Windows XP slipstreaming

[passionne]

Hello,

I have just konwn this site today and it is very useful : I want to customize a Windows XP SP1 CD and I will find everything I need on this forum.

I have 2 other questions, I did not find anyr elated threads on this forum yet :

- how to speed up the disk format at the beginning of Windows XP installation ? Should I use 3rd party tools ? Indeed, the format lasts 1 hour for 2x160 GB (RAID 0).

- What are the differences between the Windows XP backup utility and tools such as Ghost 9.0 or TrueImage 8.0 ? What is the best tool ? Indeed, I use the Windows XP backup utility to backup all my configuration. When I restored my data and programs beforehand, my programs did not work when I clicked on them, in particular Norton Internet Security, Norton Antivirus and Office. For Norton applications, I had an error message "I don't have the administrator rights".

For Norton, I think that I understood the cause of my problem : when I reinstalled the PC, its name given automatically at the Windows XP installation was different from the name of its previous installation, when Norton worked. But, I was administrator of the new name PC, no longer administrator of the previous PC name. So that, I was not regarded as administrator by Norton in the new PC. But for Office, I don't see why it did not work. I did not try other applications. But I would like a backup utility which restores my whole configuration, with programs which work when I restore after a Windows XP reinstallation !

Thanks.

[DiGGiTY]

I did some work with a few OEM's, and Microsoft's OEM System Builder page recommends using one of two methods:

1. Use WinPE, diskpart, and then format

CFGDISK.CMD

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DISKPART /s DISKSCR.TXT

FORMAT C: /fs:ntfs /q /v:"" /y

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DISKSCR.TXT

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select disk 0

create partition primary

assign letter c

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2. Use FDISK, OFORMAT, and CVTAREA

Use the FDISK utility to create a single disk partition.

Use the OFORMAT utility to format the disk and properly align FAT clusters.

Use the CVTAREA utility to create a reserved contiguous file for use in the conversion from FAT32 to NTFS.

Use the new Windows XP version of the CONVERT utility to convert the volume to NTFS.

Here's a link you to information on the preinstallation procedures that you can access without being an OEM:

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/winpr...preinstall.mspx

Imaging Stuff

==========

The difference between different imaging tools is in reliability, speed, and programmatic nuances. Here's all you need to know--use Ghost--it has been around forever and works like a champ. Symatec actually bought the company that originally developed it, so its got soewhere between 8-10 years on the market.

[passionne]

- And among the 2 methods, what is the most efficient, the quickest to format ?

- What is the time improvement to format 2x160 GB ? For such a format, 1 hour is required with the typical method, included in Windows XP installation.

And do these methods support RAID 0 disks ?