[bigreddastud]

I am testing my unattended install CD on virtualPC 2004, and only part of the winnt.sif was used. It picked out parts that got used, but others didn't. I told it not to install MSN explorer or Messenger, but they are in there. It did pick up my other settings, and some stuff fine, but didn't chose my locale right either, just used the default GMT instead of Central. I created winnt.sif with the appropriate wizzard.

In addition, my cmdlines.txt never got executed. Why is this? It runs fine when I execute it from a command prompt? I thought I didn't have to declare it's existence anywhere. Is that true?

winnt is parsed by setup and is located in the i386 folder. cmdlines.txt is in the $OEM$ folder. The files got moved to the HD fine during install, but were never actually executed.

Here's the files:

winnt.sif

Quote

;SetupMgrTag
[Data]    AutoPartition=0
    MsDosInitiated="0"
    UnattendedInstall="Yes"

[Unattended]
    UnattendMode=ProvideDefault
    OemPreinstall=Yes
    TargetPath=\WINDOWS
    OemSkipEula=Yes
    UnattendSwitch="yes"
    WaitForReboot="No"
    OemPnPDriversPath="Drivers\000_Chipset;Drivers\001_RAID;Drivers\002_DFI_USB2;Drivers\003_PCI_USB2"
    DriverSigningPolicy=Ignore

[GuiUnattended]
    EncryptedAdminPassword=NO
    OEMSkipRegional=1
    TimeZone=20
    OemSkipWelcome=1

[UserData]
    Fullname="--"
    Orgname="--"

[Display]
    BitsPerPel=32
    Xresolution=1024
    YResolution=768

[TapiLocation]
    CountryCode=1
    Dialing=Tone
    AreaCode=651

[Identification]
    JoinWorkgroup=UST

[Networking]
    InstallDefaultComponents=Yes

[Components]
    msmsgs=off
    msnexplr=off
    zonegames=off
   
[Shell]   
    DefaultStartPanelOff = Yes
    DefaultThemesOff = Yes
   
;[GuiRunOnce]
; %systemdrive%\install\start.cmd   

cmdlines.txt

Quote

[COMMANDS]@echo off
ECHO Merging Registry Tweaks
"REGEDIT /S regtweaks.reg"
ECHO Registry updated
ECHO Please wait, Short Pause to allow Registry to settle before proceeding
@ping 127.0.0.1 -n 8 -w 1000 > nul
ECHO.
ECHO Installing DirectX 9.0b
ECHO Please wait...
start /wait %systemdrive%\install\DirectX9b\DX9NTopk.exe
ECHO DirectX Installed
ECHO Please wait, Short Pause to allow system to settle before proceeding
@ping 127.0.0.1 -n 8 -w 1000 > nul
ECHO.
ECHO Installing .NET Framework v1.1
ECHO Please wait...
start /wait %systemdrive%\install\NetFramework\netfx.msi /qb
ECHO .NET Installed
ECHO Please wait, Short Pause to allow system to settle before proceeding
@ping 127.0.0.1 -n 8 -w 1000 > nul
ECHO.
ECHO.
ECHO *******************************
ECHO *** Installing XP Powertoys ***
ECHO *******************************
ECHO.
ECHO Installing TweakUI 2.10 Powertoy
ECHO Please wait...
start /wait %systemdrive%\install\PowerToys\TweakUI.msi /qb
ECHO.
ECHO Installing Task Switcher Powertoy
ECHO Please wait...
start /wait %systemdrive%\install\PowerToys\TaskswitchPowertoySetup.exe /s /v/qn
ECHO.
ECHO Installing Beefier Calculator Powertoy
ECHO Please wait...
start /wait %systemdrive%\install\PowerToys\PowerCalcPowertoySetup.exe /s /v/qn
ECHO.
ECHO **********************************
ECHO.*** Intalling some needed apps ***
ECHO **********************************
ECHO.
ECHO Installing WinRAR 3.20
ECHO Please wait...
start /wait %systemdrive%\install\WinRAR\wrar330.exe /s
ECHO.

[jrzycrim]

Not sure about your winnt.sif problems. Many people have problems with components being installed despite those settings. Not really sure why...

cmdlines.txt isn't like a normal cmd file.

It needs to look like this:

[commands]
"command 1"
"command 2"

I'd suggest you copy all of those commands you have to a .cmd file, say install.cmd, place it in the $OEM$ directory, and make your cmdlines.txt file look like this:

[Commands]
"install.cmd"

[what3v3r]

also, you can use "sleep.exe" (available here: http://unattended.ms...p/Downloads.htm ) instead of the ping command

usage: sleep [timetowait]

you will have to copy it into your $OEM$\$$\ folder.
or into your windows folder for testing purposes

[rustycaps]

I had the same problem with the Windows Messenger and MSN Explorer components being installed, though SP2 has some weird new msmq_ entries in the components section now it seems, but even the msnexplr = off didn't work. I had the msmsg = off option as well as the above msnexplr = off in winnt.sif and both still got installed, so I guess there's some other setting to totally disable them.

I tested through VMWare using a GUIAttended install, instead of a normal full unattended, but this was just a basic SP2 only install, with a few files in the $oem$ folders.