linuxmagnate

It takes a long time to make an nLite ISO, even starting from the folder of a previous successful one. Ideally I'd like to make a single ISO which I can use for all my machines. The thing is, I would need to be able to choose not to install some of the add-ons. For example, one of my machines has an ATi video card, another has an nVidia card. So I would need both ATi and nVidia video driver add-ons, but would want to install only one of them each time. Ditto motherboard drivers for different boards, etc. Similarly with application addons - on some machines I want SeaMonkey, on others I want Firefox. Some need OpenOffice.org, others don't, etc. Is there any way that nLite can be configured to offer an interactive install, where it pops up a dialog box before each addon and says "Do you want to install this one?" ...? Thanks, CC

Update: you can (re)install the Help & Support Center by copying pchealth.inf (e.g. from another installation) into c:\windows\inf and then right-clicking on it and selecting Install. Apparently you need an XP CD with SP2 or later slipstreamed for this to work - it worked for me, and I didn't try using a non-slipstreamed CD. But, when you've reinstalled the Help & Support Center, the service still isn't running! Double-clicking on helpctr.exe (or accepting an RA invitation) results in an error message: "helpctr.exe could not start because the Help & Support Service is not running". Googling for this error tells you to open Local Services (e.g. from Computer Management) and start the service manually, but it's not listed. So I'm now looking for a way to refresh the list of services once the Help & Support Center has been reinstalled (or maybe the files which constitute the service are not installed by the method above). Ho hum. CC

Hi folks, My lovely new nLited WinXP (Pro, SP3) has one terrible drawback: I can no longer give people remote assistance! First I couldn't accept invitations - Messenger kept telling me I had to upgrade, but I already had the latest version. It turned out it was because I had removed the original Windows Messenger (because I had integrated the new Windows Live Messenger add-on), and you need both! So I downloaded the messenger.msi installer for the original Messenger (version 5.1) and installed it. After that it would let me accept invitations, but the little applet that makes the connection doesn't start up. I can't find anything on this anywhere on the net - does anyone know exactly which components or files are required for giving Remote Assistance to work? I don't even mind reinstalling Windows, if I have to - but I do need to know which components to include! Thanks, Chris (EDIT: Oh ****. I got a buddy to find out what that app is, which launches when you accept an RA request. It's helpctr.exe! I think that's part of the Help & Support component. It looks like I'll have to reinstall - I don't think the help centre can be installed separately. Just thought y'all might like to know.)

I have nforce 2 - an Asus A7N8X. I integrated a set of nforce2 drivers which come as a single zipped download from Asus - the audio driver, the SMBus driver, etc. Asus expects you to install them using the setup.exe provided, but I just unpacked the archive and pointed nLite at the unpacked folder and it happily found and integrated all the drivers. They were all installed and are now working fine. Any ideas why the 3Com driver wasn't installed? I'm certain it wasn't removed from the iso - the "ethernet" option is unchecked in the "Remove Components" screen, so the ethernet drivers are all still there. CC

I can confirm that I successfully integrated the nvidia nForce2 drivers into my nLite iso, and when I installed from it the nvidia ethernet interface was working fine. I used the all-in-one nForce2 driver set though (audio, SMBus etc. etc.), version 1.16, not the standalone ethernet driver. CC

Hi again, I made my second nLite ISO last night - 688MB, of which 405MB was addons! The install went perfectly - I didn't need to use F6 to install my SATA RAID driver, and I didn't need to type anything at all after formatting C:, it just went straight through to the final reboot. When I logged in, I was gratified to see that all the addons had installed flawlessly - including all the .NET frameworks and DirectX (see other thread). The only problem is that my 3Com NIC driver wasn't installed. The nVidia NIC driver *was* installed - this is the one I integrated using nLite. With a normal XP install it's the other way round - Windows automatically installs the 3Com driver, but doesn't have the nVidia driver. So it seems that by integrating one NIC driver, nLite assumed that it didn't need to install any others (even though I deliberately didn't remove the ethernet drivers component). Is there a way round this, so that nLite will install both drivers? Thanks in advance, CC

