RE: [Unattended] Never mind; continue about your daily business ( was biosinfo.txt not found when using unattended with XPSP2 integrated M V LS)
Chris, That last comment from Moritz is how I did it -- Under Windows you can use WinIso or similar... it works! regards, Moritz I just opened the linux boot iso with WinIso, extracted the cfg file, edited the parameters, and put it back. Relatively painless. I have a local install account and the unattended CD is the only 'one' that uses it to connect to the deployment server. Pretty much what you described and it may have taken 10 minutes including download time. I can see that you are frustrated and I agree with most of your points but it doesn't seem productive to get on the list and hammer the guys doing the work for their coding style. Anytime you go to another dev team they have their own way of doing things - you shouldn't barge in and tell them they are wrong. Before you get hotter ... I agree with most of your points and Pat has talked about some work on the file layout (there are a bunch of posts on the list about this) but it turns out that in most shops once you have a working setup you aren't given the time to fine-tune like we would all like. I have gained literally hundreds of hours by using this offering and I can say it took me a little while to get my head around it but it has been well worth it. If you want to talk to me, openly, about the problems and frustrations and perhaps get some insight into my use model I would be happy to give you a call. Just let me know. Don Morrison Technology Department Manager The National Judicial College [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yes, Ryan, thank you, I do understand what mkisofs -quiet -o linuxboot.iso -b isolinux/isolinux.bin -c isolinux/boot.cat -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-info-table iso does. I have hacked Dreamcast bin/cues before. My point is that hunting through z:\linuxboot\Makefile for the mkisofs parameters and obtaining a copy of mkisofs that works on XP and going through a *rebuild*[1] of the iso is more work than it should be in order to change three tiny yet critical parameter defaults that are extremely unlikely to be acceptable at a real Windows production site. But whatever. I'll concede that making the change to the Linux boot CD is unlikely to happen more than once for a production site, so this amount of work is negligible in the long run. Are you willing to concede the scripts are largely unintelligible as written? The filesystem in the CD is not like your regular filesystem. You can't just replace/edit the files in place and expect it to still work. Funny. If I make a multi-session bootable Windows XP CD, I can rewrite \i386\winnt.sif to my heart's content. Chris Doherty Helpdesk Analyst Crompton Co./Cie a Chemtura Company Elmira: (519) 669-1671 x319 [1] What would you call creating a bootable ISO9660 image from source files, a second time? I call it a rebuild. --- SF.Net email is sponsored by: Tame your development challenges with Apache's Geronimo App Server. Download it for free - -and be entered to win a 42 plasma tv or your very own Sony(tm)PSP. Click here to play: http://sourceforge.net/geronimo.php ___ unattended-info mailing list unattended-info@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/unattended-info
RE: [Unattended] Sugestion or Request...
Thirded? :P I agree that the placement of the packages (and in my case, scripts also) is not optimal. I want to just ping the list with a thought and then I will devote some more time to this later ... Beware ... May ramble a bit. I would suggest that we use a site setting/variable so that we can each determine the placement of our files. It could be something that maps it out for each package or just a %PKGIDPATH%. I think it might be a little hard to get consensus from everyone on where they should all live, as some of us with few applications will want a simple/flat structure while others will want to really break it up. (I can see that this would get more valuable as you need to support multiple versions of the same application, or have fixed deployment 'images' for a specific department.) Having said that, I wouldn't want to break any stock functionality in Unattended. I could see us leaving things as they are -- so you use the prepare script to get everything to start, then a rearrange to move it where you want it ... The complication comes in wanting adobe_reader_package in /packages/viewers/adobe/... And java in /packages/java/ Hmmm, perhaps this would work -- Perhaps naming/versioning of packages. So you would have something like: :: Install Adobe Reader :: PKGID|ADBERDR60 :: URL|ENU|http://somedownload.com|packages/adobereader/adberdr60_enu_full.exe :: OPTIONAL: Install Sun Java Virtual Machine :: PKGID|SUNJRE5_0_01 :: URL|ALL|http://javadownload.blah|packages/jre1.5.0_01.msi In the batch files from Unattended and on your site you would have a setting that says: DEFAULT|packages/ ADBERDR60|packages/viewers/adobe/ SUNJRE5_0_01|packages/java/ It would add some overhead, but maybe not as much as I am thinking. If there were a front-end for this it would be even better, but we are already stringing together an ungodly amount of scripts to get this truly marvelous software to work. I would like to see something like this personally. Instead of agreeing where everything should be, let's just agree how everything should be named and we should be good to go. In fact, the information could be added without a *huge* change .. I think. Heck, given the format above the prepare script could attempt to find the PKGIDPATH and if there isn't an entry then it would fallback to default. Yeah, I can see that working. On a side note: This addresses the package storage area, but not really the script storage issues that may arise, Of course, that may bring forth thoughts of an index of packages scripts rather than storing it all with the install directives. (Although, I am a big fan of atomic configuration information -- i.e., each install knows what it needs to be performed.) Thoughts? Don Morrison -Original Message- From: Michael Kahle [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, February 14, 2005 2:50 PM To: Unattended List Subject: [Unattended] Sugestion or Request... Would it be possible to remove all software from the root of the unattended/install/packages directory and instead move them to a folder within the packages directory? I am not trying to make noise here, but thought that others might have a similar experience/desire as I do. I not only use unattended for unattended installations, but also as my software repository on the network. If someone wants a particular piece of software installed I simply map a drive to the unattended server browse to packages and manually install the package I want. I also store additional information in the directory with the package, like documentation on how to do the manual install or pdf's on how to use the software for other peoples reference. For example, when running the prepare script it places the java jre in the root of the packages directory. I move the install to a folder called java and then put my documentation in the directory with the installer. I then go to the scripts directory and modify the script that installs it to reflect the path to where the software resides. Now when I update the scripts from CVS with the script-update bash script, it overwrites my changes and I have to update it all over again. I realize that I can exclude whichever files I want to so that I don't break compatibility, but this is not entirely convenient. I guess what I am suggesting is some standard structure that we could use with unattended that would clean up the packages and updates directory that makes better sense. Perhaps even separating the packages sub directories into something like: /unattended/ /packages/ /commercial /office2003 /notes /java /opensource /openoffice /pdfcreator /freeware /winimage /winzip /updates /ie6sp1 /directx9 Humm... Looking at the above, separating packages into opensource, freeware, commercial is kind
RE: [Unattended] How much is a multiuser license for XP pro ?
Felipe, Windows XP pricing differs greatly from organization to organization. For instance, I am on the University of Nevada, Reno (USA) campus and we pay less then $50/year for each full-time equivalent employee (FTE). This covers operating system and Microsoft Office licenses for all my users and my lab machines -- this is known as our Campus Agreement. I have heard or other names but your best source for this information is at the Microsoft site. http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/default.mspx Hope this helps out. Good luck. Don -Original Message- From: Felipe Navarrete [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, January 25, 2005 8:54 AM To: unattended-info@lists.sourceforge.net Subject: [Unattended] How much is a multiuser license for XP pro ? How much is a multiuser license for XP pro ? Anybody know ? -- Felipe Navarrete --- This SF.Net email is sponsored by: IntelliVIEW -- Interactive Reporting Tool for open source databases. Create drag--drop reports. Save time by over 75%! Publish reports on the web. Export to DOC, XLS, RTF, etc. Download a FREE copy at http://www.intelliview.com/go/osdn_nl ___ unattended-info mailing list unattended-info@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/unattended-info --- This SF.Net email is sponsored by: IntelliVIEW -- Interactive Reporting Tool for open source databases. Create drag--drop reports. Save time by over 75%! Publish reports on the web. Export to DOC, XLS, RTF, etc. Download a FREE copy at http://www.intelliview.com/go/osdn_nl ___ unattended-info mailing list unattended-info@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/unattended-info
RE: [Unattended] OK, couple of new problems/questions
