spacesurfer

use imagex. do your search. if you're trying to make a smaller install, you probably are out of luck as imagex images are optimized so that a file in all the images is only copied once. thus, don't think that having 6 versions in one image means it's 6 times as big and deleting 4 images will reduce the install size.

Do you have any other computers or is this the only computer you have? Seems you must have access to another computer as you are posting here. Anyway, you could take the challenge and build a bartpe cd. Or search for UBCD for windows. you might be able to download ubcd for windows. it will give you an xp like interface and might have some tools you can use to diagnose. i seriously think you should do a clean install as well. this will ensure the correct drivers are installed and there are no incompatibilities. also, just run the setup from the CD. enable boot from CD from your bios or set your CD to boot first. it should let you delete all partitions and create let you do a clean install. HOWEVER, your major question is that your CD is an upgrade. XP Setup make ask you to provide proof of a prev version of windows, i think. that's how the prev versions worked. If so, keep you ME Cd handy and put it in when asked.

belarc advisor. google for it. there's a free version. great tool and inventories your system as well.

What I do is designate a drive that has all my programs (my programs partition is K:). In K:, I have a hidden file called programs.tag. then, I have the script look for the programs.tag and assign it a variable %programs% and run the install from that. Do the same for drivers, although it's %programs%\drivers\ and not a dedicated partition for drivers.

use the makecab command to compress it. makecab shell32.ddl and you should get a file called shell32.dl_ then, use an iso editor, such as ultraiso or magiciso or poweriso, and just add it and replace the existing shell32.dl_ with your shell32.dl_.

you don't have to integrate anything but sp3 and post-sp3 updates (see link below). ie7 can be integrated with nLite without any add-on. i haven't had a problem integrating it. just add the ie7 exe to your list of updates/hotfixes and it should do it for you. you may want to organize your updates based on release date, however.

Okay, thanks for link, Schloss. I RMA'd and got my new card yesterday. I'm back to shooting my HD videos of my little newborn again!! Is there any way to disable formatting the card in XP, maybe perhaps by the serial number?

I believe it's in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon of registry. I can't remember exact key that needs to be added although I have a machine set up at home with autologon. will look at my home computer if you need this info.

you could use third party app and format offline (like bartpe or partition magic boot floppy - who had this anymore?) but you won't be able to boot either xp or vista and boot info for both os's are in your first drive and first primary active partition. but really, in order to get a clear picture of your system setup, you need to tell us if you have xp/vista dual boot, where each one is installed and how are the drive letters assignments when you boot the two os's.

Thanks.

Search for google packs. It includes Norton Antivirus - a standalone. Unlike installable norton products, this is good - it can be used for bartpe or ubcd. it will download the most recent av updates. also, all the reviews of 2009 norton products have been good as symantec has redesigned all their apps to take on an insignificant footprint. i know this will raise eyebrows here but it's worth a look.

Considering that you have 7 posts, we really don't know your experience level. So I hope the questions below don't undermine your capabilities: How did you slipstream? Manually or nLite? If manually, describe your steps so we can get an idea if something went wrong here. Did you create an ISO after slipstreaming? How did you burn the slipstreamed version to the CD? Did you get any feedback that the slipstream process was successful? Also, I believe you can slipstream SP3 to an SP0 XP. Am I wrong? But you can't install SP3 to an SP0 XP install. You have to install SP2 first, then SP3.

I was also thinking activedesktop. try disabling active desktop

You might also be interested in this: Windows XP Post-SP3 Updates. See my signature.

Updated with September updates. Includes 1 XP update and 2 for Windows Media updates.

You are talking about "My Computer" not showing in the Office Applications, right? If so, then open any office app. Click on Open. Navigate to "My Computer". then click on tools. Click on "Add to My Places". This is for Office Apps only. It will not add to general OS open dialog. Also, in Office Apps, you can have more than 5 places, unlike the general OS dialog limit of 5.

You just need a standard network cable (not sure what it's called - CAT5 cable or something like that) but it is possible. What you need to do is connect one router to the other, then go into the first's router settings using your gateway and you need to tell the first router all the IP addresses that the second uses and make it available like using a switch. Each router's configuration is different so you need to read the manual or download one for your model and look in the section where it tells you how to connect another router.

Comes up as $9.99 for me after I click "Secure Checkout". I of course did not click on "Checkout Now" after filling the form cause I don't need to purchase it. Did you get the message after actually clicking on "Secure Checkout" (1st step) or "Checkout Now" after filling your address, credit card info?

Okay, you are right! The site is safe. You can actually go to the main website http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/ and click on "Buy Now" and it will take you to your cart with $10 for Acronis. Well worth your 10 dollars.

can someone verify this is a safe site?

Haven't done extensive testing in Vista but with XP, I've used ImageX with success and with some snafus. On my laptop, which only has one partition, I have backed up my install and recovered with ImageX without formatting. It works well but your registry will be reverted to the previous one, of course; and your prog files, although present, will not launch, in lieu of missing registry entries. On my desktop, I actually tried to format the partition, then recover for a dual-boot XP setup but I had problems logging on after recovery saying my profile was not accessible. I had to boot to BartPE, format, then recover and it worked fine. As far as choosing a good product, Acronis True Image is a fine product. What I love about it is that you can create a bootable media CD or flash disk; then you can perform all the backup tasks using the bootable media, even if it's not actually installed on your OS. I like that as I don't like too many unnecessary progs on my OS. The best all time app is Norton Ghost 2003 version. It can run from a floppy or a virtual floppy image! Disadvantage is it doesn't support incremental backups or differential backups.

Yes, I know it works but if you want to ensure drive letters are assigned correctly, you might have to. As far as the boot files, they will be loaded to you active primary partition. That's ACTIVE, PRIMARY partition. So, before you begin your install, make sure your C: drive is your active and primary partition.

First, before you install windows, you need to disconnect the extra drive so it can't been seen by Windows setup. Then, after you boot into windows setup, if the wrong partition gets assigned C:\, then you will not be able to install Windows to the partition you want because setup does not allow you to reassign drive letters. I suggest you copy all data from that extra partition to your second drive, then in windows setup, format whole drive and recreate the partitions. This ensures that your first partition of your first drive gets assigned C:\. I'm not sure if Partition Magic or other similar third party apps will let you reassign drive letters. If they do, it's worth a shot.

Well, not exactly. Most offer ways to reset your password but it's a hassle. Most passwords are to sites like MSFN - they're not that important (except MSFN of course); but I have many that are financial sites like banks, credit cards, etc. Of course, I do have the passwords memorized for important sites but Roboform makes life simpler - that's all.

Yes! VirtualBox was amazingly fast compared to VPC on my desktop. :-) However, it's not compatible with Comodo Firewall 3.0. :-( Still haven't found out why Comodo won't run on VBox XP. If I find a solution, I would definitely switch to VBox.