I just finished putting together a new unattended DVD, but am having a problem getting it to install. The initial install, where the system copies all of the files to the HD (not sure what "stage" it is) starts out fine... until it gets to the end where it starts copying all of the files from my $OEM$ folders over. At that point the file copying slows down dramatically. It literally takes 45 seconds to copy one .dll file. Something is serious wrong, but I have no idea what. I've performed many other unattended install before and have never had this problem.

Any Ideas???

Thx, Darin

well what is different from this UACD from the others? did you add a crap load of programs? if so then thats why.

There are about 30 programs to be loaded, the biggest one being MS Office. However, I wouldn't think that this should slow down the time it takes to transfer individual files. It's been running now for approximatly 3 hours.

wow, you definetly have something going wrong! the disk might be bad or could have burnt something wrong but it should tell you. is it still going thru files or has it just froze?

From my experience, this can also be related to bad hardware.

It's possible the disk is bad, I'm gonna try and burn another one, problem being the iso in on my secondary HD in that machine... So time get out the screwdriver.

Most of the PC is brand new, doubt it's hardware related, but of couse it's a computer.. It has a mind of it own so who knows.

Edited September 1, 200520 yr by dboone

I re-burned the DVD and tried a different DVD-ROM drive, no luck with either. It fly's through the initial copying phase, but once the percentage bar disappears the system slows way down. My HD and DVD lights go from nearly solid to an occasional flicker every few seconds. I guess I'll try a different HD next and look through my UACD at the same time.

Other than hardware issues, anyone have any ideas on what if anything could be wrong with my UACD that would cause something like this?

Thanks, DB

Actually, I meant hardware like the RAM and processor. I'd try reseating all the hardware, just in case.

After some searching I found an old UACD, it worked fine. So it's definetly NOT hardware related. I'm gonna do some digging around in my current CD and see if I can figure anything out.

On a hunch I took out my video drivers (They are the first drivers to load during the text setup). I just deleted them from the "OEM Drivers Path" in my winnt.sif, and left the actual files on the disk.

NOW, while watching the text setup I noticed that it copied the video drivers (the ones NOT listed in winnt.sif) at a normal speed, BUT once it got to the second set of drivers that were listed it slowed back down to a crawl.

I'm Stumped.

Here's my winnt.sif.

Would someone be kind and look it over for me. Maybe there's something obvious that I've missed.

Thanks, Darin

Edited September 1, 200520 yr by dboone

While this may not be a "solution" but rather a work around, you could just not copy over the $oem$ folder.

I use nLite to slipstream my drivers and then when doing my runonceex I just point to the files on my dvd.

This will also decrease the amount of time needed for install because it doesn't have to copy over the install files and then delete then after they have been used during cleanup.

EDIT:

Before this UADVD (I guess it was a CD), did you have the same winnt.sif file?

]Bonkers[

Edited September 1, 200520 yr by ]Bonkers[

I changed my UADVD (sorry, it is a dvd not a CD), so that it loads the drivers directly off of the DVD (http://unattended.msfn.org/intermediate/drivers/cd.htm). And left the rest of my OEM folder as it was. This seems to be working ok so far.

Yes I did use the same winnt.sif file, and to clarify all of the UAs I'm speaking of have been DVDs. I did go through the exisiting file to make sure no changes need to be made.

whats ur writing speed of DVD/RW

also try to creat a new ISO and burn it with lower speed

The DVD burner I'm using now (on my secondary machine) is a Plextor 8x (PX-708A). However for some reason Roxio will only let me burn DVD's at 2x, so don't think slowing it down more will do any good. I did remake the ISO a couple of times throughout this process so far.

The only different that I can think of from this UADVD to any of my other that have worked fine is that I am using the CDIMAGE GUI instead of the older straight batch file.