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I don't password my user accounts on my home computers, so I had to change a setting in group policy on all machines that share anything so I don't have to use passwords at all. In XP or Win7: gpedit.msc > Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Local Policies > Security Options > Accounts: Limit local account use of blank passwords to console logon only (set this to disabled on all host machines). This will allow you to share folders and printers without the need to password accounts on the host machines, no rebooting or simple file sharing needed. or in .reg file form: ;Group Policy - Limit local account use of blank passwords to console logon only ;Essential for file/printer sharing without needing passworded accounts on host machines ;0 = disabled ;1 = enabled [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Lsa] "limitblankpassworduse"=dword:00000000 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa] "limitblankpassworduse"=dword:00000000 This should work on Vista as well. If you don't want to remove the password from your user account, then set up a limited user account and share from there, having each connecting machine log in with that account's credentials. And don't even bother trying to use Homegroup, it's not compatible with XP. To network an XP machine with Vista or Win7 you need to install the Link Layer Topology Responder on the XP machines. Note, this requires WGA to download, but you can google around and find it elsewhere if need be. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=4F01A31D-EE46-481E-BA11-37F485FA34EA&displaylang=en&displaylang=en Then you can network your machines and share folders and printers from Win 7 just like it's done in XP. *I'm told XP doesn't need LLTD to be networked with Vista/Win7 machines, but it worked for me.

UAC is the bane of my existence. I keep it turned off on my own machines, and I wish MS had never created the damned thing to begin with. Until I moved to another state earlier this year (and didn't give out my new phone number), I was constantly getting calls from several of my clients, always the same handful of morons, asking me if they should allow or deny. And every time this happened, I would always find out they initiated it by running a program. Makes me wish it was legal to strangle people. Stupid people shouldn't be allowed to use computers. The concept of UAC is a good one, but the practice is horrible. For those of us who know how to harden our systems and what not to do online, it's just a major annoyance. I've been using MS operating systems since Dos 3.2, so I don't need MS to hold my hand. Not back then, and certainly not now. For people who aren't so knowledgeable or computer literate, UAC simply scares the hell out of many of them and they end up asking someone to disable it anyway.

This should do the job nicely. http://www.foxmarks.com/

I'd bet any machine, laptop or desktop, shipping today has XP drivers, even if the OEM won't provide them. HP is especially notorious for this. You can see from many of their driver archives where they've removed the XP drivers but neglected to remove the XP folders. In the last 2 years, I've switched 3 OEM machines to XP. A Compaq laptop, and 2 Dell desktops, all shipped with Vista. Anyway, finding XP drivers for the Dells are easy as Dell provides many of them, or did when I was working on these machines. It's been several months now. Plus Dell uses very common hardware. The Compaq Presario laptop was a bit more difficult. It has an odd Conextant audio and an integrated modem, which gave me fits and took some trial and error, but I finally found the proper drivers after about 3 days of digging. Most of the drivers for this particular machine were actually easy to find. It just takes some work, but it is possible. It helps a lot if you extract all the driver info you possibly can, especially PnPID strings, from the existing OS install, including the drivers themselves. Good luck with the HP machines. You're going to need it.

I never had to use a floppy to install any drivers. I never used the partitioning feature in setup cause it did indeed suck. My partitions were always made in advance with Acronis or Gparted. I don't work in IT so I'm not familiar with HAL. I had a taste of IT once and didn't like the clusterf*ck world I found it to be with loads of noobs telling experts how to do things. I did however maintain several different unattended XP discs for other people over several years, each with different hardware, and each disc was different only because of what each person wanted on it, plus their drivers. Each of those discs would work just fine on any machine. I never had to bother with different languages because I don't know anyone who doesn't speak English. Drivers were never a problem, except for the rare stubborn one. As for the collection of .cmd, .bat, .reg, .txt and other files...I'll give you that one. That's definitely sloppy. But it all worked and a basic unattended was very easy to do. No special software required beyond setupmgr.exe (532kb) to make the answer file (a plain english file), which instantly made XP unattended. Now we have to download a 1.66gig suite of tools (WAIK) to do the same thing in a language that many people don't understand. You call that progress? It might be a step in the right direction, but it's a hell of a long way from better.

I'm just starting this as well. Did the XP stuff long ago, and skipped Vista, so this new method is completely bizarre to me. My head actually hurts from reading about it. About all I've been able to do so far is install the WAIK, run WSIM and select my image flavor and share folder. Why in the world did Microsoft fix what wasn't broken?

