Over the past few months I have received a fair number of e-mails asking me to cover the instructions on implementing an unattended XP install. I, for one, can understand why this is such a hot topic. Nothing is cooler than being able to install an OS without having to stand there answering all of those stupid questions.

Getting started:

1. First you will need to extract Setupmgr from \Support\Tools\Deploy.Cab on your XP CD.
2. Once it has been extracted, run Setupmgr.exe (Now keep in mind that this program is going to set files based on the answers to the questions that you answer)
3. OK, now you need to create a new folder/directory for your new XP install. (Something like C:\AUTO-XP is fine)
4. All righty, you will need to copy the files created by Setupmgr to C:\AUTO-XP
5. Don’t forget to make necessary changes to the autorun.inf in order to get this to run the modified setup and not the old default. (Pointing to the right directory, etc.)
6. Then just burn it as a bootable CD and you are golden!

Points to remember:

This may be a little much for the newbie. The information above was posted with the IT person in mind, so if any part of it was lost you, do not feel bad. Also, you might want to give this article a shot as well. It is an article on slipstreaming a Service Pack on to an XP CD. It is a great article and I would highly recommend it.