Molecule

it's not so much that it's hard to tabula rasa myself of dos ... my difficulty is understanding the theory, and implementation, of groups according to Aaron's post (post#2, link below) it is apparently possible (or desirable?) to require that the same piece 20M software be installed twice, for example one group installs it for itself, and then another for itself, or something like that, creating something called a redundancy, which I don't understand, but which seems so obvious to everybody else there is a communication breakdown, and people think I am flaming, which I am not. I am confused. It is implied as well that when reg tweaks are installed by an "administrator" they are treated differently than when they are slipstreamed or added during installation. post#2 at http://www.msfn.org/board/reg-tweaks-not-w...all-t24548.html I started out with the misception that something installed by an administrator would be available to everybody under her or him. It seemed only natural -- higher in the heirachy, therefore visible to everybody below it. I am just now starting to figure out that exactly the opposite may be the case. But, something installed at T-12 (by an installer-administrator) is available to everybody, yet something installed as administrator is not ... so that's a difference between a slipstream administrator (a T-12 programmer, which is apparently a branch of programming with its own specialized skills), and a post-install or "logon administrator." Overall, the installation process (slipstream or post-gui keyboard, including installation of programs ... question later) is somehow interwoven with the whole groups policy thing, the implementation of which lays the groundwork for the entire design, and I am still struggling with "getting it." It's scary to ask, but if I don't understand group policy stuff, how do I install a program, post gui, which will be available to everybody. Also, I've never used the "My Documents" folder in win98se, but apparently I'm going to have to learn about "Documents and Settings" in win2000. As administrator, can I install a program to "All Users" folder (assuming that means that All Users can use its settings), instead of to the "Administrator" folder? But since apparently that isn't where programs are installed, it's apparent that I am really having some problems here at the ground level. It's not flaming ... it's cognitive shock failure or something. I will say one thing ... your distinction between a User Level Administrator and a System Level Administrator is helpful. The former manages accounts, the latter manages the system? When I first log on as "administrator" after installation, which one am I?

I've been studying "slipstreaming" too long ... and am still confused as to what it means. As a cpm/dos/w98 user, my difficulty in understanding it stems from two areas First what are accounts -- it's apparent to me that the so-called "administrator" account (default first-user logon after fresh install) is not the RSA account (Real Systemwide Administrator account) which occurs during T-12 when CMDLINES.TXT is executed. That account sets up the first-user so-called "Administrator" account, which I call the VA account (Virtual Administrator -- something like a virtual dos box is not real dos). What this means is that a system built at T-12 by the RSA is not the same as a system built (patched) by the VA. Thus a slipstreamed system is not the same thing as a patch-Tuesday built system. unless slipstreaming means creating a new install CD every patch Tuesday, and then every patch Tuesday you have two choices, (a) look at your new CD and do nothing with it, or (B) reinstall your new slipstreamed system over top of your existing system, every patch Tuesday. Is that what slipstreaming means? But slipstreaming is the only way we can have access to the True T-12 dos-level Administrator account. Also software installed by a Virtual Administrator is not the same thing as software installed by the RSA. Second, after awakening to the problem of the RSA T-12 account versus the post-gui VA account, comes a lack of understanding of the overall installation process. Most unattended "how-to's" are writting by well-meaning engineers who think that their post-gui account (a Virtual Administrator box) is the same thing as the dos-level RSA account, and so the falsity of the idea that the VA box = RSA (dos) is propagated, resulting in confusion. If someone redoes the msfn unattended site, (a huge success!!) I suggest that they start with an overview of the installation process and build on that. But then again, I started with cpm and dos, so I want to try to understand what slipstreaming is from that point of view.

This is my problem ... I'm not uncomfortable with hairy batch files, from my old cpm and dos days but ... guud gawd I cannot figure out this "new" (LOL) account stuff. This account stuff is like a cancer metastasizes all over the place, and in end all it does it lock out the owner while opening doors for Pentagon perverts and their echelon "masters." I know that my account is called "Administrator." It is the first account after gui setup (where (I'm guessing ... since I dont' really understand accounts and groups) Number of Administrative Logons would be set to 1 in unattend.txt, if I was using that which I am not). But I also knew I was not THE (master) Administrator account. Apparently the RMA account (the Real Master Administrator account) exists only at T-12 (cmdlines.txt) ... it's the only time that something can be installed systemwide. PLEASE correct me if I am wrong ... because what this means is that a slipstreamed system (a vague word to me, because it means creating a new install CD every patch Tuesday, and then fresh-installing the system from it ... every patch Tuesday) is a different system from a system created over time by a user who keyboards in, or batch runs in, hotfixes each patch Tuesday.

