papashex

Under XP the tweakui program would allow you to copy wallpaper / cursors to the login desktop for a consistant look as the system starts up. Does anyone know of an app that will perform this same function? I am trying to get the login screen cursor to match the desktop cursor. I have used vista visual master to create boot and logon screens from the same desktop wallpaper file, but VVM does not have the same cursor copy function described from the old tweakui. I know the Vista customizing options are still being built, Hope someone knows of one to do the trick. Thanks for any suggestions.

Where is gpedit.msc on vista 32? tried entering it in run dialog, with no success. search of drive does not find it either. (need to play with video drivers) Nevermind: found it is not included with VHP, Home being the key.

I have purchased a fujitsu notebook with an OEM copy of Vista (32bit). I would like to install driver updates for various hardware components that I have downloaded from the various hardware manufactures websites (not fujitsu), but there is something that blocks the driver install. The blocked install dialog states I should contact the system manufacturer. When I did I was informed that they (fujitsu) would decide what driver updates were needed for my system and that they would post them to their website as required. Does anyone know how to override this? I have tried to run the install as administrator with no better results. UAC is also off.

Thanks for the 1 at a time suggestion. That would have been my 2nd to last resort. Very last being to skip the updates. I have discovered that an uninstall of the omnipass fingerprint software (active on the login screen) clears up the problem. I don't know which of the updates it conflicts with. I will try to re-install the omnipass software later when I get home and see if the issue returns.

I have a new laptop with VHP. Since it has been on the store shelf a while there are 20+ updates for the installed Vista (32 bit) OS. After downloading and installing all updates i rebooted the system. When the logon screen come up there are now 2 icons for the same user to log in. I only ever created a single account during the Vista install process. I can click either and log in with the appropriate password, it's just annoying seeing both. Since I have not installed much software I used the system recovery disk for a fresh install. All was well again until windows update. Has anyone run into / resolved this issue? EDIT: adding an additional user account also gets duplicated. With 2 users defined I have 4 login icons to click.

I'll second the vote for Samsung. And if you are going from CRT to LCD don't forget the cleartype powertoy from microsoft. It fixes up the square - pixelated text on the lcd.

You should take your primary activity into account when looking at the aspect ratio of the screen. I find that for CAD or page layout work the widescreen format can be limiting in the vertical dimension and forces alot of scrolling up/down. If you are "working" this could be an issue. Some games might also have issues with widescreen formats, but most new ones are taking it into account. I have also found that the many integrated graphics adapters do not support widescreen formats and required a video card upgrade for best display performance. My personal preference is samsung (low cost) and NEC (higher cost - but worth it in the GX series). I have had poor performance / bad luck with viewsonic LCD's. my 2 cents.

Thanks for the feedback, much appreciated.

I'm looking at some fujitsu lifebooks. 1st has turion tl-60 & ati 1150 graphics. 2nd has core2 duo 7300 & x3100 graphics. Both cpus are 2.0ghz, but the intel generates high vista performance scores. My real question concerns the capabilities of the video. I DO NOT need to play current / next gen 3d video games. I do want to do some autocad and light inventor (2D/3D) drafting. Will one of these video chips be more robust than the other? I know the 1150 is a revamped x300 and the x3100 is new design (w/DX10?) and the real solution is a dedicated graphics card, but that's not in the budget. has anyone used one or the other in this application?

Thanks for the quick reply!

A friend has a small network with an application installed to a server (win 2k3) PC. The workstations simply have a desktop shortcut to the application.exe on the server. When the workstation runs the application does it execute in the server memory and send only video data to the workstations or does it execute entirely in the workstation? I am unable to check individual system resource use due to location and friend is techno-phobe. I'm not sure I could distinguish data execution on server from data transmission to workstation anyway. Thanks for the help.

Odd problem with cd/dvd boot media. As mentioned in the title, this system is an overclocked C2D e6600. It can currently boot from any cd/dvd store bought or home made media that is not based on WinPE 2.0 without issue. When I attempt to boot WinPE 2.0 based media the first text mode progress bar for "loading files" completes. When the graphical progress bar comes up the system may tick off a couple of marks on the bar, but it will hang before moving on to the next screen. If I remove the overclock the media will boot ok. What is WinPE 2.0 doing that is different? Pretty standard parts in use. AB9 Pro w/ C2D e6600 2x1GB corsair xms sata dvd (3) sata hd

Missed your corrected instructions for me to follow. Here's what happened. I performed the re-install of darkside without the BOOT screen option and all is well. I have not found any boot screens that look acceptable (to me) at that low res and color depth that MS uses for boot screen, so I'm happy to keep the default MS screen. What issues do you expect from the logon screen? I installed xpize / darkside to a second system (without BOOT screen) and it seems error free as well.

