Automating Client Installation and Upgrade

Using Cmdlines.txt

The Cmdlines.txt file contains the commands that GUI mode executes when installing optional components, such as applications that must be installed immediately after Windows 2000 Professional is installed. If you plan to use Cmdlines.txt, you need to place it in the $OEM$ subfolder of the distribution folder. If you are using Sysprep, place Cmdlines.txt in the $OEM$\$1\Sysprep subfolder.

Use Cmdlines.txt when the following conditions exist:

You are installing from the $OEM$ subfolder of the distribution folder.
The application that you are installing has the following properties:
- It does not configure itself for multiple users (for example, Microsoft® Office 95).
– Or –
- It is designed to be installed by one user and to replicate user-specific information.

The syntax for Cmdlines.txt is as follows:

[Commands]

"<command_1>"

"<command_2>"

"<command_x>"

Parameters are defined as follows:

"<command_1>", "<command_2>", ... "<command_x>" refer to the commands that you want to run (and in what order) when GUI mode calls Cmdlines.txt. Note that all commands must be in quotation marks.

When you use Cmdlines.txt, be aware of the following:

When the commands in Cmdlines.txt are executed during Setup, there is no logged-on user and there is no guaranteed network connectivity. Therefore, user-specific information is written to the default user registry, and all subsequently created users also receive that information.
Cmdlines.txt requires that you place the files that are necessary to run an application or tool in directories that are accessed during the Setup process, which means that the files must be on the hard disk.