ki_supergeek

You must use regtweaks or vb scripts to customize everything to your preferences. Unfortunately, it takes time to research and find the appropriate methods that work unless you create your own.

You can get the basics here: http://unattended.msfn.org/unattended.xp/view/web/33/

You must have the latest saved copy of the nLite last session files that were made when the image was created. If you don't have them, then nLite is of little use without them. But the answer to both of your questions is... yes. As I said earlier, nLite was not meant to do what you keep hoping someone will tell you it can do. Your cleanest and best option is to just start over. I'm beginning to think maybe you don't have all of the source files to do that given the amout of time and effort you are wasting working with an old image when you could have had the new image built and done already.

Are you running SP2? I think the WMP11 slipstreamer had that problem when using SP2. Check the WMP11 slipstreamer forum for details.

Sorry man, but I never said he "had" to do it with RunOnce. I use a reg file myself, but thanks for the additional option info for using nLite.

This topic has been well covered if you use the search feature or Google. There are installers available, such as RyanVM, but you can't really integrate it. I install it as part of RunOnce, but there are other options. P.S... the Microsoft installer is only 5.2MB because it is compressed vs 49MB for the other installers. Makes a difference if you're loading from 700MB CD.

nLite is meant to help build images, but it can't change and then put stuff back to original again.... there are no magic slippers to send Dorothy back home. LOL! I don't know what kind of image you're working with, but it's really not a major deal to just do it over instead of wasting hours attempting the impossible. But you must start with clean source files, otherwise you'll still have major problems.

It's already there if you do it through RunOnce.

I'm a bit confused by your post and exactly what you're trying to do. But if you already have a working copy of XP installed on your HDD and you want to boot from CD, then you must press a key when the screen says "Press any key to boot from CD....", otherwise it will boot XP from the HDD.

One way to find out for sure if it's caused by nLite 1.4.7 is to go back and try using nLite 1.4.6 to see if the problem still exists. I'm using 1.4.6 with no problems. Are you guys slipstreaming SP3 using nLite? It sounds like some of you may not be which could be the root of your problems. I'm not sure if and how nLite would be affected if you used a different process to integrate SP3 and then ran nLite after. Also make sure your source files are clean and unmodified.

Ok.... I understand now. Thanks for the explanation Ponch! Thanks ricktendo64, I know that option exists. I like to keep a copy of the config files on the CD, but I'm running a tad short on space and looking for unnecessary files to delete beyond the obvious choice ones that are already well documented in these forums.

Why do you want to avoid SP3? Just curious....

I don't know, but unless you have good knowledge and understaning of the interworkings of Windows and nLite, I think you're fighting an uphill battle on this project. I guess that depends on how much information you have and what parts are missing that would possibly prevent you from just rebuilding the image from scratch. I can blow through an nLite'd image build pretty fast these days!

Here's the process I used that worked: 1) Start with a clean unmodified copy of your source files. 2) Slipstream SP3 using nLite.... then exit nLite. 3) Run WPM11 Slipstreamer ***without*** hotfixes. 4) Go back into nLite and drop your IE7 installer into the 'addons & updates packs' section. I put the IE7 installer as the very first line before anything else. 5) Add the IE7 security update hotfixes right below the IE7 installer. 6) Add additional hotfixes and addons as desired. Be very selective on adding in hotfixes. nLite will not allow you to slipstream SP2 hotfixes once you have slipstreamed SP3 and they will fail. I slipstream only known SP3 hotfixes then build and test my ISO image using Virtualbox. Then I run Microsoft update to see what hotfixes are still needed and then go back and add those into nLite. You need to understand what the various hotfixes are for and determine whether or not they apply to your particular situation. Running Microsoft Update as outlined above will help you do that. Some hotfixes can not be integrated and must be installed. There are some complete hotfix packages on the Internet that people have put together but I don't use them as a matter of preference. You basically drop them into your 'addons & updates packs' section. Just remember that you can always go back and add hotfixes as necessary, so start with the basics and go from there if you're having problems.

