jrf2027

At first glance, sounds like a driver problem. Do you have the correct driver for your video card integrated? Without the correct driver, WinXP installation may be defaulting to a generic driver that just provides basic functionality. http://unattended.msfn.org/unattended.xp/view/web/33/

From past experience, I'm going to be the voice of dissent here. Let's keep in mind you're building this computer for a nonprofit. I would guess that several different people will be using this computer on a regular basis, with varied degrees of computer knowledge. This is one of those areas where the KISS principle really applies - you'll want to make this system as indistinguishable as possible from something these people may have in their homes, unless you're going to be around for assistance. Basic install, no Firefox, no Thunderbird, no OpenOffice, etc. Simple but effective antivirus that automatically scans, updates, and cleans with minimal interaction. Along those lines, I think x64 is probably still too new to use in this type of setup - I'd stick with 32-bit. The processing power isn't what's important about this machine - the average user being able to turn it on and have it work is. Of course, YMMV - especially if you'll be available to maintain this system or somebody who will be using it is remotely techno-savvy.

New updates for XP SP2 for June 12, 2007: KB935840 - New update, doesn't replace anything. KB933566 - IE6 and IE7 - replaces KB931768 KB929123 - replaces KB923694 KB935839 - replaces KB917422 Updated KB890830 You may need to update KB892130 to access Windows Update or Microsoft Update.

Short answer: Yes, you need it. However, you can drastically decrease its size. Long answer: The "System Volume Information" folder is where System Restore backups are kept. If you can open the folder, you'll see a series of subfolders called RP0, RP1, etc. If you can't open the folder, run this from a command prompt: cacls "C:\System Volume Information" /E /G Pook:F assuming the account you wish to have access to the folder is named Pook. If you shut off System Restore, the folder remains, but its size shrinks down to about 20 kilobytes. You can tweak the size of the folder by adjusting how much disk space you allot to System Restore. If you do have access to the folder, do NOT delete any files in the folder directly! It can delete necessary files from the computer. As for backing up the registry...I've just always opened up Regedit, right-clicked on "My Computer", and saved the file that way.

It is possible to extract the traditional Type 1 hotfix from the downloaded Type 2 hotfix file using WinRAR (7Zip, WinZip, etc.)... any benefit to keeping it as a Type 2? When I extracted the file, renamed it KB905474.exe, and ran it using switches /q /n /z, it installed fine, and all relevant files files were updated to version 1.7.0018.1. (For those of you trying to squeeze each byte of space, the extracted file is .04 MB smaller, 1.22 MB versus the downloaded file's 1.26 MB.)

Don't know about other AV programs, but Kaspersky uses BartPE to create a rescue disk. You could download the trial version of Kaspersky, install it, and build the BartPE disk with Kaspersky on board. Here's the link to Kaspersky's user guides, which describe the process: http://www.kaspersky.com/docs

Ditto that sometimes it's just best to start over. Anytime I reinstall Windows for friends and family, I now require that they buy some sort of image software (my personal favorite is Terabyte Unlimited's Image for Windows, due to its relative affordability) before I rebuild their computers. This way, once they've completely gunked up the computer, I can lecture them, roll back to the clean installation point, and just update the installed programs.

Have you tried booting the system using BartPE?

I will confirm that the new iernonce.dll (7.0.6000.16414) restores previous functionality. Just tested by installing IE7-KB928090 patch, restarting, running RunOnceEx script, and restarting again.

There's a registry entry you can apply to prevent the registration screen from popping up. I think this is it. [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion] "RegDone"="1" Don't quote me on this, I don't have access to my regtweaks at the moment.

If you can't get Ghost 8.0 to properly back up your drive, you may want to give Image for Windows (http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/imagew.html) a try. It does exactly what you want (allows you to back up to a DVD, insert the disk and it automatically restores). It's done everything I've wanted it to do, backing up a primary Windows partition to hard drive only takes about three minutes, and it costs less than $30.00. Plus, you can try it out for 30 days before deciding whether to buy it. (I will now remove my pimp hat.)

Couple of observations on IE7 installation, and reinstallation of version 6.0.2900.2180 (version 6 for simplification) of iernonce.dll, on an existing Windows installation: First, the file iernonce.dll is not updated until after Windows restarts. After running IE7 install, and before restarting, version 6 of iernonce.dll remains in the %windir%\System32 folder. If you were to overwrite the file prior to a restart, you would accomplish nothing because the IE7 install doesn't complete until the restart has been performed, and version 6 is not replaced by version 7 until this restart. Second, the version of iernonce.dll is not updated in the %windir%\System32\dllcache folder, although other IE files in the dllcache folder are updated to their version 7 counterparts. iernonce.dll remains version 6. Don't know how this would affect an install of IE7 at T-13 - is it fully installed then? If not, replacing iernonce.dll immediately after installing IE7 may ultimately fail.

