Cartoonite

Now, I'm no lawyer, but the last time I checked, asking questions wasn't illegal. Not even when the topic of the question is itself illegal. If it was, schools, or even parents, wouldn't be allowed to teach drug awareness classes for fear of legal action. Secondly, knowing how to commit a crime does not make you a criminal. For example, I'm sure I could figure out how to throw a brick through a window, but that doesn't make me a looter. Thirdly, again admitting that I am no lawyer and haven't read every line of the Windows EULA, I suspect in the strictist sense of the law, much of what we do openly discuss is also illegal. I find it hard to believe that there is nothing in the EULA that prohibits users from modifying the Windows files, but how many people here do not make use a "patched" tcpip.sys file to allow more simultaneous connections, or a "hacked" uxtheme.dll to allow un-MS-signed themes to be implemented? I bet, if any, it is a relatively small minority. Seems to me that makes slamming Superlevel for his question and labeling him a pirate not only ignorant but also hypocritical. There, I've said my piece. Now, since amidst all the flaming that went on here I don't think it ever got answered, I will post what I know on the topic. I would tend to agree with you that a VLK would serve them better, Superlevel. It would certainly make managing the licensing paperwork a much simpler task. However, I'm guessing that we are talking about a public school system here and, let's face it, the government has never been known for a tendancy to keep things simple. I'm not entirely certain about your second point. I know that there is a particular file on the CD that identifies which type of license it should recognize (OEM, consumer or VLK) and therefore what key it should accept. I know it is possible to change that file to have it accept a different type of key. However, I have always been under the impression that it is something else entirely that determines whether or not activation is mandatory. Meaning that if you were to crack a VLK CD to accept a consumer key you would not need to register, and if you were to crack a consumer CD to accept a VLK key it would still require activiation. Again, I'm not completely sure though. No, I don't know what file(s) need(s) to be modified, and no, I don't know a link to somewhere that does. And no, I wouldn't post one even if I did, because I am quite certain that it is a topic that violates this site's rules of conduct. So, while it is possible, I think the community as a whole would prefer if you kept further inquiries on this topic away from this board. Hope this helps.

"Sometimes" is probably the most annoying word in the troubleshooting language. That said, my first guess here would be some kind of hardware failure that's resulting in intermittant connectivity issues. I would try using a new cable and/or a different port on the router to see if that resolves the issue. If neither of the other PC's has any difficulty, you can try disconnecting it and using that port to connect your new PC. If connectivity is still inconsistant, the router is probably not the issue. You should also check your DHCP (whether on your router or one of the other PCs) to make sure there are sufficient addresses available. It seems unlikely that any DHCP server would be configured with a small enough number of addresses to cause problems on a network running only 3 devices, but an IP shortage could explain why sometimes you get connected and sometimes you don't. You can also try assigning a static IP to your new PC and test network connectivity with that. If the static IP resolves the issue, then it is almost certainly a failure in the DHCP process that's causing your trouble. Hope this helps.

I don't know for sure, but expect most of them will work, although some may require modifications to reflect different spellings for different languages. To check, just fire up your registry editor and compare the keys you have to those presented here. And no need to appologize for your poor english when your one sentence was perfect.

The way you have it set up, tweaks.reg is being imported at T-12 (from commandlines.txt) and tweak.reg is not being imported until after the first user logs in. As such, and HKCU tweaks being applied from tweak.reg will apply only to the current user, rather than to all users. To have these tweaks affect all users, either move them to your tweaks.reg file to be imported from T-12 or create duplicate entries in the tweak file, replacing HKEY_CURRENT_USER\ with HKEY_USERS\.Default\. The former is by far the more practical solution, in my opinion. There seems to be a common mis-conception that the RunOnceEx.cmd file installs programs. It does not. What it does is create a set of registry entries that make up a list of things Windows should do at next (first) log on. Since a cmd file is just a set of command-line instructions to be run in sequence, any script can perform any function, but for clarity's sake, RunOnceEx.cmd has always been shown to contain only the commands necessary to create the registry entires for tasks to be performed at first logon. I'll not go any deeper into this here, as I believe it is amply covered elsewhere in the forums and in the MSFN uA CD Guide. Hope this helps.

