bilemke

taskman.exe should exist under C:\windows and C:\windows\system32 However.. Make sure under c:\windows\system32 you also have taskmgr.exe. It is the actual exe that runs and shows you the running processes. If you dont have it.. Run sfc /scannow to kick in System File Check and see if it adds it back for you.

"Link removed by Alanoll" Figured that was coming. This thread, like I beleive someone has mentioend already, is probaly very borderline on a rule or two.. Am I right? I am interested in the content, but unsure if it should be talked about here.

My intention was to find a way to skip seeing the "floppy-boot install" or the blue/white low graphics section of the install all together. I have not stopeed and taken the time to work on this yet but hopefully will sometime soon.

Dont meen to interupt.. But very interesting the change to $WINNT$.INF in one method and not the other. I knew$WINNT$.INF was created for quite some time now.. When you do a normal (not unattended) install this is where some other settings normally seen in winnt.sif for an unattended install. I have actually had hopes of trying to make a program to directly alter $WINNT$.INF instead of winnt.sif so that I could use the folders created during the dos (blue) portion of setup on a PE cd instead of having to run the dos style portion of setup to get them on the drive. So, I could copy these folders to a cd with a copy of PE. . Boot PE and use it to make changes to $WINNT$.INF and copy to target harddrive of windows install. (Would also need to copy boot loader and use some tool to modify boot sector if it was a brand new drive) Restart and pull PE cd out and let it start/continue setup from the GUI portion. I have read about some of the first Longhrn alphas and I think this is pretty much how they installed. The disk image (if you want to call it that) that setup copied contained similair files to what are on your hd after the dos style portion of setup in XP.

:tears: How nice.. All better now I hope.. Anyway, good point.. The rest of the tweaking poriton of the program I wouldnt trust yet.. I too would advise everyone to be especially careful with any of them since you change one and it seems to change the others anyway as I described a little earlier today. But title of thread is in reference to the ntldr and ntdetect.com swap. I would recommend giving it a try and see if it helps with the things (applications) you use most. It is very little risk to your windows install and can easily be switched back to the originals if you back them up or, even if you didnt back up the originals, just get them from your xp cd.. I would like to see more people try and give their opinions. I would like to read more of the original thread from the authors site, but even though I am very much of Polish descent, I speak very little Polish since I was born in the US and learned English as a primary language. Translation sites can only do so much. Anyway, a global thanks to all that give it a try and post a comment as to how it worked for them. I a very interested in this since I had known about the idea a long time ago, but until now had not bothered to try it with any of the more recent Windows OS versions.

Indeed. Searching this on google finds only MSFN and two german boards (one being Winfuture).. May I also ask where you found this? Was it one of the two german forums/boards I see in google?

ahh.. double post.. Something weird going on with MSFN over the last week or so? Site has been pokey and unresponsive at times compared to other places I visit on the same net connection.

@tester_pedro Please dont be angry at all.. Notice I didnt call you a flamer.. I see the changes with some apps on some machines and not others.. I dont see any negative side effect.. But, I only applied the changed files.. I did not apply any of the tweaks in the program as I anticipated it might change settings I didnt want messed with. Some of the tweaks in the program are great but I dont think it checks the initial state (if the tweak has already been applied by other means) so we get what happened in your case and probaly someone else even. So, its cool B) Right?

Will see if I can find some of the missing hotfixes in my old storage.. A few years ago I found the Windwos Update Catalog or whatever it was called back then and downloaded all the updates for winme win98fe win98se.. And maybe a bunch of junk for 95 or something.. I will see if I still have them somewhere and get back this thread if I got anything. Late now finding this thread and I am going to bed soon so I will do this tommorow if possible.

