Unattended Setups

[Mighty_Jah]

Hi Folks, Im looking to Knock up a Mucho Splendido...unattended setup disk, comprising XP Pro, and a few other essential apps built in, can anyone point me in the right direction, is there a batch script building prog, or is pure code the way to go to build your answer files etc???

I have em in work for all my machines on the network, but they dont work on just any windows based system..as it gets told to fetch stuff from the main server.

Ive googed it but there is masses of differing stuff...thats just adding confusion to the equasion, was hoping someone on here may have built one .

any help or suggestions, would be a great help.

So Far...Im looking into this way of doing it >> http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles_tutorials/Customizing-Unattended-Setup.html

Thanks Guys, N gals..

Mighty... :wink:

[Mighty_Jah]

Ok....I think Im getting somewhere...

Ive just found this, and it seems to be exactly what Im looking for, providing it works of course.

So for anyone interested in the same heres a nice link >> http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Boot-Manager-Disk/Windows-Unattended-CD-Creator.shtml

I cant vouch for the software, as Ive not tried it yet, but it certainly looks the part.

(Edit...erm forgot to mention ...youll need .net framework 1.1 installed, before it will work get it here >>> http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=262D25E3-F589-4842-8157-034D1E7CF3A3&displaylang=en

Cheers Mighty... :wink:

[Sleepy]

Have you tried nLite? It now has the added bonus of being able to add very useful apps and drivers into a completely unnattended install disc! nLite on its own of course is superb at stripping out the unwanted exccess from MS cd's to leave a streamlined smaller and faster install.

Go here for further info:

http://www.nliteos.com/

Oh, it's also very easy to use and the forums are very helpful too! Hope that helps.

[Mighty_Jah]

Cheers for the info...TT

The story so far....

Ok Im pretty spoilt for choice, as far as progs go...the main contenders seem to be...

Windows unattended CD Creator

Almeza Multi-Set

nLite

as opposed to raw batch scripting, over the next few days Im gonna give all 3 a good old testing to see, which is the best for steamlining, adding components, drivers etc

Ive also been advised to look at Norton Ghost, as far as making image back ups of my own machine, complete with drivers, software and fast recovery times.

I personally think I need something on the lines of a Fischer Price GUI type of application...something I can hit with a squeaky hammer..then walk away, safe in the knowledge that its gonna do it all for me :lol:

Cheers once more for the help

Mighty... :wink:

[nathan]

just like to point out that if you alter a xp cd with nlite, and you have to add SATA/RAID (pressing f6 when booting the xp cd) your screwed!!!!!

well, with via chipsets at least.

[jman]

i've had a go with nLite and its very sexy! boshed up a nice streamlined XP / SP2 CD with all my drivers and cd key in about an hour. took a grand total of 35mins to install from boot !! would recommend this highly

[Mighty_Jah]

Looks like theyve come up with a fix for the SATA/RAID issue..

nLite 1.0.1 Final

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
posted 13.07.2006 by nuhi
This is an update of 1.0 with the critical SATA/RAID integration fix, so if it worked for you until RC8 then didn't in 1.0, now again it will be ok.

http://www.nliteos.com/

Regards Mighty... :wink:

[charddude]

you could also try symatec Ghost, however you'd have to have machines of same spec or do a ghost of all the pcs in your range

[landwomble]

tried lots of them, and it's the way to go. really easy to integrate drivers and script installs of software...

[Sleepy]

nLite now has a version just for Vista, surprisingly called vLite!

Here's some info from their website:

vLite - Vista Lite

vLite is a tool for customizing the Windows Vista installation before actually installing it.

Main features:


remove components
integrate drivers
merge Vista installation CDs into a single image
apply tweaks
make bootable CD/DVD



Windows Vista from Microsoft takes a lot of resources, we all know that. This tool provides you with an easy removal of the unwanted components in order to make Vista run faster and to your liking.

This tool doesn't use any kind of hacking, all files and registry entries are protected as they would be if you install the unedited version only with the changes you selected.

It configures the installation directly, before the installation, meaning you'll have to remake the ISO and reinstall it. This method is much cleaner, not to mention easier and more logical than doing it after installation on every reinstall.
Screenshots

Click on the thumbnails for larger picture

http://www.vlite.net/img/shots/ss1_t.png (http://www.vlite.net/img/shots/ss1.png)

http://www.vlite.net/img/shots/ss2_t.png (http://www.vlite.net/img/shots/ss2.png)

http://www.vlite.net/img/shots/ss4_t.png (http://www.vlite.net/img/shots/ss4.png)


http://www.vlite.net/img/shots/ss3_t.png (http://www.vlite.net/img/shots/ss3.png)

If you want to see more about this, you can find it at the vLite (http://www.vlite.net/index.html) Website.