jaclaz

I will risk some (CLEARLY OT) considerations. After the BADD ("Big Adobe Data Defraud") comes the FUDD ("Frankly Unneeded Dumb Dissertation") http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2425254,00.asp Thank goodness, someone has still some common sense, and more than that some good sense of humour : http://krebsonsecurity.com/2013/10/adobe-to-announce-source-code-customer-data-breach/ jaclaz

Sure , the suggested idea was only that informational, error or warning messages should be "objective" and "impersonal" and not express opinions (which may well be diverging). jaclaz

Or, better, "Congratulations, you are going to install a good, slim 32 bit operating system and you are smart enough to having been not convinced by all the fluff about the 64 bit OS, which is in most cases the exact same thing as a 32 bit one, only bigger, needing more RAM and prone to issues with 32 bit tools (which is what you will actually run on it 95% of the time)". jaclaz

Which filesystem is the "target for extraction" disk? Is it by any chance *NOT* NTFS? (the error seems to be an issue with the "target", it is possible that the orginal DVD makes use of symbolic links and that the target - sau it is FAT32 does not support them or that *somehow* they cannot be "translated"). Can you try with Robocopy or with STRARC? http://www.ltr-data.se/opencode.html/ jaclaz

This prompts IMHO a "side" question. I don't get it. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2686509/en-us Has anyone ever loaded a keyboard layout files from untrusted location? Seriously, I cannot even think about what a possible scenario for this is. The article refers to: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/security/bulletin/ms12-034 which (about the keyboard layout issue) refers to: http://www.cve.mitre.org/cgi-bin/cvename.cgi?name=CVE-2012-0181 So, it seems that the issue is actually a LOCAL user that could gain privileges. Not something I would lose my sleep about. jaclaz

Well, besides failing to understand WHICH "that" you tested, and WHAT is "the rest" that was covered by "that" , happy that the issue - whatever it was - is solved. jaclaz

i am not too sure about the "initial user name" , BUT for Name and Organization: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310441/en-us Maybe you mean the actual name of first profile/user, if it is that just create a new user/profile and delete the old one, see: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/151512-how-to-delete-all-logins-and-pass/ @MrJinje Certainly wiping the disk is effective , though in this specific case, it seems to me like this is not an "old" install to be "recycled", but rather a "brand new" install (on a wiped disk) that needs to be "anonymized" and then "personalized". jaclaz

In a nutshell 7z is the extension for the compression format that is very popular among those who want a more efficient than zip compression and don't want to pay for WinRar, but that is anyway very popular not only among them. It is freeware and Open Source : http://www.7-zip.org/ and doubles as an almost orthodox dual pane file manager. jaclaz

Well, actually you really can have an hybrid MBR/GPT disk : http://www.rodsbooks.com/gdisk/hybrid.html just like you can have an automatic transmission with the option of being used as manual. like: http://wikicars.org/en/Semi-automatic_transmission http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manumatic Mission accomplished! jaclaz

@MrJinje Well, searches (at least on NTFS) should be almost instantaneous (of course not with Windows Search). JFYI (if you haven't seen Ultradefrag and JKdefrag before it is unlikely that you know about this relatively new kid on the block : , Swiftsearch): http://reboot.pro/topic/18855-windows-file-search-utility-that-is-fast/ http://sourceforge.net/projects/swiftsearch/ I am pretty sure that you can appreciate the differences between the "standard" defrag and a more advanced tool , what I was saying was that once "beyond" the "standard" defrag, the comparisons between the various more advanced tools (particularly those where file placement strategy can be chosen/programmed) is not easy at all. jaclaz

As expected the initial question was a "generic" one and making use of "fake" data. As an example the following answers the original question, but it won't help you with the actual GOAL that you have (which was already changed). @ECHO OFFSETLOCAL ENABLEDELAYEDEXPANSIONFOR /L %%? IN (1,1,2) DO SET /A?=1&FOR /F %%§ IN (file%%?.txt) DO SET %%??!?!=%%§&&SET /A?+=1SET /A?-=1&FOR /L %%? IN (1,1,!?!) DO ECHO !1?%%?!,!2?%%?!I would advise you to state EXACTLY and including ALL the details, the actual GOAL you have, provide as much background about the question as possible and provide some "non fake" data. jaclaz