I have an interesting problem. No matter how I install IE7 (unattended install of stock IE7 download at T-13 through svcpack.inf, unattended in RunOnceEx through IEAK customized install), after IE7 is installed RunOnceEx will not run at all. The registry entries are imported, but they are not executed. I have also tried to execute RunOnceEx without a reboot using the (rundll32.exe iernonce.dll,RunOnceExProcess) command, nothing runs. Before you ask, yes, my copy of Windows is genuine. The only variable is IE 7. On installs with the same exact updates and programs, but no IE7, RunOnceEx works fine. Anybody have any ideas? Is this by design in IE 7? I know one other person had a similar problem in a previous post, is it just us or is anybody else seeing this?

I had previously tried this - I don't think I used the exact same switches, though. IE7 is installed... BUT... For some odd reason, after installing IE7 via svcpack (even tested with IE7 being the only update installed by svcpack), I am no longer able to install anything using RunOnceEx. Even after restarting the computer, re-running the RunOnceEx.cmd file, and verifying the entries are in the registry, RunOnceEx will not run. This is the same exact RunOnceEx.cmd file I have used successfully for several years, as recently as last month with no problem at all. Anybody else have this problem? I used the following switches (maybe they caused the problem?): /quiet /update-no /no-default /nobackup /norestart

My five year-old Dimension 8100 (1.7 P4, 1gb RDRAM, 32mb nVidia graphics card) gets a 1.0, doesn't run Aero, but still runs relatively well under the Ultimate version of RC1. I suspect that if I were to get rid of the Ultimate bloat and run Home Basic or Business, it would probably run as well as under XP. Not like I'd ever buy Vista for this machine, though...it'll be running XP until either the computer or XP dies, and as good as this computer has been for me, my money says XP will run out of support first.

It shouldn't affect the usage of your router or cable modem. You will have to set the computer to rejoin the network, and you will have to reset any network shares you have on the system to be formatted.

Yes, it's possible on stand-alone Outlook (XP at least, 2003 should not be much different). Use the Rules Wizard and tweak it as necessary. Open the rules wizard, start a new rule, start from a blank rule and tweak as necessary. For instance, I just set up a filter to cc all mail sent from my primary work account to my home e-mail address, took me about five minutes of playing around to get it to work. All messages sent out will be cc'd to the selected address. A savvy user will find out the messages are being forwarded quite quickly, especially if they clean out their Sent Items box, because everything will read as being cc'd to the selected address, but it will probably fool about 50 percent of computer users.

Sounds like you must have an OEM-customized installation - what are the exact contents of your $OEM$ directory?

I've been using Image for Windows from Terabyte Unlimited (http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/) for about two months now. It's pretty basic, but it does everything I've asked it to do - it will burn your image to a CD/DVD or create it on a second physical disk in your computer. I haven't tested it out yet, but it also allows you to backup your image to a USB or FireWire drive. Takes a little longer to restore an image - about 15-20 minutes from a DVD, 10-15 minutes from hard drive. It does not allow incremental backups; however, full backups only take about five minutes if backing up to a hard drive and take about 15 minutes when burning to a 4x DVD+RW. The installation footprint is VERY small - less than 2 MB after you remove the 500K user guide - and the program is very easy to use. You can download the trialware version from the website above, and if you like it, the cost is only $27 to purchase - about $20 less than Ghost or True Image.

