jaclaz

This thread isn't dead (anymore ) you just revived it by digging through it's grave and bringing it back to life (which is the good thing about not closing thread, sometimes they return ). The screenshot you posted unfortunately does not provide any actually useful information, and certainly not about it being installed (or installed properly) it only says that the file exists (good). But this error has been reported in connection mainly with two distinct issues (causing the same behaviour/error message) one is a permission issue on a Registry hive and the other is related to missing entires in the Registry (not actually connected directly on indirectly with stdole32.tlb). Check if the first case applies to your system, see here: http://andyjwilliams.co.uk/technology/vista-office-2007-installation-problems-stdole32tlb/ or if the second case applies, see here: http://davidoverton.com/blogs/doverton/archive/2007/07/21/how-to-get-rid-of-the-installer-configuration-dialog-when-running-office-2007-and-office-2003-on-the-same-system-for-vista-and-other-versions-of-windows.aspx If neither cases (and relative solutions) apply to your system or if you have troubles in applying the fixes, please let us know, it is well possible that it is *something else* or, if you prefer, the stdole32.tlb issue is *somehow* like a "generic error" that may be triggered by several causes, but let's first see if any of the two known and common ones apply. Just as an example, there are other (fewer) reports about the issue having been solved by completely uninstalling all versions of Office through some of the "third party advanced uninstallers". jaclaz

JFYI, I am instead heavy critical on the good IPB board guys as they not only regularly (at each friggin' board update) make something not work anymore, but they tend to also "botch" previous contents. (it is like they are only interested in people creating new boards, to the hell the long established ones and their contents). When you post about a bug they historically have no idea - besides NOT being interested in the least in solving it - on how to manage the issue, often they are not even able to understand in what the bug consists. On the other hand, one way or the other, the good MSFN Admin(s) *somehow* managed to make all the IPB bugs at least "tolerable" (and believe me this does not happen on other boards), it's not at all their fault if the process, at each board change, takes often a lot of time. jaclaz

Maybe there is the usual communication problem. You should have a "goal" or "expectation". Is this goal ?: prepare an XP source that can be installed in VirtualBox prepare an XP source that can be installed on a specific machine (with a specific SATA controller) prepare an XP source that can be installed on a large number (but not *all*) of machines with various SATA controllersPlease choose one. If your goal is #2 and you wish to test the result in VirtualBox, it is very likely that you will fail. jaclaz

Actually it seems to me like an actual possibly upcoming Explorer (or user ) problem. Maybe it is "experimental" for a reason. Surely when the issue will come (IF it will be an issue) the IPB software guys will update their software (and in the process they will botch, as always, half of the board, and it will take our poor admins months to fix it ). jaclaz

It should work as well, though you may need to experiment what happens with UAC, see: https://social.msdn.microsoft.com:443/Forums/windowsdesktop/en-US/2f0ed426-bba1-4b77-834c-5e3056d8403f/active-setup-limitations-under-windows-7?forum=windowsgeneraldevelopmentissues jaclaz

Which, additionally and still by MS own admission is "optional" and, that by quickly reading the list of "features" a "largely NOT *needed* one". Of course, if you are actually into "clustered virtual machine mission-critical environments" you wouldn't probably be using Windows 8.1 The lack of "anything useful" that shae highlighted seems like accurate . jaclaz

Or follow the hint given into the other thread http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/173036-modify-windows-2000-splash-screen/#entry1089939 NO need for installing the Paint Shop Pro trial, the Gimp would do nicely. jaclaz

The issue is probably connected with "RLE encoded". Seemingly unrelated, but JFYI: http://reboot.pro/topic/360-how-to-use-your-own-boot-screen/ and you may be interested in: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/146529-pe-tool-for-creating-patches/?p=977524 jaclaz

No. That would happen IF they were not MS. We know how they have a quirk for creating standards (or pretending to create standards) and never respect them integrally nor to actually respect *any* actual standard completely. It's their "way of computing". jaclaz

To use the %WINDIR% the key must be of the type REG_EXPAND_SZ, but the "already expanded" path should work even if the key is a more plain REG_SZ AGAIN: or even a simpler batch *like*: @ECHO OFFECHO attempting to run Regedit ...regedit.exe /s /C:\windows\Avro_prof.regregedit.exePAUSE Have you actually checked that the Avro_prof.reg actually works when run manually? jaclaz

But does regedit.exe runs (or it does not)? I mean, does this work? [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\Avro] @="Kali's OmicronLab Avro Keyboard" "StubPath"="regedit.exe" Maybe the issue is with the expansion of the variable %WINDIR%. Try with an already expanded path, like: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\Avro] @="Kali's OmicronLab Avro Keyboard" "StubPath"="regedit.exe /s /C:\windows\Avro_prof.reg" Or maybe there is a permission issue of some kind. Try also running the given here batch: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/173033-administrative-user-doesn’t-write-registry-settings-in-hkey-current-user/?p=1089377 jaclaz

So, the activesetup "mechanism" works fine. I still cannot see your screenshots (not that they will most probably be of any actual use) post the actual commands and registry entries that you tested (and that fail) and explain in your words what happens or what fails to happen. jaclaz

