RIS and RunOnce

[ababo]

Hi,

I have a strange problem when I install W2k with RIS.

I configured GUIRunOnce in the .sif file so that it starts a .cmd file that installs IE6 and adds an entry to RunOnce to start installing other software after the reboot from IE6.

IE6 installs perfectly, but the other installs don't run.

I've tried the same setup but instead of IE6 I set up to install a prog that doesn't reboot automatically. And know it installs the first program but it immediatly installs the next program that I put in the new runonce

My setup:

.sif

[GuiRunOnce]

\\<server>\install1.cmd

install1.cmd

\\<server>\setup.exe

regedit /s \\<server>\\install2.reg

In install2.reg I add a new entry to runonce to install another prog after reboot.

Has anyone an idea how this comes and what I have to do to resolve it?

Regards

[mmarable]

It sounds like the RunOnce is executed after the GUIRunOnce sections. My guess is that the reboot at the end of the IE6 install, clears the RunOnce registry keys.

Try this, create 2 batch files.

The first runs from GUIRunOnce in the SIF file and all it does is echo some message to the screen and puts the second batch file in RunOnce.

The second batch file just echos some message to the screen (i.e. "This is batch file #2") and pauses.

From what you describe, #1 will run and immediately after it completes, #2 will run.

Now, put a reboot command into the end of batch file #1 and see what happens.

Maybe you could put your second batch file into GUIRunOnceEx instead of RunOnce. Maybe then it will execute after the IE6 reboot.

[ababo]

At the moment my settings are as this:

.sif

[GuiRunOnce]

"\\<server>\softdepl$\test1.cmd"

"regedit /s \\<server>\softdepl$\test1.reg"

test1.cmd

echo install 1

pause

test.reg

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce]

"test2"="\\\\<server>\\softdepl$\\test2.cmd"

test2.cmd

echo install 2

pause

I tried to put "regedit /s \\<server>\softdepl$\test1.reg" into test1.cmd and same problem

When I put it in GuiRunOnceEx in the .sif file or putting test2.cmd into "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnceEx"

It doens't work. When there is something in RunOnceEx it doesn't run after reboot.

Regards

[brainstane]

I've accidentally been able to get Runonceex entries to run twice (once before and once again after a reboot), but only after the system had "hung" when an ATI setup program had caused the system to freeze with two remaining RUnOnceEx entries.

Upon reboot, the remaining RunOnceEx entries are executed.

I ran across this by accident while testing IBM hardware server builds (and their drivers) on an HP workstation. This workstation did not contain any ATI hardware and froze when the driver installation program executed.

Using the above scenario, my question is this:

1) What if you write a program to "hang" the system at a few steps before the final runonceex command is executed.

2) At the end of the first runceonexec command, a prgram is written which creates a 30 second "system freeze" before finally executing a shutdown -r command.

If this doesnt work, (Ive only done reboots on these frozen machines by powering them down) we could perhaps get fancier and do the following:

4) the system "freeze" program is made to send a "hello" call to a waiting program on the RIS server. This program will then execute a "wake on lan" commandl to the IP adress which had sent the "hello"

My wonder is if you could get a consecutive series of applications or AutoIt commands to daisy chain one after the other, reboot after reboot. This scenario would be ideal for scripting the configuration of active directory in windows 2003, (which requires a reboot to apply) before group policy settings and user accounts can be configured.

For example, I've written AutoIt scripts which configure a 2003 domain controller to my companys specs; but all 6 scripts must be executed manually to configure the server. This would be an ideal process to automate.