Use windows installer to install xo from in pe

[jdgordon]

hey,

ok, i dont know if this should go here of the winPE section... so if admins want to move it thats fine....

well.. i finally finished my Windows Installer program which lets you unattendadly install windows from bart/win PE... now i went i step further and with a bit of playing, you can get it to choose which programs to install silently (using the RunOnceEx method.. probabl;y others would work) when windows setup is done.

ok, so a screenshot or 2...

firstly, the main window

.. boring and simple (some may recognise it from previous plugs

The install button is greyed out forcing the user to go edit the answers (to force them to put in their key/username etc...

so this is what the answer window looks like

On the left is a list of all the options that can be configured.. it doesnt look likle alot in the pic, but thats becuase all but display go into that list on the right, also, this is all that has been setup using the xml files (you can fiddle with everything...). the checkmark in the tree means that that option will be saved to the answer file, same thing for the checks in the 3rd column of the list.

down the bottom is a item "Actual installing windows".. (thats just a blank placeholder), under it is where the fun begins

you can see in red the item "format system drive", well, if that is checked the command "cmd /C format c: /q /u /fs:ntfs" will be run, then windows setup and then reboot (u need to manually reboot, or add a command there to reboot automatically when winnt32.exe finishes successfully...)

the green item shows a list of the winnt32.exe params it can be run with, (all this can be fiddled with, nothing is hardocded).

under that (where the mouse is hovering over) is a list (well only 1 in the example.. but you can add more) or programs to install using the RunOnceEx method. (the first item just sets up the cmd file, ideally this list would be saved to the ramdrive and then copied to the setupdir\$OEM$\install folder after winnt32 is run, but i didnt do that in the example coz im lazy). if the program is checked the nescacery stuff will be added to the RunOnceEx.cmd file, and if its not, it wont.

PROBLEM> what happens if the user forgets to set OEMPreinstall to 1 but they want to install these programs?

ANSWER> they get a nice error like this

cool aye? clicking yes will fix it and pressing no will stop that item being written to the answer file (or the runonceex file in this case).

You can et circular dependancies, so its set to keep checking untill you either keep pressing yes, or keep pressing no

pressing OK in that window will save your changes... pressing cancel will cancel ALL the changes since the program was loaded (i know, it sux... but so do $2 whores and noone complains about them )

finally, press install on the main screen to get windows insatlling, or save to to just save the sif answer file.

so, now all you need to do is get your xml files going and Windows Installer will do the rest...

because i prefer programming to writing user docs look in the examples in the archive and the readme on the net.. ill do a proper site for this when im really bored

ok now the files :

Windows Install Manager and bartPe plugin

Slighlty outdated readme...

good luck, and post all questions here..

EDIT: woops, i forgot to mention what that drop list with "Windows XP SP2" is for... in that is a list of all version of windows from 2k -> 2k3sp1, it lets you choose which version your installing so the answers are different.. this is coz some settings can be installed only on certain versions.. (e.g ue popup blocker settings is only for xpsp2) ) this is also going to make move this to Vista pretty simple even tho the answer file format is different.

Edited September 25, 2005 by jdgordon

[laurens]

it looks simple but can I use Sata drivers with this?

[jdgordon]

i dont know...

[jdgordon]

well, i have just done a full install (bartPE -> working XP with programs installed using runonceex) and i have to say it was painless and simple

i have uploaded a new version which fixes some minor bugs, and includes some more examples so u can go about adding your own programs to the RunOnceEx list...

the only downside i have found so far is that the /makelocalsource switch for winnt32.exe doesnt copy the contents of the $oem$ folder (but it does make the folder??? stupid M$ ) so i got around this problem by adding another item which manually copies it all across after setup finishes...

has any1 else tried doing a full install with this yet? please let me know how you go and what needs to be fixed up more...

i have updated the link in the first post... the bartPE plugin is in the same archive...

and last thing... ive been told the name "Windows Installer" isnt a good 1 to use.. so the project is now known as "Windows Install Manager"