Tripredacus

I've never heard that kind of message before, but it has been a couple years since I've had to call in an XP activation. Usually if the automated system rejects it, I would get transferred to a person.

You should post the E number of your CPU to be sure, but I am going to guess that you have a Quad-Core CPU with Hyperthreading enabled.

Logs are kept in two different locations. c:\windows\system32\sysprep c:\windows\panther When looking at the log files, make sure to take note of the timestamp. This will help you find the correct files for whatever the problem is you are looking for. I'm not sure it is related to the mass storage driver, since if it were incorrect you would get a STOP 0x7b error instead.

While I am looking into how to automate MDT's Lite Touch pages, I am stuck on the User Credentials page that is used to connect to the Deployment Share. If I fill this out manually, it works and everything is fine. I can't seem to actually automate this process so it connects to the share automatically. I've found solutions to this problem by adding credentials into the bootstrap.ini, then rebuild and replace the boot images, but any time I do this it still will prompt me for credentials. Am I missing a step?

Well we can only guess some things, since you end up using terms like "my computers" vs "customer computer" but it would be better if we knew which OS was on each one.

I am going to hazard a guess that your Main computer was the Master Browser of the workgroup. Shutting it down enabled another PC to become the Master Browser and likely refreshed something. I don't remember exactly how that process works. Was your main PC the XP one?

Does your DC allow an unsecured join? What happens if you try to join the client manually without credentials?

If you need to reload an OS and the customer does not have the media, you should reinstall it using the same type. If they had OEM, you reinstall using OEM, if Retail then Retail. They should always have a COA on their PC. Even if you can't get it to activate online, you can call it in. You can tell what OS type is installed by looking at the COA. If the COA has an OEM's name on it however, I'm not sure exactly what you'd need to do, although acquiring the recovery media would probably be good. Some infos: http://www.microsoft.com/oem/en/licensing/antipiracy/pages/COA_hologram.aspx There used to be a page with all the different COAs but it looks like that has been replaced, or I can't find it.

I can see that being reasonable. I will look into seeing how I can change it. EDIT: This was happening because I had a partial install. I hadn't waited for MDT to open that yellow screen saying it was done. After you click on that, it deletes the files on the HDD that were causing a problem, which then lets me do a proper reload without having to format the drive each time in between.

When I do testing, I use actual hardware. I am currently testing some LTI with MDT 2010 right now and am running into an error "LiteTouch has encountered an Environment Error (Boot into WinPE!)" I know WHY this error comes up, the HDD is not blank or it has existing deployment files on it. And I know a workaround is to boot up WinPE, and use Diskpart to wipe the drive. It can't be that this is the only way to stop this error from coming up! Tell me there is a way to configure my LTI to just format the drive during boot so this error doesn't come up!

bookie32 I was referring to the production MDT server at my company... I agree with this about XP. I had only used WIMs for XP, making an image for each system that was locked down to HAL, BIOS version and Video Card type. There was no "updating" of those images, if anything needed to be changed, I just made a new one. This was not really my decision, but it became way more important once the news broke that HP got caught making universal images and blew up because they had some AMD driver in there. Play it safe, especially if you are doing this in a company rather than for personal reasons. It was a lot of work but you end up documenting it and getting SOPs for the image creation process to follow. Its one reason why I'm glad I don't have to deal with XP (besides XPe) anymore, plus servicing 7 is way easier. Regarding the process of deployment of XP images... Its in my sig. And I was incorrect when I said I had no OS loaded in my Test MDT Server... I do, but its not an install source like yours. I just see the Windows 7 Enterprise WIM in mine and you can't expand it out like your picture has for XP.

I use a separate computer that is off the domain (and no internet access) to do my servicing. Also, I recommend you edit your topic title...

Is it slow locally or just on the clients?

Most people don't know they need glasses, or need new glasses; I would go to the local optician to check them. Eyes should in no way hurt with an LCD screen, CCFL or not. While this is certainly true for me, I've found that you can play with the brightness and contrast to a level that works better for you too.

I think your $OEM$ folder goes into the OS folder in your third picture. I tried to look on my test server but it seems I don't have any OSes added. Ugg even the production server doesn't have any either since I never got a reply to that "What OSes do you want to use" email.

Yes I know the function is built in and it is documented, but that doesn't mean it is officially supported.

You can change it in Local Security Policy, but if the boxes were checked prior to using this setting, the boxes will remain checked even though the it will actually be disabled. The reason I brought up this idea was because I had similar situation when Vista and 7 came out. Copying files over the network was extremely slow for Vista and 7 clients but not for XP. When I say slow, I mean it takes XP 6 minutes and takes Vista 6 hours. Disabling those two network options would "fix" a Vista or 7 PC and transfer was normal. However, once we put a DC in that was 2008, the problem went away and we didn't have to disable those settings anymore. How those work is that Vista would go out and try to map out the network, basically sending out packets similar to DHCP Discover, because it is expecting a response from a DC. Unfortunately, Server 2003 did not have the LLT Responder either enabled or installed by default, so no response would be sent. This made the client keep sending out these packets and it would slow its own network speed down. The Server 2008 DC was able to send the response. And also because XP also doesn't come with this ability installed, it doesn't bog itself down with these packets even if there is a Server 2008 on the network. It may not be related, but its easy enough to test.

I would think by removing its IPv6 capability would do it (uncheck the box in adapter properties) but there seems to be something in the Firewall and Advanced Security snap-in, you can see in the pictures here: http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles_tutorials/7-Steps-Troubleshooting-DirectAccess-Clients.html

Hmmm... My first idea would be the keyboard... but if this is a notebook you can't test out that idea.

miniXP and Hiren's are Warez. We cannot help you with those programs. Discussion of it is against the forum rules. It appears that none of us fully read that post entirely since no one noticed the above quote. I hadn't noticed anything in the first post regarding what these computers were to be used for, so my post was a neutral statement. As far as where WSUS can be used, the only reason I know it can't be used on PCs that are to be resold is because MS sent me an email a few years ago saying I wasn't allowed to use it... Anyways, good to know about those registry entries.

So far what I can see is that this new "BIOS" other than supporting the new UEFI spec is that it is not any different than anything we're already used to seeing. That meaning we can just put any OS on the board that you want. I think the problem with the dual boot thing is that it isn't really a supported scenario. Think that all Microsoft OS is built with either the OEM end user or for use in the Enterprise where dual boots aren't supported. Is a dual boot even officially supported under Windows 7?

Do a test on a Win7 PC. Go into Network Properties and disable the two Link Layer Topology options (mapper and scanner) and reboot and see if it is any better. It might not be related...

It looks like it is available only on the Enterprise and Ultimate SKUs and that it is disabled by default. I'm not certain, but I think it may require IPv6 as well.

Amy Winehouse - Back to Black