Guys , I am honestly not trying to be an id*** here , but I am quite confused . Well firstly sorry about the lack of previous knowledge it is my first attempt at automated installs and also sorry in advance for a very long post , but I figure the more info I can give you , the less chance of somone recomending something I have already tried , or the less chance of somone asking me to provide more info well if you are reding this , then I might as well get onto the situation on hand I'll tell you my story and perhaps a kind hearted soul will guide me . my goal is to basicly get xp slipstreamed and fully unattened with all Service pack hotfixes and stuff like that , then Ill work on drivers , then apps so far I have slipstreamed the service pack .. made an iso using CDIMAGE GUI and then used Virtual PC to test it . Worked great . So on to stage two went straight to Windows Update inside the Virtual PC .. made note of what was needed (71 KB thingys at present time) Dl them all to C:\XPCD\i386\SVCPACK\ then renamed every single one of them manually ( is there a tool recomended?) .. So here is the directory structure so they are like "KB0000.exe " sort of format I have been reading http://unattended.msfn.org/unattended.xp/v...f648cb4bd030d8/ looked up the switches in this forum and here is my svcpack.inf as a result of my understanding of this info ;Windows XP [Version] Signature="$Windows NT$" MajorVersion=5 MinorVersion=1 BuildNumber=2600 [SetupData] CatalogSubDir="\i386\SVCPACK" [ProductCatalogsToInstall] [SetupHotfixesToRun] KB873339.exe /q /n /z KB885835.exe /q /n /z KB885836.exe /q /n /z KB886185.exe /q /n /z KB887472.exe /q /n /z KB888302.exe /q /n /z KB890830.exe /q KB890859.exe /q /n /z KB891781.exe /q /n /z KB893756.exe /q /n /z KB894391.exe /q /n /z KB896358.exe /q /n /z KB896423.exe /q /n /z KB896424.exe /q /n /z KB896428.exe /q /n /z KB899587.exe /q /n /z KB899591.exe /q /n /z KB900485.exe /q /n /z KB900725.exe /q /n /z KB901017.exe /q /n /z KB901214.exe /q /n /z KB902400.exe /q /n /z KB904706.exe /q /n /z KB905414.exe /q /n /z KB905749.exe /q /n /z KB908519.exe /q /n /z KB908531.exe /q /n /z KB910437.exe /q /n /z KB911280.exe /q /n /z KB911562.exe /q /n /z KB911564.exe /q /n /z KB911927.exe /q /n /z KB912919.exe /q /n /z KB913580.exe /q /n /z KB914388.exe /q /n /z KB914389.exe /q /n /z KB916595.exe /q /n /z KB917344.exe /q /n /z KB917422.exe /q /n /z KB917734.exe /q /n /z KB917953.exe /q /n /z KB918118.exe /q /n /z KB918439.exe /q /n /z KB919007.exe /q /n /z KB920213.exe /q /n /z KB920670.exe /q /n /z KB920683.exe /q /n /z KB920685.exe /q /n /z KB920872.exe /q /n /z KB922582.exe /q /n /z KB922819.exe /q /n /z KB923191.exe /q /n /z KB923414.exe /q /n /z KB923689.exe /q /n /z KB923694.exe /q /n /z KB923789.exe /q:a /r:n KB923980.exe /q /n /z KB924191.exe /q /n /z KB924270.exe /q /n /z KB924496.exe /q /n /z KB924667.exe /q /n /z KB925398.exe /q /n /z KB926255.exe /q /n /z KB926436.exe /q /n /z KB927779.exe /q /n /z KB927802.exe /q /n /z KB928090.exe /q /n /z KB928255.exe /q /n /z KB928843.exe /q /n /z KB929969.exe /q /n /z KB931836.exe /q /n /z qchain.exe Then of course I put qchain in the same directory so that it can make sure the right file versions get put in there and removed svcpack.in_ and went to the DOSNET.inf and added [OptionalSrcDirs] SVCPACK OK, that was probably the hardest part ( maybe I got some of the switches wrong .. can anyone check for me PLEASE I know its a lot of Service packs but maybe somone smarter than me knows a better way?) now I also want it to be all automatic with the settings , keycode, all that so I used XP SP2 Deployment Tools to make my first WINNT.SIF ( by renaming the WINNT.TXT thingy ) then moved it to C:\XPCD\I386\ as detailed in the guide So here is my Winnt.sif ( is the proper name an "answer file?" ) ;SetupMgrTag [Data] AutoPartition=1 MsDosInitiated="0" UnattendedInstall="Yes" [Unattended] UnattendMode=FullUnattended OemSkipEula=Yes OemPreinstall=No TargetPath=\WINDOWS [GuiUnattended] AdminPassword="xxxxxxxxxx" EncryptedAdminPassword=NO OEMSkipRegional=1 TimeZone=290 OemSkipWelcome=1 [UserData] ProductKey=XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX FullName="Kevin LeRoy" OrgName="Home" ComputerName=Lounge [Display] BitsPerPel=32 Xresolution=1280 YResolution=1024 [TapiLocation] CountryCode=64 Dialing=Pulse AreaCode=09 [RegionalSettings] LanguageGroup=1 Language=00001409 [Identification] JoinWorkgroup=WORKGROUP [Networking] InstallDefaultComponents=Yes OK, so then I made me a new ISO and loaded it up into Virtual PC .. now its kind of doing what I want , but not 100% firstly ( see choose disk.bmp) it is stopping and showing me existing partitions and unpartitioned space ( during the blue screen part) IS there a way to just make it choose the first drive or any unpartitioned space . or must we ( for saftey) always choose where the os gets installed to ? Then if I leave it alone after that it goes along fine right up to just before windows starts up , I get thatt horrible music "lets spend a few minutes setting up your computer" next--> help protect your pc next-->networking -> register windows who will; use this computer thingy .. then I get the desktop any way to kill that musicy "wizard" for want of a better word but if I go to windowsupdate , first thing even before i can check for updates . it wants todownload and install install "windows update" any way to inculde this thingy in the slipstream? THen once that is installed I get the thingy that says " before you can use windows update you have to install windows installer 3.1 , validadtion tool (kb892130) and KB898461.. all thre of which I am prettty sure are sitting there in the svcpack folder (not sure about validation tool thingy) Now > I go back to windows Update web site in the VM and holy dog doo it shows 5 hotfixes still KB905474, KB890830, KB929969, KB917422, Kb896358, under high priority , and under software there are 11 entries all of which I already have DL ( I think) Microsoft .NET Framework 3.0: x86 (KB928416) Root Certificates Update Remote Desktop Connection (Terminal Services Client 6.0) for Windows XP (KB925876) Windows Media Player 11 Update for Windows XP (KB920342) Update for Windows XP (KB904942) Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0: x86 (KB829019) Microsoft Base Smart Card Cryptographic Service Provider Package: x86 (KB909520) Download size: 626 KB , less than 1 minute Update for WMDRM-enabled Media Players (KB891122) Update for Windows XP (KB896344) Microsoft .NET Framework version 1.1 .. ANY ideas at all guys it is driving me mad and again sorry if this is n00b stuff and for the long post . I have only just begun my journey into the slipstream this day and am here to learn .. Next wil be .. Getting the Theme to be Windows classic , getting rid of windows tour .. Drivers for my LANPARTY board and video cards .. but one thing at a time