Scott, I had a similar problem and found that my admin password wasn't compatible with the linux install method -- when I used a simpler password everything worked. I didn't spend too much time working on the problem but I assumed that the samba client must not have liked it. Now, months later I have found that windows doesn't like that password sometimes either -- eh, no worries. Anyway, check if there may be some 'weird' characters in your password and test it with something simple. All this assumes that you have put the data into your unattend.txt correctly: [GuiUnattended] AdminPassword=YOURPASS [Identification] JoinDomain=YOURDOMAIN DomainAdmin=YOURDOMAIN\someaccount DomainAdminPassword=somepass Good luck. Don -Original Message- From: Scott Adams [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, November 29, 2004 10:02 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [Unattended] OK, couple of new problems/questions I have gotten everything working for the windowsXPsp2 install using the linuxboot method and it works great, I have the unattend.txt file setup like I would like. Only two questions, or maybe they would be problems, I put the administrator password in the unattend.txt file but it still asks for it and if I do not enter anything then it is blank when the machine finishes the install, I am assuming this is a problem with something not picking up the adminpassword from the unattend.txt or some such. The second is a question, what file do I put the //server/folder (//ntinstall/install change) and the userid and password so that I do not have to enter them all the time, remember I am using the linuxboot method. Thanks for the great program and the help. Scott Adams Computer Network Instructor SEARK College Pine Bluff, Arkansas --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.794 / Virus Database: 538 - Release Date: 11/10/2004 --- SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide Read honest candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real users. Discover which products truly live up to the hype. Start reading now. http://productguide.itmanagersjournal.com/ ___ unattended-info mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/unattended-info --- SF email is sponsored by - The IT Product Guide Read honest candid reviews on hundreds of IT Products from real users. Discover which products truly live up to the hype. Start reading now. http://productguide.itmanagersjournal.com/ ___ unattended-info mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/unattended-info
RE: [Unattended] Install Samba Shared printer
Justin, I have a script that uses a basic xml file to store the resources for our network. Then a login script parses that file and maps the drives or printers for the user. The code could easily be modified to make the mappings permanent instead of the expectation that they run each time. You will notice that the xml has shares as well as printers and has an attribute called groups -- this lets the script selectively map the resource based on NT Group. A sample xml looks like this: xml !--[BEGIN XML] -- servers server name=server1 resource name=main_share type=share mapas=v: groups=executive / /server server name=dbserver resource name=files type=share mapas=p: groups=ALL / /server server name=print resource name=executive type=printer groups=ALL / resource name=frontoffice type=printer groups=ALL / resource name=sales type=printer groups=sales / /server /servers /xml If you are interested I can send on a working example. The code is broken up into functions intended to be used by a higher-level script, but I think I can throw something together. I don't have the concept of domain selection as my script assumes that these users are logging in to my domain - otherwise they wouldn't be getting this login script. :) Let me know. Don -Original Message- From: Justin Beckley [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, October 01, 2004 11:02 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [Unattended] Install Samba Shared printer Sorry for the long delay in a response, but I have been busy trying to get this thing figured out. This script will not be run every time a user logs on. Instead there will be a printer icon on the Desktop that says Enable Printing or something. Only after the user double-clicks that icon will this script get executed. This prevents everyone from hitting the samba server every time they login. Here's what I came up with so far, and a brief description of the coming revision. This script supposes that the printer(s) you are mapping to are installed on the computer on ports LPT[x-y]. I will add in some logic to read this information from a file that I will keep in C:\NETINST\ printers.txt. Basically for every printer that gets installed on the computer a line in the printers.txt file will look like this: LPTx \\print-server\printer LPTy \\print-server\printer1 The script would read that file and map the printers that are listed in that file. Right now that doesn't happen, but that is where this script is headed. School keeps getting in the way... something