Ponch

In XP HOME, you NEED to have an "administrator" account (you can rename iot with nLite but it only makes my explanation more complicated) as well as an "owner/user" (you choose it) account with admin rights. That "owner/user" account is created at OOBE when you first start XP Home and are asked for user names. There is also a limitation in the PC name versus user name. Normally, when creating only 1 "owner/user" account, that account auto logs in at next boot annd the "administrator" account is hiddehn unless in safe mode. Depending on your method for creating that user (oobe/no oobe/unattended), some problems may arise indeed.

Have you disconnected the IDE drive after installation on the SATA or is te C drive attributed to an other drive (C-D-E then F&G for opticals ?). Are you installing from a bootable CD or from your existing OS ? Anyway you are better reinstalling making sure you install to the C drive.

Try setting your card to 100full or 100half instead of auto and see if it goes better. I bet the other end of your physical cable is in your house, not at the ISP.

Maybe the device at the other end of the cable is not configured properly for speed auto-negotiation ?

NLite is designed to do it all in one go. Add the service pack and add the updates, it is that simple. A minimum effort is required to get some help. What have you tried and how far have you got ?

Do you have the same with an unplugged cable ?

Chance is, if you remove everything, you won't even be able to install Windows.

I've had that with a (cheap) lan card from the brand "Safeway" when I ugraded to SP2. Strangely, the "updated" driver would cause that same behaviour you describe. I solved it by installing the drivers for Windowxs 2000 instead. I don't know if it can help you but mainly, it's a driver problem.

;# Hardware Support # ALI IDE Controller ... Toshiba PCI IDE Controller ... VIA PCI IDE Controller try keeping these.

How long did it just take me to search this very forum for "USB stick" and find numerous threads and answers ?

Depends if by "the whole thing" you mean "the whole manual selection" or "the whole process that last 15 minutes". You could manually edit your "winnt.sif" and problem 1 would be solved. That's what I'd do. Then for the tweaks (I can't actually remember if the "Log off" button is one of them), I'd start nLite with your current set of files (yes) and load the "last sesion.ini" (the list of preset files appear just after you select the working directory, you need to select and click "Load") then deselect everything but "tweaks" (last step before "make iso"), apply the new tweak and let nLite change just that (in about a minute). You'll end up with a new Last session.ini, keep an eye on the former one in case you were to change more later. Or you could also follow the rules, start nLite with a new set of files, load last session.ini and leave everything selected as it was, reapply SP3, re-enter the new computer name, add your tweak and have nLite reprocess the whole thing.

Be careful to correct when it wants to install to "C:\WINDOWS.000" because C:\WINDOWS already exists.

The Last Session.ini file is the "road from A to B" that is created before the "burn iso' step, after the process completed. It can be reloaded in a next session but you'll only get same results if you start with same files (A to B). So to achieve your goal, you need that file (and maybe the associated _u.ini file that contains some unattended parameters) but also the Windows files you started with. If those are were the result of a previous nLite transformation, things become a little more tricky.

I remember pulling my hair on the phone with a friend trying to do that 10 years ago. In Win98, you had to boot safe mode, remove device, then reboot and you could reinstall a standard VGA driver, then run the ATI exe that installs the new driver. Maybe that still applies ?

I had that problem the very first time I used nLite, but I can't remember what it was ..., possibly "PC type" not set to automatic (in Unattended) or IDE drivers abusively removed.

Your Wizard is called OOBE, for Out Of the Box Experience. Either you skip it (Unattended) or you remove it (components removal). BUT /!\ Depending on your XP version, you might need it (for activation) so don't remove it without a thought. XP Home is also quite touchy on the created users.

Ok, so that was a conclusion, not a remark. The 1st mistake I made was to ghost the 1st partition on the 2nd one and concluding it couldn't work from a 2nd partition when that was not the problem, my method was the problem, I should have properly installed to the 2nd one. The 2nd mistake was to test booting and running (I thought) from the second partition having files used (instead, without me realizing) from the 1st one. Based on that last fact, I tried to rectify and retry with the 1st partition being -inexistant (big gap where the 1st partition would normally be) -hidden (there but ... hidden) -empty (there, appearing, formatted, but no file on it, not the same as inexistant ) The results are the same but those were the 3 different conditions that I could think of. And yes, I worked with removable drives. Cheers.

