[Cartoonite]

I'm testing a partially completed uA CD, and found that I boot to a modified classic theme after everything is done. This didn't happen the last time I tested, and I haven't made all that many changes. I just removed a few more components via the [Components] section of winnt.sif, added auto-formatting for my drive so that I don't have to attend while VPC loads up the initial setup in it's classic super-slow motion, and added a few more programs to be installed. Here's a copy of the files I think are relevant. Anyone see anything that could be switching my main user account to a classic theme?

winnt.sif

;SetupMgrTag
[Data]
    AutoPartition=1
    MsDosInitiated="0"
    UnattendedInstall="Yes"
    AutomaticUpdates=yes

[Unattended]
    UnattendMode=FullUnattended
    OemPreinstall=Yes
    OemSkipEula=Yes
    OEMFilesPath=.\$OEM$
    NoWaitAfterTextMode=1
    NoWaitAfterGUIMode=1
    WaitForReboot=No
    TargetPath=\Windows
    DriverSigningPolicy=Ignore
    UnattendSwitch=yes
    Repartition=Yes 

[GuiUnattended]
    OEMSkipRegional=1
    TimeZone=35
    OEMSkipWelcome=1
    AdminPassword=*
    EncryptedAdminPassword=NO

[UserData]
    ProductKey=
    FullName=""
    OrgName=""
    ComputerName=

[Display]
    Xresolution=800
    YResolution=600
    BitsPerPel=16

[RegionalSettings]
    LanguageGroup=1
    Language=00001009

[Identification]
    JoinWorkgroup=WORKGROUP

[Networking]
    InstallDefaultComponents=Yes

[Components]
    msmsgs=off
    msnexplr=off
    OEAccess=off
    zonegames=off
    minesweeper=off
    calc=off
    hearts=off
    solitaire=off
    spider=off
    pinball=off
    freecell=off

[WindowsFirewall]
    Profiles=WindowsFirewall.TurnOffFirewall

[WindowsFirewall.TurnOffFirewall]
    Mode=0

[Branding]
    BrandIEUsingUnattended=Yes

[URL]
    Home_Page=about:blank

[Proxy]
    Proxy_Enable=0
    Use_Same_Proxy=0

[GuiRunOnce]
    %systemdrive%\install\start.cmd

cmdlines.txt

[COMMANDS]
"REGEDIT /S regtweaks.reg"
"useraccounts.cmd"

regtweaks.reg

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 

;Disable Automatic Restart in the event of a BSOD
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CrashControl]
"AutoReboot"=dword:00000000

;Speed up shutdown
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control]
"WaitToKillServiceTimeout"="3000"

;Disables Error Reporting, but notifies when errors occur
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PCHealth\ErrorReporting]
"DoReport"=dword:00000000

;Speed up Network Browsing by removing Network Scheduled Tasks
[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\...
...Explorer\RemoteComputer\NameSpace\{D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}]

;Disables Windows Tour bubble popup
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Applets\Tour]
"RunCount"=dword:00000000

;Disable Imapi CD-Burning Service
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\ImapiService]
"Start"=dword:00000004

;Disable Messenger Service (to stop spam. Does not affect MSN or Windows Messenger)
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Messenger]
"Start"=dword:00000004

;Disable Remote Registry Service
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\RemoteRegistry]
"Start"=dword:00000004

;This will add "Services" to the right-click menu of "My Computer" 
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}\shell\services] 
@=hex(2):53,00,65,00,72,00,76,00,69,00,63,00,65,00,73,00,00,00 
"SuppressionPolicy"=dword:4000003c 
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}\shell\services\command] 
@=hex(2):25,00,77,00,69,00,6e,00,64,00,69,00,72,00,25,00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73, 00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,6d,00,6d,00,63,00,2e,00,65,00,78,00, 65,00,20,00,2f,00,73,00,20,00,25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52, 00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,25,00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00, 32,00,5c,00,73,00,65,00,72,00,76,00,69,00,63,00,65,00,73,00,2e,00,6d,00,73, 00,63,00,20,00,2f,00,73,00,00,00

;This adds the "Open Command Window Here" on the right click menu for folders
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\cmd]
@="Open Command Window Here"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\cmd\command]
@="cmd.exe /k \"cd %L\""
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell\cmd]
@="Open Command Window Here"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Drive\shell\cmd\command]
@="cmd.exe /k \"cd %L\""

;Max your Internet Explorer's simultaneous downloads to 10 (default was 2)
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings]
"MaxConnectionsPer1_0Server"=dword:0000000a
"MaxConnectionsPerServer"=dword:0000000a

start.cmd

CLS
@echo off
TITLE Windows XP SP2 - Unattended Installation

FOR %%d IN (D: E: F: G: H: I: J: ... V: W: X: Y: Z:) DO IF EXIST %%d\CD.TXT SET CDROM=%%d

ECHO.
ECHO Over the next few minutes you will see automated installations 
ECHO of various sofware applications, windows updates, and registry
ECHO tweaks being implemented. The computer will restart automatically
ECHO once the whole process has finished!