Where are you attempting to access the Restore Service from? Could be a problem with the link you are clicking to start it, as well.

Like most people mentioned, I use it only for fairly basic image-editing tasks. However, since I have almost as much artistic talent as a very dirty rock some poor soul found stuck in a crevice near the bottom of the ocean, the only image-editing I ever do is very simple. Viva la Paint!

I do know that more processor demand will cause it to use more power. Not sure about whether or not your vcore fluctuation is normal or not, though.

I realize this is off-topic, but, since the issue has been resolved, I am willing to forgive my own transgressions in this case. Just wonder how you remove IE like this. The description of the IE item that is visible by default via the Windows Components Wizard reads: "Adds or removes access to Internet Explorer from the Start menu and Desktop." Clearing that box does not uninstall IE, it just removes those 2 shortcuts, if present. As far as I know, Microsoft considered IE to be such an integral part of the OS that there is no way to remove it. The only way I know of to get a Windows XP installation without IE is to modify the installation files on the source CD.

Sounds like you have disabled the Security Center Service. Have you tried re-enabling the service and then using it to adjust your Automatic Update settings?

Sounds like you have been doing everything right as far as trying to isolate the problem. Based on what has been presented in the thread so far, my best guess is either the CPU or the PSU. Given the history of your CPU, it seems more likely to me that it would be the culprit. You are definitely right that the constant overheating by the previous owner would likely have long-term effects on the CPU; and it is also a known fact that overclocking a CPU will reduce its lifetime as well. I didn't find much notice of your PSU in the thread, but if you are running near its maximum capacity, you may also simply be suffering from insuficient power. CPU-intensive apps require more CPU power, and, as such, more power from the PSU to run. Unfortunately I don't know of any applications that will help determine which of these two components is the true cause of your difficulties. You could try to reduce the power consumption of your PC to see if that resolves the issue. Options to do that include unplugging unneccesary hardware such as additional hard drives and/or optical drives or, if you have one available, you could try downgrading your video card as an older model should require less power. If reducing the power usage in your PC is enough to resolve the issue, it is likely the PSU that needs to be replaced; if not, the CPU is the more likey cantidate. Hope this helps.

I was experiencing something like this the last time I tried to install Windows. Turned out my old DVD-ROM drive was having trouble reading my DVD-R (possibly +R, can't remember which). When I swapped out the DVD ROM and swapped in the burner I'd used to create the disc, the copy errors stopped. Have you made a note of the BSD error? If you get a BSD, is it always the same error message, or does it seem to vary as well? What other errors have you seen? Is there a common theme among them that might suggest what the root cause of your difficulties is? You would definitely be best off buying a new hard drive, if the hard drive is the problem. Based on what you've posted here, I'm not sure why you've drawn this conclusion.You said you are able to get Win98 installed, have you tried running scandisk or any similar utility to see if any faults with the drive are reported? I would also consider trying splitting the disk into more than one partition and installing Windows XP to a partition other than the first one. If that works, then you could very well have some bad sectors near the front of the drive that XP needs but Win98 doesn't due to its smaller size. Can't guarantee that any of this will solve your problem for you, but I hope it at least gives you some ideas on where to start. Good luck, and welcome to MSFN.

This right here is going to be your biggest clue to finding the culprit. Any ideas what changed between when it did work and when it stopped? If you can isolate a few, or even a dozen, although the fewer the better, changes that were made between autologon working and not working, identifying the exact cause will be much easier.

Given it's placement in the thread, this post is a little unclear. What effect does entering a username of "System" at the create user prompt have? I'm guessing it will refrain from creating a second user and log you in directly as Administrator, but I thought that was the purpose of "local," as described here: Are the two interchangeable? I recently upgraded my PC and my VPC software has decided it doesn't like the concept of a dual-core processor, so I am unfortunately unable to run a test for myself at this time.

You're welcome. It's nice to know the work is appreciated; it makes it all the more worthwhile. Not to mention the fact that researching this revealed an unknown flaw in my current "solution" to the problem. Only thing left now is to find a solution that will work off of any CD (ie: no additional apps or modification of Windows CD files required) and that does not require any VBScripting. Either that, or I will have to learn to VBScript so that I can write my own, or at least understand/modify those posted by others so I will feel comfortable using them. I was pretty sure the thread I read some time ago had just such a solution, but, unfortunately, I wasn't able to find it. If you do find something that fits the criteria, please post back.

