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Volatus

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Everything posted by Volatus

  1. Search really doesn't work here at all anyway. IMO if mods want to throw around the "search you noob" statement, some work really really needs to be done to fix the problems with the search, first. Unfortunately I can't help you. You're pretty much asking us to give you something on a silver platter. Are you incapable of actually reading information and formulating your own independent thoughts? I never had to ask someone on this forum "how do i shot nlite". Can't you figure your own information out?
  2. i386 is a folder in Windows XP that can safely be deleted... it's just a copy of the Setup files. I'm in the same boat here... I did a super-lightweight Vista install - specifically for Folding@Home GPU processing (users claim that running Vista solves the 100% CPU problem and massively improves performance). It seems that even vLite's best efforts can't wrangle in the runaway, obscene bloat of Vista. I told vLite to ditch the "winsxs" folder, and yet, it was the source of a "Configuring updates: Stage 3 of 3" reboot loop on the first startup (300kb pending.xml in the WinSxS folder that I was surprised to even find). My WinSxS folder is about the size of a full blown Windows XP installation - 11,000 files and 418mb. What the heck gives? With all the junctions running amok in Vista, are those files really there; are they the originals and there are other files on the hard drive that are merely "mirrors" of them, or is it really just a waste of space?
  3. I didn't catch from the page, and don't have any examples on hand to test on... but is this capable of taking a computer installed with a phony XP Pro VLM key, strip the Pro features, and give it the legitimate XP Home key that's smacked on the side of the case?
  4. Oh. My. God. That is so going in my toolbox, right now.
  5. That's not true. I am in the same boat at the moment - only WORSE. The computer has a XP Pro license key on it (yes!), but it has Pro VLM with the god forsaken FCKGW code on it!! I cannot fathom the idiocy... However, OEM discs will activate just fine with any OEM code. The OEMs originally use BIOS-locked copies of XP, but if you reinstall, the installation will take the OEM code on the case if you have an OEM copy. I don't exactly know how it works, but I know I pull "Pro OEM" off my disc, nLite it, enter the code, activate it, and it's happy as can be. And yes, I would really love (have loved?) to see Microsoft take some intelligent initiative and actually create a way to switch an illegal version to a legal version, but... *shrug* Dang if I know a way.
  6. Hah! I finally got it. GOT IT I SAY! Driven myself insane to find a solution, and learn some new things... hey, that's how I get experience. Taking the long road. I'm now staring at the good old XP login screen, without needing to reinstall Windows. It was the display drivers. Evidently the "vgasave" driver got damaged somehow, which is why in Remote Desktop, I didn't even have an "Advanced" button under Display Properties (it was greyed out). Of course this also means I've learned it's possible to run a headless XP system (with _no_ display driver), which is freaking awesome. After updating the chipset and graphics drivers via Remote Desktop, I rebooted, and instead of even seeing that "autochk" error message (which I also need to fix/revert), I saw the XP login page. I am happy. And now I am going to bed. edit: Ohhhh, this just tops it all. You know what this thing's product code is? FCKGW-RHQQ2-you know the rest. *headdesk*
  7. AAAAAHhahahahahhaha.... I have been driven insane by this computer. Ohmygod. But I finally cracked it. I finally got into the **** thing. 8 hours of screwing with one computer, for purposes of just trying to figure out why the hell it won't show something on the screen... The reason there was no network connection was evidently because there was no DRIVER for the internal gigabit network adapter installed (wtf!). So, being unable to use "devcon update" to install the driver (which I had on a USB stick), I opted to just install a known natively supported PCI card. That installed blindly and perfectly. Then I found that the DHCP service was disabled, and refused to start. Why, I do not know. But it wouldn't start. So I used "netsh" to give the adapter a static IP (YOU try typing "set address "Local Area Connection 2" static 192.168.1.159 255.255.255.0 192.168.1.1 1" without a SINGLE typo, with no visual feedback). That worked. It had an IP. I do the Win+Pause, End, Tab x4, Space, Alt+A to turn on Remote Desktop. It didn't do any good, the setting didn't seem to take effect. I export the Terminal Services key (again, YOU try typing "regedit /e g:\reg.reg "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server"" without a SINGLE typo), change fDenyTSConnections to "0", then re-import with "regedit /s g:\reg.reg". That also didn't seem to work. It then had the problem of Simple File Sharing (that bastard idea of Microsoft's) enabled, so it denied any network login attempts - simple, my arse. I fixed that with another registry change and reboot. At first it gave me the error again, so I tried "net use \\192.168.1.159 /u:Administrator *" and entered the password (which I set with pspasswd on the blind shell). It worked this time. Then I fired up compmgmt.msc on my laptop and connected. It worked! For the first time I was able to see the services list, and the reason I wasn't able to connect with Remote Desktop: "Terminal Services" was set to "DISABLED"! Ur, hurr... um... well... I kinda think that may be the problem haunting the screen I'm continuously staring at, and the reason for the blank screenshots. Windows lives on Terminal Services! *facepalm* So I was FINALLY able to connect with Remote Desktop. It gave me the most unusual screen. See for yourself. More pics to come.