ECHO.
ECHO Installing Mozilla Firefox 1.0
ECHO Please wait...
start /wait %systemdrive%\Install\Applications\MozillaFirefox\Firefox_1.0.exe

ECHO.
ECHO Installing Mozilla Thunderbird 1.0
ECHO Please wait...
start /wait %systemdrive%\Install\Applications\MozillaThunderbird\Thunderbird_ 1.0.exe

ECHO.
ECHO Installing J2SE Runtime Environment 5.0
ECHO Please wait...
start /wait %systemdrive%\Install\Java\J2SE.exe

ECHO.
ECHO Installing TweakUI Powertoy for Windows XP
ECHO Please wait...
start /wait %systemdrive%\Install\TweakUI\tweakui.msi /qn

ECHO.
ECHO Installing Windows Support Tools
ECHO Please wait...
start /wait msiexec /i %CDROM%\support\tools\suptools.msi /qn

ECHO.
ECHO Installing Fairstars Audio Converter
ECHO Please wait...
start /wait %systemdrive%\Install\Applications\FairstarsAudioConverter\Fairstar.exe /silent /sp- ...
.../dir="%systemdrive%\Multimedia\FairStars Audio Converter" /loadinf=%systemdrive%\...
...Install\Applications\FairstarsAudioConverter\fairstar.txt
copy %systemdrive%\Install\Applications\FairstarsAudioConverter\conreg.ini ...
..."%systemdrive%\Multimedia\FairStars Audio Converter\"

ECHO.
ECHO Installing K-Lite Mega Codec Pack
ECHO Please wait...
start /wait %systemdrive%\Install\K-LiteMegaCodecPack\klmcodec116.exe /silent /sp- ...
.../dir="%systemdrive%\Multimedia\K-Lite Codec Pack" /loadinf=%systemdrive%\Install\K-LiteMegaCodecPack\klmcodec116.txt

ECHO.
ECHO Installing MSN Messenger 6.0.0602 Final
ECHO Please wait...
start /wait %systemdrive%\Install\MSN\MsnMsgs.msi /Qn

ECHO.
ECHO Installing WinRAR 3.41
ECHO Please wait...
start /wait %systemdrive%\Install\Applications\WinRAR\wrar341.exe /s

ECHO.
ECHO Installing Adobe Reader 6
ECHO Please wait...
start /wait %systemdrive%\Install\Applications\AdobeReader6\acroread602.exe"

ECHO.
ECHO Installing Spybot Search & Destroy 1.3
ECHO Please wait...
start /wait %systemdrive%\Install\Applications\SpybotSD\spybotsd13.exe /silent /nocancel /dir="%systemdrive%\...
...Utilities\Spybot - Search & Destroy" /group="Security\Spybot - Search & Destroy\"

ECHO.
ECHO Installing Nero Burning ROM v6.6.0.3
ECHO Please wait...
start /wait %systemdrive%\Install\Applications\Nero\Nero6603.exe /silent /noreboot /no_ui /sn=REMOVED /write_sn
REGEDIT /S %systemdrive%\Install\Applications\Nero\RemoveFilterCheck.reg

ECHO.
ECHO Installing Daemon Tools 3.46
ECHO Please wait...
start /wait msiexec /i %systemdrive%\Install\Applications\DaemonTools\daemon.msi /qn /norestart

ECHO.
ECHO Installing Winamp 5.0.7
ECHO Please wait...
start /wait msiexec /i %systemdrive%\Install\Applications\Winamp\Winamp.msi /qn ini=%systemdrive%\Install\Applications\Winamp\Winamp.ini

ECHO.
ECHO Installing Yahoo Messenger 6.0
ECHO Please wait...
start /wait %systemdrive%\Install\YahooMessenger\ymsgrie.exe /s
taskkill /im Ypager.exe

ECHO.
ECHO Installing Zoom Player 4
ECHO Please wait...
start /wait %systemdrive%\Install\Applications\ZoomPlayer\zp400std.exe /S /D="C:\Multimedia\Zoom Player\"