thanks jaclaz ... how you remember stuff from page 32 of a 34 page thread AMAZES me! I'm on a dialup, so a thread like that can take hours just to dl ... meanwhile my addled and festering old brain turns into a gigantic fart and disappears like a wizard out a hole missing in the top of my head or something ... I heard that raid arrays had to be setup during clean install, but I did not know that IDE and AHCI could be swapped post install. Makes sense though (I guess). My ICH10 bios has an option to setup SATAs as AHCI sole, e.g. the options are [iDE, AHCI, or AHCI+RAID]. I'm using w2k, and a prior thread somewhere (arghh) suggested that since there were significant internal differences between ICH7 and 10 chips, the safer bet was to push the risk towards the OS, thus use the ICH10 driver. That's illogical to me. My bet is that ICH7 hooks are as a subset of ICH10 hooks, so the ICH10 chip can handle anything that a ICH7 driver can throw at it. And the ICH10 driver might be able to throw stuff back at the w2k OS that it is not ready for. The driver engineers at Intel are probably the only ones who know for sure. In between I end up with cognigive dissonance, which is resolved by sticking to IDE. There's a lot of sniffy advice out there ... then cognitive dissonance starts ringing in my brain like merry Christmas Bells ...

can someone help me understand what aaron meant by a regedit being "redundant?" I am trying to figure out how to install a new 2k system. On first boot after gui setup, I think I am "administrator" (LOL!). While logged in for the first time after setup, I hope to be able to run a batch that will add some hotfixes and tweaks that will become system wide (like 98se), e.g. not just a hotfix or tweak that applies to one account or another. How do I do that? In my batch, is there a way to run a regedit /s to set EnableBigLba to 1, so will that large hdds will be automatically available to all future accounts, including those who are not administrators? Also, if EnableBigLba is set for AdministratorNo1, will that large hard drives be available to AdministratorNo2, without running the batch again for him as well? What precautions should a noob take to batch install a hotfixe or a reg tweak so that they will become root system wide ... so that they don't have to be re-installed for each future account?

@ pointertovoid ... a very helpful (practical-realistic) topic Terabyte's Image for DOS ("IFD") will restore a system image unattended (by batch command) by default IFD will recognize SATA drives as AHCI (or RAID), but for greater speed TB allow a user to bypass AHCI and use BIOS direct image and restore speeds are competive ... so I figured Terabyte tech support would have struggled with this so I asked if it made any difference if the source and target drives were on the same or different controller chips ... (e.g. I could hang both source and target satas on ICH10, or have one on ICH10 (SATA only) and the other on JM363 (SATA+IDE) ... then I asked if there was a speed difference between configuring SATA as IDE (bios handles drives) versus configuring SATAs with AHCI (drivers handle drives) ... basically, it looks like if you want a faster harddrive, first get a faster mobo with faster bios (ide-udma) If you have a fast bios, and don't need a RAID array, it looks like adding AHCI driver is not really necessary

nice links ... thanks mikesw being a noob to NT systems, I'd love to see an msfn "how to" on hardening up a 2k-xp-etc system for a single-user/family-network systems ... something like the unattended pages they have ... would be very helpful MS Windows 2000 Hardening Guide at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...d0-a0201f639a56 as a noob, I've got a whole lot of learning to do ...

unattended.doc says winnt32 command can install 2000 ... from a running 2000 winnt32 /unattend:<answer file> /s:<install source> /syspart:<target drive> /tempdrive:<target drive> they didn't give any example of parameters ... are these ok <answer file> = "d:\2ksetupfiles\winnt.sif" <install source> = "d:\2000sp4_CD\I386" <target drive> = "e:" I'm guessing target drive has to be identified by the drive letter (e:) that was assigned to it in the pre-install environment. I assume I need to then change the bios boot sequence ... in which case old e-drive becomes new boot c-drive, and old c: becomes whatever. will the system on old c-drive be somehow neutralized (or, if I restore bios to the original boot sequence, will old c-drive still be a bootable system)? also -- is a reformat all that's needed to wipe out an existing system, and prepare a drive partition for a fresh install?

