For the release of version 0.6, the UnattendGen component will use .NET 9.0, since Christoph's library has moved on to this version. This will not affect Beta 4, which will still use the version powered by .NET 8. After I upgraded the target framework of UnattendGen, the program still worked fine so, in theory, it will be a painless upgrade for you.
More user account checks have been added. Now, user account names that are system user names (such as Administrator, Guest, SYSTEM, or LOCAL SERVICE) are blocked from being used and you will receive a user accounts error: Previously, only "Administrator" was the only blocked name. Now, it doesn't matter the casing of the account name. For the release of version 0.6, another account check will be introduced to detect duplicate accounts.
The final preview release of DISMTools 0.6 is now available. Make sure to try it out and report feedback for a smooth launch in 2 weeks. It will also be available on WinGet
Duplicate account detection has been added: Expect this change, plus changes to errors to make them more meaningful, in the latest nightly installers from the "dt_pre_24122_relcndid" branch that will come out soon
Here are all the account name detections implemented so far: Account name checks for the computer name have been recently added to the check mix. Like duplicate account detection, DISMTools uses a LINQ query. You will not get an error if you type invalid characters in an account name, such as brackets or backslashes. Instead, those characters are automatically trimmed from the name. This will be the set of checks for version 0.6 and, most likely, future versions
Soon, new nightly installers will arrive with important changes. Jeff Kluge (the owner of the managed DISM API library) has released a new version of the package, which features configuring the system edition. Version 0.6 will not see these tasks being implemented, but 0.6.1 will. Even with that, please test them to make sure there are no issues
The future of the PE Helper for 2025 will look interesting: The screenshot shows a future feature of the installer. Judging by the selection, can you guess what it is?
Well, that future is clearer now: This will stay as an experiment. I managed to do it using EasyBCD, but I want to see how to do it with bcdedit. Stay tuned for updates on this.
Meet part of the experiment: This will be codenamed "HotInstall" and is internally called the "PE Helper BOOTMGR Bootstrapper". It can't modify BCD settings right now, but everything else is in place. It's in alpha stages, so it won't be released yet. Here's part of the code: I'll post more updates
DISMTools 0.6 will be released tomorrow and, as 2024 is about to end, I would like to ask you the following questions: How has DISMTools helped you in the year 2024? What do you want to see in 2025?
More progress is being made with HotInstall: Soon, it will be bundled with all ISO files you create.
Work on DISMTools 0.6.1 (codenamed "DTVI Mark 2") has started: Installers are available in the "dt_pre_2511" branch
DynaLog is seeing many improvements now: Soon, DynaLog will power every bit of the codebase, and new things will also use it
I'm sorry if I have to blind you with this one (it depends on when you're seeing this). More improvements with DynaLog: This will be it for today. So far, performance has slightly degraded in favor of logging. Feel free to try out the nightly installers of "dt_pre_2511_dynalog", and expect more logging news to be published in the following days. And, to switch topics a bit, version 0.6 is already doing quite well. Thanks again for testing DISMTools builds to make a great experience!