Configuring and Using International Features of Windows

Overview

Unattended setup of the Windows Server 2003/XP/2000 MUI is slightly different from that of basic Windows XP or Windows 2000. First, since MUI contains several CD ROMs' worth of files, unattended installation can only proceed from a network install source (all of the MUI files must first be copied to the installation share). Second, the GUIRunOnce key in the answer file must be used to specify the execution of muisetup.exe, the program that installs the user interface languages. Third, winnt32.exe must be run with certain options specified to ensure correct installation of the files.

The Installation process

As implied above there are three key steps to installing MUI in unattended mode:

Important considerations

Installation of MUI involves the setup of Language Groups, locales (user, system and input locales) and user interface languages. In order for particular locales and user interface languages to be installed correctly, the appropriate Language Groups must be installed.

Note: If you don't install the Language Groups necessary for the locales/languages and user interface languages you specify, Setup may display dialogs prompting for paths to the required files. Although installation will succeed, it may require user interaction.

We recommend you ensure that the locales you install are compatible with one another and correspond to the default user interface language. Valid language group / locale / user interface language combinations are listed in the various ID charts listed in the sidebar at right.

Top of page

Installing MUI after English base Windows installation is complete

If you are in a hurry, you may prefer to use our Quick Steps Guide.

Creating the installation share

Unattended installation of MUI requires all of the language resource files to be placed on a network install share. Copy all of the files from the CDs) to the install source. The files should be placed in a temporary directory below the top level directory. In the example below, the files are contained in a temporary directory named MUITEMP.

\install source
    \MUITEMP
        <...all MultiLanguage="" files="">

During the file copy stage of the installation, the MUITEMP directory will be copied into %windir% on the target drive. During the final stage of installation, this temporary directory will be removed.

Creating the answer file

The answer file is a file containing answers to the questions normally asked of the user during Setup. In the case of MUI, there are two sections to which close attention should be paid: the [RegionalSettings] section, and the [GUIRunOnce] section.

[Regional Settings]

This section specifies values for the language group and locales (user locale, system locale and input locales) to be installed on the system. Values are specified through use of appropriate ID numbers, which you can find listed in the sidebar at right.

We suggest specifying the locale values in this section with the Language key which will ensure compatible locales are installed.

For single user systems, we recommend that the locales are set to the same value as the default user interface language (specified when running muisetup.exe). For example, if German is set as the default user interface language, one of the German locales should be specified.

For shared workstations, and in Terminal Server environments, we recommend that the default user interface language and the system locale are set to English (the administrative language of the MultiLanguage Version). The user locale can be set according to individual preference/requirements or, if specified through the Language key, kept the same as the system locale.

Bear in mind that the language group necessary for the locales you specify must be installed. For example, if the locales are set to Arabic, and Arabic is going to be the default language for menus and dialogs, the Arabic Language Group should be specified in the RegionalSettings section:

[RegionalSettings]
LanguageGroup=13
Language=0401

or...

[RegionalSettings]
LanguageGroup=13
SystemLocale=0401
UserLocale=0401
InputLocale=0409:00000409,0401:00000401

[GUIRunOnce]

This section contains a list of commands to be executed the first time a user logs on to the computer after GUI-mode Setup has completed. Each line enclosed in quotes specifies a command to be executed by the GUIRunOnce registry entry.

We use this section to execute the muisetup program with appropriate parameters and values. Note that the path to muisetup.exe includes the temporary directory created in the install source. The second line of the sample entry below removes this temporary directory from the drive after installation:

[GuiRunOnce]
"%windir%\MUITEMP\MUISETUP.exe [-i LangID LangID...] [-d LangID] -r -s"
"%windir%\SYSTEM32\CMD.EXE /c RMDIR %WINDIR%\MUITEMP /s /q"

Where:

Top of page

Running winnt32.exe

The final part to installing MUI in unattended mode is to run winnt32.exe with the correct options specified.

Specify the answer file using the /unattend option. Use the /copydir option to ensure the temporary installation directory (MUITEMP) is copied to the target drive. If the locales and user interface languages you will be installing require the installation of language groups, use the /copysource option to copy the necessary language group files. (If you only need to copy one language group, rather than all of them, you can specify "lang\[language directory name]":

winnt32.exe /unattend:"path to answer file" 
/copysource:"lang" /copydir:"MUITEMP" /s:"path to install source"

You can find more information about these options in the OEM Preinstall Kit:

Top of page

3 of 14