Install XP Pro to c:\winnt

[Guest]

Hi all,
I would like to do a clean install of XP Pro to the c:\winnt instead of the
default c:\windows on a formatted drive. How do I get the option to point the
install into the desired directory?
Thanks in advance!
dcr

 

[Mike Brannigan [MSFT]]

Hi all,
I would like to do a clean install of XP Pro to the c:\winnt instead of
the
default c:\windows on a formatted drive. How do I get the option to point
the
install into the desired directory?
Thanks in advance!
dcr

\WINNT is the old directory used by Windows NT.
Why do you want to go back to the old location ?
If you have applications or scripts that are hardcoded to this location you
can make them flexible to use both NT and later products (that install to
\WINDOWS) by using the environment variables such as %WINDIR% or
%SYSTEMROOT% etc. just open a command prompt and type SET to see all the
available variables etc.

--

Regards,

Mike
--
Mike Brannigan [Microsoft]

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights

Please note I cannot respond to e-mailed questions, please use these
newsgroups

 

[Guest]

Hi Mike,
Thanks for the quick response. I need to install to c:\winnt because some of
our legacy apps are hardcoded to look for C:\winnt during install. I know
it's crazy but that's how it is working for the government. When we went from
95 to 2000 pro we had the same problem until we got the developer to re-write
installs. In 2000 pro I remember pointing the OS install to a specific
directory. Can I do it with XP?
Thanks Again
Dave

 

[glenn fincher]

Hi Mike,
Thanks for the quick response. I need to install to c:\winnt because some
of
our legacy apps are hardcoded to look for C:\winnt during install. I know
it's crazy but that's how it is working for the government. When we went
from
95 to 2000 pro we had the same problem until we got the developer to
re-write
installs. In 2000 pro I remember pointing the OS install to a specific
directory. Can I do it with XP?

Yes you can do this using an unattended setup text file. Create a file
named "winnt.sif" following the information in the ref.chm (from the
Deployment Support Tools - deploy.cab file) and include lines such as these:

[Unattended]
UnattendMode=FullUnattended
OemSkipEula=Yes
OemPreinstall=No
TargetPath=\winnt

Place this winnt.sif file on a floppy disk when you run setup, and it will
get it's instructions from the file. There is a default winnt.sif file that
ships in the I386 folder of the XP product CD - use it for a sample and
change whatever you need to make it specific to your needs.

Hope this helps!

Glenn Fincher

 

[Guest]

Thanks Glenn

Hi Mike,
Thanks for the quick response. I need to install to c:\winnt because some
of
our legacy apps are hardcoded to look for C:\winnt during install. I know
it's crazy but that's how it is working for the government. When we went
from
95 to 2000 pro we had the same problem until we got the developer to
re-write
installs. In 2000 pro I remember pointing the OS install to a specific
directory. Can I do it with XP?

Yes you can do this using an unattended setup text file. Create a file
named "winnt.sif" following the information in the ref.chm (from the
Deployment Support Tools - deploy.cab file) and include lines such as these:

[Unattended]
UnattendMode=FullUnattended
OemSkipEula=Yes
OemPreinstall=No
TargetPath=\winnt

Place this winnt.sif file on a floppy disk when you run setup, and it will
get it's instructions from the file. There is a default winnt.sif file that
ships in the I386 folder of the XP product CD - use it for a sample and
change whatever you need to make it specific to your needs.

Hope this helps!

Glenn Fincher