My Unattend File

[gosh]

I don't know if there's a policy against posting unattend files, but i thought it would be a good idea to post my unattend file in case anyone was curious. Over the past year or so i have updated it from time to time. Below is my unattend file (winnt.sif) and below that is explanations.

winnt.sif

;SetupMgrTag

;this is for windows xp corp OEMPreinstall SP1

[Data]    AutoPartition=0

    MsDosInitiated="0"

    UnattendedInstall="Yes"

[unattended]

    UnattendMode=FullUnattended

    OemPreinstall=Yes

    OemSkipEula=Yes

    OemFilesPath=".\$OEM$"          ; Location of $OEM$ folder

    WaitForReboot=No

    UnattendSwitch=yes

    DriverSigningPolicy=Ignore

    Hibernation=no

    TargetPath=*                  ; Generates random windows folder

[systemFileProtection]

SFCQuota=0

;SFCDisable=2

[GuiUnattended]

    AdminPassword=*

    EncryptedAdminPassword=NO

    OEMSkipRegional=1

    TimeZone=15

    OEMSkipWelcome=1

[userData]

    ProductID=xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxx

    ProductKey=xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxx

    FullName="Unattended"

    OrgName="Install"

    ComputerName=*

[TapiLocation]

    AreaCode=425

[FavoritesEx]

Title1 = ntfs.url

URL1 = http://ntfs.org

Title2 = <<spam>>.url

URL2 = http://www.<<spam>>.net/

Title3 = bink.url

URL3 = http://winxp.bink.nu/

Title4 = slashdot.url

URL4 = http://www.slashdot.com/

Title5 = eweek.url

URL5 = http://www.eweek.com/

Title6 = news.url

URL6 = http://www.news.com/

Title7 = active.url

URL7 = http://www.activewin.com/

Title8 = winbeta.url

URL8 = http://www.winbeta.org/

[branding]

    BrandIEUsingUnattended=Yes

    Home_Page=http://www.google.com

    Help_Page=http://support.microsoft.com

    Search_Page=http://www.yahoo.com/search/ie.html

[Components]

  accessopt=off

  autoupdate=off

  chat=off

  deskpaper=off

  dialer=off

  freecell=off

  hearts=off

  media_clips=off

  Minesweeper=off

  msnexplr=off

  pinball=off

  solitaire=off

  spider=off

  WMAccess=off

  zonegames=off

[Proxy]

    Proxy_Enable=0

    Use_Same_Proxy=1

[identification]

    JoinWorkgroup=WORKGROUP

[Networking]

    InstallDefaultComponents=Yes

[TerminalServices]

    AllowConnections=1            ; Enables Remote Desktop

Notes:

1 - I designed my unattend file to only prompt you for one thing - where you want to install XP. Once you chose the destination partition, everything is automated. It will never auto format or repartition.

2 - TargetPath=*, will cause setup to use the windows folder by default. But if a windows folder already exists, it'll make a random folder name. It will NOT delete an existing windows folder.

3 - SFCQuota=0, will cause xp to not make a dllcache. The folder will exist and have the xp catalog files, but that's it. This speeds up install time, and decreases the footprint of the install.

4 - ProductID and Productkey, if youre installing xp you only need to put the serial in Productid. However in server 2003 it uses the new value productkey. To make this unattend file usable for xp and server2003 i put both, which is harmless. Longhorn will only see the productkey field.

5 - Allowconnections, enables remote desktop by default. This is potentially a security risk, but i personally love remote desktop and want it enabled by default.

6 - OemFilesPath, as some of you know, in win2k and above there's a bug that causes the $OEM$ folder to not be copied. Because of this the $OEM$ folder might need to be under the i386 folder, or parallel to the i386 folder. Using this command makes the bug mute, since you're telling setup where the $OEM$ folder is.

7 - As you can see, i used ; in the middle of the file. Any inf files (which is what an unattend file is), can use ; after the command.

8 - As always, some settings in this unattend file might cause problems or decrease security. I am posting this for informational purposes, test the unattend file first before using it live.

9 - A default XP install takes 1.5 gigs. If you use my unattend file the windows folder will only be 750 megs, the whole partition will be about 900 megs with pagefile. A typical xp install takes around 22 mins on my computer, with this unattend file it only takes 17-18 mins to install xp.

-gosh

[DaveXP]

look a bit like mine, my xp takes about the same time to install as yours

[pmcx9]

Golly gosh!

great collection of postings over the last few days.