WINNT.SIF from A: ?

[amd64]

hi all,

how can i call the winnt.sif from the A: drive in winxp sp2

I'm sick of using CD's for my installs so i've decided to call all my apps from a usb harddrive and use a floppy drive to call the rununceex from there.

but i would like to call the winnt.sif from the floppy drive aswell... i've tried to edit the winnt.bat to direct it to the floppy drive but this does not seem to work.

any ideas would be great. .thanks

amd64

[cluberti]

Windows setup will ALWAYS check the floppy drive for a WINNT.SIF file upon starting - remove the WINNT.SIF file from the i386 folder if you have one there, and make sure the PC will boot from CD first. Put the XP CD in the CD drive, and your floppy with your WINNT.SIF in the floppy drive. Press a key to start the Windows setup when prompted, and it will read your WINNT.SIF from the floppy.

[amd64]

well ... thats what microsoft say and thats what i thaught.. but it seems not after trying a few times.. dont know if this has something to do with nlite or sp2... can call everything else from A: but not winnt.sif

and on another note. did you know if you change the CDROM variable to DRIVE and DRIVE.txt then set all your variables in your runonceex to %DRIVE% and use bashrats driver pack you can load apps from usb, (you have to put the DRIVE.txt file on the usb drive) this also works for partitions and other ide SATA drives

[cluberti]

The question then becomes, what did you do to the disk? Since you've used nLite and modified the disk, you may have broken the WINNT.SIF checking routine in setup. I just tried this on a retail and an OEM XP SP2 CD, and both used my WINNT.SIF just fine.

[Daemonforce]

Windows Setup creates an arguement based on where the WINNT.SIF is. If it's in i386 it will accept it yet it will still look for a WINNT.SIF in drive A: or whatever you have your floppy drive set to. When both exist to make this arguement, which WINNT.SIF does setup use?

[Takeshi]

I don't think winnt.bat has anything to do with it.

Try putting a blank winnt.sif on the CD.

According to my MCSE books, the floppy should be inserted when the Setup blue text screen appears: not sure if this makes any difference.

[Daemonforce]

I don't think winnt.bat has anything to do with it.

Try putting a blank winnt.sif on the CD.

According to my MCSE books, the floppy should be inserted when the Setup blue text screen appears: not sure if this makes any difference.

According to setup...That is correct. But isn't it fairly obvious? It's gonna copy one or the other... I'm a little busy right now to play NT Roulette with my virtual machines.

[md1813]

So if I put the WINNT.SIF file on a floppy it should work?

or should I put it in the i386 on the floppy?

[Daemonforce]

Your floppy has an i386? o.O'

WINNT.SIF copies from the i386 if there is one there and it looks for a WINNT.SIF on the floppy regardless of there being a WINNT.SIF in the i386 directory. I have no idea which one copies when they both exist and I'm not about to try right now.

[K e n]

winnt.sif isn't the only file meant to be on the floppy, it should also have a winnt.bat.

If you use the setupmanager that comes with the support tools on your XP cd

it creates both the winnt.sif plus the winnt.bat....

I have a link stored in the million or so favorites from ms that backs that up..

can't find it ATM, however I found the webpage that I saved offline, i'll copy &

paste what it says below, hope that helps you...

Also, you can download the latest support tools from MS for the service pack of

XP that your'e using , be it either Sp1 or Sp2..

Part B: Create a Winnt.sif Answer File
1. After Windows is installed on the master computer, build an answer file for unattended installation of Windows by using the Setup Manager Wizard (Setupmgr.exe). 

The Preinstallation Tools are located in the Support\Tools\Deploy.cab file on the OEM Windows product media that comes in every OEM three-pack from your local Microsoft OEM Authorized Distributor. To install the Setup Manager utility, follow these steps: a.  Open My Computer, and then open the Support\Tools folder on the Windows XP CD-ROM. 
b.  Double-click the DEPLOY.CAB file to open it. 
c.  On the Edit menu, click Select All. 
d.  On the Edit menu, click Copy To Folder. 
e.  Click Make New Folder. Type the name that you want for the Setup Manager folder, and then press ENTER. For example, type setup manager, and then press ENTER. 
f.  Click Copy. 

2. Open the folder that contains the Setup Manager files, double-click Setupmgr.exe to start the Setup Manager Wizard, and then create a new answer file. 

For additional information about how to create an answer file, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 
308662 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/308662/EN-US/) Use Setup Manager to Create an Answer File  
3. Follow the onscreen instructions from the wizard to create the answer file: a.  On the Product to Install page, click Windows Unattended Installation. 
b.  On the Distribution Folder page, click No, this answer file will be used to install from a CD. 

4. When you reach the Windows Setup Manager dialog box that prompts you for a location in which to store the newly created file, insert a floppy disk into drive A:, type a:\winnt.sif, and then click OK. You receive the following message: 
The Setup Manager Wizard completed successfully. The following file(s) were created: 
A:\WINNT.SIF

A:\WINNT.BAT

5. Click Exit on the File menu to quit the Setup Manager Wizard, and then label the floppy disk that you created as "Windows Unattended Disk." If you want Windows Setup to delete all partitions on the hard disk, and to create a new partition, you must include the Repartition command in the Winnt.sif file. To do this, follow these steps: a.  Start Windows Notepad, and then open the Winnt.sif file that you created. 
b.  Under [Unattended], insert a new line, and then type the following code:Repartition=Yes


c.  Save the changes to the file, and then quit Notepad. 


 Back to the top

This is the contents of the Winnt.bat that resides on one of my floppies

created by the setupmanager...As you'll notice E:\ drive is where i'll be

installing XP from...

@rem SetupMgrTag
@echo off

rem
rem This is a SAMPLE batch script generated by Setup Manager.
rem If this script is moved from the location where it was generated, it may have to be modified.
rem

set AnswerFile=.\winnt.sif
set SetupFiles=E:\i386

E:\i386\winnt32 /s:%SetupFiles% /unattend:%AnswerFile% /copysource:lang

I used the setupmgr as MS intended & this picture below is as MS said it would be..

Edited October 31, 2005 by K e n

[md1813]

Can the same thing be done from a USB Stick?

[cluberti]

No, because USB support is not added until GUI mode when the USB devices are detected, and drivers installed for them.

[md1813]

oh