Jazkal

If you are using the CDImage.exe to create your ISO image, all you need to do is add the "-o" switch to the command line in the batch file. This will make it link the files (ie. no extra space, it will not take up any more space) If your not using the CDImage.exe way, then you shouldn't use this method.

I finished the time tests. Only ran it through once for each method. Method of testing: Testing was done in VMWare v4.05 Start times were taken when begining the quick format of the drive. End Time was taken after last reboot, and OS first hits the logon screen. Jazkal's method Start: 11:42:00 AM End: 1:05:36 PM Total: 83 min. 36 sec. gosh's method Start: 1:10:00 PM End: 2:35:20 PM Total: 85 min. 20 sec.

As far as taking the CD out, I'm not sure that's going to work. My reasoning is that the install is assuming the I386 files will be on the CD. If you point the OS to the C:\I386 folder in your REG files run at cmdlines.txt, it won't take effect until reboot. And at that point, it doesn't need the CD anyway. But again, I haven't tested this, just assumptions right now. Let me know how your tests go.

The whole idea is to get the I386 folder to the hard drive, so that the OS won't ask us for the cd when we want to install/modify the OS files down the road. gosh had one solution, I presented another. One requires that you run a batch file at one stage of the install, the other doesn't. That is the real difference between the two. I'm not saying my method is better, because I haven’t done any comparing of install times between the two. And even if I did have that data, I wouldn't say which was "better". I'd only report the facts. I don't know what else needs to be explained, it's fairly simple. If you are using the $OEM$ folder structure, you know enough to use my method. It doesn't take up any more space, and if your not using the "-o" switch with your CDImage.exe ISO creation script, then you won't see the space savings that I mentioned above. This link will give you the CDImage.exe and batch files to create your ISO Finalizing your CD So to answer the question; "does it save space?" yes and no. As a whole, it saved me about 25mb, I'm assuming this will vary between people. But like I said in a previous post, you can use the "-o" switch to see the possible space savings and gosh's method of coping the I386 to the hard drive. I hope that clears it up for you.

I haven't tested it for time, but it does copy it very quickly. I only put it here to give an alternative. I figured out this method before I read gosh's way. It saved me some space to put more apps on my CD, but you can do that with out the I386 folder anyway, just use the -o switch. If I get some time, I'll run some time tests, don't know when though.

On the CD, the I386 folder will be located in two different places: \I386 \$OEM$\$1\I386 It won't take up any extra space as the "-o" switch merges the two directories. Actually, I noticed a 20mb decrease in overall ISO size the first time I used this method.

Another way to get the source files copied over to the hard drive is to copy your I386 folder to $OEM$\$1 So it will be copied over durring the text mode part of setup. This will only work if you are using CDImage.exe to create your ISO image. Just add switch "-o" to your create image batch file. And I added these to my tweaks.reg file to redirect the OS to the new I386 folder: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup] "Installation Sources"=hex(7):43,00,3a,00,5c,00,49,00,33,00,38,00,36,00,00,00,\ 00,00 "SourcePath"="C:" "ServicePackSourcePath"="C:" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion] "SourcePath"="C:\\I386"