mikesw

Os2fan2, Below I have a few requests of you! Request #1: Can you email/PM me your "setupreg.hiv" file so that I can try your version and also do a binary diff with mine to see if it is the file? This will help me track down where the problem lies. As for your commands, I've tried all of those too. The only difference is that you went to the directory I386 that contains the setupreg.hiv file after you copied your Win 2K OS disk to the hard drive. I also have a copy of my OS too on the hard drive. However, I copied the reg.exe and the setupreg.hiv from their current respective directories to a directory I created called C:\Temp2 and ran the commands after I CD'd into the Temp2 directory. Thus, no PATH variable definitions would be needed. Perhaps by you running the command on the setupreg.hiv directly in the I386 directory containing it, makes it work. Request #2: PS: Can you also post your PATH Environment variable so that I can see if reg.exe or the setupreg.hiv file require any other directories that may create some sort of file dependency (ie a DLL)? Request #3: Can you also run this command for me on your system? If it doesn't work, can you add "/ve" and/or "/f" to create an empty key and force it? I'm interested to see if I can test my capability and yours to create a key without the setupreg.hiv file to narrow down the problem. After you try this out, you can run the command below to remove it of course. Question 1: After you did the registry "unload", where is the new setupreg.hiv file stored? In the same directory it was loaded from or somewhere in the OS directories where the other registry hives are stored? Question 2: Can you also tell me the permissions that you have on setupreg.hiv file i.e. is it "RA" or something else?

I've changed the drive for winsource to the correct drive letter and directory path but this doesn't make any difference (yes I'm familiar with environment variables and directoh pathnames). Thus, I am doing this one step at a time at the windows DOS command line prompt vs. a batch file. When this works at the command prompt, I'll redo it via the batch file as an alternative method. I've done this manually on Win 2K PRO SP4 with reg.exe v2.0 and on Win XP PRO SP2 with reg.exe v3.0 and in both cases the reg.exe complains with "invalid parameter". Can you do this on your system at the command prompt? Or can you copy the "setupreg.hiv" file to a directory where the "reg.exe" file is copied to and do this at the command prompt? Thus, no Environment paths are needed. Or without the double quotes surrounding the hiv filename? If it should work for you, can you post or PM me the contents of the "setupreg.hiv" file by exporting the HKLM\Setup hive to an ASCII text file so that I can read what this hive contains? I don't think my hive file is corrupt since I can install the Win 2K OS with it, but I don't know what it is in it. I could also re-import your ASCII version and then try to "unload" the hive to an new version of a "setupreg.hiv" to see if I can at least do this before I question my hive file. Note: I've read the help by doing "reg add /?" or "reg load /?" and all of the above commands should work. Note2: Although I'm administrator, do I have to change any registry read/write or attribute permissions on each registry key once I've opened the regsitry using regedit, by selecting the key and changing the properties on the key?

Alternately, load setup.hiv into regedit, and edit the corresponding ControlSet001\Services\atapi\Parameters, to add EnableBigLba to dword:01 Os2fan2, I'm running into problems with the ".bat" or ".cmd" script above. I have "reg.exe" from the support tools (latest) which is v2.0 Problem: a). when I do the "reg load" of the setupreg.hiv that I copied from Win2K SP4 I get the error of "error: The parameter is incorrect". I even tried "reg add HKLM\Setup /ve" which gave me the same error message. I guess I can't create an entry in HKLM at this level but only at the sub-key level. b ). I noticed there is a "HKLM\SYSTEM\Setup" defined already in my registry. I'm not sure what will happen if I load/overwrite this "Setup" with the one in the setupreg.hiv once I get it to work/load. c). If I do this "reg load HKLM\SYSTEM\Setup setupreg.hiv" I also get the same error message as in item (a). d). If I do this "reg add HKLM\SYSTEM\Setup1 /ve" , the "Setup1" will be created in the register or even with "Setup" too. e). Once "HKLM\SYSTEM\Setup1" is created. I can do the rest of the reg add to add the EnablebigLBA with REG_DWORD of 0x1. f). The same problem also occurs when I run the command to unload the registry using "reg unload HKLM\Setup" or if I do this "reg unload HKLM\SYSTEM\Setup" I get access denied as the error message. This also occurs for "reg unload HKLM\SYSTEM\Setup1" too. Thus, I can't load/unload the setupreg.hiv nor create the RootKey that is needed to be modified so that I can reburn the CD for Win 2K SP4 with the new setupreg.hiv file. I even removed all the directory paths and system variables and put everything in the same directory to eliminate this as a possibility. I even copied a Windows XP Pro SP2 setupeg.hiv over to see if my Win 2K Pro SP4 setupreg.hiv was corrupt (although I can install the OS without problem) and it had the same problem. Any ideas as to how to verify the integrity of the setupreg.hiv structure and how to get this file updated? I even tried to boot into MSDOS and do it there, but reg.exe can't run in DOS mode.

