Spooky

Good question. There is a list I saw somewhere when RC1 was released, but can't remember where now. There is a general rule of thumb for Vista however, since the core device aim was for most current hardware MS has stated that if it was made after Jan 1 2005 it will probably work on Vista. Most older stuff will still work too if they are still supported by the manufacturer.

works fine for me

because of Vista's modular design, disabling services has little to no effect on overall performace for the most part, might have a little effect for certain parts at times but overall not much for the overall performance, untill you shut down so many that you begin to lose functionality. If I had to choose two of the best things to change for a performance boost the first would probably be changing from the nice graphics of the Aero theme back to the classic, and the second would probably be making sure that all the drives in my system were using the NTFS file system with no Fat32 in sight. I like your idea about the script Why? Activation is just the same for a user as it has been, CD key on install and online or phone call activation. The only thing thats really changed is that organizations will no longer have VLK's, instead they will have to activate also and there are a couple of different new methods for them to give out keys. VLK's does make it eisier for "some purposes"

yeah, drivers in-box, well some are good, some OK, some not so good, and some suck. But thats not the point of having drivers in-box to begin with. The reasons for in-box drivers is to have basic functionality after the OS is installed, the reason is not to have all the bells and whistles of the manufacturers drivers. The manufacturer is supposed to provide drivers with all the bells and whistles and features that make thing work with all the features not in the in-box drivers. Like that $2 whore, in-box drivers are only intended to provide down and dirty, sloppy, not so good looking, basic functionality.

5.5 is the max right now.MS had a white paper with beta information in it, it stated 5.5. Performace does not take into account thermal throttling. The baseline performace rate is decided at Vista install, its part of the install. My beta machine is running hyperthreading and it detects just fine. I'm assuming that your running an intel processor, If it says your processor is 1.5 GhZ and it should be 3.0 Ghz (for example) then its possible: 1. Hyperthreading is disabled in the bios. 2. Your overclocking (if thats what you did) is really turning off hyperthreading or has actually underclocked the processor. 3. Your porocessor is damaged. 4. The chipset on your MB is damaged. 5. The FSB for the motherboard is not correct. (I'd take a look at this if I were you, this happened to me once, drove me nuts until I checked the bios, happened right after a BIOS update. Could happen for other reasons) Ahhhh...heck, there could be lots of reasons. Could also be a faulty install of Vista. Did you check the processor with one of the many CPU checking things available? Probably the dreaded thermal throttling! Pentium 4s are known to underclock if overheating.

ImageX is the tool in WinPE 2.0. Ximage in OPK is the name of the tool with the same core functionality as ImageX in WinPE 2.0. Personally, I'd stick with ImageX in WinPE 2.0. There were also some typos in the doc's. Why don't you get the latest version.

Denny, The fact that you had to convert it indicates a problem. You shouldn't have needed to do that. Its a problem in the beta. However, this weekend the next build (the last one before RTM) is due to be released and this problem is supposed to be fixed.

there are instructions for adding driver files and stuff in the WAIK .chm's for beta 2 of WinPE 2.0. I'm not sure about other versions.

I don't think you need to do any file system gymnastics to get rid of this or reg editing, and you don't even need to turn off the security service. How I did it: While logged in as the 'Administrator', Start up the Security Center - in the menu on the left click on 'Change the way Security Center alerts me"...then in the window that pops up click the "Don't notify me and don't display an icon (Not Recommended)' item. BTW, don't disable the security center service, let it start normally, but if you don't want an item then turn the item off, but not the whole service. Some people don't see a problem with disabling the security center service but there are some hidden pitfalls, like at times Vista may not connect to SSL enabled sites, May have problems supporting third party firewalls, may have problems supporting AV and anti-spyware stuff, etc... They will apear to work but in some cases they will not actually be working correctly......because third party apps are going to need to interface with the security service in some way or at least thats the plan. Like for example, Symantec recently complained about not being able to replace the Vista security console with their own, their security console in order to replace the one in Vista so their software will work will need to interface with the security service.

Ahhhh...OK.... If it says 'USB Embedded Hub' then its not the drive, its the hub for the ports. Do the hubs appear in Devman? If they do not appear, or sometimes even if they do, then Vista might not have drivers for your particular hubs on your Mother Board. Or it might just be that your device is a 2.0 device and Vista doesn't have 2.0 drivers for that particular hub. You could try using the WinXP drivers from the manufacturer.