  8. Tried it. I can't seem to get any output out of this thing. I took another screenshot to the same effect: black 640x480 screenshot (jaclaz: just because you don't understand the significance of something...). I can start a console and enter commands (blindly), that's easy. I've redirected the output of "ipconfig" to my Flash drive, which showed that it sees no network adapters. How it managed to have 15 tons of Temporary Internet Files and all sorts of viruses... I really can't understand!! Maybe it lost track of the network adapter somehow, which is strange, considering the audio adapter still works fine. Right now I'm trying to find a way to redirect the terminal (cmd.exe) output to COM1: in a readable format. On a test computer, I was able to run "mode com1:9600,n,8,1" and proceed to "echo lolol >com1:", and "lolol" would appear on my laptop's HyperTerminal screen. Then I ran "cmd > com1:" and the output would appear over the serial port, but not input. It seems to be one or the other. There used to be a command, "ctty", that would redirect terminal output AND input to the serial port, but there doesn't seem to be an XP equivalent, sadly... but maybe just being able to see the output directly would help. I'm working on that now... I lost reference on the system (didn't know why it wasn't responding as expected to my keystrokes) a minute ago and had to reboot it. edit: Yay, output! Monitor still shows "\SystemRoot\Windows\System32\Autochk.exe program not found - skipping AUTOCHECK" (the last screen before the login screen would USUALLY appear). Screenshot is from my laptop. edit edit: More info (methinks that despite this PC coming with a XP Pro license, this is probably a shady XP Corp copy... facepalm.jpg). Note the lack of display driver... but I think that's because the video card I installed isn't known by this computer (no driver, SUPPOSEDLY using VgaSave). I'll try this again in a few minutes, back on the original video adapter.
  9. Man, working in the field has shown me ALL SORTS of exotic PC problems I can barely even begin to describe. This is an interesting one. Booted from UBCD4Win, I found the hard drive plugged up with, literally, every flavor of rogue antivirus and antispyware you can imagine. I cleaned all that out with Autoruns+Runscanner and some file creation time sleuthing. Everything has been removed that I can imagine. But the root problem still remains. It doesn't jam during startup, but it switch video modes (to the graphics mode) and show the desktop cursor. It gets to the point *right* before the screen usually flickers and shows the cursor and starts up, but... nothing happens on screen. If it was on Autochk (it's a FAT32 partition... I have no idea why), it shows the first "." after finishing, and the screen hangs there. If it was on the Windows logo, the screen goes blank and stays blank. But the hard drive keeps churning, and I'm thinking "Aaaaaand....", like it's about to give me a cursor. No dice. Now, here's the head scratcher. It responds to keyboard (numlock/caps lock, etc), and the power button brings the computer to a graceful shutdown instead of crashing off. The HDD churns and the power shuts off in about 2-3 seconds, like it really is shutting down. What on EARTH can cause this kind of behavior? Any ideas? edit: It is definitely running behind the frozen screen. I also tried VGA mode, and installing another video card. I did Ctrl+Alt+Del twice after I gave it about 15 seconds to start up and settle down the HDD activity, then did Shift+Tab, typed "Administrator", hit Enter (this is after using login bolt-cutters off a boot CD, to erase the Admin password so I could get some work done), and the HDD took off again. I had headphones plugged in, but it seems not to be set up to use the onboard adapter (it had a Creative soundcard installed that I removed for diagnosis), so I didn't hear any sounds. I tried Ctrl+Alt+Del to kill Explorer (CAD, "E", Delete, "Y") but I only now remember that the default tab isn't Processes, so that wouldn't've worked anyway, and it screwed up the rest of my sequence. But it's definitely running in there, just not showing me anything on the screen. In the recovery console I also checked for suspicious services or drivers with "listsvc", but didn't find anything except "mnmdd", which Google tells me is a "frame buffer emulator" - i.e. a fake video card. I disabled that, no effect on the problem. I'm stumped, but I'm going to try to SOMEHOW get remote desktop turned on, and access it from the network. I'll have to set that up blindly... woohoo! edit edit: Reinstalled the Creative card in its original slot. Did the same sequence - CAD, CAD, Shift-Tab, "Administrator", Enter - and guess what? The XP startup sound blared through my headphones, while the screen was still at the Autochk error screen I caused by renaming the "BootExecute" key to "Bootxecute" (diagnosis). Now I'm certain it's sitting at a Windows desktop that I can't see. Hmm... edit edit edit: By blindly navigating, much like a blind person, using only my headphones and the default Windows sounds as bumping-points, I managed to squeeze out a screenshot using MSPaint. Check this out: http://hostfile.org/pcblank.png - hmm. This may be interesting.
