bphlpt

My problem with %systemdrive%\DRV is that I did try c:\drv with no success. Maybe it likes the varibles better than hard paths I have yet to try %systemdrive%\DRV. From my very limited understanding, yes that is your problem. You need to use the variables. The actual drive letters are changing from within the PE installation environment to the actual OS installed result, so the variables should help negotiate that for you. Cheers and Regards

If you think it could be useful, and have come up with a solution, would you mind sharing? I would also be interested to know the uses you have come up with for your headless systems in the home, not just theoretical ones but ones you have actually implemented and found useful. I have several old systems, in pieces, available that I might could cannibalize and add a few things to and maybe make a working system out of if I had something worthwhile that it could do. I don't have an extra monitor, so a headless system would be good, if it had a practical use. Cheers and Regards

Welcome to MSFN! What a wonderful introduction. Hope you have a great time here. Cheers and Regards

"I shall alert the media." (watch the whole clip, all 45 secconds) Cheers and Regards

Sorry, I agree with jaclaz. The current, normal situation is already the simplest possible unattended scenario for the user. If the user is working on a system with a blank HDD then the user just has to start the computer and load the CD and press nothing at all. If the user is working on a system with a existing XP install in place, then they will have to do the "Press any key" bit once, when first started, and nothing else at all. I know you say your user is a dummy, but how big an id*** are they to not be able to follow that one instruction? (No offense meant.) Yes, grub4dos or something could be used to do almost anything, but why is that necessary? it will be a very specialized application, and definitely not for use in the home. Especially considering your comments of "no keyboard or monitor" and "I have alot of pcs to auto install". Considering that you have already admitted that you have an "unattended windows cd made using nlite", I'm going to also agree with -X- in his admonition that nLite is for home use only and suggest that this thread be locked. It seems you have already violated nLite's EULA. Cheers and Regards

Personnally, I would suggest 90% or better Isopropyl alcohol instead of WD40. It's cheap and readily available in the US, but I hear not so much in Italy and I'm not sure about Romania. A specialty cleaning product meant specifically for electronic components is best, of course. Cheers and Regards

Sorry Phaenius, but submix8c can post where he pleases unless reprimanded by an admin. (They monitor all posts so it is not necessary for you to do anything.) Just ignore him and do not respond unless you wish to. Cheers and Regards

Pretty much what we've all been saying all along, but now with a very possible reason as to why/how. It could be that something, board, cable, whatever, is ever so slightly loose causing a poor connection. Or a small piece of something got into a connection point causing interference, short, and/or signal degradation. Stress of movement caused a cable to fail or weaken internally. Movement caused torque which strained a connector or connection causing an iffy signal path. Movement caused something conductive to touch something it shouldn't, and it still is. If one of the various boards involved is damaged, it could have been caused by this same mechanism or by the mechanical stress of the collision. While any electrical component can fail on its own for various reasons, the likelihood of damage increases exponentially when electrical and/or mechanical stress is applied. Look, I really don't want to speculate anymore and I don't want you to either. I'll talk to you again after you do "the job", and I'm serious about doing everything, the computer and the entire hardware chain. I'm done until then. Cheers and Regards

Thanks! That looks quite thorough. Cheers and Regards

The way I understand it, in order for Win 8 to give the quick startup and shutdown that everyone wants, it automatically implements a hybrid form of shutdown which is different than the shutdown you are used to from previous versions of Windows. See the mention of "hybrid-sleep"? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_mode#Hybrid_sleep: So it really is trying to "standby". Why it's having a problem I have no idea. Maybe Andre can give you some advice. Cheers and Regards

@xmf, What Kel and Ponch have tried to explain, is when you have trouble with an app or driver that won't uninstall, which was part of what you explained was happening to you in your OP and the title of this thread, if you reinstall on top of it the exact same version of the app, in the exact same place, sometimes that will put back whatever was missing that wouldn't let it uninstall the first time so that now you can uninstall it. But since the only reason that you were wanting to uninstall was to get the driver working, and apparently reinstalling worked for you, then no, there is nothing else you need to uninstall at this point. Cheers and Regards

