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MarcJ

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  1. Ok, I toyed around and got the snipping tool to work. During my toying around, I discovered that if I created my own shortcut and then selected "properties", then the "shortcut" tab, then "advanced", and then selected "Run as administrator" that the tool would work. **BUT* if you *ever* attempt to run it from the start menu as normal, it won't work until you log out and back in. So, to prevent that from happening, I just went to C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories and deleted the original start menu shortcut and replaced it with my own shortcut that had run as administrator privileges. I also placed my shortcut in the quick launch tray. Strangely enough, I could never make the original start menu shortcut work even running as admin. So, now, no matter what I do, snipping tool works. I'm still not sure why it wasn't working though.
  2. Here is some more info on the Snipping Tool issue. On Vista Business, logged in to the local Admin account, snipping tool works fine. Logged in as any othe user (even one that has been added to the local admins group), snipping tool gives an error. Even right clicking the shortcut in the start menu and running as administrator fails. Interestingly enough though, I manually copied a shortcut to my quicklaunch tray, and I changed the properties of it to run as administrator and it works! I have no idea why. Well, just went back to double check everything and now it won't run again. I have no idea what is up with this tool. Maybe it's the video drivers???
  3. MarcJ

    vLite 1.0 beta - OMG

    I have the same problem. If I try to create a share by selecting the properties of a folder, click the "sharing" tab, then click "advanced sharing", click "Share This Folder", then click "Apply", I get "Unkown Error 0x00000154". If I right click on "Network" and select properties, under "Sharing and Discovery", File sharing is "Off". If I then select "Turn on file sharing" then click "Apply" I get "The specified service does not exist as an installed service."
  4. About three weeks ago, I ordered some new Dell systems and got my hands on some new OEM Vista DVD's. The same week, I received my Vista Upgrade DVD's from some Dell purchases that I made at the end of last year. Having the perfect unattended XP install, I figured Vista would be so much easier because of the changes MS made to the setup process. Well, in many ways, it was easier, but in some it is just a big pain the rear end. First off, I was naming my xml config file autounattended.xml because I copied the name from a post here on the MSFN forums. It wouldn't work to save my life, then I went DUH, the actual filename should be autounattend.xml. Then I had the dreaded "new user prompt". These systems will be on a Domain, so I have absolutely no reason in the world to create a new gimped Admin account. Around this time I also began using WAIK. After taking every suggestion and idea that I found on the Internet, the thought occurred to me that maybe it's my OEM DVD. Sure enough, the OEM DVD performs a sysprep automatically, which forces OOBE to ask for a new user on reboot. Once I figured that out, I switched to my Upgrade DVD since it doesn't have all of the OEM junk on it. Things started looking up. The only battle left was to figure out what was causing the unattended install to fail. Well, first off, even if WAIK verifies your xml file as good, the <diskconfiguration> section can still be screwed up. I had a 160GB HD that I wanted to make the first partition 50GB and active, then create the second partition and extend it to the rest of the HD. Sounded good in theory, and it works well....once you get the xml *exactly* like it wants to be. My next problem was that I had to track down specific errors in the *verified* xml. The first one was the tag <EnableFirewall> in the PE portion. This would cause an error EVERY time. So I took that out. Next was the <ShowMediaCenter> tag, so I took that out. Let me just say this, if the XML verifies and setup sees something it doesn't recognize or isn't supported by the particular version of Vista that is being installed, setup should just skip that section and continue running, NOT error out. To do so is just plain STUPID. My next issue came when trying to install Applications. I first tried the "Distribution Share" method and didn't like it at all because I didn't want to copy the contents to the HD before installing them. I then ran across FierGier's post about setting up a global path variable and installing that way. Off I went to try that method. It wouldn't run the applications to save my life. Then I read about others with the same issue and saw that someone used a run.cmd file and everything worked. Third time's the charm right?? The run.cmd method worked great for me. Next, all I needed was to get my tweaks into the "default user" profile. Lot's easier said than done. Unlike good ole XP which installs reg entries ran from RunOnce.exe into the default user hive, Vista has other plans. To get changes to the default user, Vista says we have to sysprep the system. Sysprep will disable the builtin administrator account (which we worked our behind off to enable in the first place without creating a new account), and copy all the changes to the default user using <copy profile>. Upon reboot, you get to answer