Brabant

I see HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment","Path",0x00020002,"%SystemRoot%\system32;%SystemRoot%;%SystemRoot%\System32\Wbem" in HIVESYS.INF. And HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment","Path",,"%SystemRoot%;%SystemRoot%\system;%SystemRoot%\system32;%SystemRoot%\system32\WBEM" in AXANT5.IN_. The code above is for including "%SystemRoot%\system" so I'll add 0x00020002 between the commas after Path, maybe they cause the wrong type REG_SZ. >> Yes, that seems to have done it.

The Path variable in HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Environment must be a REG_EXPAND_SZ and not a REG_SZ like it is in the file set. Now the command Path gives PATH=C:\WINDOWS;C:\WINDOWS\System; ..etc.. But the command %Path% gives 'C:\WINDOWS' is not recognized as an internal..etc.. Is that OK? I thought %Path% should just print the paths without the "PATH=" part. (And Path to be for setting paths or querying if you want)

Those three greyed out settings get enabled by changing HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\UserPreferencesMask from "00 00 00 00" to "b0 12 01 80", a value I borrowed from a non-fdv-xp install. I don't know yet if it breaks anything but these things can now be accessed. Now what's wrong with me %systemroot%\system and other paths? Edit: starting a cmd box and giving PATH gives PATH=C:\WINDOWS; ..etc.. in the non-fdv-xp box but gives PATH=%SystemRoot%; ..etc.. in fdv-xp Any ideas about this please?

So I've got to use XP anyway... Chapa9ai Thanks for pointing to sfc_os.dll. It now installs faster and without this nonsense about things being unsigned. And the mofcomp error is not in the latest file set. A few things: I have bmp2png in the windows/system dir. But if I do c:\bmp2png it is an "unrecognized internal or external etc..." , so it can't find the path I'd say. In the environment variables there is %systemroot%/system and system32 and system32/wbem, all separated by colons. What's going on? The Effects (under Display Properties -> Appearance) are unavailable. See attached pic if it's unclear what I mean. Having ClearType is essential. Not sure if the following are sources of these problems but I ran this HFSLIP without any HFs to speed things up and I'm running XP in VPC2007.

So I'd unpack sp6a to a directory, the same for q299444i.exe roll-up and also for later fixes (those in the first post). Keep the hotfix.inf that comes with each fix, and "run assorted supplied scripts" ? Do you have (test versions of) these scripts?

Removing ms_1_exc_disableIfOS="w2k" from [V] gives a corrupted viamraid.sys. I guess I need to remove stuff from the HardwareIdsDatabase and/or other sections. Or maybe make the mass storage zip only contain the Via dirs. Do you have any suggestions?

Oh look! What a coincidence, I had noticed the line: ms_1_exc_disableIfOS="w2k" for PCI\VEN_1106&DEV_0571. So it wasn't a surprise that should install (and has installed) without extra files. I don't like to add 10000 files just for the few that are (possibly) useful. So I'm gonna try editing the ini in the Mass Storage 7z. Maybe delete unused directories as well. If that doesn't work I'll have to add ms_1_exc_disableIfOS="w2k" lines. Edit: I just found the nightlies (since they're mentioned in one thread you linked to) http://driverpacks.sytes.net/driverpacks/Nightlies/NT5/

[HardwareIdsDatabase] PCI\VEN_1106&DEV_4149 = "viapdsk", "VIA ATA/ATAPI Host Controller" Yes that line came free with storage.ini. It doesn't do anything. (I do have PCI\VEN_1106&DEV_0571 (ata controller) in the registry. But that has installed correctly from IDE cd, without adding any files or ini entries.) I read your post and thought that trying Mass Storage would be best. Install fails with a corrupted ahcix86.sys. There seems to be one in AM2 and one in AM3. The one that ends up in i386 can be copied and expanded manually.

It's a bit more complicated than that. viapdsk must also appear in [sourcedisksfiles]. It's like the 'single-file driver that you want to integrate and have installed at boot time' near the bottom of that page. I already have done that method for viamraid.sys (meaning I had it both uncompressed in i386 and also compressed for storage.ini method) that did not work.

Yes, on this computer an IDE CD-ROM is also attached. And also the last thing I see is in text mode after loading drivers it says 'Setup is starting Windows 2000'. The screen goes black for a second and then BSOD. Edit: Just disconnecting the IDE CD drive does not do it. I'll add viapdsk (that's for IDE and was in early Hyperions and older, right?) and try that now.

It's even smaller only 335KB. Anyway... TXTSETUP-from-SSource.zip

No that's not it. Txtsetup.sif went down from 391KB to 343KB though.

I must say I do use an UNmodified storage.ini which is 48KB, the VIA stuff is near the end. Should I take the rest out? But for actual files only the viamraid.sys, .cat and .inf are in the HFEXPERT/STORAGE dir. So no sound, video or any other drivers are there.

It's a desktop with an Asus A8V motherboard with 2GB of RAM. It has no "IDE compatibility mode". The iso is 217 MB (I have included post-SP4 hotfixes in HFSLIPs HF directory). I use two Sata drives as separate drives. No RAID has been configured. I'm happy the other installs are "normal" I just mentioned them as "this still works, has not been f*cked up".

Sorry I forgot to mention that. I already have tried, it gives the same result.