ECHO.
ECHO Cleaning up and Rebooting
start /wait %systemdrive%\Install\Cleanup.cmd

EXIT

Note: Thunderbird install failed because I renamed the installer and forgot to edit my batch file. I'm pretty sure that at that point my user still had a default Windows XP Theme, but since I didn't expect the theme to change, I wasn't specifically looking to see which theme was applied either.

cleanup.cmd

CLS
@echo off
TITLE Unattended Installation Cleanup

ECHO Deleting Useless Shortcuts...
DEL "%allusersprofile%\Start Menu\Windows Catalog.lnk"
DEL "%allusersprofile%\Start Menu\Set Program Access and Defaults.lnk"

ECHO.
ECHO Deleting ASP.NET User Account created by .NET Framework 1.1...
net user aspnet /delete

REM ECHO.
REM ECHO Deleting Desktop Shortcuts...
REM DEL "%allusersprofile%\desktop\*.lnk"
REM DEL "%userprofile%\desktop\*.lnk"

ECHO.
ECHO Deleting Sample Pictures
RD /Q /S "%AllUsersProfile%\Documents\My Pictures\Sample Pictures"
DEL "%UserProfile%\My Documents\My Pictures\Sample Pictures.lnk"

ECHO.
ECHO Restarting the PC in 1 minute...
shutdown.exe -r -f -t 60 -c "Windows XP will now restart in 1 minute, this will give enough time ...
...for the shortcuts to update and for the shell to fully load before its ready to restart!"

ECHO.
ECHO Deleting Temp Installation Files...
RD /S /Q %systemdrive%\Drivers
RD /S /Q %systemdrive%\install

EXIT

I think that's all the relevant files, and probably one or two irrelevant ones as well. As an additional note, the added programs since the last test are Firefox, Thunderbird (which failed), Windows Support Tools and Winamp. Adobe's Acrobat Reader was switched from the official dl available from the Adobe site to the silent install executable with 6.02 integrated created by RyanVM and available here. Any feedback on this would be appreciated. I've gone over all of these files, and don't see anything that should have caused this. If this is something that I should have done a search for, please at least give me a hint on where to start, because I'm stumped.

Edit: Some of the code has been slightly modified so that it fits nicer on the forum pages. Any pair of lines that end/start with ... are actually single lines in my files. The CD.txt file line also contains a complete list of drive letters, I just truncated it for the same reason.

This post has been edited by Cartoonite: 12 December 2004 - 05:19 AM

[MHz]

In Winnt.sif

   OEMFilesPath=.\$OEM$

I am not sure if this is a valid entry? Consider removing and just have $OEM$ next to I386 folder. It will be processed from there.

   NoWaitAfterTextMode=1
    NoWaitAfterGUIMode=1

I am uncertain of these two entries? Not in Ref.chm.

As for theme problem. RegTweaks seem ok. Maybe a bad reg entry from one of the software regfiles?

[Cartoonite]

Quote

In Winnt.sif

   OEMFilesPath=.\$OEM$

I am not sure if this is a valid entry? Consider removing and just have $OEM$ next to I386 folder. It will be processed from there.

To be honest, I'm not even sure where I got information about putting this line in. My $OEM$ folder is currently sitting parallel to the I386 folder, and is being processed accordingly. If this line is unneccesary to achieve that, I will remove it.

Quote

   NoWaitAfterTextMode=1
    NoWaitAfterGUIMode=1

I am uncertain of these two entries? Not in Ref.chm.

My uA CD is an amalgamation of two seperate guides, if not more. I took those lines from a guide I saw in the October 2004 issue of Maximum PC. I believe, just from reading them, that they are meant to speed up the uA process somewhat. I never thought to look them up in ref.chm. Since they aren't listed there, I imagine they, too, are useless code. I will remove them as well.

Yay, 76 more bytes saved.

Quote

As for theme problem. RegTweaks seem ok. Maybe a bad reg entry from one of the software regfiles?

I'm not sure. As I said, only a select few of those programs are new additions. I will rerun the uA in a semi-attended mode to see if I can pinpoint the time when the theme switch occurs.

[Cartoonite]

Further testing has revealed that, not only did I fail to properly fix my Thunderbird silent install, but the Classic Theme is being applied at some point before that. Since the only app that installs before that is Firefox, using an installer I built myself, the theme must be getting set before start.cmd is ever executed. As far as I can recall, no changes at all were made to cmdlines.txt or either of its associated files since the test install that did come out properly. The only changes that I can think of were in start.cmd and winnt.sif. I will go over winnt.sif to see if I can isolate some of the changes, maybe this will give a better idea of exactly what is causing this.

