Setup Switches for Win95/Win98


Special Setup Command-Line Switches

Description the switches you can use with the Win95 and Win98

Windows 98 Only

/m - This switch bypasses the playing of the Setup sound (.wav) files.

/na - This switch bypasses the program check and can use the following 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.dll file and is used to force Windows 98 to overwrite newer files.

NOTE: Files that use the ",,,32" flag in the .inf file still force Windows 98 Setup to keep the newer files.

/nf - Do not prompt to remove the floppy disk from the drive (for bootable CD-ROMs)

- Same as if there is a file named BOOTCD in the cabinet folder.
- Same as if there is a "BootCD=1" line in the Msbatch.inf file.

/nh - This switch bypasses running the Hwinfo.exe program at 0 percent files and RunOnce.

/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).

/l - 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.

/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.

/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 /iq switch prevents Setup from doing this.

/is - This switch causes Setup not to run ScanDisk.

/it - This switch bypasses checking for the presence of "dirty" or "deadly" terminate-and-stay-resident programs (TSRs) that are known to cause problems with Windows Setup.

/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 /p 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

c- - Setup /p 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 /p 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 DetectPIC and DetectAHA154x) are found in the Msdet.inf file. Device class names can be
SCSIAdapter, 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

g=<n> - 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 /p 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 ACPI 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=<n> - This switch specifies the logging level for Detlog.txt, where

<n> is 0 to 3.

The default is maximum logging (3).

Example: setup /p l=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 o

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 DetectPIC and DetectAHA154x) are in the Msdet.inf file. Device class names are SCSIAdapter,
net, and so on.

Example: setup /p s=detectpic

t=<n> - This switch specifies the trace level, where <n> is 0 to 9.

The default is disabled (0).

This option is available only in the Debug version of Sysdetmg.dll.

Example: setup /p 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,y,z,...)

- 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)



Special Setup Command-Line Switches
Switch Meaning
/? Provides help for syntax and use of setup command line switches
/D Do not use the existing version of Windows for the early phases of Setup. Use this switch if you have problems starting Setup that might be due to missing or damaged supporting files for Windows
/C Do not load the SmartDrive disk cache
/DOMAIN: domain_name Set the Windows NT Logon Validation domain used by Client for Microsoft Networks to domain _name.
/F Do not look in the local cache for file names. Setup runs a little slower and saves a small amount of memory.
/ID Do not check for the minimum disk space required to install Windows 98.
/IC  Do a clean boot. If this is set and KeepRMDrivers=1 is not in the registry, drivers are commented out from the Config.sys/Autoexec.bat file.
/IB Turn off the "before providers" listed in the [BeforeProvider] section of the Setupc.inf file.
/IA Turn off the "after providers" listed in the [AfterProvider] section of the Setupc.inf file.
/IE Skip the Startup Disk screen.
If this switch is used, the Windows\Command\EBD folder is not
created.
/IF Do a "fast" setup. Do not notify setupx DOS FindFirst to not look
up file names in the cache.
/IG Allows Setup to run on some older Gateway and Micron
computers with an early BIOS.
/IH Run ScanDisk in the foreground so that you can see the results.
Use this switch if the system stalls during the ScanDisk check or
if an error results.
/IL Load the Logitech mouse driver. Use this option if you have a
Logitech Series C mouse.
/IM Skip the check for low conventional memory.
/IN Do not call the networking Setup software. Neither the networking software nor the Networking Wizard screens will be used.
/IQ Do not check for cross-linked files.
/IR Do not update the master boot record (MBR).
/IS Do not run ScanDisk.
/IV This switch bypasses displaying the Setup screens during an upgrade within Windows.
/M Bypasses the playing of the Setup sound (.wav) files.
/N This switch causes Setup to run without a mouse.
/NA# This switch bypasses the program check and can use the following 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.
/IW Do not display the License Agreement dialog box.
/IX Do not perform a character set check. 
/IV Do not display billboards.
/U:UPI Specifies the UPI.
/T:tempdir Specifies the directory where Setup is to copy its temporary files.

This directory must already exist, but any existing files in the directory will be deleted.

/S filename Load the specified Setup.inf file when starting setup.
/SRCDIR Specifies the source directory where the Windows 98 Setup files are located.
/PJ script_filename

Load Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) by default.

Use settings in the specified script to install Windows 98 automatically; for example, setup msbatch.inf specifies that Setup should use the settings in Msbatch.inf. You must specify the full file name. The setup script file name must be eight characters long with a three-character extension (8.3 file name).

/PI Keep forced configured hardware settings (hardware not using default settings). Some BIOS require hardware to have a forced configuration to work. By default, Setup removes the forced configuration and some hardware does not work properly after this is done.
/NX Do not check the version of Setupx that is running.
/NR Skips the registry check.
/NOSTART Copy a minimal installation of the required dynamic-link libraries (DLLs) used by Windows 98 Setup, then exit to MS-DOS without installing Windows 98.
/nm Bypass the check for minimum processor (66MHz 486)
/NH Do not run Hwinfo.exe when running Setup from the Windows 95 user interface.
/NF Do not prompt to remove the floppy disk from drive A at the end of the Copying Windows 98 Files to Your Computer Setup step (step three). Use this switch when installing Windows 98 from a bootable compact disc.

Same as if there is a file named BOOTCD in the cabinet folder

Same as if there is a "BootCD=1" line in the Msbatch.inf file/ND This switch ignores the presence of a Migration.dll file and is used to force Windows 98 to overwrite newer files. Note: Files that use the ",,,32" flag in the .inf file still force Windows 98 Setup to keep the newer files.


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