Silvereyes

The 'Computer Type' option is a legacy feature which is supposed to control the selection of the HAL. In practice it rarely works properly and is best left for the installer to decide the most appropriate type.

That's certainly how I read his request. I just wondered why he chose this rather than the alternative.

The best way to create a Custom Shortcut during an Unattended Install (HINT: Try reading the title ) is to create an inf file as shown below and 'install' it using the following command. "rundll32 setupapi,InstallHinfSection DefaultInstall 128 .\<filename>.inf" This creates two shortcuts, one in the specified start menu folder and another on the desktop. Which particular locations will depend on precisely when the inf file is 'installed'. If the file is 'installed' from cmdlines.txt they will be created in the Default User directory and subsequently inherited by any account created afterwards including Administrator. If the file is 'installed' from RunOnceEx they will only be created in the Administrator directory during the first logon. To use the code shown below simply replace the <...> sections with the appropriate names and locations etc. These will use the default icon from the executable file. It is possible to override this to specified a particular icon but this would complicate things and you did wish it to be kept simple. BTW: Wouldn't it be easier to run your installation directly from RunOnceEx ? [Version] Signature = "$Windows NT$" [DefaultInstall] ProfileItems = StartMenuSC, DesktopSC [StartMenuSC] Name = "<product name>" CmdLine = 16422,"<program directory>",<executable filename> SubDir = "<start menu folder>" [DesktopSC] Name = "<product name>" CmdLine = 16422,"<program directory>",<executable filename> SubDir = "..\..\Desktop"

The symptoms described suggest a problem with the motherboard power circuits rather than a psu issue. ATX style psu's have a 'soft' power switch facility which prevents any output in the absence of the appropriate signal on the interface. This means they simply won't work 'out of circuit' or in the case of a motherboard problem which prevents this signal being present. It is possible to overcome this by shorting the correct pin to gnd but switch mode psu's need a certain minimum load in order to function correctly and may actually be dangerous if operated 'out of circuit'. @Walchinc Please be careful when giving advice on subjects in which you have limited experience. Particularly those which have serious safety considerations such as power supplies.

This really depends on what your end use will be. If you could give us some idea of the uses to which you intend to put it to we might be able to suggest some options.

Another option which might work is to integrate the vmware drivers. This is the method I use but I don't strip all the drivers as you do. To start you will need to get the contents of the vmware tools 'CD' from the 'windows.iso' file in the vmware installation directory. Mount the image using a virtual CD drive (Daemon Tools etc.) or extract the contents to a directory. Select 'Multiple driver folder', then the virtual CD drive or the top level directory as appropriate. Select the appropriate drivers for your O/S and proceed as normal. This will also allow you to set display/network/etc. parameters which need the vmware drivers. Also, it will not interfere with the subsequence installation of vmware tools.

And you think yours is?

It actually depends on where you live. In Europe, OEM licenses are NOT tied to a particular motherboard as this is strictly forbidden by European Law. Specifically, the Computer Software Directive 1991, Article 4c which states:- "The first sale in the Community of a copy of a program by the rightholder or with his consent shall exhaust the distribution right within the Community of that copy, with the exception of the right to control further rental of the program or a copy thereof." So it's perfectly legal for an End User to buy 'second user' licenses, retail or oem, and/or move licenses between machines within the EU. For a retailer or a system builder it's a bit different. Specifically:- 1) OEM licenses are intended for use by system builders and MUST NOT be sold to End Users. 2) Retail licenses are intended for sale to End Users and MUST NOT be used by system builders. Basically what this means is that if you are building a system for onward sale, whether it's for a specific customer or just to put on display in the shop, you MUST use an OEM license. Using a retail license is a violation of that license and, incidently, will cost you considerably more. £156.26 v. £87.60 for XP Pro SP2B at the time of writing. Retail licenses come in a nice box with pretty pictures, shrink wrapping and a holographic seal which MUST be intact when you sell it. There's actually a note on the seal to this effect. If you are going to install it for a customer then strictly speaking you should have them pay for it first and then break the seal themselves before returning it to you for installation. Fortunately, not even Microsoft are THAT pendantic I hope this has been of some help as it is an area where you have to be very, very careful.

Most of the 'standard' icons are in shell32.dll. You can see these by using the 'Change Icon' feature. Right click any desktop icon and select 'properties' then 'Change Icon'. Select 'Browse' then navigate to '\winnt\system32\shell32.dll' and click 'OK'. This works for any file containing embedded icons. If the file doesn't contain any icons you'll get an error msg. Just be careful when doing this or you might find yourself changing icons when you don't want to

Unfortunately some people are unable to think clearly. These can be readily identified by their persistent criticism of other people failing to use their brain Having said that, he's right about an Optimized Settings Button of that type having little practical use for most people. There is simply too much variation in individual requirements. Mind you, there used to be a commercial application which performed a similar function for W98. This did not have individual component selections in the way nLite does but simply gave a number of options - Fat, Maxi, Mini, etc. One of these was a 'super-stripped' build which usually totalled around 40MB, almost perfect for single application 'embedded' systems (kiosks etc.). Perhaps you were thinking of something along these sort of lines. However, although this is easily achieved by including a number of predefined presets. The real issue is, as always, how do you determine what to keep and what to remove. Different people & uses have different requirements.