  10. Well, I found the quick and easy solution that worked like a dream... Copied the original "machine.inf" (extracted from machine.in_) from the source disk to the desktop. Updated the driver for "PCI to PCI bridge" and pointed the search to the desktop. It asked for AGP440.SYS and I extracted it from the latest SP*.cab (in my case SP3.cab). It asked for a restart, and immediately after restarting, it already had the display driver ready and rolling. Woohoo! For future reference, I guess.
  11. Huh. Could be that I had no idea that was even possible... I always avoided the WINNT*.exe files like the plague because they did a horrible job of botching up a Windows install. Do it from DOS and you end up having to start the install as FAT32 and later convert to NTFS (end up with a non-native file system). Do it from Windows and you end up with a migrate.inf file that screws up your drive letters. Plus, I didn't even know about those switches
  12. Hey all, I've got myself in a bit of a pickle. I just nLitened a XP install for a 650MHz Pentium-III laptop with 128mb RAM. I had to strip a lot out, particularly in the services and OS options department. So far so good, the computer runs great, except for one problem I'd been headdesking for several hours... there is absolutely NO listing for a display adapter at ALL on that computer. No "unknown device", no "!" device, no nothing - at ALL. It was as if it didn't even identify itself on the PCI bus. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Obviously I couldn't install drivers for a nonexistent device. So I installed the remaining drivers (sound, touchpad, system control, jog wheel) expecting something to pop up. Nothing. I put the computer to rest for the night, to sleep on it. Googling hinted at a possible problem here on MSFN. I seem to have made a slip of the finger and got "AGP filters" checked and removed from hardware support. Man, I cannot express how much I wish someone could do some work on a "de-nLite" program that can reinstall removed components post-setup. It should be quite simple since they were just omitted from the Setup process (and can be re-run), but I digress. The hard drive in this laptop (a Sony Vaio Z505 ultra-slim) is embedded in the laptop. It cannot boot from USB or CD-ROM (CD-ROM is external PCMCIA). I have no floppies for the USB floppy drive. The only way to install Windows is to use the WinSetupFromUSB GUI, and put the setup files directly on the hard drive, then install from-to the same drive. It works, and it works quite well. But it is EEEEHM FREAKING POSSIBLE to get that hard drive out. I have to literally tear the computer down to the motherboard. I would really, really like to avoid doing that just to restore AGP functionality. What files do removing "AGP filters" change or remove...?
  13. I'd kinda like to add a little feature request... a tiny one, but a feature request I use WinSetupFromUSB GUI to prepare "solo flight" installations on hard drives. I've found it an incredible and groundbreaking new way to get installations done FAST - by first preparing the drive (and boot sector) with Windows' Disk Manager, then use WSFU to "prepare" the drive to install. The drive boots to Windows setup, and happily installs right to itself at blazing speed. I can then delete the source files and enjoy Windows. There's a small problem though, with bypassing the USB part. The Windows install is tweaked to run an extra "post-setup" routine of changing the boot.ini file, that, on the first boot, hangs at a window saying "do you really want me to set it to -1?" or something like that (it appears behind the welcome screen until it times out, or you Ctrl+Alt+Del it out of the way). I can press a key and it continues OK with no problems, but it's annoying none the less. Also, a second entry gets added to boot.ini, because a boot.ini file (unnecessary with the Grub4DOS loader) already existed in the root of C:. So, the solution is simply to make an option that skips certain preparations, like the boot.ini in the root, and adding that first-login boot.ini changer. Those two changes would make WSFU even more useful for more than just USB!
  14. Wait - it's now possible to boot Windows (PE) directly from drive-media? I thought it was only possible to boot from CD because the USB bus reset while booting... This is something I'll have to look into!
