Can you burn Windows updates to disk?

[wedge22]

Can I burn all the updates to cd so that I can do a fresh install and then update without having to download all the info again.

[Kezzer]

SP2 includes all of the windows updates

Other than that, yes you can. When you do a windows update it stores the actual update to a folder called wupdate (if that's the name). You can then backup all the .exe's in here. Mind you, there'd be quite a lot of them and you have to execute them one by one

[wedge22]

So it would take me alon gtime then mate? It would be better just to download sp2 and burn that to a cd then?

[Agent]

Just slipstream SP2 into a windows install disk.
You can also have it install utilities at the same time.

My custom disk is setup so its all automated. The only thing it asks me for it how to partition the drive/s.
Once thats done, everything from the serial number, to the usernames and passwords are setup. Its litteraly a case of putting the disk in, doing somthing else for an hour, and having a new system with windows installed, all drivers installed, all my mainly used utilites like acrobat reader, nero, Mirc, alcohol 120% , Azureus, winamp (with all my plugins), power DVD, and even Microsoft office ready and waiting to be used.
Oh, and i have a load of registry tweaks pre-done, along with usfull powertoys installed. It even changes the theme to the standards "windows clasic" one when installing, so im not welcomed with that Teletubbie one.

You can do almost anything like that given the time

[Kezzer]

Yup, as agent said, slipstream SP2 into your windows installation disk.

http://forums.hexus.net/showthread.php?t=27561

There's the guide.

Mods, can you make that link a sticky? It's very handy

[Paul Adams]

Slipstreaming service packs is a great time-saver, and at least with XP SP2 slipstreamed the firewall is on by default too

This week I've been playing with Virtual PC 2004 SP1 and doing many, many automated installs - now I can boot off a CD and with only specifying the disk partition bit it will:
- install Windows XP Pro with SP2
- set a custom theme as default
- tweak Windows to the way I like it (classic view, no "Help and Support", etc.)
- set up the network adapters so Internet access is available
- log in after installation to run a batch file which silently installs:
-- AVG Free 7.0 Beta
-- .NET Framework 1.1 SP1
-- Winamp 5.05
-- MSN Messenger 6.2
-- Messenger Plus! 3.01
-- Simp Lite MSN
-- WinRAR
-- IrfanView
-- Nero Burning ROM
-- DVD Region Free
-- Firefox
-- Acrobat Reader
-- Quicktime Alternative
-- Real Alternative
-- Shockwave & Flash players
-- Spybot Search & Destroy
-- SpywareBlaster
-- SpywareGuard
-- Zone Alarm Pro

Then it deletes all the junk which gets put on the desktop by these apps, applies any post-SP2 hotfixes, deletes the installation files and reboots.
Whole process takes about an hour in Virtual PC using a mounted ISO.

Nero even gets registered from the command line, and ZA Pro gets registered and restores a predefined backup of settings during installation.
VERY handy!
(My biggest bugbear with OS reinstalls is having to licence & configure everything again.)


Once I've finalized a CD for each of my 2 secondary machines, I'll add silent Office 2003 SP3 and Visio 2003 SP1 installations and make a bootable DVD for my main PC

[wedge22]

WOW Paul i wish that i had the skills to be able to do that it would sure save me some time.

[wedge22]

So Paul is it difficult to setup the cd to install all of that info straight from the disk?

[Paul Adams]

Check your PMs wedge

Basically there are step-by-step guides to doing a silent OS install, making slipstreamed CDs, tweaking the registry to suit and installing applications automatically so the work has been done already

I used the unattended guides at www.msfn.org.

[Apex]

If your still running SP1 then head over to www.autopatcher.com that will update you machine upto before sp2 for you

[Tifosi]

- log in after installation to run a batch file which silently installs:
....
Then it deletes all the junk which gets put on the desktop by these apps,

I'd love to see the batch code for that.

How does it know the local disk letter?

[Paul Adams]

Off the top of my head:

%systemdrive% = drive letter for Windows (e.g. "C:")
%systemroot% = full path to Windows installation folder (e.g. "D:\WindowsXP")
%UserProfile% = path to currently logged-in user's profile (e.g. "C:\Documents and Settings\George")

I think these 2 should be self-explanatory:
%AllUsersProfile%
%ProgramFiles%


Ordering pizzas and beers into our office now, so I'll have to get round to the batch file code I use later

[Twigman]

Dont bother wasting your time.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/d...s/default.mspx
Microsoft will send you a nice free cd

[Paul Adams]

- log in after installation to run a batch file which silently installs:
....
Then it deletes all the junk which gets put on the desktop by these apps,

I'd love to see the batch code for that.

How does it know the local disk letter?

Okay, I remembered to look up this post at last

The unattended installation of Windows is handled by "WINNT.SIF" - a text file that can be edited or you can use the Deployment Tool (\Support\Tools folder of your original XP CD).