Are you sure that the BIOS is 48-bit LBA compatible? That error likely is a BIOS issue. Yes Im sure, I updated the Netvista BIOS to the latest one and per the docs it said it was.

What is preferred method to run the batch .cmd file? I see that cmdlines.txt is at the T-12 time which would seem pretty late in the game to modify the registry for setupreg.hiv - particularily if one hasn't even formatted the partition or copied the Win 2K OS files to the drive yet since the registry change to setupreg.hiv is supposed to allow me to allocate more thant 137 gigs during windows 2k setup? The alternative "runoncex" also seems to be done late in the game of installing the Win 2K OS. The above two methods are OK after windows is copied to the drive and then the OS registry is modified with the LBA fix before restarting and booting up the OS for the first time. Is there a another method to get this stuff loaded as windows setup is loading? The only one I can think of is for me to manually modify the setupreg.hiv file by hand and then burn the CD with it already updated vs. letting the unattended method do it for me. Hmmm, I believe that what you were telling me is that the original Win 2K CD sp4 gets copied to the HDD, and then run the batch file on this copy which modifies the setupreg.hiv file. Then reburn a CD with the new image. Then the other Runoncex or cmdlines.txt file stuff can be done at T-12 after I've been thru the windows setup, partition creation and allocation with the new setupreg.hiv and the copying of the Win 2K OS onto the new partition. It is at this point the WIn 2K OS registry that will be used is modified to include the 48bitlba fix before booting up for the first time.

Here's how I got rid of the "unformated or damaged disks" message. During windows 2000 install, I created two partitions at the same time. The first was 2047 MB for MSDOS, and 50 Gigs for Windows 2000. Then when I selected the first partition to format and install as FAT and then install win 2k on it, the error message is displayed after the format is complete stating that it couldn't format the drive. Moreover, if I select the second partition to format as NTFS and then install win 2k on it the error message is displayed after the format is complete stating that it couldn't format the drive. To get around this format problem, I deleted all the partitions, and only created one partition of 2047 MB. I then formatted it as FAT and installed win 2K files on it followed by rebooting the computer. I then rebooted and used the win 2k setup disk to see what it thought the partition was. Win setup then listed the first partition as FAT and 2047 mB as expected. I rebooted and installed the MSDOS v6.22 floppy bootup disk. I then did an fdisk , partition delete and allocated to the max for the first partition along with installing the MSDOS OS and floppy disk files. I then rebooted to make sure MSDOS would boot off the HDD. I then rebooted and installed the win 2k setup disk to see what it thought the partition was. Win setup said it was FAT and 2047 MB as was expected when I used the MSDOS format command. Now that the first partition was correct and seen by MSDOS and win 2k setup disk with no error message stating it was "unformatted or damaged", I allocated 50 gigs using Win 2K setup since MSDOS fdisk can't go higher than 2 gigs. I then formated it to NTFS and installed the Win 2K OS. After reboot into Win 2K setup, I verified that the second partition was shown as NTFS and around 50gigs. Now that windows setup can correctly identify and show me the partition filesystems as Fat16 and NTFS, I rebooted into Windows to see if it worked. IT did. I didn't try to use windows setup to allocate the remaining disk space since only two more partitions are allowed on this drive and and they would be about the 137 gig limit minus that which was already used. Although my BIOS is 48 bit lba compliant, I'll have to recreate the CD/DVD with the 48bitlba patch of the OS registries on install and to modify the setupreg.hiv file as listed above. Thanks. PS: Don't pre-allocate more than one partition at a time using windows setup since you'll get a can't format partition or is damaged error message. Do it one at a time for each OS that one installs. NOTES: a). per MSOFTS KB article for 48bitlba one will have corruption problems without the lba fix if the parition the OS is being installed on exceeds 137 gigs. In my case my OS is on a 50 gig partition. Thus, no problem b ). After MY OS is installed and running, I will have to modify the registry for the 48bit lba if I want to allocate the remaining HDD space that is avail to the 750 gigs I have. c). Once the registry is modified, I could use the win 2k sp4 disk management screens to continue allocating the remaining space into disk partitions less than 137 gigs or greater without the possible data corruption. Conclusion: I'll just go back and fix the hives on the install disk using the reg.exe routines since the above method takes a bit to do if one reinstalls alot.

