natan770 Posted January 18, 2006 Share Posted January 18, 2006 Hi!I'm pleased to release a new and easy-to-use tool that will generate a bootable unattended Windows XP install out of a standard Windows XP CDRom. No computer knowledge is required to use this. It might not be the master you'll deploy in your 50,000-PCs company, but it's likely to be the perfect DVD you'll install for your neighbour.Cooking Receipt:1. Prepare your own Windows XP CDRom (or a i386 directory)2. Get the serial number3. Let the DVD Generator make a nice release out of your CDRom, adding:- Latest service pack;- Hotfixes;- MUI Packs, if available;- More than 1 Go of drivers;- Up-to-date software, including OpenOffice, 7-Zip, Adobe Reader, etc.Once you've made your DVD, you can boot it on any x86 computer and have Windows XP installed for you -- painless. All questions are raised at first, and it takes 5 minutes to answer them. Afterwards, you can safely leave the screen. Note that you can integrate it within a RIS environment, though I've not documented it yet.Features, screenshots, download => http://dvdgen.windowsdream.comI'd be very interested in getting feedback from users...Hope you'll find the idea useful.Regards,Natanhttp://dvdgen.windowsdream.com -- Burn your own complete and unattended Windows installer on a DVDhttp://updater.windowsdream.com -- Auto-update your PC with freeware/opensourcehttp://ping.windowsdream.com -- Partimage Is Not Ghosthttp://www.windowsdream.com -- Corporate homepage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synapse Posted January 18, 2006 Share Posted January 18, 2006 playin with this now.... but why is it downloading linux stuff? LOL"Downloading isolinux.cfg""Downloading linux.fat.bs"etc.. lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atomizer Posted January 18, 2006 Share Posted January 18, 2006 playin with this now.... but why is it downloading linux stuff? LOLHAHAHAHAHA!!! maybe you'll have a new OS: LinWin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synapse Posted January 18, 2006 Share Posted January 18, 2006 (edited) *EDIT: ahh nevermind, question about the linux stuff was answered by reading the documentation *lol that would rock if it made a dual-bootable Windows XP / Linux all unattended HAHA for those paranoid (like me...) i used a packet sniffer and used a key of 12345-12345-12345-12345-12345 and searched after about 100,000 packets.. nothing in there so looks like the key is NOT sent to the server.. so i wouldn't worry about it, or just change it later if you're paranoid =Poh and be prepared to be downloading A LOT.. lol. i'm downloading "oem.7z" right now, and so far its at 134 megs out of 255 megs.. Edited January 18, 2006 by Bi0haZarD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Takeshi Posted January 18, 2006 Share Posted January 18, 2006 From what I see on the website, the DVD boots into a kind of Linux PE to install Windows.http://dvdgen.windowsdream.com/dvdgen/features.htmlThe DVD launches a Linux-based OS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natan770 Posted January 18, 2006 Author Share Posted January 18, 2006 From what I see on the website, the DVD boots into a kind of Linux PE to install Windows.http://dvdgen.windowsdream.com/dvdgen/features.htmlHi there!it's absolutely true. I made it a different way, because Microsoft's setup is not so clever :- You cannot tell a classical unattended winnt.sif file that you want 2 partitions, etc.- Another problem with Micorosft's setup is the problem of formating. Sometimes, I don't want to format.- And if I've got 2 parts and an old Windows on the C, maybe I don't want setup to install another Windows on the D (yes, it does this oddity).- You cannot compress the $oem$ directory... in my case, it's weight is 1Go, resulting to 255Mo after 7-zipping (because many files appear several times in the drivers repository)But there's more. You can do *a lot* when you have a good PE OS.I'll soon release a 50Mo Linux ISO that can install the exactly same FULL Windows on the fly! In fact, this is already working nice: take the initrd.gz and kernel, put them on a RIS server ALONE, and you'll still be able to install Windows, granted you've got a i386 somewhere. In that case, needed stuff is downloaded, either from the internet, either from your LAN. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natan770 Posted January 18, 2006 Author Share Posted January 18, 2006 Hi Bi0haZarD!first, thank you for the remark you've sent to me by mail (...) you know what.lol that would rock if it made a dual-bootable Windows XP / Linux all unattended HAHA Hey, it can be done easily! are you serious about the need? the bootsector is built using some of lilo's magic, so adding a boot entry is easy.But, see. By default, we create a standard boot.ini and NT5 bootsector. And by default, we create 2 partitions: C for the system, D for everything else (you can set the size of the C during the menu-driven step). So, it's very simple, afterwards, to resize D from Windows itself (no need for Partition Magic) so to add some Linux partitions, and boot.ini only needs