Unattended XP Install format/fdisk all in one

[mattverve]

I'm working on a project in school. I have to perform an unattended
XP installation on an unpartitioned hard drive. My choices are
limited because 1) no 3rd party tools are allowed, 2) WinPE is not
allowed, and 3)we must use winnt.exe and NOT winnt32.exe.
4)installation cd cannot be bootable.

I've modified the autoexec.bat of a win98se boot disk, so that it
creates the partition, reboots, formats and starts the installation:

IF EXIST a:\file2.txt goto GUI
IF EXIST a:\file1.txt GOTO DUN
IF EXIST a:\file.txt GOTO FRMT

:FDSK
FDISK 1 /pri:2048
REM>A:\file.txt
CALL reboot.com
:FRMT
FORMAT c: /s/autotest
REM>A:\file1.txt
UN
smartdrv.exe
REM>a:\file2.txt
CALL e:\i386\winnt.exe /u:winnt.sif /s:E:\i386
:GUI

Yeah, the GUI part is empty, because I'm stumped.
The installation proceeds, copies the files to the hard drive, then
reboots to get ready to start the GUI phase. This is where the
problem begins, because I'm not allowed to eject the floppy. If I
eject the floppy, everything else is perfect and automated.

Boot order is CD, Hard Drive, Floppy.

(CD is not bootable, again, by rules of the assignment)

Obviously there's nothing on the hard drive that wants to resume the
install, so I'm stuck back at the floppy.
Is there anything i can put in the :GUI section to get this corrected?

Any ideas of what i can do to get the setup to continue? I realize
this is 16-bit mode, and from everything I've researched, it doesn't
seem possible, but my instructor insists it is. I'm guessing some
scripting is involved, but I'm first quarter and at a loss. I'm not
looking for an answer, just a hint or two...maybe even three.
Thanks, Matt.

 

[John John]

You aren't really going about this the right way. I don't want to be
too critical but if I were grading your project you would lose 50% of
your points for using a Windows 98/MS-DOS setup disk and you would lose
the other 50% for ending up with Windows XP installed on a FAT32 drive!
Unless you have compelling reasons or have absolutely no other choice
you should always install Windows XP on NTFS. NTFS is the native and
preferred file system for Windows 2000/XP.

You need to create an "Answer File" and place it on the floppy diskette,
the information in the answer file will instruct the Windows XP setup
program as to what you want done. Look on the Windows XP cd for a file
called UNATTEND.TXT, you should find it in the i386 folder. You can use
this file as a template for your answer file. Delete, add or modify
entries as needed to suit your needs then save the file (renamed) as
Winnt.sif on your floppy diskette.

Unattended Setup from CD-ROM Prompts for Installation Partition
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/220853/en-us

How To Perform an Unattended Installation of Windows from a CD-ROM
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/216258/EN-US/

http://search.microsoft.com/results.aspx?mkt=en-GB&setlang=en-GB&q=winnt.sif+sample+file
http://search.microsoft.com/results...0=Search&FORM=QBME1&l=1&mkt=en-GB&PageType=99
http://search.microsoft.com/results...0=Search&FORM=QBME1&l=1&mkt=en-GB&PageType=99
http://search.microsoft.com/results...0=Search&FORM=QBME1&l=1&mkt=en-GB&PageType=99

Information given for Windows 2000 mostly also applies to Windows XP,
with regards to unattended installations these two operating systems are
almost identical.

John

 

[John John]

Oh crud... I reread your post and saw that "...CD is not bootable,
again, by rules of the assignment..." read here for pointers on how to
use fdisk to partition the drive.

Chapter 10 - Windows NT 4.0 Automated Installation Framework
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/archive/winntas/maintain/manntnet/ntautoin.mspx?mfr=true

All your previously deducted assignment points points have credited back
to you... ;-)

John

 

[sdlomi2]

I'm working on a project in school. I have to perform an unattended
XP installation on an unpartitioned hard drive. My choices are
limited because 1) no 3rd party tools are allowed, 2) WinPE is not
allowed, and 3)we must use winnt.exe and NOT winnt32.exe.
4)installation cd cannot be bootable.