I can't argue with that, I just can't see what you refer to in my post. Maybe I'm not clear enough.

This is beyond me, I only considered my method as an instant workaround, even if a bit risky.

The question is what's your goal having 2 partitions ? What I did 20 minutes ago: create 2 partitions (Fat16) on my stick with Ranish Partition Manager (running DOS). Set the 2nd one active AND numbered as "1" (this is the trick), the 1st one numbered as 2. From there you can install USB_Multiboot and install XP with it. I did it and it worked, without hiding the 1st one. Doing that, the only partition visible in Windows is the 2nd one, hence my first question. All Ranish operations can be reverted in less than a minute.

You seem to have everything. Download the cab files and enqueue them in the addon list at nLite's second step (it clearly says "AddOns", doesn't it ?). Just the cab file, no decompression.

I'll edit my previous post later, but I was pwned by the system . In fact, booting from the 2nd partition, nothing works past the 1st main menu (Invalid system disk). I was tricked by the fact all files were duplicated on the 1st partition, it doesn't work if the 1st partition is unexistant or hidden or empty. Or maybe it doesn't work because it's a ghost from the 1st one but it would work if it was directly created at that very physical place by the tool. I don't know yet. Don't shoot on the ambulance. Still my conclusion, based on point 3) remains valid. B)

I was watching the news while typing, ... I wasn't even surprised.

We don't know what you are starting with, don't know what you're adding, what you're removing, you understand helping would be easier if you were attaching your presets (the file "last sesion.ini" is on your CD, do not copy/paste it, attach it).

(((This post has been edited on feb 22nd because... it was quite inexact at first.))) Well... I got something for you. Wether that "something" qualifies as a solution... I think so, even if it doesn't answer your post's title. I did a few tries for you (involving repartitionning the wrong stick at 2 in the morning, ain't it fun ?). I spent some times checking what's seen and what's not, it might be interresting for you. I made 2 FAT16 partitions on a stick and put USB_Multiboot on both (both about 500Meg). This is done independantly, installing it on the 1st one, or installing it on the 2nd (physically 2nd,that is), not like I first did, with ghosting the 1st one to the 2nd one. I have not edited ANY script or configuration file. Now... those who know Ranish Partition Manager might also know that you can set the "row numbering" of a partition independantly from its physical place, I played with that and booted and booted and booted again ...and again, swapping partitions numbering and active status. Here are my results (no hot plug here). 1) booting DOS, be it from other device or from the stick, works from both partitions, it boots the active one, be it numbered 1 or 2. both partitions are seen in all scenario, the active one takes the 1st letter. I did not try with no active partition, but this is not what interests us today. 2) booting BartPE -from the stick, ONLY works if the active partition is NUMBERED #1, other scenario: BSOD: 3) booting Bart PE from OTHER SYSTEM is idem as running Windows; only ONE partition is seen; the one that is NUMBERED as 1st partition (and this is where we see the light). Be it active or not. 4) trying to launch XP INSTALL: as for booting PE, unless the partition is active and numered 1 which is the only situation that completes the install, other scenarii (waiting for italian sarcasm here) stop later. Conclusion for the Original Poster: 1) your Windows install files need to be on the partition that is NUMBERED 1 and install needs to be launched from that same partition (it needs to be active). 2) BUT (!!!) changing the numbering of the partition, you can swap the one that will be visible in Windows. That involves booting DOS, using Ranish Partition Manager, changing the partition numbering (I doubt there is a command line for that unusual function in Ranish, maybe other programs can do that also (or our local geniuses can automate it), save and reboot (takes 10 seconds). As you leave the 1st partition active and you have UsbMultiboot on it (with DOS boot), you will always be able to run Ranish, independantly of the state of the partitions numbering. So "1-2", you install Windows, "2-1", you see your 2nd partition in Windows. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to make an NTFS partition that boots (I'm a failure, or that Kingston stick is), and you want to use NTFS for install, so your case is not completely done, but I guess you can at least boot a DOS floppy image (and Ranish) from UsbMultiboot on NTFS ? That was it. I know I don't always explain things very clearly, so If you have questions, ...use the forum, I'll try my best. Remark: when I say partition "numbered 1", I mean numbered 1st. If you only have 2 and 3, it's 2, or if you only have 2, it's 2.