toja92

If its a installsheild installer, try extracting the installer and then one off the .cab files you get. Then you might get the files. Else try total uninstall, it monitors which files/registry entries that are written during a setup so you can find them.

I had partial success after writing the working bootsect & mbr, but Windows was only "half installed" and after that I tried to boot which failed with a bluescreen. I will try again soon. Here are three different mbrs and bootsectors, one none working, one working and one after win xp setup. The tutorial I'm following is available on WinUSB (I downloaded tutorial 5, but you can choose "tutorial" from the menu at top to just read). Big thanks for your help so far HDHacker.rar

Works fine for me. Ok, I got a problem but it will work good, it's not related to NLite. Haven't tried slipstream SP3 though, not home, so I am on a 3G connection, so I can't download it

I found a working version of bootsect, so I did a /nt52, should I try placing ntdetect.com, ntldr and boot.ini files on it? And I corrected the values with beeblebrox too.... EDIT: Placed ntdetect.com, ntldr and boot.ini files, and it worked(I see the two fake entries I wrote in boot.ini) So, to see if it worked, I started the installation, copied the files (no change partitioning, so it's FAT16), and guess what? Same old blinking "_" and it don't work. I tried running a bootsect /nt52 again, changing boot.ini (the two old entries still not there and changed timeout to 30, but still, no dice. I appreciate your big help so far, do you know how I should continue? Can you make it boot some way? Remember, windows is "half-installed" (files only copied), or should I remove the files and try something else?

Quite hard to run since I don't have the DVD, I bought a cheap laptop with preinstalled Vista and I did not get a DVD with it, so I can't run it. Anyways I skipped that step and posting the .dat files here. BootSector_MBR.rar

I think you do like this: Add every custom thing to a folder in systemroot\resources\themes\mytheme After you added everything, create a file, with the same name as the folder, like mytheme.theme, in systemroot\resources\themes\ and then you press, add local themes (in the section where you can enter user info, serial etc, there is a desktop theme tab if I remember correctly. There press add local themes and then you can choose to use that theme as the standard theme. @TranceEnergy: Am I completely lost or is it right?

Tried filling the drive with 00's and vista didn't recognized the drive after that, so I formated it with the hp utility. After that I copied ntdetect.com, NTLDR and a boot.ini file with two entries, and restarted but it still says "Invalid system drive" so I don't know how to solve this. I attached my MBR & bootsector if you want to look at it.

Just a tip, if your computer has a DVD+RW burner, buy a RW disc instead. I bought one and I am glad I bought it, it has saved me the cost of many dvds I only bought one and then I rewrite it.

Hmm try opening a run box (start menu -> run) and write nusrmgr.cpl and if that don't work, search for nusrmgr.cp_ in the source cd, cause it's CAB compressed, and on the installation cd it misses the last extension character. Don't know why though, don't ask me If you can't find it try downloading it from the internet (might be worth a shot )

As a rule of thumb, NTFS is NOT advised on flash based memory, if some precautions are not implemented, and unless it is really needed for any reason, as it is a semi-journaled filesystem and the excessive number of reads (irrelevant) and writes (VERY relevant) on the stick may cause a premature failure of the device. FAT32 poses not the above problems, but as said might be trickier to be made bootable. Since your stick is 2 Gb, i.e. within the limits of FAT16, I suggest you to use FAT16, as it proved to be the "most compatible" filesystem when it comes to booting. jaclaz Hmm tried both NTFS & FAT32 but I only get "Invalid system disk. Replace and press ctrl+alt+delete to reboot. EDIT: Should I try FAT16 (or FAT as it seems to be called in HP Format utility?) EDIT2: After formating to FAT and copying files, the same message popups. Does this mean my usb stick can't boot? It used to be a "U3" stick but I removed U3, so that can't be the problem.

I'll try the HP formating utility, and adds only those files after. Thanks for the help so far EDIT: The stick is 2 gB and I tried ntfs, but maybe I should use FAT32? Anyways if I get this working I will use a EWF filter in the portable windows but thats a later story...

Pretty much like that, but when I insert the CD, it boots up (burned it in my grandpas XP computer, worked good ) and I get to the install screen and then I format it with the built-in formatting on XP cd (after choosing my thumb drive) and then I install. But now it seems it dont have any boot loader at all, cause after removing the cd from the "cupholder" and trying to boot from my thumb drive, the only thing I see is a blinking white "_" (except quotations) and nothing happens. So I don't know what I should do now. Do anyone have a clue? Do I need to put in a bootloader? Oh wait, maybe I should try /fixboot add with the xp cd and insert a entry, maybe thats the missing part *holds thumbs* will update later If anyone thinks it's a different problem, please post EDIT: No dice. I still see a "_" and nothing happens. And yes, boot.ini contains the right information, and NTLDR and ntdetect.com exists. Anyone knows whats wrong?

Forgot to say one thing, is the CD that don't start, because of the bootloader, and you can't format it, so I'm gonna try burning it on a XP system now, and see if something happens.

Well, BOOTMGR is the loader of VISTA. The loader for NT/2K/XP/2003 is NTLDR. Cannot say how you managed to mix the two, but you have a "WRONG" (Vista) bootsector on the stick. You need to run bootsect.exe /nt52 or a similar utility to create a proper NT/2K/XP/2003 bootsector on that partition. But you are not actually expecting XP to boot from USB stick without modifications, do you? Read here: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/?showtopic=4857&st=9 jaclaz I have already done the necessary modifications, but I don't know why bootmgr was included instead of NTLDR.. I use Vista but is building a xp, and I choosed the predefined boot option, does it use vistas then? And if so, can I switch to XP's? I'm new to nlite so I'm a bit confused.

Hi, I'm trying to install xp to usb stick (please read the whole post before starting to say something like "It's against microsofts EULA" cause that's not the main topic) and after I inserted the cd, it just popups this message "BOOTMGR is missing. Press ctrl+alt+delete to restart" (but in Swedish ) and I wonder, is it possible it's because i nlited the installator? And if so, what can be the problem? The last_session.ini file is 28kb so I will post if necessary, but if anyone knows what's the problem is without seeing the file, it would be good And yes, I'm new to nlite so I might have done something terrible, but I haven't disabled/removed any of the red-marked ones... EDIT: And btw, have you guys here completely forgotten those with vista basic? :S