MSFN Forums > Unattended Vista with Multiple Partitions

McoreD

Sep 2 2006, 08:10 PM

Intro:

Extending Autounattend.xml using the knowledge gather from http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=52530

Goal:

Have ProfilesDirectory, ProgramFiles in two seperate partitions other than the partition Windows is installed to.
For example:

C:\Windows
D:\Users
E:\Program Files\

This is one of my main need for an unattended installation.

Testing:

I have attached my current Autounattend.xml.txt

To my disappointment, my last test with VMware didn't quite make use of

CODE

<FolderLocations>
    <ProfilesDirectory>D:\Users</ProfilesDirectory>
        <ProgramData>E:\ProgramData</ProgramData>
        <ProgramFiles>E:\Applications</ProgramFiles>
      </FolderLocations>

in the XML file.

I am continuing to test this out to get it working.

For those who are new and interested in Customizing System Folders, there is a Wiki setup for Windows XP/Server 2003.

http://wmwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Unattended_MCE

Bye for now,
McoreD

McoreD

Sep 2 2006, 09:02 PM

Test 0: (above) VMware with the Autounattend.xml. Couldn't make any judgement because of blank screen.

Test 1: Virtual PC with the above Autounattend.xml

There is something wrong in the section

CODE

Wonder what it could be.

McoreD

Sep 3 2006, 06:18 PM

Test 2: Virtual PC with the attached Autounattend.xml in this post.

How weirder can this get?

McoreD

Sep 4 2006, 01:34 AM

Hi All,

Test 3:

This is done in a real PC! Burnt Vista ISO in a DVD with the following Autounattend.xml

CODE

<unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend">
    <settings pass="windowsPE">
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Setup" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <DiskConfiguration>
                <WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI>
            </DiskConfiguration>
            <Display>
                <ColorDepth>32</ColorDepth>
                <HorizontalResolution>1024</HorizontalResolution>
                <RefreshRate>60</RefreshRate>
                <VerticalResolution>768</VerticalResolution>
            </Display>
            <DynamicUpdate>
                <Enable>true</Enable>
            </DynamicUpdate>
            <ImageInstall>
                <OSImage>
                    <InstallFrom>
                        <Path>x:\sources\install.wim</Path>
                    </InstallFrom>
            <InstallTo>
                    </InstallTo>
                </OSImage>
            </ImageInstall>
            <UserData>
                <ProductKey>
                    <Key>XXXXX-VHWRJ-XXXXX-VQ942-XXXXX</Key>
                    <WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI>
                </ProductKey>
                <AcceptEula>true</AcceptEula>
                <FullName>McoreD</FullName>
                <Organization>BetaONE</Organization>
            </UserData>
        </component>
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-International-Core-WinPE" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <SetupUILanguage>
                <UILanguage>en-US</UILanguage>
            </SetupUILanguage>
            <InputLocale>en-US</InputLocale>
            <SystemLocale>en-US</SystemLocale>
            <UILanguage>en-US</UILanguage>
            <UILanguageFallback>en-US</UILanguageFallback>
            <UserLocale>en-US</UserLocale>
        </component>
    </settings>


    <settings pass="specialize">

        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-UnattendedJoin" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <Identification>
                <JoinWorkgroup>BetaONE</JoinWorkgroup>
            </Identification>
        </component>


        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-International-Core" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <InputLocale>en-US</InputLocale>
            <SystemLocale>en-US</SystemLocale>
            <UILanguage>en-US</UILanguage>
            <UILanguageFallback>en-US</UILanguageFallback>
            <UserLocale>en-US</UserLocale>
        </component>
    </settings>

      <settings pass="oobeSystem">
    <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" processorArchitecture="x86">

      <FolderLocations>
        <ProfilesDirectory>G:\VistaUsers</ProfilesDirectory>
        <ProgramData>G:\VistaProgramData</ProgramData>
        <ProgramFiles>G:\VistaApplications</ProgramFiles>
      </FolderLocations>

    </component>
  </settings>


</unattend>

The result was (unfortunately) identical to what I got in VMware and Virtual PC.

The HDDs in the real PCs are undoubtedly NTFS and working well under XP/Server 2003.

Seriouly guys, I am out of ideas now. If it is not working in real PCs, then I am not sure what to do next.

Do we REALLY need this:

CODE

Guess my next and last test is to check with InstallTo, just to see if X:\ is working properly.

Cheers,
McoreD

McoreD

Sep 7 2006, 04:54 AM

Test 4:

First ~~(90%)~~ successful unattended installation. Oh my god.

