Ponch

This is quite a vague problem description.

Well sorry to say, but given the fact that there is no text at all in your first post (you can still edit it), I doubt this thread could help anyone searching the internet for a solution to "that" problem. It also shows that if you had answered Cluberti's question (be it for thanking him to take time and interest in your problem), you might have gotten your solution a bit earlier than 9 months later.

IDE (=PATA) and SATA are physically different interfaces, so this is the 1st thing to check. Unless your laptop is more than 3 years old, there's 99% chance it's a SATA (open the cover in case of doubt, IDE has 2 parallel rows of 20pins, Sata has 2 connectors aligned). For the rest, any new drive should be compatible (as your laptop doesn't look that old). For small extra cash, a 7200rpm might be faster than the standard 5400rpm (but will also eat out more battery, if yours still lives).

Do you mean the "Start" button has changed ??? Or is it your friend's name instead of YOUR name on top of the Start menu? Do you have 2 accounts (users) when starting the computer ? Do you use the "Welcome Screen" (with users icons to select)?

No. Once reinstalled, you will need someone from your IT dept to "join your machine to the domain". So, depending how far the concept of "not supported", you might run out of option. You might want to ask those question before wasting your time.

If we understand well, you want to have connectivity between all PCs but Internet only on some of them. On those only (with no internet), you can apply Siginet's suggestion to change the "gateway" in the network settings. I hope this is clearer.

Your IT dept buys multiple licences for something they won't install ?

....Double post. See nLite forum.

Working like you did is searching for problem. Read every other post on this forum for confirmation. You need to do 2], 3] and 4] in one go, starting with your original cd only updated with SP3 . You might want to open, compare and copy paste some bits of your "Last Session.ini" files in a combined one then use the "Load Last Session" option, unless you are ready to begin all over again, re-ticking every box and pointing to every update file.

The easiest solution would be to launch QDir from your PE. That's a freeware (and portable) file explorer.

We got that part. Jaclaz had already jumped to your "connect the drive to another pc/laptop" step. From what you describe (stops during Windows start, not before, but also makes noise) the drive will "work" but some of the data might be unreadable.

.fdisk is part of msdos. There are few freewares you can use as replacement, copying them on your USB disk. Just be sure to wipe the good thing (not your USB).

As your still there we assume you hace a 2nd computer. Check both media (starting and result) with "cdcheck" (shareware). If the 1st one was bad (physically), you should have had errors running nLite (during 1st phase, file copy). It is still possible that your optical drive is defective or that the 2nd cd is badly burned, hence "cyclic redundancy". As Johnhc said in his 1st post, you need to start with an original (full) cd. By the way, nLite is for personal use only, so using it on your computer "for work" is not really allowed. And we still don't know what modifications you make with nLite.

You better restart with your original CD. Start nLite, integrate SP3 only, then restart nLite, load the "last session.ini" from the cd you made last time, and proceed to remodify, add drivers, updates and unattended settings.

And so that we know, how far down this threads did you stop reading ?

What happens after those 15 seconds ?

As -X- said, the info is stored in last session_u.ini that is reimported by the OP. Now wether he rebuilds with original files or not is not clear but the fact he searches textsetup.sif and winnt.sif for that info indicates he expects them to be modified (unless he searches between nlite process and "make iso"). Anyway, I think I remember similar problems changing unattended settings and that there is a (now eternal) bug reimporting and modifying users from previous sessions. If so, solution is to manually delete the lines from last sesion_u.ini before loading it (or pasting lines from one that had no modified users).

All the directory goes into the ISO, so if the ISO itself goes in the directory, you have a big problem. Save it elsewhere. Plus, there were reports of crash due to exotic iso names.

Citrix... A.D... Please also take a moment to read your tools EULA. nLite cannot be used in commercial/professional environment. Personal use only.

See the conclusion of this review on The Register, 1 year ago. Feel free to read the 5 previous pages of course.

The BIOS is specifically written for your Motherboard. Without info on your motherboard, we can't confirm there is an upgrade or not. New Bios'es usually come up to ~2 years after release of the computer, so if you bought your PC after 2004, there is a possibility that an upgrade is available, but having the motherboard's specifications would be a base for searching. Or the brand and model of the PC.

Fortunately not. Windows drivers then apply. You need "textmode drivers" at F6 to install, not to run Windows.

Now the question is not only if the copy (whatever you mean by "copy") is legit or not, is it original (as in "not previously modified by an enthusiastic friend") ? Also to both, please read point 10 inthis thread. There is a 2nd proper reply button 4 centimeters below the one you use.

Most probably, yes. You need to physically plug the new to both cables/connectors of the old drive, then start from your restore disks. To start from the restore disks, you need to restart and immediately (well, after 2 seconds) press F12 on you keyboard to have the Boot Menu, or Boot Device Option. That option is available on most recent computers. If you get a menu to boot from cdrom or dvd, insert the disk in the drive, wait for it to spin and choose the option. If you don't have the option, you'll have to hit an other key at startup, the one that allows you to get into Bios (F2 or Del) and find your way into startup options, allowing to boot from optical drive. You'll want to rechange that to boot from hard drive first after your recovery process is done. As for your data recovery, we'll need more info, beginning with the fact if the old drive is still detected by Bios or not (if your starting screen shows any hardware listing, that should be easy to answer).

Yes. It scares me. That is also the view of the author who probably stated his tool was used "not only" by advanced users. Also -the program's developpement is stopped, finished, that's why I wrote "never will". -that question has been asked and answered many times on the forum -I can see how that bit would help in a commercial environnement, but nLite's EULA says it is for personal use only.