Unattended installation & accessing winnt.exe above 137gb

[peergynt]

I hope someone can help me!

I'm about to install Windows XP Home, unattended.  The entire CD is copied to a free partition on my hard disk, and I've prepared and added unattend.txt to the i386 folder.

Three questions:
1). All configurations I need are in unattend.txt (mainly determining various paths for Windows, Program Files and Documents and Settings).  Is this all I need, or must I also add other files, like winnt.sif, winnt.bat, unattend.bat ?  Or will unattend.txt be enough, considering it has all the features I want?

2). I can't seem to access my installation files directory using FreeDOS.  The directory displays when I type the dir command. But I can't get into the folder. The directory is above the 137GB threshold; is this why I can't navigate to it?  Anyone else experience this?

3). What is correct path after winnt.exe starts? is it [driveletter]:\installdirectory ? Or is it [driveletter]:\installdirectory\i386 ?

Thanks, I appreciate any replies!

[patio]

You will need to slipstream SP2 into the i386 folder first.
As far as the path statement youmay want to have a read Here...

[peergynt]

patio,

thanks for the link. I read some of the articles and finally got things started.  Had to educate myself on the basics of DOS before doing anything meaningful though; hence the delay in replying. 

Regarding FreeDOS, my installation files were in a folder named \WindowsXP, which is over 8 characters long; so I shortened the name and was able to access it. The 137gb limit wasn't the issue.

Incidentally, FreeDOS might be incomplete, in that it doesn't assign letters to NTFS partitions. Go figure.  My target partition is NTFS, so FreeDOS skipped over it.  That had me confused for a long time (I'm installing on multiple disks, so that added to the confusion). I assume the Windows installer assigns C: to that partition, as per the usual ordering protocol, even though FreeDOS doesn't.

To launch the installer, I used the .bat file below. However, after it copies all my files to the C: drive, it tries to reboot (I think it does; it only happens when I'm not in the room) but can't find kernel according to the message---a typical message when no OS is installed.

Code: [Select]

@rem SetupMgrTag
@echo off

echo -
echo - This is a batch script for unattended installation.
echo - It must be placed next to the i386 folder.
echo - Files winnt.exe and unattend.txt should reside in the i386 folder.
echo - If any files are moved from those respective locations, this script will need to be modified.
echo -
echo ===================
echo -
pause

set AnswerFile=.\i386\unattend.txt
set SetupFiles=.\i386

.\i386\winnt /t:C: /s:%SetupFiles% /u:%AnswerFile% /rx:.\i386\lang

Any ideas on why the installation process hangs at that point?`Thanks for any replies 

[patio]

Do you have to use FreeDOS ? ?
I'd need to know exactly how you have this unattended CD assembled to advise further.
FreeDOS...or any other DOS shouldn't be needed if the CD is built properly.
Post back with some more details and we can go from there...

[peergynt]

Ok, it seems to work now!

I had parameter MsDosInitiated="0", but it needed to be MsDosInitiated="1".  I'll post the installation script in a little while, so others can use it, but I want to make sure it works right first (I'm actually guiding my dad through this over the phone).  Here are some answers for now...

Do you have to use FreeDOS ? ?

I think so. It's the only DOS I've found, that can assign letters to partitions beyond 137gb.

I'd need to know exactly how you have this unattended CD assembled to advise further.

No CD's about it. I'm installing directly from a disk partition on disk2 to partitions on disk1 and disk2. Specifically, WINDOWS and Program Files will be on disk1; the boot loader will also be on disk1.  Documents and Settings, Swap, Temp, and the printer spool will be on separate disk2 partitions.   I figure I'll keep the source on disk2, for future re-installs if needed. 

DOS shouldn't be needed if the CD is built properly

Again, no CD here.  And none of this would be a problem if I were using Linux     No drive letter crap to worry about, and it 'sees' all file systems. For above-mentioned WindowsXP, I plan to switch boot order of disks after this is all done.  I just hope it keeps track of the original drive letters.  Confusing?   I'll post back in a few hours.

Thanks for the reply!

[patio]

Whether you are installing from system files from another partition or from a CD i don't see where the drive letter hangup is...Windows should automatically assign the install partition as C: followed by the rest of the partitions on Drive 0 and then Drive 1 (if applicable ) and its corresponding partitions...

As far as keeping track of the drive letters this is where you may run into problems.
If they are 2 seperate Windows installs on 2 different Physical drives i'd suggest letting the BIOS determine which drive to boot from.

