skierpage

I tried comparing directory listings of my two XP_Source nLite work directories, and they were VASTLY different even though I thought I used the same SETUP.INI. XP had 250 more .TT_ and .FO_ font variations, dozens of KBD*.DLL files, etc.; Vista had hundreds of extra files. Lots of files had different dates.I couldn't make sense of the directory listings, my first thought was I had done something wrong. Maybe the .isos that nLite burns from the directory contents have fewer variations. If anyone wants to take a look I uploaded them to www.skierpage.com/bugs

There are several reports that if you run nLite under Vista or Windows 7 to slipstream SP3, then when you try to repair or install Windows with your nLite CD, setup will not accept valid product keys. The underlying Microsoft slipstream command behaves differently in Vista and Windows Server 2008. This was certainly the case for me trying to make a slipstreamed SP3 from my XP Home SP1a disk by running nLite in Vista. The workaround suggested (replacing PIDGEN.DLL) didn't work for me. I had to make the disk running nLite in actual XP. I did this by recreating XP in a virtual machine. The nifty thing is you can test your nLite .iso by upgrading or repairing the virtual machine without burning a CD. Here are the steps I performed: download VirtualBox 3 follow the excellent VirtualBox User manual to install it in Kubuntu Linux and create a virtual machine for Win XP set up my CD-ROM drive as the virtual machine's CD-ROM drive, "booted" it with my XP SP1a disk in the CD-ROM, and installed XP SP1 install nLite in the Win XP virtual machine; I had to download MSI and various Windows updates just to run nLite install the VirtualBox Guest Additions in the Win XP virtual machine so I could share a folder run nLite to slipstream SP3 (and add the VIA SATA host driver, ^%#@ Microsoft). But I was now running nLite under XP, not in Vista create the nLite .iso disk image "outside" the Win XP virtual machine in the shared folder set up that .iso as the virtual machine's CD-ROM drive, restart the virtual machine and perform a Repair installation of the Win XP virtual machine from the .iso. that worked! so I had some confidence that a physical nLite disk would work to repair my physical Win XP partition. burn the .iso to a physical CD-RW (I used k3b in Kubuntu) I hope this helps someone. I think the steps for running VirtualBox under Windows are almost identical. Perhaps I should have disabled networking for most of these steps, I'm not sure how unsafe it is to run an unpatched Windows XP in a virtual machine. I have to say that having a boot CD or Live USB of a recent Linux distro around is incredibly useful even for Windows users. You can reliably boot most hardware from it, run partition repair programs, easily do byte-for-byte copies of MBRs and entire partitions with `dd`, mount and examine your Windows partitions, and even install new utility programs such as `TestDisk` which was the only program that found and recreated my trashed partitions.

That didn't make sense to me because in my XP_Source I didn't have these directories. Then I realized they're in the extracted SP3. My nLite CD created under Vista did indeed have the wrong ip "pro" one dated 2008-04-14 05:39 instead of the ic "consumer/home" one dated 2008-04-14 12:05. No I didn't, but I put the right PIDGEN.DLL in dllcache as well as system32 and it didn't help me get past the second phase of Windows setup.I installed Virtual Box 3, created a Win XP virtual machine, ran nLite in that, tested the .iso by making it the virtual machine's CD-ROM and repairing the virtual machine (that blew my fragile little mind), then burned the .iso to CD-RW and... it worked to repair my actual XP partition! Thanks everyone for all your help. It's clear that running nLite under Vista or Windows 7 does not work for many people, so I beg you to feature this prominently and recommend setting up a virtual machine. I'll post my steps separately. (Later in trying to get ATI video to work I installed some other VIA drivers and now I can't get any video out of XP even in Safe Mode... but that's a different story. )

