CAB or Provxml for personal settings

[swimmrguy]

With my new hobby of daily flashing my phone, I am looking for a way to automate some of my personal settings. So far, I have been able to use a provxml file to configure the settings for my Exchange account, and put it into a OEM.

The other settings I am particularly interested in automating are:
--Today Screen items
--Sounds and Alerts
...and once I master these, I might move onto WiFi settings (as I have found some sampel provxml files for these settings.)

From what I read on MSDN on provxml files, (from what I could understand!) the "Sounds Configuration Service" is only on smartphone. And I couldn't find anything on tweaking the Today screen.

If anyone has done either of these, would they be willing to share their CAB or provxml files? In the meantime, I'll keep digging.

[luv2chill]

First I don't suggest using provxml unless you have to (i.e. exchange and other e-mail set up, file operations, etc.). The stuff you describe (with the exception of Wifi which I couldn't even get to work right using provxml) can all be done just with an RGU file.

The benefit of RGU over provxml is that it's less picky. With provxml if there's a mistake or problem with your file the entire file gets thrown out without being processed with no log or any other kind of information to use to figure out where the problem lies.

With an RGU you will get an error from buildOS if there's a problem in your rgu--it even identifies what line number the problem occurred on.

Anyway today items are stored in HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Today and Sounds are set in [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ControlPanel\Notifications\]

What I suggest doing is get these set up manually the way you like em and then use a reg editor to export those keys. You can then copy and paste those entries direct into an rgu file in a "custom settings" OEM file.

Oh and if you ever get wifi working via provxml let me know. I've tried a few times but it always hangs my device on hard reset.

[rfletch12]

I haven't been able to get provxml to work either for WIFI, but i do have a _setup.xml file in a cab that works just fine. Here's the code:

<wap-provisioningdoc> 
	<characteristic type="Wi-Fi"> 
		<characteristic type="access-point"> 
			<characteristic type="Solarflare"> 
				<parm name="Authentication" value="4"/> 
				<parm name="Encryption" value="4"/> 
				<parm name="NetworkKey" value="yourpasswordhere"/> 
			</characteristic> 
		</characteristic> 
	</characteristic> 
</wap-provisioningdoc>

Put that code in notepad and save the file as _setup.xml
put the file in your C:\ drive and then bring up a command prompt
type cd\
then type makecab _setup.xml MyWiFiSettings.CAB
You should be good to go. You can put that cab in u'r ext rom or just run from a storage card etc.

I setup my exchange mail the same way. All other settings i use .rgu file.

[swimmrguy]

Thanks for the advice. If provxml is picky, then I don't have a hope of doing it right! I am having hard enough times getting the RGU correct.

I have made the changes to the Today Screen, and exported the registry keys. However, after making the RGU file, CreateOS gives an error with 'Error building default.hv adn user.hv!' If I exclude that OEM, it builds fine so it must be my RGU file. It doesn't give me any line number where the error is though.

I have been able to build the reg changes into a cab, and put it into my ExtROM, so it does pretty much the same thing.

Is there some unique things that RGU files need? It was saved in Unicode format, and does have an extra space at the end. Short of that, I couldn't figure out why I can't get it work.

[luv2chill]

when you get the error about building the hive to into your temp directory in the kitchen folder and look at the log file on the last few lines. It will tell you roughly where to look and in what rgu file.

[swimmrguy]

Originally Posted by luv2chill

when you get the error about building the hive to into your temp directory in the kitchen folder and look at the log file on the last few lines. It will tell you roughly where to look and in what rgu file.

Thanks luv2chill for the tip. The logs helped me find the missing commas and other errors (that should have been obvious to me!) I have been able to get much of what I need into rgu files, so a hard reset is no big deal now.

[swimmrguy]

Originally Posted by rfletch12

I setup my exchange mail the same way. All other settings i use .rgu file.

Quick question...can you set the sync schedule in the provxml file for Exchange? I have my provxml file set the server, username, password etc. But when I hard reset, ActiveSync then defaults to having Direct Push (As Items Arrive) enabled. Can I change that with provxml?

