traycer

I did a bit of testing, and it does appear that I can start with a vLited image with SP1, drivers and hotfixes already integrated. vLite allows me to incrementally add new hotfixes, then I simply do a "Save changes only". This way, I should be able to keep my vLite image up-to-date any time Microsoft releases new patches and hotfixes, without having to rebuild the vLite image from scratch (or even a pre-slipstreamed SP1 copy) every time. Now what would be nice is an option in vLite to save those changes out to a new build directory, instead of overwriting the existing one. That way I can have weekly snapshots of vLite images, rather than just the latest build.

Right, that's what I'm thinking should be possible, but I wasn't sure if there was some hidden dependency or assumption on vLite's part that requires you start from a "clean" distribution of Vista. I noticed that vLite's order of operations is: slipstream, hotfixes and drivers, component removal, rebuild. I'm wary that the hotfix integration depends on having some/all components still there. For example, what happens if I include a hotfix for a component that had been previously removed? Will vLite (or the Vista installer) handle that gracefully? Can I mark components for removal, but not actually remove them? When I click on "Apply", I have always been choosing the "Rebuild one" option (I only need Vista Business). Should I choose "Save changes only" instead?

I asked about this a few months ago, but didn't get a positive answer either way. I'm looking for an efficient way to integrate new hotfixes as well as updated hotfixes into an existing vLite image. Here's what I currently do: fire up vLite (duh ) copy files from my Vista Ultimate retail DVD integrate SP1 add hotfixes, remove components rebuild image burn DVD The whole process takes just under two hours. 90% of the time is spent in steps 3 and 5. I can save some time now by keeping a pristine copy of the Vista RTM files on my hard drive, but that only results in a few minutes of savings. What I would like to do is add any new hotfixes and driver updates since the last vLite image build, without having to go through steps 3 and 5. Is it possible to "tack on" new hotfixes, or do I need to rebuild from scratch each time? Perhaps I can create the SP1 slipstream image, keep a copy of that, and then only have to do steps 4 and 5 each time a new hotfix or driver comes out? Is that safe to do, or is it not recommended to "re-vLite" an image? If it helps, I don't need SP1 for every Vista edition... I actually only install Vista Business (no need for Ultimate here).

Nice find... I didn't know that site existed. Looks like I need to install some sort of plugin (WGA-related?) and use IE (or least IETab in Firefox). I hate when Microsoft does that...

Ah, of course! Those look like CAB files, so I should be able to use any CAB extractor tool on them? It looks like Lenovo's Thinkvantage System Update stores things in there too. Yep, I found your thread in another search. So far, so good here though. A vLited Vista Business SP1 with most of the hotfixes as of May 24, 2008 has installed fine on my laptop and running smoothly. Thanks!

Hi all... long-time vLite user, first-time poster. Great job with 1.1.6, nuhi, as always. Up until now, I've only used vLite to remove unneeded components to trim down the installation disk space and memory footprint. I am running 32-bit Vista on my laptop and 64-bit Vista on my desktop. Since SP1 won't install on those, I decided to reinstall non-vLite Vista from scratch on my laptop when SP1 came out. Everything seemed to work fine (not that I had been having any issues with Vista before). This weekend, I decided to look into creating a Vista SP1 slipstream disc. I grabbed vLite 1.1.6 and had no problems or confusion creating a 32-bit Vista SP1 Business (from an Ultimate DVD) ISO image. Burned it to a DVD, and was able to reinstall my laptop from scratch in less than 20 minutes. First thing I do is run Windows Update, of course. 19 updates showed up. Now, I'm wondering if there is a way to integrate those 19 updates into my vLite image? It appears that the "integration" tab will do this, even though it only talks about hotfixes, drivers and languages. As I understand, what Microsoft calls "hotfixes" are not the same as "updates"... but it looks like vLite considers them the same thing? Assuming that is true, what is the most efficient way to maintain a local repository of .cab and .msu files? Right now, I have to manually bring up the support.microsoft.com web page for each update and download the .msu file. That seems like unnecessary work, since Windows Update must already do this. I can't figure out where it stores those files, however. Next, assuming I have the updates downloaded, can I incrementally integrate new updates into an existing vLite image? Or do I have to start fresh with the Vista image, slipstream in SP1, then proceed with integration, component removal, tweaks, etc.? It appears that vLite will allow me to open an already-vLited image, but the documentation does not mention if this is supported. Ideally, I'd like to merge a folder full of updates with a vLite'd install.wim, and vLite will magically know which ones have already been integrated, which ones are integrated but have a newer version now (like Windows Defender definitions), remember all my other settings, and build a new ISO image. Even better would be a method to automate this as an unattended process that checks for new updates once a day, and if there are any changes, automatically rebuild a fresh vLite ISO. But I'll understand if that's not currently feasible.