Today I finally decided to do a fresh install on my laptop (Sony VGN-SZ330P). First install with an unaltered Windows XP SP2 went smoothly and was able able to install all drivers/programs from Sony's support site. Naturally I wanted to strip my SP2, tried many versions of my nLited SP2 (ranging from lightly to heavily stripped) and none of them allowed any of Sony's drivers/programs to install. This is the error message I get:

What should I preserve to make sure all drivers/manufacturer's (Sony's) programs will install?

any help would be greatly appreciated.
Brandon

The normal way to proceed is the opposite: remove only what you know you don't and you won't need, understanding what you do. Otherwise, you'll come back 10 times because something else doesn't work.

Thanks for the input Ponch and I agree completely, I actually had to lean that the hard way as my first few strips were way over done. However this copy I used was very lightly stripped, kept almost all functionalities, only removed windows annoyance. I was just hoping someone would know what part of Window does VAIO's softwares check before installing.

This is probably because of the model.txt check. I have a Sony UX and if you download drivers from say a UX280P and your model is UX390N( drivers from Sony Support ) the drivers will fail and give you that extract message. Go look in C:\Windows for a "model.txt" also for it to show up a driver would have to fail.

I have just extracted Sony's executables, this way you can get the original files and scrap the model check.

EDIT: In Windows XP and Vista there is tricks to get around model.txt, I find it easier just to extract the drivers/applications.

Thank you Cti, I have read somewhere about extracting the .exe but wasn't getting any results with WinRAR. What are you using to do the extraction?

The best tool I find is Universal extractor 1.5.

I have successfully integrated all my drivers/applications into my unattended cd, quite a few about 30, kinda ridiculous how many Sony has for such a small computer lol

If you need any help, I will be around.

Many thanks Cti, I'll be doing this later tonight and I really appreciate your help.

Here is another tip for you, this drove me nuts, I literally worked non stop for a couple days trying to figure it out.

If you disable or run the printer service on manual, installing BT you will get rpc server unavailable, this will stop your installation if you want it to be unattended, I run mine on automatic and then you can use the registry to disable after BT has been installed

I don't like brand name computers. they are too sensitive to original components. but ... they are completele designed and made up of third-party chips. so you really need drivers for those chips. I never use Asus video drivers for nVidia-based Asus cards for instance. sometimes it's difficult to identify chip, but everything is possible. install original XP, original drivers, look at devices exact names, find drivers and go to nLited XP. this method usually works.

I finally got around attempting to extract the .exe today because my windows failed to boot all the sudden.

however I am experiencing trouble with Universal Extractor 1.5,
attempting to extract "INDOTH-01035100-US.EXE" Intel® 945GM Chipset Driver for Sony VGN-SZ330P:



with the first Sony Driver I am extracting, using "E_Wise Unpacker" and "WUN Unpacker" methods both get me this error message:


using "Wise Installer /x switch" left me with these files (not sure what to do with them)


"Wise MSI extraction" seems to simply run the .exe


"Unzip extraction" also brings me this message:


any help would be highly appreciated.