Re: Creating an Unattended Install folder on the Hardrive
From: Stephen Wright (mynamenovoweldropphg_at_hotmail.com)
Date: 05/17/04
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Date: Mon, 17 May 2004 22:37:53 +0300
Thank you very much for taking time to reply.
"Patrick J. LoPresti" <patl@users.sourceforge.net> wrote in message
news:s5glljwdq7j.fsf@patl=users.sf.net...
> "Stephen Wright" <mynamenovoweldropphg@hotmail.com> writes:
>
>> Oh, not even a comment. Well, either no one knows the aswer to my
>> questions. I find this unlikely. Maybe I have touched on an
>> unspeakable subject, such as attempting to violate the MS user
>> agreement in some way.
>
> Most people have no desire to do what you are trying to do. Copying
> the installation media to your hard drive is inferior to using a
> CD-ROM or a network install in almost every way. For example, what
> happens when your hard drive fails? What happens when you get a new
> machine?
Well, if I have it on my hard drive I don't have to find the CD and I have
found that hard drives don't fail as often as CD's. If fact I have never had
a hard drive fail, but I have a backup on another hard drive. It will also
install faster from the hard drive. If I get a new machine I will move my
hard drive to the new machine. I wish to avoid creating CD-R's that will
probably be out of date in a few months. As for a network install I must
have another computer and set up network drivers in DOS. Also how about
being able to test an unattended install before burning it to disk without
using software like "Virtual PC" and "Virtual Drive"?
>
>> > So then I create the unattend file using the Install from CD
>> > option and then make a few manual changes. Here is my unattend
>> > file at present:
>> >
>> > ;SetupMgrTag
>> > [Data]
>> > AutoPartition=0
>> > MsDosInitiated="0" Tried "1" here too, but it didn't change
>> > anything.
>
> "0" is definitely what you want.
Thanks, I saw Microsoft's documentation that says setup will fail at the
beginning of GUI setup mode if this is not "0".
>
>> > UnattendedInstall="Yes"
>> > [Unattended]
>> > UnattendMode=FullUnattended
>> > OemSkipEula=Yes
>> > OemPreinstall=No
>
> If you need to add third-party drivers ($OEM$ mechanism), you will
> need to set OemPreinstall=Yes. Should work without it, though.
>
>> > TargetPath=\WINDOWS
>
> \WINDOWS is the default for TargetPath, so I would just omit it.
>
>> > [SetupMgr]
>> > DistFolder=C:\WinXPsp1
>
> I do not know what this setting does, which means I can guarantee you
> do not need it here.
This entry was added by SetupMgr when I sellected "Yes, create or modify a
distribution folder".
>
>> > But when I try to boot into DOS and run winnt then I just get a
>> > lot of errors stating that setup was unable to copy such and such
>> > a file: retry, ignore, or quit setup.
>
> Please be more specific. What is the error message, precisely? Which
> file? What error number, if any? Does this error happen instantly,
> or after some files have been copied, or after all of the files have
> been copied and the machine reboots the first time?
It happens right away, don't actually copy any files at all. The names
mentioned are the main boot files for Windows XP.
> What does "dir \winxpsp1\winnt.exe" say?
Well, it lists the file (winnt.exe), size, date, etc. as expected.
03/04/2003 09:21 84,939 WINNT.EXE
1 File(s) 84,939 bytes
0 Dir(s) 13,217,341,440 bytes free
>> > Why can't I can't I successfully run setup from dos using
>> > Winnt.exe? And one other question that is sure to show my limited
>> > understanding of DOS - How can I see all the command line options
>> > for a DOS executable using the /? switch when the list of command
>> > line options is longer than one screen, such as for winnt.ext?
>
> "winnt /? | more" should do the trick, assuming you have a copy of
> "more.exe" in your path.
Ah! thanks a bunch, should have thought of that!
>
>> > My command line to start the installation is: winnt /s:C:\WinXPsp1
>> > /u:C:\WinXPsp1\unattend.txt
>
>> > I have my harddrive partitioned with a 2 GB FAT32 primary
>> > partition and 3, 38 GB NTFS partitions.
>
> Since DOS can only see the FAT32 partition, this means your
> SystemDrive is 2 GB and always will be.
>
> winnt.exe begins by making a full copy of the installation media on
> the target drive. (Remember that it is intended for use with CD-ROM
> or, more commonly, network installs.) Then it uses that copy to
> install the system, then finally deletes the copy. So you need enough
> space to hold THREE copies of Windows, and I doubt 2 GB is going to
> cut it.
It will. Each one is not more than 500 MB. But I want to choose the install
partition like when Windows setup is run from Windows. When I run setup from
Windows I choose not to upgrade then advanced options and put a check mark
in the box that says "Allow me to choose the install partition" I just want
to be able to do this from DOS. So I can run set up on a computer that
doesn't already have Windows installed and to get around problems like I
have at present. I have the SP2 Beta installed, and I want to install the
SP1 but when I run SP1 from Windows it doesn't allow me to choose not to
upgrade like it normally would. It just states that Windows XP SP1 is
incompatible with the version of Windows currently installed on my system
and then exits.
>
>> > I want to be able to chose the installation directory at the
>> > beginning of GUI mode setup. as I am unable to see the NTFS
>> > portions in DOS of course. I am booting from a basic Windows XP
>> > DOS boot disk.
>
> I do not think this unattend.txt file is going to do that, since you
> specified a TargetPath and UnattendMode=FullUnattended. You probably
> want UnattendMode=DefaultHide and... Well, I am not sure how to make
> it prompt for the installation directory, since TargetPath normally
> defaults to \WINDOWS for an unattended install.
Okay, I'll check on this unattend mode. Sorry, I meant to say installation
"partition", not "directory".
>
>> > Why can't my own hard drive be the server?
>
> It can be, in theory.
Okay, well thanks for all your comments. It seems that I am not to far off
and it is just that this isn't commonly done. I keep all my other programs
on hard drive and I just want to do the same with Windows. I will persist.
But I notice that you have not responded to my questions about the problem
of the network distribution folder being created and then deleted by
SetupMgr.
> Have you tried just running "winnt.exe /s:..." without specifying an
> unattend.txt file?
>
> - Pat
- Next message: charlene barina: "very odd dfrgfat.exe error after computer is imaged"
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