Re: Using Diskpart in VM's

>So is this how I'd do this under a VM?

Yep.

> It doesn't seem to work....

What's going wrong? Have you tried to do it manually to see what's
failing?

--
Bob Comer



On Mon, 6 Jul 2009 13:15:17 -0400, "TheMachineRNC"
<> wrote:

>Hi,
>
>I'm new to using VM's and was wondering how you can script disk partitioning
>in a VM environment. I am currently experimenting with Virtual box, but
>also use Microsoft Virtual PC at times as well. I'm assuming Diskpart
>would work the same in both. I dabble in automated workstation builds and
>I'm trying to setup a test enivornment for my scripting by using a VM rather
>then constantly relying on hardware.
>
>Here's what I normally do:
>
>I boot from a Bart PE CD and then map a drive to a network share and then
>run my batch/script from the share. The batch file calls Diskpart and I
>have an answer file for diskpart such as:
>
>Select Disk 0
>CLEAN
>Create Partition Primary Size=12229
>Select Partition 1
>Assign letter c
>Active
>Select Disk 0
>Create Partition Primary
>Select Partition 2
>Assign letter d
>
>So is this how I'd do this under a VM? It doesn't seem to work....
>
>Any guidance would be appreciated. My end goal is to setup a dual
>partition VM and then launch an unattended install of Windows XP. Why
>dual partition? My unattended install puts Documents and Settings on the D
>drive.
>
>Thanks!

> The issue where I run into trouble is after the Windows XP unattended
> install begins to start it comes back with a message about not having a
> valid partition to install to. Is there a command that I can run to
> initialize the partitions so the unattended install will recognize them?

It's really beyond my knowledge, but I'll give it a stab -- have you tried
adding the /t switch to your winnt32 command?

So it should be:

D:\I386\WINNT32.EXE /T:C: /S:\I386 /UNATTEND:\I386\UNATTEND.TXT

--
Bob Comer

"TheMachineRNC" <> wrote in message
news:P9-...
> Bob,
>
> I finally got it to work. It appears to work and here's what my batch
> file looks like: (see another problem and question below)
>
> ECHO CREATING PARTITIONS...
> ECHO
> DISKPART /s H:\DISK.TXT
> FORMAT C: /FS:NTFS /V:C_DRIVE /Q /Y
> FoRMAT D: /FS:NTFS /V_DRIVE /Q /Y
> MD D:\i386
> ECHO COPYING SOURCE MATERIALS TO HARD DRIVE...
> ECHO
> ECHO
> XCOPY H:\OSES\XPVOL\I386\*.* /S D:\i386
> ECHO
> ECHO
> ECHO LAUNCHING UNATTENDED INSTALL OF XP, PC WILL AUTOMATICALLY REBOOT...
> ECHO
> ECHO
> D:\I386\WINNT32.EXE /S:\I386 /UNATTEND:\I386\UNATTEND.TXT
> ECHO
> ECHO
> ECHO REBOOTING PC...
> ECHO
> ECHO
> REBOOT
>
> The issue where I run into trouble is after the Windows XP unattended
> install begins to start it comes back with a message about not having a
> valid partition to install to. Is there a command that I can run to
> initialize the partitions so the unattended install will recognize them?
>
> Thanks!
>
> "Robert Comer" <bobcomer-removeme-@mindspring.com> wrote in message
> news:...
>>
>>>So is this how I'd do this under a VM?
>>
>> Yep.
>>
>>> It doesn't seem to work....
>>
>> What's going wrong? Have you tried to do it manually to see what's
>> failing?
>>
>> --
>> Bob Comer
>>
>>
>>
>> On Mon, 6 Jul 2009 13:15:17 -0400, "TheMachineRNC"
>> <> wrote:
>>
>>>Hi,
>>>
>>>I'm new to using VM's and was wondering how you can script disk
>>>partitioning
>>>in a VM environment. I am currently experimenting with Virtual box,
>>>but
>>>also use Microsoft Virtual PC at times as well. I'm assuming Diskpart
>>>would work the same in both. I dabble in automated workstation builds
>>>and
>>>I'm trying to setup a test enivornment for my scripting by using a VM
>>>rather
>>>then constantly relying on hardware.
>>>
>>>Here's what I normally do:
>>>
>>>I boot from a Bart PE CD and then map a drive to a network share and then
>>>run my batch/script from the share. The batch file calls Diskpart and
>>>I
>>>have an answer file for diskpart such as:
>>>
>>>Select Disk 0
>>>CLEAN
>>>Create Partition Primary Size=12229
>>>Select Partition 1
>>>Assign letter c
>>>Active
>>>Select Disk 0
>>>Create Partition Primary
>>>Select Partition 2
>>>Assign letter d
>>>
>>>So is this how I'd do this under a VM? It doesn't seem to work....
>>>
>>>Any guidance would be appreciated. My end goal is to setup a dual
>>>partition VM and then launch an unattended install of Windows XP. Why
>>>dual partition? My unattended install puts Documents and Settings on
>>>the D
>>>drive.
>>>
>>>Thanks!
>