I've modified the autoexec.bat of a win98se boot disk, so that it
creates the partition, reboots, formats and starts the installation:

IF EXIST a:\file2.txt goto GUI
IF EXIST a:\file1.txt GOTO DUN
IF EXIST a:\file.txt GOTO FRMT

:FDSK
FDISK 1 /pri:2048
REM>A:\file.txt
CALL reboot.com
:FRMT
FORMAT c: /s/autotest
REM>A:\file1.txt
UN
smartdrv.exe
REM>a:\file2.txt
CALL e:\i386\winnt.exe /u:winnt.sif /s:E:\i386
:GUI

Yeah, the GUI part is empty, because I'm stumped.
The installation proceeds, copies the files to the hard drive, then
reboots to get ready to start the GUI phase. This is where the
problem begins, because I'm not allowed to eject the floppy. If I
eject the floppy, everything else is perfect and automated.

Boot order is CD, Hard Drive, Floppy.

(CD is not bootable, again, by rules of the assignment)

Obviously there's nothing on the hard drive that wants to resume the
install, so I'm stuck back at the floppy.
Is there anything i can put in the :GUI section to get this corrected?

Any ideas of what i can do to get the setup to continue? I realize
this is 16-bit mode, and from everything I've researched, it doesn't
seem possible, but my instructor insists it is. I'm guessing some
scripting is involved, but I'm first quarter and at a loss. I'm not
looking for an answer, just a hint or two...maybe even three.
Thanks, Matt.

Since I know NOTHING about what you are saying, writing/modding bats of
a boot disk. et al, these links below make about as much sense to me as
what I learned from your presentation of your dilemna--due to my
comprehension, not to your presentation! If it happens to be relevant, good
luck; if it happens to not relate & you try something from it anyway, better
luck. Lemme know if this was even in your ballpark! First, you'll see 2
links to get started, which you (Definitely not me) appear adept enough to
comprehend and create. Looks to me you need to create an "Answer File" and
add it to your floppy??? sdlomi2

Hytek Computer
MS Support KB

 

[sdlomi2]

Since I know NOTHING about what you are saying, writing/modding bats of
a boot disk. et al, these links below make about as much sense to me as
what I learned from your presentation of your dilemna--due to my
comprehension, not to your presentation! If it happens to be relevant,
good luck; if it happens to not relate & you try something from it anyway,
better luck. Lemme know if this was even in your ballpark! First,
you'll see 2 links to get started, which you (Definitely not me) appear
adept enough to comprehend and create. Looks to me you need to create an
"Answer File" and add it to your floppy??? sdlomi2

Hytek Computer
MS Support KB

Link to Hytek Computer =
http://www.hytekcomputer.com/Articles/XPInstall/1.shtml
Link to MS Support KB =
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;155197

 

[mattverve]

Yeah, not sure what the instructor's trying to prove. He can be
evil .

Some more info that I left out: The fdisk and format part worked just
fine. The answer file is created and on the floppy, and it works like
a champ, IF I eject the floppy after the text based install phase. (I
guess the answer file is saved to the c: drive after the text phase,
because it wasn't needed after I ejected) Problem is, we aren't
allowed to eject the floppy. I started with FAT32 just to give the
hard drive a partition, but my answer file takes care of the NTFS, and
I also extended the partition to 5GB in it using ExtendOEMPartition.
(I know it's kind of a weird way to do it, but he wanted us to use
this feature). Here's my answer file:

;SetupMgrTag
[Data]
AutoPartition=1
MsDosInitiated="no"
UnattendedInstall="Yes"

