Hi readers,
I know very little about nLite, similar program or their pitfalls. I have in the past used guides such as that from Petri IT Knowledgebase to slipstream earlier service packs and burn an integrated source CD but then always manually installed my programs, tweaks and personal configurations and then tweaked my services according to Black Viper's Service Configuration Guide which as you all know, can days.

But then when searching for a guide to slipstream XP SP3 I came across a reference to nLite. Intrigued I have had a superficial look at it and seen it's great potential but I think only used it to slipstream SP3. However faced with migrating from an eight year old but still very much loved T23 ThinkPad, which will still see service as a second notebook in another location, to a new Thinkpad and desktop replacement I wonder about the other, time saving features of nLite or programs like it and ask the following:

Given I have already integrated SP3 and were to follow a methodical method, how difficult is or would it (realistically) be for me to use nLite to also integrate:

1. The latest version of Windows Media Player 11.0
2. The latest version of Internet Exlorer 7.0
3. Any of my other favourite applications such FireFox 2.0 (I am not sold on 3.0 yet)
4. The latest version of the required ThinkPad drivers; and then in addition to the other possible component removal and tweak configurations
5. Configure the services as I have in the past manually according to Black Viper's Service Configuration Guides.

And can this be all done within one program such as nLite without (too much) self-education and trouble shooting.

I say realistically because as much as I wish I did, I don't at this moment have the time (I may in several months) to spend days or weeks getting this right. It would have to take about the same time as I would to do it all manually or not much longer.

And if this is not an unreasonable expectation, would anyone perhaps venture to outline:

1. The steps I would follow;
2. The order in which, if not all at once, I would integrate components;
3. Which post SP3 hotfixes I should download and integrate (there couldn't be that many yet, could there?);
4. Which addons if any, I might require to do do this?; and finally
5. Tell me how the integrated source files can be tested (I know how to use a virtual drive but can the installation be done to a separate partition or virtual drive also?)

Now I ask this meaning NO disrespect to the readers of this forums many of whom might possibly spend hours educating, researching and compiling all this themselves and in that spirit understand if some might find my post a bit LAME and therefore offer my apologies.

Thanks

Not at all! I think your post was very well put together, much better then I can do for sure!!!

I'm curious about a few of these things as well, since I don't want to spend hours updating/installing if I have to resort to an ISO instead of an image.

The only thing I can answer for you is that there is a services tab inside of nLite that you can use to configure services. Just make sure you have the latest version.

There is things that will integrate updates and such like WUP and WMP11 Integrator but I haven't had free time here at work to play around with those yet since the emphasis is images but I think it will help create one ISO with IE7, WMP11, and all updates after SP3. The IE7 is a biggie for me since it's one of the longer update downloads. I'm just starting to get wary because I know that implementing multiple programs to edit an installation file can get a little hairy.

I found your post because I was searching for answers to many of the same questions, so I was hoping that they'd already all be answered here. Alas not. I'm no expert on nLite (I have yet to test my stripped down and slipstreamed version), but from the research I've done, it appears that it should be able to handle nearly everything you want it to do. I'll take a stab at providing the outline you ask for.

1 & 2. nLite makes integrating service packs, hotfixes, and applications relatively painless. As such, the basic guide lays out the process you'll need to follow for these, with the exception of applications, which I'll talk about below. It can also easily handle drivers in .inf format. nLite also allows you to customize the default loading behavior of services, as well as the presets for a number of the Windows options (Start menu, etc.). It's all done with checkboxes and drop-down menus, so it shouldn't take any longer than doing it manually. It may not be able to customize everything you'd like it to, however. In that case, I suggest looking at MSFN's Unattended Windows guide, which includes instructions for how to manually do much of what nLite does, as well as changing default registry settings and other useful tasks. You might also prefer one of the methods in that guide for installing applications; I'll compare the two in a moment. It only takes an hour or two to read through the guide, which can give you a much better understanding of what nLite does and other tweaks you might wish to include.

The nLite method for including application installs is to create an "addon" as detailed here. Creating the addons requires the addition of some files to automate the install process and repackaging the installer into a format nLite will recognize, which can be time consuming. However, there are a number of programs that people have already converted for this purpose, many of which can be found in this section of the forums, or by visiting winAddons.com, which does include IE7, WMP11, Firefox 2.0, and literally hundreds of others. Since most common applications are already available in this format, nLite is probably the easier option for intergrating them. If, however, you have an application which you cannot find already prepared for nLite, the Unattended Windows guide details a number of methods for integrating the installation, either by running it during the Windows install process or by utilizing the RunOnce functionality (ie, installing the first time you log in to Windows). While this is relatively straightforward, it does involve creating batch files and mucking around in various Windows installation files, as well as (possibly) looking up the various command line switches in order to make the programs install silently, so if you're only planning to install to one machine, it's probably easiest to just install the programs manually. If you do go this route, however, keep in mind that you can include the install files in your ISO (assuming you have space - just dump them in your nLite project folder before creating the ISO, it will warn you when to do this), or, and this is the more elegant option, utilize the $OEM$ folder in order to have them copied to your computer automatically during Windows installation. Details for the latter method can be found in the Windows Unattended guide (told you it was useful).

