jaclaz

If you are happy with it, that's good. I never said it was "needed", I said "handy", and, had you simply tested it, you would have found my statement to be accurate. jaclaz

You'll have to explain how comes that the invisible box where I put that little devil in makes loud "meows" from time to time. Grofluigi's approach is IMHO the most sensible one (cleaning from time to time and anyway when needed the "USB related" parts of the Registry). I find this one a very handy tool for it: http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/usb_devices_view.html jaclaz

Or use the offline registry library (and tool): http://reboot.pro/11212/ http://reboot.pro/11312/ jaclaz

@Multibooter Isoinfo is also for Win32 allright, it is a "companion app" of mkisofs, part of the cdrtools, OT but not that much: http://reboot.pro/12406/ And I have to correct you, if jaclaz had searched for such an utility and didn't find it, then .... Is something I simply never had a need for, since .iso are read only, for the ones that I need to have a list of the contents I have always created a text index for them, which is pretty much "static" . It is perfectly possible that such an utility to search inside .iso does exist. All in all it could be something like the mentioned zipfldr.dll. About drive letters, you should be aware that since 2K it is possible to have mountpoints to folders (and not to drive letters), it is a "general feature" of NTFS. If you don't "like" NTFS, you can have anyway a very small NTFS volume and use it as "collector" of mountpoints. You can use disk management : http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307889/en-us or command line: http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/mountvol.mspx?mfr=true jaclaz

Confirmed. Here: (latter includes actual tested command line parameters). jaclaz

There are TWO things that seems to me "not kosher" though cannot say if they can make a difference. is not a "valid" name (or there is a typo for .\boot\etfsboot.com) Usually the switch -u2 is used for Windows 7 install disks. In other words, if I were you I would try full paths and -u2 (though canot say if this will create issues with the XP setup, in which case you can try with -u1 ): oscdimg -u2 -bC:\Win_Installer\boot\etfsboot.com -l"WINDOWS_AIO_SETUP" -h -m C:\Win_Installer C:\WIN_AIO_TEST.ISO jaclaz

How EXACTLY do you create the.iso? With WHICH tool? With WHICH EXACT command lines? (BTW, and as a "general" advice, sometimes when these "queer" errors start inexplicably to appear, it makes a lot of sense to start again from scratch) As a side note, maybe - if the use of grub4dos is "allowed" - you can replicate what has been done for USB disk/sticks installs: http://reboot.pro/8043/ jaclaz

...really ? Try guessing WHO originally pointed fdv to the work by Damian Bakowski? Point was simply that you can have the SFC runnning (but checking an empty file list) OR disable the checking, and it makes no difference (once the checking is disabled) to have it NOT check a "populated" or an empty list. And, if you can forfait a drive letter, there is an even cleaner (IMHO) trick: http://www.vorck.com/windows/xpsp4.html @Multibooter You can mount .iso's to virtual folders (different from the "usual" virtual drives that will need a drive letter): http://www.pismotechnic.com/pfm/ap/ Or you could use isoinfo or similar to index the contents. jaclaz

Naah, that is the way to COMPLETELY disable it, simpler (and IMHO enough) is just empty sfcfiles.dll : http://www.vorck.com/windows/xpsp4.html http://www.vorck.com/windows/software.html no hacked files, a single filed replaced, SFC continues running and check just an empty list. jaclaz

Good to see you around and know everything is fine. But don't be too proud about hard disk manufacturer change, though the 7200.11 (and to some extents the 7200.12) have been total crap, we do have the deskstar/deathstar preceding issue: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hitachi_Deskstar so I won't bet against the possibility that sooner or later another disk manufacturer will fall in a similar issue. jaclaz

You are not the only one: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=dumb%20phone http://news.yahoo.com/stubborn-pride-dumbphone-owners-171852131.html http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/PR_pro_I_own_a_dumb_phoneand_Im_proud_of_it_11560.aspx and a nice picture from the latter: jaclaz

I'll put the seed for a nice flamewar (the usual NT vs. 98, NTFS vs. FAT32, King Kong vs. Godzilla one) starting from a statement by Multibooter : You are talking like you were an editor making a review of a couple "new" OS's. You are - just like most of MSFN members, an OS tweaker! It is 10 years + we do have XP, and we do have "fixes" for most if not all it's drawbacks (as much as we have them for Win98). You don't want the stupid search look into .zip's? Get rif of zipfldr.dll . You want to compare Search speed between 98 (on FAT16/FAT32) to that of XP (on NTFS)? Get rid of the stupid XP search and get a good app (some examples): http://reboot.pro/index.php?showtopic=6848 , Come on , there are tens of things that suck big , both in 9x/Me and in NT/2K/XP (not necessarily the same ones ), but for almost *any* of them there is a way out/workaround/better solution! jaclaz

In the meantime I have a "logical possibility". The 2K/XP boot CD's do when booting attempt to load (or however read) the contents of the MBR, this is the way the BOOTFIX.BIN works, it checks if the disk is partitioned and if not does not prompt anything, if yes starts the five seconds timeout before booting from hard disk. This is something that most other boot CD won't do and could be the reason why booting from a XP install CD makes a difference (but of course says nothing about the actual cause, nor WHY this MBR access may make a difference) . jaclaz

