Gurgelmeyer

Thanks I'll release a USP 5.1.2195.25 REFRESH soon - to fix the glitches reported and to include the latest updates and fixes (not just those available from WU) - otherwise I'll get back to work on 5.2 Best regards Gurgel B)

Thanx I'm my good old self again and cant wait to get busy - already made a refresh build of 5.02 and 5.1 with all new fixes. I really want to solve the MSI-setup problem too before releasing it. /G B)

/G B)

Hi I've been at the hospital for a while, but I'm back and I'm going to fully recover so I can make USP's for you guys How do we 'help' update.exe? Because executing i386\update\update.exe /Integrate:D:\XP fails and says that you need to use /integrate with the original package.Thanks. You need to use the version of update.exe contained in my USP 5.1 - AND you need to wrap it in a "real" SFX: 1. Find a hotfix with SFXCAB version 5.5.31.0 2. Remove the digital signature from the hotfix; use the ImageEnumerateCertificates() and ImageRemoveCertificate() functions exposed through imagehlp.h 3. Truncate the unsigned hotfix at offset 0x8800 4. Make your .CAB file, and open it in a hex editor; locate the entry for the program that you want to run automatically upon extraction, and OR the attribute byte (two bytes before the first char in the filename) with 0x40 5. Store the size of the .CAB file as a DWORD at offset 0x7C18 in the truncated hotfix .EXE 6. Append the .CAB file to the .EXE file (you will not need the .CAB file anymore now) 7. Store the size of the .EXE in the .EXE itself as a DWORD at offset 0x0168 8. Append any zero bytes necessary to the .EXE file so its size becomes a multiplum of 512 9. Substract 0x7E00 from the size of the .EXE, and store the result as a DWORD at offset 0x0228 in the .EXE itself 10. Update the PE checksum /Gurgelmeyer B)

USP 5.1 does remove the 127GB barrier if it's slipstreamed. It doesn't do so if it is installed normally. This is the safest way, but I better fix it to avoid any confusion /Gurgelmeyer B)

Downloading.... (3 Kb/s for some reason) /G B)

Thanks for reporting it - I'll look into this problem Any hints on reproducing it? Gurgelmeyer B)

Security updates continues until 2010. This is the beginning rather than the end - W2K (with an USP) is definately the most stable Windows I have ever worked with, including XP SP2. G B) "The end of USP 5?" - I've been in hospital - gimme a break

Got this question recently There are no WGA components in any USP B)

HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\HAL","14140000FFFFFFFF",0x00010001,0x00000010 Gurgelmeyer B)

Actually the USP is tested with Terminal Services - a friend of mine agreed to test it in a real TS production environment (Advanced Server), and so far it works fine - I'm told. Anyway, I'm sorry to say that I won't give any schedules or status reports, because it's an extremely iterative process, and I know for a fact that I can spend days hunting down the last file or registry mismatch. The price you all pay for waiting is a certain degree of 'perfection'. Testing is what takes 90% of my time, and builds and tests are what take 90% of my CPU cycles Best regards, Gurgelmeyer B)

Phew ...

Just a quick update: KB832414 - added KB909363 - added KB139071 - added KB885912 - added KB912196 - added No new downloads just yet. Best regards Gurgelmeyer B)

It is included in the 5.1.2195.21 release. That is not included - yes, I need it /G B) PS - @-I- - Cool - I might need some compression stats later on

Hi, Yep - it does look nice. How does it look in 640x480x16 ? (I'm waiting for another server atm, so I cant just dl and test) But what should be in the documentation? I wont document which non-publicly available hotfixes are included - the answer will always be "all, unless otherwise proved". I have considered a more useful autorun which pops up a box which helps to automate the most common tasks, such as "Welcome", "Install", "Integrate", "Browse",... etc. About bootscreens, those are tough to make in color, because they are - as most of us know - 16 color .bmp images, however - unlike in Windows and all Windows applications - the 16 colors are not predefined in this particular 16-color bitmap but a 16 color palette is included instead. Some color indices are predefined - I think no 2 is the scroll-thingy at the bottom for example. Does anyone know an image editing tool which handles 16-color non-windows .bmp's? File system support is a wonderful thing. I can't wait to test the ext2/3 driver (so it better work ) I won't include the bootscreens or extra non-ms file system drivers in the USP's. But it's fun to play with - wonder if NT can be made to boot from ext3.... nah Best regards, Gurgelmeyer B)

Please send it - will be good to hear from you again btw. /G B)

In theory a lot like that. My thought is, that each and every file should be stored only once - no matter how often it appears, no matter under which names, no matter how many different ways it is compressed, no matter if it's (recursively) embedded in MSI streams or other cabinets. It's perfectly simple - it could even be expanded to handle more than just the MSCF formats. The only difference to the end user would be that (s)he would have to download an EXE file instead of a ZIP file. Best regards Gurgelmeyer B)

Interesting? In a word: YES /G B)

I really prefer to eliminate as many problems as possible in advance, rather than making a mess of updates like good old MS have done. I'm sure you get my point Convenience is one of the main purposes of USP's 242971184 bytes / (10240 bytes/second) / 3600 seconds/hour = 6 hours 35 minutes. Try downloading SP3 with 5.5 kb/sec - now those were the days.... /G B) (PS - Don't worry - I already have an idea on "smart compression" - I need to run some tests)

It's available from Will's site now /G B)

i don't think a byte pacher will do the trick.... because its often far from acurate. a dif file though COULD perhaps help A litle bit though i think the work wouldn't be worth the few extra megs saved... I do agree that the download size is a problem. One thought is to release a crosslinked ISO 9660 - those are easy to create, and at least you would get "all" USP versions in one download - more value for money. Another thought on the matter is, that most ppl probably use the USP's on 2K Pro, and don't care about the server variants. And a Pro-only variant of each USP will definately be smaller. Interesting I quite agree - SATA is however more important than PCMCIA I believe. Chipsets, SATA, Video (incl monitors), LAN 10/100/1000, Audio (full AC97 at least). Donno about printers and scanners yet B) /G B)

Hi Well, to integrate a USP before you run nLite, simply do it manually. Example: Create a dir C:\TEMP2K and copy the Windows CD to that dir Create a dir C:\TEMPUSP and place the USP there Start > Run > C:\TEMPUSP\W2KSP51.EXE -s:C:\TEMP2K That will update the 2k image in C:\TEMP2K with the USP. Now you should be able to nLite it. (I think) Another thing: Add/Remove Programs indirectly depends on at least MSHTA.EXE, JSCRIPT.DLL, MSHTML, SP3RES.DLL (for Program Access and Defaults), and Mdac. It's an embedded JavaScript HTML application. Hope it helps Best regards, Gurgelmeyer B)

I better update my profile /G B) .... on the other hand, it's pretty accurate as it is...

I'll be brief (I'm on a very slow line right now, because my ISP wants me to pay the same bill twice... long story, don't worry ) USP 5.1.2195.21 (21 is the build number) contains: - ~40-50 new non-security updates not available from WU. I think I got them all now, but I keep saying that don't I - All the security updates that were available on WU on 2006-04-16 for Windows 2000 and for the Windows 2000 versions of the built-in or the USP provided components. - Fixes a BUG which caused setup from DOS to fail - Fixes a BUG which might cause USP setup to take longer than it should - Adds the USP version and build date to the System Properties Next: USP 5.2 ! When? Donno. I definately need my DSL.... Best regards, Gurgelmeyer B)

I once got some hotfixes in Korean - well they are probably underpaid hard working people - but still, I couldn't help smiling /G B)