jaclaz

I don't know, maybe I am too simple minded, but what would you think if you found a file: <drive letter>\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\6To_60S7K_FU06yjEhjh5dpFw96549UU\scout.exe And after deleting it, it comes back at next boot? UNless of course some sophisticated techniques were used to make *somehow* the file super-hidden: http://blog.trendmicro.com/trendlabs-security-intelligence/hacking-team-uses-uefi-bios-rootkit-to-keep-rcs-9-agent-in-target-systems/ jaclaz

The reference cable is most probably to standard A connector (the "normal" USB connector on motherboards) and the standard mini-B connector (usually on external boxes ther staandard-B is used, lately on small boxes such as those for 2.5" disks it is replaced with the mini-B ), the micro-B is AFAIK/AFAICR only used in smartphones/tablets and similar: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB#/media/File:Usb_connectors.JPG jaclaz

Another sign that the end of the world is near http://www.citylab.com/tech/2015/07/when-you-give-a-tree-an-email-address/398219/ jaclaz

In other places things are not going well : http://dustri.org/b/firefox-youre-supposed-to-be-in-my-pocket-not-the-other-way-around.html http://www.ghacks.net/2015/06/23/pro-and-con-of-mozillas-pocket-integration-in-firefox/ It seems like the "your privacy has no relevance for us" mantra is spreading jaclaz

My bet is on a 0x0000007b due to your having attempted to install on a SATA disk in SATA mode but failing to provide the right drivers. That is FAQ #3: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/116766-faqs/ but it is possible, since you mentioned nlite, that you overdid it a little (and that would 0x0000006F and FAQ #2). Don't worry, it's normal, everyone has had the one or the other STOP error. Depending on the motherboard, you might find this useful: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/107504-integration-of-intels-sata-ahci-and-raid-drivers/ jaclaz

OT, it had to happen sooner or later: http://creativity-online.com/work/toyota-a-sirious-safety-message/42660 with a good scope and all, but all in all not much different from the prank I expected: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/173316-windows-10-prediction-and-os-ranking/#entry1092785 jaclaz

From what you report you have a "generic" issue in booting from USB (which would be the first thing to check/fix). Forget about Xboot, its Author was a victim of a road accident and the tool is not developed since his premature death. Both WinSetupFromUSB and Rufus are actively maintained, both of them boot normally on - say - 99.99% of machines, and since they use different booting code/method it is "queer" that none works in your setup. Forget (temporarily) about both mentioned tools and about your project involving windows 7 and XP and concentrate first on having a grub4dos booting from USB on your system, one way or the other. Try using RMPREPUSB: http://www.rmprepusb.com/home/quick-start-guide You want to have NTFS and Boot as HDD C: 2Ptns selected than try any of: WinPE V2 ... etc XP Bartpe and (this is the option that you essentially want to succeed with) try the "install grub4dos" button. Once you have managed to setup it so that it boots to *something* be it grub4dos, NTLDR or BOOTMGR (i.e. you are past the "blinking cursor") will talk of the rest. That "blinking" cursor is typical of a mismatch between CHS and LBA or of a wrong geometry in the standard NTFS bootsectors. If you cannot manage to make the stupid sticks to boot, make a copy of both the MBR (first sector of the disk or \\.\Physical drive) and of the bootsector/PBR (first 16 sectors of the \\.\logical drive, i.e. what gets a drive letter in Windows), compress them in to a .zip archive and attach the archive to a post and I'll have a look at them. Hdhacker is a suitable tool to make such backup copies: http://dimio.altervista.org/eng/ jaclaz

Hmmm. This piece of advice was vane. http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/174072-capturing-a-windows-xp-reference-image-after-sysprep/?p=1102569 jaclaz

Oh, yes it is perfectly possible (given links in post #2). jaclaz

There must be a communication problem of some kind. If you deploy a windows XP a C:\install folder is ALREADY in the source and it is deployed just like the rest of the system. If you install a Windows XP a C:\install folder may be created as part of the install or post-install procedure. http://unattended.msfn.org/unattended.xp/ http://unattended.msfn.org/unattended.xp/view/web/63/ jaclaz

Yep, this is what I tried to explain to you that an .iso cannot be. Such a .iso is more simply an updated .iso, with added (say) Drivers Packs and maybe even third party programs with (possibly) some unattended scripts and even (maybe) a WPI (Windows Post Install Wizard). The difference is that the .iso remains a "setup" (and NOT a sysprepped image), the OS is installed from the .iso source while in the case of the sysprepped image the image is deployed and then only minor adjustments are made. Everyone will have it's own saying on which one is a "better" approach, and everyone will have his/her own lkes and dislikes, a whole series of other "mixed mode" approaches are possible, but you have to first convince yourself that "install" is different from "deploy" and "sysprep". The rule of the thumb is that if the source (be it a .iso or whatever other format) has a "main" \i386 directory it is an "install", if it has a "main" \Windows directory it is a "deploy" (of a sysprepped or non sysprepped image). jaclaz

