XPCREATE: The Next Release

[MindMaster]

Comments about 19 Sep 2004.... whatever was there 2 hours ago.

Concerns:

1. I don't have XPSource set in XPCreate.ini. It attempts to copy from "E:i386\..." In other words, there is a slash missing.

2. I have CopySource=NO but it still seems to require the Windows CD. I was expecting that if I previously did a run that populated CDROOT I would not need to do it again. This is a bummer because it means I must switch CDs in the middle, something I always seem to forget.

3. In my trial runs it still uses my destination CD (the one I previously wrote to) as the source CD.

4. My CDBurn command (from the xpcreate.log file) was

CDBURN.EXE YES XPCREATE.ISO -SPEED 24

The "YES" should be CD R/W drive.

Working:

1. All messages are prefixed with a time stamp at in my trials.

Next version feature suggestion:

- The ability to specify the WINNT.SIF file to use within my XPCreate.ini file. Obviously the file would be renamed to WINNT.SIF on copy.

[Vel Straty]

XPCTEST Report

OS : WindowsXP Professional

OS LANGUAGE : Japanese

OS Version : Service Pack 2 (SP2)

CD Drv Letter: J:

I. Test1

Pre-Test : No modifications to any of the files were done.

Objective : To see if it works correctly using the CD Drive as the CDSOURCE(source).

Result : 1. First XPCREATE.CMD run creates the initial directory structure.

2. Second run of XPCREATE.CMD results in the following error.

"Cannot clear NEWSOURCE directory."

Actual screen message:

J:cmpnents\TABLETPC\i386\tpc_oobe.dl_ - Access is denied.
J:cmpnents\TABLETPC\i386\tpc_oobe.xm_ - Access is denied.
J:cmpnents\TABLETPC\i386\tpgwlnot.dl_ - Access is denied.
J:cmpnents\TABLETPC\i386\trkbc.dl_ - Access is denied.
J:cmpnents\TABLETPC\i386\tutaicod.gi_ - Access is denied.
J:cmpnents\TABLETPC\i386\tutaicol.gi_ - Access is denied.
J:cmpnents\TABLETPC\i386\viewer.ht_ - Access is denied.
J:cmpnents\TABLETPC\i386\viewer.xm_ - Access is denied.
J:cmpnents\TABLETPC\i386\webpad.in_ - Access is denied.
J:cmpnents\TABLETPC\i386\wisptis.ex_ - Access is denied.
J:cmpnents\TABLETPC\i386\zh-chskb.dl_ - Access is denied.
J:cmpnents\TABLETPC\i386\zh-chtkb.dl_ - Access is denied.
J:cmpnents\TABLETPC\i386 - Access is denied.
J:cmpnents\TABLETPC - Access is denied.
J:cmpnents\netfx\i386\netfx.cab - Access is denied.
J:cmpnents\netfx\i386 - Access is denied.
J:cmpnents\netfx - Access is denied.
J:cmpnents - Access is denied.
J:setupxp.htm - Access is denied.
J:spnotes.htm - Access is denied.
J:win51ip.SP1 - Access is denied.
J:win51ip.SP2 - Access is denied.
J:xpboot.bin - Access is denied.
     Error: "Cannot clear NEWSOURCE directory."
     Press Enter to Exit.

Solution : CDSOURCE directory must have the contents of the WinXP CD.

P.S. : Maybe the errors is just because there aren't any slashes "\" right after the "J:".

II.Test2

Pre-test : No modifications done to any of the files.

Objective : To see if XPCREATE.CMD works when the contents of the CD-ROM is copied to the CDSROUCE directory. Also, the BOOT\XPCTBOOT.BIN is copied over from the prior one since it just cannot copy it from the WinXP cd(the CD is bootable).

Result : 1. First XPCREATE.CMD run creates the initial directory structure.

2. Second run of XPCREATE.CMD results by automatically closing the XPCREATE.CMD cmd box.

From the "XPCREATE.LOG", the last log event written was the copy of the "PRODSPEC.INI" file.

3. This same error has been seen in the prior XPCREATE.CMD (11 JUN 2004) edition. Also, adding DOS command of "CHCP 437" at the top of the XPCREATE.CMD file, which makes the DOS screen in English did not work either. (Just thought that the error was caused by the localized version of WindowsXP, in this case the Japanese WinXP. "CHCP 932" is the code page for Japanese, and "CHCP 437" is the code page for English. )

Solution : Problem is solved by placing the following line after the GERMAN one.