noobie still confused ... for a standard install, would a line in a batch file running in folder c:\batch for msi installed programs then read (spaces shown as •) start•"Product.msi"•/wait•msiexec•/i•"d:\sourcefolder\Product.msi"•/norestart thanks ancillary to this thead ... does it make any difference if the user who runs the batch is administrator, and the installed program will be used by a user group with less permissions (more secure group)?

first, I want to express how much I appreciate your help and guidance ... to me it looks like I'm mounting a mountainous learning curve Part A: SWITCH choices I'm having difficulty understanding which switches to use for batch runs on a live system, and which switches to use to build an unattended CD. learning by example 1b.) switches for batch of W2KSP4.EXE would be [-u|-q] -n -z meaning [unattended mode no user interaction but showing a passive progress bar, or, quiet mode with no user interaction or display] nobackup (meaning ?= no unusable uninstall infs/files to bog up system) no restart 1u.) switches for unattend-CD of W2KSP4.EXE would be the above plus -s:"fullpath to xcopy-dir of M$CD-root" meaning integrate with M$CD-root, no restart , no backup, [unattend-passive display, or, quiet-null mode] 2b.) batch Rollup-891861-v2 switches [/quite|/passive] /norestart /nobackup 2u.) unattend Rollup-891861-v2 switches would be the above plus /integrate:"fullpath to xcopy-dir of M$CD-root" do those look right? how do I figure out what to use with these modes of install? .net installations for example start /wait dotnetfx.exe /Q /C:"install.exe /q" and start /wait NetFx20SP2_x86.exe /q and xml installations for example msiexec msxml2.msi /? /? /? Part B: scope of QCHAIN functionality - is it global? how does qchain.exe do its thing ("to qchain a list" now as a verb) a batch run into a live system? I can understand the idea in an inf (because I don't know enough to say that inf's don't read the entire file first, and might begin processing at the middle). As I understand it, a batch file starts execution at the first line, thus qchain.exe at the end of the file has no way to be read in a batch install to a live system also, if I put qchain as the last line in the [setupHotfixesToRun] section of SVCPACK.INF, then, how does it reach over into another secion ... "qchaining" (the verb) the .msi's and exe's for xml and .net installations, since they are in another section ([RunOnce]??) OR am I all wet, since xml and .net and vb runtimes cannot be installed using svcpack.inf? I'm setting aside unattended-CD because it seems like batch-live is easier, more flexible and more powerful -- I can easily sort a mixed set of files by date (for sequencing a mixed set of msi's and exe's for installs, and exe's updates) since I'm using a database with spread sheet to write all my batch code has anyone ever used qchain to "sequence" the installation msi's and exe's for xml, messenger, and vb runtimes, sequencing them correctly with patches and upgrades? I am just now graduating RELUCTANTLY from w98se (a **** good system -- virus free without ever running an antivirus or firewall for ten years plus), and I have a lot to learn (like what is a user account?) just to build a 2k system ... I have a good disk which I bought ages ago, but never installed ... and spending $300 now for a W7 (which will have just as many problems to be sure ... we all heard the exact same promises and promise (lies) from M$ before, over and over) so W7 is just not in my financial picture. ... again I really appreciate you guidance and help ...

hey thanks Yzöwl! Sorry to be so late with an answer ... I'll have a look at your file ... my list was very prelim, and had overlaps I was thinking of sequencing brute force by date ... msi's and exe's ... as long as for exampe gold installations precede SPs, upgrades, and patches ... meanwhile, I am becoming more curious about building an unattended CD does anyone know how nLite or HFSLIP sequence MIXED hotfix/upgrade executablees? by dates in the header, by kb num, alphabeticaly by file name, sequentially as fed into the program, ...?? sample problem ... say I have 2 years of update.exe's for core components, installed by hand in chronological order by the date they were published (since KB numbers don't follow dates) then an .MSI is release for, say for example XML which I want to install then I have 2 more years of .EXE updates, with updates and sevice packs for the w2k core + the addon then I have another .MSI addon then 2 more year of .EXE updates, with updates and sevice packs for the two new addons how does HFSLIP or nLite handle that? can it do half of run once, then return to installing patches, then return to run once (assuming .msi's go in runonce)

