Hello, After I read many threads through many forums, incl. MS one, and before I go nuts, I'm trying to get info here. I'm quite new to 7 (yes, I know : 2009...), but have some good knowledge of XP that I installed many times on many computers with many tweaks, using the unattend (yet, winnt.sif) method (nLite caused too much trouble). As I wrote before, I read a lot before ending to post here, including WAIK help. I don't own a running 7 system, I'm currently working on a XP sp3 system and do all my testings by physically swapping between my system disk and a blank one. I downloaded the WAIK and installed it on to my XP machine, prepared a usb stick so it can boot 7 and used the 32 bits 7 DVD I bought together with the licence key. It's all authentic. Using WAIK, I created an AutoUnattended.xml file that I copied at the root of my stick - here it is : What I intend to do : Wipe the disk Create an active NTFS System reserved partition, 200 MB Create a primary NTFS Windows (C:\) 32 GB partition Create an extended partition which will hold the 3 following ones Create a logical NTFS 10 GB Programs (D:\) partition Create a logical NTFS 20 GB Profiles (E:\) partition Create a logical NTFS Misc (F:\) partition with the remainig space. All Windows related stuff must go to C:\ All programs must go to D:\ All profiles related stuff must go to E:\ My XP was configured that way and still works fine 9 years later For some unknown reason, it doesn't work the way it ought to : the partitions aren't formatted, the last one isn't even created, and even if I format them manually I am asked to check for the source files availability. But... but if I create only 4 primary NTFS partitions (System, C:\, D:\ and E:\), it will install almost correctly (programs stuff to C:\ instead of D:\, but profiles on E:\, as expected). I spent almost 3 weeks trying to understand what I may have done wrong, reading threads, hoping I had found the solution... now, I'm at the point I'm going to pick whatever I can find around and bash it all. Why doesn't it work, though according to the waik help and other topics I read to and fro, it ought to ? Someone to help me see what I did wrong / didn't understand correctly (and help cure my headache) ? Thanks in advance, and sorry for the length, J.-L.
Here is a code snippet for the hard drives/partitions that you can compare. Not too sure how to get programs on D: and Profiles on E: though. Code: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend"> <settings pass="windowsPE"> <component name="Microsoft-Windows-Setup" processorArchitecture="x86" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"> <DiskConfiguration> <Disk wcm:action="add"> <CreatePartitions> <CreatePartition wcm:action="add"> <Order>1</Order> <Size>200</Size> <Type>Primary</Type> </CreatePartition> <CreatePartition wcm:action="add"> <Order>2</Order> <Size>32768</Size> <Type>Primary</Type> </CreatePartition> <CreatePartition wcm:action="add"> <Order>3</Order> <Extend>true</Extend> <Type>Logical</Type> <Size>10240</Size> </CreatePartition> <CreatePartition wcm:action="add"> <Order>4</Order> <Size>20480</Size> <Type>Logical</Type> </CreatePartition> <CreatePartition wcm:action="add"> <Extend>true</Extend> <Order>5</Order> <Type>Logical</Type> </CreatePartition> </CreatePartitions> <ModifyPartitions> <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add"> <Active>true</Active> <Extend>false</Extend> <Format>NTFS</Format> <Label>System Reserved</Label> <Order>1</Order> <PartitionID>1</PartitionID> <TypeID>0x27</TypeID> </ModifyPartition> <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add"> <Active>true</Active> <Format>NTFS</Format> <Label>OS</Label> <Letter>C</Letter> <Order>2</Order> <PartitionID>2</PartitionID> </ModifyPartition> <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add"> <Active>true</Active> <Extend>true</Extend> <Format>NTFS</Format> <Label>Programs</Label> <Letter>D</Letter> <Order>3</Order> <PartitionID>3</PartitionID> </ModifyPartition> <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add"> <Active>true</Active> <Format>NTFS</Format> <Label>Profiles</Label> <Letter>E</Letter> <Order>4</Order> <PartitionID>4</PartitionID> </ModifyPartition> <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add"> <Active>true</Active> <Format>NTFS</Format> <Label>Misc</Label> <Letter>F</Letter> <Order>5</Order> <PartitionID>4</PartitionID> </ModifyPartition> </ModifyPartitions> <WillWipeDisk>true</WillWipeDisk> <DiskID>0</DiskID> </Disk> </DiskConfiguration> </component> </settings> <cpi:offlineImage cpi:source="catalog:d:/win7/x86/sources/install_windows 7 ultimate.clg" xmlns:cpi="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:cpi" /> </unattend>
Hello, Thanks for the answer. Sorry I didn't come there for long. Too much busy both at work and home. I gave it a try but, unfortunately, still no success. For some obscure reason, the process does only format the first two partitions, leaving the others unformatted. Then it aborts, complaining it can't achieve the task. If I modify the script so as it does not bother with partition creation and formatting, and just do the install after manually creating and partitionning the disk, then it complains it can't find the source. There is something I definetely can't understand concerning w7! I come back here and report as soon as I can find time enough - ie, not before 2 weeks, at least! -. Best regards, J.-L.