[poodle78]

Hello. This is a long story, but it gets you to where I am right now.

On my main pc, a Dell Precision 490, I am currently running Win 7 Ult x64. 2 1TB HDs, 6 GB ram. Since the wife likes XP much better, I acquired XP Pro x64. While trying to install it the other day, I discovered it did not have SATA drivers, and, at that point, I was not aware I could turn SATA off in the BIOS. Anyway, after looking around, I found that I could slipstream the drivers using nLite. I went through the instructions, and it completed fine. I even downloaded SP2 and slipstreamed that, and it seemed to work fine, too.

Now before I erased my Win 7, I wanted to make sure that slipstreaming worked. So today at work, I slipstreamed the cdkey into a Win XP sp2 cd that we have here.It seemed to take, so I tried to test it in VMWare player. Everything went fine until it got to the point whre a cd key would be entered. The blocks were blank. I thought I had doen something wrong, so I looked for instructions on the web, made a new iso and tried it again. Same result. Verified that the cdkey is in the WINNT.SIF file.

I am now wondering if the sata drivers and SP2 actually went into the x64 iso I made at home.

Is there a trick to this? The Windows XP cd I used for the files is SP2 VLK.

[Tripredacus]

poodle78, on 05 September 2012 - 08:30 AM, said:

The Windows XP cd I used for the files is SP2 VLK.

VLK media is typically only available in the Enterprise Channel... I'm not sure if you will get help about this.

Either way, most times you need to attach your lastsession.ini to get help with nLite.

[poodle78]

Tripredacus, on 05 September 2012 - 08:36 AM, said:

poodle78, on 05 September 2012 - 08:30 AM, said:

The Windows XP cd I used for the files is SP2 VLK.

VLK media is typically only available in the Enterprise Channel... I'm not sure if you will get help about this.

Either way, most times you need to attach your lastsession.ini to get help with nLite.

Here is the attachment.

[poodle78]

Tripredacus, on 05 September 2012 - 08:36 AM, said:

poodle78, on 05 September 2012 - 08:30 AM, said:

The Windows XP cd I used for the files is SP2 VLK.

VLK media is typically only available in the Enterprise Channel... I'm not sure if you will get help about this.

Either way, most times you need to attach your lastsession.ini to get help with nLite.

Here is the attachment. I stopped the installation at the point where it asked for the cdkey.

Attached File(s)

•  Last Session.ini (2.2K)
  Number of downloads: 13

This post has been edited by poodle78: 05 September 2012 - 10:08 AM

[submix8c]

1 - Don't nLite in Win7 - failure is known to occur - install XP in a VM and nLite within it
2 - nLite from Original Source (untouched) every single time
3 - Why SP2? Get and use SP3
4 - nLite - use "Unattended" selection - CD-Key inserted into [UserData] Section
5 - True - VL versions are not available to the general public (and generally irrelevant except in certain "quirks")
6 - Yep! Need that INI (says so right at the TOP)
--- Key NOT inside THAT one (note the filename and instructions above - NOT PASTE)
On that note (#5 and above post) if its a "bogus"
* (a - "hacked" warez / b - pre-modded/slipped warez / c- nLited warez / d - "stolen" warez)
one you'll get no further help...
MSDN Image (subscription), Purchased OEM/Retail CD, OEM-Provided CD, or OEM HDD I386-Source (Recovery) are the basic legitimate/legal sources.

HTH

edit - AH! Posted already...

This post has been edited by submix8c: 05 September 2012 - 10:09 AM

[submix8c]

?
For funsies, I used yours w/XP-SP2, added additional User-ID/autologon, provided a key (both items are in another INI), and see absolutely nothing wrong. Heck, the original INI looked good... Only difference was the dotNet version and the OS that I ran on...

Not an "original" source?

(edit - DANG IT! I made an additional post... AGAIN!)

edit2 - DOH!

Quote

x64 iso

(see below...)

This post has been edited by submix8c: 05 September 2012 - 11:40 AM

[5eraph]

submix8c, on 05 September 2012 - 10:08 AM, said:

3 - Why SP2? Get and use SP3

XPx64 was built from 2003 SP1 code, so no SP3 exists for it. SP2 for Win2003 is roughly equivalent to SP3 for XPx86. (They were released in 2007 and 2008, respectively.)

