Rob325

is it possible to specify a path for the entry in cmdlines.txt other than the below [COMMANDS] "RunOnceEx.cmd" and change it to e.g [COMMANDS] "c:\RunOnceEx.cmd" the reason I ask is that I want to use different templates for different desktops/laptops etc and was going to create a custom boot sector which called a batch file to prompt the user to specify which type of hardware or which build they wanted and it would then copy a runonceex.cmd tailored for that purpose from a 'templates' folder on the cd to the c: drive which would then be processed as normal

Having wrestled with the dilema of how to get everything onto a CD for a corporate build and discovering that Office97 sr1 was 350-odd Mb and the sr2 package was about 80mb, I decided to try repackaging it using the SMS Installer from SMS v2.0. The whole thing, including the SR2 update came in at a CD-friendly 47Mb - what's more, it installed in under 20 seconds. I know that not everyone has access to repackaging tools, but last time I googled there were some free / cheap ones available and it's worth considering if space/time is at a premium.

sorry - looking at your post again you can launch setup with various switches and define a path to the sif unfortunately I can't get a budget code assigned to this work yet where i work so I'm doing it (slowly) in my spare time which is taking forver. If you can hang on I'll post up a working script. I'll also dig for any usefull syntaxes you'll need.

in the process of doing it myself. Basically my autoexec.bat calls env_config.bat which has 2 main purposes: 1) ask what size hdd so it can configure the corporate specified partition sizes then pass this to gdisk (symantec's CLI fdisk equivalent) 2) asks for the computername to pass back to setup Item 1 is fairly straightforward and wasn't asked for so I'll not go into that here. Item 2 runs pretty much like this: Sets up RAMDrive as eg: drive R: Copy winnt.sif to r: drive Display explanatory text asking for asset number in required format ie "Please enter the 6-character tag ie. PC12345" Take inputted characters and enter into r:\winnt.sif Exit back to autoexec.bat to launch setup using r:\winnt.sif as the answer file This is obviously a high level overview which you have probably already figured out (apologies if this is the case). Once I've got a working script I'll post it up. This feature has so many possibilities eg: adding computer to domain after specifying name having various 'template' winnt.sif files and copy whichever one fits to the r: drive before adding the computer name I've yet to attempt to use template runonceex files in a simliar manner as i'm not sure if it would be possible to modify them then call them. Thinking about it, you could do that by: using the pre-setup script AFTER creating the various partitions specify which runonceex file you want and copy it to the c: drive and have cmdlines.txt look at the c: drive rather than copy it over during oempreinstall. This would allow for some hardware variances in your runonceex (ie applying mobile office software for laptops but not for desktops) or you could do this by setting flag files and using runonceex to call a cmd which does an 'if exist' query.. hmmmmm...... sorry for going off on a unrelated ramble by the way - it happens all the time when i start thinking of things.........

I integrated the rollup patch OK on win2k (showed in cpanel ok anyway) Maybe worth double checking the section on type 1 and type 2 hotfixes: http://unattended.msfn.org/beginner/hotfix/svcpack.htm My svcpack.inf looks like this: [SetupHotfixesToRun] 2krollup.exe /Q /O /N /Z ms02_009.exe /Q:A /R:N ms05_024.exe /Q /O /N /Z ms05_026.exe /Q /O /N /Z ms05_027.exe /Q /O /N /Z ms05_032.exe /Q /O /N /Z ms05_036.exe /Q /O /N /Z ms05_038.exe /Q /O /N /Z ms05_039.exe /Q /O /N /Z ms05_041.exe /Q /O /N /Z ms05_042.exe /Q /O /N /Z ms05_043.exe /Q /O /N /Z qchain.exe note that the rollup patch has been renamed to 2krollup to appear first on the list (must be in numerical order) I've also noticed that some of my own aren't integrating - which is something I now need to look at.......... by the way - do you have any quick links on integrating ie6+sp1 and dx9 into win2k? I googled and all it came up with was some hfslip thing........

fyi - I've tried for the last couple of days to get this to work on win2k but it doesn't want to play, Guess it's not supported??

