just to let you know, >NUL does't work in config.sys but it does work in autoexec.bat, applied to mscdex.exe -

@ECHO OFF

MODE CON COLS=40 LINES=1

it works in the command window but the lines command is not recognised when executed from the autoexec.bat

it might be because my floppy has command.com and dos files coming from a dos 6.2 disk, or I don't know.

thanks for the ideas anyway, the >NUL will definitely prove useful in the future.

if i remember rightly you can use 50 lines in autoexec.bat to get more text on your screen.. pretty sure of it

heres another option for your batch's ..use local variables by using

setlocal

set VARIABLENAME=%systemdrive%\blah\blah\blah

heres an apps.cmd

@echo off
MODE CON COLS=50 LINES=2
COLOR 1B
TITLE Installing

setlocal
set APPSPATH=%systemdrive%\install\Applications

ECHO MSN Messenger 6......................Please Wait
start /wait %APPSPATH%\MSN\MsnMsgs.msi /QB

ECHO Adobe Reader.........................Please Wait
start /wait %APPSPATH%\AdobeReader6\AR6.msi /QB

ECHO Kerio Personal Firewall 2.1.5........Please Wait
start /wait %APPSPATH%\KPF\Setup.exe -s -f1"%APPSPATH%\kpf\setup.iss"

ECHO PowerDVD 5...........................Please Wait
start /wait %APPSPATH%\PowerDVD5\Setup.exe -s -f1"%APPSPATH%\PowerDVD5\setup.iss"
start /wait %APPSPATH%\PDVD_patch\Setup.exe -s -f1"%APPSPATH%\PDVD_patch\setup.iss"

EXIT

at last success changing the default console font for your unattended batch's.. get that matrix look and feel... nice

change these lines in hivedef.inf

HKCU,"Console","FaceName",0x00000002,"Lucida Console"

HKCU,"Console","FontFamily",0x00010003,54

HKCU,"Console","FontSize",0x00010003,786432

HKCU,"Console","FontWeight",0x00010003,400

unfortunately its lucida console or the crappy default font.. the settings here will give you a 7x12 lucida font

maybe go fullscreen by changing this line

HKCU,"Console","FullScreen",0x00010003,0

:: to maximise your batch.. call it with

START /MAX /WAIT mycmd.cmd

Is it possible to add this to my winnt.sif? Or must I add one batch to the winnt.sif and then adding ALL my batches to THIS batch with "START /MAX /WAIT"???

@ Bastian

I added start.bat to my winnt.sif instead of xpcd.bat

the way i did it was make another batch called start.bat

Which had in it.

START /MAX /wait %systemdrive%\install\xpcd.bat

ECHO.

ECHO Removing temporary folders.

rmdir %systemdrive%\DRIVERS /s /q

ECHO Drivers folder removed.

rmdir %systemdrive%\INSTALL /s /q

ECHO Install folder removed

EXIT

Then it ran my xpcd bat like normal except i added this to the start of the xpcd.bat

MODE CON COLS=200

CLS

@echo off

TITLE Installing Programs.

color 0C

To make it full screen with red writing.

I had to move my commands to delete the Install and Drivers folders cos it would kill the xpcd.bat and would then pause.