HFCLEANUP - The alternate source reducer

[Martin H]

As you may or may not know, TommyP has recently made his HFCLEANUP reducer set to also support XP-SP3 now, so I wanted to start a thread about it here, so that others can chim in and exchange tips/ideas, and report issues to TommyP.

Remember that HFCLEANUP is unsupported, so don't PM TommyP if you've got a problem, but instead find out yourself which exact reducer has issues and then report it to TommyP.

I can tell you that with all the reducers in the ZIP, then I have zero issues and a rock stable and light system:

ISO : 130MB

%windir% : 300MB

You can download it on the HFSLIP site under 'Advanced Features': http://hfslip.org/advanced.html

As the included README states, then you need a patched syssetup.dl_ and sfc_os.dl_. Note, you cannot take these files from a nLite'd ISO, as then you'll get a BSoD during install. Instead, use the 'RyanVM Integrator' together with the 'System File Patches' addon to get the files patched(you don't need to use an update-pack for this, but just the addon!).

RyanVM Integrator: http://integrator.siginetsoftware.com/index.php?download

'System File Patches' addon: http://www.ryanvm.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2274

Lastly, many thanks to TommyP for creating this awesome alternate reducer system for our beloved HFSLIP!

Issues:

None found!

Tips:

• If having a S3-Pro-SavageDDR IGP(KM/KN/PM/P4M/P4N266) and integrating it's drivers + using the OOBE reducer, then the install will freeze just before the logon prompt after install. To fix, open 'ZZZ_OOBE.rem' and put an underscore infront of the file: 'msobshel.ht'.
  
• If you want to strip all non-US languages and keyboard-layout's EXCEPT your own countries keyboard-layout, then open 'ZZZ_ENGLISH_ONLY.rem' and 'ZZZ_USKeyboardKeep1.rem' and make an underscore infront of the keyboard-layout file of your own country. You can search the web for the name, but it's of the format: 'KBD<country-code>.DL_', like e.g. mine is 'KBDDA.DL_'(danish). Also, i don't know if this is the same for other countries also, but for me, then when keeping that single keyboard-file, then i can also select danish in all the other regional options... Note that for some reason then the WINNT.SIF regional settings dosen't work, so I just added the keyboard info to my runonceex.inf:
  

  HKCU,"Keyboard Layout\Preload","1",,"00000406"
  HKCU,"Keyboard Layout\Preload","2",,"00000409"

  
  (the first is the default layout used i.e. here danish, and the next is the standard US.)
  

• For making procmon work: Delete 'OSOptions_FileSystemFilterMgr.REM'
  (contains just 3 files and a inf...), as it needs filesystem-filters for doing the monitoring...
  

Edited February 5, 2010 by Martin H

[tain]

Always glad to see more HFCLEANUP users

Thanks for the nice post!

[fdv]

The modified setup dll from my XP fileset works okay too which is a smaller download. As for sfc_os, I guess I didn't know that was needed. I don't provide one of them. (Is it really needed? I seemed to test the sets out without it just fine IIRC).

[Kiki Burgh]

The modified setup dll from my XP fileset works okay too which is a smaller download. As for sfc_os, I guess I didn't know that was needed. I don't provide one of them. (Is it really needed? I seemed to test the sets out without it just fine IIRC).

indeed it is ... though i actually followed the instructions given here ... have yet to test it though ... btw, fdv, would there be separate instructions in your to modify sfc_os.dll for xp sp3? currently, there's only this one but is for win 2k ... martin h, as for the system file patches, there are those marked for sp3 but are these the most current? i also have this in mind:

Zacam's PatchAddons are NOT compatible with HFSLIP because they involve hex-editing some binaries. You have to use them with the integrator (almost sure that nLite can't handle them correctly) or patch those binaries manually by the information given inside the entries*.ini's.

zacam hasn't been active lately ... appreciate the help! cheers! Edited January 20, 2010 by Kiki Burgh

[fdv]

I don't use the DLL anymore.

In my XP filset, open HIVESFT.INF

The first commented out items for SFCDllCacheDir should be uncommented and SFC will be off at install time.

The discovery of this was an accident!

AFAIK Microsoft only documents this on one of their pages.

Two lines instead of a hacked DLL seems better to me because turning SFC back -on- means just changing the Z: value back to C:\WINDOWS\system32\dllcache and it's nice to have SFC turned on when you're installing for Grandma

[Kiki Burgh]

thanks fdv! indeed i want to put it back on post-install

btw, would you still have spare time for this:

btw, fdv, i hope you received the e-mail i sent you to the address you gave me. have you by any chance seen it?

should there be anything, please let me know.

been reading from your site but i'm just not sure if my other concerns (by following the directions i could work on 1 though but perhaps not all) for xp sp3 are there.

appreciate the help.

cheers!

@Kiki - I forgot, sorry! I will address that I promise!

looking forward to it when you have the spare time to accommodate it so i can try it out in my new build attempts. my msfn mailbox though is full. external e-mail would be great. appreciate it. cheers!

if not, it's fine ... i totally understand. sorry for the bother.

cheers!

Edited January 20, 2010 by Kiki Burgh

[Martin H]

@tain

Thanks mate

@fdv

dunno if we need WFP disabled, but it's mentioned in Tom's HFCLEANUP instructions to use both dlls, so that's why i stated it

@Kiki

The bit about it not working with hfslip is false Anyway, i don't know if an update has replaced that file, but personally i don't care...