Simple example:

My test machine has 2 physical drives each with 3 partitions and multiple OS's.

Drive 0 =

C: DOS 6.2 and Win98SE
D: WinME
E: Win2K

Drive 1 =

C: WinXP
D: Vista
E: Ubuntu

At boot i enter setup to select which drive to boot to. If i select Drive 0 i am presented with an option of which OS to run DOS; Win98; WinME or Win2K
If i select Drive 1 again i have a bootloader selection for those corresponding OS's. The reason this drive needs a bootloader is the fact that Linux exists on that drive.

Keep in mind this is only one method of setting up a dual-boot system.

For above-mentioned WindowsXP, I plan to switch boot order of disks after this is all done.  I just hope it keeps track of the original drive letters.  Confusing?   I'll post back in a few hours.

This is where you got me confused. If you simply use the unattended install to put XP on drive 2 also;  the original install will not know it's there and you won't be presented with a boot option other than using the BIOS to switch between drives.
If you use this method no matter which physical drive you boot to it will be listed in Windows as C:
Also if you have your Docs and Settings folder from install 1 on drive 2 it will be overwritten by the 2nd Windows install and you'll lose that info.
I've probably managed to confuse you now by this point...

So to make a short story long i'd say post back on exactly how you would like the machine setup...there may be a much simpler approach.

[peergynt]

I've probably managed to confuse you now by this point...

Not at all.  However my system is different. I should have explained it better during my last post. Sorry    But maybe this makes it more clear:
 
-When all is done, disk1 will boot Linux (the only Linux installation on the machine).
-And disk2 will boot WindowsXP (the only Windows installation on the machine). 
-WindowsXP partitions will exist on both, disk1 and disk2.
-I'll configure Linux' GRUB to display a menu to choose either Linux or WindowsXP at startup.

But notice that everything I've explained, until those 4-points above, considers that the disks are switched---that is, disk1 is getting WindowsXP; not disk2.  It needs to be like that during installation, for boot loader placement. But after installation, I'll switch the disks so WindowsXP is disk2 in the bios.

That's why I am hoping that WindowsXP keeps track of the drive letters after I switch the disks.  If so, then I'm golden!   Actually though, I don't expect any of that to present a problem. But for now, here's the part I'm still stuck on...

Whether you are installing from system files from another partition or from a CD i don't see where the drive letter hangup is...Windows should automatically assign the install partition as C:

Yes, it should. However, I've just discovered that none of my available DOS versions seems to acknowledge NTFS partitions.  I've tried

FreeDOS 1.0
OpenDOS on the Ultimate Boot CD
Free DOS (different than above) on the Ultimate Boot CD

None of those DOSes see the NTFS partition that I intend for the WINDOWS directory; instead they all assign C: to the first available FAT32 partition---my source directory no less! 

When I run the WindowsXP installer (winnt.exe) from disk, it wants to install on that FAT32 partition.  Makes sense, because the installer is running inside the DOS environment; it can only see what DOS sees. Oh well.

My only option seems to be using a Windows 98 se boot disk. But I can't find it anywhere yet...and I don't have a floppy drive anyway. Would that work on a bootable CD?---assuming I eventually find the download?

Thank you for reading my long post!

[patio]

The disks are available at bootdisk.com....you can use a WinME file. This will help with the larger HDD size. Grab the one with CDRom support. Your CD drive then becomes "R:" i believe.
Another option to consider is to start the partitions/disks out as FAT 32 and convert them after the installation.
The easiest solution to the drive letter dilemna would be to install XP on drive1 and let it occupy C: Here is a good step by step guide for doing so.
Any partitions can be created after you have the dual-boot setup running properly.
GParted is a decent partitioning tool and i believe you may already have it on your UBCD depending on how old it is...

[peergynt]

The disks are available at bootdisk.com....you can use a WinME file.

Thanks.  However, after a quick search, it looks like WinME doesn't support  NTFS.  I assume that none of those disks on bootdisk.com do.

Another option to consider is to start the partitions/disks out as FAT 32 and convert them after the installation.

Yes, I know about that one.  Seems like the least elegant solution...not that any of Microsoft's solutions are elegant.  I really couldn't imagine wanting to be a professional M$ system administrator. I'm now realizing what a sh*t job that would be    I digress.

