jmbattle

Goodness me! This takes me back... nLite really has developed into a world-class piece of software, from such humble roots. I do hope that this sudden rush of nostalgia is not a 'final hurrah', however if it is, my I thank you for your continued hard work over the past few years! Cheers, James x

Hello folks, I am attempting to prepare a fresh XP installation using what I believe is an OEM source (this is an IBM machine), yet am experiencing problems even testing in VirtualBox. I begin by copying the I386 folder on the C: driver, then slipstream Japanese SP3. This installs correctly in VirtualBox, but it's obviously not my preferred installation. Returning to nLite, I removed the components that I believed I would not require, then tested again in VirtualBox. I was surprised to receive a BSOD at the second stage (GUI stage) of the installation, yet no amount of setting changes in VirtualBox would help. I wondered if the crash could be due to services or tweaks, so started again with the XP+SP3 base, this time removing all possible components, but not touching any of the Unattend, Tweaks, Patches, or Services. This time the installation completed successfully, yet upon rebooting a BSOD appears at the Welcome screen. This is all a little strange for me - usually I start with an XP SP0 Corp base, slipstream SP3, then remove more or less everything. I have never experienced a BSOD during installation - especially not within VirtualBox. What am I overlooking? Is there a way for me to check what kind of XP install files (Corp, OEM, etc.) are in the C:\I386 folder? Any assistance would be most appreciated. I was under the impression that I would be able to do my usual installation, make some tweaks here and there, and install fresh, however this would appear to not be the case with a Japanese XP source. It's a good job I tested in VirtualBox before going ahead with the reformat! Cheers, James x

Hey nuhi, thanks for the new release - I'm glad to see that nLite is still receiving some attention. I'm just curious about this entry in the changelog: * upd: MMSSETUP.CAB files autoupdated May I ask if you can elaborate on what this achieves? Looking forward to lost of wonderful new experimental stuff to test in 1.5.0! Cheers, James x

My apologies for potentially hijacking your thread, however are you referring to this popup? I have removed IE and IEcore, so this popup usually appears when software attempts to download webpages into a window (via ActiveX?), such as the browser built into SoulSeek, SopCast, and in the Media Librarty of Winamp. I would really like to know if it is possible to disable this popup using the registry - or perhaps there is an nLite tweak that I have overlooked? Cheers, James x

jaclaz, Thank you for your response. In actual fact, the first time I tried the ngine.com tutorial, I received a BSOD. However this was easily fixed by copying the 'usbhub.sys' file from the Windows XP Embedded package, available from Microsoft. I did try the package at www.usboot.org, however I felt the process was rather cumbersome, especially given the fact that I had to receive a passkey before proceeding with the installation. My original request for such an option to be implemented in nLite remains. Alternatively, if someone was to create an add-on, this would also be most welcome! Cheers, James x

Hello folks, I spent a little while yesterday playing around with installing XP to my external USB harddrive. As you may know, the first stage of installations works correctly, however, upon restarting, a BSOD appears. With a little tweaking of the setup registry hives it is possible to install and boot Windows to an external USB drive, however it can be rather time consuming. Therefore, I would like to ask if an option to 'fix' installing/booting to such devices be added to nLite. There are various sources of information that cover this topic, however the tutorial I followed is at: http://www.ngine.de/article/id/8 Cheers, James x ps. Please note that I am not referring to installation from USB harddrives, nor am I suggesting anything to do with Windows PE / BartPE etc. To be clear, I am enquiring about an option to automate the setup file alterations required to install a 'full' Windows environment to a USB harddrive.

Disable the freespace check. James x

Are you aware that utilising nLite within a corporate environment violates the software's licence agreement? 5. nLite is free for personal use only, you cannot use it for any company or business purposes at this time. James x

Cheers for the responses chaps...you will be pleased to see that I have updated my signature. Oh really? That is a shame, I was rather hoping that we would see further component removals for the remaining services etc.\ This is the point where I typically post a screenshot of the 'Services' applet, mentioning that I am able to remove the 'Disabled' services using the 'sc delete' command, then querying whether such functionality will be added to nLite in the near future. There we go! Goodness, you must have had quite an eventful day! Cheers, James x

Hello folks, With the release of nLite 1.4.6, I notice that the changelog is relatively small. Apart from the ability to remove WinSxS and the final few services, it would appear that there isn't a great deal left for nuhi to remove from XP. I remember stumbling upon nLite several years ago, and am a little curious as to the direction that will be taken in the future. I know the suggestion has been ruled out in the past, however I wonder if there are any plans to opensource the programme, allowing nuhi to concentrate on vLite? In addition, what else is there left to remove from XP? Cheers, James x

