InTheWayBoy

You can use them wherever you want...but it's illegal. I'm sure you didn't pay for it, as you said you got it from a friend. They are sold to big companies who in turn report back how many clients they use it on. And while they don't track them, you can get in trouble with them. Better to buy your own legit copy...keep you out of the wrong side of the law.

I'm not 100% sure, but I think you can use a USB floppy...

You can, but there are a few things to watch out for: 1. Dell adds extra things to their CD's, so you'll have to take that into account. They might add extra drivers (Intel SATA), extra OEM stuff (OEM Branding), and I've seen some wierd archives that have Dell in their names located in the I386 dir. They also edit some of the core files, like the TXTSETUP.SIF (To allow for the added drivers). 2. There are some files that somehow dictate the OEM Activiation you are talking about. I don't think these will get in the way, but they are custom. I've found if you are just looking to go the unattended route, and just require a custom winnt.sif you'll be fine. If you want to modify it, with nlite for instance, you might run into issues in that some files aren't normal. nlite doesn't take this into account, and it can cause problems in the end. So if you want to heavily modify it, I wouldn't suggest using it...you'll run across too many random issues.

Win2000 will always be faster...not as many 'features' sucking away your resources.

Bite the bullet and reinstall...even though M$ says upgrades are plausable, they very rarely are. When you add up all the downtine it's easier to do a reinstall...

You could look at this thread...looks like there might be an easy way using the $OEM$ folders: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=54045&hl=

Well I run one network with two DC's on it currently...both have the same user info, but aren't aware of each other (One is the new server, the other is the old...haven't swapped them out yet). In my current config, all I have to do is select the correct domain from the list and then login using just the user name...nothing more. Our naming scheme is conventional...first initial followed by last name. I don't include the @domain.lan afterwards, and all is well. So, sounds like you are still having a problem elsewhere. Either that, or I've found a way to setup a domain improperly and yet I can still use it Check your DNS situation...that might be getting in the way. Are the clients looking to the DC for DNS?

Naw...cause an upgrade CD will still boot to allow for a fresh install...you just need to show that you own a previous copy. Otherwise it's the same as an OEM or Retail copy in regards to the setup process.

I don't know how valid this is for NT4, but you should looking into implimenting a manditory roaming profile. This is a profile that is held on the server, and it supplied to the machines when they login...and since it's a Manditory Profile, it doesn't save any changes. It's essentially read-only...a user can change things while they are logged on, but when they logoff nothing gets saved. Also, RIS would be an excellent tool for you...it would allow you to boot your client PC's and install an OS over the network. But...that's an feature that came out with Win2000, so you don't get to play with that. Between Manditory Profiles, RIS, and Group Policy you could lock down the machines very easily...but that would require at least Win2000.

Sounds like you need to check your boot order in the BIOS...make sure that the CD is before your HD. Also, if this is a CD you made yourself, then you might want to double-check how you setup the boot files.

Just to clarify, we're talking about replacing the files in the I386 dir of your install source. Once you've replaced that file, any installation you do with that source will have Notepad replaced. If you want to replace it on an already installed copy of Windows, then it's a little trickier.

Not in that way...most of the 'issues' with VMWare are hardware/driver related. Otherwise it's pretty perfect.

How are you calling WPI to run...you can't just run the WPI.HTA, you have to use WPI.CMD.

All I had to do was compress the new notepad.exe into the source. I like Notepad2, which is only a single .exe, so this might not work for a multi-file replacement. Since the original notepad.exe is located in your sources I386 dir as NOTEPAD.EX_, you could just replace that with a modified version. I use jcarle's awesome compression bin, which can be found here: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...arle+compressor Just run that, drop your target file onto it...in this case we take the NOTEPAD2.EXE and rename it to NOTEPAD.EXE, and then drop it onto Compression Bin. That in turn spits out a new file, NOTEPAD.EX_. The nice thing is that this file is ready to go, so you just overwrite the original NOTEPAD.EX_ with the new one. I haven't run into any SFC errors using that method. And it's pretty simple to...you can use it for other files as well I hear.

Wow...okay, so when you change your user name it doesn't change the user profile name...that's common. The only way I know of is to make a new user, with the name you want, and then copying your old profile to that account. Try this: 1. Log off 2. Logon as Administrator 3. Create a new user, the one you want to keep. 4. Log off. 5. Log on the new user. 6. Log off. 7. Log on as Administrator 8. Right-Click My Computer and click Properties. 9. Click the Advanced tab. 10. Locate the User Profiles area in the middle, and click the Settings button. 11. In the new window, you should see a listing of user profiles. Locate your old one, and click Copy To. Point it to the new users profile folder. Before you are done click the button located in the Permitted To Use area. Enter in the new users name. 12. After the copying is done, log off. 13. Log on the new user...you should be good to go. You might be able to shorten this a few steps by not logging in as the new user once, but I think you need that. Also, be careful when making the new user. If you have already changed your old user name to the new one you wanted, then you'll need to undo that.

You can also use %SYSTEMROOT%, which resolves to your Windows dir, usually C:\WINDOWS. So for your script it would be: %SYSTEMROOT%\Cursors Saves you in case you install your OS to a something other than the default "WINDOWS" dir...

This is sweet! I was reading some of your posts on RyanVM's board about all this...I'll give it a spin tomorrow at work.

I don't know for sure about the problem, but I do know this: DisableDomainAdminAutoLogon=1 That will disable the account, but if you don't want that to happen you would think you would use this: DisableDomainAdminAutoLogon=0 Wrong...according to M$ you need to remove the whole thing...it's only a valid command if it's enabled. To disable it you gotta yank the whole thing. I know, it's pretty lame. For my UA I gave up on domain support. So now it's loads from the RIS server, installs XP and all the applications, and then I manually join it to the domain when I'm done. I found that if I tried to autojoin it wouldn't run WPI, which is what I use instead of runonceex. I'm sure there is a way around this, but I haven't had the time to find out. Maybe you'll figure it out for us

Open Explorer and configure as you like...then, go to Tools > Folder Options > View. Configure any further options you like, and then click "Apply". After that, click the "Apply To All Folders" button and then click "Yes" to the box that pops up next. That should apply your view to all folders. I usually also uncheck "Remember Each Folder's View Settings" box that is on that same tab...

Thats why I suggest removing access to the drives before the OS loads. Now, if you were to remove the drive letter like people are suggesting, that would probably work too, but I just don't trust that in the end...if Windows can access it, then in theory so could a virus or spyware.

I've seen "Native" mode in a few BIOS, which if I understand it correctly is a way to use SATA without drivers. But I have to think that would include some performance hit as well.

Only if you integrate it into the source...it seems to be hard-coded to look only on the A: if you F6.

You could also look into a boot loader, one which would hide the partitions from each other depending on what is booted. I know there are commercial applications that accomplish this, but I bet there are some freeware ones too. I keep hearing about this XOSL, but never had a chance to try it out. If you don't prevent access, then viruses and other nasties can and will propigate to the other. I would suggest trying to remove access even before the OS loads.

Sounds like the profiles might have manditory or read-only status...so they load and can change settings but not save them. If these are connected to a domain, you might wanna investigate the NTFS File Permissions, make sure they have write access. I had quite the time with those once. Also, make sure that there ISN'T a file called NTUSER.MAN in the users profile, that makes it a manditory profile, which does about the same you're saying. More network config info might help...

I've seen this happen after updating windows...must be a new patch that breaks this. Try what the others have suggested and let us know what happened.