Vlite and HP recovery disc

[xenon2050]

Not sure if I should put this in this forum or the Vista unattended..

I just got a new laptop, HP, and it has all kinds of junk on it. I would like to do a new install with the Vista recovery disk. Only problem is I'm guessing all their junk is on the 5GB+ DVD as well. I downloaded Vlite and tried to use it to edit the disc but it says it can't find the expected files. Is there a way to edit the disc at all? Has anyone done this on a HP recovery disc? Thanks

[nuhi]

You may try merging the files, if there are bunch of SWM files on it.

Procedure can be quite complicated, first post the file list of the DVD (type dir /s /b>list.txt in the cmd).

And merging is broken on vLite 1.1 beta, you'll have to use 1.0 for that step.

[xenon2050]

here is the list of files

E:\BOOT
E:\Master.log
E:\SERVICE
E:\SOURCES
E:\boo.mgr
E:\preload
E:\BOOT\BCD
E:\BOOT\BOOT.SDI
E:\SOURCES\boot.wim
E:\preload\ALL.CRC
E:\preload\ALL.I32
E:\preload\ALL.ITR
E:\preload\BASE.DAT
E:\preload\BASE.WIM
E:\preload\BASE2.WIM
E:\preload\BASE3.WIM
E:\preload\BASE4.WIM
E:\preload\CD0
E:\preload\CSP.DAT
E:\preload\DESC.TXT
E:\preload\RP.CRC
E:\preload\SPLIT.LOG
E:\preload\WINDOWS.CRC
E:\preload\WINDOWS.DAT
E:\preload\WINDOWS.I32
E:\preload\WINDOWS.ITR

I have found some more information on the issue... Notebookreview.com has a guide. Problem is hp stopped giving out the Windows anytime upgrade discs with their laptops. So I ordered one from MS, but I would still like to know if I could use my recovery disc and not have to use the anytime upgrade disc...

Edited October 5, 2007 by xenon2050

[jamieo]

but I would still like to know if I could use my recovery disc and not have to use the anytime upgrade disc...

Surely the anytime disc is ideal - I thought your goal was to have vista without the HP junk?!?

Only downside I can see is HP specific drivers - if you can't find on the web you should be able to extract them from your current installation...

[xenon2050]

Surely the anytime disc is ideal - I thought your goal was to have vista without the HP junk?!?

Only downside I can see is HP specific drivers - if you can't find on the web you should be able to extract them from your current installation...

Well it is my goal to do Vista without the HP junk. But I would like to be able to use the recovery disc, because I don't know when the anytime disc will come and because i have it.

I figured there would be some way to remove all their junk, but maybe I'm wrong.

[nuhi]

Try this:

Rename BASE*.WIM to INSTALL*.SWM and move them to the \Sources folder where the boot.wim is.

(of course E:\ will be your folder where you copy the installation files like c:\VistaDVD)

E:\preload\BASE.WIM

E:\preload\BASE2.WIM

E:\preload\BASE3.WIM

E:\preload\BASE4.WIM

to

E:\sources\INSTALL.SWM

E:\sources\INSTALL2.SWM

E:\sources\INSTALL3.SWM

E:\sources\INSTALL4.SWM

Then browse with vLite to it and let it Merge. But merge is broken in this vLite for some so you might want an older version or wait for a new one.

[xenon2050]

Try this:

Rename BASE*.WIM to INSTALL*.SWM and move them to the \Sources folder where the boot.wim is.

(of course E:\ will be your folder where you copy the installation files like c:\VistaDVD)

E:\preload\BASE.WIM

E:\preload\BASE2.WIM

E:\preload\BASE3.WIM

E:\preload\BASE4.WIM

to

E:\sources\INSTALL.SWM

E:\sources\INSTALL2.SWM

E:\sources\INSTALL3.SWM

E:\sources\INSTALL4.SWM

Then browse with vLite to it and let it Merge. But merge is broken in this vLite for some so you might want an older version or wait for a new one.

Okay thanks, I'll try that out and see if it works.

[xenon2050]

Okay tried that, but then it says "No images detected, exiting"

[nuhi]

If it did merge first and created only one big install.wim then I have nothing else to add. Pitty.

[xenon2050]

If it did merge first and created only one big install.wim then I have nothing else to add. Pitty.

Hmm, well i wasn't able to even try to merge. But it doesn't really matter, I'll just wait until I get the anytime upgrade disc. Thanks

[xenon2050]

Just wanted to post a quick update... I found out that HP encrypts their *.WIM files before they send them out sooo that means that short of being a HP employee it wouldn't be worth it to use the disc... Thanks for your help nuhi.