[Jorpho]

I'm trying out my new nLited XP installation, and I've encountered a serious problem: most of the services are not started after I log in, even the ones that should start automatically. This includes such hits as the DCOM Server Process Launcher, DHCP Client, Network Connections, and of course Event Log, which might actually tell me what's going on.

A lot of Googling brings up similar problems from other users in probably unrelated situations (possibly involving infected computers), but no concrete solutions. There's this KB article which suggests a Group Policy might be at fault. I finally figured out that I had to reinstall WMI before I could run gpedit.msc, but all the window displays is a few instances of "Group Policy Object Editor" with x's through them.

I already tried running SFC, but it completed with no evident errors.

What's really baffling is that I never had problems like this when I used the same install CD in VMware. I'm tempted to just start over and see if I did something wrong during setup, but I'd hate to go through all that again only to find that I've still got the same problem.

Any suggestions as to what might be missing?

EDIT: You'll probably want my LAST_SESSION file, I'm guessing.

Attached File(s)

•  LAST_SESSION.INI (13.59K)
  Number of downloads: 7

This post has been edited by Jorpho: 05 November 2009 - 12:26 AM

[johnhc]

Jorpho, thanks much for the Last Session. Often when there are many strange errors it is because nLite was run more than once against the same source. So, your starting over idea is a good one. The option "Explorer-Launch folder windows in a separate process" needs to be removed. It has nothing to do with your problems, but exposes a Windows problem. I run XP x64, so your hot fixes are not familiar to me. Are you sure of them and the order? What is the Server 2003 update? Here is my standard: Please make sure to always start with a fresh copy of your CD files/folders, do all your work in one nLite session and integrate only one SP. Please report when you have a solution, so others can benefit. Enjoy, John.

[Jorpho]

By "start over", I mean try to install again from the same CD. I did get some weird errors during Windows Setup that might possibly be related to my multiple CD drives, so I'm going to try disabling the redundant ones. Like I said, it does work perfectly in VMware - or is it not unusual for things to work better in VMware than on a real PC?

Can you explain what the problem is with "Explorer-Launch folder windows in a separate process" ? As I recall, it is trivial to undo after installation with a single registry tweak, though I forget which one.

[johnhc]

Jorpho, here is a link to an investigation of the "Explorer-Launch folder windows in a separate process". You are correct, it is easily undone once running. Just a caution to prevent people form posting finding an nLite problem and avoiding the situation.
We would like to see what errors you are getting during install. I have never done an install on a machine with multiple optical drives but I would not expect a problem. I did a ton of testing on VMware Server and when I did my first install on my new HW, all went well and I have had no unexpected problems. I just completed my number n (big number) install on this machine also with no problems. I am testing various RAID installations, so each time I want to change it I have to reinstall my OS. This is the power of nLite for me. I would say, yes, it is unusual for a HW install to behave badly when it works fine on VM. Did you prepare your HW CD differently from the VM ISO? I noticed no drivers in your Last Session. What did you do about those? When you run nLite, if you don't Disable OEM Preinstall, then you cannot use F6 to install drivers during Setup. Drivers are the main difference between a VM and HW install. The VM cannot test your driver installation, but it does not sound like to have driver problems. Are you sure you did not run nLite more than once? Are you sure of the hot fix list and order? Enjoy, John.

[Jorpho]

johnhc, on Nov 5 2009, 01:31 PM, said:

We would like to see what errors you are getting during install. I have never done an install on a machine with multiple optical drives but I would not expect a problem.

Well, for some reason Setup kept asking me for the location of its files, and perhaps it was failing silently when I specified the wrong drive. Why it would be asking me for the location of its files in the first place is something I do not know, unless somehow the designated CD drive letters changed at different points during Setup.

You are correct that I decided to keep drivers out of the CD. My drives area all thoroughly unremarkable IDE drives anyway.

I have absolutely no idea about the hotfix order. As you might surmise from the paths, I derived them from a set of hotfixes that Autopatcher downloaded.

I guess this specific problem with the DCOM Sever Process Launcher is not something with an obvious solution? Why exactly wasn't WMI installed, anyway? I don't recall excluding it specifically.

This post has been edited by Jorpho: 05 November 2009 - 02:30 PM

[johnhc]

Jorpho, I don't have an answer for your questions, only the strong suspicions that the Setup error messages are telling you that that you have many missing files. I get NO errors at all during install. Do you not have a SATA or RAID device you are installing on? Are you using F6 to install a text mode driver? How did you burn the CD? I would expect you to get CD read errors if that went awry. I would try your version of 'start over' and let us know what you learn. Enjoy, John.

[Jorpho]

johnhc, on Nov 5 2009, 02:37 PM, said:

Do you not have a SATA or RAID device you are installing on? Are you using F6 to install a text mode driver?

I answered those questions already.

Anyway, I have now reinstalled, taking the extra paranoid precaution of disconnecting all but one of my optical drives this time, and I have had no problems at all! Really, it's amazing that Windows XP can run at all with so many missing files, if missing files is indeed what it came down to. I just wish I hadn't spent so much time trying to get it working. How absurd that Setup should fail silently when I specified incorrect locations!

Just for kicks, I have attached the setuperr.log from my last installation attempt.

Attached File(s)

•  setuperr.txt (15.51K)
  Number of downloads: 3

This post has been edited by Jorpho: 05 November 2009 - 11:55 PM

[johnhc]

Jorpho, thanks for replying. I think we have all learned something. The error log is huge! - what a mess. Enjoy, John.