IF /I "%TESTLANG%"=="Japanese" SET CDWINLANG=JAP& GOTO GOTLANG

and never after the

IF /I "%TESTLANG%"=="„¢¢ž¤ ¡?E SET CDWINLANG=ELL& GOTO GOTLANG

ELL language one. I'm not sure but the place where "%TESTLANG%"=="something" is like looking inside a binary file or something similar for the ELL language one. But might just be because of the Japanese WindowsXP environment.

III.Test3

Pre-test : Modification to the XPCREATE.CMD, look at the above solution for the modification done to XPCREATE.CMD to work.

Objective : To see if XPCREATE.CMD can download the XPCLIST from the URL specified in the XPCREATE.INI.

Result : Error: "Download Error on Service Pack."

Solution : Put the XPCTHLST.TXT where it belongs, http://xpcreate.wiretapped.us/XPCLISTS/XPP/JAP/XPCTHLST.TXT.

Well, anyway, an easy testing is going on right now and stumbling at the start for the moment. Will have more things later on.

[GreenMachine]

I have updated a couple small errors ... Please re-download.

@MindMaster: I think a lot of your problems are due to XPCREATE.INI misconfiguration. You seem to have CDBURNER=YES. In any event, please try a first run of the new XPCREATE without modifying XPCREATE.INI. THat shold create an ISO file. Then make the modifications to the lines you need ONLY. THere seems to be some confusion: CDSOURCE will hold the XP Source files for subsequent runs. CDROOT is the disposible directory from which the ISO is created.

@Vel Straty: I have made a couple of changes that should get you going. You will need to set DLAUTO=NO for non-English versions, and download the files your self (for now). I appreciate your help, but modifying the code is generally not allowed, for the reasons stated here:

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=23255

However, as this is the test phase, I forgive you! (And again, thanks for your help.)

[Vel Straty]

To GreenMachine,

Yes I've read your EULA and the post here.

I just wanted to let you know where it was causing the problem.

[Vel Straty]

Tried the testing with your new one as you said.

Trial Run 1:

Pre-test_ : No modifications on anything.

Objective : Initial checking after the modification done by GM.

Result___ : XPCREATE.CMD runs ok but stops at where it wants to DL the hotfix lists. (Ofcourse!)

Reuturned Error : Error: "Download Error on Service Pack."

Let's get on going!

Trial Run 2:

Pre-test_ : Modofication to the XPCREATE.INI. In it, settings DLAUTO=NO.

Objective : Checking to see if it won't download the list and would finish the program completely.

Result___ : No download of XPC list and everything went fine to creating the ISO.

Attached is the log file for the Trial Run 2. Don't mind about the Japanese stuff in there

LOGFILES.CAB

[GreenMachine]

Thanks, Vel Straty, the test I'd like to see now is Windows 2000 with some, or all, the hotfixes. Time and patience permitting, of course.

The last log file looked fine, though you did already have SP2 before XPCREATING.

[Vel Straty]

Sorry for the multiple posts, just wanna post the results here.

OS : Windows 2000 Professional

OS Language : Japanese

Version : Pre-SP1 or GOLD (donno what its really called...)

Trial Run 1:

Pre-test : XPCERATE.INI edited for DLAUTO=NO.

Objective : First try from CD as CDSOURCE

Result : No errors.

Test : Created ISO not tested.

Trial Run 2:

Pre-test : XPCERATE.INI edited for DLAUTO=NO.

Objective : Integrating the SP using XPCREATE.CMD.

Result : No errors.

Test : Created ISO tested with VMWARE workstation. The only error that it gave out was during the "Registering the components" phase, it somehow gives out an [Application Error] stating that an error encountered with the "rundll32.exe" and that it will exit the program. Other than that the installation worked fine. However, installation worked fine when not using XPCREATE. I wonder what the problem is... Does this error happen with Win2kPro or Win2kSvr English version? or in any other language.

[BaTLeZone]

Well I have done 5 installs of 2000 on 5 diff systems using the current hot fix list posted on your wed site all seems well but a glich and i am checking now to see if it is my fault or not.

Also MS now has a new rootsupd.exe update as of tues for win2000.

[Vel Straty]

OS : WindowsXP Professional

OS Language : Chinese (Traditional)

Version : SP2

Trial Run 1:

Pre-test : Nothing done.

Objective : To test if it works w/out nothing done to it.

Result : From the log, program finishes just after writing the PRODSPEC.INI to the LOG file.