  15. Saw that topic (here) before, but can't understand the benefit of it, or how it may work. I most certainly do not want to have to take the 10 minutes to load WinPE before starting Windows setup... I'm not sure how else it works. The topic isn't exactly worded or organized very well (I'd want to know how to do it *after* being introduced to the concept, for example). So I'm rather lost, and I got a bit of a headache trying to read it... As for USB_Multiboot_10, I was actually using that version, which prompted me to make this topic. If I answer "Yes", I get the values presented in the dialog (which I don't want). If I answer "no", I get to choose the settings (which is better, but I still don't want). I think "cancel" exits the program, which I don't want. USB_Multiboot_8 actually (somewhat) clearly provides an option for skipping the compulsory unattended options... I already had $OEM$ and winnt.sif files, and it offered to use those instead (of course I do!). That seemed to work, except that I later found that computer doesn't even properly support USB booting. So now it's back to making a CD. edit: Oh, a question about options from XPSOURCE? I didn't get that one... I always get asked the "do you want to use these unattended options" message instead. Plus, IMO, "XPSOURCE" is somewhat misleading... the folder isn't called "XPSOURCE" so for a while, I was confused as to its meaning. You should say "XP source folder" instead (or maybe just a change of spacing and capitalization, "XP Source") so as to make the dialog more clear edit edit: And what's screenshot 7?
  16. Hey, I'm loving this little tool, it's saving me having to write CD-RWs, and it saves time on installation. But I have a small beef with the program. It's a little too "multifunction"! All I want to do is put the installation files on a USB stick and make Setup run from that without screwing up my C: drive letter. It does this quite well. Except for one thing... I can't seem to find a way to get it to stop automatically "unattend"ing my installation, by setting the username to "UserXP" and applying a bunch of unwanted (by anyone's standards) tweaks like disabling autorun, and a few others I can't remember (reg files in the $OEM$ folder). It also places "drivers" and "programs" (or something like that) in the root directory and I DON'T WANT THOSE! I appreciate that I'm finally given the option to change the unattended options, i.e. change "UserXP" to something else, but I would even further appreciate the ability to just let nLite handle those and just have USB-boot make modifications where necessary (keyword: necessary). I was kinda surprised to not find anyone else complaining about this, so I'm'a just go on about doing my thing. Just wanted to pop that in though. Thanks for this great tool none the less
  17. No, no, absolutely not. That is the window I actually wish to get instead of the annoying "information bar" that you get when a website starts a download via a redirect instead of a click ("please wait while we begin your download, if it does not start, click here" kind of thing). Instead of presenting the "what do you want to do with this" box, it puts up that annoying bar, so you have to click it and say "download file", which for some god-forsaken reason causes Internet Explorer to reload the page (WHY?!), and present the download box. This behavior is _HIGHLY_ annoying, and something I always disable with the "automatic prompting" tweak. The same thing happens for ActiveX downloads, like Java and Flash Player, when they're being installed. Instead of just popping up the "install/cancel" box, it pops up that darn bar, then reloads the page, then finally pops up the box. "Automatic prompting for ActiveX installation" (or something like that) fixes that. The way it should be. Unfortunately, installation of IE7 over IE6 screws up that setting, so you have to do it again if you set it with IE6. But it still works the same.
  18. Nah, I'm pretty aware of them. Actually, I thought up this topic while looking for the option and being annoyed of having to adjust this every time. It's not a major annoyance since I only use IE to download Firefox (huh, huh, huh)... but downloading drivers BEFORE installing Firefox is a bit of a pain with all the "this site wants to download a file, click here to allow it to prompt you to download the file" crap. I was going to say "and here is what you need to change to get this", but... ****, Regmon crapped out all sorts of junk when I changed that setting!! I have no idea what it really is. There seems to be a part of the registry that defines the entire "security settings" window, and I can't tell if the values there are merely cosmetic or if they actually affect the settings, but "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\SO\DOWNLOAD\FILEDOWNLOAD\ALLOW\CheckedValue" seems to hold a possible value. Nothing else really seems to have gotten changed. I have no idea how those settings work...
  19. If nLite is still being developed... stupid Vistrash... nLite's tweaks could use a setting under "Internet Explorer" for the "Automatic prompting for ActiveX" and "Automatic prompting for file downloads" options (under security options). They're really options that should have never made it into Internet Explorer to begin with... that "information bar" is just a nuisance, and those two options make IE just present the usual confirmation window without needing to reload the page. So just requesting a new tweak in nLite's already huge database
  20. Mr Snrub, whatever job you have that allows you to afford such computers, I want it. Just leave the Vistrash out of it, and I'll be fulfilled in life. edit: In fact, you know what, no, I just hate you (h'ehm... note the wink: ). A combination of envy and disgust...
