[edg21]

You can use this to download & install your hotfixes & applications via a Web/FTP server. My Unattended CD pulls "packages" off my intranet server and then installs them. This means I only have to make one CD. If I need to change something, I just change the files on the web server. This takes some knowledge of how the unattended install process works. Sorry for not going into detail. My unattended cd logs in as administrator once, runs start.cmd & then reboots to the login screen. Keep in mind this is just what I did with it. I'm sure everyone can come up with some ideas of their own.

This setup installs the following:
Alcohol 120 v1.9.2.1705 retail multi-language
WinRAR v3.30 corporate edition
WGET v1.9beta w/ssl support
Nero v6.3.1.15 ultra edition
mIRC v6.16 incl dccassist 1.72
UltraVNC Viewer
Putty v0.55
K-Lite Mega Codec Pack
Adobe Acrobat Reader v6.01 Full
Azureus v2.1.0.4
SecureCRT v4.1.0.205
Total Commander v6.01
SiSoft Sandra v2004 10.9.89 Retail
Trillian Pro v2.013
SpyBot Search & Destroy v1.3 (also schedules silent scans every 5 days)


These are the files in my $OEM$\$$\SYSTEM32 folder:
start.cmd
sleep.exe
vncviewer.exe
putty.exe
shortcut.exe
unrar.exe
ssleay32.dll
libeay32.dll
wget.exe

This file will download the list of packages from the webserver & then run wget against the list of URLS to d/l the RARs & CMD files.
$OEM$\$$\SYSTEM32\START.CMD

cls
@echo off
echo Downloading Packages...
md %systemdrive%\install
wget -P%systemdrive%\install\ http://bender/unattend/url_list.txt
wget -P%systemdrive%\install\ -i%systemdrive%\install\url_list.txt
%systemdrive%\install\apps.cmd

Now setup a web server (you can use an ftp server but you will need to alter the batch files)

The webserver needs the to have the following directories:
/unattend/ - Put the cmd & url_list files here.
/unattend/apps - Put your application rars here.
/unattend/updates - Put your hotfixes here.
/unattend/tweaks - Put your reg hacks here.


Now you need to put the following files in their corresponding directories on the web server.

/UNATTEND/url_list.txt

http://bender/unattend/apps/alcohol.rar
http://bender/unattend/apps/winrar330.rar
http://bender/unattend/apps/firefox.rar
http://bender/unattend/apps/sunjava.rar
http://bender/unattend/apps/nero.rar
http://bender/unattend/apps/klmcodec.rar
http://bender/unattend/apps/mirc.rar
http://bender/unattend/apps/adoberd.rar
http://bender/unattend/apps/spybotsd.rar
http://bender/unattend/apps/azureus.rar
http://bender/unattend/apps/securecrt.rar
http://bender/unattend/apps/tcmdr601.rar
http://bender/unattend/apps/sandra.rar
http://bender/unattend/apps/trillian.rar
http://bender/unattend/updates/netfw11.rar
http://bender/unattend/tweaks/tweaks.reg
http://bender/unattend/apps.cmd
http://bender/unattend/updates.cmd

/UNATTEND/APPS.CMD

@echo off
ECHO.
ECHO Installing Winrar v3.30 Corporate Edition...
unrar x %SYSTEMDRIVE%\install\winrar330.rar %SYSTEMDRIVE%\install
start /wait %SYSTEMDRIVE%\install\winrar330\winrar330.exe /s
REGEDIT /S %SYSTEMDRIVE%\install\winrar330\cascade.reg

etc... etc... etc...

%SYSTEMDRIVE%\install\updates.cmd

/UNATTEND/UPDATES.CMD

@echo off

ECHO.
ECHO Installing .NET Framework v1.1...
unrar x %SYSTEMDRIVE%\install\netfw11.rar %SYSTEMDRIVE%\install
start /wait %SYSTEMDRIVE%\install\netfw11\netfx.msi /QB

%SYSTEMDRIVE%\install\cleanup.cmd

/UNATTEND/CLEANUP.CMD

ECHO.
ECHO Cleaning up...
del "%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Start Menu\Set Program Access and Defaults.lnk"
del "%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Start Menu\Windows Catalog.lnk"
del "%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Start Menu\Windows Update.lnk"
del "%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs\MSN Explorer.lnk"
del "%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs\Windows Messenger.lnk"
del "%ALLUSERSPROFILE%\Start Menu\Programs\Windows Movie Maker.lnk"
net user "ASP.NET" /delete

[Denney]

Hmm... an intriguing way to do things. This is almost like Gentoo's way of updating packages and installation.

[prathapml]

Really good way to do things!
Yup, this one's having me thinking......

[gamehead200]

Cool... Might just use this...

[evilvoice]

this is great, but there is one error...url_list has 2 extensions in your example, the wget code uses .txt and the file on the server uses .cmd...I think the file on the server is supposed to be url_list.txt according to wget. Also, how are you running start.cmd? as runonceex, runonce?

[edg21]

evilvoice, on Aug 13 2004, 06:21 AM, said:

this is great, but there is one error...url_list has 2 extensions in your example, the wget code uses .txt and the file on the server uses .cmd...I think the file on the server is supposed to be url_list.txt according to wget.

Gotcha! fixed.