about an education, I don't know. Right now it just installs one printer that is specified in the script, but here it is if anyone is interested in what we are currently working on. The explanation follows. REM Lines that begin with REM are ignored REM This script will prompt users for their name and passwords REM so that they can map network printers REM Create some Objects to use for our networking and password stuff Dim net Set net = CreateObject(WScript.Network) Set oScriptPW = CreateObject(ScriptPW.Password) Set nUser = WScript.CreateObject(Wscript.Network) REM Grab out Domain name and username from our objects Domain = nUser.UserDomain UserName = nUser.UserName REM Check to see if the user is already logged into our domain REM If they are in the proper domain, dont do anthing but if they REM have logged in locally, give them an inputbox for their username if Domain = my_domain Then else UserName = InputBox(Please enter your domain user name, Domain Username,,100,100) end if REM WScript.StdOut.WriteLine vbCrLf Your username is UserName REM This appears on the command line since VBScript cannot mask input REM in our input box. It asks for the password, and allows you to type REM it in, but nothing is echoed out WScript.StdOut.Write Type password and press the Enter key: strPasswd = oScriptPW.GetPassword() REM Create us a new shell object for mapping the printers REM This should be able to work on our existing objects, but REM I would recieve errors and stuff. Ill look into debugging REM those later Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject(WScript.Shell) REM Specify our command to run strCommand = net use LPT2: \\print-server\printer REM Run our command Set oScriptExec = WshShell.Exec(strCommand /USER: UserName strPasswd) REM Assign the output that went to stdout to a var strOutput = oScriptExec.Stdout.ReadAll REM Wait .5 sec WScript.Sleep(500) REM Newline WScript.Echo REM print out our results WScript.Echo strOutput REM blank line WScript.Echo WScript.Sleep(2500) The script will create a popup box that asks for thier domain user name if they are not logged into our domain. Next it drops to a command line to ask for your password because VBscript cannot hide entries in a
RE: [Unattended] palm desktop install
Julien, I haven't done much automating this, but what I remember reading was that the install had to be done for every user, and that you wanted that to reside in C:\Program Files\Path\To\Palm\%username% I had some luck manually installing it this way so it may help. Then again maybe not. Good luck. Don -Original Message- From: Julien TOUCHE [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Saturday, September 11, 2004 2:01 AM To: Unattended List Subject: Re: [Unattended] palm desktop install Eugene Kotlyarov a écrit : Julien TOUCHE wrote: i'm trying to install palm desktop on multi-users windows but get the problem than by default palm desktop is one-user only ... with appdeploy, i create the following scripts, but could not identify all reg of HKEY_CURRENT_USER and other stuff i need to migrate to HKEY_USERS/.DEFAULT or some other place. It's rather strange but it is under HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\U.S. Robotics\Pilot Desktop not only that also HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\U.S. Robotics\Palm Quick Install HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Palm and some HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\.pdb HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\.pnc and so on but exporting these only in HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT is not sufficient to make it work or maybe it must be done individually ... (sic) Regards Julien --- This SF.Net email is sponsored by: YOU BE THE JUDGE. Be one of 170 Project Admins to receive an Apple iPod Mini FREE for your judgement on who ports your project to Linux PPC the best. Sponsored by IBM. Deadline: Sept. 13. Go here: http://sf.net/ppc_contest.php ___ unattended-info mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/unattended-info --- This SF.Net email is sponsored by: YOU BE THE JUDGE. Be one of 170 Project Admins to receive an Apple iPod Mini FREE for your judgement on who ports your project to Linux PPC the best. Sponsored by IBM. Deadline: Sept. 24. Go here: http://sf.net/ppc_contest.php ___ unattended-info mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/unattended-info
RE: [Unattended] RE: mozilla 1.7.1 update