CODE

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend">
    <settings pass="windowsPE">
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Setup" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <DiskConfiguration>
                <WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI>
            </DiskConfiguration>
            <Display>
                <ColorDepth>32</ColorDepth>
                <HorizontalResolution>1024</HorizontalResolution>
                <RefreshRate>60</RefreshRate>
                <VerticalResolution>768</VerticalResolution>
            </Display>
            <DynamicUpdate>
                <Enable>true</Enable>
            </DynamicUpdate>
            <ImageInstall>
                <OSImage>
                    <InstallFrom>
                        <Path>G:\Workshop\vistarc1\SOURCES\install.wim</Path>
                    </InstallFrom>
                </OSImage>
            </ImageInstall>
            <UserData>
                <ProductKey>
                    <Key>XXXXX-VHWRJ-XXXXXX-VQ942-XXXXX</Key>
                    <WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI>
                </ProductKey>
                <AcceptEula>true</AcceptEula>
                <FullName>McoreD</FullName>
                <Organization>BetaONE</Organization>
            </UserData>
        </component>
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-International-Core-WinPE" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <SetupUILanguage>
                <UILanguage>en-US</UILanguage>
            </SetupUILanguage>
            <InputLocale>en-US</InputLocale>
            <SystemLocale>en-US</SystemLocale>
            <UILanguage>en-US</UILanguage>
            <UILanguageFallback>en-US</UILanguageFallback>
            <UserLocale>en-US</UserLocale>
        </component>
    </settings>
    <settings pass="specialize">
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-UnattendedJoin" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <Identification>
                <JoinWorkgroup>BetaONE</JoinWorkgroup>
            </Identification>
        </component>
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-International-Core" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <InputLocale>en-US</InputLocale>
            <SystemLocale>en-US</SystemLocale>
            <UILanguage>en-US</UILanguage>
            <UILanguageFallback>en-US</UILanguageFallback>
            <UserLocale>en-US</UserLocale>
        </component>
    </settings>
    <settings pass="oobeSystem">
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" processorArchitecture="x86">
            <FolderLocations>
                <ProfilesDirectory>G:\VistaUsers</ProfilesDirectory>
                <ProgramData>G:\VistaProgramData</ProgramData>
            </FolderLocations>
        </component>
    </settings>
    <cpi:offlineImage cpi:source="wim:g:/workshop/vistarc1/sources/install.wim#Windows Vista ULTIMATE" xmlns:cpi="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:cpi" />
</unattend>

Changes from previous Autounattend.xml are:

1. Install.wim location was set to a path in another HDD partition
2. Removed ProgramFiles from FolderLocations because RC1 version of WSIM said there is no such child in FolderLocations. It is weird because the Microsoft sample XML in Beta 1 had it!

Anyways, next test is with

CODE

<FolderLocations>
                <ProfilesDirectory>G:\VistaUsers</ProfilesDirectory>
                <ProgramData>G:\VistaProgramData</ProgramData>
    <ProgramFiles>G:\VistaApplications</ProgramFiles>
</FolderLocations>

Bye for now.

McoreD

Sep 7 2006, 05:25 AM

Okay when you add the

CODE

<ProgramFiles>G:\VistaApplications</ProgramFiles>

you get the error:
http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/2184/vp...obeerrorvi6.jpg

So basically, you cannot change the ProgramFiles folder location using Autounattended because it is no longer supported since RC1. Please prove me wrong because I really need to change it like in winnt.sif.

At least the Users folder location is modifiable.

fizban2

Sep 7 2006, 08:32 AM

it is probably still modifiable, but there is possibly a new XML tag for it.

good work on the unattend, hopefully a new version of the WSIM will be out soon for RC1 and i will update the Unattend i did before.

McoreD

Sep 7 2006, 06:12 PM

Hi fizban2, Test 4 was done with WSIM for RC1 of Vista (5600.16384.060829-2230-LR1WAIK_EN).

Hopefully in a future build in RC1, ProgramFiles location is customizable.

Tyrnt

Sep 18 2006, 12:49 PM

can the modifications to the directors of the programs and user profiles be done AFTER installation? I already have vista installed and already installed a bunch of programs i dont want to have to do over but i want to change the default path to all my programs to another partition and my docs to another partition.

Thanks

Tyrnt

McoreD

Sep 21 2006, 03:21 AM

It's possible ( http://support.microsoft.com/kb/236621/EN-US/ works for Vista too I heard ) but not 100% guarenteed to work like autounattend.xml.

Cheers,
Mcore

Lemon Lime

Sep 26 2006, 09:19 AM

I am trying to create a Unattended Vista install with multiple partitions as well. The method I am using is to create the unattend.xml answer file using Image Manager and then apply that xml file (located on a removeable USB drive) during the Windows DVD install. After the install is complete, run sysprep /oobe /generalize, restart the computer into Windows PE and capture image using Image X.

I am configuring the partitions in the autounattend.xml file using the Create and Modify Partitons components to create a Vista_Install(C:) and My All Data(D): partitions. When I apply the unattend.xml file during the DVD install, it creates the partitions correctly. However, when I run sysprep and boot into Win PE, the partitions get reversed. The C partition (where the OS should reside) becomes the D partition and vice versa. So now according to Win PE the OS is on the D partition. I tried capturing the D drive, but after deploying the image, Windows would not even start. Here is the disk configuration of my unattend.xml file. Anyone have any suggestions of what I maybe doing wrong? Going to give it another try.