one more line to boot it.Can be done a lot of ways...for those paranoid (like me...) i used a packet sniffer and used a key of 12345-12345-12345-12345-12345 and searched after about 100,000 packets.. nothing in there so looks like the key is NOT sent to the server.. so i wouldn't worry about it, or just change it later if you're paranoid =PI was not expecting less from you... oh and be prepared to be downloading A LOT.. lol. i'm downloading "oem.7z" right now, and so far its at 134 megs out of 255 megs..Yes, the RELEASE directory to be downloaded is about 1.5 Go-big. But once it's downloaded, files are kept on your drive, so you don't have to download them twice. I know it's time-consuming (and bandwith-consuming, BTW...) so I've coded the soft to download only what is lacking, or what has changed. So, if you reuse the Generator next month, you're not likely to download more than 200 Mo.It's important to mention that it can be stopped at any time, and will continue at the point it has stopped.RegardsNatanhttp://dvdgen.windowsdream.com -- Burn your own complete and unattended Windows installer on a DVDhttp://updater.windowsdream.com -- Auto-update your PC with freeware/opensourcehttp://ping.windowsdream.com -- Partimage Is Not Ghosthttp://www.windowsdream.com -- Corporate homepage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Takeshi Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 (edited) I've yet to try it but this Linux PE looks impressive.However,# Both XP Home and XP Pro are supported.# MUI Language Packs are added to the DVD if your Windows version is the English one, so you can choose the available languages your future Windows system will offer.http://dvdgen.windowsdream.com/dvdgen/features.htmlAFAIK, MUI cannot be installed to XP HE. Have you had any luck? Edited January 19, 2006 by Takeshi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Synapse Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 Hi Bi0haZarD!first, thank you for the remark you've sent to me by mail (...) you know what.Hey, it can be done easily! are you serious about the need? the bootsector is built using some of lilo's magic, so adding a boot entry is easy.no problem man na, i sometimes put linux on my server to play around with it, but usually format and put windows back on a couple days later cause i get fustrated with it lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bezalel Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 (edited) - MUI Packs, if available;The MUI Packs are only available through MS Licensing or with some OEM copies of Windows. You should not be distributing these files. Edited January 19, 2006 by Bezalel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
natan770 Posted January 19, 2006 Author Share Posted January 19, 2006 The MUI Packs are only available through MS Licensing or with some OEM copies of Windows. You should not be distributing these files.I don't think so, since you can download them on Microsoft's website for free. In my opinion, they do have a license, but you can redistribute them the exact same way you'd do for hotfixes or a service pack. They are mirrored in a number of sites... say, mine is just one more Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CBC Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 natan - this is quite a brilliant app & I am planning on giving it a try this weekend. Thanks for your work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rikgale Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 I'm downloading atm, but I am sure that you can tell I'm putting together a list of questions and suggestions for you (I should really write them down b4 forgetting) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CBC Posted January 21, 2006 Share Posted January 21, 2006 I installed & ran the program today. Quite amazing. One thing I think that would be helpful would be to have a language selector at the starting point, so that you would only d/l the one language version specified as there seems to be lots of different language version of things downloaded, which make the creation process drag on, as does the downloading .And if there was ever a way to use this with an NLited i386 folder.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joshua123 Posted January 22, 2006 Share Posted January 22, 2006 Finally a linux based windows installer...Now we can get down to some serious business.I always thought something was seriously missing in windows installation.You have your visually appealing setup...XP(well at least better than 98 etc)But why oh why is there no sound????Linux based install may give us the opportunity to have a selection of music playing as it installs.Probably be MP3 based with video capabilites(who wants BORING PICTURES)and orchestral ending when setup is done...With linux the possiblities are endless.Im downloading and checking this out..Man this could be huge!!!PS this could also mean finally getting XP onto the XBOX as well!!!(modded)Joshua123 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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