I have the same experience. my logonui was reset to default and so on... As I examined what the tweaker does it only alocate more memory for the kernel so more space for caching a smoother loading of progies that uses kernel function. Maybe the tweaker could be some sort of "screw-my-system_ware" If it would be april then I would say a April joke but it isn't. I would say this: ntdetect is only for preinitializing and do some hardware detection (when i look with a hex viewer into it then on the end I see this: NOIRQSCAN NOIRQROUTING PCIENUM RDBUILD NOLEGACY FASTDETECT NOSERIALMICE NOSERIALMICE AT/AT COMPATIBLE PCI BIOS PCI Real-mode IRQ Routing Table PCI PCI Devices APM PNP BIOS Docking State Information EISA ISA ACPI BIOS UNKNOWN_KEYBOARD OLI_83KEY OLI_102KEY OLI_86KEY OLI_A101_102KEY XT_83KEY ATT_302 PCAT_ENHANCED PCAT_86KEY PCXT_84KEY COM PARALLEL UNKNOWN NO MOUSE MICROSOFT MICROSOFT BALLPOINT LOGITECH PS2 MOUSE SERIAL MOUSE INPORT MOUSE BUS MOUSE PS2 MOUSE WITH WHEEL SERIAL MOUSE WITH WHEEL 1234567890 QWERTYUIOP ASDFGHJKL ZXCVBNM FLOPPYx OSDISKx DETLOG1 PcCardController) and ntldr is the same but it it loads some kernel files and so around starting. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Should have added this to the other post.. Too late.. Anyway, I would have probally decided on calling it something different then "Memory Controller" as I too think this would be more like being able to change out the kernel. If I see huge improvement or not, as long as it doesnt slow it down or cause problems, I will probaly try it out for a while.

@gdogg Good point.. The guy made a worthy (more then myself or others here could write) program.. I have seen all the tweaks in it before and most are already set to my liking in my setup cd instead of having to set them after the isntall is done. And the ntldr and ntdetect.com change does have some effect.. I see it varying from program to program and from machine to machine.. But something is different on every machine after I change these files. It may not be dramatic for everyone or even anyone.. But considering I see no side effects and the relatively small effort to put it into a setup cd (and a running copy of windows).. Why not give it a try I suppose...

True.. boot look at what ntldr (nt loader) is loading (ntkrnlpa.exe)... If it can do a better job of getting windows up, windows (in this case atleast) can probaly run better/faster. As I stated in a earlier post, I remember reading about trying this with nt4 using 2k files a some time ago. Took a little more work back then as I think you had to start a win2k install to get not just the files on the drive, but have it make some change to the boot sector of the drive. If only we could use some other major files out of 2k3 in xp.. Like the kernel perhaps.

Dont want to step on Piterniel's feet here, but ntdetect.com and ntldr are right out in the open in the I386 folder of 2k/xp/2k3.. As long as windows doesnt get picky during install you could probally just drop the files right in your setup cd.. Otherwise under the OEM folder would get past that little bit.

ntdetect was identical to the one I compared it to from a 2k3 cd.. ntldr was of course different since it was in polish. But otherwise the files appeared unchanged to me.

Thank you very much Piterniel I was away for a couple days and I see you have made it to the MSFN forum and have already translated your project to English. I remember changing NTLDR and NTDETECT.COM to win2k files on NT4 sometime back and gaining a improved boot time. Interesting to see this works and benefits Win XP with 2k3 files.. Just downloaded and will have to give this a try tonight. I am currious, may I ask, is there a reason you are using the 2k3 pre-sp1 files vs the sp1 versions? Update: Well.. Only changed teh NTLDR and NTDETECT files (other tweaks I am familiar with and dont want to try quite yet, some I already have applied on my own). Defenately makes XP behave differently.. I think faster is a a good way to describe it. Explorer (browsing folders/files at least) seems much faster.. Looks like XP made new prefetch data as at first firefox took longer then usual ont he first run.. But now, it seems faster then before too. Will continue to test this on a couple other machines tommorow as it is vey late. and I need some sleep. Hmm, I see ntldr is from a polish version of 2k3.

Similair question asked before a few times in this forum and it has not been allowed to continue in every case I can remember. You are breaking the EULA of the software by altering the way the cd works.

This might be kinda cool.... Offtopic: Been a while since I seen the name evilvoice in my day to day browing of the web. What happen to the cheerful yellow smiley for the avatar?

So it does have a problem with non-9x systems too then.. Interesting. Not sure I would call it obsolete.. But run this file (in invisible folder under windows dir) to remove it. C:\WINDOWS\$NtUninstallKB885250$\spuninst\spuninst.exe Oops.. didnt notice you used ryans pack and integrated it.. Nope.. No uninstall.. Just install the newer hotfix and it should replace the other files.

True.. Maybe I wil do the same.. He might run into a way I have never found or tried and it will be a lessor learned for me.

