cmdlines.txt on floppy

[dansar]

Hi

I use standard XP Pro CD with Winnt.sif on a Floppy.

Is there any way to put cmdlines.txt on the drive A: ?

What I want to do, it's to put also a Tweak reg on the floppy,

and run it from the cmdlines.txt.

Is-it possible to indicate the path in Winnt.sif ?

Thanks a lot for your help.

[big_gie]

Think you won't be able to put cmdline.txt on a floppy. But you could put inside this .txt a line calling a batch file on a floppy...

[wolfshade]

Just an ideea : u don't need winnt.sif on a floppy since u can do it with batch files: Put an entry somewhere(winnt.sif, cmdlines etc.) for an generalised batch that is on floppy or HDD(make sure that the path would be the same so floppy would be more like it) and make the entries there for anymore batches u would use for anything like start /wait batch1.cmd start /wait batch2.cmd etc.

It is a good programming practice to split u're tasks apart if u are constantly editing u're postinstalls.

[dansar]

Thanks for yours answers,

Like I said, I use standard XP Pro CD, and Winnt.sif on floppy.

If in my Winnt.sif file, I put :

[Unattended]
      OemFilesPath="A:\$OEM$"

, is this going to work ?

(For this, I don't want to change any file in the CD)

[wolfshade]

Heres what the reference file says (you can find it in deploy.cab on your windows cd if u didn't find it allready -- it contains all sintax explanation) :

"Value: path_to_$OEM$_folder

Specifies the path to the \$OEM$ folder (containing OEM files) if it does not exist under the i386 folder of the distribution share point. The path can be a UNC(Universal Naming Convention) name. Enclose path_to_$OEM$_folder in quotes if it is a long file name.

For more information about the \$OEM$ folder, if you are a computer manufacturer, see the Microsoft Windows XP OEM Preinstallation Kit (OPK) User Guide. Otherwise, see the Microsoft Windows 2000 Server Deployment Guide."

"Universal Naming Convention

A convention for naming files and other resources beginning with two backslashes (\), indicating that the resource exists on a network computer. UNC names conform to the \\SERVERNAME\SHARENAME syntax, where SERVERNAME is the server's name and SHARENAME is the name of the shared resource. The UNC name of a directory or file can also include the directory path after the share name, with the following syntax: \\SERVERNAME\SHARENAME\DIRECTORY\FILENAME."

Of course u can use floppy and even HDD if u have FAT32 i don't think it will read NTFS partitions during clean setup.

Hope the 1.44MB space hold out for ya but i don't think it will i'm trying to keep the files that i want up to date all the time on HDD but don't want to give up NTFS either. The only problem i got is with preinstall stage that won't read NTFS partitions i think -- lemme know if it worked for u and how.

[dansar]

Hello,

Many thanks for your answers.

I tried to put Cmdlines.txt + some batch files in a $OEM$ folder on the floppy,

but it does not work.

Can you help me for the path to the floppy drive ?

Is it possible ?

I tried on [unattend]

OemFilesPath="A:\$OEM$"

I tried also

InstallFilesPath=A:\

It did not work...

Thanks again for your help

[thread]

Ok well, just looking at that its not gonna work...InstallFilesPath means it looks for the I386 folder on your floppy - no floppy i know of can contain the i386 folder...and OemFilesPath i think is supposed to point to the dir holding $OEM$ so OemFilesPath=A:\...do what wolfshade said and make your cd...make an $OEM$ folder on the cd, and in cmdlines.txt put this

A:\batchfile.bat

and have batchfile.bat contain whatever you are trying to get to run off a drive

[dansar]

Helleo,

Thanks everybody for your help.

I am going to do like you said, call a batch file on the floppy from Cmdlines.txt in $OEM$ folder on the CD.

Thanks again

[wolfshade]

Seems logical to keep winnt.sif on a: cuz i think sometimes myself that when i will want to install a networkless windows i will just remove the driver path to the driver files and [Networking] entries from answer file(OEMPnPDriversPath) or even better replace it with an "networkless answer file" and disable from BIOS (cuz i have it onboard).

Anyway i had a problem starting cmdlines from HDD(my whole stuff is on HDD) and i added the OemFilesPath="E:\winxpsp1\$OEM$" and it worked ever since ... now i dunnow why it won't work 4 u on A:\ ... go figure MS out

U might want to test u're batch sintax first and make sure it works then add it to cmdlines and remake paths. (cmdlines is on batch sintax too except for the fact that setup parses it so u need [COMMANDS] and "batchfile.cmd" -- yes quote marks on batch call and u can make it a *.bat too.

I'm not sure of this:

It might be that setup absolutely ignores drive A: from a certain stage till the first logon -- I remember that setup would specifically ask removal of floppy if it found it on floppy drive on 98se so it might be that XP simply ignores drive A: at certain stages of setup and thats why it won't find any cmdlines to execute -- besides the answer file might be copied first thing into the temporary files made for setup, thats why the winnt.sif works and cmdlines doesn't.

