tslug

I've tried this every way I can think of. Uncheck the Password Expiration "Enable" box in nLite or check it and set the expiration days to "0 for never." Either way it still expires, and if you go into advanced local user management after Windows loads, the box for Password Never Expires is unchecked. Anybody figured out an automated fix for this? Others must be seeing this too? Thanks, tslug

Not using sysprep, using Driveforge, not deleting the drivers folder, either. Source is USB or CD, destination is folder at root of local system drive. Today I found that by modifying the registry back to the %systemroot%\INF folder, then restarting, then rediscovering hardware after removing the yellow exclamation points, it discovered them correctly. I don't know why, it seems like DriveForge maybe installed drivers for the monitor that didn't work correctly, then the default INF just made it a plug and play monitor, maybe, and that was better or something. Also, IDK why driverforge leaving the default driver folder to the uncompressed drivers means that it can't recognize things as simple as a USB key w/o changing it back to the INF folder. Anyway, I can't really give the computer back to a client w/o switching the registry back to the INF folder, so that'll be cool when that tweak is done, IMO.

This has happened to me on multiple computers when trying Driverforge. It will recognize 2 monitors, and not install drivers for either of them. Then it will also recognize anywhere from 2 to 10 unknown devices. When you plug in a USB thumb drive, it won't be able to find drivers for it. I figured out how to fix this last problem by pointing it to C:\WINDOWS\inf, thanks to previous post. But any idea why these other problems happen? This is on multiple brands, laptop and desktop, about 30% of the time. Right now I'm looking at a laptop where the device manager lists 3 (Three) LGPhilips DVD burners with yellow question marks, plus 2 unknown devices underneath. There's only one drive, of course. Fixing these driver errors takes much more time than just downloading the correct drivers from the OEM site in the first place, but this program has so much potential to make my life wonderful! Thanks for your work so far! I definitely second replacing the driver location to %SYSTEMROOT%/inf so that future devices can plug and play.

Thanks for all the tips guys. Not sure why I didn't get emailed when you posted a response. I'll try all these suggestions. BTW, yes, I'm using Dell XP CD direct from Dell. Thanks, tslugmo

BTW, if I try to activate, it tells me that I'm using an unauthorized product key, even though I didn't enter a product key and Dell's disc just uses the one that's included. I can always type in the one on the side of the box, but there should be a way that this will all work, isn't there?

Well I used ISO Buster to rip both dell.img and the rest of the data from the CD to make sure I was starting from scratch and not using slipstreamed data. I burned a bootable CD using Roxio with the dell.img file, No Emulation, Load Segment 0x7c0 and a Sector Count of 4. No more errors like above, but I still get prompted for activation. At this point I'm really lost. Using the dell.img boot sector and the unmodified data directly from the CD, what else is there that could be affecting this? I notice dell.img and boot.cat files on the Dell CD. I can rip them both, but when Roxio asks me for the image I select dell.img and it creates boot.cat for me. Should I be doing this differently? The only error I get when creating the CD is about the CD being over 8 levels deep, and some computers not being able to read this. Nothing I can do about that, though, right?

Thanks, so yeah, I tried using the dell.img from isobuster, now I've got new cool symptoms identical to this thread: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?act=ST&f=89&t=39005 Hooray! I'll see if I can use that thread to help my progress. I guess the good news is it no longer asks me to activate!

Yep, I just confirmed, direct from CD to VM gives no Activation prompt. So there's something in the creation of the ISO that's causing the activation prompt, which has nothing to do with winnt.sif. Any ideas on how to preserve that, yet edit the winnt.sif file? I applied for XPCreate, but would like to try other ways in the meantime. -tslug P.S. In researching, I believe ISOBuster does what I need. I'm trying that now. So fun to have to install on VM every time a small change it made. Am I really saving time?

Interesting. I just used Autostreamer to copy the image of the disk and create an ISO to see what would happen if I didn't do any modification. Didn't slipstream any updates, didn't modify the winnt.sif file. Asks for activation after installation. I'm instaling direct from CD to VM to re-confirm I get no activation prompt. I swear I tried this already and didn't get an activation prompt, but I want to make sure.

Wow, tons of great info. I'll try these tips and report back later. I'm in the middle of a VM install of the OEM CD with one modification to the winnt.sif (UnattendedSwitch=YES) to see if even changing one little thing is going to throw everything off. In the end, being prompted for a valid key would be better than having to be prompted for all the time zone and user info stuff in the middle, but I'm shooting for the stars. Thanks again, tslugmo

Darn. Spoke too soon. As I was messing around with the installation, the "30 days for activation" warning came up. <sigh> Anybody know how to bypass activation like the Dell OEM CD does? Thanks, tslug

I just finished testing a manual combination of nLite's winnt.sif file and the OEM winnt.sif file. This seems to have worked, though it's a bit slow. Could be coincidence. I wasn't prompted for anything after choosing the partition to format. Just booted right into my desktop. Now I'll try to get the hotfixes to work, then it's on to application installation. Thanks for your help. -tslug For future reference, my winnt.sif looks like: [UserData] ProductKey="XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX" ComputerName = * FullName = "Owner" [RegionalSettings] Language = 0409 [Networking] InstallDefaultComponents = Yes [Data] MSDosInitiated=0 UnattendedInstall=Yes [Unattended] UnattendMode = FullUnattended UnattendSwitch = Yes OemPreinstall = Yes OemSkipEula = Yes FileSystem = * WaitForReboot = No NoWaitAfterTextMode = 1 NoWaitAfterGUIMode = 1 TargetPath = Windows DriverSigningPolicy = Ignore NonDriverSigningPolicy = Ignore [GuiUnattended] AdminPassword = * TimeZone = 04 OEMSkipRegional = 1 OemSkipWelcome = 1 [Components] Fax=On

FYI, I used the product key indicated in winnt.sif on the OEM CD but was still prompted to activate. The contents of the OEM CD winnt.sif are very sparse: "[userData] ProductKey="XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX" [Data] MSDosInitiated=0 UnattendedInstall=Yes [Components] Fax=On" (Product key X'd out by me) I do not get prompted to activate, only to register when using OEM CD. Slipstreaming with nLite prompts me for activation. I will try manual editing of winnt.sif, but has nobody else done this successfully before? Thanks, tslug

I know, when you go directly from the OEM CD, it never asks you for the product key, so there's no problem. But when I slipstream using nLite it prompts me for the product key, and then it asks me to activate once I enter Windows for the first time, I swear. I'd send you screen shots, but I'm guessing you believe me. I've installed on scores of Dells as well, and it never asks you for the product key from the OEM CD directly. It does when slipstreamed, though, which screws with avoiding activation. -tslug

Thanks for the suggestion. The key for the machine is not hard coded on the CD, you can use the Dell CD in any Dell and it'll work fine, it just checks to see that it's a Dell BIOS before installing. Info on SLP Activation Aside from that, the problem with using the Dell Windows CD is that it then prompts me for things like Time Zone and Owner Info, which defeats the purpose of slipstreaming. Ideally I want to be able to place a CD in the Dell, boot it up, and walk away to work on other computers, then come back later to a fully installed and configured XP machine.