nARkwS

And by "mutable" you mean...?

But it isn't. It's a customized Windows installation. I think maybe if it'd been a re-write of the GUI, but still based on NT's lowlevel architecture then it'd be commendable, but it isn't, it's a high level customization. I'm not gonna comment any more coz I hate disrespecting people's work. Your customization is very nice indeed. You have good design skills. -nARkwS-

It's nice, but what's the point in doing a release of it? Everyone customizes Windows to suit their own needs anyway. Sorry for being so sceptical, but I don't see the point. Also, it's not really a topic for discussion on this forum. -nARkwS-

Not in a production environment where each system requires a unique key to allow successfully activation. -nARkwS-

From what I remember smartdrv.exe doesn't support CD-Rom drives. I remember having a speed issue with a bootable CD rom I made a while back, and determined smartdrv.exe was for HDDs only. I may be wrong, or someone may have done a mod'd smartdrv.exe that does work on CD-Roms. -nARkwS-

Was that a typo? Do you mean Connectix does adjust the pagefile, but real systems don't? If it wasn't a typo then you should probably ignore the rest of this. There exists a bug in a range of Intel chipsets which disallows pagefile resizing (crazy, I know, but it's true!). If the systems are using affected chipsets, the problem can be resolved by installing the Intel Application Accelerator (from Intel's website). The IAA also resolves other issues (eg. IDE-DMA). -nARkwS- In my dozyness I never noticed the second page, and gave that answer before realising you'd resolved the issue. I'll keep all the info in though coz it's useful for folks to know.

Another method which I couldn't get working conventionally is changing the value of the "CmdLine" MULTI_SZ value at HKLM\System\Setup If you change the value to exclude "/retail" then it has the same effect as my msoobe.exe manipulation. Unfortunately I've never found a conventional way to modify this reg value after t-9 minutes. -nARkwS-

Do you mean for non VLK installations? If so then there are 2 methods which work. * Remove the product key line from your answer file. You'll be prompted at T-33minutes. * Use a generated product key within your answer file and manipulate msoobe.exe's execution to invoke the request for the real one. Rename the real "msoobe.exe" to "msoobe2.exe" and create an alternative "msoobe.exe" which ignores any switches passed to it, and runs "%windir%\system32\oobe\msoobe2.exe /f". For this to work it's necessary to replace msoobe.exe within MSOOBE.EX_ Attached is a zip file with a text file of the VB source (a single form), alongside the exe it creates under my (ancient) copy of VB6. The exe is so far tested only on Home OEM + SP2. It assumes Windows to be at C:\WINDOWS. I hardcoded the path through lazyness because I didn't think anyone but me would ever use it :-/ I've also included the cab version, ie. MSOOBE.EX_ -nARkwS- BTW the msoobe.exe in the zipfile is the same as the one as within MSOOBE.EX_ I forgot to mention that in the rubbish HowTo notes. Force_request_for_product_key.zip

I must be seeing things coz I coulda sworn Astalavista stated a clear and sensible point about nlite. -nARkwS-

That's not possible with all releases of WinXP anyway. I think it worked when I tried it on Corp, but it definately failed on Home OEM. It errored with a bunch of missing files during text-mode. Microsoft state pretty unclearly that you need to use an I386 folder with no service pack. I didn't have a pre-SP1 version of Home OEM, but fortunately I just got hold of one with SP2 integrated, so I don't need to care about slipstreaming anymore -nARkwS-

But it's not a hotfix. It's a silly mistake from the security squad at Microsoft. They should have released a roll-up pack to patch Windows and Office (if necessary). Instead it just sends you to a webpage telling all about the blundered component. -nARkwS-

The notications settings are stored as DWord values at [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Security Center] "AntiVirusDisableNotify"=dword:00000001 "FirewallDisableNotify"=dword:00000001 "UpdatesDisableNotify"=dword:00000001 The values above will disable notifcation -nARkwS-

You'll get away with imaging after the final part of text-mode on any current NForce based system (I think), simply because the NForce drivers aren't native to Windows, so generic ones are installed.

Can't say for absolute certain how much faster it is, but HDDs are far more reliable than optical drives, and whenver installation problems occur, then the optical drive and media are out of the equation already. I install Windows around 3-6 times a day, and it's the most hassle free method I've found. -nARkwS-

When you install from Winnt.exe /s: the first phase of text-mode is copying from the media. It then reboots and performs th second phase, which is equivalent to doing a normal boot of the CD (or floppies). BTW I added an edit to that previous message (telling of an issue I encountered with a 160Gb).