Solution :

For the Traditional Chinese language change the following to

IF /I "%TESTLANG%"=="XXXXXX" SET CDWINLANG=CHT& GOTO GOTLANG

to

IF /I "%TESTLANG%"=="Traditional Chinese" SET CDWINLANG=CHT& GOTO GOTLANG

For the Simplified Chinese language change the follwoing to

IF /I "%TESTLANG%"=="XXXXXX" SET CDWINLANG=CHS& GOTO GOTLANG

to

IF /I "%TESTLANG%"=="Simplified Chinese" SET CDWINLANG=CHS& GOTO GOTLANG

Although I only have the PRODSPEC.INI for the Traditional Chinese, the Simplified Chinese should work referring to the MS's

download pages where you choose your language.

XPCREATE.LOG.zip

[Vadikan]

Hi, All!

Sorry, GM, I just found time to test XPC this weekend. Last weekend I was moving my system to the new case.

I used XP Pro EN. No hotfixes except for SP2. Yeah, also let XPC handle WMP10. I haven't tried to download any hotfixes. It's a pretty bad idea on dial-up However, I do welcome wget. This is a great GNU utility! I use it at work all the time, and sometimes at home. BTW, IIRC the revent version of wget require two dlls to be placed in system32. Are you using an older version?

So I performed pretty basic testing. Everything worked fine except for two minor things.

1. USERFILESCD parameter. I haven't used it before.

Files in this directory will be merged into the I386 directory, just as files in the FILESCD directory. This allows a common directory to be used across different XPCREATE directories.

I placed "MyFiles" directory containing two files in the same directory as xpcreate.cmd. Used

USERFILESCD=MyFiles

The files ended up in the root of the CDROOT directory. Have I done anything wrong?

2. The ISO didn't get burned. I used a DVD+RW disc with some info on it. The info has not been erased. The xpcreate.ini entries I used:

CDBURNER=F:
CDERASE=YES
CDLABEL=XPCREATE
CDSPEED=4
CDTYPE=DVD
DVDPLUS=YES

The burner is Liteon SOHW-812s, which has been working flawlessly.

--  0:01:40 -- Burning ISO image 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--  0:01:40 -- Start CDBURN Code: 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
@ECHO OFF 
DVDBURN.EXE F: XPCREATE.ISO /ERASE >> XPCREATE.LOG 
EXIT 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--  0:01:40 -- End CDBURN Code: 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--  0:01:40 -- Burning ISO 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Erasing media before burning
Media type: DVD+RW
Erasing media
Erasing DVD+RW media is not a supported option ((not neccessary))
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--  0:01:40 -- ISO Burning completed.

From the log I figure XPC doesn't support DVD+RW erasing. Is this correct?

The full log is attached. Cheers!

LOGFILES.CAB

[GreenMachine]

Thanks, VAD.

The first "problem" is behaviour by design. MyFiles represents the root of the CD, as does FILESCD. Up to you to create the sub-directories.

I've been looking into the second problem. DVD+R get "formatted" every burn, where DVD-R need to be erased. I just have a logic bug in there that seems to do it backwards. I'll get it worked out ...

Thanks for the report!

[hevnbnd]

Ok, well i had a chance to test and everything works fine except tho things. I get an error downloading files. It downloads some and then stops.

I also get an error burning the iso to a disk. I am using a Liteon DVD Burner. I am using +RW media. Here is what the log says.

Erasing media before burning

Media type: DVD+RW

Erasing media

Erasing DVD+RW media is not a supported option ((not neccessary))

If you need the log just let me know. Also i have some new sata drivers to include. Do i still need to email them to you or is there another way with this version. Thanks GM.

[Vadikan]

MyFiles represents the root of the CD, as does FILESCD. Up to you to create the sub-directories.

I understand the sub-directories idea. I just got confused by the description of the parameter on the xpcreate.ini page

Files in this directory will be merged into the I386 directory, just as files in the FILESCD directory.

My English may be far from perfect, but I take that there's a contradiction. In fact, files in the FILESCD are placed into the root of the CD, not into i386. Do you see what I mean?

hevnbnd

We've got exactly the same problem: burning DVD+RW on Liteon drive ;-)

[GreenMachine]

@hevnbnd: I know, I am still working outthe kinks with the DVDs. I don't know why the download stops: I will need the logs. You will be able to add the SATA drivers on your own, providing you know how to make the *.OEM file (which I have not posted ... ). I will get around to your drivers in a few days, and hopefully create a page that explains what the .OEM file for XPCREATE should look like.

@VAD: You don't need perfect English to see that contradiction ... Should read Root directory, not I386. Ooops ...

[Vadikan]

Thanks for the clarification, GM. I still don't completely understand the purpose of that folder since it does the same thing as FILESCD. Could you please elaborate whenever you have time? Thanks.