CODE

- <DiskConfiguration>
- <Disk wcm:action="add">
- <CreatePartitions>
- <CreatePartition wcm:action="add">
  <Order>1</Order>
  <Size>20000</Size>
  <Type>Primary</Type>
  </CreatePartition>
- <CreatePartition wcm:action="add">
  <Order>2</Order>
  <Size>25000</Size>
  <Type>Primary</Type>
  </CreatePartition>
  </CreatePartitions>
- <ModifyPartitions>
- <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add">
  <Active>true</Active>
  <Extend>false</Extend>
  <Format>NTFS</Format>
  <Label>Vista_Install</Label>
  <Letter>C</Letter>
  <Order>1</Order>
  <PartitionID>1</PartitionID>
  </ModifyPartition>
- <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add">
  <Active>true</Active>
  <Extend>false</Extend>
  <Format>NTFS</Format>
  <Label>My All Data</Label>
  <Letter>D</Letter>
  <Order>2</Order>
  <PartitionID>2</PartitionID>
  </ModifyPartition>
  </ModifyPartitions>
  <DiskID>0</DiskID>
  <WillWipeDisk>true</WillWipeDisk>
  </Disk>
  <WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI>
  </DiskConfiguration>
- <ImageInstall>
- <OSImage>
- <InstallTo>
  <DiskID>0</DiskID>
  <PartitionID>1</PartitionID>
  </InstallTo>
  <WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI>

FireGeier

Oct 2 2006, 01:20 PM

@ Lemon Lime:

You are creating two primary partitions. Primary partitions are used for OS only usaly. Your data partition should be an extended one.

And you're setting both partitions to active. But you can just have one active partition on one drive at the same time. I guess that the partition ids are switched as soon as your My All Data partition is set to active. As result the Vista will installed on My All Data partition.

Martin

fizban2

Oct 2 2006, 01:41 PM

Martin is right,

if you want to make both partitions primary you cannot set the second one to active, it will be available but windows will not see it as a place to install too.

Lemon Lime

Oct 3 2006, 09:58 AM

Thanks Martin and Fizban for the help!

prognostic

Oct 5 2006, 06:11 PM

Wait...so has anyone successfully moved the location of Program Files?
I don't see the option in this version of WSIM? Has the XML parameter changed?

Saks

Oct 6 2006, 08:33 AM

I don't know guys if it is appropriate to ask here

, what is the equivalent of wpa.dbl in vista RC1?. I have installed vista and activated through internet. However, I have searched through the win32 dir in vista, there's no wpa.dbl

. Also, if an equivalent exists, where does it go in the DVD for unattended install and auto-activation on the same machine and on the same partition?

"Okay when you add the
CODE<ProgramFiles>G:\VistaApplications</ProgramFiles>
you get the error:
http://img126.imageshack.us/img126/2184/vp...obeerrorvi6.jpg"

Should it not be <ProgramData> instead of <ProgramFiles>?

McoreD

Oct 7 2006, 10:04 AM

QUOTE (Saks @ Oct 6 2006, 10:33 PM)

Should it not be <ProgramData> instead of <ProgramFiles>?

Changing ProgramData location is already possible. It's the ProgramFiles that is not possible.

McoreD

Oct 8 2006, 10:30 PM

This is from the latest RC2 WAIK:

still only these two Child Elements for Folder Locations that can customize

ProfilesDirectory
Specifies the path to the user profile folder.

ProgramData
Specifies the path to the program data folder.

no ProgramFiles yet. This turns out to be pretty bad. Doesn't look like Microsoft letting us change the ProgramFiles folder path.

prognostic

Oct 9 2006, 12:54 PM

Thanks for the update Mcore.

I agree this is in no way a good thing. Of all the things I found most beneficial when I started getting into unattended installs was moving the *PROGRAM FILES* directory.

It is just a matter of fact that it makes sense to seperate all of your program files/data and user data from the operating system files.

I haven't done an analysis of standard file sizes for Vista OS files yet but I did so in XP and that factored in to the cluster sizes I used on my NTFS partitions.

For instance:
C:\ 16kb clusters
D:\ 8kb clusters
E: default (4kb)

Not only does this measure prevent against fragmentation, it also speeds up performance and you never get your OS partition messy. I sure hope we can get something done about this because it is truely a crucial part of the image.

prognostic

Oct 10 2006, 02:14 PM

Has anyone looked into alternative methods than using WAIK? I know there was some fairly simple procedure to do this for XP...but I always just used nlite.

I'll bet if we looked around we could find a way to modify the image itself and repackage it or something.

prognostic

Oct 13 2006, 01:58 PM

yeah i cant find any other way to do this. i sent some feedback to Microsoft Connect, hopefully they'll shed some light on this.

McoreD

Nov 7 2006, 09:00 AM

Just checking if anybody has any update on this issue yet?

fizban2

Nov 7 2006, 12:06 PM

no updates so far sadly,

we most likely won't see anything till Vista RTMs, i would be within a week of RTM we will see the BDD available for download. till then nothing new will be seen

i think i am going into withdrawl already

prognostic

Nov 7 2006, 02:38 PM

this is a fairly crucial problem here..

i sent my feedback to Connect a while back and got a generic response.

the business edition RTMs today doesnt it...? i sure hope we can get this resolved...im already dreading switching from xp anyways.

McoreD

Nov 8 2006, 07:32 AM

Thanks fizban for still hanging there.

prognostic, I am really glad to find out that you are as keen as me trying to move ProgramFiles and keen Users, Program Files and WINDOWS in seperate partitions. We are a bit of a minority.

Our only hope is the RTM ISO to test.

Cheers.

prognostic

Nov 9 2006, 10:27 AM

Vista released to RTM, pray for new BDD.

Hey Mcore, I am with ya man.

I have never even seen a single guide discussing the benefits of seperating your windows directory and programs files on different partitions, which to me is somewhat strange considering that the benefits are actually quite dramatic. It's like when after a year or two without a reformat your computer starts to get a tad sluggish, no matter how clean you try to keep it - this is a large part of the solution.

