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FAQ: Synatx about unattended file


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All,

I have a few basic questions to ask you guys regarding the syntax of writing and editing an unattended file.

1. Are the ordering of the sections important?For example, are this the same?

[Data]

[unattended]

[unattended]

[Data]

2. Are the ordering of the options important?For example, are this same?

AutoPartition=0

MsDosInitiated="0"

UnattendedInstall="Yes"

UnattendedInstall="Yes"

MsDosInitiated="0"

AutoPartition=0

3. Is quotation around the values is optional?

For example, are this same?

UnattendedInstall="Yes"

MsDosInitiated="0"

UnattendedInstall=Yes

MsDosInitiated=0

4. Are the option name is case sensitive?

For example, are this same?

UnattendedInstall="Yes"

MsDosInitiated="0"

unattendedinstall="Yes"

msdos=iInitiated="0"

And if I left out anything, please feel free to add them. These common questions will be in my mini reference guide that I'm writing. I will post them on this forum once I tested them. :)

-Kenneth

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I have wondered that too, every Microsoft documentation shows it differently with uppercasing or lowercasing, quotation marks or spaces. The only way to find out is to try them out yourself. It shouldn't take too long if you leave your OEM install out of it.

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From my experiances, the answers to your questions are as such:

1. Yes - Allthough im not 100% sure, i always put them in the same order every time, and I havent had a problem.

2. No. The ordering of the options are not essential.

3. Yes. Where there are quotes in a guide, its best to use quotes in your winnt file. It makes troubleshooting alot easier.

4. No. They are not case sensitive. This is probably the only answer i know for certain :rolleyes:

But as AaronXP suggested, the only way to know for certain is to test them yourself :)

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Very early on, my winnt.sif looked like this

;SetupMgrTag

[Data]

AutoPartition=0

MsDosInitiated="0"

UnattendedInstall="Yes"

...

I was consistently getting bsod with the error

unknown hard error

%systemroot%\system32\ntdll.dll

When browsing ref.chm, I noticed this titbit in [Data] section

MsDosInitiated

Value: 0

Informs the Windows Setup Loader that an unattended Setup is running

directly from the product CD. The value must always be set to 0. If you

do not set the value to 0, Setup fails at the beginning of GUI-mode Setup.

So I removed the quotes, so that it looked like this:

[Data]

AutoPartition=0

MsDosInitiated=0

UnattendedInstall=Yes

The bsod mentioned above went away. Though everybody else in this forum seems to be running fine with the quotes. :)

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I have checked my ram with memtest, and checked for viruses with norton, spyware with spybot. All is well.

Webmedia, what do you use to create the iso? Do you use vmware for testing? Have you come across any bsods during your experiences with creating unattended cds? Thanks for your help.

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Thanks for all the inputs so far. Please feel free to share your experience on this. As I will be putting this into a guide for others. Yes, I'm testing it myself as I'm learning all this. But to save time, it's always a good idea to ask other's experience. :)

-Kenneth

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well for me no I have never got a bsod. Well I get them but not durring install unless bad ram or the ram is overclocked or the cpu is overclocked. Usually it's bad ram or oc'd ram though.

I use virtual pc and bare hardware both. I know of vmware but have never that I can remember haveing used it. I never thought it was worth the cost just to run windows in a window. I mean it has enough stability problems running outside of a window. Windows xp is light years ahead of what it used to be though and to make it bettter hardware support is better also.

I either use mksofs/cdrecord or nero for making my iso/cd's.

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I have three questions for everyone.

1. When using the DOS prompt, does it support long filename under Windows XP before the first reboot and after the first time logging into Windows XP?

2. Can you copy everyting in D:\Install\XPCD\$OEM$\$1 folder to another directory beside the root drive of C:\?

3. When and what is the safest way to delete the install temporary after you finish the installation?

-Kenneth

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1) Not sure

2) Yes, just keep going D:\Install\XPCD\$OEM$\$1\what ever you want\here\???

3) I guess the safest way is to use the explorer or my computer and just delete it when you are satisfied all is done and finished with and have rebooted for one last time.

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1) Not sure

2) Yes, just keep going D:\Install\XPCD\$OEM$\$1\what ever you want\here\???

3) I guess the safest way is to use the explorer or my computer and just delete it when you are satisfied all is done and finished with and have rebooted for one last time.

Paul, how would you automate it so that it reboot after it is done and then delete it automatially as you suggested?

-Kenneth

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