WHICH identifying information? jaclaz

WHICH "hidden" partition? (you didn't list any). Your disk is clearly MBR (otherwise Windows XP won't boot from it). The choice between MBR or GPT is presented when the disk is to be "initialized". There is no real reason to have a GPT disk for a 1 Tb disk. #5 is however not easily doable, you will need to change Disk Signature (and drive lettering in the Registry). jaclaz

Very, very different from the defrag C: -a -v suggested in the given link : http://www.howtohaven.com/system/vistadefragmentation.shtml jaclaz

Sure , VirtualBox should do alright, cannot say about WINE. If you install an XP inside a Virtualbox and connect to it the \\Physicaldrive (the "old" 80 Gb), you can run in XP WINNT32.EXE with the adequate parameters: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/77526-installing-xp-on-vaio-wo-cd-or-floppy/?p=527214 The "offline install" approach should be the easiest/most straightforward. SInce it is a "really" old machine you shouldn't have issues with SATA drivers (I am presuming that the machine and the 80 Gb disk are IDE/PATA). jaclaz

Something else, set apart your fair certainty? http://www.howtohaven.com/system/vistadefragmentation.shtml The "issue" is that anything where fragments are 64 Mb or more is considered "contiguous". @MrJinje Have you actually read what is listed as "Pro"? on that site: Seriously, before starting the usual flamewar about which defragmenting utility is better, there are several freeware ones available, besides running a ful defrag from command line, more or less each of them does what is needed, and the actual differences in results between any two of them are one of those things that only a few experts may (please note the dubitative form) be able to understand/benchmark/compare properly. Other well known tools are: http://ultradefrag.sourceforge.net/en/index.html http://www.kessels.com/jkdefrag/ jaclaz

Yes/no. Meaning that there is a known (easy) method that makes use of (simple) DOS and the "good ol'" WINNT.EXE, BUT needs a FAT formatted volume, you can get the general idea from here: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=16713 OR you need to first create a PE of some kind and from it run WINNT32 or WINNTSETUP: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/149612-winntsetup-v23/ There is even a further method, still using WINNT32, but it needs to be run on another PC running XP or similar, preparing the hard disk as "offline install". There is a possible workaround using PLoP as bootmanager on the internal hard disk (PLoP has a built-in USB stack that *normally* allows for booting from USB on motherboards for which there is no provision in BIOS): http://www.plop.at/ Additionally latest-latest EXPERIMENTAL versions of grub4dos do have a "own" USB stack (version 0.4.6a): http://code.google.com/p/grub4dos-chenall/downloads/list And then use any among the various "Install XP from USB" methods/tools: http://www.msfn.org/board/forum/157-install-windows-from-usb/ I doubt that you managed on a Linux box to make a NTFS filesystem that has a bootsector invoking NTLDR (and possibly a valid MBR code) as - generally speaking - Linux tools tend to partition/format without creating the MS boot code in either the MBR or the bootsector, but you could easily substitute those with a grub4dos installation to the MBR+hidden sectors (bootlace.com should have no issues under Linux with installing grldr.mbr). Once managed to boot from grub4dos, it could be easier to use a PE, even if booted from a mounted .iso or .img (still residing on the 80 Gb hard disk), but still you need a MS Windows running to make the PE. Do you have another machine running 2K/XP (or later) to which you can connect that hard disk? jaclaz

That is a "known" issue, in some cases installing the whole mass of bloat that Internet Explorer 8 represents is needed, in some cases it is just a matter of updating the updater utility. Some useful links here: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/windows/en-US/95b492d1-26e2-41bb-a7e5-86bb938997a1/xp-sp3-windows-update-error-number-0x8024d001?forum=itproxpsp It is one of those thing that noone actually managed to get the actual reason why (and proper fix) AFAIK. This one should be the "official" method : http://support.microsoft.com/kb/968002/en-us jaclaz

Yep, and: http://securityaffairs.co/wordpress/18645/hacking/d-link-backdoor.html and : OT (cannot really say if meaning off or on topic ) some news on US government IT: http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/10/why-us-government-it-fails-so-hard-so-often/ A lot of pure bull§hit in the article, like the crazy idea that somehow Vista or 7 are actually better than XP (and even than Server 2003) and that 50ish guys should be better replaced by kids , but interesting on the "state of the art", particularly about the new EE mail system the government uses now. In this snippet: you can replace "federal IT" with "Windows 8" or "Surface" and "government" with "Microsoft" without losing any accuracy. jaclaz