So you have no way of knowing whether it was actually gradual or sudden. I guess you'll believe what you want and I'll do the same. Let me know what happens after the cleaning. Cheers and Regards

It's there just fine. Cheers and Regards

The difference is that the car is made to move, made to withstand the environment, made to withstand the mechanical shocks, etc, and even then movement does cause parts of the car to fail as well, whereas the desktop computer is not made to move by any stretch of the imagination. I don't care who built it, not even me. Assuming you were very careful in the move, I think the odds are more probably in the low to mid range. Depending on the bumps it encountered it could be above mid, but there is no way in h*ll it is near zero. There are just too many interconnected pieces in your system that are not solidly locked together and incapable of any movement. or having something bump up against something else, etc. Also, from what you describe above, you noticed the problems suddenly, right after the move, not gradually as you said earlier. It's just too coincidental. But I tell you what. I won't speculate anymore if you won't either. Otherwise I might start yelling like submix8c, or just ignore you. Just tell me what you find after you clean and reassemble everything, and I mean everything, the computer and the entire hardware chain, and retest. Then we'll talk again. Cheers and Regards

As a general statement, yes, you can have more than one version of Windows Office installed and run them independently. Cheers and Regards

Yep, Rick. Looks like MediaFire blocked some of your downloads again. Cheers and Regards

Then the question, just out of curiosity, is why did you want to do it the first way instead of the second, which would probably of been a more stable approach? Cheers and Regards

Maybe weird, but you have no proof that it's not to blame. And I don't like to believe in coincidence. Cheers and Regards

I don't think I had seen this info before (moving). When you clean the entire computer, not just the sound card, but everything in the entire hardware chain from motherboard all the way to the speakers, be very attentive and careful when you put everything back together to make sure that all connections are straight, snug, and clean, absolutely nothing is touching anything else that it shouldn't, etc. The moving brings up the possibility of a mechanical event that could have caused the electrical problem that is evidenced in your aural symptom. Cheers and Regards

The bigger question I have now is do the passive speakers through the receiver sound fine under all circumstances, at all volumes using any source? If so, in my mind that would rule out the sound card unless it has a very odd failure. But then if the sound card is fine it also is very odd that you have problems that have simultaneously occurred in your active speakers and over three sets of headphones. Very very strange. Cheers and Regards

The difference is subtle (the difference is in how, or by whom, it might be accomplished), while the result (you end up with a washed shirt) is the same. Cheers and Regards

@harkaz, So what all did you do, exactly, to get a fully up to date boot.wim for use with Win7 and 2008? Cheers and Regards

(1) You have spent WAY longer explaining why you don't want to use a key finder than it would have taken to have gotten and run it. (2) You could just lie to us and say you did it. (We won't ask what the key is so your secret will be safe.) If your clone goes wrong for any reason and your current system disc gets damaged, then we'll try and give you advice how to reinstall using the previously "found" key. (3) Yes, you're right that we've been more focused on the activation angle (needing some kind of key), but "activation" and/or "key" featured prominently in the first two sentences of your original post. (4) So to answer what apparently are the only questions you really wanted an answer to (which have already been answered elsewhere in the thread): Yes, AFAIK, and I believe the same is true if you just disable them in Windows. If you swap the disk by doing a true clone, then Windows will not be able to tell that any change has occurred, so No. Cheers and Regards

Welcome! Cheers and Regards

I guess another way to look at your situation is this: You started out asking about information so that you would be prepared, just in case. In a similar vein, tt would seem that it would be a good idea to collect all the various keys that you have internal to your system or external to it, if you can come up with any way to read the worn sticker, for the same reason, just in case. Even if you never need it, since you are going to clone the drive, or even if you are correct and that key wouldn't work for you anyway, why are you resisting so strenuously the five minutes and zero cost of getting and using a key finder to collect information about your system? If you find out later, during the middle of an unplanned for reinstall for whatever reason, that you need that info it will be much harder to get it then, if it is possible at all. Using the key finder will do no damage or make any changes at all to your system. And who knows? Sometime in the future the info might come in handy. You also might learn something, and besides, it will shut us up. Good luck in your efforts. Cheers and Regards