The community for customizing unattended installs is continuing to grow; however to me, the single and most important thing in any install is seperation of these folders; and I think this is something that is often overlooked. Especially in the nLite community, everyone has their own reason on why they want to customize their install, remove unnecessary programs, create an image so they dont need to a RAID driver on a disk and FREAKING INSTALL A FLOPPY DRIVE, have registry and other tweaks preinstalled, etc, etc, but to me probably the single most important thing is this feature.

It's such a serious thing to me that I will NOT upgrade to Vista if I cannot use Multiple Partitions in the install.

Assuming we can ever get this resolved I intend to write a short guide on why people should do this and how it can really improve the performance and administration of your PC.

McoreD

Nov 9 2006, 10:58 PM

*clap* -- *clap*
I couldn't say it better prognostic.

Same here. It is a serious enough issue as well for me not to install Vista. I don't want to end up with 20 GiB Ghost images.

QUOTE (prognostic @ Nov 10 2006, 12:27 AM)

Assuming we can ever get this resolved I intend to write a short guide on why people should do this and how it can really improve the performance and administration of your PC.

A guide explaining WHY seperating partitions will be quite cool. In Linux we can mount /home to a different partition which is possible from the installer itself. Microsoft should offer us support like that. This whole thing is not quite common among many because winnt.sif is quite uncommon among the average Joe.

I was starting to write the benefits of doing so here:
http://wmwiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Ben...em_Folder_Paths

That's just a start. But if we can the public's mind open to this, Microsoft will hopefully offer support in the future.

maxXPsoft

Nov 11 2006, 07:58 AM

well I've never understood separating these things cause I use a totally different approach which work's for me and is not that hard to achieve.

Install everything to the C: or Windows/Progra Files as normal because most programs will want to go there anyways. Can backup that to a small image also.
ALL or any thing saved goes to a separate partition which I protect with backups, Acronis is a nice method and to me is much better than that WHO.

You can totally wipe the C: with a UA and restore with updated programs and point them where they need to store or retrieve their data. Fresh and clean

With Vista so far i see only ProfilesDirectory and ProgramData folders as being able to relocate. Haven't played with that much cause i don't use My Documents, all that goes elsewhere to the other partition.

McoreD

Nov 11 2006, 08:39 AM

QUOTE (maxXPsoft @ Nov 11 2006, 09:58 PM)

With Vista so far i see only ProfilesDirectory and ProgramData folders as being able to relocate. Haven't played with that much cause i don't use My Documents, all that goes elsewhere to the other partition.

That's the exact hassle, we are trying to prevent. Any modern coded application will attempt to default save documents to My Documents. Even if you have relocated My Documents path, you still have Favorites, Music and Pictures to relocate.

My current Windows + Program Files folders are over 20 GiB in Vista, trust me that is going to end up as a BIG image file.

prognostic

Nov 11 2006, 10:40 AM

QUOTE (maxXPsoft @ Nov 11 2006, 08:58 AM)

Install everything to the C: or Windows/Progra Files as normal because most programs will want to go there anyways.

You just described the exact problem. Every single program by default looks for your System's Program Files Dir, HOWEVER...this is NOT necessarily C:\Program Files. For example, many people let Windows XP install on C:\ and then install their Applications and Games on D:\ or perhaps even install Apps on D:\ Games on E:\.
However, If you had created a UA install, say with nLite, and modified it so that the Program Files dir was D:\Program Files, ALL the default programs that are installed with XP will have gone to this directory AND all future installs will automatically go there. This means you no longer have to manually switch the install directory on EVERY single application you install AND this means that if someone sits down on your computer and wants to install something upon which they fly through the install hitting next next next, it wont have slopped up your pretty OS partition.

This is precisely what we want to right off the bat fix with our Vista installs, not to mention many other advantages such as allowing for small OS partition, fragmentation preventation, generally keeping your system cleaner, etc.

QUOTE (McoreD @ Nov 11 2006, 09:39 AM)

My current Windows + Program Files folders are over 20 GiB in Vista, trust me that is going to end up as a BIG image file.

I am not running Vista right now because of our little problem, but if I remember correctly after I got done wiht the install, the amount of space it ate was like 4-5GB, thats outrageous (You can get a modified XP install down to about 400MB with virtually every feature you need still intact including necessary drivers). Just imagine in the future with big OS updates like directX and what not.

On my XP machine my OS partition is 5GB, just to be safe with Vista I would probably make it 15GB just to be safe...even if we are able to move Program Files dir.

Heres a quick low down on my model for partition setup:

-------------
C:\
Stores only one directory, Windows.
Also manages page file
Size: 10GB (I would go 15GB with Vista)
Cluster Size: 16KB
-------------
D:\
Stores Programs files and Documents and Settings (obviously this will change to Users and include ProgramData with Vista)
This partition stores
Size: 60GB
Cluster Size: 8KB
-------------
E:\
Stores all other data for that local machine. Everybody's data directory structure varies obviously.
Size: Whatever is left, bout 100GB for me
Cluster Size: 4KB (default)
-------------

This is actually somewhat controversal as I have never, ever, EVER seen a single person suggest this cluster size setup on any forum and as a matter of fact, to even set your drive up like this requires a somewhat tricky procedure.

I have however seen some people recommend using 64KB clusters, this used to be my philosophy back with 98, to go with the largest possible size, however, using clusters larger than 32KB can potentially be dangerous!! I have used 64KB clusters and THREE times I had gotten disk errors which had to be corrected with CHKDSK which can be somewhat of a hassle and should be avoided.