Thanks. I was wondering if I had to modify both the regular OS hives with this patch and the setupreg.hiv too; or whether the patch modified both at the same time. Your post answered that by saying that both had to be modified. Moreover, the link you provided also listed a tool too and info that said there is even an Win95/98 48Bit LBA patch too. http://www.48bitlba.com/tools.htm Will reburn tonight

I'm trying to install a 750 gig IDE drive. If I put a set of registry modifications on the CD to be loaded/installed for a slipped Windows 2K or XP disk, which of the registry files will get modified upon load? Is it setupreg.hiv, or the others (for example) system which will reside in c:\windows\system32\config\ or any of the various other ones? During the initial install of an OS it will show the setup partition table and the unallocated space. However, for a Windows 2K Sp4 one, the maximum value of unallocated spaced is 131,062 Mbytes - in other words about 131 Gigs. At this time, this windows version has a 137 GIG limit. To get beyond this, one needs the registry to be modified to allow drives larger than 137 gigs. Therefore, the 137 gig registry patch is the one I want to install with Windows 2K SP4. Thus, my question is, if the registry patch is included, will it show me an unallocated space greater than 131 Gigs and up to the max of the drive on the Windows Setup screen? Can I allocate disk partitions that will upon entering a number on the setup disk partition screen that are greater than 131 GIG work without problem? What about if it is a terabyte drive which is one digit more than the current data entry screen that is used to enter the number to allocate the partition space or does it adjust the numeric entry field to accept this large value?

I have Windows 2000 Pro with SP4 and a 750gig Seagate drive. Originally I had a 40 gig drive with win2k that I moved over to the larger disk using Seagates Disc-wizard tool. I also had installed MSDOS v6.22 too to the first partition and it boots into either MSDOS or Win2K on this new disk. The partitions where 2.1gigs(MSDOS), 50gigs (windows) and two more storage partitions of 323 gigs each. However, the recovery console will BSOD and stop when trying to bootup Win 2K. Now I want to install the same setup on a second computer, but not using Seagates Discwizard or Maxblast. Here are the steps and the problems I encountered. a). installed MSDOS v6.22 floppy disk and booted up. b ). ran fdisk MSDOS version and created a partition on C: of 2047 MB, created a second partition of 51270 MB so that after formatting it will be 50 gigs. The remaining space of 646 gigs can be seen by fdisk, but it can't create the partition. Thus, once Win2k boots up, I'll use the disk management tool to create those. c). I then used MSDOS "format c: /V /E /S" to reformat drive C: and install a system on it. This can be booted without problem and the total file size is approximately 2.146 gigs and all the floppy files were xcopied to this disk too. d). I then want to install Win 2K pro on the second partition of 50 gigs to create a dual boot system with MSDOS and Win2k Pro SP4. e). I then installed the windows 2k Pro sp4 disk and booted up off of that. After all the drivers are loaded, the Win 2k Pro setup lists all the partitions. The amount of space allocated above for partition 1, 2047 MB, partition 2 shows 51270 MB and the other unallocated free space as 646000 MB (or about). f). Although the partition sizes are shown, Win 2K PRO setup lists under the filesystems the following text of "unformatted or damaged" for everything. How can this be since I can boot into MSDOS without problem and MSDOS' "scandisk.exe" of the MSDOS partition shows that it has no disk errors? g). Moreover, if I use the Win 2K Pro setup disk to format the second partition as NTFS which will be 51270 MB, the setup routines gives a progress bar saying it is formating, but when it hits 100%, it bombs out saying it can't format this partition. h). If I try to use Win 2K Pro setup disk to allocate the 646 gigs into two partitions, I get the screen where one can enter the partition size for the partition being allocated. It shows all the remaining space left of lets say 646000 MB, but when I try to enter 323086 MB, it won't allow me to enter the last number in the data field. Hence the setup limits the allocation number to 5 digits and not the 6 digits needed. How to correct the Windows 2k setup issues with partition filesystem message of "unformatted or damaged", the allocation entry problem and formating error described in items (f-h)? Are there any patches for these problems after SP4 came out?

