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Useful tidbits for Unattended Vista...

Nakatomi2010
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Nakatomi2010

Nakatomi2010

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I figured someone should start a thread which that shares useful information about the unattended Vista installs...

As an example, the following:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\software\microsoft\windows\currentversion\explorer\advanced]
"Start_ShowRun"=dword:00000001
@=""

Put it into a '.reg' files (Like "ShowRun.reg") and coupling it with a '.cmd' containing

reg import %Systemdrive%\install\showrun.reg

Will import a registry entry which will show Run in the start panel on first boot. Note that the "%Systemdrive%\install\" is an example destination, it should be changed to point to where ever the .reg file is.

In the Unattended.XML file you'll want the following entry:

<settings pass="oobeSystem">
		<component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
			<FirstLogonCommands>
				<SynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
					<CommandLine>%Systemdrive%\Install\ShowRun.cmd</CommandLine>
					<Description>Shows Run in Start Panel</Description>
					<Order>1</Order>
				</SynchronousCommand>
			</FirstLogonCommands>
		</component>
	</settings>

Note that this means that the registry setting will be imported during the first logon...

Also note that to get the files ON the hard drive I used the $OEM$ Directories, unfortunatly I'm slow a learning these newer ImageX methods....

I've tested in Build 5744 (RC2) and it does work.

Hopefully others will share their useful bits with us, get a jump on the Vista Bandwagon...

Edited by Nakatomi2010
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FireGeier

FireGeier

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...

Also note that to get the files ON the hard drive I used the $OEM$ Directories, unfortunatly I'm slow a learning these newer ImageX methods....

...

Do you have created a configuration set in WAIK to copy the $OEM$ folder to HD?

Martin

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Nakatomi2010

Nakatomi2010

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...

Also note that to get the files ON the hard drive I used the $OEM$ Directories, unfortunatly I'm slow a learning these newer ImageX methods....

...

Do you have created a configuration set in WAIK to copy the $OEM$ folder to HD?

Martin

I didn't use WAIK to make a configuration set, the $OEM$ directory functions almost exactly the same way it did for XP.

The directory structure of the $OEM$ directory, for me, is basically:

%Root of Vista Disc%\$OEM$

%Root of Vista Disc%\$OEM$\$1

%Root of Vista Disc%\$OEM$\$$

Where %Root of Vista Disc% is something I just made up to explain that the $OEM$ directory should be at the ROOT of the Vista disc. $1 and $$ are subdirectories IN $OEM$. Anything in the $1 directory gets copied to the root of %Systemdrive% (In my case C:\). The $$ directory copies all files into the $Windir%\system32 directory, where %Windir% is your Windows directory (For me, C:\Windows).

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FireGeier

FireGeier

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Do you have to set anything in autounatttend.xml to get the $OEM$-Folders copied to the HD?

To reply to your first post:

I think it would be greate to have an database with regtweaks, where you can see for which Windows Version they'll work. I've found out that a lot of regtweaks from XP will work under Vista, too.

Thanks,

Martin

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Nakatomi2010

Nakatomi2010

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No, if the $OEM$ directory exists on the root of the disc it'll copy the contained files to the directories they're associated with, so again files in the $1 directory will be copied to the root of your %systemdrive%.

However, you WILL need to make entries inside the Autounattend.xml file to run any commands for the files inside of that directory...

<SynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
					<CommandLine>%Systemdrive%\Install\ShowRun.cmd</CommandLine>
					<Description>Shows Run in Start Panel</Description>
					<Order>1</Order>
				</SynchronousCommand>

The above code is pulled from the example in the first post, this line tells windows to run this command on firstlogon, and as such if you wanted to run more commands you would change the following entries...

<SynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
					<CommandLine>[b]%Systemdrive%\Install\ShowRun.cmd[/b]</CommandLine>
					<Description>[b]Shows Run in Start Panel[/b]</Description>
					<Order>[b]1[/b]</Order>
				</SynchronousCommand>

The text in bold is what you'd want to modify... Changing the command line to what you want, the description to what you want, and the order to a numerical value of 1 and up....

Also, does anyone know how to go about telling Vista to wait till a program completes before deleting a directory?

Trying to figure out the best way to run a cleanup command....

Edit:

WPI DOES work in Windows Vista... To run WPI you'll need a .cmd with the following code:

cd /d %systemdrive%\install\wpi
WPI.hta
cd\
rd /s /q %systemdrive\install

This will have the computer open a command prompt, change directory to the directory you've copied WPI to, (In this case I put the WPI directory in the $OEM$\$1\Install directory, which being in an $OEM$ directory will copy it to the %systemdrive%, so the path, once copied, would be %systemdrive%\install\wpi\

The next line runs the program, where (And if I'm wrong correct me), the Sleep program will freeze the .cmd window until it's done installing your programs, at which point it will back out of the driectry and then remove itself.

Should work fine.

To get the WPI.cmd to work you'll need another firstlogon command in your autounattend.xml file.

<SynchronousCommand wcm:action="add">
					<CommandLine>[b]%Systemdrive%\Install\WPI.cmd[/b]</CommandLine>
					<Description>[b]Starts WPI[/b]</Description>
					<Order>[b]2[/b]</Order>
				</SynchronousCommand>

Edited by Nakatomi2010
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Dynaletik

Dynaletik

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@ Nakatomi2010: Do the $OEM$ Folders get copied for you even if you haven't got

<UseConfigurationSet>true</UseConfigurationSet>

in your AutoUnattend.xml?

I didn't test it with RC2 yet, but when I didn't have this line in the .xml file, nothing got copied. If I put this line into the .xml, the whole media on which the .xml file is stored gets copied to HDD, so I used an CDRW for my Drivers and WPI.cmd. Would be great, if $OEM$ gets copied now without the above entry in AutoUnattend.xml! :)

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FireGeier

FireGeier

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I guess he puts the $OEM§ to the root of the Vista DVD.

I use the configuration set on USB media, and I have to use the Configuration Set tag in Autounattend.xml.

But I'm still on Vista RC1.

AFAIK for the moment, the Configuration Set tag makes Vista Setup looking for the Autounattend_Files folder. Once it finds the folder, it will copy the contents of the media to HD.

I'll verfie that today.

Sorry, that this is all OOT.

Martin

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Dynaletik

Dynaletik

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AFAIK for the moment, the Configuration Set tag makes Vista Setup looking for the Autounattend_Files folder. Once it finds the folder, it will copy the contents of the media to HD.

This is exactly was it does. I worked with this method on RC1, but if RC2 does not need the tag in the .xml file but copies $OEM$ it would be much better.

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FireGeier

FireGeier

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This is exactly was it does. I worked with this method on RC1, but if RC2 does not need the tag in the .xml file but copies $OEM$ it would be much better.

Well I've thought it would handle it like that. But I've just finished an installation where I've deleted the Autounattend_Files folder and it still was pulling over the $OEM$ contents to HD. So it seems to be that it's just looking for an $OEM$ folder once you've set the Configuration Set tag.

Martin

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