Why did I pick those sizes?
Do a search on your various drives and analyze the sizes of all the files on each partition, IE, search for files <4K, <8K, <16K, <32k. This will differ slightly for everyone but what I found was that the amount of files that are just under 16K for the Windows drive is the majority, not only that but a large majority are greater than 8K but <16K, implying for maximum performance point would be 16K.

Same thing on D:\, except I found 8K was the better spot than 16K.

And as far as E:\ goes I kept it default because IMO the performance boost of modified cluster sizes pertains best to OS (especially booting) and Program files and I also wanted to maximize the amount of storage.

Hope this is illuminating.

prognostic

Nov 11 2006, 11:13 AM

If anyone is reading this and finds my advise logical and is going to attempt this there is something you should heed concerning the setup of these partitions with different cluster sizes.

The cluster sizes I gave are what I use, ymmv, but I do advise you do not use 64K clusters as like I said I have gotten errors 3 times now on multiple PCs.

You may be wondering.."how am i going to change these cluster sizes"...you probably know that with Disk Management utility in Windows you can format any partition with whatever size you want....but...what about C:\, if you are like most people you have a 4K cluster size on C:\.

In the good ol' days with fdisk they let you change the cluster size, but with the XP install, you were stripped of that privilege

Any of the formatting options you pick at the Partition selection screen will result in the default (4K) cluster size.

"Can I use Partition Magic"
Nope, try it. If you use partition magic you will get disk read errors. You could however use it to size the partitions if you wanted and then follow the steps below.

"there is a format utility in recovery console...i can just use that."
No you cant, for some reason Microsoft deemed the ability to change cluster sizes unimportant and in the recovery console the "/A" paramater is missing from Format.

Solution:
1) Download Bart's PE (preinstalled environment) and follow the instructions for creating a boot CD...it is very simple and self explainitory.
2) Boot the CD and when you get in open CMD and "format C:\ /FS:NTFS /A:16K /X" (16K cluster size or whatever you feel is right for you)
- You are not done yet, as using this method appearantly destroys the MBR.
3) Put your Windows CD in, boot it, and when it asks you to "press r", press it launch the recovery console.
4) Once into the recovery console issue the following "FIXMBR" and "FIXBOOT"

Now you are good to go and you can install Windows properly without any errors.

McoreD

Nov 11 2006, 09:29 PM

Fantastic posts, prognastic. Adding to your guides/advices, I was thinking, having WINDOWS and ProgramFiles in two different partitions and also two different physical drivers, would increase more performance, because you will be effectively doubling the I/O rate?

For others who are new to this concept, hope these are good teasers:

For MCE users, really useful as well:

Very exciting stuff,
McoreD

urie

Nov 12 2006, 08:21 AM

QUOTE

I cant undestand anyone wanting to install programs on a seperate drive or partition unless they are stand alone a lot of programs add files to winows system, if you were to do another unattended install with a new cd or dvd and didn't add some of the programs you added before some of the previously installed programs will not work, this is ok for My Documents and data you need to keep i do that myselfe

footswitch

Nov 14 2006, 05:39 PM

EDIT: don't erase the original program files folder... the apps from Windows Vista RTM (like IE7, WMP11...) are installed with absolute paths, that is, when you click their links, you're trying to reach "%SystemDrive%\Program Files" and not %ProgramFiles% itself. But once you make the change in the registry, from that point on, everything gets installed by default to the new location.

Please note: this method wastes about 500 MB of disk space, due to the process of copying the Program Files folder and yet preserving the original one. But it works

Off-post: After Vista RTM'd, I've been trying to understand and work with the shiny brand new automation scheme. But I can't. It produces an error right before I can actually do something inside WAIK. Maybe WAIK can't handle the new RTM catalogs or something.

Regarding this matter (Program Files folder location):

As for today, Windows NT Program Files location setting is always changeable. This includes, of course, Windows Vista.

For those of you who want to personalise the Program Files folder location, there's a way to do it after installing Windows (this is the way I know. If someone knows how to do these operations for unattended install, that would be great of course!).

Steps:

1. Close as many processes as you can, or do this from another O.S. or use your HD as slave in another computer (personaly, I just close all my open windows, leaving Windows Explorer open and go on).

2. Copy ALL the files from C:\Program Files to any new location (NOTE: you may need to show hidden files and folders first: press the Alt key within the Explorer window; the standard menus appear; choose Tools --> Folder Options...; go to the "View" Tab; select radio button "Show hidden files and folders" and UNselect the option "Hide protected operating system files")
SECOND NOTE: be careful to choose a simple location (i.e. avoid something like "D:\Programs, Games and Windows pre-installed crap")

THIRD NOTE: you are free and advised to use a CRC check with this.... just to make sure everything went right. Try a web search for WinAFV32

3. After copying those files, open the registry (Run "regedt32")

Check the following keys:

CODE

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion

CommonFilesDir=E:\Program Files\Common Files
ProgramFilesDir=E:\Program Files

These keys tell windows where the program files folder is located. change them to the new location.

4. Reboot!

5. After rebooting successfully, ~~you can delete the old Program Files folder!~~ you're ready to go! --> Check this post's first paragraph.