It isn't a good idea to name WAREZ on msfn.org, see Rule #1.a: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?app=forums&module=extras&section=boardrules not even discussing on how these are created . jaclaz

It is a generic board issue that is recurring and that was fixed and broken and re-fixed and re-broken n times lately, it doesn't affect only you, but the real causes (and correspondent remedies if any) seem like not having being pinned down yet . Check this (where you should have posted about the issue): http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/163472-ipb-update-july-2013-to-version-345-bugs-only/ starting from around page 10: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/163472-ipb-update-july-2013-to-version-345-bugs-only/page-10 jaclaz

How much? Would a fiver or a pint of beer (whichever comes first) do? Judging from: https://buildfeed.net/ A 10.0.10240.0 (private) was compiled AFTER 10240.16384 (and this should mean something on how well synchronized is the builds numbering mechanism ) , so, not completely surprisingly, build 10.0.10400 could still be a good candidate, and we still have some 2 full weeks before the deadline.... jaclaz

Well, you are seemingly "mixing together" two different deployment methods. The "normal" XP install starts from a .iso which is normally "attended" and the setup can be made "unattended" or if you prefer answers to the questions asked during the setup phases can be pre-written. What actually boots the first time is a sort of "recovery console", and what boots after the so-called text setup phase is the actual OS in not-configured state from the internal hard disk. Starting from the new "paradigm" of .wim, since Vista, the install is actually the applying to the disk partition/volume of a pre-made sysprepped image, of course "generalized", hence the possibility to "install" a Vista or 7 (or later) by simply applying the .wim, without any real *need* to run setup.exe, see: http://reboot.pro/topic/10126-nt-6x-fast-installer-install-win7-directly-to-usb-external-drive/ So what you could use is either the Offline Sysprep: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showforum=43 http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=19397 Then transfer the hard disk partition image with whatever tool you see fit or are familiar with or capture it as an XP .wim (you will need some files from Windows 7 or later), some ideas are here: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=25716 Basically the idea is to create a sysprepped image, capture it as a .wim, then apply it to the target from a PE not unlike the way Fujianabc detailed for Vista/7, the real issue with XP sources are of course the HAL/Kernel changes and mass storage devices (unless you need this for a specific given machine). Depending on the actual use you may have restrictions preventing you from using this particular approach: http://reboot.pro/topic/4729-panther-xp2003-deployment-system/ http://thuun.boot-land.net/PantherXP/ which is more or less derived from the way the lesser known WINFLP edition install, a low-resources needed version of Windows XP for some markets, that was the first example of deploying XP through a (primitive and using an actually different format) .wim. I hope that I have not confused you too much , only trying to give you some ideas and references to "previous art" . jaclaz

You see , you are NO better than my friends and colleagues, your first second thought was about a possible way to make the thing into a prank. jaclaz

@dencorso You do understand some Italian, don't you? Here is a classic piece of comedy of the '60's (the background is that it is a parody of a known series of documentaries of the early times of Italian TV where the author traveled across Italy particularly small villages and remote zones to interview people and learn about typical crafts, food, habits, traditions, dialects, etc.) Here: jaclaz

@NoelC Well it's still the same disagreement, which is not at all a disagreement , it's just a difference in the metrics used, I judge a product as it is delivered by the manufacturer, then - only later - I consider the potentiality it has once tweaked properly, which in the case of Windows 8/8.1 is more a matter of completely turning the OS upside down and rebuild it. In a perfect world your books (how many pages it is now the 8/8.1 version? 123 pages? ) would have no relevance whatsoever, as well as many of the third party software that is vital to make it work and look the way it should, the OS would be already fully functional (or almost so) and the end user would need to make only minor adjustments. @JorgeA Well, if you think about it the technology in itself is nice, though applied to the "wrong" use. I will give you an example of a "right" use (when and if a similar technology will be actually available to all) and of course in my perverted mind, let's use it to replace the images of disappeared children on milk cartons, http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2012/04/etan_patz_case_why_did_dairies_put_missing_children_on_their_milk_cartons_.html or to broadcast to population TORs and similar high priority advice: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tornado_warning jaclaz

You really don't think your life is a bit empty without a connected coffee mug? http://www.pauligmuki.com/index.php?lang=en I guess a lot of people miss gross images and pranks very early in the morning.... ... or maybe the friends and colleagues I ever had are actually (much) worse than average . jaclaz

The same in which the instructions below are required... Incredibly , I have by pure chance found an even better example (of course without even thinking of downgrade Douglas Adams' masterpiece A culture where some people actually buy these: http://daneson.com/ (the good guys that manufacturer and sell them are actually an example of pure genius IMHO) The further very good news is that the enterprise is environment friendly: http://daneson.com/pages/about-daneson and will replant ALL the birches (all fifteen of them ) used in the manufacture of their products . No, seriously, I had never (but I believe a lot of people did the same mistake) considered the deforestation risks derived by toothpick manufacturing in all it's amplitude. I will have to work some math to calculate the number of gazillion toothpicks that can come out from a birch. jaclaz

