Gosh's Unattended Tips And Tricks

[dtmunir]

@jazkal i know this will sound ultra naive, but i still didnt understand the purpose of ur method. does it save space? why exactly are u doin watever it is ur doin. Could u pls explain a bit more. :/

thanks

danish

[Jazkal]

@jazkal i know this will sound ultra naive, but i still didnt understand the purpose of ur method. does it save space? why exactly are u doin watever it is ur doin. Could u pls explain a bit more.  :/

The whole idea is to get the I386 folder to the hard drive, so that the OS won't ask us for the cd when we want to install/modify the OS files down the road.

gosh had one solution, I presented another. One requires that you run a batch file at one stage of the install, the other doesn't.

That is the real difference between the two. I'm not saying my method is better, because I haven’t done any comparing of install times between the two. And even if I did have that data, I wouldn't say which was "better". I'd only report the facts.

I don't know what else needs to be explained, it's fairly simple. If you are using the $OEM$ folder structure, you know enough to use my method. It doesn't take up any more space, and if your not using the "-o" switch with your CDImage.exe ISO creation script, then you won't see the space savings that I mentioned above.

This link will give you the CDImage.exe and batch files to create your ISO

Finalizing your CD

So to answer the question; "does it save space?" yes and no. As a whole, it saved me about 25mb, I'm assuming this will vary between people. But like I said in a previous post, you can use the "-o" switch to see the possible space savings and gosh's method of coping the I386 to the hard drive.

I hope that clears it up for you.

[dtmunir]

wooow...really cool jazkal. now i get wt ur doing here. this also answers another question ive been askin everyone around here for a month now:

ive been tryin to find out wt was the earliest point i could eject the XP cd and hv the user put in the second install cd so tht stuff like ms office, photoshop etc could be installed at the cmdlines stage. now this solution of urs gives me an idea to hv the installation run from the harddisk which SHOULD allow me to take out the xp cd after the first restart immeadiately after text setup

thanks amigos

PS: if u hv any more tips on implementing this method of urs...im hungry. also if uve figured how to use in combo with gosh's reducing source method or GM's XPcreate, or both, i wud appreciate if u cud guide me how to do the same

[Jazkal]

As far as taking the CD out, I'm not sure that's going to work. My reasoning is that the install is assuming the I386 files will be on the CD. If you point the OS to the C:\I386 folder in your REG files run at cmdlines.txt, it won't take effect until reboot. And at that point, it doesn't need the CD anyway. But again, I haven't tested this, just assumptions right now.

Let me know how your tests go.

[Jazkal]

I finished the time tests. Only ran it through once for each method.

Method of testing:

Testing was done in VMWare v4.05

Start times were taken when begining the quick format of the drive.

End Time was taken after last reboot, and OS first hits the logon screen.

Jazkal's method

Start: 11:42:00 AM

End: 1:05:36 PM

Total: 83 min. 36 sec.

gosh's method

Start: 1:10:00 PM

End: 2:35:20 PM

Total: 85 min. 20 sec.

[serialzs]

@Jazkal

sounds good and Faster if the source is in the Harddisk Already

BUT how does it works in CD

two(2) I386 folder, it can consumed DOUBLE space in CDs free space¿¿¿ :/

i have 328mb just in I386 folder if i double it 656mb thats not great

coz i have $oem$ folder and some application in there.

or you have different method pls post how you do it

-=[serialzs]=-

[Jazkal]

If you are using the CDImage.exe to create your ISO image, all you need to do is add the "-o" switch to the command line in the batch file. This will make it link the files (ie. no extra space, it will not take up any more space)

If your not using the CDImage.exe way, then you shouldn't use this method.

[serialzs]

@Jazkal

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup]
"Installation Sources"=hex(7):43,00,3a,00,5c,00,49,00,33,00,38,00,36,00,00,00,\
 00,00
"SourcePath"="C:"
"ServicePackSourcePath"="C:"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion]
"SourcePath"="C:\\I386"

how it works¿¿¿

is this all the the CODEs that you change how it will boot to %systemdrive%\i386 folder or it will boot in cd, instead it EXTRACT the CD\i386 files it will EXTRACT the HDD\i386 files????????

JUST AN IDEA

what will happen if i modify the setupldr.bin

instead of \i386 i put there \$OEM$\$1\i386...

it boot on \$OEM$\$1\i386 and then copy to the HardDisk isn't it.

just like the "The HDD Method" is that possible¿¿¿

anyone done that¿¿¿¿

i will try it then post it if it works

-=[serialzs]=-

[dtmunir]

hey jazkal

1 question

how do u combine ur method with goshs method, and with xpcreate by GM

danish

[Jazkal]

what will happen if i modify the setupldr.bin

instead of \i386 i put there \$OEM$\$1\i386...

I don't believe that will work, as the I386 folder has to be at the same level as the $OEM$ folder. But you never know till you try.

[Jazkal]

how do u combine ur method with goshs method, and with xpcreate by GM

I've never even looked at xpcreate. I'm new to this site, just found it two weeks ago. I've been doing this kind of stuff for more than 2 years as part of my job. I found this site because I was googling for a specific tweak.

As far as combining it to goshs method, You would put my 4 reg entries into what ever reg file you are loading in cmdlines.txt. Then you would remove the batch file code that copies down the I386 folder. Point the code that installs the recovery console from CD, to point to the hard drive instead (runs quicker, but you don't have too). Copy your I386 folder into the $1 folder, and add the "-o" switch to the command line for your CDImage.exe ISO creation batch file.

That's it.

[Hilloki]

I have a few questions:

1. Iam making a uncontrolled xp install and i want Cleartype fonts to be the defualt instead of the Standard.

2. When installing xp you know that bakground of the installation , it talks about xp and says its The best OS and all that stuff ... I hope someone knows what I am talking about, Anyway is there anyway to change that , like change the background of the install.

3. One more thing when i put my xp cd in the drive it auto boots + isntalls but , it does it on my D:\ Drive is there a way i can make it install to my C:\ drive.

Thanks Hilloki.

[DarkBringer]

2. When installing xp you know that bakground of the installation , it talks about xp and says its The best OS and all that stuff ... I hope someone knows what I am talking about, Anyway is there anyway to change that , like change the background of the install.

I believe you're looking for.....

http://www.MSFN.org/board/index.php?showtopic=8385

[Hilloki]

Thanks Alot.

[Sunil]

@Jazkal

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup]
"Installation Sources"=hex(7):43,00,3a,00,5c,00,49,00,33,00,38,00,36,00,00,00,\
 00,00
"SourcePath"="C:"
"ServicePackSourcePath"="C:"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion]
"SourcePath"="C:\\I386"

how it works¿¿¿

is this all the the CODEs that you change how it will boot to %systemdrive%\i386 folder or it will boot in cd, instead it EXTRACT the CD\i386 files it will EXTRACT the HDD\i386 files????????

JUST AN IDEA

what will happen if i modify the setupldr.bin

instead of \i386 i put there \$OEM$\$1\i386...

it boot on \$OEM$\$1\i386 and then copy to the HardDisk isn't it.

just like the "The HDD Method" is that possible¿¿¿

anyone done that¿¿¿¿

i will try it then post it if it works

-=[serialzs]=-

Unless you can write bin files, this is not a good idea, since the space available for change in the setupldr.bin file is only 4 chars, you will have to replace with 8 additional chars, so be careful.