Takeshi

What I'm trying to say is, the average user (not as knowledgeable as yourself) doesn't know how to configure permissions correctly as you described and for XP HE users, they cannot set policies or disable SFS. So it'd be simpler to set correct permissions on specific groups or users rather than worrying about configuring the Guest account. If a user specifically wants to avoid the authentication box, then as I understand, having the Guest account enabled is the only option.

'Test Install stuck at "Loading your personal settings"' immediately suggests a problem with profile or registry. But you're trying to install a DELL OEM in non-DELL system, and you did so many other things. I think the first thing you look into is the OEM, have a look at previous posts on OEM disks. Either remove the OEM stuff or try a non-OEM source. Take it one step at a time.

That's a different question from what you originally asked in the topic title. The Start menu > All Programs List contains only shortcuts from your userprofile. It doesn't control your default Program Files directory path. The answer to your last question is: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion ProgramFiles Dir

It'd be far better to have passwords for all accounts and not have the Guest account enabled, esp. for XP HE.

In the normal text-mode phase (it's got nothing to do with DOS), it asks you whether to delete the partition or not, but as far as I remember, it doesn't ask you which directory. Having C:\windows.0 or windows.1 implies it's not deleting the existing partition. Post the relevant section of your winnt.sif.

Ghost has changed since v. 9 so the exact steps might not be the same. It restores your OS, which is not the same as an installation. it doesn't go through the lengthy Setup routine. It's not hard to use. When I first used it I just did it (was using Ghost 2003 and Ghost 8). Just follow the screen. AFAIK you can browse the image with Ghost Explorer but not edit it, as least in older versions. For the average home user there isn't much to choose between Ghost and Acronis.

03GrandAmGT: thanks in advance! Hope it'll just work... But you need to author it properly first. Apparently TMPGEnc DVD Author 2 can do it, according to its homepage. You probably know that already.

Convert .inf to .reg, Help Wanted was the most recent post here 2 weeks ago. Have you seen it?

I don't know what's in your UACD so you need to do a bit more detective work and eliminate the cause. As to qchain, last year I did try to get the UA Guide updated with the info but the request was ignored. What else can I say?

Pls check the directory structure on the CD if the dir didn't get copied over.

Thanks for replying. Normally I'd just test run it but there aren't any rewritable DL DVDs (or are there?) and the non rewritables are still costly. I suppose eventually I'll have to have a go. If anyone else have tried it please give your feedback here.

I notice two things which may not be relevant to your problem but: 1. The hotfixes are not listed in numerical order and 2. Can you mix the short and long switches as in /quiet /norestart /n and /quiet /norestart /nobackup? And are they the same hotfixes that show up in WU? Which ones don't work?

I don't know. The switches are fine but are you 100% sure the pop-up is related to installing KB hotfixes and not something else? It's worth just checking this. And again, qchain is no longer needed for post-SP2 hotfixes.

Well done. I missed that. Glad it's all sorted.

Where's the Install folder?

it won't autologon with EncryptedAdminPassword=Yes. Higher resolutions won't be applied in VMWare unless you include drivers. Don't know about VPC.

The new install only adds a new entry to the boot.ini if you don't delete the other two. In any case you can easily repair it with the Recovery Console. No big deal.

Strictly speaking, the command prompt in XP is not a DOS prompt and I don't think sc existed in MS-DOS. There's no DOS in Windows XP.

If the above doesn't work, the file system could just be corrupt. Do a chkdsk.

$1 on the CD is equivalent to the %systemdrive% environment variable.

I don't see what the fuss is all about. Surely there doesn't need to be one single definitive answer which applies to everybody. Some evidence to back your claims and common sense should suffice. It's true Windows XP defrags in the background periodically. I have a monitoring tool which tells me that dfrgntfs.exe (not the same as defrag.exe) wants to run and asks for my permission. Surely someone who uses the computer for one hour a day needs less frequent defragmentation than someone who uses it 12h a day. Is that so hard to understand? Why at daily intevals then? Why not hourly? So that is arbitrary isn't it. It's like how often do you wash your car or have a shower. The fact that different defrag tools have different algorithms implies that there's no optimal file layout pattern. Which do you believe? It's like having two different and conflicting opinions from two doctors or lawyers. Someone elsewhere raised the point that having everything in contiguous clusters in one section of a HD is not necessarily the best simply because next time a file is written to the new cluster will have to be a long way away, or something like that. As to the question of wear and tear, surely it must happen with any movement. HDs don't last for ever, do they? But whether the amount of wear and tear is sufficient to cause HD failure within a few years is debatable. With the presumed performance gain in regular defrag, does it matter in this day and age when HDs and everything else are faster? I don't defrag that frequently, because Windows usually says there's no need. When I do, I logon to another Windows installation to defrag offline. That should move any system file or pagefile.

Yep you're right, my oversight. But it's slightly confusing. There's still a problem with the "Owner". In your prev post I suspected nLite might have something to do with it. Since I don't use nLite, someone else might know. Until this is sorted out, your XP probably finds there's an account called Owner. Sadly, in XP HE, you can't use the Local Users and Groups to check (the file is there, but it won't work and I've never figured out why it's there then). I think you can use the net user command to see if Owner is listed. You could try logging in with the Owner account and see what happens. The fact that the name shows up on the classic logon screen must mean it's there. And yes, if there's only one account (apart from the built-in Administrator) XP should autologon. So here's another reason to strongly suspect there's more than one account. Sort out the Owner problem and the rest will go away!

Read what I said before. It behaves just like an ordinary XP CD, except for some customisation and unattended files and folders. It is NOT a restore CD provided by some other manufacturers. It will NOT automatically wipe your HD. It even boots in VMWare. Mine is a DELL blue coloured CD, for XP Pro, it will boot, you see the familiar "Press Any Key to boot from CD", it gives you the options to press F2 and F6, then copies files, then goes to Windows Setup with the usual options. Get it? You are experienced with computers but have never done Windows installations? EDIT: Just to see if your DELL CD behaves like what I say, you can try booting it in VMW/VPC, or just insert it and let it autorun in Windows (if not, d-click the setup.exe). You should see the Welcome to Microsoft Windows XP What do you want to do? ... blue screen.

It behaves like the MS hologram XP installation CD, i.e. bootable and install in the usual way, but only customised by DELL. Mine has Recovery Console. It contains its own product key. Better, make an updated SP2 integrated CD. DELL provided me with other CDs for drivers and programs.

Searched this forum with no luck. Google shows up hardware results. Nero 6 recognises my two Pioneer DVD-RWs and shows where the 8.5GB limit is. I have a DL DVD with no copy protection copied to the HD. it plays properly on the HD and standalone player. I'd like to know can Nero burn it to DVD DL? Will Nero know which files to put in which layer and correctly control the layer break? Thanks.