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Help with registry tweatks


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Hello lads, I'm new here. I need your help. Although I read manual for 100 times, I can't manage to import registry tweaks in my unattended Windows XP.

So, please, help me with this. I would like to someone explain me all, and please, if you can, writte all steps ... I'm newbie here.

Thanx a lot!

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Please be a little more verbose next time... You haven't even said which method you are using to make your unattended CD.

If you have your regtweaks in the file 'regtweaks.reg' and have it placed in : 'XPCD\$OEM$\$1\install\' :

RunOnceEx.cmd :

reg add %key%\xxx /v 1 /d "regedit /s %systemdrive%\install\regtweaks.reg" /f

Start.cmd (batch scripting) :

regedit /s %systemdrive%\install\regtweaks.reg

If you have your regtweaks in the file 'regtweaks.reg' and have it placed in : 'XPCD\$OEM$\' :

cmdlines.txt :

"regedit /s regtweaks.reg"

Edited by Martin H
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I'm hardly an expert at this, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn once, so let's see if I can help.

As you've probably already discovered, creating a .reg file of tweaks isn't difficult once you know what to tweak. I've not used RegTweak.net, but I assume you have a file that looks something like this:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

;APPLICATIONS

;Enable word wrap and status bar in Notepad, and give it 10 pt Tahoma font
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Notepad]
"fWrap"=dword:00000001
"StatusBar"=dword:00000001
"lfFaceName"="Tahoma"
"iPointSize"=dword:00000064

The first line is required. It tells Windows what program to use for the registry imports that follow. Lines starting with a semicolon are comments (nothing happens on these lines, so write any notes you need there). The registry key is contained in [], on its own line. You can browse through the registry using RegEdit (Start ~ Run ~ Regedit) and find the key you want to change. Watch the status bar at the bottom of the RegEdit window as you browse through the registry to see where you are in the registry. THAT line needs to be placed in your .reg file surrounded by [ and ]. The remaining lines are values to be set in the registry for the specified key. There are several types of values, so you have to be careful how you enter them. In my example above, StatusBar takes a binary value, but IfFaceName takes a string (text) value. Others require hex values. In my example, all of the values that pertain to a single registry key can be entered below that key without re-typing the key each time. You save the file with any name and a .reg extension (like MyTweaks.reg). If you double-click the file, it will import the registry entries into your registry, right or wrong, so be careful what you change. If you want to add multiple tweaks in a single file, do this:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

;APPLICATIONS

;Enable word wrap and status bar in Notepad, and give it 10 pt Tahoma font
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Notepad]
"fWrap"=dword:00000001
"StatusBar"=dword:00000001
"lfFaceName"="Tahoma"
"iPointSize"=dword:00000064

;Turn On Popup Blocker
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\New Windows]
"PopupMgr"="yes"

;Enable Phishing Filter Automatic
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\PhishingFilter]
"Enabled"=dword:00000002

To see how this works, copy my first example into Notepad, save the file as Tweak1.reg on your desktop, close Notepad and double-click Tweak1.reg on your desktop. Answer Yes and OK to the two messages that will pop up. Open Notepad and type something (anything). You'll see that it is using the Tahoma font.

Now copy my first example again into Notepad but this time, change the word "Tahoma" to "Lucida Console" and change the value 00000064 to 00000128. Save the file as Tweak2.reg. Close Notepad and double-click Tweak2.reg on your desktop. Open Notepad and it will be using the Lucida Console font in a rather large size.

(To change back, double-click and import Tweak1.reg again.)

You can add new keys, add new values, remove values and remove entire keys to accomplish most of what you probably want to accomplish. If a registry key or value that you include in your file doesn't already exist, it will be added. To remove a key, add "-" between the "[" and the "H". To remove a value, change it to a blank value or "-". Search the forum to see what others have used.

You can also export a registry key and its values by finding the key in RegEdit, clicking on it and selecting File ~ Export. It will produce a file like my first example above which you can then modify and import back into your registry.

As I've learned, some tweaks take effect immediately, some take effect when you reboot (or logon/logoff), and some can only be set in a new installation. I spent many hours of trial and error to get some things to work and I still have some that I haven't been able to figure out. (Like how to set just the Control Panel to Icons View while leaving all other folders set to Details View).

Many registry settings are far from obvious. Search in the forum for what you want to change and it's likely you'll find that someone has already figured out what to set to do what you want to do. Or ask a specific wuestion. It's easier to answer simple questions than to explain how to perform an entire procedure.

Including your tweaks in an unattended installation is a little more complicated. I use nLite to create my unattended installation configuration and before making the ISO or burning to disk, I add a line to cmdlines.txt which is in the $OEM$ folder in my installation files set:

REGEDIT /S MyRegTweaks.reg

That runs the program REGEDIT which in turn imports the contents of the file MyRegTweaks.reg into the registry during Windows installation. /S is a switch to make the command execute silently, if that matters. That's the syntax others have used so I just use what's evidently been successful. There are probably other ways to do that. You also need to include the file MyRegTweaks.reg in the set of files that will become the installation CD. When you've created your file of changes (MyRegTweaks.reg), copy it into the $OEM$ folder before burning your CD. The Windows installer knows to look for and execute the commands it finds in cmdlines.txt. One of those commands will be your REGEDIT entry above.

I know that doesn't tell you everything you need to know, but it points you in the right direction. BE CAREFUL. Unless you know exactly what you've changed and how to change it back if something goes wrong, you can screw up your system so badly that you'll have no choice but to reinstall Windows before you're ready. I use Virtual PC from Microsoft (others use VMWare or VirtualBox) to test everything before committing a change to my system. In the worst case, I have to only blow away my virtual session and start over. My host (real) machine remains unaffected. For more information on how to create an unattended installation compilation and how to add tweaks to it, read these if you haven't already:

http://www.msfn.org/board/Complete_Beginne...end_t28005.html

http://unattended.msfn.org/unattended.xp/

http://www.overclockers.com/tips1158/

Good luck.

Ray

See what verbose will get you? Martin just told you more than I did in 500 words or less. ;)

Edited by NOTS3W
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Thanx a lot! That was help!

I use cmdline.txt method, and I discovered that you must put "REGEDIT /S MyRegTweaks.reg" first ... before "RunOnceEx.cmd" ... I wrote about that nowhere!

so, I just make cmdlines:

[COMMANDS]

"REGEDIT /S tweaker.reg"

"RunOnceEx.cmd"

It is crazy, but now my tweaks works!

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