I spent a good deal of time fighting with this one tonight. I saw that bug Paul, and read up some on some other sites. Seems that folks are repackaging this until the installer is fixed. I was able to get it to run almost completely silent. * Download the installer package * Start the installation * Let it hang on the first screen * Grab the setup directory from my temp folder * Cancel the installation * Push that directory out to packages * Edit the config.ini in several places - to silence the install location screen and the download screen * Run setup.exe with the -ma -ira switches * You get install progress screen but it doesn't require input * Left with only the Installation Finished screen, wanting a click on Finish I attempted to comment out the section that displays the finish screen but the install just sits there. Frustrating but they seem to have escalated it for the 1.0 release of FireFox. At this point you could AutoIt I guess. Just one click. If anyone is interested I can put that together with my edited config.ini and post them. Don -Original Message- From: Paul Baumgardner [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, July 14, 2004 6:37 PM To: Don Morrison; 'Steven Piercy' Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [Unattended] RE: mozilla 1.7.1 update The -ma -ira switches don't seem to work. The installer just sits there asking where you'd like to install Firefox. None of the buttons are responsive except the Cancel button. I found there was a bug filed for this issue: http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=229706 -paul -Original Message- From: Don Morrison [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, July 15, 2004 01:11 AM To: ''Steven Piercy'' Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [Unattended] RE: mozilla 1.7.1 update Steven - I was looking at FireFox yesterday and it doesn't look like the same installer. I think the FireFox installer is just a nice way of uncompressing the files into directories (the way you had to install previous versions) -- I couldn't find anything about getting it to run silently. There are some posts on the mozillazine.org site about it. I would be willing to help out if needed. Don -Original Message- From: Steven Piercy [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, July 14, 2004 4:08 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: mozilla 1.7.1 update ok - SF bounced my bat file attachment, so just grab the text below here is a slightly modified version of the mozilla.bat - for mozilla1.7.1 (cause of a security flaw: http://www.mozilla.org/security/shell.html ;) - just figured it wasn't enough to require a patch. anyway here it is (i know... why brag about a total of 8 changed characters - well, its been a few weeks and nobody else updated the cvs) - I'll attach a copy too note: I don't see a bat for firefox or thunderbird on the cvs either (likely the same install syntax) - want me to add em? or just be shellfish? I use firefox myself... nice and no IE holes... no Opera ads... just me and a nice fast browser :-) :: OPTIONAL: Install Mozilla :: URL|ALL|http://ftp.mozilla.org/mozilla/releases/mozilla1.7.1/m ozilla-win URL|ALL|32-1.7.1-installer.exe|packages/mozilla-win32-1.7.1-in staller.ex URL|ALL|e @Echo off todo.pl %Z%\packages\mozilla-win32-1.7.1-installer.exe -ma -ira --- This SF.Net email is sponsored by BEA Weblogic Workshop FREE Java Enterprise J2EE developer tools! Get your free copy of BEA WebLogic Workshop 8.1 today. http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=4721alloc_id=10040op=click ___ unattended-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/unattended-devel --- This SF.Net email is sponsored by BEA Weblogic Workshop FREE Java Enterprise J2EE developer tools! Get your free copy of BEA WebLogic Workshop 8.1 today. http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=4721alloc_id=10040op=click ___ unattended-info mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/unattended-info --- This SF.Net email is sponsored by BEA Weblogic Workshop FREE Java Enterprise J2EE developer tools! Get your free copy of BEA WebLogic Workshop 8.1 today. http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=4721alloc_id=10040op=click ___ unattended-info mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/unattended-info
[Unattended] Mozilla FireFox 0.92 Install
I have this working well enough for my use and thought I would share. No matter what combination of flags and settings I couldn't get the setup to complete with out the Installation Successful screen. I *was* able to get rid of the Install Path and Downloading dialogs. So with a sprinkle of AutoIt it is good enough for jazz. ;) To get 0.92 to play nice you have to edit the config.ini file once you have extracted the setup files. I edited it in 2 places: [Dialog Select Install Path] Show Dialog=FALSE [Dialog Downloading] Show Dialog=FALSE Then used the attached AutoIt script to run the setup with the -ma -ira switches. (I also attached the .bat file, renamed to .txt) I extracted the setup files to the packages\firefox092 directory. Let me know if this bails on anyone. Don :: OPTIONAL: Install FireFox 0.92 @Echo off :: URL|ALL|http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/releases/0.9.2/FirefoxSetup-0.9.2.exe :: Install FireFox 0.92 - with a little help from AutoIt todo.pl AutoIt %Z%\scripts\firefox092.aut firefox092.aut Description: Binary data
[Unattended] RE: mozilla 1.7.1 update
