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@cdob What I ment with the HAL thing was that the image made would be locked to one particular machine. My idea with makin the image of c: after windows copy is not that good at all. It will be a nightmare to maintain this image when new updates and hotfixes arrives. Hmm Maybe I shold install those together with the Application at the end of windows installation. So that would lead me to your procedure with copying windows files myself using the method jaclaz recomend. Ohh... allmost forgot... I added the FBWF plugin and remade the bart build, changed the setupreg.hiv with the writeprotect. It still freezes after windows splash screen. Maybe FBWF is loaded after setupreg.hiv or maybe it is the wrong FBWF plugin. Maybe it doesent load at all, is there a way to check that? Still the question is floating in the air... why is there no delay with the 4GB stick opposite to the 16GB? The strange thing about this delay is that it is varying in time, sometimes it takes minutes, somtimes few seconds before the copy starts.

@jaclaz The link you refer to: http://www.msfn.org/board/Install-XP-from-USB-f157.html is it supposed to link to a particuar thread to copy windows in another way than using winnt32.exe? Because it just link to a general forum instead. Or maybe that is your pupose Anyway I compared the two USB keys with HDTACH and this is the result: 16 GB Corsair VoyagerGT = 31,3 MB/s 4 GB Kingston DataTraveler = 12,6 MB/s Ill try to cfadisk.sys just to se if it works. @cdob Setupreg.hiv does actually change the registry. The problem is just that the change also halts the pc right after windows splash screen. Yes I have tried using /tempdrive when winnt32.exe is called, but it doesent change anything. Using an Image instead of winnt32.exe will skip the deplay, but Im not sure how to do it. Do you mean that I run winnt32.exe and after windows has been copied to the HD, Ill make an Image of the HD? But wouldnt that give a problem since the HAL will be "locked" to one particular PC? The problem is that I use this automated installation on several laptops... some with multiprocessors and some old with just one. Otherwise this sound like a good alternative to using winnt32.exe.

Well thats the one and it worked on this Kingston 4GB stick Done and attached as USB.zip Allready did that but with same result as 16GB USB.zip

Here is how I build it... DOS - I formated the 16GB stick with HP Disk Storage Format Tool (FAT32) and used Win98 bootdisk. - Copied BartPR to USB - Copied GRUB4DOS to USB and edited the config.sys BART PE - Downloaded and Installed BartPE - Added a plugin for support of Windows Script Host and HTA - Added the SSH plugin to correct the Diskpart.exe bug - Added Autorun_MyCMD.cmd to automate the process of installing windows from Bart. And thats basicly it. No fancy plugins og Shells. ----------------------------------------------------- Somthing weird just happend... I created the windows installation on a 4 GB stick, just to tryif it works... and there is absolutely NO delay when windows is being copied!!! I tried on several different laptops now and still no delay So what is the difference between 4 GB and 16 GB??? The installation is a little diffent becuse I used PEtoUSB to make the USB, instead of formating and copying everything myself. As I can se it the only difference is that I used GRUB4DOS but can that have any influence in Bart???

@jaclaz I have tried to create the migrate.inf in minint\system32 with this code: [Version] Signature = "$Windows NT$" [Addreg] ;WriteProtect USB HKLM,"SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\StorageDevicePolicies","WriteProtect",0x00010001,1 I created the hiveOEM.inf and added it to minint\system32 with these lines [Version] Signature = "$Windows NT$" [Addreg] ;WriteProtect USB HKLM,"SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\StorageDevicePolicies","WriteProtect",0x00010001,1 and added this entry to txtsetup.sif: [HiveInfs.Fresh] AddReg = hiveOEM.inf, AddReg ... [HiveInfs.Upgrade] AddReg = hiveOEM.inf, AddReg ... None of the methods changed the registry in Bart. Is seems like they both are totaly ignored. The only way I assume is changing the registry in Bart is editing Setupreg.hiv but at soon as I change the writeprotect value to 1 it halts/freeze the PC right after the Windows Splash screen. (If I change it to 0, I can see the entry changed in the registry.) I have also tried this method: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=19422 witch was very promising and actually changed the registry, but I got the same result as with Serupreg.hiv... Windows splash screen and a Halt/freeze after that. So the conclusion is... I can change the registry to writeprotect the USB at startup, but it doesent load bart... is there any logfile to check what happend right before it Halted? This is a hard one... Im running out of options...

