"Program Files" directory problem

[CyberPhunk]

Hmm, having some issues here. Trying to setup WinXP Pro to install "program files" and "documents and settings" directories on drives separate from the OS files. "Docs and settings" works just fine, but every time I build the disk, "Program Files" is installed on the c: drive.

Any ideas?

Last build all I did was slipstream SP3 and change the directories.

*edit*

Wasn't sure which session ini file to include, so added both

LAST SESSION.INI

Edited June 1, 2010 by CyberPhunk

[johnhc]

Hmm, having some issues here. Trying to setup WinXP Pro to install "program files" and "documents and settings" directories on drives separate from the OS files. "Docs and settings" works just fine, but every time I build the disk, "Program Files" is installed on the c: drive.

Any ideas?

Last build all I did was slipstream SP3 and change the directories.

*edit*

Wasn't sure which session ini file to include, so added both

CyberPhunk, please look in your I386 folder of your nLited folder and find a file called winnt.sif. Open it with notepad and look for ProgramFilesDir keyword and see if your value is set. You can post this data if you like, but be sure it does not contain any private information. Do you really have an E disk? Is it formated in NTFS? Have you run nLite more than once against the same source folder? You should always start with a fresh copy of your original CD files/folders and run nLite only one time. Enjoy, John.

[CyberPhunk]

Hmm, having some issues here. Trying to setup WinXP Pro to install "program files" and "documents and settings" directories on drives separate from the OS files. "Docs and settings" works just fine, but every time I build the disk, "Program Files" is installed on the c: drive.

Any ideas?

Last build all I did was slipstream SP3 and change the directories.

*edit*

Wasn't sure which session ini file to include, so added both

CyberPhunk, please look in your I386 folder of your nLited folder and find a file called winnt.sif. Open it with notepad and look for ProgramFilesDir keyword and see if your value is set. You can post this data if you like, but be sure it does not contain any private information. Do you really have an E disk? Is it formated in NTFS? Have you run nLite more than once against the same source folder? You should always start with a fresh copy of your original CD files/folders and run nLite only one time. Enjoy, John.

The hard drive is separated into four partitions, primary for the OS and three logical for swap file, programs and settings, and storage. All 4 are formatted as NTFS. I've been using a new copy of the install files each time. Found the file, and it seems it is saving my settings, but not applying them.

Tried a new attempt with just the WinXP pro disk and the directory changes. Still didn't work. The lastsession.ini from that attempt is attached.

Maybe those with more experience could figure it out.

WINNT.SIF

LAST SESSION.INI

Edited June 1, 2010 by CyberPhunk

[johnhc]

CyberPhunk, I am not getting much traction here. I am curious why you are using GUI Attended for Unattended Mode? Please try it with the Unattended Mode set to Fully Automatic. Also, take a look at the Help (? in circle) next to the Unattended Mode pull down. Enjoy, John.

[Ponch]

I'd try creating the folders on E: and F: and see if XP uses them. I once used that option but I can't remember having such problem.

[Kelsenellenelvian]

May I make a small suggestion?

You save\gain nothing by haveing the swapfile on a seperate partition in the same drive. (Maybe even loose performance)

You idealy want it on a differetn drive.

[cluberti]

There's nothing wrong with your winnt.sif (CommonProgramFilesDir and ProgramFilesDir in [unattend]), and there aren't any typos that I can find. However, I'm wondering what would happen if you first booted to a WinPE environment, formatted, partitioned, and assigned drive letters to the disk, and THEN ran winnt32 /debug4 /dudisable /makelocalsource /unattend:<path to unattend.txt> (unattend.txt is the same format of winnt.sif, you could copy your existing .sif file and then rename to unattend.txt). It should work (there would presumably be an E: drive before setup starts), but if not there would be a winnt32.log in %windir% that would say why it didn't.

[CyberPhunk]

I'd try creating the folders on E: and F: and see if XP uses them. I once used that option but I can't remember having such problem.

Will give this an attempt, can't hurt.

CyberPhunk, I am not getting much traction here. I am curious why you are using GUI Attended for Unattended Mode? Please try it with the Unattended Mode set to Fully Automatic. Also, take a look at the Help (? in circle) next to the Unattended Mode pull down. Enjoy, John.

I'll try fully unattended next attempt. I was going with GUI because I wasn't sure if the drivers for my sata drives were getting integrated correctly or not. If it works, then I'll go through the process of trimming it down a bit and finish this process finally.

