taj

(bump) Anyone experiencing the same issues and / or got a solution? Thanks!

I'll try that... thanks. EDIT : Didn't work... supplied install CD and elevated priveleges. When I demoted the privileges again the problems reappeared.

I am using Office 2007 - the problem I have is that whenever any Office application e.g. Word, is run, Windows Installer will also run as well as the Office Setup, saying 'Preparing to Install...', 'Configuring Office 2007' etc. This does not happen on Administrator accounts, only on limited user accounts. I made sure when I installed Office 2007 that Run All from My Computer was selected, and I have tried a fresh install, a repair install, and run the Office Diagnostics which found no problems. I have tried upgrading a limited user to administrator, and Office apps ran fine without Windows Installer running, but when the user is demoted to a limited user again, the problem re-appears. I have also tried to allow Windows Installer to always install with elevated privileges in Group Policy [XP Pro SP2], however this does not change anything. In Event Viewer, the following errors coincide with when Windows Installer / Office problems occur: Detection of product '{90120000-0030-0000-0000-0000000FF1CE}', feature 'WORDFiles' failed during request for component '{0638C49D-BB8B-4CD1-B191-051E8F325736}' Detection of product '{90120000-0030-0000-0000-0000000FF1CE}', feature 'ProductFiles', component '{6252B847-BADA-43D4-9252-E39767FA40A1}' failed. The resource 'HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.pip\' does not exist. Searching the net only gave solutions for previous versions of Office. I would be grateful if someone could provide a solution / recommendation to resolve the problem.

Umm... this looks illegal... there are decent free anti-virus programs you can use, such as Avast! or AVG Free.

I use a Corsair Flash Voyager 512MB. Pic here

I made a quick logo which you can use for WUD if you want: [img]http://i103.photobucket.com/albums/m122/tajb/wudlogo.jpg[/img] Thanks for the great utility! - Taj

Thanks for the insight, LLXX, much appreciated! So if you defrag often, the HDD will need to write less each time you defrag afterwards? I'm also quite surprised to hear that FAT32 causes less seek activity than NTFS... what size HDD did you use to test this out? I thought FAT32 was recommended for HDDs less than 32 GB - http://www.theeldergeek.com/ntfs_or_fat32_file_system.htm - Taj

I use Diskeeper 10, and it only takes a minute or two at maximum to defragment a 250 GB HDD, that's in Set it & Forget It mode. It does sound like the HDD is being 'thrashed' while Diskeeper does it's job, and I do notice an increase of a few degrees in the HDD's temperature. However, I have never heard that defragmenting your HDD is actually 'bad' for your HDD, in that it can reduce it's life time. I was just wondering if defragmenting your HDD is bad, then what about creating and restoring hard disk images? - Taj

If you are just interested in getting a virtual machine setup, then Microsoft is offering Virtual PC 2004 SP1 at no cost, completely free. You can download it from here: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...;displaylang=en There are some useful VMware utilites here, have a look at VMX Builder: http://petruska.stardock.net/Software/VMware.html Hope this helps, Taj

OK, I will 're-write' Dietmar's tutorials as well as I can, and then e-mail them to Dietmar and see what he says / if he allows me to post them on the net. I have got access to a couple of Foxconn / WinFast motherboard + AMD Processor based systems, and I was wondering if anyone has had any success booting from USB with these motherboards? - Taj

Try this, see if it works: In Firefox, go to Tools > Options... Select the 'Content' tab. Make sure 'Enable Java' and 'Enable JavaScript' are selected. Click 'OK'. (Off topic : You can also make sure you have updated to Firefox 1.5.0.5 by going to Help > About Mozilla Firefox). Hope this helps. - Taj

Hi, Just found that the link on the MSFN Home Page to Flyakite's 'Creating a Multi-Boot DVD' is invalid, and points to http://flyakite.msfn.org/. I do not know if this a temporary error, but I think the correct link is http://flyakite.msfnhosting.com/ Just thought I would let you know, admin/mods so you can fix it, because it *might* turn away visitors trying to access the guide? - Taj

Have you tested this with different file formats? What type of file is the one that you're trying to play? I know this isn't a solution, but if you really want to watch this video, then maybe you should re-install PowerDVD XP or VideoLAN's VLC Media Player, which is free, and plays pretty much everything! Here's the link for VLC if you're interested: VideoLAN homepage. Here's some stuff I found on the Cyberlink website relevant to PowerDVD 6 which you can try: clicky! Hope this helps. - Taj

What OS are you using? XP Pro X64? Are you even using a 64-bit processor? Anyway, I highly doubt that that PowerDVD 6 Deluxe is incompatible with 64-bit processors as I have got it installed on 3 systems: one has got an AMD Sempron 2600+, another an AMD Sempron 3000+ and one an AMD Athlon 3000+ - all of which are 64-bit processors! Do you get any error messages? Either during the installation process itself or when trying to run the application? Did you uninstall PowerDVD XP before installing PowerDVD 6 Deluxe? I also know that PowerDVD 7 is 'compatible' with 64-bit processors as I have tested the trial and it works fine. - Taj