Oleg_II, thank you for posting this software. For a long time, I was searching for a wifi connection client that did not rely on existing Windows components. Eventually, I found Wifi Hopper, a lightweight client that provides functionality far beyond the rather terribly built-in Windows XP client. http://wifihopper.com/ Cheers, James x

First, ensure that the VirtualPC additions are installed. If there are still unknown device entries, Google the deviceid in order to find out which piece of hardware it corresponds to. Cheers, James x

I had been experimenting with manual removing services post-installation, however other than this, everything is stripped down using nLite. Cheers, James x LAST_SESSION.INI

Which tweak are you referring to? I typically remove ctfmon.exe from any startup entries using Autoruns, however I have not performed any post-installation modifications yet. In addition, I believe it may be required for the language bar to function (Japanese input). Cheers, James x

Here is a shot of an XP-SP3 installation that I am playing with in VirtualBox. Note that I have disabled the pagefile. Cheers, James x

Kirby, for your information, below is a screenshot of my nLite'd system, you will note that a considerable number of services have been removed/disabled, yet wireless networking is working correctly. Cheers, James x

Kirby, neither service is required in order for the wireless card to work correctly, however they may well require WPA (built-in to Windows) to be enabled also. I use the excellent WiFiHopper, which does not appear to have any internal Microsoft file/service dependencies.

Can you not simply reload the LAST SESSION.ini and LAST SESSION_U.ini files that were created on the previously nLite'd CD? Cheers, James x

Intel's integrated graphics drivers are pretty awful for this too, typically installing lots of unnecessary services and programmes that run in the background and do not offer any useful functionality. Cheers, James x

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechn...kit/gp/107.mspx

newsposter, actually, with the exception of 'Windows Installer' I have disabled all of the remaining unused services whilst maintaining the required functionality. After a little research, it would appear that the Human Interface Device Access service is only necessary in order to control additional buttons found on multimedia keyboards and other peripherals such as printers/scanners. The Application Management service, on the other hand, seems to be related to deploying software across a network. I wonder if perhaps simply disabling a service is different to removing it from the system entirely, due to possible file dependencies? Cheers, James x

A long time indeed - how time flies! Well, this system is not connected to a network, hence why I disable the service. All I require is the bare minimum to get online using my cable modem and DHCP (addition components such as file/print sharing etc. are not even installed), thus I am wondering if this service can also be removed? Ah, I see, and therefore required for Themes support, yes? Again, I have disabled this service and am still able to get online, so perhaps it is unnecessary for this system? I have disabled this service, yet am still able to open the Add/Remove Programs control panel applet, so perhaps it is not required after all? Even if the service is required for the applet to run, could the user not use a freeware/shareware alternative? Yes, I disabled this service and restarted. Everything is fine at bootup, however opening the Hardware Devices list and double clicking on a component sets the service back to Manual and starts it automatically. Disabling and stopping the service, then attempting to double click a hardware component for a second time will still displays the information, yet does not change the service settings. Who knows - perhaps it can be removed too? Again, disabled here, the service does not appear to have been started, yet my USB mouse is working fine. Unnecessary? Okay, I shall keep it for PDF output. Okay, well let's try getting rid of it, then seeing what happens. Agreed. Third party installer engines such as NSIS appear to be unaffected, however InstallShield and .MSI stuff requires this service. Well, if you do not have any further components planned for removal in 1.4.6, please consider adding these as 'experimentals' Keep up the great work! Cheers, James x

Great to see a new release - time to do a reformat with SP3! How about some of the disabled/non-started services in this shot? I understand that vLite will probably become the focus of your application development, however I would still like to see further development and component removal in nLite. Cheers, James x

The installation that I am currently using is actually an XP SP2 installation from the middle of January, however I tried the latest nLite beta with SP3 RTM earlier in the week, and believe the memory usage will be comparable. The last session is attached, as requested. Cheers, James x LAST_SESSION.INI

Well, my home laptop is used primarily for web, email, and torrents, to organise my iPod (via Winamp), watch films, stream BBC World, occasionally burn DVDs, and every so often play around with Amiga emulation. For such tasks, this lightweight Windows XP installation is absolutely perfect. Productivity applications are seldom used here (although there are some Portable programmes backed up on a USB HD) - I spend all day using MS Office and the Adobe suite at work, hence it's not something I am in a terrible hurry to install on my home system! Cheers, James x