Okie Dokie. I just spent the better part of the last hour dissecting this nasty piece of Microsoft code.

The deal with it is this: The way the SETUP.EXE is setup is that if it's version matches the version of the operating system it's being run on, "Install Windows" is grayed out, hence we cannot click it. However, if you right-click on SETUP.EXE and click the Compatibility tab and tell it to run SETUP.EXE in compatibility mode for Windows 98/ME then re-run SETUP.EXE, the "Install Windows" button will not be grayed out, and upon clicking it, it will launch WINNT32.exe in the i386 folder, or it will launch whatever file you tell it to in the String Table.

I'm gonna mess around with it for awhile more.

I'll let y'all know what I come up with.

I'm beat, so this is all I could figure out:

The String Table is offset by 10. For instance, String Table:64:1033...

1010,  "Install Windows"

Now jump up 10...

1020,  "&Install Windows"

See the connection? Everything from 1020-1023 are the main buttons. 1010-1018 is the large text description.

If you keep adding 10 you'll figure it out. For instance again, 1010 = Installing Windows...1040 = winnt32.exe...

Well, if it means anything to ya, there it is. I'm wore out so I'll work more with it later.

it gives a complie error if you chnage the sting numbers from out side of the range of them.

Dave's right it give you this error: Compiler Error in line 18 at offset 1

This string ID is outside the scope of 1008 and 1023 so it seems like a limit has been hard coded into setup.exe and you can't use anything above 23. You can rearange the exesting entry's but not add new ones, anyone else agree, or am I totally wrong?

That's what I was getting at. But then again, I was incredibly tired and probably left some stuff out.

Bah, thanks for trying to figure it out tosk. Hard luck It would have been good to change the way it looked

it may this be able to do it give use some more time and will we crack it.

I was wondering if maybe we could somehow take the setup.exe from the 2k3 cd and add the bitmaps from this beta setup.exe, I'm mostly after the cleaner look and feel, I could live without adding new entry's as it seems really hard todo, unless someone could program a new setup.exe file which is way to much work for this I think.

I saw a few spare references (?), so I tried to add new entries to the file, see...

1010,  "Install Windows"
1011,  "Install Add-On Components"
1012,  "Use Windows Support Tools"
1013,  "Windows XP Professional"
1014,  "Previous Screen"
1015,  "Migration Wizard"
1016,  "Home Networking Wizard"
1017,  "Terminal Server Client"
1018,  "Upgrade Compatibility Website"
1020,  "&Install Windows"
1021,  "Install &Add-On Components"
1022,  "Use Windows Support &Tools"
1023,  "E&xit"

There is no 1019

1024,  "&Back"
1025,  "&Migration Wizard"
1026,  "&Home Networking Wizard"
1027,  "&Terminal Server Client"
1028,  "&Upgrade Compatibility Website"
1030,  "Install Windows XP on your computer."
1031,  "Customize your Windows Whistler experience with a variety of optional components."
1032,  "Use Support Tools include it on your Windows CD."
1033,  "The new version of Windows sets the standard for reliability, speed, security, manageability and ease of use.  Windows Server 2003 is packed with many new features and improvements to the current ones.\n\nTo perform a command, just click it."
1034,  "Go back to the previous screen"
1035,  "Migrate settings to your new computer."
1036,  "Helps you setup a Home Network."
1037,  "Install the Client for Windows Terminal Server."
1038,  "Check if your current hardware and software are compatible with Windows Whistler."

Also no 1029

1040,  "winnt32.exe"
1041,  "sysocmgr.exe"
1051,  "/x /i:sysoc.inf"

Loads of room for expansion here

I added some entries to different string tables, they're all shown as one here but they're in different places in the file

1019,  "Install .NET Framework"
1029,  "&Install the .NET Framework"
1039,  "The .NET framework allows you to run applications that use .NET libraries"
1049,  "dotnetfx\\setup.exe"

But my setup.exe still looks like this...

I'm pretty comfused on this one

I tried 19 and 29 too but you can't go above 23 you should have a script compile error.

I didn't get any errors, thats what makes it strange. Maybe if someone who can progarm is reading this thread could make a basic interface thing, that is similar to the original...

Install windows (button) --- Command=\i386\winnt32.exe

Install Additional features (button, leading to submenu)

-----------------Install feature 1 (button) - Command=\i386\somefile1.exe

-----------------Install feature 2(button) - Command=\i386\somefile2.exe

-----------------Install feature 3 (button) - Command=\i386\somefile3.exe

-----------------Install feature 4 (button) - Command=\i386\somefile4.exe

I wouldn't have a clue how to do this as i don't program, but its just a thought

no error here when i did that as well.

I did the exact same thing you guys did and had the same problem. I think it's hard-coded into the EXE. Then again, it could be the fact that it's for Whistler, an XP alpha. Has anyone tried seeing if the Win2k SETUP.EXE will execute under WinXP/2k3?

We might try modifying the Win2k version and see if that works.

I did the exact same thing you guys did and had the same problem. I think it's hard-coded into the EXE. Then again, it could be the fact that it's for Whistler, an XP alpha. Has anyone tried seeing if the Win2k SETUP.EXE will execute under WinXP/2k3?

We might try modifying the Win2k version and see if that works.

thats what we have be doing

no we haven't we were working on the suppled setup.exe on the first page of this thread. he's talking about using the windows 2000 setup.exe which is a good idea I'll go try it.

well I just tried it an...... nothing, soooo hmmm, not sure what to do.