Takeshi

This maybe a long shot. Check if the reg has been actually applied after sysprep.

I'm getting that option to use existing files in my English ver of XP. What language is your XP installation? What languages are you trying to change?

Thanks but what I was trying to hint at was, all XP post-SP2 hotfixes have qchain functionality built-in. I don't know about 2000/2003. I agree that putting the hotfixes separately on a network share or 2nd CD would be a smart move.

It's possible but not recommended. The simplest and safest way is to export the relevant reg keys and just import them immediately after installation. For an unattended install, import them at T-13. Normally Numlock is on default so there's no need to do anything.

This is the most reliable tool: http://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder.shtml You're referring to product activation. You never have to register.

Yes and no. The funtionality is built into IE but you'll find a duplicate set (as seen in Temp Int Files) in your own Cookies folder. The cookies you see in your Temp Int Files look like they're empty files with 0KB - logon to another account to view them and you'll see what I mean. The Cookies folder apparently lets you move it elsewhere. You want to move them to different dirs and drives? Gets too complicated for me...

The Start Menu > Programs list contains shortcuts. You can simply delete any unwanted entries with the R click menu, or directly from the startup folders. Multiple folders in the Program Files dir are a bit more suspicious. Again see if you can just delete them. If they keep coming back then something else is going on. Your SR stopped working before so it's an indication something is wrong. It could be a long shot, but I'd do some more online AV scans and a check disk.

Please use a more meaningful title! If you're using non-Eng Windows, then Ryan's won't do. But you don't have to use any update pack or NLite anyway: you could always do it manually without any software. You only need a program to burn the CD. So that in some way answers your broad question. Read the tutorials first. There're even non-English versions. There's so much to learn. Merely asking how to do things without a lot of self-help won't get you very far here. People will not write out the whole guide for you again but only point you in that direction. When you have attempted something and have a specific query then ask.

I just find it hard to believe that Roxio can't burn iso. So a quick googling shows you how to do it in the first listing. http://iso.snoekonline.com/iso.htm#Roxio_/...Easy_CD_Creator Most burning programs are rather similar. You took the wrong steps to make a bootable CD in Roxio. If you already have a burning prog, stick with it. If you switch to another you never learn how to use the original or get the most from it.

User specific shell folder locations are stored in: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Folders The HKLM key stores the locations of common folders

It'd be simpler to do the patching (perhaps eariler, why wait 2h leaving the PCs idle?) then shutdown/hibernate/standby. You'll avoid any potential trouble with resuming from standby and hibernation. As I said in another thread, turning off the video display output from the video card does not physically power down the monitors. They still consume power. I doubt if the monitors save much power when not displaying anything and I doubt if turning off the video output saves much. What power options you get depends on the BIOS. There may well be some settings (like S1, S3 standby modes in mine) which you can set in the BIOS but not in CP.

With the option I specified above, Windows does NOT download updates unless you allow it to. If a user doesn't care and just click to download, what else can I say? With KB890830 you can fool WAU by a registry entry (albeit only that particular month's update) but I don't know if if works for all the updates - I suspect it's not universally applicable. All the updates get an entry in the HKLM hive so you might want to experiment with this on a test system.

You don't need winnt.bat if you do an unattended CD install. To answer you question specifically, the file is generated by Setup Manager presumably because it thinks you want to do an install from a distribution share on a network or local disk. It runs winnt32 with switches and variables. It normally resides inside the dist share folder but there's no strict requirement when it should reside provided you can access it and change the variables accordingly.

Yes but why still use qchain?

I've read this thread many times and am not sure what to make of it. The graphic shows C:\WINDOWS\System32\lsass.exe but the text says C:\Winnt\System32\lsass.exe. Lsass.exe authenticates users during logon and it's possible that something else apart from malware is causing this error. Spybot found something but it does NOT prove that it is the cause of this error. I can't explain why you can't see it in the registry, but I doubt if having a null value is to blame. I'd have thought that the info you've found is not relevant or that Spybot has deleted it.

The DCOMbobulator is not to blame. I have DCom disabled but the COM default settings are unaffected. As to the problem of not being able to see other computers in My Network Places, many people including myself have found adding IPX protocol (in addition to TCP/IP) solves the problem.

Aiming specifically at the error messages, then do a check disk (chkdsk) and correct any errors first.

There's an option in WAU: O Notify me but don't automatically download and install them. Then you can choose.

The dialogue that asks you to insert the CD gives you the option to use existing files (if you have previously installed that particular language). You can choose to skip the CD. I don't think you can get rid of this dialogue (and restart) altogether even if you install every language at the outset.

I know you want to fix it but there're so many things that can happen to a PC it's frustrating if you don't tell us more. I'd rather not guess what happened. There're other possible ways to fix it but it all depends on what happened, whether you're admin and if there's malware. There're ways to edit the registry apart from the context menu item "merge". Double-clicking the reg, using inf, vbs, js and third party tools. It'd also be useful if you say what error message you see.

The context menu entry is in HKCR\regfile. Your query is only meaningful if you at least say if you've done something to the system, if you're admin or if your system has been compromised. Even if you're not admin you should be able to edit HKCU. Some registry subkeys you can't edit even if you're admin.

Regedit without the ".exe" works for me so I don't know why you had to rename it to make it work. And I don't think "regedit32.exe" would work.

discussion on Microsoft malicious software removal tool

Since you've provided the link it's not at all necessary to paste the contents. And it's not necessary to use large fonts. If it's language problem maybe you'll understand the Chinese version of the KB better. Often En KBs are translated into many languages. http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?...b;zh-tw;Q311755 If you don't know what to delete in the registry, it's best to get someone with more skill to do it for you in front of your PC. We can't see what it shows on your PC so we can't really say what happens. EDIT: 1. The KB says it could be CDROM problem. 2. There's no file to delete, but registry data. The "File" it refers to is the File menu in the registry editor when you load or unload hives.

I believe Autopartition=0 is correct, otherwise it will reformat your entire HD. I get the impression that it won't delete the individual partition if it already exists. You either do it manually before unattended installation, or (at least people say) use WinPE/BartPE and Diskpart. Unofficially some people say using Disk.Config (from winbom.ini) would work but I've not tried it. These have all been discussed before here. BTW, I see in your winnt.sif you have: It isn't in ref.chm but I've seen it posted before here and elsewhere, does it actually work?