Yes, it is possible and it's actually quite simple to change both the default icons and the displayed name for all of the 'standard' desktop items, ie. My Computer, My Network Places, etc. The pair of keys you need are listed below, The first one is a simple text entry which is the name as displayed on the desktop while the second is the default icon give as "filename,resource-number". You can chose which desktop item you want to change by substituting the appropriate CLSID as the attributes are the same for all of them. The only exception to this is the Recycle Bin which has three 'DefaultIcon' entries as show at the bottom. HKCU,"Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CLSID\{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}","",0000000000,"My Computer" HKCU,"Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CLSID\{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}\DefaultIcon","",0x00020000,"%SystemRoot%\Explorer.exe,0" 208D2C60-3AEA-1069-A2D7-08002B30309D - My Network Places 20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D - My Computer 450D8FBA-AD25-11D0-98A8-0800361B1103 - My Documents HKCU,"Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CLSID\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}","",0x00000000,"Recycle Bin" HKCU,"Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CLSID\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}\DefaultIcon","",0x00020000,"%SystemRoot%\System32\shell32.dll,31" HKCU,"Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CLSID\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}\DefaultIcon","Empty",0x00020000,"%SystemRoot%\System32\shell32.dll,31" HKCU,"Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CLSID\{645FF040-5081-101B-9F08-00AA002F954E}\DefaultIcon","Full",0x00020000,"%SystemRoot%\System32\shell32.dll,32" I can't give detailed instructions without knowing exactly how/when you perform this part of the installation. My personal preference is to use a 'custom.inf' file which contains these and other settings which I run from cmdlines.txt using the following line:- "rundll32 setupapi,InstallHinfSection DefaultInstall 128 .\Custom.inf" This can also be executed via RunOnceEx but be aware this is a per user setting. Running it from cmdlines.txt changes the default user account which is then inherited by all others created afterwards. Running from anywhere else only changes the settings for that particular user account. Something else you should be aware is that some settings don't 'stick' if applied during cmdlines.txt, I assume that they are being overwritten during a later stage.

You're welcome I must admit I wasn't aware that it had been around that long. I was busy with other things so I missed all of the later 1.2 updates.

I'd call that a feature, not a problem... Oh of course... How silly of me... Why would anyone, except a colossal nerd like myself of course, want to see such inconsequential objects as drives, folders or files in a file selection dialog. @Nuhi Glad to be of assistance.

I finally found the time to make a proper examination of the 'My Computer' desktop icon problem which I, and others, have been having with the 1.3 branch of nLite. As usual the cause turned out to be quite simple once I had found it. The Desktop-->Internet Explorer-->Hide/Show tweak is using the wrong CLSID. What I also discovered was that this doesn't just hide the desktop icon, it hides the entire interface from any access through the explorer shell which is rather more serious. The relevant CLSIDs are:- {20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D} - My Computer. {871C5380-42A0-1069-A2EA-08002B30309D} - Internet Explorer. Fortunately the cure is just as simple as the original problem. Find the following registry key and delete it. HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CLSID\{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}\ShellFolder\Attributes Fixing it before installation is just as simple. Find the following entry in hivedef.inf and delete it before running the last stage (Bootable ISO). HKCU,"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CLSID\{20D04FE0-3AEA-1069-A2D8-08002B30309D}\ShellFolder","Attributes",0x00010001,0x00100000 To hide the Internet Explorer desktop icon you can replace the above entry with the following one. Do NOT simply change the CLSID. The attributes value is different. HKCU,"Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\CLSID\{871C5380-42A0-1069-A2EA-08002B30309D}\ShellFolder","Attributes",0x00010001,0x100024

There is no technical reason why you cannot have the pagefile on a different partition of the same physical drive but there is nothing to be gained from it other than a more complicated setup with more potential points of failure. There are no performance or other benefits and anything you might think you are seeing is an illusion. The same goes for 'Documents and Settings' etc. Standard practice in many parts of the industry is two partitions. A system partition containing O/S (inc. pagefile), programs, volatile/temporary data etc. and a data partition containing everything else. This is the partition to which the Documents folder, and only the Documents folder, is redirected. This simplifies backups/restores/upgrades etc. as only the system partition needs selective backups. The data partition can be backed up as a single entity.

Considering how many forums you've posted the exact same comment to I think it's safe to assume that this is a deliberate, if rather pathetic, attempt at flamebaiting. However, I am going to treat it in a more mature fashion and simply ask what makes you think it isn't? It's a customization tool not a filesharing program. It isn't going to spread unauthorised copies of Windows around the world. It's not going to support organized crime/terrorism/the latest BSA fantasy etc. Regarding nLite and FLP. You are comparing chalk with cheese and have concluded that cheese should be used for sandwichs and drawing because it tastes better. The fact is that these are aimed at different audiences. nLite is a customisation tool for current operating system products. FLP is a operating system which is pre-customised with what Microsoft thinks would be useful in a corporate environment. In addition to this, sales/distribution of FLP is limited to Software Assurance customers only. nLite also has the ability to save and reuse multiple profiles. In use the current profile is saved automatically as "Last Session" before processing starts. Previous sessions include the date and time of creation. This is a feature which has saved me a lot of time by giving me a known starting point with my most common customisations already set up. BTW: How many forums did you post this to?

Thanks, that one worked.

Hi dabble, I've tried several times now and the site is still down. Is there anywhere else I could get this ???

Thanks for the suggestions dman. Unfortunately these type of installers cannot be used during certain parts of the gui phase of an unattended install.

Hi All, Does anyone know where I can find an good .inf file creation/editing tool. I have tried both sysdiff and INF-Tool lite without much success. What I am trying to do is create custom installers for some small applications which I include as part of my 'base' install. Any help would be much appreciated.