Steven - I was looking at FireFox yesterday and it doesn't look like the same installer. I think the FireFox installer is just a nice way of uncompressing the files into directories (the way you had to install previous versions) -- I couldn't find anything about getting it to run silently. There are some posts on the mozillazine.org site about it. I would be willing to help out if needed. Don -Original Message- From: Steven Piercy [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, July 14, 2004 4:08 PM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: mozilla 1.7.1 update ok - SF bounced my bat file attachment, so just grab the text below here is a slightly modified version of the mozilla.bat - for mozilla1.7.1 (cause of a security flaw: http://www.mozilla.org/security/shell.html ;) - just figured it wasn't enough to require a patch. anyway here it is (i know... why brag about a total of 8 changed characters - well, its been a few weeks and nobody else updated the cvs) - I'll attach a copy too note: I don't see a bat for firefox or thunderbird on the cvs either (likely the same install syntax) - want me to add em? or just be shellfish? I use firefox myself... nice and no IE holes... no Opera ads... just me and a nice fast browser :-) :: OPTIONAL: Install Mozilla :: URL|ALL|http://ftp.mozilla.org/mozilla/releases/mozilla1.7.1/m ozilla-win URL|ALL|32-1.7.1-installer.exe|packages/mozilla-win32-1.7.1-in staller.ex URL|ALL|e @Echo off todo.pl %Z%\packages\mozilla-win32-1.7.1-installer.exe -ma -ira --- This SF.Net email is sponsored by BEA Weblogic Workshop FREE Java Enterprise J2EE developer tools! Get your free copy of BEA WebLogic Workshop 8.1 today. http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=4721alloc_id=10040op=click ___ unattended-devel mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/unattended-devel --- This SF.Net email is sponsored by BEA Weblogic Workshop FREE Java Enterprise J2EE developer tools! Get your free copy of BEA WebLogic Workshop 8.1 today. http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=4721alloc_id=10040op=click ___ unattended-info mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/unattended-info
RE: [Unattended] OT: NT4 Tape Driver
Michael, I had this same problem [NT4.0 + Exchange 5.5] and ended up writing a script that would shut-down the Exchange services every night (in the correct order), backup the Exchange store files, then restart the services (in the correct order). It was the only way I was able to workout solid backups without putting a tape drive in that box. Don -Original Message- From: Michael Kahle [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, June 11, 2004 12:47 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [Unattended] OT: NT4 Tape Driver This is off topic to unattended, but I thought you guys might have some ideas. I have a NT4.0 server that is running MS Exchange 5.5. I have started backing up all the servers in my environment using Rsync. This works great, but there is one more piece of the puzzle remaining. I need to backup my Exchange 5.5 database using the msbackup.exe utility. The only problem is that the msbackup.exe utility requires a tape device to write to. :( What I am hoping is that someone knows of a driver that I could install on the NT4 server that would look like a tape device that is configurable to write to the disk somewhere. That way, I could use msbackup.exe to write to this tape device and then Rsync could once a day grab this file off of the server. I would love to hear of a solution for this. Thanks. Michael --- This SF.Net email is sponsored by the new InstallShield X. From Windows to Linux, servers to mobile, InstallShield X is the one installation-authoring solution that does it all. Learn more and evaluate today! http://www.installshield.com/Dev2Dev/0504 ___ unattended-info mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/unattended-info --- This SF.Net email is sponsored by The 2004 JavaOne(SM) Conference Learn from the experts at JavaOne(SM), Sun's Worldwide Java Developer Conference, June 28 - July 1 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, CA REGISTER AND SAVE! http://java.sun.com/javaone/sf Priority Code NWMGYKND ___ unattended-info mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/unattended-info
RE: [Unattended] Sharing unattended install scripts
