expert01

I had no problem with msbuild.exe, but I did with msbuild.cmd Line 383-ish Replace: If %VersionCompare% EQU -1 ( With: If "%VersionCompare%"=="-1" ( I also had to follow directions at http://www.pcreview.co.uk/forums/thread-1520115.php

; Disable UAC [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System] "EnableLUA"=dword:00000000 ;Auto accept UAC prompts, effective immediately [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System] ;"ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin"=dword:00000002 to reset "ConsentPromptBehaviorAdmin"=dword:00000000 ;Disable black desktop when UAC promps pop up ;security risk: lets other programs mess with the UAC prompt ;[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System] ;"PromptOnSecureDesktop"=dword:00000000

I'm gathering the information I need to set up an XP PXE install system, and one thing that's gotten into my head recently is how to speed up the XP install process. I was first looking at the txtsetup file and considering stripping out the least likely drivers (less drivers to load, faster setup load, right?). Then I thought the fastest way would be to do it via a .wim file. I had searched about this a few months ago, and spent some time searching again. It seems to me that quite a few people have tried to do this before and not succeeded. The theory sounds good - use the Vista or 7 installer, replace the install.wim with one of XP, slipstream a product key into the first install screens (so it doesn't ask you for a product key until later), and let the installer handle the partitioning and copying. The only place people have gone wrong (in my eyes) is installing Windows XP all the way, installing more stuff, then creating an image of it. It seems to me you would have more success running the text mode setup of XP until it copies your files to the hard drive and makes the boot sector and whatnot, then making a wim image of the drive before it reboots. That way, the Windows XP setup wizard still runs, which handles hardware detection, product keys, networking, accounts, and whatnot. So, does this sound possible? And has someone managed to do this before (with the XP installer running)? Would it still take a long time to install? Does the XP installer, which I think had a "Copying Files" section in the GUI, spend a lot of time doing this? Is it possible to get it to copy all the files, then stop before hardware detection?

Looks like you have three months left

Sorry to bump an older topic, but for future reference, you might try, instead of trying to get a wider resolution at boot, making a narrower image. Shrink the image horizontally, then add black bars on the side to get it to 640x480. According to an online calculator, you would need to make your boot image 640x480, shrink it to 640x360 (make sure you shrink and not crop), then add 60 pixel bars to the left and right. When the monitor stretches the image, it should look normal. Disclaimer: I've never attempted that before.

Alright, got around to checking out the CHKPIDS program and it looks like it'll do exactly what I need it to. "D3XXM-YXXMT-XXXXX-XK8XX-8XXXD","{;OEM-PRO-ENGLISH-SP3;}","(55274-OEM-0045892-71 345)","[;OEM;]" That's what it outputs, I should be able to use that to create the setupp.ini

There are two ways I could go about doing what I want with setupp - create a batch file that copies all the installation files from my network share to the hard drive, re-writes the setupp file with the proper PID, then starts the installation; or, if using Windows PE, I could make a RAM drive and create symlinks to all the windows setup files, then have a script that makes a setupp and starts setup. According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTFS_symbolic_link symlinks can be made to network shares. I've found three programs so far which may be able to help - xpdec (which gives me a number that matches info on the XP sticker, but doesn't match anything I can find on the net, and I can't figure out how to translate it into a version/channel thing; output is XXXXX-657-1329553-XXXXX if you were curious, sticker on case has 00043-657-132-955 below the product key), CHKPIDS (which I can't find to download), and pidxchk (which may be for just vista). *edit* Also found a topic at http://board.defcon5.biz/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=951 which explains how to get the product ID from the key code, but not the same as the ones in setupp.ini And I should probably mention that I want to do this over the network exclusively, didn't mean to say "disc" in the physical sense.

This was the most applicable topic I could find, sorry for the bump. I would like to do the same thing the OP wanted to do - I run a computer repair shop, and would like to create an unattended XP disc for all types of product keys. In order to be compatible with all keys, I need to find out how to decode the product key I enter to get the PID, so I can put the PID into the setupp.ini so setup will take the key. My alternative would be to slipstream a known bad key (like a XP Pro VLK key) and have the Microsoft Product Key Update Tool run on first boot, which should change both the product key and windows version. Any ideas?