Tripredacus

I experienced the Reservation corruption on a 2008 DC but it only happened after a rogue DHCP server was connected to the network. The 2008 had correctly blocked the initial DHCP requests from the offender (as per how DHCP Authorization works I imagine) but the offender intercepted DHCP Renews. I'm guessing something was maybe not configured correctly, but the offender was a Linux server, so I don't know if that makes a difference.

XP COAs are tied to specific Install CD part numbers. I've found this out in the past, so if you go about finding actual media to install with, don't be surprised if the first one doesn't work. All the OEM CDs I have for XP (the hologram ones) have the part-number of the COA written on the CD so I know which one to use.

If you can get me the HwID for the device you are trying to install, I can get the correct link for you. You can find this in the Properties of the Device in Device Manager, on the Details tab.

And why is that? They often provide a far better feature set at the exact same price point (like dual PCI-e x16 slots, or having USB3 ports, etc), and if you go with an OEM like ASUS or Gigabyte, you also get a better quality motherboard (the PCB itself, components used, the voltage regulator, the BIOS options, the cooling, the layout, etc) and everything else. Intel isn't leading in any significant way. Let's chalk that up to a mis-worded post. I meant to imply that Intel can't compare to others, one of those backwards grammar moments! Since I've learned more and more about Intel baord (to say the TechProdSpec doesn't scare me anymore) I've run into some misgiving about their boards, however I have no knowledge on whether these things are corrected or done better on other company's boards. Let me use the PCI Express slots for example. Most Intel boards that have at least 2 PCI-E slots seem to have been designed incorrectly. Not many Intel boards will actually run the x16 slot at x16 speed. The specs will say things like "x16 mechanically, x8 electrically." Then I think, perhaps I can not actually tell the difference between graphics of a PCI-E video card running at 2.5GT/s vs the 5.0GT/s that it should be at. There was one sales training I attended that talked about their "new" (probably old by now) workstation board, and asked about the slots, and the dude was just like "yes that's what they do" concerning why they would put an x16 slot but only run it at x8. I understood the reasoning behind it, because of how it was constructed and blah blah blah But does that even matter? Is it a big deal that I would be basically underclocking any video card I'd put in those boards, even if I am not using any of the other slots?

Moved some content from post 1 to post 2. Changed the intro to show as more of a project rather than just a support thread. Added "development opportunities" which is basically just a list of things that have been requested, or that I wanted to change as well. A little note about some of these... The App and Custom OS installer is something present in my version of the HTA, but is removed from the public version. Currently, my HTA has buttons (the mount/capture/append buttons) changed to install applications and deploy custom images such as Win7+WinRE, Server 2008 + WinRE, custom partition values with XP. These menus are hand-coded and I've recently come into a situation where I cannot easily maintain these menus anymore aka the actual server is no longer at my location. So I wanted to come up with a program that would look on the file share for a file, and that file would tell those menus what apps or images are available, and populate the menus appropriately. This idea also ties in with the "local os detection", custom partition support/browse for diskpart script items as well. If you have any other ideas or want to help out, feel free to post here!

Why do you want to remove the Administrator account? It is needed during installation and (later) in order to get to Safe Mode.

Post OS version! You can use DHCP Reservations, however these can become corrupted. If you use them, make sure to keep a document with your reservations in case you need to delete and re-create them.

Does your XML validate in WSIM? Also, do not install Google Chrome in Audit mode. You won't be able to use it after OOBE without a reinstall, unless Google came out with a special "all users" version of Chrome by now.

To add to the conversation about the re-arms. I will say that it "may" be possible to re-arm / generalize more than three times BUT it may only be available if you use an unattend option. I tried to re-arm an image last week that was done with just a regular install, and it returned an error. I didn't think it would work anyways.

You may want to try the official Intel driver instead. I have had no problems with this device. I always get these "two" devices mixed up, MEI, AMT, SOL, WOE... Intel uses all sorts. Different HwIDs have different driver package downloads, yet use the same INF name. WOE HwIDs for H55 platform: VEN_3B67 mesrl.inf / mesrle.inf for x64 v6.0.0.1179 VEN_3B64 heci.inf v6.0.0.1179 WOE HwIDs for Q45 platform: VEN_2E17 mesrl/mesrle.inf v5.5.1.1012 VEN_2E14 heci.inf v5.2.0.1008 The annoying thing is that the v6.x driver series (for Windows 7) does not have driver support for the 2E1x HwIDs, which apparantly only have Vista (v5.x) drivers. So make sure you have the right INFs (since different file versions have the same name but not same hardware support) and check for any signing issues. All the drivers from Intel for these devices (mine are just examples) have signed drivers.

Welcome to the MSFN!

OP, I modified your email address. MSFN shows up on google fairly often, so your email can get searched by bots and send you spam. Especially now that Yahoo IM has had an onslaught of bot activity over the past two weeks.

Welcome to the MSFN!

It's ridiculously simple: cost. Pre-installing the full blown MS Office would add a LOT to the cost. Office 2010 Pro (the not so "limited" version, although that still doesn't include Visio nor Project) would add $300 to the cost of a new PC which is basically as much as some PCs go for these days. How funny! Actually there is a new Office product out there (well it hit with the rest of Office 2010 RTM) called Office Starter. Basically, an OEM can install a trial of Office 2010 Pro on a system. You get three options: 1. Purchase a real version of Office online 2. Use a product key to unlock a particular Office version 3. Install Office Starter, which includes a free (but limited) version of Word and Excel. To my knowledge, the Starter install does not expire. If Starter is installed, you get 2010 Pro for 60 days, and after that, you can only use the Starter apps. http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/starter/ Now, the task of getting it pre-installed on every computer is left up to the OEM. Some have done it already.

I read this in the paper earlier this week. Why can't they just use the existing "fingerprint" known as the MAC Address?

Topics merged! Do not make multiple topics for the same thing.

You can also change the desktop.ini in any folder. I've tried it before and it works but since the desktop.ini can be over-written very easily, sometimes the settings do not stay for very long.

Yes and No. Worst case scenario is that it would install (but not ask for a product key) and not be able to be activated. It depends on the disc, some are made with the same software that is on the recovery partition (cares about hardware) some are generic installs that don't care much about the hardware but couldn't be activated.

I can't find a free version of Macrium. I can only find Macrium Reflect and it only has a 30 day trial. Not sure if that has anything to do with it. You can also try to reactivate your OS in Computer Properties.

Welcome to the MSFN!

Welcome to the MSFN!

You can find the name of it in Device Manager. Common brands are Western Digital, Seagate, Toshiba, etc.

Win98 update pack here: http://www.technical-assistance.co.uk/kb/win98fe-usb-mass-storage-drivers.php Win98se (or ME) usbstor.sys (and other req files for 2.0) modified logo.sys ( I could technically live without this ) win98se ntkern.vxd probably some other stuff, this 98 install is almost 10 years old! PS: other such details (TL;DR) in Project Shiva link in my sig

The Final Plague - What Lies Within