Windows 95 unattendend install with 3com 3C90X NIC's
----------------------------------------------------
This document describes how to perform an unattended install of Windows
95 with the 3com 3C90X NIC family. The card will be automatically
configured with the appropriate drivers during an automated install with
MSBATCH.INF. I have verified that this works with Windows 95 (the
version prior to Service Pack 1) and Windows 95 OSR2 (Windows 95b) with
a 3com Etherlink XL 3c900 COMBO NIC on an ASUS XP55T2P4 mainboard, BIOS
level 2.05. For other 3C90X NIC's, see section [Network] in MSBATCH.INF.
NOTE: This does not use a "Server Based Setup" (NETSETUP). All you need
are these scripts, the 3com drivers and the \WIN95 directory from your
Windows CD on a hard disk or network drive.
The entire procedure is based on the v3.1 release of the 3com 3C90X
drivers, so make sure that you get this version first, see below.
I'm German, so please bear with me. I apologize for all spelling and
grammar errors :-). You can contact me by:
E-Mail: ralf@conactive.com
WWW: http://www.conactive.com/win95/
Please send me your reports regarding success and failure.
Revision history:
-----------------
v3.00, June 8, 1998 First version released.
v3.01, June 9, 1998 Added more information regarding Autologon during
the 2nd setup part to MSBATCH.INF. Manual reboot
to log on to the network after setup has finished
is no longer needed. Added information regarding
PreserveCase=1 to MSBATCH.INF.
v3.02, June 11, 1998 If you installed from the network, it happened
that after the first reboot while the "Plug&Play
Configuration" took place a file dialogue popped
up and asked for some 3com files. This happened
although all files were already right in place.
Reason: Windows now detects the PCI NIC and loads
the associated INF file (W95EL90X.INF). Since
this INF file also contains commands to copy
files (although they were already copied during
the first part of the Setup using the same INF
file) and no network is loaded during this part
of the Setup, the files cannot be found in the
(network) source directory. I corrected this by
using two INF files: EL90X.INF copies the
neccessary files during the first part of Setup,
and W95EL90X.INF just only adds the required
registry keys during the 2nd Setup part. Cleanup
is done by AUTO.INF, which copies the proper 3com
INF file containing file copy commands to the
appropriate directory at the end of Setup part 2.
Yech ! But finally, it works.
Note also that if you install from the net
usually a temporary install directory is left on
the hard disk. Just uncomment one line in
MSBATCH.INF to correct this, see comments in
MSBATCH.INF. You can also safely delete this
directory manually.
v3.10, June 16, 1998 3com released new drivers (v3.1) with support for
newer NIC's. Modifyed the procedure accordingly.
Now here we go, step-by-step instructions:
1. Download driver release v3.1 (the latest as of writing this) from
3com. These files can currently be found at
ftp://ftp.3com.com/PUB/NIC/3c90x/3c90x1x.exe (811,187 Bytes)
ftp://ftp.3com.com/PUB/NIC/3c90x/3c90x2x.exe (1,250,169 Bytes)
You can also just double-click shortcuts DISK1.URL and DISK2.URL in
this package. Or, given dial up networking is intalled properly, just
open a dial up connection to your ISP and run GETDRV.BAT (make sure
that GETDRV.SCP is in the same directory) to fetch the drivers from
3com's FTP site.
This procedure will work with that very driver release only !!
2. Run 3c90x2x.exe in a temporary directory, this will extract the
drivers we need.
3. Create a subdirectory called 3COM under your Windows 95 source
directory. Sample: F:\WIN95\3COM.
The subdirectory MUST be named "3COM" !!
