daladim

Ok, I have compiled the beginnings of my backup.bat file. This only creates the folders I need, and moves the specified files to the created folders. @CMDOW @ /HID>NUL 2>&1||@ECHO OFF SETLOCAL SET "RPF=%Root%\Program Files" SET "RBP=%Root%\Backup\Program Files" SET "RDS=%Root%\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Application Data\Opera\Opera\profile" SET "RBD=%Root%\Backup\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Application Data\Opera\Opera\profile" md c:\Backup\"Program Files"\Winamp\plugins md c:\Backup\"Program Files"\CCleaner md c:\Backup\"Program Files"\PeerGuardian2 md c:\Backup\"Documents and Settings"\Administrator\"Application Data"\Opera\Opera\profile COPY "%RPF%\Winamp\Winamp.ini" "%RBP%\Winamp\" COPY "%RPF%\Winamp\Winamp.bm" "%RBP%\Winamp\" COPY "%RPF%\Winamp\install.ini" "%RBP%\Winamp\" COPY "%RPF%\Winamp\plugins\gen_ml.ini" "%RBP%\Winamp\plugins\" XCOPY "%RPF%\Winamp\plugins\ml" "%RBP%\Winamp\plugins\ml\" /q /i /s /k /c /y /h COPY "%RPF%\Ccleaner\Ccleaner.ini" "%RBP%\Ccleaner\" COPY "%RPF%\PeerGuardian2\pg2.conf" "%RBP%\PeerGuardian2\" COPY "%RDS%\Opera6.ini" "%RBD%\Opera6.ini" cls exit this code works, and does exactly what I want it to do, but I still can't figure out how to execute winrar from within this batch file to silently archive these folders into an sfx file. I will keep looking for answers, but would still like to hear your ideas.

Ok, I have done some research on my own, and found a bit of stuff. I have learned how to make folders, and have made a test.bat file to see what it does. It works fine in the creation of the folder structure. I already know how to use Xcopy and copy, in a batch file, so I will be incorporating this into the test.bat. Now, my real hang up is getting winrar to do what I want it to, from within the batch file. I found this command online earlier: "C:\Program Files\WinRAR\RAR.exe" a -esh -m5 -mt2 -r -s -t "Backup.exe" @"files_to_include.txt" -x@"files_to_exclude.txt" pause But, I have no clue what all this means. I guess I shouldn't say no clue, because I know that most of it is a string of switches that tells winrar what to do. I also get the basic idea of what it all means. What I have no clue about, is the structure. How do I modify this string, to get winrar to do what I want it to do? Maybe I need to explain my needs a little deeper here. What I want winrar to do, is make an sfx archive of the previously created folders, that will extract to the proper place when executed. My created folder structure would resemble the root of the C drive, in that within the folder named Backup, there would be the Documents and Settings folder, and the Program Files folder. I want to just archive these folders and all their contents, into an sfx archive, that will extract to the C prompt, overwriting all existing files. I know that the switch to make winrar create an sfx archive is, -sfx. But beyond that, I have no idea how to incorporate that into the above command line, or how to put it all into the batch to make it work correctly. Any ideas on this?

Thank you very much for your reply. However, the NTBackup utility does not seem to be what I am looking for. If I understand it correctly, it only deals with Windows settings and files, and I want something that does the settings for third party software, like I stated above. I would like to do exactly what it is I specified, and still have found very little relavent info on the subject. I will continue looking, but if there is anyone here that knows how to write batch files, please help if you can.

I addeded my own defult them by going into the i386 folder, and modifying the WINNT.SIF file. I aded the following line: [shell] CustomDefaultThemeFile = "%WinDir%\Resources\Themes\Classic l Blue.theme" This theme is copied over from the disc, and is located at %CDROM%\$OEM$\$$\Resources\Themes The theme file is usually located at C:\Windows\Resources\Themes, and can be copied over to it's proper place on the disc. Of course, I had to set the theme up the way I wanted it first, and placed all of the needed files in their proper place within the %CDROM%\$OEM$\$$\ folder. My cursors>%CDROM%\$OEM$\$$\Cursors My screensaver>%CDROM%\$OEM$\$$\system32 My wallpapers>%CDROM%\$OEM$\$$\Web\Wallpaper This will copy everything over to the proper place within the C:\Windows folder, and allow the theme to work properly when set as default. The result of this is a complete them replacement for the default Windows XP install.

I just had a sudden idea, and because of the impulsive person I am, I decided to ask a question before doing research. Of course, I will be doing the research also, but if there is anyone that can give me a hand with this, it would be great. So, here's my idea: I use certain programs that save personal settings in a file, like an .inf file or some such thing. Winamp and Opera are the two main ones, but I think HideIP and PeerGaurdian may be in there too... And probably many others. Anyway, I was thinking about WinAmp and my media library, and how the library is saved as a file. My library is large, and it takes around fifteen minutes for it to scan and load everything. I got to thinking, it would be great to make a small utility that backs up all these settings, and saves them as an .exe file, allowing me to just click it and load everything back up onto a fresh system. This way, if I need to re-install everything, my settings will be saved, and I can just click one file afterwards to have all of it back, saving me the trouble of setting everything up again. And if I can do that, I could easily put this file on my unattended disc to run automatically. I know a bit about batch files, and how to use WinRAR to create executable files. I know there is a way to do this, but I am rather unfamiliar with the structure and commands available within the batch itself. I know that I can use a command like XCOPY, or COPY, to copy from one directory to another. I don't know how to create folders, or how to execute WinRAR from within a batch to archive the created folder into a self extractable archive. To give you an example of what I want to do: File A is located at C:\program files\Program A\A.inf I want to create a folder called Settings and place it at the C prompt (C:\) Within that folder, I want a series of folders to match the original path of File A [C:\Settings\(program files\Program A)] I then want to copy File A over to the new folder (C:\Settings\program files\Program A\) After this, I want to execute WinRAR to create a self extracting archive, with the path C:\, and make it completely silent, and overwrite existing files I know I need a batch file for this, and I think I can put that file, or a series of files within a self extracting archive, and make a small backup utility for all my settings. Does anyone have any ideas on how such a batch file should look, or if there is an easier way to do this? If this has already been thought of, or done, could you possibly point me in the direction of that information? Any help would be very much appreciated. Peace