[Unattended]
UnattendMode=FullUnattended
OemSkipEula=Yes
OemPreinstall=No
NoWaitAfterTextMode = 1
NoWaitAfterGUIMode = 1
TargetPath=\WINDOWS
UnattendSwitch="Yes"
FileSystem=ConvertNTFS
ExtendOEMPartition=3072

[GuiUnattended]
EncryptedAdminPassword = No
AdminPassword = xxxxxxxx
OEMSkipRegional=1
TimeZone=35
OemSkipWelcome=1

[UserData]
ProductID=xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx
FullName="xxxxxx"
OrgName="xxxxx"
ComputerName=xxxxxx

[Display]
Xresolution=800
YResolution=600

[TapiLocation]
CountryCode=1
AreaCode=412

[RegionalSettings]
LanguageGroup=1

[Identification]
JoinWorkgroup=xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[Networking]
InstallDefaultComponents=Yes


I'll check out the link you provided, thanks for the response....

Matt

 

[John John]

It's been a long time since I last did something like that, having to do
without a bootable cd or having to use MS-DOS to copy files to the hard
drive for the installation to proceed. Follow the NT4 instructions, the
setup for later NT versions still uses all the same basic instructions,
with the exception of FAT16 or INT-13 drive size limitations almost all
of the information for unattended NT4 is the same and valid for Windows
2000/XP.

The problem might be due to the use of winnt.sif instead of
unattend.txt. and/or that you are not using a fully qualified path in
the winnt.exe command. For good measure, on the floppy create a copy of
your winnt.sif and rename it UNATTEND.TXT, also have your MS-DOS batch
file copy the same UNATTEND.TXT file to the newly copied i386 folder on
the hard drive. The winnt.exe command with the fully qualified path to
the answer file should look something like this:

WINNT /U:F:\i386\UNATTEND.TXT /S:F:\i386

If you use templates for the winnt.sif or unattend.txt file you don't
have to bother too much with names but you should pay close attention
the any file or folder names that you might want to specify or create
during the setup, winnt.exe is a 16-bit program and you must follow the
MS-DOS 8.3 naming convention.

See here for more information and pointers:

MS Windows NT Workstation Deployment Guide - Automating Windows NT Setup
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/archive/winntas/deploy/depopt/gdautset.mspx

Good luck!

John

Yeah, not sure what the instructor's trying to prove. He can be
evil .

Some more info that I left out: The fdisk and format part worked just
fine. The answer file is created and on the floppy, and it works like
a champ, IF I eject the floppy after the text based install phase. (I
guess the answer file is saved to the c: drive after the text phase,
because it wasn't needed after I ejected) Problem is, we aren't
allowed to eject the floppy. I started with FAT32 just to give the
hard drive a partition, but my answer file takes care of the NTFS, and
I also extended the partition to 5GB in it using ExtendOEMPartition.
(I know it's kind of a weird way to do it, but he wanted us to use
this feature). Here's my answer file:

;SetupMgrTag
[Data]
AutoPartition=1
MsDosInitiated="no"
UnattendedInstall="Yes"

[Unattended]
UnattendMode=FullUnattended
OemSkipEula=Yes
OemPreinstall=No
NoWaitAfterTextMode = 1
NoWaitAfterGUIMode = 1
TargetPath=\WINDOWS
UnattendSwitch="Yes"
FileSystem=ConvertNTFS
ExtendOEMPartition=3072

[GuiUnattended]
EncryptedAdminPassword = No
AdminPassword = xxxxxxxx
OEMSkipRegional=1
TimeZone=35
OemSkipWelcome=1

[UserData]
ProductID=xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx
FullName="xxxxxx"
OrgName="xxxxx"
ComputerName=xxxxxx

[Display]
Xresolution=800
YResolution=600

[TapiLocation]
CountryCode=1
AreaCode=412

[RegionalSettings]
LanguageGroup=1

[Identification]
JoinWorkgroup=xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[Networking]
InstallDefaultComponents=Yes


I'll check out the link you provided, thanks for the response....

Matt