[rfletch12]

Originally Posted by swimmrguy

Quick question...can you set the sync schedule in the provxml file for Exchange? I have my provxml file set the server, username, password etc. But when I hard reset, ActiveSync then defaults to having Direct Push (As Items Arrive) enabled. Can I change that with provxml?

Here's the code I'm using todo so. "Peak Frequency" Is what you want. I've attached documentation from msdn on how to change a ton of things.

<wap-provisioningdoc> 
	<characteristic type="Sync"> 

		<characteristic type="Settings"> 
			<parm name="AutoSync" value="1"/> 
			<parm name="EmailAgeFilter" value="1"/> 
			<parm name="MailBodyTruncation" value="1024"/> 
			<parm name="MailFileAttachments" value="0"/> 
			<parm name="PeakStartTime" value="0700"/> 
			<parm name="PeakEndTime" value="2100"/> 
			<parm name="SyncWhenRoaming" value="0"/> 
			<parm name="SendMailItemsImmediately" value="1"/> 
			<characteristic type="PeakDays"> 
				<parm name="Fri" value="1"/> 
				<parm name="Mon" value="1"/> 
				<parm name="Sat" value="1"/> 
				<parm name="Sun" value="1"/> 
				<parm name="Thr" value="1"/> 
				<parm name="Tue" value="1"/> 
				<parm name="Wed" value="1"/> 
				<parm name="PeakFrequency" value="30"/> 
				<parm name="OffPeakFrequency" value="0"/> 
			</characteristic> 
		</characteristic> 

		<characteristic type="Connection"> 
			<parm name="Domain" value="YourDomain"/> 
			<parm name="Password" value="YourPassWord" /> 
			<parm name="SavePassword" value="1"/> 
			<parm name="Server" value="YourEmailServer"/> 
			<parm name="UseSSL" value="1"/> 
			<parm name="User" value="username"/> 
			<parm name="EmailAddress" value="YourEmailAddress"/> 
		</characteristic> 

		<characteristic type="Mail"> 
			<parm name="Enabled" value="1"/> 
			<parm name="MailBodyTruncation" value="1024"/> 
			<parm name="MailFileAttachments" value="0"/> 
			<parm name="SyncSwitchPurge" value="1"/> 
		</characteristic> 

		<characteristic type="Calendar"> 
			<parm name="CalendarAgeFilter" value="4"/> 
			<parm name="Enabled" value="1"/> 
			<parm name="SyncSwitchPurge" value="1"/> 
		</characteristic> 

		<characteristic type="Contacts"> 
			<parm name="Enabled" value="1"/> 
			<parm name="SyncSwitchPurge" value="1"/> 
		</characteristic> 

		<characteristic type="Synchronize Tasks"> 
			<parm name="Enabled" value="1"/> 
		</characteristic> 

	</characteristic> 
</wap-provisioningdoc>

[swimmrguy]

Originally Posted by rfletch12

Here's the code I'm using todo so. "Peak Frequency" Is what you want. I've attached documentation from msdn on how to change a ton of things.

Thanks a lot. This is very helpful.

[luv2chill]

rfletch--

Hey are you sure that the Sync CSP has been updated to include the "Tasks" characteristic? Because I poured through the internet a few months ago searching for information on this.

As far as I could tell from MSDN docs, the Sync CSP doesn't support tasks (I'm sure it was written prior to the MSFP/Exchange SP2 update that enabled task sync).

I even searched a few days ago when overhauling my custom OEM and didn't see any updated info on how to enable Task sync within the Sync CSP.

Well, except for the following Google Groups post which indicated that Tasks was treated as a subfolder of E-mail and that you needed to use FolderHierarchy to enable it (in a sep provxml after the first one has already set up the E-mail sync):

http://groups.google.com/group/micro...63bbd0bba1710c

However, I tried several times and never got that to work. Mike Harris works for MS and I've seen his name around a lot so I hesitate to believe he'd give erroneous info, but...

Anyway, I lack the time right now to actually edit my provxml to include the Tasks characteristic, but if you could confirm that it worked for you (and where you saw it documented) I'd be grateful.

Thanks.

P.S. Wifi CSP via provxml was still a no-go for me in my latest tests. I thought maybe the problem was due to the wi-fi radio not being turned on at boot but I pre-enabled it and still had the same hang at first boot. Sigh...