[Alanoll]

OEMFilesPath shouldn't ahve a leading slash at the end. Just A:. Setup appends \$OEM$ to it, so if you had A: it would become A:\\$OEM$

[wolfshade]

I tested an answer file on floppy but it won't work cuz it seems the floppy must be from the beginning 'till the end in the floppy drive and it always asks me to remove floppy during setup wich i did after a few nags then only the answer that got through went in my unattend and the ones that didn't were obvoiusly from the point i removed the floppy in the midlle of setup when asked(ip settings werent there when i logged on)...

My BIOS settings for this are:

1st boot device:floppy

2nd boot device:HDD

3rd boot device:CD-ROM

FloppySearch:Disabled

I have to replace 1st boot device with something else?(so it would stop asking about booting from A: (not bootdisk) )?

[dansar]

Hello,

For me, Winnt.sif works fine on a floppy.

For the boot sequence, do like follow:

1st boot device:CD-ROM

2nd boot device:floppy

3rd boot device:HDD

The problem i got, it's to run the batch file on the floppy, I tried a $OEM$ folder in the i386 folder of the CD, plus the Cmdlines.txt with "batch_a.bat in commands.

This doesn't work.

Should i try "A:\\$OEM$ ?

Anyway, thanks again...

[wolfshade]

10x maybe i just have to set the right boot order in my BIOS.

The $OEM$ folder must be paralel to i386 dir unless! u specify its path as in the bolded text below.

parallel:

windir\$OEM$

windir\i386

windir can be CD path of course eg: F:\$OEM$ ; F:\i386.

That path style(below bolded) works for me cuz i even tested it w/o wanting when i copied whole kit from E: to D: i forgot to modify that path w/o wich it won't run for me and he took $OEM$ from my first kit

As u will see below u can point the batch from cmdlines.txt literarry anywhere.

cmdlines.txt has the batch sintax but its not actually a batch(setup acts on it as such)

If some1 could locate the path thats given to setup so he can find cmdlines.txt then we can set path-to-cmdlines anywhere, but that would prove a lil hard i dunnow where -- and it might not be in a an .inf file or cfg for easy pickins so it could get really complicated.

As for u're problem here's what i use:

cmdlines.txt(E:\winxpsp1\$OEM$):these are exact in my install:

[COMMANDS]

"E:\PostInst\cmdlines.cmd"

...and in the answer file:

[unattended]

CrashDumpSetting=0

DisableDynamicUpdates=Yes

DriverSigningPolicy=Ignore

FileSystem=*

Hibernation=1

NtUpgrade=No

OemFilesPath="E:\winxpsp1\$OEM$"

OemPnPDriversPath="drivers\00_chipset;drivers\01_LAN;drivers\02_audio"

OemPreinstall=Yes

OemSkipEula=Yes

Repartition=No

TargetPath=\Windows

UnattendSwitch="Yes"

UnattendMode=FullUnattended

WaitForReboot=No

1.But the thing is i still start the setup from HDD while in current XP so setup will be able to see my NTFS partitions.

2.I think if i would run this from CD, format c: >> then the setup won't be able to copy the $OEM$ files from the other NTFS partitions cuz they aren't mounted yet.

2.1. As for cmdlines.txt, they will be run(parsed from path\$OEM$) cuz its the T-12 stage of the setup and at that point NTFS partitions are mounted(visible) so u can keep u're batch file that is called from cmdlines.txt on floppy or HDD.

In conclusion when run from CD, format c:, setup won't see and copy $1, $$ etc. dirs from other NTFS partitions cuz it won see them(at least this is what i think correct me if i'm wrong) but when setup reaches T-12 stage the setup will see NTFS partitions and be able to parse cmdlines.txt from $OEM$ and go to the batch file wherever it would be(specified in path of course).

Sorry about the long explanation but i think is required. This can be fixed by putting $OEM$ and contents on a FAT partition even a floppy(if u say setup doesn't nag u for removal) cuz FAT(16 or 32) are visible from start to finish.

But on the other hand u can't keep but 1.44MB on floppy and my drivers wich i keep them in path\$OEM$\$1 so they will be copied to HDD alredy have 3MB so if u plan using $OEM$ on floppy(so u could have cmdlines run from there) u might want to give up the predriver install(in case u have NTFS) cuz predriver install happens right in the middle of the setup and again NTFS might not be visible to the setup(yet again this can be fixed and the OemPnPDriversPath can point anywhere on FAT.

As i made an example earlier on this post if u just want batch file ready for editing at anytime jus remember u can run batches from another batches so u're cmdlines.txt(CD) will call a batch from the HDD or floppy and from there u can go anywhere:) w/o problems.

Edited June 13, 2004 by wolfshade

[wolfshade]

OOPS! Sorry to come up with this but i forgot one major detail for me:

Where do u specify the path to winnt.sif? -- in autorun.inf???

Please confirm this code:

autorun.inf :

[AutoRun]
set AnswerFile=A:\winnt.sif
.\i386\winnt /u:%AnswerFile%

??? this is how i set it to run with answer file from A:\ ???

[dansar]

Hi,

Like I said earlier, I use Windows XP Pro Standard CD (I mean normal ones, without Unattend install on it),

with Winnt.sif on a floppy.

When I boot on the CD, the Installation Program detect automaticly the file on the floppy, and take all parameters from it.

It is some kind of Unattend Install...

The good thing of this, it's that it is very easy to change some parameters, like:

Owner or Organization Name, CD key, IP address and so on.