  21. This is quite odd indeed... Okay, so I first downloaded XP x64 VLM to try on my desktop, because at the time I didn't remember I already had a legit license key for it (back from 2004 when they were giving them out for free). nLitened that and installed it (GEEZ, it took a freaking long time to compress CABs, even on a 2.4 P4 - like 15 minutes!). Works fine. But now I wanted to turn the illegitimate, legitimate. It wouldn't take my legitimate key. So I searched around and found a copy of that original ISO provided in the download link (srv03sp1_usa_1069_amd64fre_pro.iso). Downloaded that, and the SP2 installer for x64 Edition. I previously installed .NET Framework 3.5, so that was out of the way. Fired up nLite and pointed it to the folder I extracted the ISO to... and I'm greeted with "Error while extracting the administrator localization string". I Googled for that error message and the only relevant result was a topic here on MSFN with someone asking about using some OEM restore discs for nLite. Hmm. I ran Process Monitor on it, and attached is the result of that in Procmon's readable format. Not sure what to make of it. Of course I'm going to go take that image over to another computer because I'm pretty sure it has something to do with the x64 host, but I figured I'd come here to report this issue like it said to do. If it's still repeatable after I reinstall the "legit" copy and run Windows Updates, I'll pop back here and help diagnose the problem (edit: Always forgetting the attachment...) edit edit: Hokay... so it's not to do with the x64 host. It does the same on the P4 system that made this current x64 disc as well. It has to be that ISO. Hur? Why would nLite trip over this legit MS image? =| edit edit edit: Googling revealed that the ISO I hold is actually an ancient beta version, and that the code I have is actually a freakin' trial key and not a real one. Well that's just a load of crap if I've ever heard it... ah well. =\ Logfile.rar
  22. Amazingly, same here. I never even install 98 without 98lite anymore. Don't like that it removes that cool "welcome" screen without asking (another bit of "why are they selling this"), but it does a really good job. But the part I love about 98lite is that I can start with a stripped install, and add components as I find I need them. I don't have to sit there pouring over the options thinking "will I EVER need this component" every time I build a computer's install disc... =\
  23. Yeah, I've hard of XPlite. It's a huge joke. It doesn't really do anything, and it's payware. I can't afford payware. But I also don't think nLite is "so i settle for nLite". XPlite is just... really bad. I just think nLite, or another utility made by Nuhi based on the nLite database, should be able to permanently _re_install removed components, since they were simply omitted from installation (vastly different than trying to uninstall a component that had been part of a running system, a la XPlite). You are a god, you know that? I never knew such a utility existed! That is totally going in my tools bin. Thanks!! (And it turns out that fltmgr, which I manually added to the registry, did turn up and start running, but I didn't see it in Device Manager so I figured I flubbed it up)
  24. Hey, nLite is starting to get to me. It's still got room to improve, but all the work seems to be done on vLite now, and Vista is still trash even with vLite (I'm using it now). XP deserves some more loving... =\ For example, I built a super-stripped nLite to be used on a home server PC. One small problem, though. Removing "Active Directory Services" warned that it would remove Local Users and Groups, which I didn't have a problem with. However, what I DO have a problem with, is it seemingly also killing my ability to even select a user for permissions management. So, if I want to add a user to a network share... I get the attached screenshot. I can't add any users or groups. I tried using Process Monitor to figure out what the problem is, but I got an error saying "process monitor requires windows xp sp2 or higher". Turns out that's because I also removed the File System Filter Manager driver (didn't need it). So, it's just one file... I try putting it in, but I can't find any software to install and activate it (like all sorts of software does, like CPU-Z and Virtual Floppy Drive). It's such a simple process to install and activate a driver/service, but Google was precisely zero help. So I can't run ProcMon. So, I also can't figure out how to fix this. Honestly, nLite needs some backup help that Nuhi should be able to provide. Because of the way Windows Setup works - mostly by calling independent components to have them install themselves - it should be reasonable to assume that a program can be written to reinstall removed components from a running installation. There are also a lot of tweaks in nLite that aren't in any other tweaking software, and you can only apply them to a new installation! C'mon Nuhi, why not share the secrets with the don't-want-to-reinstall-every-2-days crowd? =) edit: forgot the attachment, urr!
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