Well after lots of playing I beleive I've narrowed the problem down to the RYANVM update pack.

I don't know if it's a problem with the update it self or something that I've done or not done. My UA's work fine in all different configurations with different hardware, etc. But once I put the RYANVM update pack (1.3.1) on, it dies on me.

I took out the unattended portion of the install so that I was left with a basic slipstreamed XP Pro CD. It runs fine up intill right after the first reboot. The it slows down. I sat at 39 minutes for about nearly an hour.

I found some info on this problem on the RYANVM forum, it appears I'm not the only one pulling my hair out over this. We'll see what happens.

This may be off, but worth a shot. I remember when XP first came out, if you didnt have smartdrv.exe on the disk it would slow down the install just like how you mentioned. The file has to do with cacheing to the hard drive. Might be worth a check.

for installation from bootable calling bootsect.bin u don't need to have smartdrive enabled

for ryans update pack

try commenting out all the cat file under svcpack.inf

eg

;kb?????????.cat

If you are using the RyanVM hotfix pack (or any hotfix pack for that matter), it's SUPPOSED to slow down. It installs way too many hotfixes, resulting in 150+ catalog files being installed.

XP SP2 has problems once it has more than 150 catalog files. It takes 15 minutes just to install one hotfix.

Edited September 2, 200520 yr by n00b

I ended up doing an install of XP with SP2 only, NO hotfixes. I then wrote down all of the hotfixes listed through windows update, downloaded then and added them to my UA via nlite. Now, obviously this didn't give me everything that the RYANVM pack has but it atleast gave me the most critical updates. And it installed alot quicker.

for ryans update pack

try commenting out all the cat file under svcpack.inf

eg

;kb?????????.cat

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I saw this same advice on the RYANVM forums, are there any downfalls / side effects to doing this?

Its definately the ryanvm pack, my vmware test session takes f-o-r-e-v-e-r to install....

Makes me wonder if its actually doing anything, but it is as the hdd & cd device lights are flashing.

It installs just fine though, just takes a long time

Oh well the price of convienence