I currently have your tool installed, UAC disabled, and no cmd window reg tweaks. There is no icon next to "Open Command Prompt" as shown in your screenshot. I even tried with UAC enabled, and there's still no icon. It's probably just a bug in the OS. I've noticed a few here and there with other things, like importing .reg files. I know of one guy who claims he had to right click > merge to get his .reg files imported, but all I have to do is double click as always, UAC enabled or not. Also, it doesn't say "Open Elevated Command Prompt" only "Open Command Prompt"

It's there so that a 32-bit process can make use of it. For example, if you run Firefox (a 32-bit app) and in the Save File dialog (which is just a miniature Explorer instance), you right-click, then you will be loading the 32-bit DLL (since the host process in this case is 32-bit). Most people will not end up using it, but it's there for the sake of completeness. It's the same reason Windows installs a 32-bit copy of every system DLL. Hmm. Really? The shield icon is a system resource, so it should always be available on NT6+. I see it on Vista and W7RC1 (both x64 and x86). Unless you have altered your system in some unusual way, I can't see what circumstances would cause this system resource to not load... Do you see this problem on a fresh install of Windows? And if you do not see this problem on a fresh install of Windows, would you happen to know what you changed/installed to make this break? I found your faq about 2 minutes after I posted, so I removed my question. I haven't altered anything besides registry tweaks for start menu & taskbar options, action center, disable UAC and Aero Snap, and some services settings. I've been using RC1 as my main OS since it was released. Other tools show their icons in the context menu, except yours. How in the world can you possibly figure I would use the tool instead of a reg tweak? I never said nor implied that I needed or wanted to open multiple command windows at once, only that it was interesting. And with the tweak I can open a cmd window on the desktop, just not through desktop listed in windows explorer's file pane. You would have known this had you tried it yourself. Also, I never said nor implied that no one else had a use for the tool. Obviously kliu0x52 has a use for it, which is why he wrote it in the first place. If you had bothered to read my previous post, you would have known that I know others have a use for it, as I clearly stated that I recommend the tool to other people. This implies people are asking about such a thing. You need to quit smoking whatever you are on and sober up. Learning a little basic english might help as well.

So you can't get an elevated cmd window on the desktop if UAC is enabled, big deal. And you can't open multiple cmd windows at once without your tool. Again, so what. Though it's an interesting feature, I'll give you that. Look, I'm not attacking you or your tool at all, and I never intended to start an argument. In fact I think it's great for all those who are afraid of the registry, and it does work good. I've used it myself before I started tweaking the Win7 registry and I've recommended it to others and will continue to do so. I've just never believed in using 3rd party software to do a job when it can be done without it. It's like using a sledgehammer to drive a tack.

Which is my point as well. There's simply no need to ever use 3rd party software for anything if a simple tweak can do the same job.

Ok Mr. Picky, here you go. Works with UAC and on Computer. Doesn't work on desktop or libraries, but who really cares. Still no need for 3rd party software. ; Elevated Command window in context menu (works with UAC) [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\runas] @="Open Admin Command Window Here" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\runas\command] @="cmd.exe /s /k pushd \"%V\"" ; Adds it to "Computer" context menu [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}\shell\runas] @="Open Admin Command Window Here" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\CLSID\{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}\shell\runas\command] @="cmd.exe" edited to remove accidentally pasted part

The tweak I posted is for the elevated (run as administrator) cmd window. Try it yourself and see. Yes, all it does is remove the need to press shift, but it works.

You don't need 3rd party software to get this. The following removes the need to hit "shift" without using 3rd party software. ; Elevated command window (open command window here) [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\Directory\shell\cmd] "Extended"=- If you want to open a cmd window on the desktop, you still have to press shift.

The Ubuntu team still hasn't added wireless Super G support and proper Lexmark printer support, so it's useless to me. Such a shame too, cause I'd really like to dump Windows except for gaming.

I know this is an old topic, but my info is pertinent to this thread. If you want to network printers and share files/folders in XP Pro without needing passworded accounts on the host machines, do either of the following: Regedit method: ;Group Policy - Limit local account use of blank passwords to console logon only ;Essential for file/printer sharing without needing passworded accounts on host machines ;0 = disabled ;1 = enabled [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Lsa] "limitblankpassworduse"=dword:00000000 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Lsa] "limitblankpassworduse"=dword:00000000 Group Policy editor method: Start > run > gpedit.msc > Computer Configuration > Windows Settings > Security Settings > Local Policies > Security Options > Accounts: Limit local account use of blank passwords to console logon only (set this to disabled on all host machines). Both methods are the exact same.

That's not my quote.