I had similar unsuccessful experience. I'm able to access my Windows partition from Kubuntu Linux (where I'm typing this), so I simply copied the original Windows XP SP1a pidgen.dll (2003-03-31 27,648 byte) to /WINDOWS/system32/pidgen.dll on my Windows partition, replacing the 2008-04-14 24,064 byte file that my nLite-made-on-Vista put there. When I rebooted into Windows, XP setup continued and completed fine (I wasn't even prompted for a product ID key) and I thought I was set! But upon rebooting into a supposedly working Windows, when I login as a user I get Windows Product Activation A problem is preventing Windows from accurately checking the license for this computer. Error code: 0x80004005 Even if I again replace the newer Pidgen.dll in both /WINDOWS/system32/ and /WINDOWS/system32/dllcache , I get this error. It's possible that if I had built a new CD patched with the original pidgen.dll and repeated the entire Windows XP repair setup, that everything would be fine, but I doubt it. Some threads have mentioned other problematic DLLs or files, but my next attempt is to run nLite in a Windows XP virtual machine.

@johnhc, @gamehead200, In no way was I criticizing this forum, and I appreciate your fast answers. I'm sorry if I gave any other impression. I was and am specifically begging for the nLite website and its FAQ to mention this known unresolved issue: Can't slipstream on Vista or Windows 7. In making my XP SP3 slipstreamed disk with SATA drivers, I googled and consulted the nLite website and forum extensively, but I missed this issue completely. Since I have a genuine Certificate of Authenticity and full Windows XP Home CD from my manufacturer (Falcon Northwest), I had no reason to read every post about product keys. Since I built my boot CD from XP SP1a CD and XP SP3, I assumed running nLite on Vista would not affect the results. Live and learn , but let others know! Ah, So nobody can update the nLite web site? I suggest someone make a sticky thread titled as above.Again, thanks to forum members for all the suggestions. I'm off to try them out...

There's your problem. You need to run nLite on a Windows XP or a Windows Server 2003 machine. There's are issues (like the one you're having) when running it under Windows Vista and Windows 7. WHAT??! I spent four hours and three CD-Rs with nLite on my only other computer (running Vista) to build a Windows XP disk to repair my PC , only to run into this. I spent 5 hours painstakingly verifying that the OEM product key is indeed the one in nLite and the one in the XP registry and trying all kinds of workarounds. Put "Don't run nLite on Vista" information prominently on the web site! Does the Requirements in the "guide" on nLite's site mention this? Hell no. Does the nLite FAQ mention this? Hell no. I'm glad I found this but... Aggghghhhhh! Can you recommend a decent guide to doing that? That seems directly contradicted by this problem! If it's just one DLL, why oh why can't nLite detect this and do the right thing?

I restarted nLite and the Presets screen presented my old sessions. Last Session (2009.07.14-15.32.24) '09/07/04-03:32:24 ... Loaded: Last Session (2009.07.24-15:32)The first looks like a date range. The second looks like a USA YY/DD/MM format but isn't, and the time lacks a PM indicator. It's confusing the third is missing the seconds. Please just use the ISO8601 date format standard everywhere, it's universal and unambiguous world-wide 2009-07-14 15:32:24 Also, the Presets listed two sessions Last Session (2009.07.14-15.32.24) '09/07/04-03:32:24 Last Session '09/07/04-04:21:52I think nLite is showing me the last setup I created and the last time I ran the program, but it's confusing.

Hi, I joined this to report some minor glitches. I'm using 1.4.9.1 on Windows Vista to build an XP boot disk to fix my other computer. In the Service Pack panel, the bottom of the text "For example, if you integrate SP2 you will not need SP1 because SP2 supersedes it" text is clipped; I think I attached a screenshot . And in the Hotfixes, Add-ons and Update Packs panel, the bottom of the [Advance] and [insert] buttons is clipped. Maybe this happens because I have a high DPI screen and so in Vista Desktop > Personalize > Adjust font size (DPI) I chose "Larger scale (120 DPI) - make text more readable." But other apps layout appropriately. Cheers, thanks for what I hope will be a useful utility.