Danny, I found something that worked for someone else. Try de-selecting all of the PIXELA filters, and the Divx Demux from the Video Compatibility tab. Also, after it fails look in event log for a '-2' error. The -2 means something really weird happened, for example like a decoder wasn't found, which shouldn't happen. The entry should look something like this: (the words between the < and > are mine - they vary from machine to machine usually) Log Name: Application Source: Dvd Maker Date: <what ever the date and time it happened> Event ID: 1001 <or maybe something different depends on the event sequence> Task Category: None Level: Error Keywords: <this may vary> User: N/A Computer: <your computer name here> Description: The Dvd Maker engine returned an error code (-2) when burning the disc. There may also be a second entry that looks like this: Log Name: Application Source: Dvd Maker Date: <what ever the date and time it happened> Event ID: 1002 <or maybe something different depends on the event sequence - usually after the - 2 error event>> Task Category: None Level: Error Keywords: <this may vary> User: N/A Computer: <your computer name here> Description: Dvd Maker returned an error code (0xFFFFFFFE) when burning the disc. Regarding burning software that works, Nero Ultra Edition 6.6.1.4 worked fine in RC1, dont know about 5728 - the virtual drive thing doesn't work in it, and the Nero backup doesn't work, so don't install those parts. You can use Nero 7 some say, but can't use the virtual drive or backup Roxio 8 worked on earlier builds, dont know about current builds myself but others say it works VSO Software's - CopyToDVD - DVD Backup Software - supposed to work perfectly and its not bloated like other products. You could also try Micro Burner from SilentNight, 4X version is freeware, 5X version will do DVD's and is fairly priced ($29.00 single license): http://www.silentnight2004.com/microburner.html

Works fine for me for the most part. Have gotten a couple of coasters from it tho. Not sure what it is, when it worked for me I know that I had just freshly re-booted. When it didn't work for me I got an error from the drive that indicated that power levels were not calibrated. I think right now that DVD maker still has some problems with simply communicating with the DVD drives for some reason. I see a lot of posts from people elsewhere that have problems with it also.

Some possible things: Are you trying to use the ReadeBoost feature? If so if may be that your USB flash drive is not compatable with ReadyBoost. Is your USB Flash drive USB 1 or 2.0? Vista seems to want to setup the USB ports at USB 2.0 when it installs and might not detect some USB 1 devices. If Vista fails to even detect or identify the USB drive then it might be that its USB 1. As far as drivers, and your not using the USB Flash Drive for ReadyBoost, you shouldn't really need drivers for it. Vista should be able to detect the USB device with no drivers needed. Unless your trying to connect the USB drive thru an external USB Hub expansion thing or a plug in USB port card, then Vista might have a problem detecting certain USB Drives as it seems right now that Vista has some minor problems with detecting some devices thru these.

I'm using an ATI X800 series with the in-box drivers, it works fine in fact better then it does in WinXP just using the in-box drivers. The beta drivers from ATI are wayyyyy from ready and shouldn't be used in RC1. Some people tho are using them sucessfully, but then again every system is different. Besides, doing beta software or drivers that are not native to the beta OS, mixing beta with beta, is never really a good idea. Did you by chance have all the options enabled to suspend, hibernate, screen saver, etc... ? If so and you had the ATI beta drivers installed then this might be your problem. I've heard of this happening to others and its always been an interaction with the ATI beta drivers and the hibernate, suspend, screen saver stuff. What you can try is to boot into safe mode and remove the ATI beta drivers and install the in-box drivers or just use the default vga driver until you get the rest of the stuff straight, turn off all the hibernate, suspend, screen saver, etc...sometimes however you have to completly re-install. Another thing you can try is a repair install of Vista, i've heard this has fixed the problem for some people. It seems MS always has problems with the hibernate and suspend stuff in every beta and it usually isn't finally stabalized until the end of the beta. Then again, the card just may have failed or be failing, ATI cards are known for that - to just seem to work but not all the way when they are getting ready to fail. Its unlikely Vista made it fail.

I don't think its included in Vista right now. Wait for the next build, maybe then. I've seen others asking for this, however, the way Vista is designed in its modular design which was not like previous windows versions it may not be needed.

If your using the in box drivers it may not be included in them. You may need to get the card manufactures drivers to get what you want. What card do you have?

Is this a problem with using the $OEM$ ? I remember reading somewhere in the WAIK that $OEM$ was still valid but not desired for Vista.

You deployed this with WDS? Was your image on network or local? Edit: Whoops! sorry for the dumb question, I looked at the .xml wrong.

the 'X:\' drive is the designation used by WinPE 2.0, and can be used by the WinPE portion of setup in Vista, to designate the Ram drive in memory.

does it even work in Vista?

"but wht it the cookie file locked out " deleting thru the IE GUI may not delete a locked file

logged in as admin, use explorer to go to where the cookies are stored and manually delete it.