The gov't bit explains it. I wasn't aware an entire cd could be compared. I'll definitely check out that tool. Thanks. I seem to learn something new everyday. At any rate, you could try the method krose linked to. It's the same as nLite's method, without those undocument changes. I might try it myself sometime. **holy crap, you weren't kidding about those undocumented changes. I just compared an nLite'd share and a non-nLite'd share. Most of the differences were just where nLite uncabbed about 100 files in \i386, but there were changes in the registry hive files and a few other places as well that nLite had no business messing with. It's time I learn a few manual tricks I guess. Thanks.

Why would I want it deleted??? It wouldn't be copied to the hard drive, just like the batch files aren't. They simply copy the files to their proper locations, command the self extracting archives to extract themselves, then command the OS to delete those archives. I was simply pointing out another option (a much simpler one in my opinion) and showing a few of the pluses of vbs. The Windows Scripting Host has been part of Windows since Win98, so you already have it, even on a stripped down install. WSH allows you to do so much more than any batch files will allow, and you aren't stuck with simple dos commands and batch file limitations. Dos commands and batch files are handy on occassion though. I still use the cmd prompt for a few things that any Windows version including Vista has never been able to do without 3rd party software. It's been my experience that people tend to make things much harder on themselves than they need to be, usually because they get used to doing something one way and then refuse to change because they get comfortable. I'm guilty of it myself.

A single Visual Basic Script (.vbs) can do everything you want with your sfx files, even create all your shortcuts with parameters and custom icons, and VBS is a lot more powerful than batch file scripting. .vbs files can even self-delete since they are run entirely from ram, unlike batch files. There's plenty of resources out there on the subject, so do a little research and you will quickly figure it out. I use .vbs scripts to configure my start menu and quicklaunch and I figured it out in maybe an hour, with a little trial and error and google. Be sure you have the Windows Scripting Host (WSH) installed. Here's a good resource on vbs: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms950396.aspx

MS's method is hardly simple. If it's so simple, then why are you having such trouble with it? The only thing nLite does in this case is adds a couple folders (\i386\NLDRV\001) with the drivers cab-compressed and adds the appropriate entries in \i386\TXTSETUP.SIF as shown below. [sourceDisksNames.x86] 1984 = %cdname%,%cdtagfilei%,,"\i386\NLDRV\001" [WinntDirectories] 1984 = NLDRV\001 [sourceDisksFiles.x86] iaahci.cat = 1984,,,,,,,1984,0,0 iaahci.inf = 1984,,,,,,,1984,0,0 iastor.cat = 1984,,,,,,,1984,0,0 iastor.inf = 1984,,,,,,,1984,0,0 iastor.sys = 1984,,,,,,,1984,0,0 and a comment at the very end of the file: ; Customized by nLite - www.nliteos.com So what "undocumented changes" are you referring to? I can understand that your work might prefer using the MS way and that you are responsible for the results, but even a chimp can see that MS's way is overly complicated and unnecessary. The fact that MS's method requires 2 copies of the driver files and the trouble you are having with such an allegedly "simple" method should have clued you in to this. nLite will do the job in 4 seconds. Try it out on your own and you will see. Then show your boss how fast it is and how good it works. He or she might then allow you to use nLite and make your job a little bit easier.

Take a look at the Vista drivers for your machine first. Many of them are actually XP drivers that just happen to work with Vista. OEMs don't want their customers knowing this so they don't advertise the fact. You can't always tell from inspecting the .inf files, so just try installing them and see what happens. It can't hurt anything to try. Your first step is to identify your exact hardware, right down to the chip models used. Once you do that, finding the drivers is usually as simple as googling for it.

Your method is overly complicated and unnecessary. Do yourself a favor and use nLite. It will slipstream the Intel mass storage/sata controller drivers and they will be installed during text mode setup and you won't have to edit anything. I just did this to a brand new Compaq Presario CQ50-209WM laptop yesterday when I dumped Vista and installed XP. Works like a charm.

I don't trust any those driver backup/restore tools. They all miss files for certain hardware. Unless the hardware you have to work with is very old or obscure, finding drivers is rarely a problem. It's a good idea to keep your own collection of drivers, not only for your own hardware, but also for all the computers you work on. You never know when a n00b friend is going to need your help.

ax88140.sys is the actual device driver, so yes, it needs to be there.

It seems to me that all of you are making this alot harder than it has to be, unless I'm missing something. Since Dtools uses the NSIS installer, why not just unpack the install file with Universal Extractor, then repack it with silent install options. I'm working on it right now. Never done anything like this, but how hard can it be? *Nevermind, the .nsi script for Dtools is alot more complex than it needs to be and it can't be recompiled because it's not written correctly.