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When is unattended not unattended?


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Trying to make Server 2003 unattended, for some

reason what has always worked in the past is not

working now.

I want it to autologin with a blank password (so

then it is truly "unattended") and so, I cannot use

the user "Administrator" so I have to create a

new user at the t-12 minute stage with cmdlines

and an NT command script.

Its like this (remember, this has worked in the past!):

Unattended setup runs cmdlines.txt...

[COMMANDS]
"useraccounts.cmd"

This runs useraccounts.cmd...

net user Server2003 /add
net localgroup Administrators Server2003 /add
net accounts /maxpwage:unlimited
REGEDIT /S autologon.reg
EXIT

This runs autologon.reg...

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon]
"DefaultUserName"="Server2003"
"DefaultPassword"=""
"AutoAdminLogon"="1"

Now it comes to the log in window, which should log

in automatically and always has in past installations,

it says "Server2003" in the username box and blank

password. I hit OK without typing a password and it

says it could not log me on! So I type "Administrator"

and hit OK (again no password) and it does log me on,

however the rest of the setup is designed to copy stuff

to the user "Server2003" (who is AN Administrator but

not THE Administrator)

I have my WINNT.SIF set up right, its worked in the past,

here are two of the sections where the password would be

and the new users account details...

WINNT.SIF

[GuiUnattended]
AdminPassword=*
EncryptedAdminPassword=NO
OEMSkipRegional=1
OemSkipWelcome=1

[UserData]
ProductKey=XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX
FullName="Server2003"
OrgName="Home"
ComputerName=*

The most annoying thing is, this has worked in the past

and it used to autologin, this is what the useraccounts.cmd

and the autologin.reg files are there for.

The only difference now is I am using build 1830 of service

pack 1 whereas in the past, I was using build 1218 of service

pack 1 (slipstreamed in both cases, one case works the other does

not) but I don't see why the build numbers for SP1 should have

anything to do with it?

Grrrrrrrrr!

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Can anyone help?

I know this is "Server 2003" but sheesh, its not that different to XP!

I had this all working ages ago, came to do it unattended again

and it wont log in with the newly created account (created silently

@ t-12 with cmdlines.txt and the useraccount.cmd script with the

autologon.reg)

Read the 1st post! You can see what does what and how it all (should and DID

in the past) works. The only difference is now I have integrated SP1 1830 and

in the older one I used SP1 1218... so is it some sort of "extra security feature"

of SP1 1830?

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I know this is "Server 2003" but sheesh, its not that different to XP!

Yes it is, extremely different in my experience. Server 2003 is soooooooo locked down that you will need to invest a good deal of time learning how to make it work for you. It arrives in "ultra-paranoid" package mode. Good luck.

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I know this is "Server 2003" but sheesh, its not that different to XP!

Yes it is, extremely different in my experience. Server 2003 is soooooooo locked down that you will need to invest a good deal of time learning how to make it work for you. It arrives in "ultra-paranoid" package mode. Good luck.

Aaah but, I already had all that sorted out, like enabling Windows Audio service,

don't show "Manage your server" wizard, the whole lot, with a registry file.

Just seems bizarre how I had it working before and all I wanted to

do was integrate the latest SP1 because the old SP1 1210 was a beta

version of the service pack. Never even had any trouble with it

either, all I can assume is they made it even more secure with the

later service pack or something?

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Just in case anyone wants those magic tweaks, here...

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 

;Disable Manage Your Server Wizard on Startup

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Setup\Welcome]
"srvwiz"=dword:00000000

;Enable DirectDraw and Direct3D in DirectX Diagnostic Tool (install your graphics card driver to see this change)

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\DirectDraw]
"EmulationOnly"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Direct3D\Drivers]
"SoftwareOnly"=dword:00000000

;Set Programs so they have priority over background applications

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\PriorityControl]
"Win32PrioritySeparation"=dword:00000026

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management]
"LargeSystemCache"=dword:00000000

;Disable all "Ctrl+Alt+Del" prompts (login, resume & standby)

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\system]
"disablecad"=dword:00000001

;Start Themes Service

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Themes]
"Start"=dword:00000002

;Start Windows Audio Service

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\AudioSrv]
"Start"=dword:00000002

;Disable Shutdown Event Tracker

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\Reliability]
"ShutdownReasonOn"=dword:00000000
"ShutdownReasonUI"=-

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Don't get desperate: Stay LeveL-headed!

Though my issue and solution with Server 2003 is not exactly the same as yours, perhaps it will help you in tracking down the problem.

In my case, I change the Administrator name from Adminitrator to 2K3Admin. I am not sure why you want to install from your newly created account instead of the built-in administrators account, but that is your business ... Installing everything as the built-in administrator (now renamed), is my preference.

Pre SP1, I would enter the new name in to the registry as you did, set the autologon, and that would be fine. HOWEVER ... Post SP1 I noticed that Windows could not auto logon the administrator. This was due to the fact that sometime between the point I set the default name to 2K3Admin (the last thing I did at the T-13 stage), and reboot time, that value had been changed back to Administrator. Here is where I do not understand how your setup has Server2003 in the logon box, but so be it. Further investigation showed that in fact setup did change the name value back to Administrator value back, and probably the autologon flag as well.

To get to the point ... I created a stand alone package that would change these values back one last time, and called it from SetupParams, which runs at T-9.

@ECHO OFF

REG ADD "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon" /V "AltDefaultUserName" /T REG_SZ /D "2003Server" /F
REG ADD "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon" /V "AutoAdminLogon" /T REG_SZ /D "1" /F
REG ADD "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon" /V "DefaultPassword" /T REG_SZ /D "" /F
REG ADD "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon" /V "DefaultUserName" /T REG_SZ /D "2003Server" /F
REG ADD "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon" /V "ForceAutoLogon" /T REG_SZ /D "1" /F

This should be enough to get your started in your troubleshooting. Another thing I would be interested in is a compare of of slipstreamed SP1 and beta SP1. You say this used to work. Compare the two side by side, and you will have what it takes to better analyze the situation.

Good luck!

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I think somehow I was making the main Administrator "Server2003"

because in Documents and settings, there is no user called "Administrator",

just Server2003/All Users/Network Service/Default User etc, I have show

hidden folders and show "super hidden" folders all enabled.

Thanks for the suggestions, I will have a try with your NT script!

If I can't get it to work, I can just stick with the older SP1 I guess,

updates can be installed silently with the /Q /O /Z switches for

most of them, I can't see there being that many updates anyway ;)

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[GuiUnattended]
AdminPassword=password
EncryptedAdminPassword=No
AutoLogon=Yes
AutoLogonCount=1

These are what I use for logging in. My best guess would be the password should be set to something, especially with the paranoia of win2003.

This should also mean you don't need your autologon.reg too.

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