if you read through the entire guide it answers all your questions. I would have been asking the same questions if i hadn't read that guide

http://unattended.msfn.org/

even if it doesn't allow you to create multiple partitions on the same disk, you can use it to create the c partition of a fixed size leaving the remainder as unpartitioned space. You could then use diskpart via RunOnceEx to create the other partitions in the unpartitioned space. I'll have a play with this later

thanks - I'll give it a go

having extensively searched the forums, the only reference being my last post on the subject, I have been trying to work out the following: I've extracted the bootimage bin file from boot.img (that comes with cdimage.exe) and have been left with image1.bin. How do I now unpack image1.bin to get at the files within? I want to be able to modify autoexec.bat and add my own script to create partitions using fdisk WimImage won't do anything with the bin file - I've read the help files and website and used the wizard but all to no avail. Am I barking up the wrong tree? Should I just go to bootdisk.com and get a standard disk from there then modify that and create a new boot.img using winimage? Am well and truly confused........

created my basic UA with the drivers from the Intel 915G CD that came with the workstation - everything installed OK (yes I copied the infs to the \\$$\INF as required and it would install all the chipset drivers except for the USB root hub. Downloaded the latest ones of the intel site and bob's yer muvva's bruvva I guess there's a lesson to be learned there somewhere.......

I've been looking at this as well - i need to set up a c, d and s partition. Tried looking at diskpart running as a RunOnceEx, but it can't handle splitting an existing partition which takes up an entire disk. Another option may be a freeware partition manager utility (which I'm saving as a last resort). What I'm intending to do is to break apart the boot.img used with cdimage, and edit it so that in the autoexec.bat fdisk runs and removes all existing partitions, then creates the ones I want. I've currently extracted boot.img using BBIE and am trying to figure out how to unpack image1.bin that BBIE has given me - any thoughts anyone?

well, the Windows 2000 Guide To Unattended Setup which comes from the CD lists DriverSigningPolicy as the second option on the list of available entries for the [unattended] section, and oempnpdriverspath is waaay down the list. On the basis of this, I'm going to put Signing policy above pnpdriverspath

a suggestion on the unattended guide is to install them as a guirunonce or runonceex after the main installation not a very elegant solution perhaps, but the alternative is to get an Ithaca Mag 10 and persuade the driver writers to release infs. May not do your long term prospects much good though........

almost certainly - do some digging and let us know I'll be doing Outlook 2000 soon (we run word/excel/pwrpnt 97 but ol2k - get that for management policies.......)

How do I unpack and repack the boot.img to include my own files and modify the existing ones? I've done some searching and found that I'll need Bart's Boot Image extractor or similar, but how do I re-create the boot.img? Thanks

right - have just done a quick version and it seems to work ok (some tweaking needed but the principle is there) 1. Run office setup by using the command setup /a to create an install point. Follow the on screen prompts to create a network installable but save it to your C: drive. The process actually creates 2 folders; the main install folder (which I called c:\Office97 and an apps folder which I set to c:\Office97_2 (imaginative I know....). Don't know if it causes problems renaming from the default but the install seemed to work.... 2. Get hold of the Office Resource Kit from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...&displaylang=en which is a help file. Browse the 'Client installation tools' part of the help file and follow the hyperlink to download and run the Network Installation Wizard (setupNIW.exe) 3. Install the NIW, and run it. Follow the on screen prompts (is fairly self explanatory) to define what components you want installed, what desktop and start menu icons etc and where the install point files are (in my case it was c:\office97) The lst file should be saved as the default custom.lst under the \custom\ folder 4. To test, cut the two folders to a CDRW, and run it on a clean machine. 5. The command line to use will be something like: d:\office97\setup.exe /l custom\custom.lst /b2 /qt and this line forces a totally quiet install (ie you don't even know the thing is installing if it weren't for the cd drive light flashing...!) play around with the switches - a full list is at: http://support.microsoft.com/?id=818555 as the totally quiet install may not work well with RunOnceEx or similar. Note - even though I specified not to reboot at the end of the NIW, it still rebooted. This may be becuase of an incorrect switch on the command line which over-rode the lst file. i haven't bothered sorting it out, it's friday afternoon and time to go home! I'll mess about with it on monday.... Hope this helps. Rob

