HP – Compaq Windows Install

[brian873]

HP Compaq PC’s have the feature to reinstall from the hard drive that is in the pc, via a second partition. This annoys me because if you have a mechanical failure you cannot install windows again and you are sold a pc with an 80gb drive and in fact it is more like 70gb as there is a 10gb partition you cannot use. I have booted the pc using bartPE and found the i386 folder. And it got me thinking.

1 – Is it possible to use these files to create an unattended windows xp cd ?

If so would it just be a case of dropping in the correct files ? (winnt.sif ect...)

2 – Is it legal ?

Hail Hail

[Ghost82]

I Don't really see the point here, from my (professional) experiense on HP/Compaq machines I have NEVER even seen anything like that (then again, I hardly handle a customer PC (mostly bussiness machines). Just use something like Partition Magic to delete the partition and add the space to you're boot partition. That should work.

About using the I386-Folder: I'm not sure but my guess is that it's just a folder with modified files in it (like your basic bliss.jp_ and other things) So yes I'd say it's legal.

[brian873]

Ghost82: The point would be to chage the install media fom a hard disk install to a CD install and take out all the things I do not want the pc to install in the event of a DR. Doing this would allow for the 10gb to be used for storage.

Thanks for the reply

hail hail

[prathapml]

Any partitioning tool should be able to unhide that partition or let you take a peek at it.

Just take those files and back up somewhere else, as it will have lot of nice things from your OEM. If you lose those filesm it will be sad since you have paid for it, and your OEM is not under obligation to replace those files (if it was a CD they would replace it, but if you needed these files again, they will refuse, stating that you violated the terms of service).

After that, go ahead and delete that partition, its your right to use YOUR hardware to its max.

But forget about using those files in any way for any purpose. Its probably either a ghost image (or something similar), or its modified I386 files. If you start with the modified files that they provide, you will forever be left wondering where you went wrong when some problem occurs. That's because they would have made many DELICATE additions/tweaks which you won't know - and when you do something to use it for your purpose, you end up breaking the mechanism.

You'd rather start with a proper clean source (for windows unattending) where you can be sure your files work fine. Otherwise, you won't know (when problems occur) where to pin-point the cause (about whether the cause is your methods, or bad HW, or the disk, or modified functions....).

[brian873]

prathapml: Thanks; another great post ! i understand what you are saying. But the probelm is I work for a small company so the best way to buy pc/software is this format as it is greatly cheaper than buying the full blown versions of windows and office and a blank pc. But as the software is pre-installed and the re-install method is to installl from the hard disk it makes it time comsuming to setup printers/users/apps/mapped drives. This is why i would like to be able to put these on a CD and make a unattended install.

I am going to try tomorrow using Nlite on the i386 folder and see if it can pop a unattended cd out for me.

Also I will compare the folder to a 'normal' XP cd i386 folder and see if it is worth removing stuff by hand.

If i get anything interesting it will be posted

hail hail

[Alanoll]

I am going to try tomorrow using Nlite on the i386 folder and see if it can pop a unattended cd out for me.

It'd be better to do it by hand, rather then with nLite.

Doing it by nLite, you risk selecting/having nLite do something to the already unknown source.

I would say simply copy all the files onto a CD, make it bootable. Install Virtual Machine, and see what it does there. Don't mess with the partition yet or anything. Just simply do that and see if it installs like a "normal" Windows install.