@jaclaz I have tried to change the reg key on my own PC with Windows XP SP2 and it works like a charm, but you have to do it before you plug in the USB... othewise is want work. So that is why it doesent work in Bart since the stick is allready pluged in. Anyway I have tried the link: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=19422 that you gave me but Im having the same result as before with setuphiv.inf-> Windows Splash screen -> black nothing and the laptop is halted/frozen. Maybe there is another way to prevent this delay than writeprotect the USB? Another observation I made was: If I let windows be copied to the HD and instead of rebooting I rerun the proces of copying windows again, there is no problems... Somtimes there is no delay at all the first time. @cdob I would love to find the overall error source, but I dont have a clue were to start

Nope its the normal XP with SP2... well allmost normal cus it is Windows XP N witch really mean that there isnt any Media Player included... Maybe this is the reason but I doubt it, what should Media Player have to do with the all this. Hmm another strange thing is I changed the value to 0 and when I restarted Bart it didnt stop right after the windows load screen... so the problem only accurs when I set the writeprotection to 1. Oh btw cdob... the syntax for winnt32 is: X:\xpsetup\i386\winnt32.exe /makelocalsource /syspart:c: /unattend:X:\xpsetup\i386\Winnt.sif>

@jaclaz Thx for the fast answer. I just changed the value to 1 but it still behaves same as before.

First of all, Thx for the answers guys. @jaclaz I did not read the entire historical post but I must be very close by now. But it didnt help yet though. Ive added hiveoem.inf with the lines you suggested to minint\system32. Then I created the entry: AddReg = hiveoem.inf,AddReg to txtsetup.sif under [HiveInfs.Fresh] but Nada happend nothing is changed in the registry @cdob I oppened regedit in Bart, marked HKÉY_LOCAL_MACHINE and Loaded setupreg.hiv. Then I added the key: StorageDevicePolicies under SYSTEM\Controlset001\Control\. Under StorageDevicePolicies I created a new value called WriteProtect as a DWORD. the Data I added to the WriteProtect key was 00010001. When I restarted the PC, it stopped right after the WindowsLogo Screen (just before it starts to load the GUI) and it didnt go further from there. This is positive, because now Im certan that somthing is actually happening and maybe it is just the syntax that is wrng... but what part is could it be? Im really sorry to bother you guys so much with all this, you have used enough of your time but I really feel so close to solving this.

Still no answer on the migrate.inf syntax? Well Ive used Filemon and stored the values in txt files. I used filemon under the delay and right after when windows started to copy the installation files to the HD. There was actually no difference on those two files except what is shown in the attached picture. And I have no clue what the diffence means... any good ideas?

I have now tried to use following syntax in migrate.inf: HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies","WriteProtect",0x10001,1 HKLM,"SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\StorageDevicePolicies","WriteProtect",%REG_DWORD%,1 HKLM,"SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\StorageDevicePolicies","WriteProtect",0x10001,1 HKLM,"SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\StorageDevicePolicies","WriteProtect"=DWORD:00000001 None of them work... when you guys mention "previous/given example" witch one do you refer to then?

@jaclaz Thx for the correct syntax... but my problem is that Bart dont even read the migrate.inf cus after I check the registry in Bart I dont se any changes at all.

@ cdob I have created a migrate.inf and placed it in minint\system32 but when I check the registry, nothing is added. This is my migrate.inf: [Version] Signature = "$Windows NT$" [Addreg] HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies","WriteProtect"=dword:00000001 > How long does delay durate? The delay can vary but usually takes 2-5 min > Are there another write/read acess to USB stick? Im not copying anything to the stick... whern I start Winnt32.exe .... and just before it gets to the part were windows is to copy files/its installation to the HD this delay in starts and this is were the little flashlight is flashing like crazy, but apperently nothing gets copied... really weird. > Did you integrated sysinternals filemon? No, does it work in Bart PE? > Do you use FAT32? This may delay file acess at USB stick. No Im using NTFS. The disk is wiped, partitioned and formated before the call to Winnt32.exe > Do you use fast USB hardware? Fast access time is more importand, fast transfer speed is next. Yes the USB stick is formated in Fat32... I dont think it is possible to make a bart PE boot in NTFS.

@Jaclaz I just found out that it is not the copying of windows that creates the dir "Documents and Settings..." Making the drive write protected is a great idear. The utility that you link to unfortunetly uses a reg key that does not exist in BartPE. Maybe if I could ad this reg key when Bart is loading it would work, but I dont know what to edit to include it there without making a new build and that would take a lot of work since I added a load of new stuff to the USB. Anyway Im totaly cluesless about what causes the delay now.

Still no answers... Maybe Im not expressing myself clearly enough... Let me try in another way... When I call: winnt32.exe from BartPE, one dir (Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Microsoft\Crypto\RSA\MachineKeys) is copied to the USB stick before the windows installation is being copied to the HD (by winnt32.exe). After the whole installation is done, everything is fine, except that tha USB now contains the "Documents and Settings..." (look above) dir and it has delayed the installation unnessesery. Why is that and how can I avoid this?