Microsoft KB Archive/200567

= Answer File Parameters for Windows NT 4.0 System Preparation Tool =

Article ID: 200567

Article Last Modified on 11/1/2006

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Windows NT Server 4.0 Standard Edition
 * Microsoft Windows NT Workstation 4.0 Developer Edition

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This article was previously published under Q200567



SUMMARY
The System Preparation Tool (Sysprep) for Windows NT 4.0 prepares the Windows NT system for duplication. Upon placing the duplicated hard drives in the target computers and turning on the systems, a mini-setup wizard will run that will let you change or enter user specific information. This information includes items such as ComputerName, Username, and other items. There may be situations where automation of this wizard may be desired so answer file parameters for mini-wizard have been created.

To automate the mini-setup wizard for the System Preparation Tool, create a text file with the parameters supplied in the next section, and place it in the same directory as the Sysprep files. On a command line, type the following command:

Sysprep %answer-file% %optional parameters

Optional paramters for the sysprep tool are as follows:

-defeat = Bypasses the Compliance checking for Select and OEM media. This switch is to be used when the image is built using Non-Select or OEM media. Use this switch if you receive the following error message:

The use of this tool is prohibited on this product.

NOTE: Although the "-defeat" switch can be used when installing the retail version, a Select or Open agreement with Microsoft is still required to use the Sysprep.exe tool.

-reboot = Automatically restarts the system after Sysprep.exe has run.

-quiet = Suppresses any prompts that Sysprep.exe might cause.

NOTE: This switch does not effect the execution of the mini-setup wizard.

-NoSidgen = Does not run-generate a unique SID on the box. Useful where install has been performed manually on each system but mini-wizard interaction is wanted.



Supported Answer file Parameters
OemSkipEula

Value: YES | NO

This key disables the display of the end user license agreement (EULA) when set to YES. Default is NO.

ProductID

Value: xxx-xxxxxxx

Specifies whether the ProductID screen should be displayed or not. By default, the Product ID key is displayed.

FullName

Value:

Used to specify the name of the user. If not specified or the string is empty, the "User name and Organization" page will be displayed.

OrgName

Value:

This key specifies the organization or company name of the user. If not specified or the string is empty, the "User name and Organization" page will be displayed unless the FullName key has been specified with a valid string.

ComputerName

Value:  | "Auto"

This key specifies the computer name. If it is not specified or is an empty string, the "Computer Name" page is displayed. The string must be a minimum of 1 non-white space character and a maximum of 15 non-white space characters.

If this value is set to "Auto", setup will auto-generate a unique computer name based on a random number. This provides a mechanism to install multiple computers each having a unique computer name.

AdminPassword

Value:

This key specifies the password for the Administrator account. If it not specified or is empty, the "Administrator Password" page is displayed. The string must be a minimum of 1 non-white space character and a maximum of 15 non-white space characters. To specify a blank or NULL password, use "*".

OEMBannerText

Values:

This key specifies a string to be displayed in the upper left corner of the computer screen. The text must contain the "Windows NT" sub-string or else it will be ignored. Multiple lines can be specified by using the * character as a separator.

OEMLogoBitmapFile

Values:  [,  ]

This key specifies a bitmap to be displayed in the upper right corner of the screen. If this line has only one field, it is assumed to be a .bmp file located in the directory where the System Preparation tool resides. However, if two fields are specified, the first field is the name of a DLL and the second is a base 10 number that represents the resource ID of the bitmap in the DLL. The DLL specified should be located in the directory that contains Sysprep.exe.

OEMBackgroundBitmapFile

Values: file name [, ]

This key specifies a background bitmap to be displayed. If this line has only one field, it is assumed to a be .bmp file located in the directory where Sysprep.exe resides. However, if two fields are specified, the first field is the name of a DLL and the second is a base 10 number that represents the resource ID of the bitmap in the DLL. The DLL specified should be located in the directory that contains Sysprep.exe.

OEMSkipWelcome

Values: 0 | 1

If this key is set to 1, the Welcome page is skipped. If the key is set to 0, the Welcome page is displayed.

OEMNoWaitAfterGUIMode

Values: 0 | 1

If this key is set to 1, then, when the wizard is finished, the computer automatically restarts and the Finished Page of the wizard is not displayed. If the key is set to 0, the Finished page of the wizard is displayed and the computer does not automatically restart.

NoSidGen

Value: YES | NO

NOTE: This key must not be used if you plan to duplicate the system.

To automate Sysprep, create a text file that has the following header as the first line.

[NT4Preinstall]

NOTE: This line must exist or the mini-wizard will ignore the answer file parameters.

Enter any of the above parameters and save the file using any name. When running Sysprep, refer to the answer file using the following command:

Sysprep.exe %answerfile%.txt

The following is an example of a correctly formatted answer file for use with the System Preparation Tool.

Sample Answer File:

[NT4Preinstall]

OemSkipEula=yes ProductID=111-1111111 FullName="Your Name" Orgname="Your Company" ComputerName="Computer" AdminPassword="password" OembannerText="Banner Text Goes Here" OEMLogoBitmapFile="logo.bmp" OEMBackgroundBitmapFile="backgrnd.bmp" OemSkipWelcome=1 OemNoWaitAfterGuiMode=1 NoSidGen=No

