Hi, Here is a trick that worked with my Vaio VGN-TX3XP/B, but which will probably work also with other Vaio's - see the following (German) link: http://www.pcwelt.de/forum/ihre-meinung-zu...recover-cd.html In addition to the "normal" i386 folder present on most laptops (on my Vaio, it was under C:\Windows\i386), newer Vaio's have a further i386 folder under "Driver Cache\i386" (on my Vaio it was under C:\Windows\Driver Cache\i386, but the location may differ somewhat from model to model). You need to put the complete content of both 1386 folders into a new i386 folder, and then build the Windows install CD from this new i386 folder. It seems particularly important that you get the file driver.cab (present in "Driver Cache\i386"). If you build your install CD using only the first ("normal") i386 folder, Windows will complain during installation that this file is missing, and at reboot, you get the message described in your post (I experienced exactly the same as you). In other words, it seems that Sony has split the i386 folder into two parts (only the devil knows why ;-), and that you have to join them again to build a working installation CD. After this, installing Windows worked like a charm on my TX3XP/B. Actually, I made an unattended install under DOS (booted from a CD), with the files from the installation CD in a folder on the D: partition (you need to have C: and D: formatted as FAT32). But there is no reason that it should not work when you install directly from the CD (e.g. if you want to format your partitions as NTFS). I'd be glad to know if it worked for your Vaio too. Regards Albi