forgot to mention..rename your setup.inf file  or cut it out  from cab files...dont need two batch files in there now do we :)
one more thing..I dont know anything about all those switchs you are useing....when I use this batch file I simply place it in the cab files and then use the command..example C:\windows/cabs/setup.exe    without switchs and the batch takes over ...must assume they are for takeing care of the enter thingy and exit from scandisk..not sure about that however it has always worked from that point on...try with the switchs first..it may do the whole setup without intervention

Thank you trekie1 for your attempt to help, but it still doesn't work. I used exactly what you posted (I changed the product key), but to no avail. I tried with and without the switches:
C:\CAB\setup.exe C:\CAB\BSETUP.INF
and
C:\CAB\setup /IW /im /id /is C:\CAB\BSETUP.INF

the result is the same. It even shows the EULA (the entry "ShowEula=0" in your post implies that the EULA is not shown)

As for the switches:
/IW - Bypasses needing to read the License screen. Needs to be upper case when run within Windows. Undocumented.
/im - Causes setup to ignore the conventional memory check. MS KB186111
/id - If you do not want Setup to check for the minimum disk space required to install Windows 95, use this switch. MS KB128400
/is - This switch causes Setup not to run ScanDisk. MS KB186111

To make sure we're on the same track: I'm using Windows 95 OSR2 OEM German.

may be the version difference not sure...95 is a bit tricky useing a batch file...lets give it another go..look on your 95 cd and if memory serves there is a folder named tools/reskit...browse around on the cd and see if you can find batch 95 setup...set this up on your machine and run it to make another batch file
also considering this is an OEM version look in the cab files and see if there may be some OEM .inf file that may be effecting the setup...depending on the cd it may say something like compaq.inf / ibm.inf  ect....thinking there shouldn't be any inf files other than layout.inf/layout1.inf/msinfo.inf....any other take it out of cab files

I know this batch 95 setup is on the original 95 cd's (upgrade version) but not sure on the osr2...a google search mite turn it up

Jim

Thank you again for your patience and effort to resolve my problem.

The tool is (at least with the German OEM version I use) in \Admin\Nettools\BSetup\
I used it in the first place, but there is no option where I can provide the Certificate of Authenticity number.

I browsed through the other folders in \Admin\, and found some example INF-files in \Admin\Reskit\Samples\Skripts\
There I found an example, where it said to provide the Certificate of Authenticity number in the [SETUP]-section with

ProductID=11111222222233333
No dashes, no OEM (well, the example does not use a OEM key)

I checked if the CAB-files contain any other INF-files. None found, which does not surprise me since the CD-ROM was bought with a custom made computer (so no vendor specific preload).

Still, the setup process seems to ignore that line in the BSETUP.INF

I did as you suggested and googled the topic some more (I already did before posting here). After a while I found this MS KB article:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/q263281/

It states:
•      In OEM Windows 95: Setup is stopped and a message is displayed that indicates that the Product Key is incorrect. You must enter the Product Key again. When you enter the Product Key (even when this is the same Product Key), Setup continues.
[...]
This is behavior is by design and cannot be changed.


So, I guess there is no solution to my problem (except not using an OEM version of Windows 95)

haven't ran across that before ??  thought my copy was OEM but may not be...thinking it came with a IBM machine I bought back in 96

look at this site and see if maybe something there may help ..some good tips anyway..   http://www.onecomputerguy.com/install/install.htm#infbatch

as stated before its been awhile sense I fooled with this but if memory serves it was a pain to get 95b to work correctly with a batch file..infact now that I think about it it seems as though I remember it had to be an older version of batch.exe to work.....thinking the program on the later version was simply named batch setup whereas the older version said 95batch.exe (may be wrong its been a long time)   if you have one look on an older win95 upgrade disk to see if it has this program..for some reason it made a difference...got to think theres a way around this :)

one last thought..in my copy of 95b there is a file named layout,layout1,msinfo.ini   and ofcourse the msbatch.ini  but thats it as far as ini files...are there any others in your copy? maybe something in there that may be taken out...not sure

Thanks for that link, very useful.

Unfortunately, this is the last and only copy of win95 I have left, must have thrown out the other in hope to never use them again ;)

The copy has indeed just the three INF-files you mentioned in its root directory (layout.inf, layout1.inf, msinfo.inf). other INF-files can be found in subdirectories, but they're mainly containing driver information.