all of the OOBE questions again and create an account, but they can be answered with another xml answer file. But wait...did you just say we have to create an account *AND* the builtin administrator is disabled again?? This is where I call bulls*** and say *having* to use sysprep is not an acceptable method for getting changes to the default user profile. First off, like I said before, I do NOT need to create a gimp admin account and I shouldn't have to. I already answered all the OOBE questions previously in the setup and shouldn't have to go thru them again simply because I had to run sysprep. After some thought, I decided on a much older method of achieving my goals. Instead of having to use sysprep to get my changes to the default user profile, I copy a reg file with my tweaks to the default user desktop. Then I copy a cmd file to the default user's Start Menu/Startup. This cmd file fires up, imports my regtweaks, does whatever other cleanup routines I need, then deletes itself. It runs for all new users created and I didn't have to mess with sysprep. I give the new Vista method of unattended installs 8 out of 10. It is simpler than the XP method but is still a little buggy and waaay too finicky. Sometimes the USB stick drivers don't get loaded so nothing custom gets ran so you have to reboot and try it again. Sometimes it will just fail for no reason and a simple reboot is required to fire it off again. Sometimes it will complete the "copying files" section and show a green check mark and just hang there forever (well at least for overnight, I didn't want to wait to see if it was actually forever). Again, a reboot will fix it and it'll go on its merry way the next time.
  5. It's the background image with all of the grey lines.
  6. It just means enter the string that represents the path to the icon you want to use in the IconPath key. If you don't care what the icon looks like, just ignore it. I use the regtweak during setup and it works great.
  7. The Dell OEM DVD won't work. Dell already has an OOBE.xml file running and some other things are happening. I couldn't get autologin to work either with the OEM DVD. Once I switched to the Upgrade DVD things started working better.
  8. The run.cmd works ok for me. Do you install your apps off DVD or do you use a USB stick? I'm using a stick. I have random times that it won't work...using the exact same stick, system, and isntall DVD. The only thing that changes is that I edit the reg file that I import. But sometimes it can't set the diskconfiguration, and I just had it give an error that says can display images used in setup. Earlier today, the install appeared to go perfectly but even the run.cmd file didn't execute. This is on a brand new Dell Dimension E520 that I opened so it's not a weird system. A reboot or two gets it working. I'm wondering if there is something flakey with the USB stick being read. I haven't removed the install DVD in days so it's not a media issue.
  9. Good to hear they don't matter. I wasn't sure because I tried everything to get FirstLogonCommands to work.
  10. Manually edit your autounattend.xml to fix the quotes around your command. It *may* not matter but Vista is so picky about everything else, it might make a difference. I know that WAIK puts it in there like that. should be this
  11. I changed this to: cmd /c "FOR %i IN (C D E F G H I J K L N M O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z) DO IF EXIST %i:\AppsRoot.txt SETX AppsRoot %i: -m" I took out the \ after the drive letter so that commands look cleaner like %AppsRoot%\Install\WPI\WPI.hta I don't understand it either why it's not working properly. I'm using Vista Business from an Upgrade DVD but doing a clean install with it.
  12. I used your method first FireGeier and it would not work no matter what I did. There were no errors in the setuplog and the setuplog even showed the proper commands being issued. I then tried stellarzork's method using the run.cmd file and it worked like a charm. I agree with you FireGeier, there should be no difference between those two methods really. If the run.cmd file is getting executed, so should any other FirstLogonCommands. The only thing I can think of is that maybe when using your method on our machines, the application install never completes before setup continues. But, by using the run.cmd, setup is halted by the open cmd window, allowing the installs to complete.
  13. Shouldn't your install path be this: %AppsRoot%\install and not this: %AppsRoot%install If not, then your regedit line is wrong.
  14. And the answer is: It seems to be the OEM reinstall disc that is causing the prompt for Username. I tried the same xml file with my Upgrade disc and it all worked like it was supposed to. I'm guessing the OEM reinstall runs some extra stuff that does a reseal that forces OOBE on next boot.
  15. I don't know what version of Vista you are installing but I'm nearly 99% sure it's the <ShowMediaCenter> tag that is stopping your install. The XML will still validate with WAIK but the install will fail at the OOBE pass. Now, that being said, it only fails for me when trying to install Vista Business. I haven't tried to automate Ultimate or Home yet. I'm guessing it's because the Business version has no idea what MediaCenter is. Another tag that won't work for me is the <EnableFirewall>False</EnableFirewall> in the WindowsPE pass.
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