I wouldnt say 895900 replaces 885250 yet.. It might as it contains newer versions of most if not all the files in 885250. But, 895900 is a hotfix designed to fix the problems resulting from the install of the 885250 fix. 885250 is an official supported fix.. 895900 is a hotfix to solve the issues some people have had with win9x shares accessed by 2k/xp machines. I would install 885250, as windows update suggest, and then 895900 if you have prblems getting to files shared on win 9x based machines. Again, I can not confirm or denie that the hotfix is even effective for sure as I do not use any 9x machines at all for sharing or every day use. I looked for it for the sake that customers of the business I work for may need it in the future if they still use win 9x mixed with 2k/xp in their work place.

True.. I think it is a good practive too.. And I probally would use BCDW if I was not holding on to BootScriptor.. cdshell is nice replacement.. But has too many features I dont need.. And I got used to the scripts for BootScriptor and dotn want to give it up yet. As I said though, when it comes down to it.. I would never use Autopartition=1 or let any other software "automatically" partition my drives.. Too much stuff can get deleted waaaaaayyyyyy too quickly.

Sorta true.. If I put my cd in right now.. Not format or delete the parition I have windows on as C:\ and start setup with a USB memory card reader pluged in or put something writeable (not cd-rom) on my onboard ide controller, it will call that c: even if I already had a install of windows on C:\windows on another partition that setup can see.

Pat57 added a interesting note with teh hotfix giving problems.. I only recently started to notice that one (not arround 9x machines much)... Anyway, a good read in regards to that particulair hotfix giving people trouble and a possible helper to some problems people are having in this thread.. See http://castlecops.com/p566526-Cannot_Unabl...le_Sharing.html Forum keeps screwing that address up.. so.. http://castlecops.com/p566526-Cannot_Unable_to_view_folders_files_XP_File_Sharing.html Further, reference to a possibility of Microsoft having re-released that hotfix to fix some problems here. Which, contains a note in regards to knowledge base article 895900. This mentions a hot fix available to fix the problems accessing 9x based file shares from 2k/xp machines with the hotfix mentioned above. Hotfix, so, you are supposed to contact MS to get it. The file versions of the files in both the original (problematic) hotfix and the new one are different. Hotfix 895900 is supposed to contain newer file versions. Another edit.. RyanVM already has this in his update pack (here I was about to e-mail/pester Microsoft to ask them to send me a download link).. See info on his site here and download from his site or Softpedia.

"bootcheck"True.. I suppose it is a matter of how unattended you want to be.. I would never let windows repartition any drive of mine in setup if I had multiple drives (like I do) with some drives keeping data betwen/during a reinstall. See my post in response to this thread here. Personally.. I setup my partitions in a way so I designate an area/partition for windows and program files.. So, when I want to reinstall I just move what I want to keep to a diff partition.. Then, wipe the windows install partition out and install again (usually just format, not delete and recreate the partition). And even if I get a new drive, I can always setup the first partiton in dos based portion of setup and then from there on, everything else is unattended if I want it to be so. Then I just make the other partitions, if needed in this case, in windows drive management and change the letters to whatever I want. BTW If you go with WinPE.. this might be of interest. A crafty implementation of the "bootcheck" function of cdshell could be used to check if there is a bootbale partition on the drive and then start the windows setup or start the repartitioning software (dos floppy image or whatever).. This would only work though if you had deleted all partitions before booting the cd or it was a blank/new harddrive. Thus, limiting you to less then 100% automation again. So, the level of how unattended your unattended cd has to reach a limit somewhere.. As far as letting windows setup repartition my drives and expect it to always do it correctly (not delete a wanted partition that contains important data) is where I would cut the line. With quick format in windows setup or even in ranish partition manager, it only takes me about 15-30 seconds to start my setup.. Then I walk away as usual and let it finish. Next are we going to go the next step of unattended and have windows decide when it is time for a reinstall and have it either magically put the cd/dvd in the drive or always leave a setup cd in the drive and it just has to reboot?

@Astalavista Not a whole lot of work.. If you only want the two options in the boot loader it is not much more then remaking a 2000/XP/2003 bootable setup cd. Infact, after I setup the files as needed, I used cdimage.exe to make the ISO image. I cant legally help with the floppy image by making one for you and sending it you, buy maybe... Maybe, I could try my had cdshell again.. I actually liked its dredecessor (BootScriptor) much more and have yet to switch (even though I have been toying with cdshell and trying it out). Maybe, if all you want is the 2 options I could copy paste a cdshell script here if I get time in the next couple weeks, or someone with a little more experience with it could doctor a short one up for you. but ERD Commander 2005 is a commercial product. Even BartPE is anice option, but a DOS 1.44 floppy image with a partition program on a cd boots a whole lot quicker.