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Vista Questions I could not find the answer too


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Hi guys,

I have been trying to produce an unattended install for a few days now and I have a few questions that I was unable to find the answers to on the Microsoft website.

First question relates to the location of the unattened file MS state it looks in 7 places but gives no clue as to what they are. The problem I have is I am using an external hard drive and it does not seem to be picking up my autounattend.xml file.

The other question which relates to this is about a custom image. I installed Vista business without using the unattend file installed the applications and drivers for the machine. However their is not a way to move the user profile path from c to d unless I use the unattended file (no i dont wish to heck the registry to do it). So can I create and use an unattend file with a custom image ?

Business or Enterprise. My company wants to be able to chose during the install process either Business or Enterprise because I am using custom images I currently have seperate DVD's however someone believes it is possible to allow the user to choose which version simply but entering the produce key. Is this true ?

Finally on the drivers issue while my custom image works fine on the desktop they now want to extend it to work on a laptop. Is their a way to include extra drivers for a laptop into my custom image or do I have to create a seperate image ?

Thanks in advance for any help.

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Hi!

On the question: That MS looks for an unattend file in seven places! You can open up the WAIK *.chm file and search for "panther" and u will get an option to see "Methods for running Windows setup".... here is what u get!

1. Registry (Prio 1)

HKLM\System\Setup!UnattendFile

Specifies a pointer in the registry to an answer file. The answer file is not required to be named Unattend.xml.

2. %WINDIR%\panther\unattend (Prio 2)

The name of the answer file must be Unattend.xml or Autounattend.xml.

3. %WINDIR%\panther (Prio 3)

Windows Setup caches answer files to this location.

Important:

Do not overwrite the answer files in these directories.

4. Removable read/write media in order of drive letter, at the root of the drive. (Prio 4)

Removable read/write media in order of drive letter, at the root of the drive.

The name of the answer file must be Unattend.xml or Autounattend.xml, and the answer file must be located at the root of the drive.

5. Removable read-only media in order of drive letter, at the root of the drive. (Prio 5)

Removable read-only media in order of drive letter, at the root of the drive. (Prio 5)

The name of the answer file must be Unattend.xml or Autounattend.xml, and must be located at the root of the drive.

6. windowsPE and offlineServicing passes:

\sources directory in a Windows distribution

All other passes:

%WINDIR%\system32\sysprep

In the windowsPE and offlineServicing passes, the name of the answer file must be Autounattend.xml.

For all other configuration passes, the file name must be Unattend.xml.

7. %SYSTEMDRIVE%

The answer file name must be Unattend.xml or Autounattend.xml

Please read the whole section in this .chm file as it is pretty complex on how it will detect and make use of the supplied answer files... especially if u mix things up with multiple answer files like me...

Regarding the custom image and drivers, the anwser is: Yes, it is possible to extend the image to be working on a laptop, just supply the drivers using a $OEM$ folder structure and specify which locations to be added using the unattend.xml using the WSIM application.

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In the windowsPE and offlineServicing passes, the name of the answer file must be Autounattend.xml.

For all other configuration passes, the file name must be Unattend.xml.

Not quite true

As I am still testing as everyone else I place my Autounattend.xml on a floppy so can change on the fly

Each pass it reads from the floppy and I can see this happening and if you look at setupact.log in Panther at the end of Install you'll see this. Regardless of whether I put it at root of DVD or floppy

We already know MS help files aren't exactly 100%.

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