total noob here the word "unattended" seems to imply construction of a new CD, which is then used in place of the original MS CD for system installs can the same techniques be used for batch installs onto live systems as well? do the installer switches for hotfix.exe, update.exe and msi installers work in batch live (versus unattended CD) is qchain.exe needed in a batch file run as well? I guess no-reboot is a required switch, or else the batch gets terminated?? I have a fresh 2k-sp4-oem install, and would like install my list of components, updates, patches, etc in chronological order I would like to use a simple batch to do this ... if possible?? is there a way to batch install a large group of upgrades and patches etc into a live system? I don't want to use [for *.exe in ( ) do xyz] ... (anyone know how a for-do cmd decides on sequence?) ... a new for-do cmd would be required at each chronological change in staller type, since reportedly the require different switches (... I am noob and this is my first time) (--I tried, but figuring out all the elegant code and sequencing tricks in HFSLIP is way over my head ...) in case it matters, my list of 2000sp4 updates, upgrades, etc. is attached ... it was developed mostly by my own frogwalk of MS bulletins (arghhh!), then refined by comparing it to lists of other listkeepers ... http://www.msfn.org/board/windows-2000-upd...ed-t128237.html I didn't look into exactly which files and versions are installed by which update, so there are probably update overlaps ... at this point an inelegant batch will be just fine in the list files are grouped, then within each group they are listed by date if batch is possible, the executables each in their group subdirs, could be executed in chron order any help appreciated ... listing.txt

I installed fileinfo ... but how do I launch it? F3 still opens the lister view window? ==== oh yea ... I love my TC ... couldn't imagine a computer without it, and it just keeps getting better ... each improvement being an impossibility in its own right ... I have been using lefteous' ShellDetails (a content wdx). It is pretty darn cool, but I wanted to modify its .ini to add a field or two, for "FileSizeAllocation" to confirm download size, and maybe CRC as well, and haven't been able to figure out how to do it. I have 450 or so patches for w2k ... about 100 are still applicable. I am trying to sort them out in preparation for an unattended batch (my first). So mainly I wanted to pull the publish dates so that I could batch them in publish-date order. I am aware of the hard work by other list keepers ... http://www.msfn.org/board/windows-2000-upd...37.html&hl= If possible, I also wanted to pull out the file type, to setup the switches (/quiet /norestart ...) since switches are apparently different, hotfix versus update patch. that way I could use a nircmd setfiletime and a spreadsheet to write the batch strings so, then I can start burning coasters and having some real fun!! after I make a cd the hard way, maybe I'll try nLite or hfslip ... but first I WANT to do it the stupid way ... TC's new copy custom columns to clipboard is awesome feature ... I was so happy with 6.54a, I never tried 7 or 7.5 until now.

does anyone know of a tool that will read the fields in file properties tabs? I have both 2000sp4 oem and the 2000 resource kit cd&book. I see from http://support.microsoft.com/kb/318764 that MS tool "fileversion.pl" comes close (reads only version tab - so at least it has date and version, but not installer type for patches & upgrades). It is available in Windows 2000 Server Resource Kit Supplement 1. Arghhh. It requires installation of a perl driver. thanks

thanks, Yzöwl! setfiletime in nircmd (great utility) apparently parses by spaces, so as long as there are no spaces in the filenames, and only dates with no times are used, quotes aren't needed. If time is left blank, it is set to 00h00m00s. thus, in 2000 using full path+filename (no spaces allowed) the following without quotes works OK rem the next line works in both w2ksp4 and 98se nircmd setfiletime c:\PathToTargetFile\testfile.txt 01-02-2003 04-05-2006 pause but add the variable %TPF% and with or without quotes, something is jamming in 2000, but w98se runs OK ... set TPC=C:\PathToTargetFile rem the next line works in 98se, but not in w2 nircmd setfiletime %TPC%\testfile.txt 01-02-2003 04-05-2006 rem the next line works in 2k, but not in 98se nircmd setfiletime "%TPC%\testfile.txt" "01-02-2003 00:00:00" "04-05-2006 00:00:00" Incidentally, in 98se, when the variable %TPF% is placed inside quote marks, it does't get recognized as a variable. In 2000 it does! And in 98se putting the %TPF% outside the quotes doesn't concatonate with a string that follows, when it is placed in quotes. thus the first line above runs OK in 98se, the second command doesn't. The same variable inside a quoted string in 2000, and voila ... it is recognized and contaconates! Very nice for when filenames have spaces in them! back to track ... any idea why the variable doesn't work ... on my system anyway ... maybe it is the way the parameters are passed from NT to nircmd? It's no big deal ... the core product updates are in their own subdirs, so this only applies to 20 or so files. I keep all my patches in hot and archive subdirs, so I can run those locally. just curious why a variable would get passed one way in 98se, but in another in 2000.

