Another unattended install problem

Punkrulz

Somewhat eXPerienced
Joined
24 Dec 2001
Messages
790
Alrighty,

So I decided I was going to start making Windows SP2 Slipstreamed Unattended install CD's. Now, I've made Sp1 before, no real problems anyways... Now that I'm making one for SP2, I've run into a problem with the unattended portion...

I have winnt.sif in the /I386/ folder, and this is what winnt.sif says:

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

[Unattended]
UnattendMode=FullUnattended
FileSystem=*
OemSkipEula=Yes
OemPreinstall=Yes
TargetPath=\WINDOWS
UnattendSwitch="yes"

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

[UserData]
ProductKey=Edited for security purposes
FullName="Owner"
OrgName=""
ComputerName=Computer

[Display]
BitsPerPel=16
Xresolution=800
YResolution=600
Vrefresh=70

[Branding]
BrandIEUsingUnattended=Yes

Home_Page=about:blank Se...) Sorry guys for neglecting to mention this!
 
Last edited:
if u want to go the easy route, use nlite does everything for you
 
Ok, but is there any problems listed with my winnt.sif that would cause the CD Key portion to still come up during windows setup?
 
I'm not sure if you have the product key syntax correct or not. But it needs to be enclosed with quotation marks. What tool, if any, are you using to create the unattend.txt or .sif file? On the Windows XP cd there is a folder called support/tools. It contains a very descriptive help file in the deploy.cab file. What's the difference between the winnt.sif and unattend.txt methodes?
 
Last edited:
johnny he also wants to make an unattended install, the best program to do that and slip stream a service pack is nlite
 
Ok, I'm sorry that I haven't been keeping up with this thread, I didn't notice anyone posting.

Slipstreaming the CD is no problem, it's a simple text line that allows me to do it, so I don't mind doing it the original way.

Making the unattended, I used the tool that comes on the Windows XP CD under the Support/Tools thing... the deploy tool, I believe it's like setupmgr or something like that? That is what creates the initial unattended install file. I believe it has to be a .sif since it's going to be from a CD Rom instead of a .txt.

Oh, and you may be correct XPos, in the file the keys are not in quotations. :) I'm going to try adding that and seeing if it works then. Time to blow the dust off of VMWare.
 
I've gone ahead and added quotations around the CDKey inside winnt.sif. When I ran it inside of VMWare, around 33 Minutes left it began asking me for the CD Key again. Any other ideas without using another program quite right yet?
 
The only yhing I can suggest is that you try and make your winnt.sif file more consistant, you've got a mix of cases in the answers, some of which are quoted, some of which aren't. I don't know if it makes a difference, but I can't see what else could be causing the problem. It's probably worth posting your ProductKey line with 0's in for the numbers, so we can check that you've got that formatted correctly.

If your still not having much loo a good resource for unattended installations is http://unattended.msfn.org/. They've also got forums over there that specialise in unattended installations.
 
Here's what that section looks like with the CD Key in my winnt.sif file.

[UserData]
ProductKey="00000-00000-00000-00000-00000"
FullName="Owner"
OrgName=""
ComputerName=Computer
 
i dont get it why dont u just use nlite to make the whole process much faster and less error prone
 
The reason I haven't used nlite is because of the fact that the only problem I'm having with my unattended install is the CD key portion, everything else works as it should. I'm just the kind of person that really wants to find what's causing the problem, instead of giving up and running to a new solution, know what I mean? I don't want to cause any problems, I just want to try and figure out why this portion won't work.
 
Punk, try out nlite just once. It'll allow you to remove all those unwanted junk that is installed with windows that you hardly use.
nlite makes your unattended setup cd so easily and you can even make a bootable ISO.
 
See, this is what I get for using nLite. *sighs*

Ok, so I use nLite, I've walked it through using the options for Unattended install and to create an ISO at the end. I use VMWare to test out my ISO's and my CD's and such. When I compiled everything, load it up in VMWare, and when it gets to the end of the text phase, I get this:

"Setup cannot set the required Windows XP Configuration information. This indicates an internal setup error. Contact your system administrator"

Any ideas?
 
did u copy all the contents of the cd to a folder in ur hdd then use that folder through nlite?
 
Odd, I thought I posted earlier...

Yeah, the folder I used through nLite is the same folder I made my previous unattended CD's with, it gave me no problems other than making me put in the CD Key regardless that it was in there... there's no reason it shouldn't have worked.
 
Ok, here are some changes you may need to do.

Code:
;SetupMgrTag
[Data]
AutoPartition=0
MsDosInitiated="0"		<-- Doesn't need the quotes
UnattendedInstall="Yes"		<-- Doesn't need the quotes

[Unattended]
UnattendMode=FullUnattended
FileSystem=*		<-- Needs to be ConvertNTFS or LeaveAlone
OemSkipEula=Yes
OemPreinstall=Yes
TargetPath=\WINDOWS
UnattendSwitch="yes"	<-- Doesn't need the quotes
AutoActivate = Yes	<-- automatic activation through an existing Internet connection

[GuiUnattended]
AdminPassword=*
EncryptedAdminPassword=NO	<-- Default value doesn't need to be specified
OEMSkipRegional=1
TimeZone=35		<-- Value needs to be 035
OemSkipWelcome=1

[UserData]
ProductKey=Edited for security purposes		<--Needs to be in quotes and include the hyphens
FullName="Owner"
OrgName=""
ComputerName=Computer

[Display]
BitsPerPel=16
Xresolution=800
YResolution=600
Vrefresh=70

[Branding]
BrandIEUsingUnattended=Yes

[URL]
Home_Page=about:blank			<-- This is where you want to put Home_Page = http://www.google.com/
Search_Page=http://www.google.com  	<-- Not a valid entry in the unattend.txt file

[Proxy]		<-- Default settings don't need to be specified unless you are accessing the internet through a proxy server.
Proxy_Enable=0
Use_Same_Proxy=1

[Identification]
JoinWorkgroup=WORKGROUP

[Networking]  			<-- Doesn't need any entries, just the section header
InstallDefaultComponents=Yes  	<-- Not a valid entry
 
Last edited:

Members online

No members online now.

Latest profile posts

Also Hi EP and people. I found this place again while looking through a oooollllllldddd backup. I have filled over 10TB and was looking at my collection of antiques. Any bids on the 500Mhz Win 95 fix?
Any of the SP crew still out there?
Xie wrote on Electronic Punk's profile.
Impressed you have kept this alive this long EP! So many sites have come and gone. :(

Just did some crude math and I apparently joined almost 18yrs ago, how is that possible???
hello peeps... is been some time since i last came here.
Electronic Punk wrote on Sazar's profile.
Rest in peace my friend, been trying to find you and finally did in the worst way imaginable.

Forum statistics

Threads
62,015
Messages
673,494
Members
5,621
Latest member
naeemsafi
Back