c:\Winnt or c:\Windows directory in WIN XP Pro

[Guest]

I'm a new contractor at a client site and I currently have somewhat of a
dilemma while building their new XP Images. I've gotten the number of images
for XP down from about 5 or so to just one (for desktops and laptops) using
sysprep/ghost. Their old image used the Windows directory as c:\Winnt as
opposed to the default of c:\Windows. Outside of their specific application
installs which use c:\Winnt that can be re-built to use c:\Windows and a
small fraction of custom applications that can be found a way to support
c:\Windows what is the "technical downside" to using c:\Winnt as the Win
directory? Does anyone know of any published documents or official word from
Microsoft in regards to changing this? What arguments can I use to prove the
new image should be c:\Windows. Am I wrong to want to change this?

 

[Dave Patrick]

Only upgrades would use \winnt The applications should not use a hard coded
entry but instead should be using %systemroot% or %windir% to resolve the
"windows" directory.

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

:
| I'm a new contractor at a client site and I currently have somewhat of a
| dilemma while building their new XP Images. I've gotten the number of
images
| for XP down from about 5 or so to just one (for desktops and laptops)
using
| sysprep/ghost. Their old image used the Windows directory as c:\Winnt as
| opposed to the default of c:\Windows. Outside of their specific
application
| installs which use c:\Winnt that can be re-built to use c:\Windows and a
| small fraction of custom applications that can be found a way to support
| c:\Windows what is the "technical downside" to using c:\Winnt as the Win
| directory? Does anyone know of any published documents or official word
from
| Microsoft in regards to changing this? What arguments can I use to prove
the
| new image should be c:\Windows. Am I wrong to want to change this?

 

[Guest]

having windows installed in a folder other than "c:\windows" will not affect
the functionality of the product.

in order to change this I believe you would need to do a Clean install.

 

[Guest]

Yeah thanks for your "opinion". I know it "will work", as it has been
working here for 2 years. And I'm fully aware of having to clean install to
change it, I didn't ask how to change it.

But thanks anyways. Anyone else have any technical documents to help prove
this point?

 

[Guest]

"what is the "technical downside" to using c:\Winnt as the Win directory?" -
Doesn't matter except for the case where apps are hard coded to look for the
system directory in a specific path instead of the %system% variable.

"What arguments can I use to prove the new image should be c:\Windows" -
Consistency is the only thing I can think of. Until all the machines have
been refreshed, you will still have a mixture. This eases troubleshooting
somewhat. I.E. a user calls and reports a problem and you know the answer
lies in system folder. You tell the user to go to C:\windows\system32 and
the user says, "I don't have a C:\Windows folder". Havin them all the same,
alleviates this problem.

HTH

 

[Guest]

How to Designate the Original Folder Name for a Reinstallation of Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315242

What is the POINT you are trying to prove?

have you posted on "windows xp setup & deployment?"

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/...blic.windowsxp.setup_deployment&lang=en&cr=US

 

[Alex Nichol]

Outside of their specific application
installs which use c:\Winnt that can be re-built to use c:\Windows and a
small fraction of custom applications that can be found a way to support
c:\Windows what is the "technical downside" to using c:\Winnt as the Win
directory?

None at all. The name used by default is kept different, perhaps to
avoid confusion when Win NT/2000 systems are also around, and is the
C:\Windows always used in Win9x. But what you use is quite arbitrary
outside that (though keep it down to 8 characters max). For purely
historic reasons mine is C:\Win95

 

[Guest]

Hey anon your 2nd post actually helped, providing me the support document
315242. I couldn't find that for the life of me. I was in quite a mood
yesterday sorry for my attitude showing. Thanks a lot for the help, I ended
up losing the argument. I ended up writing a rather large document talking
about the pros and cons.
BUT I was outweighed in the meeting today and everyone decided (and I agree
after hearing their points) that it would be more work to change it at this
point.
I just wish It wasn't that way