Just a couple of questions / advice

[tncolts]

First, let me say that Win ToolKit is an extremely outstanding program.  You can tell that the person or persons responsible for this application really care about making a quality product.  I've worked on software development for years so I appreciate all the time, effort, and care that has been put into this really outstanding and time saving tool.

 

Now I have used this twice now, once with Windows 7(x64) Ultimate and once with Windows 7(x64) Professional.  Both installs used the Autounattend.xml file method for automation.  Now first the x64 Ultimate install was completely flawless!!! I was extremely impressed!!  The x64 Pro install was REALLY, REALLY tough!!

 

I have the type of brain that really craves the question “why did this not work?” – so that’s why I’m turning to you fine folks.

 

Now both final custom images had integrated drives (specific to each MB), integrated Add-Ons, all the updates released since SP1, Windows XP mode, and the exe for Microsoft Virtual PC.  The only differences in these two images is that the unattended file for PRO(x64) had the text “24/7” for phone support and I tried to configure Windows to have a custom login background, the image was larger than 250KB; which I later learned was over the file size limit for that technique.

 

The custom pro disk would not install unless I took out the custom background image and removed the “24/7” text from the autounattend.xml file.  The error I kept getting was on the “Completing Installation” part of the install.  Windows setup would stay on that screen for the longest and finally return the message “Windows can’t initialize one or more system components, please reinstall Windows.” – that’s all the message would say.  I opened the sysprep folder by pressing Shift + F10 and getting to a cmd prompt but no error file was found in the system prep directory so I was confused as to what was causing the error.  I was able to open device manager from the Shift +F10 command and all device drivers were installed correctly.

 

So saying all of that here are my questions:

1. Let’s say you create a custom install today with integrated stuff and drivers and updates.  Then let’s say that 6 months from now you want to do it again; do you have to start with the original Windows install.wim folder and then re-do the entire process OR can you start with the last install.wim file from the last custom image.
2. All of my updates are saved to a specific location on my hard drive.  What is the process for checking for updates that are available for download while only downloading the updates that I don’t already have?
3. If you use an “illegal character” in your autounattend.xml file will that make the software error out?  I know in some programming situations the “/” is an unusable and illegal character.  Just wanted to ask that question and see if anyone had the answer to that question.
4. If you use a custom login background that is larger than 250KB will that cause the install to crash on the “Completing Installation” section of the install?

Just trying to get some answers so that I can avoid these issues the next time.  Thanks for anyone who takes the time to read this and attempt to answer any of these questions.

Thanks to everyone for their time on this project.

Regards!!

Edited March 25, 2014 by tncolts

[Thiersee]

.... I tried to configure Windows to have a custom login background, the image was larger than 250KB; which I later learned was over the file size limit for that technique......

For the logon-background I use a jpg-picture of 450 KB without issues.

 

Thiersee

[Legolash2o]

It should have compressed them. That error seems to be related to unattended :/