New/edited winnt.sif lines:

[Unattended]
    Repartition=Yes 

[Display]
    Xresolution=800
    YResolution=600
    BitsPerPel=16

[Components]
    minesweeper=off
    calc=off
    hearts=off
    solitaire=off
    spider=off
    pinball=off
    freecell=off

[Branding]
    BrandIEUsingUnattended=Yes

[URL]
    Home_Page=about:blank

[Proxy]
    Proxy_Enable=0
    Use_Same_Proxy=0

I believe the rest of the file is exactly as it was previously. I don't see anything here that should have any effect at all on the default theme. I beleive there is a way to specifically state the desired default theme in either winnt.sif or regtweaks.reg. I'll try that next to see if the issue is resolved, I guess.

Anyone want to tell me how to do it and save me the trouble of searching?

[prathapml]

@Cartoonite
Have you solved this yet?

If not, then my first suspicion would be that maybe you're disabling the themes service, from your regtweaks (or something similar). If that's not the case as well, then post so, and let's try something else as solution.

[Astalavista]

I second that ...

[Cartoonite]

I myself have read many forum threads and thought, "Okay, so is this solved or not?" and yet here I am comitting the same crime.

I did indeed resolve the issue by adding the entry in WINNT.SIF

[Shell]
    CustomDefaultThemeFile="%Windir%\Resources\Themes\Luna.theme"

This does seem a bit like patching a hole in the wall by putting a poster up over it though. (Not that I've ever done that... ) Seems silly that I should have to specify in my answer file that I want my custom default them to be, well, the default theme. Regardless, the issue has been effectively resolved.

I will do some more testing later to see if I can't isolate exactly what is (was?) causing the issue in the first place.

[prathapml]

Cartoonite, on Dec 17 2004, 04:22 AM, said:

Seems silly that I should have to specify in my answer file that I want my custom default them to be, well, the default theme.

rofl.
That's good humour.
send to Funny Farm?

[Cartoonite]

prathapml, on Dec 16 2004, 05:59 PM, said:

Cartoonite, on Dec 17 2004, 04:22 AM, said:

Seems silly that I should have to specify in my answer file that I want my custom default them to be, well, the default theme.

rofl.
That's good humour.
send to Funny Farm?

Always nice to be appreciated.

You seem to know a lot about batch file scripting, prathapml. Could you please take a look at my (reply-less ) thread here and give me some feedback as to whether or not things will work as I intend?

[Cartoonite]

Seems I spoke too soon. Even with CustomDefaultThemeFile being set in WINNT.SIF, ye olde Classic Theme has once again reared it's ugly (or should that be asthetically displeasing? I wouldn't want to offend anybody...) head. I now suspect it has to do with File Not Found errors being generated by my sloppy batch file writing.

Can anyone confirm/deny whether this is a possibility?

I will post back when I have more details.

[Astalavista]

i wil give u a copy of my regtweaks and replace it with yours.

see what happens be back in 10 mins

[Cartoonite]

Astalavista, on Dec 16 2004, 11:59 PM, said:

i wil give u a copy of my regtweaks and replace it with yours.

see what happens be back in 10 mins

I'm not sure why you think it could be regtweaks when they haven't been modified at all since the problem first began, got "solved" and has now reappeared. I will certainly follow up on your suggestion and see what happens, but I really think the issue lies elsewhere.

[Astalavista]

check your pm for the password

[Cartoonite]

Ok. Two uA installs and much impatient waiting later, this is what I've come up with:

• Applying Astalavista's regtweaks instead of my own without fixing the batch file scripts gets me a Classic theme with Bliss wallpaper. (The default XP theme's wallpaper.)
  
• Applying my own regtweaks gets and fixing the batch scripts gets me the Classic theme without Bliss wallpaper.

I guess the next step is to apply Asta's tweaks to the properly scripted CD, but I am anticipating the same result. Point 2 pretty much belies my thoughts of FNF errors being the cause of the problem. I will run that test when I leave for work in a few hours and post the results when I get home.

Perhaps the fact that it is not a true Windows Classic theme (although I can't see the difference) is a clue? The Themes tab of the Display Properties box lists it as "Modified Theme." As near as I can tell, this Modified theme is just a Classic theme with an XP-style Start Menu.

