East Asian languages not getting installed

[couscous]

I think it is a long shot that anyone here can fix my problem, but this information might be useful for others so I'll put it out there and see what happens.

Executive summary:

Problem: East Asian langs don't install automatically (under most circumstances.)

Workaround: Use RunOnce to invoke the appropriate section of INTL.inf

Disadvantage: Requires a reboot and wastes time copying files that failed to install the first time.

So as you can see I've already found a workaround, but I don't like giving up so I'm still interested in fixing the root cause of the problem.

I've experimented and found that removing just about any component will cause this problem to occur. It seems to be related to SYSSETUP -- if nLite patches this file, the langs won't install.

If I overwrite SYSSETUP with the original files after nLiting but before installing, it cures the E/A langs problem but has lots of nasty side effects such as screwing up my services and who knows what else.

Other info:

- Used XP Pro w/ SP3 pre-slipstreamed. Pure copy for every run.

- In attended mode, manual E/A langs installation also fails after a few minutes. It doesn't tell me why it failed, but it seems able to copy most/all of the files before it gives up.

- Installing from INTL.inf works in RunOnce mode so the .inf is good and the files are available.

- I only tried it once, but an ISO in a virtual machine did work. (I use WINNT32 normally).

- I use /copysource:lang and tried other options like /makelocalsource, /tempdrive, etc.

- No languages/keyboards/OS components/services were removed while troubleshooting nor were any tweaks used. I tried SFC on and off. (For testing purposes I removed a few unimportant components in the media or networking sections to get nLite to patch SYSSETUP and trigger the problem.)

- All 4 E/A language groups were selected in the Unattended section.

- This isn't related specifically to just E/A langs; the complex scripts fail too, but I normally don't bother testing those.

To reiterate: the East Asian languages aren't getting installed during setup and it seems to be related to SYSSETUP getting patched by nLite (although that might not be the root cause). Replacing that file cures that problem but causes others.

I am unable to provide a Last Session file, but tried to describe all the relevant settings in the sections above.

[johnhc]

couscous, the author/owner, nuhi, of nLite has not participated here in over a year. Expecting a change to nLite is expecting too much. You may, or may not, have found an nLite bug, but no matter, the only fix we can suggest is to create a work around. It seems you have done this for your situation. Thanks for sharing. Enjoy, John.

[couscous]

Actually, all I was fishing for was a better workaround/fix from someone with a similar problem or in-depth knowledge of the way nLite modifies the installation process -- this is not intended to be a bug report.

For example, I'd really like to talk to someone who knows what those patches to SYSSETUP do. They don't appear to be in code sections and the modified data is too sparse to be compressed. It's curious how only half-a-dozen changes can have such a big impact.

If no one is interested, that's fine with me.

[johnhc]

Actually, all I was fishing for was a better workaround/fix from someone with a similar problem or in-depth knowledge of the way nLite modifies the installation process -- this is not intended to be a bug report.

For example, I'd really like to talk to someone who knows what those patches to SYSSETUP do. They don't appear to be in code sections and the modified data is too sparse to be compressed. It's curious how only half-a-dozen changes can have such a big impact.

If no one is interested, that's fine with me.

couscous, I took a quick look at the before and after copy of my SYSSETUP.INI and there are major differences (XP x64). My original has 1889 lines and the nLite modified one is 1443. Lots of blank lines missing and some other stuff. This is not a file we look into regularly. I am at lease somewhat familiar with several nLite modified/created files, but not this one. You might do a search, using Google, for 'nlite syssetup.ini:http://www.msfn.org', without the quotes. Google works much better than the MSFN search function. I think there are a few people here who worked with nuhi but I have no idea what parts. Fernando 1 did help with the driver integration. Without your Last Session.ini we cannot comment on what may be the problem (not including a bug). Enjoy, John.

[couscous]

Actually, it's the SYSSETUP.DLL that's the problem, the .ini is fine. But thanks anyway.