Please comment what you think of this. It's what I've been using so far...
Any questions, feel free to ask and I'll try to help. Anyways I never had any problems with this workaround.

footswitch

fizban2

Nov 14 2006, 06:03 PM

QUOTE

After Vista RTM'd, I've been trying to understand and work with the shiny brand new automation scheme. But I can't. It produces an error right before I can actually do something inside WAIK. Maybe WAIK can't handle the new RTM catalogs or something.

you are right the WAIK are build specific (ie 6000 for rtm) so it will require the RTM of the Waik. should be out soon

footswitch

Nov 14 2006, 06:17 PM

QUOTE (fizban2 @ Nov 15 2006, 12:03 AM)

you are right the WAIK are build specific (ie 6000 for rtm) so it will require the RTM of the Waik. should be out soon

thanks pal! So I guess BDD "RTM" must be coming out soon... At least I hope so...

These comments about the Program Files folder are from earlier releases. As for now I have no clue if Vista RTM supports changing of the Program Files location in autounattend.xml, but I'll give it a try soon.

footswitch

EDIT: BDD 2007 Beta (v3.3) is still available on Connect. I'm afraid this means they're not ready to release RTM... Or who knows, really... Vista RC1 was officially available too after Vista RTM'd

EDIT2: Windows Automated Installation Kit RTM Now Available for Download !
view the article or check MS download page (other languages available).
credit: bink.nu

wng_z3r0

Nov 19 2006, 11:34 AM

Hi all!

Because of my msdn subscription, I have Vista x64 RTM (any version, but I am using ultimate right now)
I want to have my userprofile on my f:\ drive and my programfiles on my p:\ drive

I am willing to test out an XML file, but there's 1 caveat. I only have 1 dvd disc left. I would prefer to NOT have to buy more.

Here's how I want it laid out:
vista gets installed on disk0, partition 2 (where 1 is the first partition)
(I want to keep my xp 64 bit on partition 1 for now)

user profiles gets installed on disk0, partition 3
program files gets installed on disk1, partition 3

It is absolutely important that the other partitions do NOT get messed with.

wng

edit:
here is an image of my drive system:

fizban2

Nov 19 2006, 11:37 AM

QUOTE (wng_z3r0 @ Nov 19 2006, 11:34 AM)

Hi all!

Because of my msdn subscription, I have Vista x64 RTM (any version, but I am using ultimate right now)
I want to have my userprofile on my f:\ drive and my programfiles on my p:\ drive

I am willing to test out an XML file, but there's 1 caveat. I only have 1 dvd disc left. I would prefer to NOT have to buy more.

Here's how I want it laid out:
vista gets installed on disk0, partition 2 (where 1 is the first partition)
(I want to keep my xp 64 bit on partition 1 for now)

user profiles gets installed on disk1, partition 2
program files gets installed on disk1, partition 3

It is absolutely important that the other partitions do NOT get messed with.

wng

Build the ISO and test it in a virtual Machine, you should do this until you are 100% positive that you like how the Unattend file is working for you. download VPC 2007 from microsoft, it is in beta at connect.microsoft.com

wng_z3r0

Nov 19 2006, 11:49 AM

A good idea, but the xml files I have seen on this thread are for x86, and there is there one that works for program files?

McoreD

Nov 19 2006, 04:29 PM

wng_z3r0, things that you should be careful / know about:

If you have changed drive letters using Device Manager, they won't be the actual drive letters for Vista when you install Vista by booting DVD. So make sure your F:\ is actually F:\ and P:\ is really P:\

When you install Vista via DVD to a partition, that partition will be C:\ therefore all other partition letters will increment by one character.

AndyJD

Nov 19 2006, 08:38 PM

Thought I would post my sucess of using WAIK and in particular Windows System Image Manager to automate my install of Vista Ultimate, with the ProgramData and Users folders on different partitions. It' pretty much all automatic except for the 1st point below. It sure is a lot quicker

I can't get 2 things to work at the moment:

Still asks for network location (as mentioned earier in this topic by someone else
SearchScopes