I would suspect a corruption (or even just a change) in the settings of the default theme itself (Luna.theme on the CD), except that I can choose Windows XP from the drop down box on the Themes tab and have it applied in it's usual format.

Looks like it's back to square one on this issue again. Anyone else have any ideas? I have made several changes to the files since I first posted them, but nothing really major. If reposting them in their current format might help, just let me know. (I'll put them all in a text file this time, so I don't wind up with another 25-mile post. )

Edit: For the sake of complete disclosure, here's the file created when I saved the Modified theme I'm getting.

This post has been edited by Cartoonite: 17 December 2004 - 06:43 PM

[prathapml]

Cartoonite if you feel down in the dumps about the refusal of the non-classic theme to load, this should pep you up:
My $Docs folder *STILL* seems to be acting funny. Its still unpredictable. It works perfectly fine (with files copying over) once, and doesn't the next time. Nothing has changed in the meantime - both times its the same CD, same hardware, same everything. (of course, $Docs not working, doesn't critically affect me, so its okay - which is why I haven't bothered to find out what is causing that).

take heart, your culprit will be found and fixed too - on one fine day, lol.
But I can give one suggestion though - try starting from scratch once again, and adding things one by one, and testing after each addition.

[Cartoonite]

Well, not sure whether I should laugh or cry. I ran the uA with Astalavista's tweaks and my corrected batch files and the Luna theme was properly applied on startup. Am I the only one who thinks this doesn't make any sense?

More testing is definitely in order. It's a good thing I'm already crazy, otherwise this stoopid issue would certainly be sending me there.


@prathapml
This issue is starting to look more and more random every day, too. Thankfully it really isn't any more critical than your issue with $Docs not being copied properly, I'm just really picky.

Starting over is a good idea, and I suspect I will at least once before this whole thing is over. At the moment I am somewhat headed in the opposite direction: taking my current, buggy CD and removing changes one at a time until it behaves the way it is supposed to. Or until I remove everything I possibly can and get forced into spending several productive hours inventing swear words, whichever comes first.

Edit Hey, I just noticed: I got a star. YAY! Uh, just out of curiosity, wth does it mean?

[Alanoll]

just for fun...

Go to the run box (Start>>Run or <WindowsKey><R>)
Type : services.msc
Look for the Themes service, and if it's running. If it isn't, somewhere somehow it's getting disabled. If it's NOT there, you may have used nLite or somehow the source got corrupted.

[Cartoonite]

Alanoll, on Dec 18 2004, 03:26 AM, said:

just for fun...

Go to the run box (Start>>Run or <WindowsKey><R>)
Type : services.msc
Look for the Themes service, and if it's running. If it isn't, somewhere somehow it's getting disabled. If it's NOT there, you may have used nLite or somehow the source got corrupted.

It is there, and it is running. Not surprising, really, since the current test install is a functioning one. I will look again if I can manage to recreate the problem. Thanks for the idea.

Edit: Service is also present and running after a "faulty" install.

This post has been edited by Cartoonite: 18 December 2004 - 06:15 PM

[prathapml]

Cartoonite, on Dec 18 2004, 01:45 PM, said:

and get forced into spending several productive hours inventing swear words, whichever comes first.

Ha ha....

Quote

Edit Hey, I just noticed: I got a star. YAY! Uh, just out of curiosity, wth does it mean?

As for the star, its a gradation scale of how crazy you are getting, by the day.


naah... just messing with ya...
It means you are past a certain point on the forum. There's boundary marks set, which say, okay you've completed 50 posts so you get rid of the "newbie" title from your user title (below user name) and get 1 star.
Now why does those stars exist? Its nothing but some sort of level-defining factors used on forums, to prompt you to be more active on the forums. For example, if you make 100 posts, you get 2 stars - so that's a motivating factor (sort of). Plus, as you get more stars your member title would change too (advanced member, senior member, etc.) - because its obvious that if you made 500 posts and still didn't get banned, those posts weren't spam/junk, there was some value behind it. As you look around, you will see how people with different numbers of posts have different stars. But don't give too much relevance to that - sharing knowledge is all we care for. At the end of the day, we are all here for precisely that - to know more (and socialise/make friends too, probably).

[BeenThereB4]

Quote

shutdown.exe -r -f -t 60 -c "Windows XP will now restart in 1 minute, this will give enough time ...
...for the shortcuts to update and for the shell to fully load before its ready to restart!"

It's possible that 60 seconds is not long enough for your PC to initialize. This will give the symptoms that you have. Try 120 seconds as a test.