Very Noob trying to setup shop

[kokain]

I am new to nlite. I have poked around and built a few iso’s with tweaks and smaller size. But now I’m done messing around and want to build a perfect disc. I hate Edison and don’t want to waste days and days stabbing in the dark. I want to think and plan for days and days and then make lightning on the first try. I have read the forum (awesome!!!) and a few others and picked up a lot of great tips. I think though that along with the great tips, I picked up a lot of questions. I would like this thread to be my planning phase. Hopefully I will have my questions answered here and will be able to implement an xp disk that I can be proud of.

Here is my wish list and I have no idea how to go about getting it to work.

1. Slipstream sp3 - nlite makes this easy to do.

2. Incorporate Programs (IE8, AVG 8.5free, OrbitDownloader 2.8.10, VirtualCloneDrive 5.4.2.5, CiscoVPN, Gladinet, Returnil, LiveMesh, Comodo, and .net3.5) -should these be added in addon/hotfix or should I write my own Inno to be run by nlite(how would I do this? I know Inno but not how to run it with nlite)

3. Remove Components -I think I got this, I will just need to make sure I don’t take something important off, but that is what testing is for

4. Unattended is very easy with nlite

5. I also want to do some of my own registry tweaks. (Hide Desktop Icons, Copy to and Move to Context Options…) and a few other. I know where the keys are but don’t know the best way to do it. With nlite? With my own Inno? With just a .reg file?

6. Create folders and shortcuts. Same as above, how to do it best?

7. Copy the settings from AVG, IE, Comodo… they are just files but I don’t know how to do it best.

8. And finally, my custom system files. I want to create and copy modified files like explorer.exe, shell32 … I also have a theme/msstyle, cursors, icons blah blah bling. How to move them best. Do I need to turn off windows protection or can I do it before windows loads? Then move the files into windows and backup directory so it is replaced with new file.

I am sorry this post is so long (so I’ll make it longer by apologizing) but it seems these are all common tasks. I am just looking for suggestions on how you guys go about doing this.

Any help/tips/criticism on any of the above topics will be greatly appreciated. Anything I forgot? Am I making this too hard? Thank you.

[johnhc]

kokain,

1. Go to Windows DL Center and DL the SP3 that is commensurate with your version, then point nLite to this file in the Hot Fix section.
   
2. IE8 has an AddOn for both XP and XP x64. Some others may have AddOns also, check the AddOns sub forum above.
   
3. I suggest a virtual system for testing. VirtualPC, VirtualBox and VMware Server are all free.
   
4. Good.
   
5. You can do this out of Unattended RunOnce. Here is a site with many tweaks. A Google (or whatever) search will reveal more sites.
   
6. I use Windows Post Install (WPI) for this. See forum below. The problem with using RunOnce here is that your account is not created yet (T-13), so the files/folders end up in weird places.
   
7. You will need to do some research here. Perhaps the forum for the individual program. Most have an .ini file that holds some/most of the settings but may also have Registry entries. Some have a settings export/import function.
   
8. System files can be included through the $OEM$ folder. See here. You will need to disable SFC if you change any system files before making an ISO.
   

I suspect that the perfect disk cannot be created. So have fun, and if you have problems, please attach (not paste) your Last Session.ini. Make sure to always start with a fresh copy of your CD files/folders, do all your work in one nLite session and integrate only one SP. Please report when you have a solution, so others can benefit. Enjoy, John.

[kokain]

Thanks for the reply. I had no idea what the OEM folder was for.