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How can I stop the 'Welcome to Windows NT' screen during setup?

A. Normally when a user logs on for the first time a splash screen is displayed welcoming the new users. This can be disabled in a number of ways.

Method 1

  1. Copy the I386 directory structure from the Windows NT installation CD to a distribution server
  2. Create the Unattend.txt file as normal
  3. In the I386 directory on the distribution server rename the file Welcome.ex_ to Welcome.bak
    C:\> rename welcome.ex_ welcome.bak
  4. Create a backup of the file Txtsetup.sif file (which is also in the I386 directory) to Txtsetup.bak
  5. Edit Txtsetup.sif and place a ; in front of the welcome.exe line, so the line
    welcome.exe=1,,,,,,,1,0,0
    becomes
    ;welcome.exe=1,,,,,,,1,0,0
  6. Save the modified file.
  7. Create a backup of Dosnet.inf (again in the I386 directory) to dosnet.bak
  8. Edit Dosnet.inf and again place a ; in front of the welcome.exe line, so the link
    d1,welcome.exe
    becomes
    ;d1,welcome.exe
  9. Save the modified file
  10. Perform the unattended installation from the distribution share

The above just stops the installation of the welcome.exe image and so stopping it from executing. An alternative is to create a registry script that runs during installation which disables the Welcome dialog.

Method 2

  1. As before copy the I386 directory from the NT CD to a distribution server
  2. Create an unattend.txt file as per normal
  3. Create a directory called $oem$ under the I386 directory on the distribution server
  4. In the $oem$ directory create a file called cmdlines.txt and enter the following lines:
    \[Commands\]
    ".\regedit /s nowelcom.reg"
  5. Again in the $oem$ directory create a file called nowelcom.reg with the following lines (keep the blank line):
    REGEDIT4

    \[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion \Explorer\Tips\]
    "DisplayInitialTipWindow"=dword:00000000
    "Show"=hex:00,00,00,00
    "Next"=hex:03,00
  6. Copy the file regedit.exe from the I386 directory into the $oem$ directory
  7. Perform the unattended installation from the distribution share

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