I have uninstalled darkside only, leaving original xpize install intact. All is well, I can shut down normally. I am not at the system right now, but I will re-install darkside without boot screen and let you know how it goes (this evening).

I cannot resist the power of the darkside! In fact, I can never leave it. The darkside package prevents my system from shutting down. It hangs on the "windows is shutting down" screen. Is this a manifestation of the reloader contention mentioned elsewhere? I do not have the reload at startup option enabled so I would not expect that issue to occur. Standard XPize works ok, but I am tired of blue. I've had me some black and can't go back.

The vista / win PE 2.0 cd / dvd boot process do not allow the "F6" to specify additional drivers. I could understand that the vista / win PE 2.0 disks might not recognize intel ICH8 sata because it is new, but the sata dvd is located to start the install process. I know xp completes a setup because of the "F6" for drivers. Is there something else to trigger this for vista / win PE 2.0?

As stated, I get a BSOD - Machine Check exception when trying to boot from sata dvd and perform clean install of vista. The system completes the white text mode "loading files" and proceeds to the green progress bar graphic, where it will crash. I also have the same response when trying to boot from a new backup programs restore cd. Both crash at the same point. I can boot winxp, bart pe cd roms without error. The only thing I see in common is that both of the disks causing the BSOD are using Win PE 2.0, but I don't know why it should crash. System components are: ABIT AB9 Pro w/ C2D E6600 & 2GB Corsair XMS. Powercolor graphics card and Themaltake 500W p/s. Only ICH8 enabled and in use for all sata drives. Raid mode, but no real raid configured, just bunch of disks. CH1 - 80GB WD CH2 - 300GB Maxtor CH3 - 250GB WD CH4 - Samsung SATA DVD I was also unable to boot these Win PE 2.0 media using the jmicron and sony IDE dvd (also crash at same point - but would restart the system). I have used the media sucessfully in other systems. I have seen plenty of sata dvd issues posted, but after getting vista installed. I think this is a new one!

Thanks for the input, but let me try to spin my question in this way. Is there any reason a winxp pro box can't be dedicated to this database app for shared access? This new box won't be providing any additional networking services that you mentioned (AD, DNS, etc). Given a suitable (single core) cpu and sufficient ram, would there be a marked difference in the ability of the xp box to "serve" up the app as opposed to a server box?

I was thinking along the lines of a guide that was posted ( on MSFN?) that listed server 2003 to xp configuration steps. Are you saying that there is no way to perform a similar re-configuration making xp into a server os?

Does the Windows flavor matter? We are a small firm with an 8 user limit on our manufacturing database app, with at most 4 users logged in most of the time. If I have a system that is running a manufacturing database app, does a server version of windows really run it any faster than the XP version of windows? I would expect that the clients percieved application performance is influenced more by the network speed. As I look into replacing the system I feel it would be better to invest the server os funds into quality network speed (gigabit), instead of adding to M$ pockets. There is a PDC running on this network already. I don't see why the originator set up the application on another "server" as opposed to dedicating a workstation.

I have an XP Home system with 2 accounts set up, 1 admin & 1 limited user. The system is up to date with SP2 and all other hotfixes. I am faxing with an internal data/fax modem. The windows fax printer functions fine when logged in as admin (immediate send). When logged in to limited account all fax print jobs are stored in que, not sent. When system is rebooted and limited user logs in, the fax cue is transmitted. Any subsequent faxes from limited user are stored in que again and not sent until system is restarted again. Has anyone encountered / resolved this problem?

Is there a program that will keep an updated mirror image of a drive for windows xp? Some type of software raid? The drive mirroring function is only available in server versions of windows.

crck3rz, I would like to do the same as you by cloning drives to regularly to simulate disk mirroring under xp. Can you tell me if ghost will allow you to perform the cloning of a given drive as a scheduled task? If not ghost, do you know of another?

I had encountered that very same help file, I should have mentioned going through it already. It states in the help file, mirrored volumes are only available in server versions of windows. While I was impressed with the speed of the server versions, they informed me that my graphics hardware / drivers were incompatible, limiting my options. The MSFN Guide to converting 2K3server to workstation PROVED Microsoft only tells you what they want you to know. I have successfully run all manner of graphically intensive executive diversions (ok, games) on 2k3 server without a hitch. My original request for an UNDOCUMENTED method of drive mirroring under XP still stands.

I followed (with great success) the MSFN guide to converting 2K3 servers to workstations. All I was really after though was the graphic splendor of XP with the disk fault tolerance of 2K3. Is it possible to enable disk mirroring features in XP?