don't know how many of you would have use for this, but thought i'd send it
along for those tired of dealing with the bs associated with m$. but a
friend sent me a list of flags to use on windows being that many of us
still have to deal with it in the workplace or people needing help setting
up the home pc. his sister works in redmond so has a little info the rest
of us never get hold of. hope this can be of use to someone.
KB Query
Description of the Windows 98 Setup Switches [win98x]
ID: Q186111 CREATED: 22-MAY-1998
WINDOWS: 95,98
MODIFIED: 22-JUL-1998
WINDOWS
PUBLIC I kbsetup win98 win95
The information in this article applies to:
- Microsoft Windows 98
- Microsoft Windows 95
SUMMARY
This article describes switches you can use with the Setup program in
Windows 95 and Windows 98. Note that some of the switches can be used with
both Windows 95 and Windows 98, and some can be used only with
Windows 98
MORE INFORMATION
Windows 98 Only
/m - This switch bypasses the playing of the Setup sound (.wau) files.
/na - This switch bypasses the program check and can use the LaiJuwing
values:
0: default
1: No Windows-based program check, but MS-DOS-based program are blocked
2: No MS-DOS-based program check, Windows-based programs are
blocked
3: No Windows-based or MS-DOS-based program check
/nd - This switch ignores the presence of a Migration.dli fiJo and is
used to force Windows 98 to overwrite newer files.
NOTE: Hues that use the II,,,3211 flag in the .inf file still fnrue
Windows 98 Setup to keep the newer files.
/nf - Do nor prompt to remove the floppy disk from the driva 'for
bootable OP-ROMs;
- Same as if there is a file named BOOTCD in the cabinet folder.
- Same as if there is a "BootCD=l" line in the Msbatch.inf file.
/nh - This switch bypasses running the Hwinfo.exe program at 0
percent files and RunOnce.
/nm - This switch bypasses the minimum hardware requirement test. This
tests for a minimum of a 486/66DX central-processing unit
(CPU)
and 16 megabytes (MB) of memory and the presence of a
Math coprocessor.
/nr - Skips running Scanreg.exe during Setup.
/nx Do not check the version of Setupx that is running.
/ie - This switch bypasses the Windows 98 Startup Disk wizard screens. If
this switch is used, the Windows\Command\EBD folder is not created.
/iv - This switch bypasses displaying the Setup screens during an upgrade
within Windows.
Windows 98 and Windows 95
/? This switch provides a brief summary of the available Setup
switches and the correct command-line syntax to use them.
/c This switch bypasses running SMARTDrive.
/d This switch bypasses using your existing Windows configuration
(such as your current Win.ini and System.ini files).
/1 - Use this switch if you have a Logitech mouse and want it enabled
during Setup.
/n - This switch causes Setup to run without a mouse.
-s Use this switch to use an alternate Setup.inf file.
/t:<dir> - This switch lets you specify where Setup copies its
temporary files. WARNING: Any existing files in this folder are deleted.
/id - This switch bypasses checking for the minimum disk space
required to install Windows.
/ig - Allows Setup to run on some older Gateway and Micron computers with
an early BIOS.
/ih - This switch causes Setup to run ScanDisk in the foreground.
PARTNER:
When you use the /? switch to see a summary of available setup switches, it
may state that the /ih switch skips the registry check. This is incorrect.
The /nr switch should be used to skip the registry check.
/im - Causes setup to ignore the conventional memory check.
/iq - If you use the /is switch to bypass ScanDisk or ScanDisk fails,
Setup checks your drive for cross-linked files. The /ig switch prevents
Setup from doing this.
PARTNER:
/ir - This switch is undocumented and should be discussed with customers
only on a need-to-know basis.
This switch tells Windows Setup to not attempt to write to the boot sector.
This switch is only to be used in the case where you cannot disable the
built-in virus protection on your system. If you use this switch, your
computer will not reboot at the end of Setup. To make your computer
bootable, you must boot your computer with the Startup disk, SYS the hard
disk, then boot your computer normally so that Setup can finish.
Many Award BIOSs do not allow you to disable the built-in virus protection
through the CMOS settings. According to Award, this limitation is not a
limitation of the Award BIOS itself, but is rather a limitation that has
been implemented by the motherboard manufacturer. For that reason,
customers who are experiencing this problem should contact their computer
manufacturer, not Award.
Award BIOSs with the following date and serial numbers (Award BIOS version
4.SOG, 4.5OGP, or 4.5QPG) are known to have this problem:
**
**
**
**
**
**
**
- 4/13/95: 2A5L7F09, 214X2002, 2C403AB1
- 4/6/95: 2A5L7F09
- 9/26/94: 2C419523
Award BIOS version 4.5PA (10/21/95) also seems to have this problem.
The BIOS date and serial number appear at the bottom of the screen after
power on.
/is - This switch causes Setup not to run ScanDisk.
/it - This switch bypasses checking for the presence of ~ or "deadly"
terminate-and-stay-resident programs (TSRs) that are known to cause
problems with Windows Setup.
PARTNER:
It has been reported that the /IT switch does not work when Setup is
run from Windows 3.x. If Subst.exe is running, a warning appears. In
MS-DOS, the warning does not appear if the switch is used.
/1W - This switch allows you to bypass the license agreement screen and
must be in capital letters.
/p - This switch causes Setup to pass string(s) directly to Detection
Manager (or Sysdetmg.dll) . Setup does not interpret the content of the
string. The string can contain one or more detection options.
The /p switch is not used by itself. For more information on the /p switch,
please see the "/p Detection Switch Option String Defined" section below.