Thanks for the reply. jaclaz. I will try tutorials 3, 4 and 5 again with XP SP1 and SP2 sources, and see what happens. I understand that it is difficult to make tutorials that everyone can understand, especially for the relatively *new* and complex problem of trying to boot XP from USB. I will keep on trying until I find a solution that works for me and hopefully I will do my best to post a tutorial that novices in this field like me can understand! Do you agree, that if I can boot into DOS from USB, then I can boot XP from USB, and the fault is not the hardware's, but lies with the software / drivers? Also, would it be helpful if I made a tutorial which is completely based on Dietmar's tutorials (with his permission of course!), but is written as how I perceived the tutorial / how I understood the tutorial, even if it didn't work for me? This might help others to understand, as well as highlighting where some of us are going wrong / misunderstanding the steps required? - Taj

I prefer Acronis True Image to Norton Ghost, but I'm pretty sure that Ghost can store the image file on a different partition on the same hard drive. Unless something has changed recently... I'm sure someone who uses Ghost frequently can confirm if this is the case (Andromeda, where are you? )... - Taj

I have attempted to use XP Professional SP1 Retail, XP Professional SP2 Retail and XP Home SP2 OEM CDs... so I am not sure the XP installation files/CDs are the problem here. However, it would be interesting to see what CDs the people who have succeeded in booting XP from USB have used. - Taj

You know the actual computer names of Computer A and B, right? If not go into System Properties (press WinKey + Pause-Break) and go to the 'Computer Name' tab. From either computer A or B, try to access the other computer's shared resources (files and printers) by doing the following: Press Start, then Run (or WinKey + R). In the Run dialog box, type the name of the computer you are trying to access preceded by \\ For example, if the computer you are trying to access is called COMP1, type: \\COMP1 and then press Enter. This *should* bring up all the shared resources of 'COMP1'. Or you will get an error message... Hope this helps. - Taj

@T D Thanks for the help. Forget about the Corsair 512 MB Fash Voyager, theres no real point in trying to install XP on to it. I would like to focus on the USB External HDD enCLosure with a 20 GB Maxtor HDD in. At the moment the 20 GB has got one NTFS partition. If I try to partition the whole 20 GB with the HP tool as FAT16 or FAT32, I get an error saying 'Partition too big' or soemthing like that. So should I make a smaller partition for FAT16 or FAT32, or is NTFS recommended for booting XP from a USB drive? Just out of interest, have you succeeded in booting XP from a USB drive? And if so, which hardware did you use? - Taj

"According to Acronis software licensing policy, you need to purchase one copy of Acronis program for every computer where it will be used." 24 July 2006 This is the answer I got direct from Acronis pre-sales support when copying and pasting your question (without the Ghost 2003 part!). Hope this is useful, - Taj

Hi jaclaz, I have tried Tutorials 3, 4, 5, 6 - most of the things I can see in the thread at 911CD. I tried the app/s at www.usboot.org, but they gave me a BSOD when I tried to boot from the USB device. I attempted Bshoangl1's tutorials with the nice pictures (all tutorials would be easier to follow with more pictures or a movie - but I suppose no-one has the time for that???) but no success, yet. I have recently followed a guide at Ngine.de on booting XP from USB. Now this guide was very easy and straight forward to follow, and I am *sure* I did everything right, but I got the 'Your computer's start-up program cannot access this drive' message. Link to Ngine.de's guide by Emanuel I am going to repeat most of the tutorials in the near future when I get some time. - Taj

Hi T D I understand that it is unlikely that I will be able to install a full version of XP on to the Corsair Flash Voyager 512 MB; I was just seeing if it would get past the 'Your computer's start-up program cannot access this drive' error message, if only to be met with a size limitation message. My motherboard is a MSI K8T Neo-V with the latest BIOS updates and retains the boot device order after reboots (unless there are 4 reboots in quick succession), but this doesn't seem to be the problem. I can boot from both of the devices into MS-DOS, so I am sure my mobo is capable of booting from USB. I think the problem is more to do with the Windows Setup Files and if the correct USB drivers are being loaded in text-mode setup or not, or to do with the format / boot sector of the USB drive which Windows will accept (try to trick Setup into thinking the USB drive is a hard drive?) The USB hard drive (enclosure) is detected as a 'Disk on disk' by Windows XP text-mode setup, but appears as a fixed local disk under Windows XP. Thanks for your help, -Taj

Hi Googler24022, I would recommend Acronis True Image. Acronis True Image can be used to create a hard disk image when the system is set up how you want it, and then you can restore from that image whenever things go wrong, from a bootable disc if necessary (True Image lets you make a bootable rescue media once installed). Acronis True Image Home (download version) $49.99 Click here for more info on Acronis True Image... - Taj

The USB drive uses generic drivers. I have tried using an External USB Hard Drive Enclosure with a 20 GB Maxtor HDD and a Corsair Flash Voyager flash drive (512 MB)... so I am focusing on using the USB HDD Enclosure.

Thanks for the replies. The website www.winusb.de is the website of the starter of the thread on the 911CD Forums, and has downloadable versions of the tutorials which may be useful. I have been using the HP USB utility for some time now, but with no success - I get the same results when I format the USB drive with the HP tool or with Windows. I always get the message 'Your computer's start-up program cannot access this device' or something like that when trying to install Windows XP onto the USB drive. The XP Setup Program can 'see' the drive, but when I select it, the error message above appears. - Taj