Paying nearly 100 Bucks for an 8 Gb (VERY, VERY slow) USB 2 stick with a fancy numerical keyboard? Adequate if you really have some secrets and you are paranoid about them (otherwise any common encryption software is more than enough) and you actually *need* NIST FIPS certification. Come on . However it is seemingly a re-branded Apricorn Aegis: http://www.apricorn.com/products/hardware-encrypted-drives/aegis-secure-key.html by the good guys from portableapps.com jaclaz

The issue is slighlty different. I am not familiar with Parallels, so the following is just "generic" info. A "Virtual Machine" has *somehow* to emulate "real hardware", i.e. it needs to create "virtual hardware". As an example Qemu emulates a virtual hardware that comprises a "standard" BIOS and chipset and more than anything else a "standard" PCI IDE interface for mass storage. XP will use in Qemu the "Standard Dual PCI IDE" driver, which is of course included in any XP source. Another virtual machine, let's say VmWare, uses a LSILogic compatible "virtual hardware" and XP does not have by default those drivers. http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=2241 so that you need to "add" them (integrating them or using a "virtual F6 floppy" at install time). Creating the image on another PC is good only for "practice", because each XP installation is "customized" on a given hardware and (though possible) moving it on different hardware is complex. On the other hand, if you follow the idea of wimb's "universal XP" (or "hardware learning" XP) you will add (besides some space occupied by the driverspacks) a layer of complexity, whilst the original scope was "as simple as possible". jaclaz

Excellent, it sums up perfectly the experiences of a lot of people, confirming how the good ol' pen computing was not that bad. I will expand on it, re-stating how my personal experience with the Compaq Concerto was exceptionally good. The thingy had BOTH a keyboard and the pen (as replacement of the mouse) BUT allowed to connect instead of the built-in (and anyway not at all bad/flimsy) keyboard any "standard" PS/2 keyboard and mouse. Additionally had a VGA out (the thing had a greyscale display, but the graphic card output was colours). That was like 1994 - almost 20 years ago - I could carry with me the little thingy (including the keyboard), I could hook it up *anywhere* on "standard" peripherals, there was no "new training" involved, it ran a "standard" Windows 3.11, i.e. the same thing that we had on our desktops, had no need for fancy "gestures", i.e. I could use it as a laptop, as a tablet (I remember using it with a custom made Excel spreadsheet to quickly check an inventory by walking with it in a warehouse and checking on the pre-made list - but also jolting down "new" item descriptions), I could use it as a "brick PC", and it wasn't even particularly slow (486DX33 and 8 Mb of RAM) when compared to common desktops. It was at the time VERY expensive, much more expensive than the correspondent "traditional laptop" that was the Compaq Contura, but IMHO worth all the money that was paid for it. At the time the idea was evidently "let's give to an user on the move the SAME capabilities of a desktop and some more", so that the customer can do the same things he can do on a desktop in an as comfortable as possible environment while he is out of the office. Nowadays it seems like the idea is "let's remove from the desktop any useful feature so that the user can experience in the office the same reduced/limited environment available out of it". jaclaz

I'll just throw this on the table (before hiding my hand behind my back ). Pygments: http://pygments.org/ has a lexer for .reg files: http://pygments.org/docs/lexers/#lexers-for-non-source-code-file-types jaclaz

As rule of thumb, in the good ol'times of Bart's PE Builder, there was a saying like "Oh, no, it's a DELL". For some strange reasons DELL install CD's have a few modifications that need to be fixed to build a PE from them, it is possible that some of the same modifications *somehow* alter the working of nlite, since it involves a permission on a "services" key in the Registry SETUPREG.HIV. http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=15138 http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=15138&st=29 jaclaz

Naah, if you are going through the wimb's app, just follow the instructions (they are complex, due to the number of options available , but they can all in all perfectly be followed with some patience and attention). You can make the VHD the "default" 2GB, using this approach: http://reboot.pro/topic/18547-vhd-xp-setup-install-xp-in-vhd/ and after enlarge it (I don't remember if there is an option to make bigger than 2 Gb .vhd's from within the program). The issue you may be facing is the availability in the "source" XP CD/iso of the appropriate Mass Storage drivers (if any needed) for your "Parallels" environment. You may want to NOT install the "whole" driverspack, but rather just the needed driver (in order to save some space). jaclaz