How To Save an Hour (Or More) On XP Installs

[DataAve 0]

http://www.nliteos.com/nlite.html

[rory 0]

yeah that looks like id need some bug spray

[fas 0]

does anyone know if this program really works?

[Thomas 0]

It does but it's just a program to automate slipstreaming a XP install disk. It's not super hard to make one yourself for free.

[fas 0]

I thought the program was free? I would like to slipstream my copy of windows xp with all available updates, and keep it updated. I don't need drivers or programs, just the ability to manually enter the activation code. Is this the easiest program to use to accomplish this? If I don't remove anything from xp, is there a chance for bugs, or is that only if I remove things? Thanks.

[compuexpert 0]

Thats a good way to make an installation that suits you best,but depending on the version of nlite and the customization you want to do,you may come across some bugs.

I did some unattended installations with this program,and found some bugs with the user accounts.

Not difficult to overcome those bugs but i prefer the manual way...

[fas 0]

My family knows that I know about computers, so whenever something goes wrong, I get the call. I am constantly reformating pc's and reinstalling windows. I got a copy of win xp w/ sp2 from a friend, so I copied it with nero. It worked, however when I insert it in and restart, it does not work. It says it is not a valid windows image. Is there a way to copy a win xp w/ sp2 disk without this error?

[rory 0]

If you did it with a CD-RW then it may not work in Dos or on other PCs CD Drives, use a CDR only.

[kandcorp 0]

Yes only CDR's . And use Alcohol 120%

 

Also, just use symantec Ghost..copy a hard drive from a computer with ness. programs and basic drivers, then use that on all new installs and formats. Very Fast.

[fas 0]

I did use a cdr, and it didn't work. I think it said something about a missing dll.

 

I do have norton ghost. If I reformat a hard drive, install windows, update to service pack 2 and all the latest patches, don't install any drivers, and then make a ghost image, that will work on any pc? All I would have to do is install the drivers for that pc? What about the windows product key? Won't it be wrong? This sounds like an easy solution. And what did you mean about alcohol?

[rory 0]

Well getting into legal things here now with Windows, but basically if you load the image on a different PC the windows you used would still have all the drivers for the original PC so you can have problems .. it may work, it may not.

[fas 0]

But what if you don't install ANY drivers on the original pc, just windows and all updates, then ghost the image. Would that work? Then on the new pc, you would install the necesary drivers. My question is, are there drivers that get installed automatically that I would have to remove before I ghost the image so that when I put the image on the new pc, it will be driver free?

[rory 0]

Windows installs allot of drivers whether you do or not.

If you uninstall them then you would not be able to make a CD ..

 

though you could probably try and uninstall everything within the Device Manager except for the CD and then burn it .. see what happens.

[fas 0]

Thanks, rory. If anyone knows for sure how to accomplish this so that it will work most of the time, I would appreciate it. I can't take reformatting and reinstalling anymore! I wish I could charge my relatives! I'm too nice.

[rory 0]

Sell them all the same Motherboard and other hardware .

[fas 0]

Here's another question...

 

If you create a ghost image of a newly formatted pc and install the image on another pc, what if the hard drives are different sizes? Does that have any effect?

[Jasper 0]

No. Long as the new hard drive is the same size or larger then the one you took the image of.

 

If the new one is bigger than it will create a parition will the image of the old drive on it leaving the extra space.

 

You can then make a new partition with the additional space or resize the partition.

[fas 0]

How could you make a new partition with the additional space? Do you need special software, or can you do it manually?

[Jasper 0]

You can do it through the Adminstrative Menu in Windows XP under Computer Management.

 

Lets say your orginal partition that you backed up was 40GG. When you restore it to a new drive, lets say 250GB drive. A new partition of the new drive will be created for the 40GB partition and the rest of the space will show as unused.

 

You can than create additional partitions for the new drive after the partition that was created when restored your image to the new drive.

 

To resize partitions I used Partition Magic 8. You can resize them even with data on them as long as you have enough space free to enlarge or shrink them.

 

I personally like Acronis True Image 9.0 for imaging drives. It is very user friendly and it allows you to mount disk images as drives for easy restoring of individual files if you would like. Plus it is very fast.

[fas 0]

Thanks. Is anyone successfully using ghost to clone a newly formatted drive with windows and all updates, and then writing the image to a different pc with different specs and hardware? If so, what is the exact process you are using so that drivers do not conflict. I did some research, and someone mentioned to make sure on the machine you are cloning you should set the main ide controller to "standard" and it should work. anyone know if this is true?

[fas 0]

I found this article. Is anyone familiar with this method?

 

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/824125/en-us

 

Would this work, or do you still have to install all service packs and updates?

[Thomas 0]

Um, are you sure that is the right KB article?

[fas 0]

No, but it seems like it might work, but that's why I'm asking. I will keep searching.

[fas 0]

I found this site, which seems to be more on point. Can anyone recommend any of the methods listed here? Is anyone using any of these methods to create a generic win xp image from ghost that can be used on any machine? Take a look:

 

http://www.windowsreinstall.com/install/other/motherboard/win2k.htm

[Jasper 0]

I think you're making this much harder than it needs to be. You simply use ghost or true image to backup a partition and restore onto the new hard drive. I am not sure exactly what you're trying to accomplish. If you plan on building systems and you quickly want to install Windows you just need a slipstreamed copy of Windows XP service pack two copied onto a hard drive. You don't need any special software to perform a slipstream.

 

Once you've installed Windows you can image the drive and then restore the image to as many drives as you wish. I do this with true image but you can use ghost and accomplish the same thing. Everything I need fits on one DVD and I can install this image on any new hard drive in a very short period of time.

 

You can find information on how to do this on Microsoft's web site it's very easy to do. If this is a hard drive from a DVR that has had little change since its installation you simply image the drive and restore the image to the new hard drive.

 

I guess I do not have a clear picture of exactly what you want to do.

 

Seems your concerned about the motherboard or something?