And you should specify whether your test was for XPx86 or XPx64 for the same reason: different code base.

This post has been edited by 5eraph: 05 September 2012 - 11:39 AM

[poodle78]

5eraph, on 05 September 2012 - 11:35 AM, said:

submix8c, on 05 September 2012 - 10:08 AM, said:

3 - Why SP2? Get and use SP3

XPx64 was built from 2003 SP1 code, so no SP3 exists for it. SP2 for Win2003 is roughly equivalent to SP3 for XPx86. (They were released in 2007 and 2008, respectively.)

And you should specify whether your test was for XPx86 or XPx64 for the same reason: different code base.

The test I made here at work was on 32-bit Windows XP; however, I did the same thing on my pc at home with 64-bit xp, and got the same result - no entered cdkey. However, this was done on Windows 7.

Now, I should say that the reason I did this test with the cdkey at work is that that is the only slipstream test I can do here. I really couldn't try and slipstream SP3. Our bandwidth is so low, downloading SP3 would take a long time, and slow everyone else down, too. I only wanted to see if slipstreaming would work. What I want to do at home is to make sure that the sata drivers and the SP2 loaded into my x64 installation. Right now, I don't have much confidence that they did.

[submix8c]

Well, it's all getting confusing...

As stated, there is no SP3 for XP 64-bit. It shouldn't matter whether you run nLite on x86 or x64 as long as you run it on less-than-Win7 (sp1 seems to be the most error-prone culprit?).

I just retested on an x86 OS (not-Win7) against an XP 64-bit w/SP2 and got the same results (WINNT.SIF looks ok).

Really silly question... are you running this from BOOT TO CD (WINNT.EXE) or are you running it from a Windows OS (WINNT32.EXE)? If the latter, the WINNT.SIF won't be "picked up". You need to run the WINNT32.EXE from a Command Prompt and specify the "WINNT.SIF" for the Unattended (ref. UNATTEND.TXT).

Reference this thread.

edit - AND... don't know if this is true or not...

Quote

In order to install the x64 versions using Winnt32.exe, you have to boot from a 64-bit environment

This post has been edited by submix8c: 05 September 2012 - 12:17 PM

[5eraph]

poodle78, on 05 September 2012 - 08:30 AM, said:

I wanted to make sure that slipstreaming worked. So today at work, I slipstreamed the cdkey into a Win XP sp2 cd that we have here.It seemed to take, so I tried to test it in VMWare player. Everything went fine until it got to the point whre a cd key would be entered. The blocks were blank.

Are you sure you're using the correct CD key? The key for XPx64 you have at home will not be accepted in the copy of XPx86 you're testing at work.

poodle78, on 05 September 2012 - 08:30 AM, said:

I am now wondering if the sata drivers and SP2 actually went into the x64 iso I made at home.

You can test for service pack level by installing it in a virtual machine then typing "WinVer" in a Run box or at a CMD prompt. But the only way to test whether the drivers are slipstreamed or not is to install it on the bare hardware. Virtual machines do not simulate the real hardware of the host, so testing must be done directly on the host hardware--preferably with a spare hard drive to preserve the original OS installation until testing is complete.

submix8c, on 05 September 2012 - 12:07 PM, said:

Really silly question... are you running this from BOOT TO CD (WINNT.EXE) or are you running it from a Windows OS (WINNT32.EXE)?

WINNT.EXE does not exist on an XPx64 or 2003x64 source. WINNT32.EXE does. That said, WINNT32.EXE adds a whole level of complexity not necessary for home deployment, in my opinion. And isn't feasible without WinPE if you're testing by installing to a spare hard drive anyway.

This post has been edited by 5eraph: 05 September 2012 - 01:10 PM

[submix8c]

5eraph, on 05 September 2012 - 12:33 PM, said:

WINNT.EXE does not exist on an XPx64 or 2003x64 source.

Silly me... Guess I need to start digging...

[Ponch]

Why not simply start install process up to the partition choice ? If the partitions appear, the disk is seen correctly, the drivers are in.
As for your key, it might indeed be rejected if you ran nLite under Win7, this is a known (unpatched) bug. Does the key appear in the "Last session_u.ini" (don't post that here) ?

[5eraph]

Good test suggestion, Ponch.