/p Detection Switch Option String Defined
- The string can contain one or more detection switches separated by
a semicolon (;) . For example, if you want to use "/p f" and "/p i" you
type "setup /p f;i" (without quotation marks)
- Some switches are simply On/Off switches. The absence of the switch
implies Off; the presence of the switch turns it On. A minus sign (-)
appended immediately after a switch turns it Off.
- Some switches take parameters in the form of <c>=<params>. If there
is more than one parameter to a switch, the parameters are separated by a
comma (,).
- There must not be any spaces in the detection option string.
Valid Detection Switches:
a - This switch enables safe detection. It tells each detection module
to try safer detection methods. Safer detection methods may not detect
devices correctly.
The default during Setup is enabled. The default in other cases is disabled.
Example: setup 1p a
b This switch enables Prompt Before mode. It prompts you before a
detection module is called so that you can step through each detection
module manually and decide if you want to skip it.
The default is disabled.
Example: setup /p b
c This switch enables class detection. Class detection is a mechanism
for finding hints for a certain class of devices. For example, adapter
class detection looks for hints in the config.sys and System.ini files for
CD-ROM drivers. If it does not find any, Setup displays a CD-ROM check box
asking if you have a CD-ROM drive.
The default during Setup is enabled. The default when you use the Add New
Hardware tool and docking/undocking detection is disabled.
Example: setup /p c
- Setup Ip c- disables safe class detection. For example, this switch
tells Setup to always search on all network adapter cards, sound cards, and
CD-ROM drives.
Example: setup Ip c-d=<name> - This switch detects the listed
detection modules only, where
<name> is a detection module name or a device class name.
Detection module names (such as DetectPlC and DetectAHAl54x) are found in
the Msdet.inf file. Device class names can be SCSlAdapter, net, and so on.
Example: setup /p d=detectpic
e - This switch enables Setup mode detection.
The default during Setup is enabled. The default in other cases is disabled.
Example: setup /p e
f - This switch enables Clean Registry mode. It forces Detection to
clean the root branch of the registry before starting. This switch is
ignored when Setup is run in the Windows 95 graphical user interface (GUI)
The default is disabled.
Example: setup /p f
- This switch specifies the verbose level, where <n> is 0 to 3.
This switch controls how verbose the built-in progress bar
is. At
maximum level (3), it shows all the resources of the detected devices along
with the progress bar. This switch can help to identify which detection
module causes a certain problem. For example, if your mouse stops
responding (hangs) during detection but the system continues, there is no
way to determine from the log files which module hung the mouse. By turning
this option on and constantly moving the mouse during Setup, you can
determine which module is running when the mouse hangs.
The default is disabled (0)
Example: setup /p g-3
i - This switch tells Setup not to report the existence of a Plug and
Play BIOS. It is useful on computers that have a Plug and Play BIOS that is
not reported in the Machine.inf file
Example: setup 1p i
j - This switch tells Setup to undo the results of the "Setup /p i"
switch. This switch should only be used after a computer that required
"Setup /p i" has updated its Plug and Play BIOS.
Example: setup /p j
NOTE: In Windows 98, the "/p j" switch is required to enable ACPJ
support. Windows 98 maintains a BIOS list for ACPI computers, so as BIOS
manufacturers create a new valid ACPI BIOS, this is the mechanism for
causing Windows 98 to recognize it.
l - This switch specifies the logging level for Detlog.txt, where <n>
is 0 to 3.
The default is maximum logging (3).
Example: setup 1p 1=0
m - This switch enables Mini-windows mode.
This is enabled only when Setup is run under MS-DOS.
Example: setup /p m
n - This switch enables No Recovery mode. This option can be used to
turn off the Windows 95 Setup recovery mechanism (for example, this switch
prevents the creation of the Detcrash.log file)
The default is disabled. Example: setup /p n
o=<traceoutput> - This switch specifies the trace output. The
information is written to the Tracelog.txt file in the current directory.
This option is available only in the Debug version of Sysdetmg.dll.
Example: setup /p 0
p - This switch enables performance logging. It writes performance
timing information to the DETLOG.TXT file.
The default is disabled. Example: setup /p p
r - This switch enables Recovery mode. It causes Detection to use the
Detcrash.log file, if found, for recovery. If this switch is not enabled,
Detection ignores and deletes Detcrash.log even if it is found.
This switch is used if Safe Recovery is selected during Setup, otherwise it
is not used.
Example: setup /p r
s = <name> - This switch skips the listed detection modules or classes
of detection modules, where <name> is a detection module name
or a
device class name.
Detection module names (such as DetectPlC and DetectAHAl54x) are in the
Msdet.inf file. Device class names are ScslAdapter, net, and so on.
Example: setup /p s=detectpic
t =<n> - This switch specifies the trace level, where <fl> is 0 to
9. The default is disabled (0)
This option is available only in the Debug version of Sysdetmg .dll.
Example: setup 1p t=9
v - This switch enables Verify Only mode. Detection has two stages:
1. Verify existing devices in the registry.
2. Detect new devices.
This switch tells Detection to perform only stage 1. This switch is used by
the PCMCIA Wizard to verify legacy devices in the registry.
The default is disabled.
Example: setup /p v
x=<res list> - This switch excludes the listed resources from detection,
where <res list> is one of four possibilities:
- io(xxx-yyy,xxx-yyy,...)
- mem(xxxxx-yyyyy,xxxxx-yyyyy,...)
- irq(x,yrz,...)
- dma(x,y,z, . .
This switch protects resources so that no detection modules can access them.
Example: setup /p x=io(300-30f,240-24f)
Additional query words: 98 95
Keywords kbsetup win98 win95
Version WINDOWS: 95,98
Platform WINDOWS
Issue type '(binfo
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