98 user = 2000 noob here trying to install w2k without a clue as to what a user account is, or an administrator (???) is ... I see a long learning curve ahead of me ... so here we go I have a batch which works in 98se, but doesn't work in 2000sp4. In w2k am logged on as administrator (the same account when I built the system, even though it sometimes tells me that I don't have sufficient rights!!) set d=C:\PathToTargetFile nircmd setfiletime %d%\KB123456.exe 01-02-2003 04-05-2006 I am trying to set the creation and modified dates on a whole swath of hotfixes ... so that I can load them into the nLite hotfix window in chronological order ... can someone help me?

thanks MagicAndre I remember seeing some commotion about slipstreaming the programs themselves ... and wondered if those same concerns applied to batch installing do you know if it is possible to batch install the main program, dotnetfx.exe (01/22/06, 22.4MB, redistributable 2.0 gold)? and then the service pack NetFx20SP2_x86.exe (01/16/09, 23.8MB, redistributable 2.0sp2 "technically" for installation on XPsp2, Vista)? thanks for your help!!

hey thanks, MagicAndre by rollup you mean the rollup for 2000sp4 (Windows2000-KB891861-v2-x86-ENU.EXE, 9/13/05) and not rollup for a .NET? the site http://www.pagestart.com/netframeworkpart1.html suggests that to install .NetFx 1.1sp1 on 2k system, one would install in this order for 1.1sp1 1. dotnetfx.exe (04/03/03, 23.1MB, redistributable 1.1) http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=262d25e3-f589-4842-8157-034d1e7cf3a3 2. NDP1.1sp1-KB867460-X86.exe (08/30/04, 10.2MB, 1.1sp1) 3. NDP1.1sp1-KB953297-X86.exe (10/12/09, 13.5MB, SB09-061 patch) 4. NDP1.1sp1-KB971108-X86.exe (10/12/09, 6.7MB, SB09-062 patch (1.1sp1 patches 885055, 886903, 928366, 925168, 947742 either na or superceded) for 2.0sp2 1. dotnetfx.exe (01/22/06, 22.4MB, redistributable 2.0 gold for windows 2000sp4) http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=0856eacb-4362-4b0d-8edd-aab15c5e04f5 2. NetFx20SP2_x86.exe (01/16/09, 23.8MB, redistributable 2.0sp2 "technically" for installation on XPsp2, Vista) http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=5B2C0358-915B-4EB5-9B1D-10E506DA9D0F 3. NDP20SP2-KB958481-x86.exe (12/17/08, 8.6MB, KB959029 "family" member for 3.5 compatibility) 4. NDP20SP2-KB974417-x86.exe (10/12/09, 10.9MB, SB09-061 patch) 5. NDP20SP2-KB971111-x86.exe (10/12/09, 1.6MB, SB09-062 patch) does that sound right? can these be installed with other patches from a batch using switches? (not slipstreamed) as I remember it, the main points were /silent, /norestart and don't forget qchain or something at the end?? thanks again ...

the download page for NetFx20SP2_x86.exe, 01/16/09, 23.8MB at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...1D-10E506DA9D0F says that SP2 is for XP or 2003 systems. When .NET20SP2 is installed on a 2000 SP4 + .NET20SP1 system, the installation completes without a problem (installer, 3.1). My other choice is SP1 (a couple years old now), which is the last SP for .net20 for which w2k is listed as an operating system (download page for NetFx20SP1_x86.exe, 11/19/07, 23.6MB at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...cf-a7633f706ba5 ) question -- does anyone know of a reason not to install SP2 on a W2K system? maybe the API for SP2 throws out hooks for XP that 2K doesn't have? or should I stick with SP1 and track the SP1 updates (pain)? if building a new system, do I have to install .NET20 gold first, before SP1 or SP2 as above? (rant ... boy, tracking the .NET updates is hard, especially through the SB's from 2005)

I have w98se with Gape's old service pack, with Windows Media Player 6.4 and latest codecs (I think???) And, I have a DVD which won't play. The DVD device seems to work. A file structure shows up in Windows Explorer, and in IsoBuster and ImgBurn. But, when I try to open a file in WMP, showing all files, it doesn't list any of them. IsoBuster shows the file structure as DVD-R --Session 1 " --Track 01 " " --[ISO] HEALTHPOINT " " " --AUDIO_TS [directory is empty] " " " --VIDEO_TS [directory is empty] " " --[UDF] HealthPoint " " " --AUDIO_TS [directory is empty] " " " --VIDEO_TS [files listed below] " " --[IFO] VIDEO " " " --VIDEO_TS [files listed below] files in [UDF] HealthPoint/VIDEO_TS are the same as files in [IFO] VIDEO/VIDEO_TS >> VIDEO_TS.BUP 8.00KB VIDEO_TS.IFO 8.00KB VTS_01_0.BUP 18.00KB VTS_01_0.IFO 18.00KB VTS_01_1.VOB 607.44KB any ideas for how I can play this DVD? do I need to associate one of these file types with WMP?

