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nLite XP Home SP3 - msoobe.exe is missing


fdlchris

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Hi everyone,

I have a problem with my nLited version of Windows XP Home SP3 PL (Poland).

I have a genuine version of XP Home SP3 PL CD with genuine key, and I wanted to give nLite a go to reduce my XP environment.

During the nLite process, I entered my Windows CD key in the Unattended Setup section and I have been successfully using my nLited copy of Windows.

However, I started to receive a message reminder before logging into Windows about activating this product. AFAIK, I had provided my CD key and everything should be fine. However, it still asks me to activate. When I clicked 'YES', I received an error message, so I had to click 'NO'. Now the grace period has expired and I can no longer log into Windows because I can't click 'YES' to register.

Upon further investigation, I booted into Safe Mode (because I can still get in that way and proceeded to run):

C:\WINDOWS\system32\oobe\msoobe.exe /a

However, in the 'oobe' folder, there are no files. Nothing at all. I suspect I may have removed these important files during my nLite process.

What do I do now? I am not sure what I selected to remove that indeed removed these files.

Unfortunately, I no longer have an EXACT copy of the LAST SESSION.ini file used, but I have a copy that I would say is exactly the same from my English XP Pro SP3 nLited CD. The file from this was used to make the XP Home PL SP3 nLited CD.

Do I have an option to manually add these files back into my current nLited Windows environment and repair my mistakes, or do I have to make a complete nLite re-build of my XP CD and start all over again? (I would prefer not to do this if I can get away with it).

Many thanks.

Chris.

EDIT: I have just looked at my LAST SESSION.ini and notice the 'Out of Box Experience (OOBE)' entry. Is this what is causing the problem, and more importantly, ONLY this (is there another entry in my .ini that has an affect on this also?).

Is it possible to manually add these files back into my installation without having to re-build. If so, I obviously have no idea how to do this.

LAST SESSION.INI

Edited by fdlchris
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fdlchris, you have removed OOBE. Please see the attached screen shot of the nLite page discussing this. When you put your key into the Unattended section, you just prevent Windows Setup from asking it for during install. As the screen shot says, if you don't have a Corporate version, you will still need to activate your copy of Windows before 30 days is up. I looked in my System32\OOBE (XP x64) folder and it has over 1.5 MB of files and folders. If you are really into Windows, you can look at the oobe.inf (compressed into OOBE.IN_) on your original CD and try restoring OOBE. I suspect the work required would be more than simply starting over and not removing OOBE. Good luck, John.

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Does anyone know the xact files to add back and where they are located in the I386

OR

Is there a way I can continue to fool my PC into never thinking that my 30 days of activation have expired? SO far, I have restored from an image made just after the OS installation and put the date back in the BIOS and that seems to work. However, does the OS keep a DayCount of days when it is used? I.e it won't matter if the date is back, it will keep a record count of days the OS is used?

Is there a quick and easy way to fool the activation from kicking in?

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Does anyone know the xact files to add back and where they are located in the I386

OR

Is there a way I can continue to fool my PC into never thinking that my 30 days of activation have expired? SO far, I have restored from an image made just after the OS installation and put the date back in the BIOS and that seems to work. However, does the OS keep a DayCount of days when it is used? I.e it won't matter if the date is back, it will keep a record count of days the OS is used?

Is there a quick and easy way to fool the activation from kicking in?

fdlchris, I cannot answer your questions. I asked you to look in the oobe.inf file. I think it contains the list of files. If you were to copy all these files and the oobe.inf into a folder, then right click the oobe.inf and click Install, I think it would do the copy for you. I am not real knowledgeable of .inf files, but if you are brave, create a System Restore point and try it. The second question about delaying the expiration date very likely violates the forum rules concerning illegal activity, but I do know anyway and would not answer if I did. Again, if you are not really computer savvy, I would suggest you start over. Good luck, John.

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