I am sure I will figure it out though

CODE

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend">
    <settings pass="windowsPE">
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Setup" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <DiskConfiguration>
                <WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI>
                <Disk wcm:action="add">
                    <ModifyPartitions>
                        <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add">
                            <Active>true</Active>
                            <Extend>false</Extend>
                            <Format>NTFS</Format>
                            <Label>Vista</Label>
                            <Letter>C</Letter>
                            <Order>1</Order>
                            <PartitionID>1</PartitionID>
                        </ModifyPartition>
                        <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add">
                            <Active>false</Active>
                            <Label>Programs</Label>
                            <Letter>D</Letter>
                            <Order>2</Order>
                            <PartitionID>2</PartitionID>
                            <Extend>false</Extend>
                        </ModifyPartition>
                        <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add">
                            <Active>false</Active>
                            <Extend>false</Extend>
                            <Label>Games</Label>
                            <Letter>E</Letter>
                            <Order>3</Order>
                            <PartitionID>3</PartitionID>
                        </ModifyPartition>
                        <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add">
                            <Active>false</Active>
                            <Extend>false</Extend>
                            <Format>NTFS</Format>
                            <Label>Users</Label>
                            <Letter>F</Letter>
                            <Order>4</Order>
                            <PartitionID>4</PartitionID>
                        </ModifyPartition>
                    </ModifyPartitions>
                    <DiskID>0</DiskID>
                </Disk>
            </DiskConfiguration>
            <Display>
                <ColorDepth>32</ColorDepth>
                <HorizontalResolution>1280</HorizontalResolution>
                <RefreshRate>60</RefreshRate>
                <VerticalResolution>1024</VerticalResolution>
            </Display>
            <DynamicUpdate>
                <Enable>true</Enable>
            </DynamicUpdate>
            <ImageInstall>
                <OSImage>
                    <InstallFrom>
                        <Path>H:\install.wim</Path>
                    </InstallFrom>
                    <InstallTo>
                        <DiskID>0</DiskID>
                        <PartitionID>1</PartitionID>
                    </InstallTo>
                </OSImage>
            </ImageInstall>
            <UserData>
                <ProductKey>
                    <Key>ABCDE-FGHIJ-KLMNO-PQRST-UVWXY</Key>
                    <WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI>
                </ProductKey>
                <AcceptEula>true</AcceptEula>
                <FullName>My Name</FullName>
                <Organization>Home</Organization>
            </UserData>
        </component>
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-International-Core-WinPE" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <SetupUILanguage>
                <UILanguage>en-GB</UILanguage>
            </SetupUILanguage>
            <InputLocale>0809:00000809</InputLocale>
            <UILanguage>en-GB</UILanguage>
            <UserLocale>en-GB</UserLocale>
            <SystemLocale>en-GB</SystemLocale>
            <UILanguageFallback>en-GB</UILanguageFallback>
        </component>
    </settings>
    <settings pass="oobeSystem">
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <FolderLocations>
                <ProfilesDirectory>F:\Users</ProfilesDirectory>
                <ProgramData>D:\ProgramData</ProgramData>
            </FolderLocations>
            <OOBE>
                <HideEULAPage>true</HideEULAPage>
                <NetworkLocation>Home</NetworkLocation>
                <ProtectYourPC>1</ProtectYourPC>
                <SkipUserOOBE>true</SkipUserOOBE>
            </OOBE>
            <UserAccounts>
                <LocalAccounts>
                    <LocalAccount wcm:action="add">
                        <Password>
                            <Value>??????????</Value>
                            <PlainText>false</PlainText>
                        </Password>
                        <Description>Name 1</Description>
                        <DisplayName>Name 1</DisplayName>
                        <Group>Administrators</Group>
                        <Name>Name 1</Name>
                    </LocalAccount>
                    <LocalAccount wcm:action="add">
                        <Password>
                            <Value>??????????</Value>
                            <PlainText>false</PlainText>
                        </Password>
                        <Description>Name 2</Description>
                        <DisplayName>Name 2</DisplayName>
                        <Name>Name 2</Name>
                        <Group>Users</Group>
                    </LocalAccount>
                </LocalAccounts>
            </UserAccounts>
        </component>
    </settings>
    <settings pass="specialize">
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-UnattendedJoin" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <Identification>
                <JoinWorkgroup>workgroup</JoinWorkgroup>
            </Identification>
        </component>
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-International-Core" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <InputLocale>en-GB</InputLocale>
            <SystemLocale>en-GB</SystemLocale>
            <UILanguage>en-GB</UILanguage>
            <UILanguageFallback>en-GB</UILanguageFallback>
            <UserLocale>en-GB</UserLocale>
        </component>
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-IE-InternetExplorer" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <FavoritesList>
                <FavoriteItem wcm:action="add">
                    <FavTitle>MSFN - Where People Go To Know</FavTitle>
                    <FavURL>http://www.msfn.org/</FavURL>
                    <FavID>Favorite1</FavID>
                    <FavOffLine>true</FavOffLine>
                </FavoriteItem>
            </FavoritesList>
            <FeedList>
                <FeedItem wcm:action="add">
                    <FeedKey>Feed1</FeedKey>
                    <FeedURL>http://feeds.feedburner.com/msfn/DisI</FeedURL>
                    <FeedTitle>MSFN - Frontpage News</FeedTitle>
                </FeedItem>
            </FeedList>
            <SearchScopes>
                <Scope wcm:action="add">
                    <ScopeDefault>true</ScopeDefault>
                    <ScopeDisplayName>Google UK</ScopeDisplayName>
                    <ScopeKey>Google UK</ScopeKey>
                    <ScopeUrl>http://www.google.co.uk</ScopeUrl>
                </Scope>
                <Scope wcm:action="add">
                    <ScopeDisplayName>Google UK Images</ScopeDisplayName>
                    <ScopeKey>Google UK Images</ScopeKey>
                    <ScopeUrl>http://images.google.co.uk</ScopeUrl>
                </Scope>
                <Scope wcm:action="add">
                    <ScopeDisplayName>Windows Live</ScopeDisplayName>
                    <ScopeKey>Windows Live</ScopeKey>
                    <ScopeUrl>http://search.live.com</ScopeUrl>
                </Scope>
            </SearchScopes>
            <BlockPopups>yes</BlockPopups>
            <ShowInformationBar>true</ShowInformationBar>
            <Home_Page>about:blank</Home_Page>
        </component>
        <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
            <ComputerName>My Computer Name</ComputerName>
            <RegisteredOrganization>Home</RegisteredOrganization>
            <RegisteredOwner>My Name</RegisteredOwner>
            <TimeZone>GMT Standard Time</TimeZone>
        </component>
    </settings>
    <cpi:offlineImage cpi:source="wim:h:/install.wim#Windows Vista ULTIMATE" xmlns:cpi="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:cpi" />
</unattend>

wng_z3r0

Nov 20 2006, 07:55 PM

QUOTE (McoreD @ Nov 19 2006, 04:29 PM)

wng_z3r0, things that you should be careful / know about:

If you have changed drive letters using Device Manager, they won't be the actual drive letters for Vista when you install Vista by booting DVD. So make sure your F:\ is actually F:\ and P:\ is really P:\

When you install Vista via DVD to a partition, that partition will be C:\ therefore all other partition letters will increment by one character.