In an ideal world, should all unattended users be adding their scripts to the main unattended distribution, or is it desirable to keep the included set of scripts to some limited, manageable set? Personally, I'd like to see a /contrib. directory with optional scripts. The scripts within the contrib. directory would have to be copied into /install/scripts before becoming functional. I like the contrib idea. I plan on adding a bunch for the particular applications needed here and it would be great if others can benefit from my work. Is anyone else creating scripts and sharing them via their own web pages or elsewhere? ftp://www.hansonsystems.com/unattended/ I would think that with unattended's growing user base that a lot of scripts are probably being generated. It would be nice if sharing of these scripts was better facilitated. Providing a description of how you want this handled on the unattended web site would be great. I'm not sure how this would best be handled. I assume that the mailing list works well enough to not warrant any new infrastructure. I can also volunteer bandwidth/server space for keeping these if it is deemed necessary to store them in another way. I work on a college campus and we have plenty of room for this kind of thing. ;) I have been working on a how to build unattended scripts faq, its still a work in progress. Jeff, I took a look at your example script ... Very nice! Don --- This SF.Net email is sponsored by: IBM Linux Tutorials Free Linux tutorial presented by Daniel Robbins, President and CEO of GenToo technologies. Learn everything from fundamentals to system administration.http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=1470alloc_id=3638op=click ___ unattended-info mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/unattended-info
[Unattended] Package creation question (Macromedia Studio MX 2004)
Have been working on the Macromedia Studio MX 2004 installation and have it pretty much done. Just had a methodological question for you all. When installing Flash MX 2004 if you have one or more Netscape compatible browsers (Mozilla, FireFox, etc) you get a window asking if you would like to install the Flash Player for any of these browsers (it isn't an InstallShield window). If you don't have any of these browsers the standard silent install goes off without a hitch. So, if you are going to install Flash after the browsers then you need an AutoIt script, if not then the reg batch is fine. Have any of you had something like this come up? I looked through the AutoIt documentation and I don't see how I can handle waiting for a window that may never show up except to give it a crazy long timeout (which seems a bit evil). [This time I did read the installers page http://unattended.sourceforge.net/installers.html :) and noticed that there are several applications mentioned there that have similar problems as far as custom dialog windows.] Still, I figure that I will be putting at least Mozilla on my machines so the AutoIt script I should work. Don --- This SF.Net email is sponsored by: IBM Linux Tutorials Free Linux tutorial presented by Daniel Robbins, President and CEO of GenToo technologies. Learn everything from fundamentals to system administration.http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=1470alloc_id=3638op=click ___ unattended-info mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/unattended-info
RE: [Unattended] JRE2 Install command switch
Doh! I didn't see the qb in the Sun silent install page. I am glad that what I reasoned was happening was correct -- just wish I had re-read the installers page first. grin Maybe this is the deal with the space (from the Sun silent install page): In the various command line examples below a space appears between the /v and the quote (); i.e., /v . The space is required for 1.4.2_01 and higher releases that are installed by the Windows Installation method (aka install from the web). For Windows Offline Installation no space should appear. And yet, when I read about the install formats is sure looks like we use the Windows Offline method. ?? All that information and no real answer. I love computers. Don -Original Message- From: Patrick J. LoPresti [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, March 23, 2004 8:06 PM To: Adam Peart Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [Unattended] JRE2 Install command switch Adam Peart [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: And here I like seeing the progress bar' because it tells me the computer is doing something and isn't frozen, as well as how it's going. Just my two cents. Yeah, I like progress bars too, which is why I opted for /qb instead of /qn like Sun documents. The package is just an InstallShield Basic MSI installer: http://unattended.sourceforge.net/installers.html#ismsi I am a little surprised that the space is required, since I am almost certain I used to install the JRE without it... I wonder what is going on here, exactly. But whatever works :-). - Pat --- This SF.Net email is sponsored by: IBM Linux Tutorials Free Linux tutorial presented by Daniel Robbins, President and CEO of GenToo technologies. Learn everything from fundamentals to system administration.http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=1470alloc_id=3638op=click ___ unattended-info mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/unattended-info --- This SF.Net email is sponsored by: IBM Linux Tutorials Free Linux tutorial presented by Daniel Robbins, President and CEO of GenToo technologies. Learn everything from fundamentals to system administration.http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id=1470alloc_id=3638op=click ___ unattended-info mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/unattended-info
