[degreseven]

I always hate having to type in my cd key when i reinstall windows, so I am trying to make a cd that provides default values, but I only want it to provide the CD key, and I want to be able to change it. I can't get it to show me the CD key screen. The installer goes through the partitioning step, then the next thing I see is a graphical EULA- it's not the normal blue background EULA where you hit F8 to accept. when i click accept it goes on to the regional settings. Is one of my WINNT.SIF options bypassing the cd key screen, or do i need another option? here is my WINNT.SIF...

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

[Unattended]
    UnattendMode=ProvideDefault
    OemPreinstall=No
    TargetPath="\WinXP\WINDOWS"
    ProgramFilesDir="\WindXP\Program Files"
    CommonProgramFilesDir="\WinXP\Program Files\Common Files"
    OemSkipEula=No
    WaitForReboot="No"

[GuiUnattended]
    EncryptedAdminPassword=NO
    OEMSkipRegional=0
    ProfilesDir="\WinXP\Documents and Settings\"

[UserData]
    ProductKey=XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX

Another unrelated question- As you can see, I'd like my WINDOWS, Program Files, and Documents and Settings to be placed in another folder so that my C: is not cluttered. So far this seems to cause problems; the Program Files dir is created in C: anyways, and I have trouble installing many programs. Is this easily fixed, or should I just deal with having a cluttered C: ?
thanks in advance

[Slip400]

i use the installed .sif and this in my reg tweaks....

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion]
"ProgramFilesDir"="C:\\My Program Files"

Attached File(s)

•  WINNT.SIF (4.23K)
  Number of downloads: 73

[degreseven]

Does changing the program files dir ever give you problems installing new programs? Like, do they try to create C:\Program Files & then install themselves to it, or something like that? Also, will I have problems since I am putting all these system directories in a subdir? The only time I tested this install (i had several problems) but a lot of weird things happened, like- the All Programs menu would not pop up from the start menu, etc.

[buletov]

c: is defacto only used for windows, progra~1 and docume~1 folders...

[duomenox]

It really depends on how smart the programmers of the software you are installing are.

Most programmers check the registry or the enviroment variable %programfiles% to find the program files directory. However some of the lazier ones just make a static link to the %systemdrive%\Program Files directory, this is bad practice, but some do it anyways.

It is not a good idea to move your program files directory, too many companies rely on it's default location. (And I have never gotten it to work very well)

However, if I come across anything that works I will let you know...

[war59312]

degreseven, on Apr 17 2005, 06:18 AM, said:

Is one of my WINNT.SIF options bypassing the cd key screen, or do i need another option? here is my WINNT.SIF...

;SetupMgrTag
[UserData]
    ProductKey=XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yes if you provide the product key then it bypasses the cd key screen of course since it alreadys has the cd key.