I know a lot of you have probably already done this, so i'm offering some very basic procedures to the un-initiated for creating a very basic WinPE 2.0 CD, sort of a beginners helper kit thing. This uses the same instructions that are available in the WAIK kit. This is for the x86 version, if your using x64 or AMD you will need to read the help .chm's for the information and then make the necessary changes in the attached .bat files. 1. Install the WAIK in either a WinXP or Vista environment. Don't change any of the default install locations or directory names. 2. I've created 8 small .bat files for you to use in this process to keep you from typing all the commands needed and making mistakes. They are attached to this post. I seperated them out into simple basic batch files so you could follow the process along and learn. Feel free to modify them to your hearts content but i'd recommend you use them as is for right now until you get up on the process. I've used some switches in the batch files to supress some prompts so you don't need to make decisions and can watch the process move along. When you have explored the help chm's in the WAIK and feel more comfortable with rolling your own, then make your own batch file changes. Unzip them to C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\....or somewhere else and then move them to C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\...they have to be in C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\ 3. After you have put the batch files in C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\...go to Start - Programs - Microsoft Windows AIK - and click on 'Windows PE Tools Command Prompt'. The command prompt will open at 'C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools' with all the necessary environment variables set up for you. 4. Next you need to make sure a directory called 'winPE_x86' DOES NOT ALREADY EXIST in the root of your C:\ drive. If it does you need to either move it somewhere else or delete it. This process assumes the target directory does not already exist and if it does the process will fail. 5. Now back to the 'Windows PE Tools Command Prompt', if everything else above has been done, type "step1.bat" without the quotes. When that step reports back that its done, then type "step2.bat". When that step reports back that its done, then type "step3.bat". Repeat for "step5.bat" ...etc... until you are have finally finished up with running "step8.bat". After each step is completed in the command prompt, you will know its completed when the cursor once again appears on the 'C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\' line in the command prompt, dont force it, wait for it. You must run these batch files in order, step1.bat, step2.bat, step3.bat, etc...don't run them out of order. 6. After all the batch files have been run (step1.bat to step8.bat) one at a time use explorer or My Computer to take a look in C:\winpe_x86. You will find an .iso there called 'winpe_x86.iso' almost 187 MB in size. Burn the 'winpe_x86.iso' to a regular CD with your favorite burning application. This iso is bootable, so there is no need to make the CD bootable in your burning application. All the important tools are loaded to memory in this setup, so after you boot on this CD you can remove it and use things like ImageX to restore or make an image of a Vista install for backup or restore. You can use diskpart and format to prep a hard drive for an install, etc.... Putting these things in memory was a consideration for those who don't have two DVD/CD type drives for example and would need to restore an image from a DVD - you can take the WinPE boot CD out and put the DVD in with the image to be restored. It shouldn't use that much memory but you might notice the difference between 512 MB and 1 GB. The tools are loaded to ram drive X in memory. All you need to do is boot on the CD you created above. Everything is command line in a command prompt in winPE once you boot into it. If you need help on a command in the WinPE command prompt after you boot on the CD you created, lets use ImageX as an example, simply type the command followed by '/?' i.e...Imagex /?. I'm coding a nice GUI inteface for this process but its not ready yet. Hope this helps someone out. step1_8bat.zip

just wondering; Have you tried to maximize the use of the features and new bells and whistles to your advantage? Or...have you just started out with a bad opinion of them from the beginning? Personally I think everyone got a little of something they have been wanting in a MS OS for a while in some way. Tabbed browser, integrated firewall, basic security features, file system optimizations, improved memory management, fairly nice GUI's and desktop environment , etc.... Take for example all the complaints about security flaws in windows in the past. Well, of course its going to be more obvious in windows then say for example in Linux simply because windows is more widespread then linux. Virus and trojan makers would target windows because it offers the best chance for their crap to succed simply because it has more targets, not necessarily because the security flaws existed. Vista is trying to address those. After all, computer security is a multi-dimensional process, not a product, and thats part of the problem with computer security today with companies trying to sell it as a product instead of a multi-dimensional process. Vista has done a good job with trying to present it as a multi-dimensional process, at least basically. What other operating system has Phising prevention as part of its integrated security features instead of a 'stand alone' solution or just in a single part of the OS? OS structure, design, content, and features today are being driven by the overall customer base and the complaints from the past about things like security holes and flaws/bugs. You have to remember that part of that customer base is people in this forum and others, and that 12 or 13 year old kid at home, or that need of business and enterprise, or that person who just wants things to work. Bringing all these together in a single OS platform, and addressing what has been said by and what is desired by the majority, is difficult if not next to impossible. Thus you end up with Vista in its different flavors to appeal to everyone in some way. It also has to appeal to those masses in terms of marketing.

The beta machine is rated at 4.2 with every being maxed out at 5.5 except for the hard drives which are rated at 4.2, so the overall rating is 4.2. But then again these are older drives that have been thru 6 different MS betas, so overall not too bad for a beta test machine. I've got mixed feelings about the rating system myself. I think it should have a higher top end value available, right now its limited to 5.5 for the top end, or at least it was in RC1 - I haven't investigated the top end value in 5728 yet. I do know that it does give some false readings at times and can be 'tricked', but maybe they will get it finally fixed by RTM.