Sorry my question wasn't clear Ponch... I'll try to clarify. In the nLite'd file directory used to create my ISO image, I see the following: One file named Last Session. One file named Last Session_U Four files named Last Session with several numbers (205407.xx-xx.xx.xx) These are configuration files that are saved on the CD as part of the ISO image. Every time I make changes to the image files using nlite, it creates a new Last Session file. I was trying to understand the meaning of the different files (Last Session, Last Session_U) so I could delete unnecessary files but still maintain a copy of the most current Last Session configuration on the CD. It sounds like I can safely delete all of them, so you answered the most important part of my question, but it would still be nice to know what the Last Session and Last Session_U files are for and if deleting them would affect or corrupt the last saved configuration information saved on the CD. Thanks for your help.....!

I create my own $OEM$ folder and any related sub folders. nLite mainly changes files the I386 directory, but it also adds a line to cmdlines.txt under the $OEM$ folder. What kind of problem are you having? More info would help answer your questions.

How hard would it be to just start over from scratch? Time wise it might be easier and cleaner than searching through and hacking files. I keep a master copy of my source files that are never touched except for updates in case I mees up and have to start over again. I just start with a fresh copy of the OS source files and drop in my saved $$OEM$$ directory from my master files..... done!

I had that same problem and here's how I fixed it. 1) Start with a clean copy of your OS source files. 2) Slipstream SP3 using nlite.... then exit nlite. 3) Run the WMP Slipstreamer against the source ***Without*** any hotfixes!! 4) Go back into nlite and apply the hotfixes and any other things you want to add or change. 5) Burn your ISO image.... done. That is what worked for me. When I tried to slipstream SP3 with nlite and then applied the required WMP11 hotfixes using the WMP11 slipstreamer, I got the same error as you are seeing among many other errors. Everything works fine now. Hope that helps....

I have about six lastsesson.ini files in the directory used to create the CD iso image and I want to delete the ones that are no longer needed because I need the extra space on the CD. I already deleted all of the lastsessons saved through the nlite GUI interface except for the current last session, but all of them still remain in the file directory. How do I know which ones to delete and not affect the current lastsession configuration files? The file sizes range from 2kb-19kb. Thanks...!

I guess which method you choose depends on how much you need to change and add into your image file and how often you need to do updates. The downside to using nlite is that once you modify things, it's hard to restore them later, plus every time you make changes, the total image size grows larger. My image size is just under the max 700mb limit for a CD, so I only get 2-3 changes in nlite before the image size grows too big to fit on CD. Using DVD's is not a viable option for my situation. My Runonce file is rather lengthy and it's easier for me to make updates and changes when it isn't integrated into nlite. I only have to recreate the final ISO without any changes required to the base nlite'd files. I use the $OEM$ file structure method for my image.

Here's the rundown on RunonceEX.... http://unattended.msfn.org/unattended.xp/view/web/31/ RunonceEX executes during the initial reboot after the base OS load (text-mode) completes. You can do a lot of different things using scripts, executable files, regtweaks, and more. Make sure you add "RunonceEX.cmd" with the quotation marks to your cmdlines.txt file. Hope that helps get you started..... good luck!

There is a setting to remove ramdisk support in nlite. Are you sure you did not select it for removal by mistake? Also make sure your virtualbox session is set up correctly with sufficient memory and hard disk space.

The unattended guide is pretty simple and straight forward if you follow it step by step. You will also find that there is no single method to do most things, but many depending on your preferences. You must also be willing to do some research and testing on your own in order to begin to understand how this all works. There are many guides posted on the Internet. Just start with the basics using a virtual machine for testing and work your way up from there. All or most of the information you need to get started is on the msfn forums along with the unattended guide. Time, patience, testing, and research are your friends...... good luck!

I have two users configured, both with admin rights. One is the backup admin login, the second is the default user login ID. The backup admin has a password set, while the default user password is blanked out. Both were set to never expire using nlite. However, after the image is loaded, a check of the user properties shows the backup admin password is indeed set to never expire, but not the default user ID that had the blanked out password even though both were set to never expire. I'm thinking that if you set a blank password in nlite, setting the password to never expire doesn't work for some reason, maybe because there isn't a real password. I will experiment with this using real passwords in both next time to see if it makes any difference.

Ok......sounds like what I had first thought, but just wanted to make sure. Thanks for the reply Martin!