spacesurfer

If you installed Vista by booting from CD, it will alway make it the C: drive. If installed by starting setup from within windows, it will make itself whatever drive letter it is installed to. You cannot change that. You should not change drive letters for Vista and XP. Leave them as they are. The other drive letters can be changed so they are consistent in both Vista and XP by right clicking my computer --> manage --> disk management --> assign the drive letters you want by right clicking on the partition.

Before you ask, please use the search function. All of your questions have been asked before and there is plenty of info here. How to restore bootloader - that was answer by Neo in post 5 in this post. How to use grub - did you check my sig - all the links are there.

Here's another called myFirefox. This one and Vista Aero are probably the two best IE7 look-a-like skins. Very well done.

My xp size is 12 gb and vista (which i no longer use) was 20 gb. everything else (music, programs, documents) reside on other partitions.

No, you don't need bartpe to dual boot if you are simply installing xp, then vista as mentioned in post 7. if you repartition and lose the ability to boot, then you need to either restore the bootloader or use grub to boot.

Being able to use various themes is a promise that MS never fulfilled (kind of like Windows Vista Extras promised with the ultimate edition). anyway, that void by MS is fulfilled by third party software companies and by users who like to skin. You don't need stylexp. You can use a patched uxtheme.dll to apply your own themes.

LMAO. How much did you search to unearth this old thread? That is quite funny. wonder if the original poster is still here.

You need to replace your orignal uxtheme.dll with a patched one. This has to be done is a PE environment (WinPE or BartPE). I'm not sure if it can be done is safe mode. file found in c:\windows\system32. MSFN unattended section also has the file for download (last time i checked - 1 year ago).

Simpler - create an iso of your original xp cd. then, using the ISO editor, delete all the files and add your new sp2 files. then save and burn. deleting all files will do nothing to the boot sector.

Update: I checked Wordpad supplied in Windows XP Professional and it can open Word .doc documents and it retains the tables. I could not find a way to create tables but it can display tables. I also tried copying and pasting a table and it worked. The Wordpad supplied in Vista Home Premium does not open Word .doc documents.

Type this in your autorun.inf: autorun.inf [autorun] open=%windir%\explorer.exe icon=usb.ico This works for me. It opens the folder and displays the icon I want. I have the icon and autorun.inf file system, readonly, hidden attribs (so viruses will not hijack your autorun.inf file and it remain invisible. type this in command prompt: attrib +s +h +r autorun.inf attrib +s +h +r usb.ico

Create your folder "c:\Myfolder". Then in command prompt, type "attrib +s +h +r C:\Myfolder". This will make it a system folder - meaning it's hidden (even when viewing hidden files and folder), but it's visible when viewing hidden system files. Otherwise, you can't make a folder to add to control panel unless you write an extension.

You need a good PDF program in order to maintain the formatting. The gold standard is the full Adobe Acrbat but it's huge and expensive. Using a third party, inexpensive program - some formatting may be lost. But most, I assume, do a decent job. For Office 2007, you can download a plugin that can do it. You have to install the Word viewer program. It's not portable (meaning a version you can execute without installing.) All of your users will have to install the viewer to view the docs in their original formatting. Moreover, it's just a viewer, not an editor. They will not be able to make any changes.

leadboots - those instructions are NOT "slipstreaming" in the same context we understand it. This is the same as has been mentioned above already.

Your question is in the wrong section. Anyway, no need for openoffice. Use the Office Viewers (free download): http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/download...=CH011085901033. They can view the office documents but not change them.

Link no longer works - MS problem: Here's an excerpt from Microsoft TechNet (http://technet2.microsoft.com/Office/en-us/library/2ce70869-aa75-4a73-9c9b-8b74001f1c3c1033.mspx?mfr=true): Updates folder If you are deploying an initial installation of the 2007 Office release and you also need to deploy 2007 Office release software updates, Setup can apply them as part of the initial installation process. If you are installing 2007 Office release after 2007 Office release product updates have been released, it is recommended that you store those updates in the \Updates folder; you can store the updates for any Office-related products that reside in the installation point in the \Updates folder. During the initial installation, Setup checks the \Updates folder for patches (MSP files) relevant to the 2007 Office release product being installed and applies the first patch during the installation. The first patch is determined by sorting the file names alphabetically. The remaining patches in the \Updates folder are installed at the end of the installation. If you are installing a customization patch, you may have to change its file name to ensure that it is installed first. Setup identifies the customization MSP file that typically resides in the \Updates folder during initial deployment. If the \Updates folder contains multiple MSP files, the files are applied in alphabetical order, by file name. Setup detects customization patches at the beginning of the setup process and passes the patches directly to Microsoft Windows Installer as it installs the Windows Installer (MSI) files for the product. This ensures that the proper Option states and other settings specified by the administrator are established before applying the product patches. As a result, users receive the latest updates along with Office.

If you were booting Windows XP and repartitioned your system, Windows XP will boot without complaining. However, if you have Vista installed and repartition your system, then Vista may not boot. The reason is Vista booting is tied to a unique GUID. The unique GUID is determined (partly) by the partition offset. If the partition offset changes, then the GUID is no longer the same and Vista will not boot. You can fix this but it's an annoyance to have to fix it. I'm not too sure of this but theoretically, it's the beginning partition offset that is used to calculate the GUID, not the ending. Therefore, you could shrink a Vista volume to free space at the end. But if you move the beginning position of the Vista partition, then the GUID would be affected. Therefore, it's recommended that you be careful not to repartition. For more information, see http://www.multibooters.co.uk/.

Try installing Link Layer Topology Discovery protocol (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=4F01A31D-EE46-481E-BA11-37F485FA34EA&displaylang=en) if it's not already installed. Without this installed on XP machines, XP machines do not show up in Vista and installing this update solves the problem. Maybe this will also work for 2003.

Ummm, it's pretty easy. You don't need step-by-step directions if you've installed before. Simply start XP installation. Go ahead and create your 3 partitions you mentioned from the XP setup: first for XP, second for Vista, and third for documents. Determine how much space you'll need for XP and Vista before you start. Otherwise, repartitioning may render Vista incapable of booting (unlike XP, which will boot). Vista needs at least 12 gb (I'd give it 15 - 20 gb; for a drive with 500 gb capacity no need to be stingy). Let XP install. Start Vista installation. Tell it to install to second partition. It should do everything automatically. It will setup it's boot manager automatically so you can boot either XP or Vista. That's all there is to it. I use grub4dos bootloader to boot XP and Vista. Using grub4dos avoids those repartitioning mishaps with Vista which relies on the GUID to boot. See links in my signature for multi-booting with Grub4Dos, if you're interested. I would get very familiar with it first before attempting to do it. (And yes, installing XP first will be the easiest method as you won't have to fix the bootloader. Vista is capable of booting XP but XP is not capable of booting Vista. Therefore, you want to install Vista last as it will install it's bootloader which can boot XP.)

Office 2007 does not have the integration (or slipstreaming) feature. Integration into the source is the old way according to MS. The new way to install updates is as mentioned by Dynaletik (in post above). Put the updates in the Updates folder and it will install. This has been mentioned in the White Paper by MS here: http://office.microsoft.com/search/redir.a...=AM102512381033.

According to MS, how to integrate SP3 hasn't changed, so here are instructions on how with SP3: The Integrated Installation If you already have the version of Windows XP that does not include a service pack, you can apply the service pack directly to the Windows XP installation files. You can complete the integrated installation by using a shared distribution folder on a network. Because the integrated installation replaces individual files, the space requirements for this installation are nearly identical to the space requirements for Windows XP. For information about these requirements, see Readme.htm on your version of the Windows XP product CD that does not include the service pack. The following scenario explains how to use Update.exe to build the integrated installation. It then explains how to run Setup to install Windows XP with the service pack already applied. Because this guide is intended for corporate audiences, the integrated scenario it describes focuses on the use of shared distribution folders on networks, which is the most common distribution medium for this audience. Important A service pack that you installed as part of an integrated installation with Windows XP cannot be removed. If you are upgrading from Windows versions other than Windows XP, and you want to install SP2 integrated with Windows XP, check with the manufacturer of your computer about upgrading your BIOS before you proceed. Creating an installation of Windows XP integrated with the service pack This section explains how to create an integrated installation of Windows XP and the service pack in a shared distribution folder on a network. The integrated Windows XP Setup includes the service pack files as part of the normal set-up process. The steps in this procedure use example file locations for creating an integrated installation of Windows XP Professional. You can follow similar conventions for Windows XP Home Edition. Note In the following procedure, Drive:\ represents the drive name of the network or computer where your distribution folder is located. To create an installation of Windows XP integrated with the service pack Connect to the network or computer where you want to create the distribution folder, and then set up Drive: to correspond to the distribution folder. In the shared folder on the network, create a distribution folder for the Windows XP installation files. For example, to create a distribution folder named XPSP3_INT\PRO, type the following: mkdir Drive:\XPSP3_INT\PRO Ensure that only the system administrator has full access to this folder. Other users should have only Read and Execute permissions. Insert your version of the Windows XP product CD that does not include the service pack into the CD-ROM drive, and then copy the contents of the CD to the distribution folder that you created in Step 2. For example, to copy the installation files and folders from the Windows XP product CD in the CD-ROM drive (D:) to the distribution folder named XPSP3_INT\PRO, type the following: xcopy D:\ Drive:\XPSP3_INT\PRO /E Remove the product CD from the CD-ROM drive, and then insert the service pack CD. If you want to store these files locally (described in “The Standalone Installation” earlier in this guide), you can extract the service pack source files from XPsp3.exe and put them in a folder on your hard disk. If you do not want to store these files locally, skip this step. The installation will put the files in the default location. The default location is randomly chosen and determined by the installation. For example, to extract the service pack files located in the CD-ROM drive (D:) to a folder named temp on the drive where the distribution folder is located, you would type the following: D:\ XPsp3.exe /X: Drive:\temp If you extracted the files, you can apply the service pack to the Windows XP installation files located in the folder named XPSP3_INT\PRO by typing the following: Drive:\temp\i386\update\update.exe /Integrate:Drive:\XPSP3_INT\PRO For a list of command-line options that you can use with this command line, see “Command-Line Options for XPsp2.exe and Update.exe” earlier in this guide. The Setup Wizard for SP3 for Windows XP displays the progress of your installation and informs you when the installation is completed. Customize Windows XP Setup as necessary (for example, to complete an unattended installation or add OEM files). For information about how to do this, see the Microsoft Windows XP Professional Resource Kit Documentation at Windows Deployment and Resource Kits, and Microsoft Windows Preinstallation Reference Help (Ref.chm) included in Deploy.cab on your CD in the \Support\Tools folder. You can now deploy Windows XP to multiple computers from the shared distribution folder in either attended or unattended Setup mode. During the standard installation process, Setup installs the operating system with the service pack already applied. For more information about this, see the Microsoft Windows Corporate Deployment Tools User's Guide (Deploy.chm) included in Deploy.cab in the \Support\Tools folder on your Service Pack 3 CD. Important When you run the Update.exe program for an integrated installation (as described earlier), a Spslpsrm.log file is created automatically in systemroot on the computer that is running the Update.exe program. If you plan to update more than one version of Windows XP on this computer, rename the Spslpsrm.log file after you update each version. This ensures that you do not overwrite the current log file when you update additional versions of Windows XP. Source: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb457085.aspx

Tried BitDefender Internet Security 2008 on Vista Ultimate - had trouble getting to run after it installed.

How to network and share files is a long topic. Fortunately, there are many sites on the internet that take you step-by-step how to share files/folders and the printer. See this one for example, http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/247. It's pretty thorough. Just google and you will find lots of hits. Then refine your search to network with a crossover cable, if that is what you are trying to do. If not, then you should have a router that does that.

On my physical system, I'm using NIS 2007, but I'm trying out the new version of Comodo firewall 3.0 in a Virtual PC 2007 with Vista installed. It's got some good new features that I have yet to play around, like being able to specify which files/folders are secure. One negative, which is bugging me, is I can't find a list of application that have access to internet in one central place. Otherwise, the graphics UI has been improved from 2.0, it looks more polished than the cheap UI of 2.0.

Did you say you had files encrypted and then YOU FORMATTED AND REINSTALLED XP!!?? Oh boy! You lost the encryption data in the profile you used to encrypt the files. You see, encryption in XP works off of a profile. It's connected to the profile. Thus, another person logged on (a different profile) cannot access that file. When you formatted and reinstalled, you lost the keys that would allow you to read those encrypted files. How to get it back??? I'm not sure. do a search on recovering encrypted files. I think it might cost you money to recover encrypted files. Basically, you were playing around with file encryption but didn't know the implication of formatting and/or deleting user profiles (or for your situation formatting the system).