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Slipstream question


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I've been trying to slipstream SP4 with my Windows 2000 CD. My original motivation in doing this was to avoid the 137 GB hard drive capacity limitation of previous Win2k versions. I wanted to avoid having to install a partition program after the fact to regain the full amount once SP4 was added later.

I've seen the slipstreaming procedure many places and have carefully followed it. I'm still not able to see the full hard drive capacity from windows setup (booting off the CD - fresh install). I'm also not confident that the slipstream was successful. No where does it mention SP4 leading up to the partitions screen. Is that normal? I was expecting to see a "with SP4" somewhere when booting off the disk and entering the setup program.

Yes, the motherboard can see the full 160 GB. I can also see it now with SP4 loaded, but I'm planning to reload the OS ASAP and was trying to cut corners.

Appreciate anyone who has slipstreamed 2000/XP lately to let me know if I should be seeing something that says the service pack is really there.

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Slipstreaming SP4 into a Windows 2000 CD doesn't "fix" the 137GB limit issue. You will either have to partition and format the partition NTFS with something other than Windows Setup before beginning the install (PartitionMagic, GParted, etc), or setup Windows on a partition that is 137GB or smaller and resize after installation.

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Thanks for the clarification. I don't know why all these sites out there are claiming that a slipstreamed CD magically fixes the problem.

Is there an easy way to tell if the disk is slipstreamed correctly? Right after booting off the CD none of screens say anything about SP4. Is that normal, or did I do it wrong?

Since a full-size partition already exists in my case, can I have windows setup simply reformat that space? Would that cause a problem?

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The only way to see if it worked is to see if you have a .sp4 file on the root of the CD, and an sp4.cab file in the i386 directory. As to the install, if you've already got a partition greater than 137GB, it should format and install no problem - it just won't create a partition larger than that :).

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Excellent info, thanks. I spent hours on google last night trying to figure out why this problem wasn't fixed.

Last question - do you know of any easy way to create a partition before the windows install? Say I didn't have a full-size partition already there. Are there any good bootable utilities out there that will recognize the full space and create a partition that windows setup can simply format? Something like FDISK that will see the full amount.

So, to sum up - the slipstream effects are not seen until after the initial windows setup (that was booted from the CD) completes? They'll only be seen once windows boots itself and completes the setup?

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HFSlip may actually help you here, as TAiN has advised. However, if you don't want to modify your 2K install media, you can use something like WinPE or BartPE to boot and modify disks and partitions, and even kick off the Windows installation.

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Ok, I got it working.

For anyone that finds this in the future, this post addresses the issue. I have not confirmed at this time that this leads to a stable install. I can't imagine why it wouldn't with a slipstreamed SP4 Win2k behind it, but who knows. Apparrently, Microsoft didn't find it important enough to update their initial registry setup from the start to allow the initial setup program to deal with large drives.

Thanks for the help.

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It's only a 16bit setup program, and the 2K installer is basically the same one from NT4. Heck, it wasn't even changed until XP SP2, because it's not a trivial modification on some hardware configurations (read: datacenter editions).

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  • 2 weeks later...
HFSLIP might interest you. From http://hfslip.org/changelog.html :
[2K]added 48-bit LBA support at the very beginning of Windows 2000 setup (thanks to os2fan2)

Requires REG.EXE in HFTOOLS, HFEXPERT\WIN\SYSTEM32 or in the Windows SYSTEM32 folder.

Windows 2000 users can find this file in SUPPORT\TOOLS\SUPPORT.CAB on their CD.

I don't have the REG.EXE utility, because even when I have a legit Windows 2000 Pro, I only have the I386 folder! :(

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