Here's a comment using google search which came to this site. THe author said that Adobe's instructions are in the wrong order. http://www.acrobatusers.com/forums/ask_an_...ions/view/2689/ In general, here's the sequence of command line arguments: Install the base msi to Admin install point: msiexec /a acropro.msi TRANSFORMS=acropro.mst Extract the msp from the patch files Copy the transform and patch files to the install point Install the patches to the Admin install point: msiexec /a acropro.msi /p Ac705PrP_efgj.msp msiexec /a acropro.msi /p Acro707.msp msiexec /a acropro.msi /p Acro708.msp msiexec /a acropro.msi /p Acro709.msp Run the installation on a worskstation msiexec /i \acropro.msi TRANSFORMS=acropro.mst Don't forget to use InstallShield Tuner / Customization Wizard to set your serial number and other, sundry, options. My question is that now that the patch is integrated on an Install Point, how do I take this install point and roll it up back into a MSI file or exe file?

I have a disk whereby MSDOS v6.22 was installed on the first partition and is marked boot and active. This was installed first. I then installed Win 2K Pro sp4 on second partition. I then installed the Win 2k Pro Recovery Console which installs /cmdcons subdir on the first (MSDOS) partition. I can bootup and select MSDOS which boots MSDOS without problem. I can bootup and select Win 2k which boots without problem. However, if I select "Recovery Console", the screen shows Recover Console running with the dots being displayed followed by BSOD of stop code 0x7B saying no boot device. I'm not sure if fixing the MBR using the MSDOS command on the MSDOS disk followed by using the Win 2K fix mbr command on both the MSDOS and Win2K filesystems will correct my problem since I'm not sure if using the fix mbr supplied by Win 2K will affect the MSDOS MBR. Moreover, I don't know if Fix MBR on the second partition where Win 2K resides will confuse the bootup software that starts from the MSDOS partition (that is MSDOS has an MBR and the 2nd partition has Win 2K MBR as to which of the MBR's is used and not affect my boot screen that allows me to select MSDOS or Win 2K). I realize I can't use the MSDOS fix mbr called "fdisk /mbr" on a Win2k NTFS since it will mess up the partition and filenames etc; however, using the Win2k "fixmbr" on a MSDOS and Win2k system may work - maybe. Thus, the problem is is I can't use the installed "Recovery Console" to boot and fix Win 2K. I've read somewhere that sometimes the 0x7B can be set if the pagefile.sys is corrupt and that the solution to it is to get into the Recovery Console and delete this file since on next reboot a new file should be created. However, I can't get this far to try it!!! How can I fix this problem? Note: running chkdisk /f /r or using the Windows 2K checkdisk under disk properties on both the MSDOS and Win2k filesystems doesn' find anything wrong other than a few indexes which it corrected.

I used the add/remove program to uninstall Nlite 1.4rc2 so that I can upgrade to Nlite 1.4 final. In the meantime I checked the directories where Nlite is stored along with using HiJackThis to tell me what's left around. Here is a list of things that the Nlite Uninstall program will need to remove so that everything gets uninstalled. I hate to have alot of leftovers from previous releases hanging around. The directory "Nero" and the file "nlite.ini" don't get removed in C:\Program Files The following registry entry based on HiJackThis showed this which was removed using HiJackThis. O4 - HKUS\.DEFAULT\..\RunOnce: [nltide_3] rundll32 advpack.dll,LaunchINFSectionEx nLite.inf,C,,4,N (User 'Default user')

the update.ver file is an ASCII file. There is nothing in there that gives one a clue.....