When my Mozilla email client notified me it could not download emails because it could not open the target file, I shut down my email client. Then I opened a MSDOS window. Copy command runs for a minute or so, then says "Access denied - Inbox [CRLF] I file(s) copied". In the target directory, it writes a file that is 287,416,320 bytes of the source file's 291,034,817 bytes. For additional information, I tried to use my trusty file manager (Christian Ghisler's Total Commander) to save the inbox file to an archive location. With all other applications off, the copy operation produces a progress bar that gets to 98% (about 286± M), but then a popup interupts "Error: Cannot read C:\WINDOWS\...\pop.verizon.net\Inbox!" The new popup gives me the options to [skip] or [Cancel], both being the same for a single file operation. I then tried to view the file in TC's file viewer, called Lister. While it is opening the file, it gives thumbnail popups which are titled Disk Read Error "[yellow-triangle !] Inbox." After clicking [OK] through 5 popups (5 breaks in the FAT chain?), Lister successfully opens whatever parts of the file that it could. In the viewer, when I then try use Save As to save whatever is in the display, I get a popup titled with the full path+filename, saying "[yellow-triangle !] Read error!" Pressing [OK] aborts. I assume I have a break in the FAT table for that file? (other possibilities?) Any suggestions as to what's the best thing for me to do at this point, to save (copy to a save location) whatever I can from this file? I am using w98se SP2a.

Anyone know how nLite sequences the hotfix list? (a search here on +hotfix +sequencing produced nul, and I don't see it in tutorials, etc.) On the totorial page, a screenshot of the hotfix listing page shows nLite reads the file build dates -- does nLite use internal file build dates for sequencing? Or are they sequenced as displayed on the list -- in which case I could set the last modified on my file to build date (or release date), and use that for sequencing total noob here > would build date/release date a good key for sequencing? In that case, I can rename some hotfix files as desired. thanks

very nicely organized list there, 888 another reference with links is Windows 2000 update lists compared

Terabyte's Image for DOS (and for Linux too) does batch file image Restores. Unattended. It can read and write images to and from NTFS systems. It's the only one I found that doesn't require some kind of user intervention for a restore operation. Nice job, Terabyte! Automatic restore allows me to insert bootable media, and then log off with a reboot. With a simple batch, this should restore the boot drive image. (restoring hybernation and swap files are optional, along with MBR, EMBRs, etc.) After restore operation, the DOS batch then shuts down the computer. Next time it's turned on, it's pristine -- without preservation of Microsoft's property on my HDD, namely M$'s arrays of Index.dats, IndexMyHDDforFREE.dats, Echelon.dats, Pentagon.dats, etc. typographic care is obviously required, since the batch restore will automatically restore, hopefully to the boot drive (and not to a data drive - lol). Images can be in TB range -- I forget right now. Image for DOS can build an image from and restore to an NTFS drives, and it can write an image file to, and read it from an NTFS, FAT, or Linux drive. I haven't done it yet (so this is theoretical), but am planning to use this on my w2k internet computer.

The English version of SB listing (at KB891861) and your SB-list, as given above, match up exactly. But, in order to match your KB-list, as given above, to the English version of the same (at KB900345), one needs to -- drop 813056 (it's not in the English version) -- add 829755 (it's in the English version) I can't find an MS report, or a report in this forum or others, which states that 822831 [248,368 bytes] was replaced by anything. One forum post (greenmachine?) reported that after R1, 822831 was changed from critical to optional. Like you say ... provided that it makes no other changes ... I don't know how to pull these things apart to tell. Mainly, as W2K approaches a wrap up, I thought I'd put this out, especially when I saw the differences in the different listkeepers, for pretty much the same core systems: IE6sp1, WMP9, DX9c, .NetFXs 1.1 and 2.0, MSI 3.1, MDAC 2.8sp1, JS 5.7, XMLs 3sp7, 4sp2 and 6sp1, etc. Also, for wrapup purposes, I thought Nanno Fabio's digging into request-only hotfixes was very thoughtful.