@JorgeA (re:Windows Marketing) Well, that's only because the SEC does not use MY (actually MS original) version naming conventions, NT 6.x remains a NT 6.x: http://www.gaijin.at/en/lstwinver.php Version 6.0: Vista=NT 6 (non working OS) Vista SP1=NT 6 SP1 (partially working OS) Vista SP2=NT 6 SP2 (finally working) ---------------------------------------------------purely commercial division line --------------------------------------------------- Version 6.1: 7=NT 6 SP3 (still working fine), changing a number of trivial things in the UI AND the minor version allowed them to charge money for this 7 SP1=NT 6 SP4 (still working fine) version is 6.1.7601 Several years of 7 KB/Windows Update=NT 6 SP5 (still working fine) -------------------------------------------------this line represent descent into madness ----------------------------------------- Version 6.2: 8=NT 6 SP6 (suddenly not working anymore in a number of situations) completely revolutionizing the UI (for the worse) AND changing the minor version allowed them to charge money for this, though very few people, exception made for OEM's that were forced to at gunpoint, actually decided to get it and pay for it. -------------------------------------this line represents a failed attempt to regain some sanity -------------------------------- Version 6.3: 8.1=NT 6 SP7 (still completely failing to work productively) partially reverting the UI to the earlier status AND changing the minor version would have normally allowed them to charge money for this, but NOONE in his/her right mind would have actually payed for it --------------------------------this line represents a further failed attempt to regain some sanity -------------------------------- Version 6.4 later changed to 10: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_10#Version_history So, not only they changed the minor version, but also the major one, making it not anymore a NT 6, but rather a completely alien OS which they have NO OTHER choice than provide for free (as last one before) but they have additionally to force down the throat of all users of previous NT 6 versions. If I was in the SEC I would have fined the good MS guys having twice mis-represented the nature of the changes, sneakily escaping the need to defer some earnings, but this is just "finance", just moving the dates, not real "money", the point is that while they managed to trick a (small) number of Windows 7 users into paying US$ 15 to upgrade to 8 , they would not be able to do the same now for an upgrade to Windows 10. It still remains a mistery how they managed to provide for free Windows 8/8.1 (with Bing) to OEM's for small sized tablets (that is not an upgrade or an update, it is a brand new OS), and (same source of the above) it seems like also the Nokia Windows Phone business isn't going that well : http://www.computerworld.com/article/2945371/smartphones/microsoft-writes-off-76b-admits-failure-of-nokia-acquisition.html jaclaz

...which was not - last time I checked - anything available to a "final user" unless he/she is a subscriber of "Software Assurance": http://stealthpuppy.com/app-v-faq-3-how-is-app-v-licensed/ as it is unlikely that saud "final user" has an agreement for a Volume License: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/bb899442 I am pretty sure that the result of going here with Internet Explorer 7 or higher (aren't the good MS guys real geniuses in making a way for possible new customers only accessible through their own browser? ): http://mla.microsoft.com/default.aspx will result in several (many) bucks changing hands, provided that the final user is "eligible" for this form of license. jaclaz

Well, that's the good thing about exchanging ideas/opinions , personally I would not even think of running anything else but VLC exactly because it needs not (or however manages much better) codecs, as in my experience the number of machines with "botched" or conflicting codecs is comparable to that of stars in the sky. I never took the time to actually analyze why exactly the codec packs invariably manage to be messed up (incompetence of the user, some "rogue" codec pack, sheer stupidity of the mechanism, whatever) but the usual phone call goes more or less: Friend: Hi, I cannot view <put here name of some video file>/I cannot play <put here name of some audio file>, I have tried installing <put here the name of a codec pack> and <put here name of another codec pack> jaclaz: Do yourself a favour, get VLC and try using it instead: https://www.videolan.org/vlc/ Friend (after a few minutes): Hey, it works with VLC, thanks! It is very possible that people that are so crazy as to ask help with video/audio to me are also on average more demented than the ordinary, of course. jaclaz

@bhplt To be fair, it is only too normal that someone that starts a thread titled: How Do I Enable Windows XP Internet Games in Windows 8.1 is expecting (of course if it is actually possible) to have answers related to "Windows XP Internet Games in Windows 8.1" and not to "Windows 7 NON-Internet games on Windows 8.1" And, still to be fair, had the thread been titled "How to run XP Reversi (internet game) on Windows 8.1 natively " it would have been much less likely that someone, in good faith and by mistake would have posted "Here is how I make Solitaire from Windows 7 on 8.1" or "What about setting up a virtualization environment"? But everyone here is trying to help some other member to solve this or that problem, one way or the other, sometimes a misunderstanding happens, and there is really no need of making a mountain out a of a molehill. jaclaz

@NoelC There are known ways to have the Windows 7 games (local or Internet) working in 8/8.1, as andreaborman posted just above your post. The issue here are XP Internet Games (that can be made to work on Windows 7) that seemingly cannot be made to work on Windows 8/8.1. jaclaz