However, the CD key issue is not strictly an nLite problem. It occurs from the command line also and is not limited to Win7. But it does seem to be limited to XPx86 SP3 sources--not XPx64 SP2.

This post has been edited by 5eraph: 06 September 2012 - 01:04 AM

[submix8c]

5eraph, on 06 September 2012 - 01:00 AM, said:

But it does seem to be limited to XPx86 SP3 sources--not XPx64 SP2.

Have a baaaad feeling this may apply anyway since its based on Server 2k3 code (which may also have the problem - untested).

SRV2K3 SP2 = 2007
XP X64 SP2 = 2007
XP x86 SP3 = 2008

side note - dug a little - makes somewhat sense now (cd-boot->setupldr.bin->winnt.sif)

[poodle78]

Ponch, on 06 September 2012 - 12:02 AM, said:

Why not simply start install process up to the partition choice ? If the partitions appear, the disk is seen correctly, the drivers are in.
As for your key, it might indeed be rejected if you ran nLite under Win7, this is a known (unpatched) bug. Does the key appear in the "Last session_u.ini" (don't post that here) ?

yes, it does.

[poodle78]

5eraph, on 06 September 2012 - 01:00 AM, said:

Good test suggestion, Ponch.

However, the CD key issue is not strictly an nLite problem. It occurs from the command line also and is not limited to Win7. But it does seem to be limited to XPx86 SP3 sources--not XPx64 SP2.

That might be the case for my home pc, although I still don't understand why the key is not being displayed. It's not just being rejected as being invalid - it's not being displayed. However, this would not be the case at my work pc. I am running Win XP sp3 32-bit, and using the same cd (although it is sp2) to test slipstreaming the cd-key to an unattended installation (and using the same cd-key, a VLK, to do it).

It does appear that sp2 successfully integrated into the x64 installation I am trying to make. Now if the sata drivers work, I'm in business. I really don't absolutely have to have the cd-key integrated, I just saw that that was possible, and I wonder why it isn't working for me.

[Ponch]

From what I remember it is the integration of SP3 under Win7 that blocks the key functionnality. So you can say it is not an nLite bug but it is still a bug "with" nLite (I'm not discussing whether the author could have fixed it or not at the time SP3 or Vista came out). Also whether integrating SP3 manually from an elevated command prompt solves the problem or not (as I think I remember I read that somewhere), I never checked it.

[submix8c]

submix8c, on 05 September 2012 - 12:07 PM, said:

Really silly question... are you running this from with BIOS BOOT TO FROM CD (WINNT.EXE) or are you running it from a Windows OS (WINNT32.EXE)? If the latter, the WINNT.SIF won't be "picked up". You need to run the WINNT32.EXE from a Command Prompt and specify the "WINNT.SIF" for the Unattended (ref. UNATTEND.TXT).

Will test "slip"/Install SP2 shortly... This "problem" makes no sense. You DID slip the x64 SP2 "Full", right? I just don't understand how the WINNT.SIF can be ignored from CD-Boot (it's right there in El-Torito Boot Image->SETUPLDR.BIN).

Also please note the other post I made. x64 SP2 is more-or-less equivalent (slightly precedes) to x86 SP3 and coincides with the linked-to MS article.

[Kelsenellenelvian]

I remember this issue when vista first came out.

SOMEHOW, when you slipstream a xp era SP it uses the pidgen.dll (Don't quote me on the name) file from the running OS and wreaks all sorts of havok.

Thusly the key will not be recognizable to the XP os when installing.

http://www.msfn.org/...__1#entry748051

http://www.msfn.org/...__1#entry759191

http://www.msfn.org/...__1#entry759853

http://www.msfn.org/...__1#entry763526

EDIT = THE OFFICIAL MS Bulletin on this:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/950722

This post has been edited by Kelsenellenelvian: 06 September 2012 - 08:40 AM

[bphlpt]

So, as has been said several times in this thread, and echoed in the most recent link Kel posted, if the OP slipped SP2 while in Win7, that very likely could have caused his problem. The integration will appear to have succeeded, but the product key will not be accepted when the OS is actually installed. To eliminate this possibility, the integration, and any use of nLite, needs to occur under XP, either within a VM or on an actual XP install. The OP might want to try this and see if it indeed solves all his current problems.

Cheers and Regards