Computers

Apr 6 2009

Unattended Installs – Vista Sidebar Gadgets

Vista SidebarVista Sidebar Gadgets

A sidebar gadget lives in it’s own separate directory (that might have sub-directories), all the files needed for that gadget live in that directory.  Vista then stores these gadget directories in a number of places, each offering a different level of visibility on the computer.

Some gadgets are stored in

C:Program FilesWindows SidebarGadgets

These are accessible on all user accounts on the computer.  Unfortunately, I’ve yet to find a reasonably reliable way to work around the various security systems that prevent a batch file from putting data into this directory (UAC and other protections exist for copying data into the Program Files directory in Vista).

Gadgets that are only visible to a particular user of a computer are stored in

%USERPROFILE%AppDataLocalMicrosoftWindows SidebarGadgets

and this directory is far more accessible for a batch file.

While I’d prefer to install my standard gadgets in a globally accessible location, this would require me to have a less automated approach.  The whole idea of an unattended install is to keep it unattended.  Therefore, I’ve chosen, for now, to go with the user profile location for gadgets on the basis that most of the computers we deal with really only have one normal user set up on them anyway.

Microsoft seems to prefer that we don’t download the installers for our sidebar gadgets but, rather, install directly from the web.  This also doesn’t help for a silent install.  While there are undoubtedly other solutions to this problem, in the end I did some experimenting and found that you can just copy the whole directory for an installed gadget to the correct directory on another computer and it will work.

So, I grabbed all my ‘standard’ gadgets out of “%USERPROFILE%AppDataLocalMicrosoftWindows SidebarGadgets” and then use this command to install to a new computer:

@xcopy ".CPUUtilization v1.2.0.2.Gadget" "%USERPROFILE%AppDataLocalMicrosoftWindows SidebarGadgetsCPUUtilization v1.2.0.2.Gadget" /e /i /c /q
@xcopy ".DriveInfoByChris.gadget" "%USERPROFILE%AppDataLocalMicrosoftWindows SidebarGadgetsDriveInfoByChris.gadget" /e /i /c /q
@xcopy ".iWeather.gadget" "%USERPROFILE%AppDataLocalMicrosoftWindows SidebarGadgetsiWeather.gadget" /e /i /c /q
@xcopy ".MemoryMeter.gadget" "%USERPROFILE%AppDataLocalMicrosoftWindows SidebarGadgetsMemoryMeter.gadget" /e /i /c /q
@xcopy ".NeptuneDigitalClock.gadget" "%USERPROFILE%AppDataLocalMicrosoftWindows SidebarGadgetsNeptuneDigitalClock.gadget" /e /i /c /q
@xcopy ".SysShutdown.gadget" "%USERPROFILE%AppDataLocalMicrosoftWindows SidebarGadgetsSysShutdown.gadget" /e /i /c /q

Once copied, these gadgets can be added to the sidebar normally.  I haven’t tried to automate adding them to the sidebar display yet – mostly because the final step on our build process is running through the Control Panel and finalising some other configuration options as well as doing a QA on the build.  It doesn’t add much to this process to manually add the relevant sidebar gadgets.

(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 6 2009

Unattended Installs – Registry (XP)

ControlRegistry Hacks for XP

Along with the standard utilities I install, there’s also a selection of little registry hacks that I’ve chosen to standardise on.  I should note that this is by no means an exhaustive list of possibilities.  I’d also note that my agenda here is to keep things relatively “normal looking” for the customer.  As a result, I only really do a few small things that, in my opinion, enhance XP rather than substantially alter how it operates.

Integrating registry changes is fairly simple in XP.  First up, you need the changes saved out to a file (e.g. reghacks.reg).  Here is the one I use.

This file has to have a certain format in order for this to work.  This MS knowledge base article provides details about the syntax of a .reg file and also includes details about how to add, modify and delete registry keys.  This KB article was the basis of my implementation:

regedit /s .InstallersXP_Reg_Hacks.reg

There are heaps of sites that offer registry hacks to achieve different results.  As with many things, Google can be your friend in finding the ones you want.

(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 – 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: , , ,

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