[CyberPhunk]

I'd try creating the folders on E: and F: and see if XP uses them. I once used that option but I can't remember having such problem.

Will give this an attempt, can't hurt.

CyberPhunk, I am not getting much traction here. I am curious why you are using GUI Attended for Unattended Mode? Please try it with the Unattended Mode set to Fully Automatic. Also, take a look at the Help (? in circle) next to the Unattended Mode pull down. Enjoy, John.

I'll try fully unattended next attempt. I was going with GUI because I wasn't sure if the drivers for my sata drives were getting integrated correctly or not. If it works, then I'll go through the process of trimming it down a bit and finish this process finally.

Yay, one of those options worked. "Program Files" and "Documents and Settings" are both now on the E: drive.

The only issue I had was that even though I had set it up to run totally autonomously I still had to input some of the settings manually during install and not all of the settings were implemented. I'm not complaining though, because the major issue has been fixed.

[johnhc]

Yay, one of those options worked. "Program Files" and "Documents and Settings" are both now on the E: drive.

The only issue I had was that even though I had set it up to run totally autonomously I still had to input some of the settings manually during install and not all of the settings were implemented. I'm not complaining though, because the major issue has been fixed.

CyberPhunk, glad to hear the paths are working for you. I do a Fully Automatic install, specifying all my settings and I receive no request for data during install and all my settings are applied. Please ask specific questions and attach your latest Last Session if you want further help. Enjoy, John.

[CyberPhunk]

Yay, one of those options worked. "Program Files" and "Documents and Settings" are both now on the E: drive.

The only issue I had was that even though I had set it up to run totally autonomously I still had to input some of the settings manually during install and not all of the settings were implemented. I'm not complaining though, because the major issue has been fixed.

CyberPhunk, glad to hear the paths are working for you. I do a Fully Automatic install, specifying all my settings and I receive no request for data during install and all my settings are applied. Please ask specific questions and attach your latest Last Session if you want further help. Enjoy, John.

'K, will do.

This is the last session file for the install that finally got the paths to work. I'm pretty sure I set it up to run fully automatically, but I had to set the time zone, User info, and a couple others I can't recall atm.

Any idea as to why it didn't run automatically?

LAST SESSION.INI

Edited June 6, 2010 by CyberPhunk

[johnhc]

'K, will do.

This is the last session file for the install that finally got the paths to work. I'm pretty sure I set it up to run fully automatically, but I had to set the time zone, User info, and a couple others I can't recall atm.

Any idea as to why it didn't run automatically?

CyberPhunk, I can't see anything obvious, but I cannot see several things, such as your creating a user account. You can post your Last Session_U.ini, but please purge it of your key and all other private information. Earlier, I asked if you had run nLite more than once. Running nLite more than once against the same source can definitely lead to your symptoms. Please see my earlier post. Enjoy, John.

[CyberPhunk]

'K, will do.

This is the last session file for the install that finally got the paths to work. I'm pretty sure I set it up to run fully automatically, but I had to set the time zone, User info, and a couple others I can't recall atm.

Any idea as to why it didn't run automatically?

CyberPhunk, I can't see anything obvious, but I cannot see several things, such as your creating a user account. You can post your Last Session_U.ini, but please purge it of your key and all other private information. Earlier, I asked if you had run nLite more than once. Running nLite more than once against the same source can definitely lead to your symptoms. Please see my earlier post. Enjoy, John.

Every time I started out to run nLite I copied the source files off the WinXP install disk. I'll edit my last session_U and post it.

*edit*

There ya go.

LAST SESSION_U.INI

Edited June 8, 2010 by CyberPhunk

[Ponch]

It could be the user name being the same as the owner name. See end of this post.

[johnhc]

Every time I started out to run nLite I copied the source files off the WinXP install disk. I'll edit my last session_U and post it.

*edit*

There ya go.

CyberPhunk, I see no time zone in your _u.ini file, so I assume you did not set it. It should be set on the Regional tab of the Unattended Task. I also see that you have removed the Administrator account. Don't know if this is a problem or not, but I always leave it there. There are also some False parameters in the _u.ini file that are different from mine. I don't know what these refer to, but look at all your User definitions and make sure they are properly filled out. I also Auto-Login my new account with administrator privileges. Enjoy, John.