDRUM