Randy Rhoads

Well, the Messenger was a reach, but im pretty sure that IE5 and DirectX 7 are installed by default anyway so one may as well have the latest versions of these as websites, games, and some apps have long since past them by.

I see people have been making suggestions on what to borrow from other OS's and if you get anything added see if you can add the XP "Quick" format options in 2K. Add me to the fan club of adding IE 6 into the service pack as well. By the time you do all windows updates anything you may not like about IE6 will be sneaked in through there anyway. If you hate it that bad then why are you even using IE at all? Just use Firefox if your that paranoid. Things like MSN Messenger 7 and Direct X9 added would be nice as well. You cant even install MSN Messenger 7 untill after IE6 is installed which is just alot more to do after Windows setup. If just these 3 items were included it would save alot of time and cd space.

Basically, people are beta testing future Longhorn "features" for them now in XP. Then they can refine it once all the workarounds have been made public and apply the best method before its release.

Here is a faster way if you have it installed currently + updated and want to add current virus definitions. Browse to: C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\VirusDefs\ You will see folders named as dates like: 20050720.017 That breaks down to 7-20-2005 definitions update. Do and update to make sure its current and then open the latest dated folder, highlight all files inside that folder and compress them as a zip file. Rename the zip file to VDefHub.zip and replace the old one in your source folder with the new zip.

What i would do is 1st make it appear more glossy than the background image then have the glow around the words and graphic appear brighter when you hover the mouse over it.

Personally i use Drive Image 6, AKA version 2002 which restores the entire partition and all which is better and faster than most OEM disks that just reinstalls Windows overtop or formats and reinstalls. If the drive has enough space i always create a 2nd "D" partition with enough space to save restore image files later on. Drive Image allows you to create a bootable cd to run its image software. Once you get Windows the way you want do a defrag, boot from the cd and choose to save the image files on the D partition with the option enabled to split the images into 670MB parts. Once done i boot into Windows and use a ISO program called WinISO to create an ISO image of my Drive Image bootable CD. I then open that ISO with WinISO and add the 1st, or only, 98 image file i created and saved on the D partition, save changes and exit WinISO. With 98 there shouldnt be more than one image file anyway as its a small install and the contents get compressed pretty well if you keep the large optional installs off. If you just stick to small optional software like messengers, etc you can get 98, ME , and 2000 compressed to just one image file. If they are more than 1 then just add the 1st image file to that ISO. Now just burn the saved ISO to cd and you have a bootable restore disk. If they are more than one image file then just burn the rest of the image files as a data cd because only the 1st one needs to be bootable. Not as fancy as the OEM, but faster. Generally it should'nt take more than 15 minutes to restore a 98 install with 1 to 2 image files. The latest Drive Image 7 is now owned and supported by Symantec i think and requires .net installed before you can install the software to create the bootable cd. If you can find an older version 6 on say Ebay, etc, then its the one to use IMO. WinISO isnt free ither, but they may be freeware to to the exact same thing.

Check the bios settings for any PCI related adjustments that someone may have messed with or better yet, just load bios defaults, save changes and exit then see if that helps. Install updated motherboard chipset drivers next.

Here are 2 more. Longhorn Glass Screenshot: Longhorn Grass Screenshot: LH Glass LH Grass

Assuming you have already saved the msstyles as themes, you can use the $OEM$ method to have all themes copied over during text setup if you just have a few. These can take alot of space on the cd if you have alot and go the $OEM$ route, but the good news is they do compress well using Winrar. To make it a silent install for these using Winrar: 1.) Copy all your .themes files with matching folders inside a empty folder on the desktop. 2.) Open that folder and choose to select all objects then rightclick an object and choose "Add to archive" 3.) Once Winrar loads, choose the "Best" compression method and checkmark to "Create SFX archive" on the right. 4.) Go to Advanced tab and click the "SFX Options" button. 5.) In the General tab insert the path to extract as: %WINDIR%\Resources\Themes\ 6.) In the "Modes" tab choose Hide All in the "Silent Mode" section and choose Overwrite All in the Overwrite mode section. ** Luna theme is installed by default so that one doesnt need to be added ** Now copy the archive inside the $OEM$/$1/Install folder and use command files called by Winnt.sif or the WPI method to have them installed automatically during 1st boot. If you want one as the default theme then dont add it in the archive. Copy that one inside the $OEM$\$$\Resources\Themes section of the cd and have Winnt.sif select it.

Here is a Pulsar inspired autorun for the guys/gals who need one for a stand alone cd or dvd. Just place all of your wpi files and folders inside the supplied "WPI" folder, edit your config setup paths like the example below and burn. I included a wpi.cmd file that is already setup with the correct paths to apply a 1024x768x32@60 resolution (change that to your liking). That, hiding the command window, and applying the wpi.reg file is the only thing it does. Dont need all of the find cdrom command stuff using this as the autorun menu,which calls the needed files, is running from the cd. The cmd has a master tweak and shutdown line thats disabled. Remove the dashes in front of the commands if you want to use those. Important part: The config.js software paths need to be edited in the format below: cmd1[pn]=['%cdrom%\\WPI\\Install\\netfxsp1.exe'] The part in bold has to be done that way, the rest of the path and filename can be edited to suit your needs. Screenshot: Download File

Here are two dark ones. The Gothic has animated icons that pulsate when you hover the mouse over the words instead of the standard blinky stuff. Pulsar Screenshot: Gothic Screenshot: Download Pulsar Download Gothic

Added the 2000, Royale, and Media Center in the theme sticky. Think that should cover most of the supported Windows based uses.

Thanks, sadly all the credit goes to M$ as i just edited a few lines of text with a resource editor lol. The real ideal was from the threads about making WPI only cd's. I felt that if you only install a few small apps that use around 180MB and less of space like shown on my themes one could just throw them on the Windows cd. That way, you have the best of both worlds and it can be launched using a autorun thats already there for a purpose.

..and here is a few more. WIN2000 Screenshot: Royale Screenshot: Media Center Screenshot: Download WIN2000 Download Royale Download MediaCenter

Edited a Win2003 autorun to display Windows 2000 to replace that old ugly one and the other two are edited XP and Server 2003 original autoruns that will execute WPI.hta from the Windows cd. Method 1: If your Windows cd has already been setup to copy the files from $OEM$ then just copy everything inside there EXCEPT the Install folder into a "WPI" folder and place that and the autorun file in the root of the cd. Edit the config files that you copied inside the WPI folder to point to the Install folder inside the your $OEM$. Now you have both options to copy the files over to the drive and run it from cd and both methods share the same Install folder to save space. ========================= Method 2: If you dont have $OEM$ copy files to the drive then just setup all your wpi files to run setups from inside the root folder "WPI" and copy over the modified autorun file that matches your Windows version. You locate the area to run WPI under the "Perform additional tasks" on all 3 files. I replaced the "View Release Notes" line so its no big loss. Screenshot of the XP autorun: Download Autorun Files

Added one for Win2k3 in the original thread and will work on a 2000 Pro later tonight.

I set mine to reboot after 60 seconds so that the desktop has time to load before forcing it to shut down during the booting process. I would leave that if you install any apps or updates that normally require a restart like antivirus software, etc. If not then it probally doesnt need to reboot. To set that to 60 seconds edit the line as: REM Rebooting the sytem to finalize the installation process. shutdown.exe -r -f -t 60 -c "Windows will now restart to finish setting up your software."

Sure, i added the links in the thread above with the screenshots.

Here are a few i threw together. Alien Screenshot: XPPRO Screenshot: WIN2003 Screenshot: Download Alien Download XPPRO Download WIN2003 The files are setup to be copied to the drive and the wpi to run at 800x600x16@60 as ive had better results with that and most monitors wont explode using it.

I did posted it as a suggestion. I dont see it as a bug but as an inconvenience because it should'nt change the indentifier settings of my OS, just my icons. Its easier that i SUGGEST that it not do that in the next release than to uninstall Xpise everytime i want to update my XP source files when there is a new RVMupdate available. Thanks for the heads up on the other thread anyway.

After i installed Xpise 3.1 on my XP Pro SP2+hotfixes all was good untill i tried to apply RVMUpdatePack1.2.1 Full into my XP SP2 cd source. When you run the file _integrate.exe it reports Windows as "Xpise 3 Codename.." ,etc and the process will error saying something like "indentifer files were missing" without allowing you to complete. Once i unintstalled Xpise and rebooted it would detect XP Pro correctly and finished ok. Not sure if its your fault or his because it seems that _integrate.exe was trying to detect the Windows i was currently booted into and not the actual Windows it was going to be working on because my source hadnt been patched with your app which doesnt make any sense unless one has to be booted into a XP SP2 enviroment to use _integrate.exe. Anyway, thought ya should know.

Are you talking about where the shortcuts are pointing to? What i do is edit all the drive letters with: %systemdrive% Lets say a shortcut was pointing to a exe at: "C:\Program Files\Ahead\Nero\.." I edit the shortcut line to read: "%systemdrive%\Program Files\Ahead\Nero..." Note: Theres no : after %systemdrive% If the files are located inside the Windows directory i use: %WinDir%\ That way no matter what drive XP is installed to, C or D, etc the shortcuts will work for apps that are installed. Thats another thing, editing the shortcut line wont apply if the file its pointing to doesnt already exsist on the drive while your applying changes.

Me?, sure i edited them for Me and added them below. The IE.reg and MSbatch file are optional, the rest are required. Be sure to add the format.com if your win9x folder doesnt have one inside there. If you want to use ither the msbatch or ie.reg then add them both because i added a line in the msbatch to look for the ie.reg, or remove the lines pointing to that if you just want the msbatch. Using the msbatch will turn System Restore off automatically. You can open that and tweak the names, options, etc. They are also a MSBATCH.XPR which has the same contents of the MSBATCH.inf just renamed. My original Me OEM cd had both so im not sure if both are required so i opened the MSBATCH.XPR and added in the changes i made to my inf to match and added it as well. 3.1?.. no clue, dont even have it anymore. Windows_Me_Files.zip

There were no flaws that i know of unless you tried to boot with a slave drive, which, as i explained, doesnt need to be installed on a PC. If the drive fails because you use it to much, then you would have to do what everyone else does, buy a new/better one. Theres no use to have a slave drive connected just to collect dust. Better to wear the burner out, while under warranty, with lots of backups made, than keep it 5 years with its only job to be an extra strain on the PSU. The best plan still remains that if there were flaws using a slave drive then its as simple as booting the cd in a master drive instead. Master drives are found in every PC with a optical drive installed, there has to be, otherwise you wouldnt have a slave drive or have any issues with boot disks. Whats next?, we stop using our tires because they go flat, or we pile the miles on and buy new ones when they blow out? My last post on the matter, see above statements for any future slave drive supporters..lol.

X,Y, and Z for what? 30+ slave drives? jk.. Just edit the autoexec.bat to suit your needs.