Can someone PLEASE HELP me?!

[zerocool]

hi there everyone..

although am a bit new to the world of unattended setup and installation, but i did everything

by the book (from the unattended guide) and still cant get it to work!!

i've created an answer file using the sp2 deployment tools

and then placed the answer file (winnt.sif) in the folder <DIR>\I386

But it never worked!!

i burnt the cd, it boots fine, but when it gets to the part where

its supposed to not ask to me to enter any sort of data (during the windows setup)

that doesnt work... meaning that i still get the usuall windows to enter

regional details and all those stuff...

i couldnt find out where i went wrong....

Can anyone help?

many thanks in advance...

Edited June 28, 2006 by zerocool

[playsafe]

It would help u to open ur winnt.sif and check for its contents and also check wht User Interaction Level u selected.

I hope u are not burning CDs, bcz at start there are bound to be some mistakes and it would cost u too much if u are not using some virtual machine with the ISO creation.

[zerocool]

playsafe.... thanks for the prompt reply..

i've checked the winnt.sif file several times and it doesn't seem to be faulty somehow...

here it is for reference..

;SetupMgrTag
[Data]
	AutoPartition=0
	MsDosInitiated="0"
	UnattendedInstall="Yes"

[Unattended]
	UnattendMode=FullUnattended
	OemSkipEula=Yes
	OemPreinstall=Yes
	UnattendSwitch="yes"
	FileSystem=*
	TargetPath=\WINDOWS


[GuiUnattended]
	AdminPassword=aad3b435b51404eeaad3b435b51404eee2ebc5dcf53c403348b12b461103a89a
	EncryptedAdminPassword=Yes
	OEMSkipRegional=1
	TimeZone=165
	OemSkipWelcome=1

[UserData]
	ProductKey=XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX
	FullName="The Master"
	OrgName="Zero Cool"
	ComputerName=BlackZero

[TapiLocation]
	CountryCode=968

[RegionalSettings]
	LanguageGroup=13,1
	SystemLocale=00000809
	UserLocale=00000809
	InputLocale=0409:00000409

[Identification]
	JoinWorkgroup=WORKGROUP

[Networking]
	InstallDefaultComponents=Yes


[GuiRunOnce]
%systemdrive%\install\start.cmd

I get ur point about the cd's burning issue and surely u're right. i tried using Vmware workstation at first..

but ran into even greater complications.. that i decided to just go burning

Edited June 28, 2006 by zerocool

[Sic]

I've read the ref.chm help file of the xpdeploy tools and I found the following :

If you set OemPreinstall to Yes in the [unattended]section of Unattend.txt and do not provide values for the [RegionalSettings] section, set OEMSkipRegional to 1 in the [GuiUnattended] section of Unattend.txt or in the [GuiUnattended] section of Sysprep.inf to ensure Setup completes without prompting for regional option information. However, do not distribute computers that do not:

Have preconfigured regional, language, and keyboard settings.

—OR—

Enable the Regional and Language Options page during the end user's first-run experience.

So I think it will be better if you remove the RegionalSettings section of your winnt.sif file.

Hope this will help you.

[zerocool]

So I think it will be better if you remove the RegionalSettings section of your winnt.sif file.

hmmm... i'll give it a go..

although am not sure if its gonna work...

But thanks for the reply Sic...

appreciate it.. B)

[IcemanND]

Well, I'll state the obviousand most common error. make sure your winnt.sif file is winnt.sif not winnt.sif.txt

[Bezalel]

I've read the ref.chm help file of the xpdeploy tools and I found the following :

If you set OemPreinstall to Yes in the [unattended] section of Unattend.txt and do not provide values for the [RegionalSettings] section, set OEMSkipRegional to 1 in the [GuiUnattended] section of Unattend.txt or in the [GuiUnattended] section of Sysprep.inf to ensure Setup completes without prompting for regional option information. However, do not distribute computers that do not:

Have preconfigured regional, language, and keyboard settings.

—OR—

Enable the Regional and Language Options page during the end user's first-run experience.

So I think it will be better if you remove the RegionalSettings section of your winnt.sif file.

Hope this will help you.

These instructions are not are not based on technical issues, MS just doesn't want you to distribute PCs that might have differant regional settings than your end users expect.

[oioldman]

i would remove the encrypted password and make it plain text

regional settings can be added to winnt.sif with no issues, i use and so do probably everyone else here so it install with native language not what is decided for you on behalf of M$

[zerocool]

Well, I'll state the obviousand most common error. make sure your winnt.sif file is winnt.sif not winnt.sif.txt

this error i checked... NOT the one!

thanks for the reply..

i would remove the encrypted password and make it plain text

regional settings can be added to winnt.sif with no issues, i use and so do probably everyone else here so it install with native language not what is decided for you on behalf of M$

i should give that a try...

thanks B)

[zerocool]

i would remove the encrypted password and make it plain text

that didn't work either....

does anyone else have any ideas...

[Sic]

I read more info about regional settings here. At the end of the page,, There's a note that could interest you :

Note: If you don't install the language groups necessary for the locales and languages you specify, Setup may display dialogs prompting for paths to the required files. Although installation will succeed, it may require user interaction.

To use the RegionalSettings section of the answer file, you must add the /copysource:lang command line to Winnt32.exe or the /rx:lang command line to Winnt.exe. This will copy the appropriate language files to the target disk. For example, if you are only interested in Korean settings while installing a U.S. version of Windows 2000, you may specify /copysource:lang\kor if starting from Winnt32.exe.

Hope this will help you .....