Build Disc

Apr 5 2009

Unattended Installs – Royale Theme for XP

imageRoyale Theme for XP

This is basically the theme used for Media Centre editions of Windows XP.  At various times, it has been made available for download directly from Microsoft (particularly Microsoft New Zealand who also released some NZ-theme wallpapers).  Wikipedia has a pretty good explanation if you’d like more information.  Currently, most of these links appear not to be working.  The Royale Theme can, however, still be downloaded here.

There are also a number of derivations on Royale (including Royale Noir).  Personally, I haven’t really worried about chasing any of these down.  I’m happy to go with the standard Royale theme.

I usually also install the 3D Windows XP screen saver at the same time.  In this case, I’ve extracted just the .scr file and install it using a simple copy command.

The install I use for this eye candy is:

XP_Royale_Theme.exe /S /v/qn
@xcopy .3DWindowsXP.scr %SystemRoot%system32 /q /y

(This article is part of a series about the build disc I use to standardise system builds. The series starts here and this particular article follows on from this one.)

By David • Unattended Installs • • Tags: , , ,

Apr 5 2009

Unattended Installs – PowerToys

PowerToysWindows PowerToys

Microsoft released a series of small utilities for Windows XP under the banner of PowerToys.  They don’t seem to have an equivalent for Vista so I only install these on Windows XP.

The actual tools I’ve chosen to install are:

  • ClearType PowerToy – adds a control panel applet to set/tweek ClearType settings.  Now that most computers use LCD monitors this is a valuable tool to have around.
  • TaskSwitch PowerToy – changes the ALT-TAB task switch functionality to add a slightly more graphical interface.  This is certainly nothing like what can be achieved under Vista but is at least a little more intuitive than the standard capability in XP.

Microsoft’s PowerToys are available here.

For the two tools I install, this is how I do it:

XP_ClearTypePowerToy.exe /S /v/qn
XP_TaskSwitchPowerToy.exe /S /v/qn

(This article is part of a series about the build disc I use to standardise system builds. The series starts here and this particular article follows on from this one.)

By David • Unattended Installs • • Tags: , , ,

Apr 5 2009

Unattended Installs – CrossLoop

CrossLoop LogoCrossLoop

CrossLoop forms part of the customer support strategy I use in the business.  It lets us do a remote desktop connection to a customer computer using, essentially, a custom VNC client.  The biggest advantage is that CrossLoop seems to be able to navigate through NAT routers and firewalls with ease.  I plan to write a full article later on the use of CrossLoop.  This one just deals with achieving a silent install.

The download for CrossLoop is here.

My unattended install works like this:

crossloopsetup.exe /VERYSILENT /SP-

(This article is part of a series about the build disc I use to standardise system builds. The series starts here and this particular article follows on from this one.)

By David • Unattended Installs • • Tags: , , ,

Apr 5 2009

Unattended Installs – Windows Media Player v11

Windows Media Player 11Windows Media Player v11

Vista has WiMP 11 included so this really only applies to Windows XP. My workshop still does enough work on Windows XP to warrant inclusion of this package – if only on the basis of reducing the Windows Update downloads.

The download for WiMP v11 is here.

The install command I use is:

XP_WiMP11.exe /Q:A /C:”SETUP_WM.EXE /Q:A /R:N /P:#e”

I believe I originally obtained this particular setup out of an one of the last working AutoPatcher downloads before Microsoft rained on their parade.  There’s quite possibly a more recent version now but this still works, and, in combination with Heise Offline Updates covers my requirements. YMMV.

(This article is part of a series about the build disc I use to standardise system builds. The series starts here and this particular article follows on from this one.)

By David • Unattended Installs • • Tags: , , ,

Apr 5 2009

Unattended Installs – SyncToy

SyncToyMicrosoft SyncToy

A nice little free tool from Microsoft that lets you synchronise data between your computer and a USB pen drive (actually, it will work between other directories too).

The most recent version I can find is SyncToy v2.0 which can be downloaded here.

The silent install for SyncToy is:

SyncToySetup.msi /passive /norestart

(This article is part of a series about the build disc I use to standardise system builds. The series starts here and this particular article follows on from this one.)

By David • Unattended Installs • • Tags: , , ,

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