A couple of sections of this file are:

[GuiUnattended]
    AutoLogon=Yes
    AutoLogonCount=1
...
[GuiRunOnce]
     %systemdrive%\postinst.cmd

They say to login after installation has finished (just once) and run "postinst.cmd" which is at the root of the drive you installed Windows to.

The command can be anything you like, I just called it postinst.cmd for "post install".

The batch file runs a whole bunch of silent installations, and the "tidy up" section at the end is this:

title Cleaning up
echo Cleaning up...
echo ...%systemdrive%
del %systemdrive%\*.log

echo ...Program Files
rd /s /q "%programfiles%\Grisoft\"
rd /s /q "%programfiles%\Online Services\"
rd /s /q "%programfiles%\xerox\"

echo ...All Users profile - desktop
del "%AllUsersProfile%\Desktop\*.lnk"

echo ...All Users profile - start menu
del "%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\*.lnk"
del "%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\*.lnk"
rd /s /q "%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\PrintMe Internet Printing"
rd /s /q "%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Java Web Start"

echo ...All Users profile - sample files
rd /s /q "%AllUsersProfile%\Documents\My Music\Sample Music\"
rd /s /q "%AllUsersProfile%\Documents\My Music\Sample Playlists\"
rd /s /q "%AllUsersProfile%\Documents\My Pictures\Sample Pictures\"

echo ...Default User profile - start menu
del "%systemdrive%\Documents and Settings\Default User\Start Menu\Programs\*.lnk"
rd /s /q "%systemdrive%\Documents and Settings\Default User\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories\"

echo ...Current User profile - desktop
del "%UserProfile%\Desktop\*.lnk"

echo ...Current User profile - start menu
del "%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\*.lnk"
del "%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories\Address Book.lnk"
del "%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories\Program Compatibility Wizard.lnk"
del "%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories\Synchronize.lnk"
del "%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories\Tour Windows XP.lnk"
del "%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories\Windows Explorer.lnk"
move "%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories\*.lnk" "%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories\"
rd /s /q "%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories\"
move "%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Secway" "%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\"
move "%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\*.lnk" "%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\"
move "%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Winamp" "%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\"
rd /s /q "%UserProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\WinRAR\"

echo ...Windows folder
del "%systemroot%\*.bmp"
del "%systemroot%\system32\dllcache\*.scr"
del "%systemroot%\system32\*.scr"
del "%systemroot%\Web\Wallpaper\*.jpg"
rd /s /q "%systemroot%\Cache\Adobe Reader 6.0\"
rd /s /q "%systemroot%\Cache\Adobe Reader 6.0.1\"

echo Adding shortcuts for All Users
md "%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories"
shortcut /F:"%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories\Audiograbber.lnk" /A:C /T:"%programfiles%\Tools\Audiograbber\audiograbber.exe"
shortcut /F:"%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories\CPU-Z.lnk" /A:C /T:"%programfiles%\Tools\cpuz.exe"
shortcut /F:"%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories\CurrPorts.lnk" /A:C /T:"%programfiles%\Tools\cports.exe"
shortcut /F:"%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories\GoldWave.lnk" /A:C /T:"%programfiles%\Tools\GoldWave 4.11\GoldWave.exe"
move "%programfiles%\Tools\GoldWave 4.11\BLADEENC.DLL" %systemroot%\system32
shortcut /F:"%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories\Hijack This.lnk" /A:C /T:"%programfiles%\Tools\HijackThis.exe"
shortcut /F:"%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories\MagicISO.lnk" /A:C /T:"%programfiles%\Tools\MagicISO.exe"
shortcut /F:"%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories\MouseZoom.lnk" /A:C /T:"%programfiles%\Tools\MZoom.exe"
shortcut /F:"%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories\RegMon.lnk" /A:C /T:"%programfiles%\Tools\Regmon.exe"
shortcut /F:"%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories\SetBrowser.lnk" /A:C /T:"%programfiles%\Tools\setbrowser.exe"
shortcut /F:"%AllUsersProfile%\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories\StartupCPL.lnk" /A:C /T:"%programfiles%\Tools\StartupCPL.exe"

echo Deleting installation files
rd /s /q %systemdrive%\Install\

echo Scheduling restart for 5 minutes...
shutdown -r -f -t 300 -c "Auto reboot in 5 minutes to complete installations"
del %systemdrive%\postinst.cmd

[Crazy Fool]

if you just want SP2 do this one

http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=188337

[Dave_07]

Don't bother wasting your time.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/d...s/default.mspx
Microsoft will send you a nice free cd

The SP2 cd ms offers is named as a win xp pro sp2 cd, and they don't seem to offer any other versions, with it work with a win xp home copy of windows ?