root path for CD drive?

[AltecXP]

i know that fro C:/window it is %systeroot% but i AM TRYING TO MAKE AN UNATEND AND NEED THE path fro teh CD drive no matter what letter it is. Sorry FOR THE WEIRD FORMAT buT MY KEYBOARD IS reallY MESSED UP.

[MazX_Napalm]

When installing an OS the first CD drive is always assigned the letter "D". Even if you have more than 1 partition/volume or more than 1 hard disc.

Just like "A" is always assigned to a floppy

[AltecXP]

not after the install this is at the end of teh unattend and it has more then 1 partition i CDrom is currently set as F: but i wana do it so that not matter how many partitions i have it will still look at the cd

[MazX_Napalm]

When you install Windows the CD is always D, unless you are upgrading or reinstalling on a partition/volume of a multi partition/volume disc.

If you are starting fresh is will be D

[AltecXP]

ny install rigth now it is F: it wa a fresh install teh hard drive partitions get presidence over teh cd drive so the cd drive gets what ever letter is after the partitions, trust me i know this is a FACT.

[MazX_Napalm]

What you could do as part of the install, is copy the i386 folder to your hard drive. The switch for that is

/copydir:folder_name

or you could used

  Quote

/makelocalsource

which "forces setup to copy all installation files to a local hard drive so that they will be available during successive phases of setup if access to CD drive or network fails" Sybex MSCA 70-210

[AltecXP]

ok you have no idea what the hell i am talking about

at the end of the unattend file i want it to automaticly run some files that are on the install CD (driver install files). and i need it to be able to run the files no matter what letter the CD-rom drive is.

[MazX_Napalm]

then use the $OEM$ folder on the CD. Put the drivers in there and edit the answer file to point to the location of the $OEM$/......... folders. Drivers get loaded as PART of the install not as an after thought.

Or use one of the first switch above and run a script after install pointing to that/those folder/s.

[todd]

  MazX_Napalm said:

When installing an OS the first CD drive is always assigned the letter "D". Even if you have more than 1 partition/volume or more than 1 hard disc.

Just like "A" is always assigned to a floppy

That's not true at all.. My hard drive has two partitions.. the first is for Windows, the second is for music, setup files, backup, etc. My drive for windows is always C, drive for the extra partition is always D, drive for CD-ROM is E, drive for CD-RW is F (yes, even after a fresh format/reinstallation)

[CrispCreations]

  MazX_Napalm said:

then use the $OEM$ folder on the CD. Put the drivers in there and edit the answer file to point to the location of the $OEM$/......... folders. Drivers get loaded as PART of the install not as an after thought.

Or use one of the first switch above and run a script after install pointing to that/those folder/s.

That's the way to go (Y)

Have you read msfn's unattended install guide? In particular this bit http://unattended.m s f n.org/xp/oemfolders.htm (take the spaces out of the m s f n bit) What is with the spam filter for that anyway?

  Quote

The purpose of these $OEM$ Folders is that anything you place into there will be automatically copied to the destination hard drive of where you're installing Windows. Once copied over, you can easily create batch commands to install and perform tasks using the %systemdrive% variable. For example: If Windows was installed to the D:\ drive, the environment variable "%systemdrive%" will resolve into D:\

You might ask, "why not run application installations from the CD itself?" This is because CD-ROM drive letters are bound to be different on every PC, which shows why there's no permanent "%CDROM%" environment variable.

The alternative would be to follow the advice contained in the rest of the article on that page

  Quote

You could however create and run a script that checks for the existance of a particular file on the CD so it maps the correct drive letter to the %CDROM% variable

[MazX_Napalm]

  kwapster said:

http://unattended.m s f n.org/xp/oemfolders.htm (take the spaces out of the m s f n bit) What is with the spam filter for that anyway?

Try using tinyurl to convert the url to http://<< spam >>/3r82w

As far as the partitioning goes. If you do do a fresh install and reformat with a single partition (as you should because you are going to be converting your discs to dynamic right? And then create further volumes) the the CD should automatically be D. Well at least that is what I get everytime.

[Colin-uk Veteran]

  MazX_Napalm said:

When installing an OS the first CD drive is always assigned the letter "D". Even if you have more than 1 partition/volume or more than 1 hard disc.

Just like "A" is always assigned to a floppy

its not like that for me, D is a partition on my second hard disk

and E is my first CD rom drive..