>> That still doesn't help you if you just want to set up one machine, 
>> but you want to configure it in a specific way. There is basically no 
>> way round it; you *must* run the irritating wizard,
> 
> I'm not really sure what wizard you're talking about. The only thing I 
> remember setting up is the timezone, optionally the network 
> configuration, and the name and passwords of user accounts. I don't know 
> what "incorrect configurations" you're referring to. Care to enlighten me?

When you first run XP (i.e., after all of the installation process has 
finished), it displays a big screen with a cute little animation saying 
"Welcome to Windows XP". It then asks you a couple of things... Off the 
top of my head, it wants to know whether to enable automatic updates, it 
tries to connect to the Internet so you can "register with Microsoft", 
and at the end, it asks you for a username. It then creates an account 
with that username, sets it as administrator, and makes it auto-login at 
system boot.

If you're setting up a home PC, this is precisely what you want, of 
course. But if you're trying to set up a corporate PC that's supposed to 
be part of a business network, you now have to go in, delete the local 
account just created (but note that it still appears in the Windows 
registration information), delete the corresponding profile, turn off 
auto-login, turn on the login prompt, and basically mess around with a 
whole crapload of stuff.

Unless, that is, you join the PC to a domain during setup. Then it 
doesn't ask you for an account and puts in the correct settings. But if 
you want to, say, install Windows, load SP3, and *then* join the 
domain... sorry, can't easily do that.

>> - "How to perform unattended install from CD-ROM". Which basically 
>> says you need the Resource Kit that I can't obtain. Nice.
> 
> This was free for Win2000. I'm not sure if it's still free, but unless 
> there's some sort of export control stuff going on, I don't know why you 
> couldn't obtain it.

All I know is that several KB articles mention tools that are only 
available in the resource kit, and I have tried multiple times to obtain 
this kit, yet never actually succeeded.

>> - The second SysPrep link also redirects to the XP homepage.
>> - "How to use the SysPrep tool to automate the installation of Windows 
>> XP". Ah, *this* link actually works! And contains some moderately 
>> useful information...
> 
> Glad to be of service. :-)

It's always nice when an Internet argument manages to produce 
*something* of use... ;-)

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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