Hmmm. What about "Fone+"? : http://phys.org/news98525702.html http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/07/05/16/2236230/microsoft-says-your-phone-is-your-next-pc What about this? Seriously now, news from 2002 : http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1001925,00.html jaclaz

I am not familiar with 7, but I think it works like Vista or you can try this approach (HUGE .wim): http://www.windowsvalley.com/create-windows-7-aio-all-in-one-dvd-or-merge-all-editions-of-windows-7-in-single-dvd/ Or this one : http://it.megocollector.com/?p=1510 Check also this (i presume you might need Google Translate): http://www.megalab.it/6697/windows-7-aio-il-supporto-d-installazione-unico-32-64-bit-si-crea-cosi jaclaz

At the very beginning of the first post there is printed in BIG LETTERS: Now, had you actually READ it, you might have seen how (point #3) the RECOMMENDED method to be followed is: http://www.mapleleafmountain.com/seagatebrick.html WHY would we be RECOMMENDING that guide and not first post of this thread? BECAUSE it is CLEARer, it is step-by-step, has detailed images (including those of connections), and more generally, unlike the first post of this thread it includes a number of "tricks" and suggestions that were found out after the first thread was initiated. In any case even in first post, the reference to the "yellow" cable is in the context of "how to power the USB/TTL or Serial/TTL converter" and has NOTHING to do with powering the HD. Try re-reading the whole part in this highlighted version: The idea was to prevent people from frying the adapter by supplying it 12V instead of the 3 or 5 V required by it (depending on adapter model) jaclaz

It is very possible that nlite does not support MUI releases as these are normally "corporate only" and nlite is NOT for commercial use. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/goglobal/bb688178 If it's a OEM MUI, the OEM may have introduced even more changes/whatever that may cause nlite to choke, the "subinacl" fix - if I get it right - is the one needed on some DELL OEM versions : http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=15138&st=29 jaclaz

Naah : IC=Home IP=Pro The guide IS about having BOTH Home and Pro in a multboot DVD, though http://flyakite.msfn.org/xphomesp1.htm http://flyakite.msfn.org/xpprosp1.htm Explore the D:\ here: http://flyakite.msfn.org/mydvdlayout.htm jaclaz

Yes. BUT .....(isn't there always a but? ) The idea (that you are strongly advised to follow, though most probably seemingly more complex) is: FORGET (temporarily) whatever you have read, here an elsewhere, on the XP install topic FOLLOW (to the T) the given guide (adapting it to the various XP's you may have) and "to the T" means DO NOT introduce ANY change of ANY type to the given procedure hopefully you should be able to have a separate DVD capable of booting ONLY the XP's THEN, (only once you have succeeded in replicating the guide) introduce your own variation (making use of the 7 BOOTMGR) It is seemingly longer, but since quite a few steps are involved in replicating what is explained on the cited guide, IF - by any chance - you commit a mistake in any of the step (and/or anything needs to be tweaked for XP SP3) AND add to it your variation in one go, noone will be able to help you as the possible issue cannot be "traced" back to either the guide, your replicating it or your introdiced variation. jaclaz

That is the advised approach. The original theory of MS is that you have one (and only one) primary partition and one (and in this case only one is possible anyway) extended partition containing all the other volumes. And yes, you can have four primary partitions but unless *needed* for *any* other reason, this way you will *never* be able to change the partitioning scheme without deleting at least one partition (as you will have all 4 entries in the MBR "occupied"). Please take note that - as soon as you can - you *must* have an install CD slipstreamed to the SAME SP that is installed, otherwise in case of trouble the "repair" won't work. jaclaz

Try asking yourself this question: Is "copy" an internal or an external command? Then you will probably also understand why it desn't start. A general good "rule of the thumb" is to ALWAYS provide a "title" to the start, see: http://ss64.com/nt/start.html About your other question read first: http://www.robvanderwoude.com/ntfor.php http://www.robvanderwoude.com/ntfortokens.php jaclaz

Well, then you have NO 48 bit LBA access (and you are prone to all kinds of related problems): http://support.microsoft.com/kb/305098 The best choiice IMHO is to create an integrated SP4 2K cd and re-do form start the install. jaclaz

Plenty of them. The XP Setup is HARDCODED to <root>\I386. BUT, the solution to this issue has been found since several years, you evidently missed the good ol' guide: http://flyakite.msfn.org/ jaclaz

As Bloubul said try connecting it directly, additionally, and in any case, DISABLE autoplay for the USB. Basically, the "recovery" procedure in most cases renders the disk as it was before (usually when the "reason" why it was bricked was actually the original "firmaware log at position 320") but in many case, for a numebr of reasons, once "unbricked", partitions and/or filesystem on it may not be anymore recognizable. In this case (and IF this is the case, it means that you MUST have a non 0 result in BIOS when the dik is connected directly to the motherboard, i.e. the disk is not still - or has reverted to - LBA0 state) the next steps are: imaging the RAW disk recover the partition(s), filesystem(s) and if this cannot be done, attempt recovering the files (the above is fully "software" and not anymore "hardware") jaclaz

Sorry, my bad , posted the "wrong" link, Bloubul posted the right one , that's exactly what I meant. (getting old, and forgetful.... ) jaclaz