what am I doing wrong

even when I take off G:\ on the $OEM$ I get the same result so don't say its that

Well....heres a few pointers - hope they help:

1)

your DLURL is blank....if you are manually going to add the hotfixes then fine i.e. SP2, in which case you didnt need to clear the URL, you just change DLAUTO to NO...but if you are wanting the hotfixes and updates for SP1, you should leave it as is really.

Maybe its something to do with this.

2)

Also, where is XPCREATE installed on the HD?

Make sure that you havent got spaces in any part of the directory structure leading up to the installation directory i.e.

H:\INSTALLS\XP\XPCREATE

would be acceptable where as

H:\My Installs\XP\XPCREATE

or

H:\INSTALLS\XP\XP CREATE

wouldnt be acceptable.

3)

When you install XPCREATE, remember to run the xpcreate.cmd installer, not anything else and then once its made the directories, dont change their names or delete them. Just adjust the xpcreate.ini to what you need (generally, all you need to change for a basic install is the XPSOURCE settings.

4)

Above all else, remeber to start off with the failsafe hotfix list and try and make a simple build before you try anything more complex.

Not only will it help you see whats happening, it might help you understand the processes that take place better

5) Always use an original XP CD media because if your using an custom CD/pirated/royalty-OEM restore cd, they are very likely *not* to work.

My brain is falling asleep now....good luck, and maybe posting the logfile would be useful but thats not for me to say

Best Regards,

Nathan H.

An excellent and informative reply, it_ybd. I'm impressed.

*bows*

Most kind Virindi, I aim to please

Regards,

N.

all I want on the cd are the sata drivers so I don't need a floppy I could care less about the hot fixes at the moment

Welcome to MSFN, tylerman!

Because this is your first post, I'll forgive you. However ... neither the thread title nor your post gave me enough information to get me to click on the link, so I really have no idea what you are talking about.

Without trying to be condensending, I would highly recommend reading this:

http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

In fact, I recommend it for everyone!