Ok, I tried putting winnt.sif on a usb floppy drive, but the WinXP installation disk doesn't seem to load usb drivers. 

So, now I've decided to burn an installation disk.  My first attempt failed.  Generally, the iso's root includes i386 (with winnt.sif inside) and winnt.bat to start winnt.exe and point to all the pertinent things.  However, my iso seems to be missing the WinXP boot file---nothing loads when I try booting to the CD. 

I assume the boot file should also be placed in the iso's root, but I can't seem to get definitive info on the net about that.  Also, do you know what the boot file is named?  Would it be found in i386?
 
Thanks for sticking with me on this!

[patio]

Which burning program are you using ? ?
The file Microsoft Corporation.img needs to be extracted from the XP CD.
I use IsoBuster for this step.

Slipstream Guide

[peergynt]

I'm using k3b to burn the .iso.  The only .img file on my disk is netwlan5.img, located inside .\i386\SP2.CAB.   The file Microsoft Corporation.img is nowhere to be found.  I'm using WinXP Home edition; maybe that's why it's not there?

I'm reading in several places that usb drives should be supported for WinXP installations. Nothing concrete though....
http://www.nfbnet.org/pipermail/nfbcs/2006-May/000194.html

Maybe my dad had the boot order wrong.  If the floppy is #1 and cd-rom is #2, then maybe they should be reversed?

[patio]

Did you use IsoBuster ? ?
The file needing extraction is hidden...
Read the complete procedure in the link i provided and you'll be on your way...

The boot order will be fine, it will just ignore the floppy if there's none in there.
I've never heard of k3b.

[peergynt]

Believe it or not, I'm still not successful with this.  I read all the links, but creating a bootable CD didn't work; no matter what I tried, it didn't find the bootloader.

But I did get things to work somewhat by temporarily installing an internal floppy drive (external usb didn't work) and booting straight from the original WinXP CD. The CD is first boot device, as set in the bios.  I have both, winnt.sif and unattend.txt on the floppy, but I assume it only needs winnt.sif.   

That's good enough for my requirements, since my only concern was getting Windows installed on the partitions that I define; the slipstreaming wasn't that important, nor was saving time since I'm only installing on one machine.  So aborting the effort of making a bootable CD is no big loss.

Only problem is that, where as it puts Documents and Settings in the right partition, it dumps Program Files and Program Files\Common in the C: partition, along with WINDOWS.  In other words, my directory structure looks like this:

C:\WINDOWS
C:\Program Files
C:\Program Files\Common
G:\Documents and Settings

 However, the script looks like this...

Code: [Select]

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

[Unattended]   
    UnattendMode=GuiAttended
    OemPreinstall=No
    TargetPath=WINDOWS
    Repartition=No
    UnattendSwitch="no"
    WaitForReboot="Yes"
    ProgramFilesDir="E:\Program Files"
    CommonProgramFilesDir="E:\Program Files\Common"
    Hibernation = No
    FileSystem = LeaveAlone

[GuiUnattended]
    AdminPassword="xxxxxx"
    EncryptedAdminPassword=NO
    OEMSkipRegional=1
    TimeZone=35
    ProfilesDir="G:\Documents and Settings"
[UserData]
    ProductKey=xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxxx
    FullName="xxx"
    OrgName="Organization1"
    ComputerName=Computer1

[TapiLocation]
    CountryCode=1

[RegionalSettings]
    LanguageGroup=1

[Identification]
    JoinWorkgroup=WORKGROUP1

[Networking]
    InstallDefaultComponents=Yes

[Components]
    msmsgs=off
    msnexplr=off
    freecell=off
    hearts=off
    minesweeper=off
    pinball=off
    solitaire=off
    spider=off
    zonegames=off


[Shell]
    DefaultStartPanelOff = Yes

Very strange, considering that all the listed partitions and drive letters exist.  Could it be that ProgramFilesDir  and    CommonProgramFilesDir parameters have been deprecated for WinXP Home?

[peergynt]

I think I found the error, though I'm not sure why this would affect things.

 I changed the following line:

Code: [Select]

UnattendMode=GuiAttended
to this:

Code: [Select]

UnattendMode=FullUnattended
In any case, it works now!  Thank a bunch for your help, patio.  I'll probably revisit this thread sometime in the future when I repartition my older laptop. It's the only Windows machine that I've got left.  A souvenir     It only has usb floppy access, so I might need to create that slipstreamed disk after all