3. While you can manually download and integrate hotfixes, it is a long and frustrating process, due in part to Microsoft's update site. Luckily, there are a number of dedicated/crazy people who package these hotfixes (and sometimes other addons) together for use with nLite. Ryan VM is one of the more popular, though he apparently hasn't released a package for SP3 yet. However, if you visit his message boards, there are a number of alternative packs, such as redxii's, that provide much the same functionality. I decided to go with Xable's, as he includes only the critical security updates and nothing else. He also has a number of other addons for use with nLite, including all of the Sysinternals tools. If you don't feel like any 3rd party packages, the Unattended Windows guide includes instructions for manually downloading and integrating hotfixes.

4. Depending on which methods you use for the various tasks, you could use just nLite, or you may need some other programs/files. These should be linked from the various guides I've mentioned.

5. I haven't tested mine yet, so I can't offer much insight in this area. Since I have two computers, I plan to just cross my fingers and then go through the nLite process again on the other machine if something doesn't work. The preferred method seems to be using a virtual machine. The Unattended Windows guide includes instructions for using three different virtual machine programs, all of which have free trials. This may not help for testing to make sure drivers installed correctly, however. I would imagine you should be able to use a separate/virtual drive, but that is outside the realm of my knowledge.

Some final thoughts. I've realized I didn't specifically address the order of integrating components in my answer to 1&2. As far as the service packs, hotfixes, and drivers go, nLite has distinct pages for these things, so it should be fairly straightforward. I'm not sure how nLite handles the ordering of application installs, so if one application relies on another, it might get a bit tricky. In this situation, it might be easier to use the methods outlined in the Unattended Windows guide.

If you're looking into nLite to make a new install image for only one computer, then my impression is you may not want to get too complicated with application installs, etc., as the image will lose its usefulness as updated versions of these applications are released. On the other hand, having a completely unattended install that sets up your computer exactly the way you like it would be pretty darn cool..

I hope this rambling was of some use. If you have any further questions, please feel free to ask, although I can't promise I'll be able to help. I've only just started researching nLite recently.

rdoremus,
Thanks for your reply and the time you no doubt took to write it.
The structure is I suppose what I was looking for and the links will at some point (more later) I think provide useful reading.
I had already taken a good look at nLite and knew broadly the potential of nLite before posting but simply hadn't yet used it. Without wanting to lessen my appreciation of your reply I have since my post I think, more or less got to about the same point as you.
That is I have discovered Sun's Virtual Box, made and successfully tested a few (two) images made using nLite with SP3, Internet Explorer 7.0, Windows Media Player 11.0 and just a few customisations which came to mind.
But I can see that it will just take TOO long to make and test an image with ALL the customisations, integrated hotfixes and applications I would like in a perfect world. Instead I have two ThinkPads which I need want to reassign in hurry;

• An eight year old but still very much loved ThinkPad which I want to assign a new role in a new location (from my home office to my workshop) to mainly run my financial software, print invoices etc. and access the Internet; and
• A (was) brand new ThinkPad which I have had waiting in the wings for some time, which I want to set up as I have come to love my old one in my home office as a desktop replacement.

Both (obviously) have a different hardware and drivers which I think represent the difficult and time consuming aspects of creating and testing the perfect image and so figure I might just create a simple image common to both i.e. with no drivers, applications or probably service customisations and few if any, OS tweaks which I would have to install or configure manually, and sometime later when I have more time and less urgency to get on with things, further modify the common image on each to include drivers and applications specific to that ThinkPad.
Anyway, thanks again for your reply.

BTW if you haven't yet discovered or tried it, I can recommend Sun's Virtual Box for testing your images. Quite amazing the first time (isn't everything?) but it is worth while downloading and reading the manual first.

My mom, who had never touched a computer before, let alone not used to reading english, understood the concept of nlite, within a minute.
Point and click she said.

I guess you should just take the time it needs for you to understand what to do. I myself cannot even begin to fathom how one can not be able to put together a simple xp cd/dvd with updates SP, drivers, and few simple programs.
Perhaps you should investigate just finding some packages, where updates are already made, so you only have to integrate one pack, instead of several individual updates for xp f.ex.