right - have just done a quick version and it seems to work ok (some tweaking needed but the principle is there) 1. Run office setup by using the command setup /a to create an install point. Follow the on screen prompts to create a network installable but save it to your C: drive. The process actually creates 2 folders; the main install folder (which I called c:\Office97 and an apps folder which I set to c:\Office97_2 (imaginative I know....). Don't know if it causes problems renaming from the default but the install seemed to work.... 2. Get hold of the Office Resource Kit from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...&displaylang=en which is a help file. Browse the 'Client installation tools' part of the help file and follow the hyperlink to download and run the Network Installation Wizard (setupNIW.exe) 3. Install the NIW, and run it. Follow the on screen prompts (is fairly self explanatory) to define what components you want installed, what desktop and start menu icons etc and where the install point files are (in my case it was c:\office97) The lst file should be saved as the default custom.lst under the \custom\ folder 4. To test, cut the two folders to a CDRW, and run it on a clean machine. 5. The command line to use will be something like: d:\office97\setup.exe /l custom\custom.lst /b2 /qt and this line forces a totally quiet install (ie you don't even know the thing is installing if it weren't for the cd drive light flashing...!) play around with the switches - a full list is at: http://support.microsoft.com/?id=818555 as the totally quiet install may not work well with RunOnceEx or similar. Note - even though I specified not to reboot at the end of the NIW, it still rebooted. This may be becuase of an incorrect switch on the command line which over-rode the lst file. i haven't bothered sorting it out, it's friday afternoon and time to go home! I'll mess about with it on monday.... Hope this helps. Rob

thanks for that guys - I'm going to go the full unattended install route for the field engineers to use, and create a per-machine sysprep image to mail off to the pc supplier who preimage at factory

thanks I've also found out that sysprep requires the same storage controller types - so presumably wouldn't work between an IDE and SATA......

the only method I can think of (and the only one I've seen working) is to create a ram drive, copy the winnt.sif to the ram drive, write a batch script which prompts the user for the machine name and writes it back to the winnt.sif I'll be looking at doing this myself once the rest of the CD has been created (don't hold your breath!)

I've found out some bits of info and have posted in this thread http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...75entry382575 suggest we just use the one thread?

this does seem to be possible - there's another post on this forum section asking the same thing with no answer (but a promise of help) It does seem to be possible, you can run a setup /a which does an admin install, and then you need to creat a .lst file which from what I gather is the same as an answer file. Below I have copied some snippets I've found on the wild web which may be of help. I'm looking at doing this myself as well as we still use the old beast 97. I'll let you know if I have any luck. Copied from other sites: -------------------------- Office 97 is scriptable by creating an administrative install (setup -a), running the Custom Installation Wizard from the Office 97 Resource Kit and then patching the administrative install directories to SR2B. ***************************************************** For example, d:\msoffice\setup.exe /l custom\custom.lst /b2 /qt is a command to launch the custom installation of Office 97. *****************************************************

I'm trying to determine the best route for our corporate desktop build. It's win2k and has an absoloute load of little registry tweaks, apps etc. which would make a full unattended install too slow (probably) and fairly complex (but i don't mind creating it if necessary) Sysprepped ghost would be the fastest install, but we have about 6 desktops and 4 laptops mostly by different manufacturers. Concentrating on the desktops, the main models are intel 845/865/915 , single processor, variable disks from 20gb to 60gb or so. I have read that sysprep doesn't work with different HALs - and the main question is: is the HAL dependant on the motherboard chipset? Ultimately what I'm asking is can i use an unattended sysprepped build (with all the drivers added into $oem$ / oempnpdriverspath etc on those 3 models of motherboard? My goals are: 1) speed and simplicity of reimaging desktop for field engineers 2) ease of build maintenance for me (one big build with all drivers) 3) compliant with M$ policy (at the moment we use cloned images not sysprepped - not the ideal soln. (don't laugh!)) HDD config isn't a problem - we don't use a lot of local space, so i can configure the setup for the smallest drive and just waste space on the bigger ones no worries there. Thanks and sorry if this has been answered before repeatedly, I've done some searching and there appear to be conflicting answers. Rob