[loala]

I've tried several times to get my Gateway OEM Restore Disc to work but nlite will not except it. I've installed .Net 2 And 3.5 SP1 and ripped it off the disc to a folder on the drive. The restore disc is already SP2 I wanted to slipstream it to be SP3 and maybe add IE8 and a few other addons. Sorry I'm new at this any help would be good.

Thanks.

[MrJinje]

Welcome to MSFN, please do not double post.

This post has been edited by MrJinje: 11 March 2010 - 12:46 PM

[Sp0iLedBrAt]

Well, is the CD 32 or 64-bit? Does it have a I386 or AMD64 folder you can point nLite to? There have been reports of both success and failure with nLite-ing Recovery CDs. I suggest you use search on the forum and I'm sure you will arrive to some specific information.

[loala]

Sp0iLedBrAt, on 11 March 2010 - 04:26 PM, said:

Well, is the CD 32 or 64-bit? Does it have a I386 or AMD64 folder you can point nLite to? There have been reports of both success and failure with nLite-ing Recovery CDs. I suggest you use search on the forum and I'm sure you will arrive to some specific information.

The cd is for my 32 bit system and it has the I386 folder but it doesn't look like a normal installation. It doesn't have the typical XP Icon any where for the installer. Its Missing the DOCS, VALUEADD, DOTNETFX, AND SUPPORT folders. Its not like my friends Dell disc I was just working on. I think that nlite just doesn't recognize it as a installation disc. I think its some sort of WinPe boot disc.

[Ponch]

What happens when you boot that cd ? Do yuou have the usual blue screens to select partitions and other options or do you have an exotic menu that tells you that your GAteway notebook will get back to factory settings" or something like that ?
NLite is not made to work with such CDs (that just contain an image of your system partition), only MS XP install Cd.

[submix8c]

Sounds like "exotic" (informational, and agree with Ponch, but could be wrong)...

As a general rule, these types have some sort of "image". The contents of the "image" usually has the I386 (etc.) within. To nLite something like this, you should make a "copy" of it from the HDD (so you don't accidentally wreck the original). Find it, compare the file-list to your friend's Dell disk (or to any Retail). Note that contents will not be "equal" if of a different SP-level. Also some files may not be in the I386 folder (intentionally) but will be elsewhere "decompressed".

Bottom line, you need a "complete I386" to work with. Find the thread on Manufacturer Preinstalled/Preactivated (?) for additional info (but just a little more, re: "some files").

Other than that... Sorry, you may be on your own (getting the "complete I386", that is).

[loala]

My XP system disc is not like the Dell when it boots or in the file structure it self. For one It doesn't have the repair option like the dell does. It does have the I386 File but I'm guessing that its different. For one the Dell Disc has a XP install.exe built right into the disc and mine doesn't. I did finish the Dell Service Pack 3 slipstream after a few tries. I had to limit my mods so the program wouldn't crash. Here should be a picture of the Gateway Disc.

Attached File(s)

•  Gateway Recovery Disc.jpg (80.49K)
  Number of downloads: 11

[MrJinje]

If I had to guess, that is probably some form of older WinPE and the real I386 folder you need is I386DIST.

Take a jpeg of the contents of I386DIST just to be sure. If it is, I would try copying that folder to desktop and rename it I386 so that nlite can find it.

[loala]

This is a picture of the Gateway Recovery Disc I386DIST File. Hope that helps I there no way I could have got it all in one picture of course. I figured the folders were what you wanted to mostly see.

Attached File(s)

•  Gateway Recovery Disc I386DIST File.jpg (78.93K)
  Number of downloads: 11

[submix8c]

Looks like that's the one... Lots of extraneous stuff there you may not want (e.g. the OEM folder). Probably the DRV folder is the OEM drivers, APPS is the pre-installed "Extras", and SP is additional HotFixes. The method (as depicted) appears to just "rebuild" the HDD (pre-install) then copy the folders onto it.

To clarify, a normal I386 folder has -
(files as seen)
ASMS
COMPDATA
DRW
LANG
SYSTEM32
WIN9XMIG (not needed?)
WIN9XUPG (not needed?)
WINNTUPG (not needed?)

Won't swear to this, but nLite may accept it "as-is" (renamed, as MrJinje stated above).

This post has been edited by submix8c: 12 March 2010 - 02:05 PM