@diamant As a side note, the given reference uses the FreeDOS FDISK as it can (just like RPM) partition the second disk, of course an internal disk (this is common on many BIOS cannot be booted as "superfloppy". What the BIOS does when you switch from "SATA" to "IDE" is to change the ID of the controller, from a "specific" one to a (still specific but) IDE compatible one. The Windows setup gets this ID and "decides" which driver to load, based on info in the .inf file coupled with the actual driver. If you prefer, no matter what has been reported anywhere, there is NO way a SATA driver will be installed on a BIOS which has been set in IDE compatibility mode, unless the BIOS is seriously "botched", which, while possible in theory is very unlikely. The blackscreen with blinking cursor is usually connected to an issue in bootability of the USB stick, and can usually be solved. Acer has been reknown to (it has been debated if on purpose or by mistake) have a very "pesky" BIOS when it comes to USB booting, so it is entirely possible that the blinking cursor issue happened because of this, but the "mis-attribution" of the hard disk controller ID would be a "first time" Remember to add SMARTDRV for your DOS based attempt, and good luck with that approach . Should you have any issue, however, don't panic and dont' give up , there are several other possible ways to install an XP from a USB stick, and historically, one way or the other, we always succeeded. jaclaz

Did you try (and succeed) with NOTEPAD (as you were suggested)? http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/173033-administrative-user-doesn’t-write-registry-settings-in-hkey-current-user/?p=1089447 BTW, the images you posted on sevenforum do not show here. jaclaz

Welcome to the world of automagical updates. Maybe you could do with some other version of Chromium derived browser (without the autoupdate), though I doubt that: I mean, Windows 7 64 bit (not necessarily the "Professional" edition) is probably now representing 25% or more of installed OS's, while it is very possible that either MS or Google have botched your system through an update, I doubt that currently this incompatibility exists "by design" Do you have a link to this page? jaclaz

The good news are that both "Patch files" and "Othoelha silent installation" (whatever this is) are now seemingly out of the equation. jaclaz

Well, maybe it does look "perfect" on a teeny-tiny 2-to-10 inches screen with a single app full-size (which sounds the only way the good MS guys think their stupid OS should be used). jaclaz

No prob. jaclaz

Just to keep everything as together as possible, a nice reply by aphelion has been posted on the "other" thread: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/172704-has-anyone-had-the-cleartype-tuner-work-for-multiple-monitors/ jaclaz

I am particularly rusty on VBA, however I happened (while attempting to write *another* thing) to find a piece of nice VBA code for opening files, here: http://forums.codeguru.com/showthread.php?499395-Reading-binary-files-in-VBA-quickly! which I of course right away stole for my project. As often happens, in order to understand how the snippet worked I did some tests completely unrelated to the original goal, and by pure chance I (half-@§§edly as usual) put together something that may be of actual use. Find attached a simple spreadsheet that counts bytes in a file and draws a quick graph of their frequency by value . Such graphs are normally part of some disk/file/hex editors, among them I will cite X-Ways (commercial): http://www.x-ways.net/ and (freeware) HXD: http://mh-nexus.de/en/hxd/ and sometimes are useful to analyze "unknown" files. Only very BRIEFLY tested on "smallish" files, YMMV. Have fun . jaclaz Bytecount.zip

Yep , of course "been there done that" here is the actual "howto": http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=16713 JFYI that thread more or less originated, see also this: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/81788-installing-unattended-from-a-usb-thumb-drive/?p=563654 the "whole" section: http://www.msfn.org/board/forum/157-install-windows-from-usb/ The current version of WinsetupFromUSB is however 1.4: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/120444-how-to-install-windows-from-usb-winsetupfromusb-with-gui/ http://www.winsetupfromusb.com/downloads/ and hopefully it works "better" than WinSetupFromUSB_1-0-beta7 (and BTW also includes the DPMS drivers, so, normally you should not need to integrate your drivers). The very queer thing as said is that you have the same result with the BIOS set to "IDE compatibility mode" (and if this is the case *any* "normal", "untouched" XP source should give not the 0x0000007b error - if not because of the NTDETECT.COM) or, if you prefer, there must be something not related to the SATA driver integration if the result is the same 0x0000007b with the integrated source or with the "plain" one. jaclaz

I know , the main point was, as someone else said particularly because the OP talked of a DPMS folder....and the readme.txt in it contains: OT , the DPMS.ISO could be a very good target for the COSMIAS approach . (which would allow easier "moving" it) Reboot.pro is down right now , but when it comes back it may interest you. http://reboot.pro/topic/17807-release-cosmias-a-new-approach-to-g4d-images/ in the meantime (JFYI): https://web.archive.org/web/20130507103634/http://reboot.pro/topic/17807-release-cosmias-a-new-approach-to-g4d-images/ jaclaz

It's a largish file, around 10 Mb, cannot attach it. I uploaded it on filedropper, here: http://www.filedropper.com/uniextract17 jaclaz

Which exact driver(s) are you trying to integrate with nlite (or which specific computer is it)? I mean, it makes little sense to test in virtual box something that will behave differently when (if) the actual specific hardware is detected. There are tens (or more) different SATA drivers, and the installation of the one (or the other) will be "triggered" by the install routine hardware autodetection. If you are trying to make a (almost) "universal" Windows XP install disk, you'd better go for the DriverPacks (the site does provide detailed instructions for use with nlite): http://driverpacks.net/ http://forum.driverpacks.net/index.php jaclaz

Sure, but the point remains. Do they provide free, countless bananas? It's binary, 0/1 or Yes/No. Potatoes might do jaclaz