[Unattended] Some ideas from the new guy
Greetings list, First off I want to say thank you for such a great product. I started using Unattended last year and then got into a ton of budgeting, planning, etc so our XP upgrade, the main reason for starting to use Unattended, was delayed. But now, with all that over (for now), I have downloaded the newest version and am currently running the very rockin prepare script! So thanks and hats off to all of you. On to the real reasons for this message: Package Management *** I was reading through the mail list archives and saw that package management is something that is needed/wanted. I agree wholeheartedly. I wanted to see if we were on the same page here -- Package management in the way I read it is a system that would keep an Unattended server up to date with the latest patches, hotfixes, application installers, etc. Does that seem a fair assumption? If so, perhaps we could adopt a similar strategy to the Gentoo Portage system. (For those of you not familiar with Gentoo or Portage ... Gentoo is a distribution of Linux and Portage is a package management system written for said distro.) I use Gentoo on a number of machines at work and love the portage system. It handles a lot more than we might need for unattended but some of the design principles seem to be a good fit. Having a central registry of all these packages that we can sync to would be ideal. Letting maintainers update these packages would be even better. Has anyone put specific thought into this? If so, what was it? And, what would be the next steps? If we all need it and it is just going to need someone to write it I would like to volunteer. My expertise is in web programming anyway, that seems a logical way to do it. I have a ton of bandwidth at work (I am on a university campus) and could have a test server up nice a quick. If no one else has really looked into this I can start to formalize my thoughts and present a design recommendation to the list. Post Install Usage *** Or, Client Package Management. The other side of the coin is that if our servers are updated with the latest packages how do we keep the client machines going. I know that this is a little out of the scope of an Unattended install project, but like I mentioned above ... All the scripts are written for package installation, it would seem practical to reuse this immense effort. I know that some of you have thought of this, or are doing it. If you are already doing some of this, is it through login scripts? Or some other way? Using a subset of the Unattended logic in login scripts makes sense to me. My thought is that this would apply to adding applications (packages) to an existing machine as well. The Rest(TM) *** These aren't as thought out as the stuff above (ha!) but I wanted to get them out there while I was thinking of them. [Most of this is predicated on me having a decent inventory (asset management) system in place. I am getting ready to write one up though, and figured if any of this fits I can take it into account.] * Administrative interface: Here is an example -- I know I am having a new user start, they are going to get the base install, the sales install, and a couple of other apps too. I log in to the web interface of my Unattended server, select the machine from my inventory, select the os, select base, sales, then select the other applications from my catalog of installs. This creates a file like the .csv examples so that the appropriate os and applications are installed. (If all this logic is being used to maintain the machines as well, you could log in and select an application to *add* to a specific machine and it would be the next time the logged in!) The admin side could also be used to maintain site configuration files, like the [_meta] info. * Logging: When a machine is built the log files (or entries) are stored on the server and accessible via the administrative interface. This allows me to see what has been done to a specific machine. These entries would be written when software is added as well. * License counts: Now I am just wishing aren't I? If I have a fixed amount of licenses for a specific application I can decrement that number when it is selected from the interface (or maybe when it is installed), unless the user is already licensed for it...etc etc Does any of this sound like it could be usable by someone other than me? If so, what kinds of technologies would you like to see used? I tend to lean toward the stuff that can run on multiple platforms (the LAMP framework is good for that). - For the web stuff would you rather see PHP, or Zope, or ASP , or ?? - How about data storage (MySQL, MS SQL, or ??) *** I know this is pretty scatter brained but I have had it all on my mind for several months now and finally have some time to throw at it. I am not putting these ideas out there in the hopes that someone else will do it -- I am soliciting
