[durex]

I know this has already been covered, but my searches werent coming up with the answer Im looking for...

I need to cut back more space on my cd and I remember someone posting a method that allows you to create an sfx of your $oem$ dir and then add a command to the winnt.sif so that it will extract before the Windows install needs anything that it contains....

Reminder anyone?

Thanks!

[Alanoll]

Create the SFX archive anymeans you wish.

http://unattended.msfn.org/global/referenc...m#guiunattended
Use the "DetachedProgram" entry in WINNT.SIF to execute the SFX file. The DetachedProgram MUST be copied to the harddrive prior to execution, though you may just have a simple CMD file search for the CDROM then execute your desired program that way.

[durex]

Thats what I was looking for... thx Alanoll.

So to understand this better... lets say I want to archive everything thats in OEM to save space, then extract it during the install using this method... obviously I cant keep the same directory stucture I have on my CD of $OEM$\$Docs\All Users, $OEM$\$$\System 32, etc... I would actually have to replace the sub dirs of OEM with the actual folder name, correct?

IE: Instead of '$$\System 32', I would actually need to archive 'Windows\System 32' right?

[SiMoNsAyS]

correct.
you can also use a batch file with variables to locate the files.
also, f.e., if you don't want to use the full sintax for C:\Documents and Settings\durex, to remain path and drive independant, you can rar-sfx only what is going to be on that folder and use %USERPROFILE% variable.

edit: forgot the part

Quote

IE: Instead of '$$\System 32', I would actually need to archive 'Windows\System 32' right?

instead of $$\System32 you can pack the system32 folder and extract it on %SYSTEMROOT%

This post has been edited by SiMoNsAyS: 17 February 2005 - 08:35 PM

[durex]

Excellent.. couple more things... You can only call a batch file from DetachedProgram? Cant be an exe?

Also, you cant extract different items to different folders from the same SFX correct? So I would need to use 1 of 3 methods:

1. Create the entire directory structure for each OEM dir (ie: Documents and Settings\durex, Program Files, etc) and place it all in one SFX to extract to systemdrive,
2. Create multiple SFX for each OEM dir (ie: 1 for $progs to extract to Program Files, 1 for $Docs to extract to Documents and Settings, etc)
3. RAR up everything in the OEM dir and extract all the contents to a general directory and use the batch file to move stuff around.... which is what I think you are saying Simon and is the method I think im going to end up with...

Just want to get this down before I start testing...

Thanks again guys.

[Alanoll]

DetachedProgram can execute whatever you want, as long as it's able to be executed If memory serves, you may need to name your CMD file as a BAT file for it to work, though not entirely sure

[durex]

Thanks again!

[moo]

@durex
For my istallation I use mix of #2 and #3. It works fine for me.
You can look for some idea over there OEM.
moo

[Ghost82]

I do this a little different:

I use BTS Driverpacks and use "DetachedProgram" to extract dp.exe (The DriverPacks) then when the RunOnceEx is executed I use that to extract the $oem$/$Docs/$Progs/$$.exe files (the names are different but you get the idea)
after extraction the RunOnceEx.cmd is able to continue, works perfectly for me.

Hope it helps!

[durex]

Thanks for the help guys.. while I havent tested it out, I think Ive got it all figured out...

What I did was create an SFX of the entire contents of $OEM$ (except CMDOW.exe so that the batch file will be hidden), the contents of which will be extracted to %systemdrive%\OEM when run.

I then created the following batch file, placed it in $OEM$\$1\OEM and added

DetachedProgram = "%SYSTEMDRIVE%\OEM\Run_OEM.bat"

to my Winnt.sif [GuiUnattended] section, which then executes the SFX and copies the folder contents to their designated location based on variables.

@echo off
CMDOW @ /HID

set OEMSRC=%systemdrive%\OEM

start /wait "Extracting OEM" "%OEMSRC%\OEM.exe"

XCOPY /C /E /I /H /R /Y "%OEMSRC%\$1\*" "%SYSTEMDRIVE%"
XCOPY /C /E /I /H /R /Y "%OEMSRC%\$$\*" "%WINDIR%"
XCOPY /C /E /I /H /R /Y "%OEMSRC%\$Docs\*" "%SYSTEMDRIVE%\Documents and Settings"
XCOPY /C /E /I /H /R /Y "%OEMSRC%\$Progs\*" "%PROGRAMFILES%"

CD \

RMDIR /Q /S "%OEMSRC%"

Im hoping this will do the trick. Thanks again everyone!

EDIT: Finally tested it and found you need to use XCOPY instead with a few parameters to ensure everything gets copied over. Also messed up on the syntax for copying the $Docs folder.. updated the post to reflect the changes.

This post has been edited by durex: 20 February 2005 - 05:59 PM