I'm not claiming to be an expert on this, but... After this last round of updates, I created a fresh Office 2003 administrative install point, then integrated SP2 and all the latest updates, then ran an administrative reinstall of Office 2003, and came up with no updates at Office Update. I used batch files to update the install point. Here's the code that worked for me (OFFICE2003 is location for install point, OfficeUpdates is location for updates): CLS @echo off TITLE Microsoft Office 2003 Professional Service Pack Integrator ECHO. ECHO Now integrating Office 2003 Installation Files to SP2... ECHO Please wait... start /wait msiexec /a d:\Install\OFFICE2003\pro11.MSI /p D:\Install\OfficeUpdates\MAINSP2ff.MSP SHORTFILENAMES=true /qb- ECHO. ECHO Now integrating Office 2003 Web Component Files to SP2... ECHO Please wait... start /wait msiexec /a d:\Install\OFFICE2003\OWC11.MSI /p D:\Install\OfficeUpdates\OWC11SP2ff.MSP SHORTFILENAMES=true /qb- ECHO. ECHO Now integrating Office Update (907417)... ECHO Please wait... start /wait msiexec /a d:\Install\OFFICE2003\PRO11.MSI /p D:\Install\OfficeUpdates\OTKLOADR.MSP SHORTFILENAMES=true /qb- ECHO. ECHO Now integrating Outlook Update (913807)... ECHO Please wait... start /wait msiexec /a d:\Install\OFFICE2003\pro11.MSI /p D:\Install\OfficeUpdates\OUTLOOKff.MSP SHORTFILENAMES=true /qb- ECHO. ECHO Now integrating Outlook Update (913807)... ECHO Please wait... start /wait msiexec /a d:\Install\OFFICE2003\pro11.MSI /p D:\Install\OfficeUpdates\OLKINTLff.MSP SHORTFILENAMES=true /qb- ECHO. ECHO Now integrating PowerPoint Update (916518)... ECHO Please wait... start /wait msiexec /a d:\Install\OFFICE2003\pro11.MSI /p D:\Install\OfficeUpdates\POWERPNTff.MSP SHORTFILENAMES=true /qb- ECHO. ECHO Now integrating Word Update (917334)... ECHO Please wait... start /wait msiexec /a d:\Install\OFFICE2003\pro11.MSI /p D:\Install\OfficeUpdates\WINWORDff.MSP SHORTFILENAMES=true /qb- ECHO. ECHO Now integrating Excel Update (918419)... ECHO Please wait... start /wait msiexec /a d:\Install\OFFICE2003\pro11.MSI /p D:\Install\OfficeUpdates\EXCELff.MSP SHORTFILENAMES=true /qb- ECHO. ECHO Now integrating Office Update (917151)... ECHO Please wait... start /wait msiexec /a d:\Install\OFFICE2003\pro11.MSI /p D:\Install\OfficeUpdates\MSO.MSP SHORTFILENAMES=true /qb- ECHO. ECHO Now integrating Office Update (917151)... ECHO Please wait... start /wait msiexec /a d:\Install\OFFICE2003\pro11.MSI /p D:\Install\OfficeUpdates\PVMSO.MSP SHORTFILENAMES=true /qb- ECHO. ECHO Now integrating Office Update (914455)... ECHO Please wait... start /wait msiexec /a d:\Install\OFFICE2003\pro11.MSI /p D:\Install\OfficeUpdates\GPFILTff.MSP SHORTFILENAMES=true /qb- ECHO. ECHO Now integrating Outlook Spam Update (919031)... ECHO Please wait... start /wait msiexec /a d:\Install\OFFICE2003\pro11.MSI /p D:\Install\OfficeUpdates\OUTLFLTR.MSP SHORTFILENAMES=true /qb- EXIT The required updates are listed above - many old updates have been superseded and are no longer needed. Code for reinstall: msiexec /i d:\Install\OFFICE2003\PRO11.MSI REINSTALL=all REINSTALLMODE=vomus Office Update shows no updates needed. I'd say as long as Office Update says no updates needed, you're in the clear...of course, Microsoft Update will probably still try to install the updates unless you tell it not to...

Have you created a transform for this particular installation scenario? You may be able to use the custom installation wizard program from the Office Resource Kit to place a shortcut on the desktop. Or, do it lower-tech - create a batch file to copy the Start Menu shortcut to the desktop following installation. Or, even lower-tech - drag and drop...

As a Royalty OEM, HP probably has a specific product key for installation of preactivated HP OEM CD's (or recovery partitions as the case may be). If you find an HP OEM CD, the product key should be included in the winnt.sif file. Otherwise, Microsoft has a page posting generic product keys for installation (but not activation) of Windows XP Home, Pro, etc. Just do a search on microsoft.com and you'll find it.

I think that list is for XP Home, not just Pro...

Here's what my research of the security bulletins showed: KB914389 replaces KB885250. KB916281 replaces KB912812. KB917953 replaces KB913446. KB917734 for WMP replaces KB911565 for WMP. KB917344, KB918439, and KB911280 are new for XP SP2. And, of course, KB890830 is updated, to version 1.17. I haven't verified the replacements through a clean install, though.

Ah, think i have proper files for those, actually i meant older DELL oembios files only.... it doesn't succesfully activate with newer OEMBIOS files from DELL XP Professional SP2 Media Let me know if you still need the older Dell OEMBIOS files...I have the following Dell OEM CD's: XP Pro Gold XP Home Gold XP Pro with SP1 XP Home with SP1a