[evilvoice]

sorry for askin another question, but I notice you delete shortcuts from the desktop after every install, couldnt you just delete all *.lnk from the desktop at the end? If you dont use runonceex except to run start.cmd, you shouldnt have any .lnk files on your desktop on boot...just a thought. This really is great, I never would have figured this out myself..great job

[edg21]

evilvoice, on Aug 13 2004, 06:28 AM, said:

sorry for askin another question, but I notice you delete shortcuts from the desktop after every install, couldnt you just delete all *.lnk from the desktop at the end?  If you dont use runonceex except to run start.cmd, you shouldnt have any .lnk files on your desktop on boot...just a thought.

I could do that, but I like to be selective. What if I want some of those icons? I could definately clean it up using %PROGRAMFILES% and such, but I'm a lil tired

[evilvoice]

hehe understandable, like you said, people can customize this to their own liking...

[Wraith]

Hmmm... I just had an idea.
While this wouldn't make it completely unattended, it's entirely possible...
Seeing as IE is "usable" at T-12, get it to access a web form where you can use checkboxes on a form for seperate programs, with the "submit" generating the *.cmd file on the fly, with the selected options. It's quite possible to write a "wrapper" for IE so it can auto-download the file when run...

In fact, this method would be quite possible to integrate into XPlode.
Yay for new ideas getting me thinking again

Looks like a new XPlode is a possibility... (small, but still possible )

[prathapml]

Wraith, on Aug 13 2004, 08:53 PM, said:

Looks like a new XPlode is a possibility... (small, but still possible )

Wraith, buddy....
Just see that it doesn't implode.

[gamehead200]

prathapml, on Aug 14 2004, 01:26 AM, said:

Wraith, on Aug 13 2004, 08:53 PM, said:

Looks like a new XPlode is a possibility... (small, but still possible )

Wraith, buddy....
Just see that it doesn't implode.

Meh, it'll explode as far as I know...



Wait...

[joebells]

thanks edg21 I'm working on an install using this method right now. I'm modifying it for ftp use though as I don't want to install and configure a webserver. I was looking into doing a distribution share but I wasn't exactly sure how to do it using my gentoo/samba machine. When I would attempt to create the distribution share setupmanager would say that it couldn't enable the share. This so far with my limited tests seems like it will work. Thanks.

[edg21]

joebells, on Aug 21 2004, 03:38 PM, said:

thanks edg21 I'm working on an install using this method right now. I'm modifying it for ftp use though as I don't want to install and configure a webserver. I was looking into doing a distribution share but I wasn't exactly sure how to do it using my gentoo/samba machine. When I would attempt to create the distribution share setupmanager would say that it couldn't enable the share. This so far with my limited tests seems like it will work. Thanks.

Glad to hear that it works for you, I'm in the process of writing a more detailed tutorial right now... the big question is wether or not I ever finish it

[joebells]

I wish there was a way to use something like this at the very beginning so you could have the latest drivers. But anyway. I've got most everything setup. I've just got office2k3 to setup. and maybe a few more programs not sure yet. I'll post back and curse the whole idea if it ends up not working

[edg21]

You can also script ftp.exe to download your packages from a ftp server.

Put this file in $OEM$\$$\system32
ftp_cmd.txt

open 192.168.1.25
username
password
lcd c:\install
prom
get apps.cmd
get updates.cmd
get cleanup.cmd
bin
cd unattend
cd apps
mget *.rar
cd ../updates
mget *.rar
bye

Then just run this command when you want to d/l the packages:

%SYSTEMDRIVE%\windows\system32\ftp.exe -s:%SYSTEMDRIVE%\windows\system32\ftp_cmd.txt

Or you could just add the following to your batch file:

ECHO open 192.168.1.25 >> %SYSTEMDRIVE%\install\ftp_cmd.txt
ECHO username >> %SYSTEMDRIVE%\install\ftp_cmd.txt
ECHO password >> %SYSTEMDRIVE%\install\ftp_cmd.txt
ECHO lcd c:\install >> %SYSTEMDRIVE%\install\ftp_cmd.txt
ECHO bin >> %SYSTEMDRIVE%\install\ftp_cmd.txt
ECHO prom >> %SYSTEMDRIVE%\install\ftp_cmd.txt
ECHO get apps.cmd >> %SYSTEMDRIVE%\install\ftp_cmd.txt
ECHO get updates.cmd >> %SYSTEMDRIVE%\install\ftp_cmd.txt
ECHO get cleanup.cmd >> %SYSTEMDRIVE%\install\ftp_cmd.txt
ECHO cd unattend >> %SYSTEMDRIVE%\install\ftp_cmd.txt
ECHO cd apps >> %SYSTEMDRIVE%\install\ftp_cmd.txt
ECHO mget *.rar >> %SYSTEMDRIVE%\install\ftp_cmd.txt
ECHO cd ../updates >> %SYSTEMDRIVE%\install\ftp_cmd.txt
ECHO mget *.rar >> %SYSTEMDRIVE%\install\ftp_cmd.txt
ECHO bye >> %SYSTEMDRIVE%\install\ftp_cmd.txt
ECHO bye >> %SYSTEMDRIVE%\install\ftp_cmd.txt
%SYSTEMDRIVE%\windows\system32\ftp.exe -s:%SYSTEMDRIVE%\install\ftp_cmd.txt