Unable to get $oem$ folders to copy!

[mjones]

Greetings... I am very sorry for having to post this as I would think that with all the info in your forums and the unattended website.. my install would just crank right along.. but this is just not the case.

I am using a netboot disk to boot to floppy to kick off my unattended install... this works great, the install works great... hands off.. all the way, thanks to your guide! However.. my $oem$ folders are not being copied and I cannot for the life of me figure out why. I have played around with using drive mappings, UNC, etc... but no matter what I do... nothing!

Here is my setup... XP Pro SP2 PC has a network share with the i386 directory and $oem$ stuff... the answer file is in the i386 directory... and like I said, the install does everything I tell it, except copy the folders! Here is my answer file....

;SetupMgrTag

[Data]

AutomaticUpdates=1

AutoPartition=1

MsDosInitiated=0

UnattendedInstall=Yes

[unattended]

UnattendMode=FullUnattended

DriverSigningPolicy=Ignore

ExtendOemPartition=1

FileSystem=ConvertNTFS

NTUpgrade=No

OemSkipEula=Yes

OemPreinstall=Yes

TargetPath=\WINDOWS

OemPnPDriversPath="drivers\video;drivers\audio"

OemFilesPath="\\sdcmexpmj3\xp\xp100\i386\$oem$"

[GuiUnattended]

AdminPassword=*****************

EncryptedAdminPassword=Yes

AutoLogon=No

OEMSkipRegional=1

TimeZone=35

OemSkipWelcome=1

DetachedProgram="%SystemRoot%\System32\REGINI.EXE"

Arguments="%SystemRoot%\System32\RUN1.INI"

[userData]

ProductKey=*****************

FullName="***********'

OrgName="*****************"

ComputerName=""

[Display]

BitsPerPel=32

Xresolution=1280

YResolution=1024

Vrefresh=75

[TapiLocation]

CountryCode=1

AreaCode=207

[setupMgr]

DistFolder="\\sdcmexpmj3\xp\xp100"

DistShare=xp100

[GuiRunOnce]

Command0="rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /in /n \\sdcme-24\canonme1"

Command1="rundll32 printui.dll,PrintUIEntry /in /n \\sdcme-24\canonme2"

[identification]

JoinDomain=SDCNTPDC

DomainAdmin=administrator

DomainAdminPassword=**********

[Networking]

InstallDefaultComponents=Yes

[TerminalServices]

AllowConnections = 1

As you can see... oempreinstall is set to Yes.. NTUPgrade set to No... I am formatting the PC prior to the install, so that is as fresh as you can get.. What am I missing? Just in case... here is my kick off batch:

@rem SetupMgrTag

@echo off

echo LOADING SMARTDRIVE!!!

n:\smartdrv.exe

echo STARTING XP INSTALLATION!!!

net use x: \\sdcmexpmj3\xp100

set AnswerFile=x:\I386\xp100.txt

set SetupFiles=x:\I386

x:\I386\winnt.exe /S:%SetupFiles% /U:%AnswerFile% /e:cmdlines.txt

PLEASE HELP!!

Thank you!

MJ

Edited August 31, 2006 by mjones

[mjones]

Well it seems, that despite the fact that my answer file works for everything but the $oem$ directories...

I did see one blurb on the forum about re-creating the answer file... well when I ran setup manager.. and requested to modify.... it came back that my file had not been created by setup manager.. so I am wondering if this might have something to do with it... so I will create a new one and go from there....

BTW... I also saw an entry about saving the file as unicode.. however when I tried this, the install fails with an error on line 1, so I a not sure that this is legit...

Thanks,

MJ

[Ctrl-X]

Have you tried leaving out the OemFilesPath entry? According to the documentation, this only needs to be specified if the $OEM$ folder does not exist under the i386 folder of the distribution share point, and in your case it does exist there. Also, I think you're supposed to leave out the $OEM$ part (so, if the full path is \\Server\Share\MyOEMFiles\$OEM$, you should specify the OemFilesPath as \\Server\Share\MyOEMFiles).

[mjones]

Thanks CTRL-X...

In fact on my next go around I have already removed the entry for the path, as yes.. I am using the default path for network install.... ...\i386\$oem$

I am also going to recreate my answer file just for good measure.. I hope to update my post in a few hours and will let you know what I find...

Thanks,

Matt

[mjones]

HELP! The $OEM$ folders are being copied... however, during the initial copy.. I am getting a setup was unable to copy the files error!!

Must be something simple I am missing...??

I both recreated the answer file and also removed the OEM file path entry as well..

Is this a permissions issue?

Thanks,

MJ

[Ctrl-X]

Any idea what files it's unable to copy? What does your new answer file look like?

[mjones]

It is unable to copy ANY files from $oem$ ... I have checked and rechecked permissions on the directory on the host XP Pro machine.. no problems there, besides the install copies everything from i386 so am pretty sure permissions are correct... I had this problem on my attempt at a 2000 Pro unattended and thought that I solved it by adding the OEMFILESPATH entry to the answer file...

Here is my current answer file... (abbreviated for space)

;SetupMgrTag

[Data]

AutomaticUpdates=1

AutoPartition=1

MsDosInitiated="0"

UnattendedInstall="Yes"

[unattended]

UnattendMode=FullUnattended

DriverSigningPolicy=Ignore

ExtendOemPartition=1

FileSystem=ConvertNTFS

NTUpgrade=No

OemSkipEula=Yes

OemPreinstall=Yes

OemPnPDriversPath="drivers\video;drivers\audio"

TargetPath=\WINDOWS

[GuiUnattended]

AdminPassword=***********************

EncryptedAdminPassword=Yes

OEMSkipRegional=1

TimeZone=35

OemSkipWelcome=1

DetachedProgram=%SystemRoot%\System32\REGINI.EXE

Arguments=%SystemRoot%\System32\RUN1.INI

So there it is... Thanks for keeping tabs on this Ctrl-X... I appreciate it! It would seem I am 99% there! Just need the darn files to copy now that at least the install is attempting it and has located them!

THanks,

MJ

[Ctrl-X]

Hmmm, I'm running out of ideas... Have you got the correct DistFolder and DistShare entries in your new answer file? What do the contents of the $OEM$ folder look like?

[mjones]

Here is the info you were asking about...

[setupMgr]

DistFolder="\\sdcmexpmj3\xp100"

DistShare=xp100

The dist folder is just the UNC to the folder that contains i386 right? Or should this path be to the i386 directory and not one level above it?

MJ

PS As for the $oem$ contents.. this is right.. the usual fair... $1, $$, C, etc...

Edited August 31, 2006 by mjones

[Ctrl-X]

The dist folder is just the UNC to the folder that contains i386 right?

AFAIK, yes. I'm sorry, but I have no other ideas Anyone?

[mjones]

Ok... now.. it is certainly the OEMFILESPATH that messes it up.. without it I can get the files to copy!

However... now it seems to be randomly copying some files and folders but not all...

I did find something online indicating that you have to have a textmode folder inside $oem$, so I am going to try that this go around. In my 2000 unattended install I did have this folder even though there was nothing in it.. we will see... 99.4% now... :-)

Thanks for your input Ctrl-X it has been inching me forward!!

MJ