Does anyone know what tool can make the update.ver file and the contents it contains? Is it some packaging tool, s/w configuration tool or a compiler link tool etc?

Very informative. What if XP Pro is a volume corporate license? How does the retail vs OEM Vista upgrade work for this case?

Not true; you can install directly Vista upgrade and insert any XP cd when it ask for. Ok, but does it matter which XP version - for example home or professional CD - is inserted into a particular VISTA upgrade version (that is VISTA Home to Ultimate)? What about converting from 32 bit to 64 bit or vice versa. That is install VISTA 64 bit upgrade, then insert WIN XP 32 bit to make a VISTA 64 bit full install? Now if I could only do it with VIXTA (not mispelled)......

I'm wondering since Vista is expensive if bought as a full retail install that if I buy the cheaper Vista upgrade software for either the home, biz, ultimate edition whether I can slip the upgrade version into Windows XP SP2 and use the license info given with the VISTA upgrade in unattended mode, that I can make a full version of VISTA without having to buy the more expensive license? Hey, I'm Cheap! Does this mean Win XP Home can only make Vista Home basic using the Vista home basic upgrade pack? Does this mean Win XP Pro can only make Vista Home basic using the Vista Home basic upgrade pack? Does this mean Win XP Home/Pro can only make Vista Biz using the Vista Biz upgrade pack? The same if Ultimate upgrade too would apply... Hence HOME wouldn't be restricted to the equivalent Home edition in Vista and a Pro wouldn't be restricted to Ultimate or Biz.... Can Nlite/vlite be modified to do this such that it treats it like a service pack? What about slipping a Win XP 32 bit version with a Vista 64 bit upgrade pack to make it a full Vista 64 bit or am I restricted to 32 bit can only make 32 bit and 64 bit can only make 64 bit?

Does anybody know if Windows XP has bluetooth software is builtin and whether it is any good. I read somewhere that WIDCOMM (now owned by qualcomm) was the one MSoft included in SP2, but I not sure how to verify this. Was bluetooth included in SP2? Is Bluesoleil better than WIDCOMM and maybe the Windows XP version or is there something better? Moreover, bluesoleil wants to write a license key to ones bluetooth device, but not all manufactures have the capability/storage on the device to do this(cost cutting) As a result there is alot of devices out their that are using illegal/hacked versions of bluesoleil software since the manufacturers of those devices bought/distributed the software to customers. As a result when the customer tries to upgrade to a newer version of bluesoleil software, they can't due to the inability to write the license key, and partly due to the MAC address not being registered in bluesoleil's database of licensed manufacturers. Note: www.bluesoleil.com is also www.ivtcorporation.com . Both companies are based out of Beijing china with most manufacturers coming out of Asia - mostly Taiwan and others. The combo wlan/bluetooth device I bought three years ago from geeks.com isn't sold anymore. It was a generic labeled version of the Suncore Bluewifly one www.suncore.com.tw. Presently, this company in taiwan isn't in business anymore. The chipset they used from "siliconwave" was bought out by RFMD and then by qualcomm per this weblink http://www.qualcomm.com/press/releases/200..._bluetooth.html. The Bluesoleil software was v1.4.9.5. I'm trying to upgrade to a newer version, but can't since bluesoleil doesn't release v1.6.4.1 anymore and I'm trying v2.3 and the v5.0.x version now, but am not sure if I'll run into license problems since suncore doesn't exist anymore to ask them. Also the IEE802.11 wireless software is made by a company called "WLAN Technology Corporation" and I can't find their website either so that I can upgrade this software from v1.0.x to a newer version too. I'm not sure if this was just a fly-by-night one person operation that suncore bought some software from or not, or whether they were bought out. Anybody know anything about them? Also, the wireless USB combo device uses non-WHQL drivers too;however, this doesn't seem to cause problems with MSoft. This makes me think that if the drivers aren't certified that perhaps the IEEE802.11 and bluesoleil software may not be properly licensed either that they sold. Other chipsets are, CambridgeSiliconRadio / IntegratedSystemSolutionCorp / RTXTelecomAS / STMicroelectronics / ZeevoInc ZeevoInc was bought by broadcomm. The device I bought looks exactly like the one that www.trendnet.com sells as TBW-103UB Another question I have besides the software, is who in the bluetooth chipset market is strong enough so that they don't sell their product line out, thus forcing bluetooth manufactures (ie suncore) to go out of business too. I hate to buy a device just to see that I can't get software support or upgrades to it 6-12 months down the road.

