windows setup always restarts

[Schicklgruber]

Hello everybody,

Unfortunately I do not have good news. Today I tried creating the ISO again and testing it on Microsoft Virtual PC. This time, the setup kept restarting for no good reason. It didn't even give any error message. I tried all of your suggestions, and I even tried it twice. Johnhc, I checked the IE7 file and it was the exact same size and had the exact same MD5 sum as yours. I have run out of ideas on why this is happening. This time I only integrated SP3 and IE7. If you have anymore ideas I would love to hear them. If not, could somebody tell me how to create an unattended disc without nLite?

Thanks everybody for your help,

-Schicklgruber

[johnhc]

Schicklgruber, specifically: Have you tried installing on VPC directly from your original CD? You should be able to attach your CD drive to the VM and boot from the Windows CD. I think we are down to its being the CD or your installation of VPC. We need to make sure you can install directly from your CD. Please let us hear and also attach your Last Session when you have used nLite. Enjoy, John.

[Schicklgruber]

I'll try writing it to a CD. I will try to find time for this tomorrow. If I don't reply after tomorrow, it's because I haven't found a time to do it yet. I will also attach my Last Session.ini file for you to look at.

Thanks,

-Schicklgruber

[johnhc]

Schicklgruber, do you not have the original CD? If not, where did you get your Widows copy? Enjoy, John.

[Schicklgruber]

Johnhc,

I do have the original CD. It's a Dell reinstallation CD, which is the same as a regular Windows CD but only works on Dell computers. And unfortunately, I am having problems with my CD drive. My CD drive does everything except read blank CDs. When I insert a CD into my drive, I get an error message when I try to access it "Windows cannot read from this disk. The disk might be corrupted, or it could be using a format that is not compatible with Windows." I've tried reinstalling the driver, updating the driver, and taking the CD drive out of my computer and putting it back in. Nothing's wroked. Any ideas on the problem?

Thanks,

-Schicklgruber

[johnhc]

Schicklgruber, I don't have any ideas for your optical drive problem, but I suspect you have a source problem. You have a recovery CD and some have reported success with them and others not. Please try this. Assuming you can get a fresh copy of the CD files/folders, then create an ISO only. I use ImgBurn for this, but you can use nLite. Just point nLite to the folder and then select only the Create Bootable ISO. It does not matter what Last Session you use. This will cut an ISO with no modification by nLite. I must emphasize that the folder must contain a fresh copy of the CD files/folders. When finished, run the ISO in your VPC and let us know the outcome. You can search these forums for other's experience with recovery CDs. Good luck, John.

[Schicklgruber]

Hi Johnhc,

I found the problem to my CD drive. Unfortunately I discovered that my drive does not write CDs. I guess I will try creating the ISO and writing the ISO on another computer and I will reply back with the results when I get the time.

Thanks,

-Schicklgruber

[Schicklgruber]

Hi Johnhc,

Luckily I have good news! I tried creating only an ISO with nLite and burning the ISO with ImgBurn. But before I created the ISO, I copied the files from my CD and deleted the $OEM$ folder. Then I created the ISO and burned it to a CD. I then successfully installed windows from the CD on VirtualBox. Now what should I try?

-Schicklgruber

[johnhc]

Schicklgruber, interesting - progress - GREAT! I guess the $OEM$ folder contains stuff that interferes with nLite. NLite does use the $OEM$ folder. Please look in the folder and if there is noting private there and it is not too large, compress and attach it so we can have a look. I suggest that you try using the folder containing your CD contents minus the $OEM$ folder and run nLite with SP3 and your other changes, create an ISO and try installing it on VPC. You really do not need to burn a CD. Please let us hear. Enjoy, John.

[Schicklgruber]

Hi Johnhc,

Unfortunately the $OEM$ folder is too large when compressed. When compressed the folder is 232KB. However I will try your suggestions today and report back with the results as soon as possible.

Thanks!

-Schicklgruber

[johnhc]

Schicklgruber, OK, thanks. Please post a screen shot of a Windows Explorer view of the $OEM$ folder. Thanks, John.

[Schicklgruber]

Hi Johnhc,

Sorry I haven't been able to get back to you but I have not had time to make this screenshot. My life is very busy and I will try my best to find a time.

Thanks,

-Schicklgruber

[Schicklgruber]

Here is a screenshot of the $OEM$ folder. Just the picture was too big so I put the picture in a ZIP file. Let me know if you need anything else,

-Schicklgruber

oem.zip

[johnhc]

Schicklgruber, there is a load of stuff in your $OEM$ file! You will be leaving it all out if you drop the folder. I do not know how this will effect your install. Have you been able to find any good posts on using a Dell recovery CD? BTW, to reduce the size of a screen shot file, I paste it into MS Paint and save it as a .jpg file. It is usually quite a bit smaller. Enjoy, John.

[Schicklgruber]

Schicklgruber, there is a load of stuff in your $OEM$ file! You will be leaving it all out if you drop the folder. I do not know how this will effect your install. Have you been able to find any good posts on using a Dell recovery CD? BTW, to reduce the size of a screen shot file, I paste it into MS Paint and save it as a .jpg file. It is usually quite a bit smaller. Enjoy, John.

So you're saying I should try making only the ISO while leaving the $OEM$ folder there? Oh this is sort-of offtopic but the other CD I got to work without the $OEM$ folder, when I installed it windows said it was not genuine microsoft software! I couldn't install WMP11.