Thanks, that's good to know, on both counts. I'm still looking for them. If anyone can post links, that would be great. Thanks, CC (EDIT1 found the .NET all-in-one here: http://rapidshare.com/files/74049831/dotnetaio.cab.html) (EDIT2 ... but that doesn't seem to be quite the latest/best. This http://rapid.mirror.host.fosi.eu.org/?/fil...ddon_v2.7z.html might be better ... I also found the DirectX addons - the latest seems to be Aug07: http://rs110.rapidshare.com/files/45693555/dirext_addon.cab) so integrating that comment from "edit 2" is good with nlite? does it install .net 3.5? Yes. I can confirm that both the links I posted in EDIT2 were successful. I downloaded both of them and made an ISO including them (and tons of other stuff). I installed from my new ISO, and all of .NET 1.1, 2.0 with SP1, 3.0 with SP1 and 3.5 appear in the Add/Remove Programs list. DirectX9.0c is also installed (confirmed by dxdiag). Of course, I can't actually confirm that they're properly working yet, since I've not done anything on that machine since the install, but it's encouraging that they're all shown in the list. The one thing that isn't shown is SP1 for .NET 1.1 - I don't know whether that's there or not. I tried installing SP1 manually, and it said it could not install because the application was missing (?!), but I presume that was a bogus error message which really meant that SP1 is already installed. That presumption could be wrong, of course. I'll post to this thread again if I get any .NET-related problems with this new install. I plan on keeping it for a while now. CC

Sorry to be dim, but what is the issue with runonce vs. svcpack? I'm new to nLite, and just want to make an ISO which will include all the .NET frameworks in the WinXP install (1.1SP1, 2.0, 3.0 and 3.5). Ideally there would be a single add-on that I could include in nLite's "Addons and update packs" step, but if that's not possible I can try something else. Following this thread has confused me - I get the impression that only 1.1 and 2.0 can be integrated like that, and 3.0 and/or 3.5 have to be installed separately (how?). Grateful for any tips. Thanks, CC

Thanks, that's good to know, on both counts. I'm still looking for them. If anyone can post links, that would be great. Thanks, CC (EDIT1 found the .NET all-in-one here: http://rapidshare.com/files/74049831/dotnetaio.cab.html) (EDIT2 ... but that doesn't seem to be quite the latest/best. This http://rapid.mirror.host.fosi.eu.org/?/fil...ddon_v2.7z.html might be better ... I also found the DirectX addons - the latest seems to be Aug07: http://rs110.rapidshare.com/files/45693555/dirext_addon.cab)

Hi folks, I'm a total newbie to nLite so apologies if I say anything stupid. I fired it up yesterday and successfully integrated the SP3 Release Candidate, my ATi Radeon driver, my Asus A7N8X nForce2 drivers, and a bunch of addons. I took out a bunch of stuff, tweaked it to my liking and made an ISO. I'm wondering if it's possible to integrate DirectX 9.0c and/or the various .NET frameworks. I can't find any mention of either on this board, or on the nLite site, so I thought it worth asking. Sorry if this gets asked all the time. For DirectX, I have a self-extracting exe called dx9c-redist-nov-2007 or similar, which unpacks as a whole bunch of .cab files and dxsetup.exe For .NET I need all of 1.1, 1.1SP1, 2.0, 3.0 and 3.5 - but fortunately this is only three files, as the last three all come in one enormous (190Mb) exe. 1.1 and 1.1SP1 are separate, again, both are exes (~20MB and ~10MB respectively). I tried including these in the integration stage of nLite - it seemed to include them ok but when it came to actually carrying out the changes it burped. Of 1.1 and 1.1SP1 it said something like "these addons are not recognised". It didn't say anything about the big 3.5 exe, but it popped up the opening screen (offering me Repair or Remove) and I had to cancel out of it, so I imagine that wasn't perfect either. Grateful for any links or tips, CC