Edited January 20, 2010 by Martin H

[tommyp]

There may be other methods of swapping the setup files. I only posted a working recipe. IIRC, both modded setup files are needed for hfcleanup to work. Perhaps there is a way to use only one file but I wasn't ambitious enough to try more variations after I got everything working.

On a plus side, I'm glad that someone is using hfcleanup. It took a while to get it all working. My OS is rock stable here.

[mukke]

i also have this in mind:

Zacam's PatchAddons are NOT compatible with HFSLIP because they involve hex-editing some binaries. You have to use them with the integrator (almost sure that nLite can't handle them correctly) or patch those binaries manually by the information given inside the entries*.ini's.

The bit about it not working with hfslip is false Anyway, i don't know if an update has replaced that file, but personally i don't care...

@Martin H

I can't agree with you. Have you verified that hfslip alters the files involved? See for yourself!

Run hfslip and the integrator with Zacam's PatchAddon. Then compare each syssetup.dll byte-by-byte. They should differ in exactly 1 Byte (at offset 211753 (dez) = 33B29 (hex)).

Imho hfslip is not able to handle the [HexEdit]s section of the entries_*.ini - at least as intended by the addon creator.

Zacam's entries_*.ini contain information filename|version|offset|old_value|new_value (watch out: the offset-values given are dezimal-based - NOT hex-based!). The integrator patches these files on the fly. I dunno if it can be done by auto-it alone, but mirkes TinyHexer (powerful hex-editor with its own script-language) was involved if iirc.

[pcalvert]

I can tell you that with all the reducers in the ZIP, then I have zero issues and a rock stable and light system:

ISO : 130MB

%windir% : 300MB

Commit : 42MB

(My commit is 37MB, as i disable the following services additionally: Time, firewall, wireless and print spooler)

Sorry for the newbie question, but when you say "My commit is 37MB," what exactly do you mean by that? Just want to make sure it means what I think it does...

Phil

[Martin H]

@mukke

Yeah i'm an id***! You're of course right... I actually misunderstood the paragraph to mean that the modded dll's wouldn't be compatible with hfslip(like nLite's modded dll's isn't). Now re-reading that paragraph back, i cannot see how i could have misinterpretted it like that, but oh well

Thanks for the correction!

@pcalvert

Memmory usage(just from taskmanager, so not very precise either)... Actually it is alittle higher now installed on my real machine(i had perfected the build in VMware for several days time)...

[Martin H]

Tip: If having a S3-Pro-SavageDDR IGP(KM/KN/PM/P4M/P4N266) and integrating it's drivers + using the OOBE reducer, then the install will freeze just before the logon prompt after install.

To fix, open 'ZZZ_OOBE.rem' and put an underscore infront of the file: 'msobshel.ht'.

I have no idea why that lame driver needs that stupid file(of course i'm bypassing oobe with winnt.sif's 'UnattendSwitch' setting), and it took me 1.5 days and about 10 real installs to isolate

[Martin H]

Issue: When using all the reducers, then procmon don't work. It states that XP SP2 is needed and so capturing events is disabled. It's strange since it works on a FDV'd Win2k install...

I will not be trouble-shooting which file(s) from which reducer is the culprit, as i've now gone back to Win2k with FDV's fileset(i only changed to XP because Tom and Fred also did, but as HFSLIP still supports 2k, and as i preffer 2k personally, then i decided to go back...).

Anyway, if you find out the culprit for this, then please PM Tom or write it here so that others can benefit from it.

I'm going to keep updating the first post in this thread with all tips/issues found/reported...

Edited January 22, 2010 by Martin H

[Martin H]

I'm back on WinXP/HFCLEANUP now... Yeah, i know i'm not good at making final decisions LOL, but now i'm changing over for good!

Anyway, first post updated with a tip for making procmon work: Delete 'OSOptions_FileSystemFilterMgr.REM'

(contains just 3 files and a inf...), as it needs filesystem-filters for doing the monitoring...

Btw, i'm stumbed that there's not more interest here(in the forum, not just this thread) on HFCLEANUP(and FDV's XP fileset)...

Come on guys and gal's, make use of these fantasic offerings from Tom and Fred! No more need for that extra step of running nLite(with it's extra 23mb lite-framework which also writes to '%windir%\system32' and to a msft system reg-key, and which cannot be run unattended when needing to add new updates to slipstream) and not only for the memmory savings, but also just for things like much faster/smaller backups/defrags/vrus-checks etc. etc.

Come on mates, you know you want it

Have a nice weekend everyone!

CU, Martin.

[Browncoat]

I'm back on WinXP/HFCLEANUP now...

Come on guys and gal's, make use of these fantasic offerings from Tom and Fred! No more need for that extra step of running nLite(with it's extra 23mb lite-framework which also writes to '%windir%\system32' and to a msft system reg-key, and which cannot be run unattended when needing to add new updates to slipstream) and not only for the memmory savings, but also just for things like much faster/smaller backups/defrags/vrus-checks etc. etc.

Come on mates, you know you want it

Have a nice weekend everyone!

CU, Martin.

I'd like it too and am reading, as the one HTPC , a refurb eMachine came with with XP home, so I killed the hidden partition with a utility, got the OEM kit from a local shop

that I use with the sticker on the back of the case but now would like to make a smaller footprint version. Since I was curious about what was going into XP I d/l manually all

the updates including IE8 but its now so bloated that its almost as slow in rebooting as the 2000 machine is. I also have the separate SP2 & SP3 CDs as I got them for next to nothing

at a swap meet.