Installation in folder other than \WINDOWS

[marlin03]

Dear Sirs,

I am going to install Vista Business in a folder other than C:\WINDOWS
(say, C:\OS). How can I accomplish that? I suspect I have to use the
Windows System Image Manager to create an answer file Unattend.xml,
but I cannot find any property that would be responsible for the
folder's name.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you in advance,
Marlin

 

[marlin03]

I am going to install Vista Business in a folder other than C:\WINDOWS

(say, C:\OS). How can I accomplish that? I suspect I have to use the
Windows System Image Manager to create an answer file Unattend.xml,
but I cannot find any property that would be responsible for the
folder's name.

Just to explain: this is NOT a dual boot configuration, it is a clean
installation on an empty disk.

Thank you in advance!

Best regards,
Marlin

 

[Mike Hall - MVP]

Why on earth would you want to do that? Why make life more complex than it
already is?

 

[marlin03]

Why on earth would you want to do that? Why make life more complex than it
already is?

--

Good question! Would it be enough to answer "just because!"...? ;-)
After all, it was possible for Windows XP, and I would like to have
exactly the same configuration for Vista.

Best regards,
Marlin

 

[marlin03]

Why on earth would you want to do that? Why make life more complex than it

Good question! Would it be enough to answer "just because!"...? ;-)
After all, it was possible for Windows XP, and I would like to have
exactly the same configuration for Vista.

Best regards,
Marlin

An authoritative answer "It cannot be done" would also help (if that
is the case)
Best regards,
Marlin

 

[Mike Hall - MVP]

Vista does not install like earlier versions of Windows, as far as I am
aware. It lays down an image and then installs all required drivers. I would
say that one can't do what you want..

 

[marlin03]

Vista does not install like earlier versions of Windows, as far as I am
aware. It lays down an image and then installs all required drivers. I would
say that one can't do what you want..

Dear Mike,

Thank you for your answer! Do you know where I could find an
authoritative answer - perhaps some white paper, manual or so?
And I must say it is a pity that Microsoft made a step back - after
all it is just a folder's name and whatever installation model they've
implemented it should be possible to choose the OS location.

Best regards,
Marlin

 

[Mike Hall - MVP]

You said it yourself. It is just a folder name, so why change it? What
possible difference could it make changing the name of the folder, other
than to satisfy some arcane desire to be different?

The Vista install is a preset image with a driver install routine. It allows
for a fast and reliable install, just 25 mins or so depending upon the
performance of the hardware. This is no step backwards, and as long as the
hardware is compliant, leads to a far more reliable working system.

There probably is something somewhere which explains it all, but I do not
have access to it. I can only tell you what I have been told.

Just for the record, why have you elected to change the folder name in the
past?

 

[marlin03]

You said it yourself. It is just a folder name, so why change it? What
possible difference could it make changing the name of the folder, other
than to satisfy some arcane desire to be different?

The Vista install is a preset image with a driver install routine. It allows
for a fast and reliable install, just 25 mins or so depending upon the
performance of the hardware. This is no step backwards, and as long as the
hardware is compliant, leads to a far more reliable working system.

There probably is something somewhere which explains it all, but I do not
have access to it. I can only tell you what I have been told.

Just for the record, why have you elected to change the folder name in the
past?

It was a recommendation from a consulting company - back in the old
days of NT 4.0. As far as I remember the reason behind it was that for
some viruses it is more difficult to attack the system when the system
does not reside in C:\WINDOWS (not every virus was smart enough to
check for the %SYSTEMROOT% setting). Since then we've created many
scripts that are run from outside the Windwows machine (so it is not
so easy for them to check for %Systemroot%) and have hardcoded our new
Systemroot name (e.g. C:\OS).

By the way, do you know what would happen if I would upgrade in-place
my XP installation that had SYSTEMROOT different from C:\WINDOWS?
Would Vista retain the old name? If so, perhaps that is the possible
workaround (first to install a fresh copy of XP with modified system
name, and then upgrade it in-place)?

Of course, the other option is to modify the scripts and all the
environment, but I am just curious if I can make Vista sit where I
want ;-)

Best regards,
Marlin

 

[Mike Hall - MVP]

As far as I am aware, during the upgrade process, Vista essentially clean
installs by laying down the image as already stated, installs drivers, and
goes to great lengths integrating whatever programs and settings which are
already present, finally creating a folder called windows.old where one will
find all kinds of stuff from the original installation. At the end of it,
you would still have C:/windows.

The upgrade, as you can imagine, takes way longer to complete than a real
clean install and, as with any upgrade, is fraught with danger. I always
prefer a clean install. It is invariably faster, and gets over the problem
of everything falling over due to some small incompatibility that wasn't
noticed and/or recognized

 

[Seth]

It was a recommendation from a consulting company - back in the old
days of NT 4.0. As far as I remember the reason behind it was that for
some viruses it is more difficult to attack the system when the system
does not reside in C:\WINDOWS (not every virus was smart enough to
check for the %SYSTEMROOT% setting). Since then we've created many
scripts that are run from outside the Windwows machine (so it is not
so easy for them to check for %Systemroot%) and have hardcoded our new
Systemroot name (e.g. C:\OS).

If they are running from outside the system, then have them address the
administrative share ADMIN$. That points to %SystemRoot%.

 

[marlin03]

If they are running from outside the system, then have them address the
administrative share ADMIN$. That points to %SystemRoot%.

Right, thanks!

Best regards,
Marlin

 

[philo]

Right, thanks!

Best regards,
Marlin

Never tried it...but the Vista unattended install might have such an option

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...7D-F12C-4676-917F-05D9DE73ADA4&displaylang=en

 

[marlin03]

Never tried it...but the Vista unattended install might have such an option

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=993C567D-F12...

Yes, I've downloaded WAIK but couldn't find any property responsible
for the name of the system root folder.

Thanks anyway!

Best regards,
Marlin

 

[philo]

Yes, I've downloaded WAIK but couldn't find any property responsible
for the name of the system root folder.

Thanks anyway!

Best regards,
Marlin

Well...that was the only thing I could think of...
I think with newer Windows Server versions you could trick the installer by
pre-formatting the drive and creating a "dummy" Windows folder...

but my guess is that Vista would just rename it Windows.old

Anyway, with a little common sense and a virus checker you will probably not
have any problems