Used slimming batches, windows wont boot

[Exodia]

I decided to use some of jdeboecks slimming batches to get a "lite" installation for my emulator PC. I removed all except Agent, IE some needed drivers and WMI. I ran a test in VMWare, it installed fine but it wont boot, it freezes at the boot screen every time.

Has anyone else experienced this problem, is there an easy solution? Any help would be appreciated.

Oh yeah, i used goshs method of reduction and added hotfixes to the UA install as well.

[Aaron]

Did you use jdeboeck's batch files before doing gosh's reducing size of source method?

[Exodia]

used jedeboecks batches first

I just tried starting the pc again, i was able to start in safe mode and all was well. It just wont boot normally, freezes within the first few seconds. Is there a boot log that i can view to see whats goin on??

[RayOK]

Did you use his "Before you begin" and "Finsihing off" batches?

Did you have makecab, expand and findstr in the same folder as the batches?

[Exodia]

I did use his "before" and "Finishing" batches, but i didnt have makecab and expand and findstr in the same folder... i didnt know they had to be.

[Alanoll]

they don't have to be.

they're in the system32 folder by default if you have Professional. Home may need them in the folder though.

[RayOK]

Well.. yeah.. says you need those files on his site. 4th paragraph in italics.

Those are the programs that take stuff out/put stuff in the cabs and mess with the text in the infs and sifs.

If I were you, delete what you have done so far, recopy your XP CD, slipstream SP1(a) if need be. Get expand, makecab and findstr from the i386 folder and start over.

Joe really did a great job on the batch commands, but I say he needs to expand on his before you begin .cmd for some error checking. Something like the code below, if you're watchin Joe

if exist i386\*.* goto expand
echo Batch commands not in the right folder!
echo Press a key to exit
pause > nul
goto end

:expand
if exist expand.exe goto makecab
if exist %systemroot%\System32\expand.exe goto makecab
copy i386\expand.exe .

:makecab
if exist makecab.exe goto findstr
if exist %systemroot%\System32\makecab.exe goto findstr
copy i386\makecab.ex_ .
expand makecab.ex_ makecab.exe
del makecab.ex_

:findstr
if exist findstr.exe goto end
if exist %systemroot%\System32\findstr.exe goto end
copy i386\findstr.ex_ .
expand findstr.ex_ findstr.exe
del findstr.ex_

:end

[edit - Hmm, I guess they are in System32. But for everyone else without them there, or a different version of windows, error checking would be nice.]

[Alanoll]

you may want to PM him about the error checking or email or somethign.

Last i heard he was working on some new batches for SP2

[Exodia]

Im starting from scratch again, maybe i did something wrong.

heres what im doing now...

dx9b slipstream

remove batches (most of them)

rollup (old method this time, used goshs new method before)

updates

goshs size reduction

Theres something going wrong in the boot up, i dont have a clue as to what it is cause it boot just fine into safe mode. Perhaps a driver issue?

[Aaron]

Slipstreaming the update rollup is what's causing the boot screen to hang. This affects some people (no idea why). So it may be better to install it as an individual hotfix instead.

[XtremeMaC]

use xpcreate

then use the batches..

worked perfectly on mine.

[Alanoll]

even if you don't use XPCreate, you should still integrate the updates before the batches.

[Exodia]

Thanks all... giving it a try without slipstreaming rollup now..

[Exodia]

I just tried the old way of slipstreaming the rollup and it booted up just fine.

It booted with blazing fast speed and is only using 55meg of memory! Sweet! Thanks guys.

Now, just gotta find out how to silent install "klite codec pack full". The switch i found earlier doesnt work. Im off to search for the right one, but if someone knows it, let me know.

[XtremeMaC]

did u try megacodecpack?