I remember reading about this somewhere on here too, not too long ago. Although, with my utter lack of time-sense, it could have been 6 months ago and I wouldn't know it. I'll see if I can find it, and post a link if I do. Edit: There is a forum thread discussing it here. Not sure if this is the same thread I was reading before or not, and still haven't found a solution as good as the one I read previously. I will keep looking. Edit2: Found a few more threads discussing this, but nothing that strikes me as being the same thing I read a while ago. Most threads reference either one or a pair of programs, renuser and netuser. Another solution presented uses VBScript to rename the account. Just for reference, here are a few of the more detailed threads I browsed: Change administrator name Administrator account changing system parameters unattended Oh, and in the interest of complete exposure, I double-checked, and the method I have been using does not, in fact, disable the administrator account. Looks like I will be adopting one of these methods myself. Hope this helps.

Are you testing with newly downloaded files, or files that had been downloaded before applying the registry tweak? According to the little blurb at the end of the codebox Matthewk posted: So if you are testing with files downloaded before you imported the registry tweaks, that LowRiskFileTypes key not getting imported could certainly be the cause.

I use this set of tweaks, and as far as I can tell, they work perfectly. However, I did notice recently that the key name specifies IE and I user Firefox for my browser, so it may be completely coincidental that I don't get the prompts. Edit: In the future, please use the codebox tags instead of code tags when posting code that contains long strings of unbroken characters, it helps keep the forum looking tidy. (Also edited the quote to demonstrate the appearance of codebox tags and inserted additional line breaks to keep the final paragraph from being displayed on a single line.)

I'm not sure on this one, but have you tried implementing this the same way QL can be enabled? Export the key (HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Streams\Desktop, "TaskbarWinXP"=) once the settings are set exactly the way you want them and then import during uA.

Are you looking to rename the Administrator account specifically, or would creating a different admin user and disabling the Administrator account suit your purposes equally well? The method I use to install my Windows provides the latter, creates my personal user account and the built-in Administrator account gets disabled.

No thanks required. You fixed this one all on your own.

I had forgotten just how much stuff nLite lets you take out. This should theoretically be possible, although you would definitely need to identify which drivers are need for your printer to slipstream them manually (or even via nLite) once you have removed all the other drivers. Not sure what would be the best way to do that. Maybe one of the more experienced forum members could help point you in the right direction. The drivers.cab file is probably where they are stored, and maybe even just expanding it and taking a look at the file list would be a good starting point. My understanding is that you will still need to install the drivers manually once the Windows installation is complete, but you could still conceivably save a lot of space on your CD by removing all the unnecessary drivers.

You will need to wait for the invention, or at least, our inclusion into, the GalaxyWideWeb first.

Sounds like you've misunderstood something along the way, Reptilicus. The term slipstream as so often used in this forum can be defined as "adding something to the Windows CD that is not originally there." For example, you can slipstream SP2 into an RTM (or gold, if you prefer) version of Windows XP. The result is that, rather than installing a vanilla version of XP when the resulting CD is used, XP is installed pre-patched to SP2. HP says that the drivers already exist on the Windows XP CD, so there is no need to slipstream the drivers; someone (likely Microsoft, in partnership with HP) has already done it for you. What, exactly, is it that you are looking to do? If you are hoping to have your printer set up during the uA install, I'm afraid I think you are out of luck. I am no driver expert, but I seem to recall reading on the forum here that no one, as of yet, has managed to find a way to make that work. I suspect that is part of, if not the, reason that Bâshrat hasn't made a Printers Driver Pack. Hope this helps, or at least clears some things up for you.

Yes, please. But only if Bashrat gives permission, of course.

You are going to need to be a little more specific. What part of the process isn't working for you? Are you able to getting it working when using a CD instead of a DVD? If you are having trouble with NLite, I suggest you try posting in the NLite section of the forum, people who frequent that forum are more likely to have enountered your issues before and be able to provide solutions. If you think NLite seems to be working correctly, then by all means continue here.