I have Win XP Sp2 pro with Windows media player 9. After repairing the system due to an outage and it partially corrupted the disk, I tried to upgrade to media player 10 and/or 11. However, when trying to upgrade to either one, I get an error message from the install program after most of it installed saying install failed. I can't install the rest and this breaks Windows player 9 since the codecs don't seem to play any movies anymore even if I uninstall what little of media player 10/11 that did get installed. Thus windows media player 9 is broke too. How to fix this. I tried uninstalling windows player 9 under the add/remove programs selection for the player component and then installing it. This didn't fix it. Thanks.

Here's an article about Egypt approving a daylight savings time change 0n Sept 7,2007. I guess this means there will be an update to KB933360. http://blogs.technet.com/dst2007/archive/2...ges-082707.aspx

Thanks, I did all of the above but it still complains it can't verify the structure of update.inf or that security services is not running. Can a hotfix be installed without a catalog file assuming I comment out the catalog file statement in the update.inf? can a hotfix be installed whereby the catalog file is not signed? I assume that I'll get a warning saying that the files aren't signed WHQL(?). Is there a tool that can verify that the update.inf file doesn't contain any mistakes or missing directives that appear in [] 's? and tell which line number is having the problem. I'm trying to figure out work-arounds to the problem. Note the hotfix has been extracted to a directory and I'm selecting the "update.exe" file to install the hotfix.

Thanks for the info. I know that they are available. However, I can't find any documentation that tells me the order of the data in the update.ver file so that I can use the tools and enter it by editing the file by hand - unless there's a MSoft tool to do this all for me.

I tried to install a hotfix manually and it complained it couldn't verify it since the Cryptographic services may not be running. I verified that the Cryptographic Services isn't running nor even listed in the Services for Windows 2000. So I can't even start it since it isn't listed. It isn't listed either when I do "net start" at the command line. I read in the help files for services that Cryptographic Services are installed by default. However, I have Win2K PRo with SP4 and patches, and it isn't installed. How do I get the Cryptographic Services installed and running under Win2K services? I see that my WIn XP SP2 work PC has this service running.

Does anyone know howto make the "update.ver" file which contains file hashes of size, date, version information etc? What tool does one need to run to create this? thanks.

I've extracted a Windows hotfix (doesn't matter which one). The extraction contains a .cat file. I'm trying to recreate the .cat file they made to see if it can be reproduced. Thus I rename the original to something else. I also got the "makecat" and "signtool" from win2k3_r2_SDK software. (I had to install about 1 gig of software just to get these two files that are around 50k combined and then delete the SDK). Here are the steps that I did. 1). created my own ".cdf" file which includes the files I think they included. In my case two, the ".inf" and ".ver" filenames that got extracted with the relative dir path as ".\". I didn't specify any of the optional things in the ".cdf". 2). Although I used my own tag names, it looks like the long hexidecimal number in the orginal .cat file after opening it, may be the md5 number of the file entered as the tag name in the ".cdf". 3). So far each tag/file seems to get a thumbprint and thumbprint algorithm that matches the original. 4). Next to sign it, I go to the "general" tab for the security catalog that I opened and select view signature. I then select under this "general" tab "view certifcate" which displays the "Windows Component publisher" certificate. And on this screen, I select "install certificate" which runs a wizard and I let it select the certificate store to use. I then go to the internet browser options selection, content tab and search around the various certificate stores for the one that matches mine and the expire date code. I then export it to a ".cer" file using either x.509 or the "DER"(?) one and name the file ".cer". I then run the "signtool signwizard /v" option and open the ".cer" file that contains the certificate I recently created. However, it then wants a "private key" which I don't have. Is there anyway around this so that I can sign the ".cat" file I'm using with the certificate MSoft used to create theirs? If I should get this working. I will open the ".cat" file and compare all the data to the original one to know if I reproduced theirs. So in the end, the digital signatures/keys should be an exact match to the original. Upon doing all this, I can modify the inf files and and repeat the process to create a .cat file to create my own customized MSoft certified hotfix.