4. From the 3com driver package extracted in step 2, copy all files from
all subdirectories of
DRMON\
WIN32\
WIN95\
into the 3COM subdirectory created in step 3. NOTE: you cannot
maintain the directory structure ! You must end up with the following
files in directory 3COM, no subdirectories ! :
. <DIR> 08.06.98 15:46
.. <DIR> 22.05.98 13:17
3C90X CO_ 31.801 29.04.98 16:48
3C90XCFG DL_ 80.485 02.06.98 12:29
3CTHNK16 DL_ 14.083 22.01.97 10:34
3CTHNK32 DL_ 8.204 11.11.96 2:06
3NICDIAG EX_ 169.257 01.12.97 10:16
3NICDIAG HL_ 82.544 23.12.97 16:46
3VARADDR TXT 131 11.12.96 9:30
COMSMD EX_ 12.611 25.11.97 11:28
DACONFIG EX_ 25.737 02.02.98 14:00
DRMON VER 11 17.01.97 20:38
DRMON95 INF 6.460 26.03.98 17:54
DRMONNDI DL_ 4.167 11.11.97 14:02
DTA VX_ 12.612 28.01.97 19:44
DTAAPI 95_ 9.264 22.01.97 20:40
DTAAPI NT_ 10.865 22.01.97 20:40
DTADRV SY_ 9.139 25.01.97 2:32
EL90X DO_ 18.439 17.04.98 16:15
EL90XND3 SY_ 40.694 28.05.98 15:24
EL90XND4 SY_ 40.529 28.05.98 15:28
EL90XNDI DL_ 11.253 25.11.97 14:14
HWACCESS DL_ 42.155 03.04.98 13:54
PACECFG CP_ 113.119 19.01.98 15:22
PACECFG HL_ 10.332 03.11.97 4:06
PCOMDRV VX_ 3.100 03.02.98 16:15
SMARTAGT 95_ 80.181 22.01.97 20:40
SMARTAGT IN_ 696 22.01.97 20:40
SMARTAGT NT_ 80.565 22.01.97 20:40
UN3C90X EX_ 102.216 09.12.97 14:04
UNDRMON EX_ 100.395 13.03.97 2:56
29 file(s) 1,121,045 Bytes
Verify this thoroughly !!
5. Copy our customized W95EL90X.INF, EL90X.INF and DRMON95.INF to the
3COM subdirectory as well. Overwrite the existing DRMON95.INF file.
Sample: F:\WIN95\3COM
Copy these INF files to F:\WIN95\3COM: DRMON95.INF
EL90X.INF
W95EL90X.INF
6. Copy AUTO.INF, CUSTOM.INF and MSBATCH.INF to your Windows 95 source
directory. Sample: F:\WIN95
Copy these INF files to F:\WIN95: AUTO.INF
CUSTOM.INF
MSBATCH.INF
7. Edit MSBATCH.INF and uncomment the NetCards line which matches your
3com PCI adapter. Comment out all others. I have extensively commen-
ted MSBATCH.INF, please read this carefully and make further changes
as needed.
8. If you want, make changes to SETUPPP.INF and LAYOUT.INF as described
in NO_IE.TXT to prevent MS Internet components from installing in OSR2.
9. Once all the changes have been made, switch to your Windows 95 source
directory (e.g F:\WIN95) and start the install by
SETUP /IS /IW
where /IS disables ScanDisk and /IW disables the license agreement.
For more Setup switches see the MS Knowledge Base article at
ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/peropsys/win95/kb/Q128/4/00.txt
The Installation will continue without user intervention. The system
will copy all the neccessary files and reboot to complete the install.
Again, I strongly suggest that you look at MSBATCH.INF, modify it to fit
your needs and read all the comments carefully. The current
MSBATCH.INF installs the MS client for NetWare and MS IPX/SPX only.
THERE IS NO WARRANTY OF ANY KIND WHEN YOU USE THESE SCRIPTS. USE THEM
FOR FREE, BUT AT YOUR OWN RISK.
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+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
Created by Ralf Buschmann, June 16 1998.
E-Mail: ralf@conactive.com
WWW: http://www.conactive.com/win95/
Download Driver Pack
After your driver has been downloaded, follow these simple steps to install it.
Expand the archive file (if the download file is in zip or rar format).
If the expanded file has an .exe extension, double click it and follow the installation instructions.
Otherwise, open Device Manager by right-clicking the Start menu and selecting Device Manager.
Find the device and model you want to update in the device list.
Double-click on it to open the Properties dialog box.
From the Properties dialog box, select the Driver tab.
Click the Update Driver button, then follow the instructions.
Very important: You must reboot your system to ensure that any driver updates have taken effect.
For more help, visit our Driver Support section for step-by-step videos on how to install drivers for every file type.