Ok, thanks. So I should just make a ton of dummy partitions to force the ones I want to be f and p?

McoreD

Nov 21 2006, 03:39 AM

You can boot from an attended DVD and get up to installation stage where you can see which partitions got which letters.

footswitch

Nov 23 2006, 04:16 PM

QUOTE (wng_z3r0 @ Nov 21 2006, 01:55 AM)

Ok, thanks. So I should just make a ton of dummy partitions to force the ones I want to be f and p?

nope, you can specify the letters you want. just change D, E or F to anything you want, like:

<ModifyPartition wcm:action="add">
<Active>false</Active>
<Label>Programs</Label>
<Letter>P</Letter>
<Order>2</Order>
<PartitionID>2</PartitionID>
<Format>NTFS</Format>
<Extend>false</Extend>
</ModifyPartition>

careful using the format option, it will erase the selected partition.

if you don't know your partitionID, just take a look at your disk's partitions in computer management.

my program files registry edition works. feel free to try it.

footswitch

hyde

Nov 26 2006, 02:33 AM

hey friends plz tell me where to paste the unattended.xml to my windows setup so that i can customise the installation process

wng_z3r0

Nov 26 2006, 09:39 PM

QUOTE (footswitch @ Nov 23 2006, 04:16 PM)

QUOTE (wng_z3r0 @ Nov 21 2006, 01:55 AM)

Ok, thanks. So I should just make a ton of dummy partitions to force the ones I want to be f and p?

nope, you can specify the letters you want. just change D, E or F to anything you want, like:

<ModifyPartition wcm:action="add">
<Active>false</Active>
<Label>Programs</Label>
<Letter>P</Letter>
<Order>2</Order>
<PartitionID>2</PartitionID>
<Format>NTFS</Format>
<Extend>false</Extend>
</ModifyPartition>

careful using the format option, it will erase the selected partition.

if you don't know your partitionID, just take a look at your disk's partitions in computer management.

my program files registry edition works. feel free to try it.

footswitch

Ok thanks!

footswitch

Nov 27 2006, 10:39 AM

QUOTE (hyde @ Nov 26 2006, 08:33 AM)

hey friends plz tell me where to paste the unattended.xml to my windows setup so that i can customise the installation process

hi there,
you have 3 options that i know of:

a ) place the file in the root of a USB pen drive and insert it BEFORE booting with the WinVista DVD;
b ) do the same thing but with a diskette;
c ) place the file in the root of your boot DVD.

good luck

wng_z3r0

Nov 27 2006, 01:30 PM

Ok, I tried this:
It installed, and now I have my two drives, BUT they just have folders in them (no files)

Also, on the partition where I installed vista, there is a users folder and a program files folder (filled)

any ideas?
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend">
<settings pass="oobeSystem">
<component name="Microsoft-Windows-Shell-Setup" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<FolderLocations>
<ProfilesDirectory>f:\</ProfilesDirectory>
<ProgramData>p:\</ProgramData>
</FolderLocations>
</component>
</settings>
<settings pass="windowsPE">
<component name="Microsoft-Windows-Setup" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<DiskConfiguration>
<Disk wcm:action="add">
<ModifyPartitions>
<ModifyPartition wcm:action="modify">
<Active>false</Active>
<Extend>false</Extend>
<Format>NTFS</Format>
<Label>vista F drive</Label>
<Letter>F</Letter>
<Order>1</Order>
<PartitionID>2</PartitionID>
</ModifyPartition>
<ModifyPartition wcm:action="modify">
<Order>2</Order>
<Active>false</Active>
<Extend>false</Extend>
<Format>NTFS</Format>
<Label>vista P drive</Label>
<Letter>P</Letter>
<PartitionID>3</PartitionID>
</ModifyPartition>
</ModifyPartitions>
<DiskID>0</DiskID>
<WillWipeDisk>false</WillWipeDisk>
</Disk>
<WillShowUI>Always</WillShowUI>
</DiskConfiguration>
</component>
</settings>
<cpi:offlineImage cpi:source="wim:p:/vista/vista_x64/sources/install.wim#Windows Vista ULTIMATE" xmlns:cpi="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:cpi" />
</unattend>

wng_z3r0

Nov 27 2006, 02:51 PM

bah forget it.

I just installed the regular way and then used symbolic links.

Works now

footswitch

Nov 27 2006, 06:55 PM

wng_z3r0: Strange... wonder if the xml file must have the exact installation order... (you could try putting oobesystem AFTER windowspe)
I took a look at your file and mine is similar to it, and it worked.

QUOTE (wng_z3r0 @ Nov 27 2006, 08:51 PM)

bah forget it.

I just installed the regular way and then used symbolic links.

Works now

Are you sure of that? I mean, that doesn't change at all where your files are located. Best case changes where files WILL be located from now on, right?

Anyways, I never used symlinks... but can you tell me what's your point on that method?

Thanks