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[GUIDE] Creating The Ultimate Windows XP Installation CD/DVD Rate Topic: -----

#1 User is offline   rado354 Icon

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Posted 02 December 2007 - 09:51 PM

This tutorial will guide you through the process of creating an unattended Windows installation CD with the latest hotfixes, drivers, DirectX, IE7, WMP11, Office 2007 and any other software that you would like to include on the CD. Remove useless components, apply tweaks and system hacks for the highest possible performance and productivity.

Don’t miss the video version of this tutorial where you can actually see the whole process of creating a fully customized, unattended installation CD and the result tested and running in VMware Machine.

Requirements:
- nLite 1.4
- Net Framework 2.0
- WinXP CD

1. Copy the entire content of your WinXP CD in some local folder.

2. Install .Net Framework 2.0 and nLite.

3. Choose your preferred language on the first screen:
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4. Tell nLite where are your WinXP files. Select “Browse” and navigate to the local folder you created in step 1:
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5. Choose what you want to do. You can choose only one operation, all of them, or any combination. For example, you can choose to create an ISO and skip the rest:
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6. Service Pack: Slipstream a Service Pack into the installation. Just download SP2 for WinXP and nLite will do the rest. If you integrate SP2 you will not need SP1 because SP2 supersedes it.
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7. Hotfixes, Addons and Update Packs: Add hotfixes and/or update packs to your installation. Any addons for nLite that you add here will be installed silently during Windows Setup also.
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How to get all hotfixes after SP2:

* Use RyanVM Post SP2 Update Pack.
* Install WinXP. Run Windows Update and write down all the required hotfixes. Download them manually from Microsoft.
* Windows Updates Downloader - let this program download all hotfixes for you.
* Information about the hotfix releases could be found here: MSFN, TheHotfixShare and SoftwarePatch

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* Windows Media Player 11: Download WMP11 Integrator and the WMP11 installer. Use WMP11 Integrator to slipstream WMP11 into your WinXP CD before making any changes with nLite. Once WMP11 is slipstreamed you can proceed with nLite.
* Internet Explorer 7.0: Just download IE7 and slipstream the .exe with nLite.
* Office 2007: Work in progress!
* Addons: Download more than 350 addons for nLite from WinAddons. These .cab addons will be installed silently during Windows Setup.

Posted Image Video Tutorial Video tutorial: Slipstream Windows Media Player 11
Posted Image Video Tutorial Video tutorial: Slipstream Internet Explorer 7 with nLite
Posted Image Video Tutorial Video tutorial: http://www.esnips.co...ntegrate-Addons

8. Drivers: Integrate drivers into the installation. Browse to some .inf files and nLite will do the rest. Thanks to http://driverpacks.net/ you can create an installation CD with drivers for almost any piece of hardware. During setup Windows will only use the drivers required and will ignore completely the others. Unused drivers won’t be copied on your hard drive.
Posted Image Posted Image

Posted Image Video tutorial: Integrate drivers with nLite

9. Components: Select the components you want to remove from the installation. Make sure to read the short info before removing components especially those in red. Check the Components Removal Example to get an idea about the most important components you should not remove.
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By clicking on Advanced you will be given the opportunity to keep some specific files. For example you can remove “Command Line Tools” but you can preserve ping.exe, ipconfig.exe, etc. which are part of this component by adding them to the Keep Box:
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Power users could ignore the Compatibility Wizard:
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10. Unattended: Set personal settings in advance so you don’t have to during the installation like Users, CD-Key, Regional settings, etc. Here you can also add Windows themes:
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Posted Image Video tutorial: Unattended installation CD with nLite

Adding themes: you’re using some neat Windows theme and want it on your CD as well? Here is an example how to slipstream Luna Element 4 and set it as a default theme:
Posted Image Video tutorial: Integrate themes with nLite

11. Options: You can pretty much ignore the General tab and go directly to Patches:
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* Maximum unfinished simultaneous connections (TCP/IP patch): Set it to 100 or 1000 for max P2P performance.
* USB Port Polling Frequency (Hz): Increase for smoother USB mouse movement. Not for wireless mice or any other USB device, use with caution! Works on Logitech MX, MS IntelliMouse Explorer 3, Razer Viper and possibly others.
* Unsigned Themes Support (Uxtheme Patch): Set it to enable and you will be able to use a 3rd party themes (from DeviantArt for example).
* SFC (Windows File Protection): Set it to disable to stop the automatic recovery of replaced or deleted system files and folders. Although it might sounds like a useful feature, it’s highly recommended to disable it. The duration of your installation will be reduced drastically.

Posted Image

Posted Image Video tutorial: Patch Windows with nLite

12. Tweaks: this is pretty much self-explanatory. Apply your favorite registry tweaks and configure Windows Services. Once Windows is installed all your tweaks will be applied, no need of post-install tuning.
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It’s possible to configure the services as well.
Here you will find an excellent Windows Services Guide.
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13. Bootable ISO: we’re almost ready. Once created just burn on CD the ISO or test it in a virtual machine. You can burn the ISO with nLite or your favorite CD/DVD burner like Nero for example. It’s recommended to use rewritable media (CD-RW or DVD-RW) to avoid media loss in case you’re not happy with your WinXP copy and want to create another one.
Posted Image

Posted Image Video tutorial: Create a Bootable CD with nLite
Posted Image Video tutorial: Burn ISO files with Nero
Posted Image Video tutorial: Test ISO in VMware Machine 5.5 – shareware
Posted Image Video tutorial: Test ISO in Virtual PC 2004 – freeware
Posted Image Video tutorial: Test ISO in VirtualBox 1.5 – freeware

Credits: Rado@WinAddons


P.S.:

Quote

OK, if anyone tries to do this with MCE; DO NOT INTEGRATE WMP11!

It requires Update Rollup 2! And it will not install that update with WMP11. It does not allow you to uninstall WMP11. It just screws the f*cker up!! BAD! TRUST ME I KNOW.

This post has been edited by rado354: 01 January 2008 - 09:30 PM

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#2 User is offline   TheGreenMan Icon

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Posted 03 December 2007 - 06:11 AM

Very useful guide rado354! Keep up the great work (Y)
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#3 User is offline   ritesh Icon

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Posted 03 December 2007 - 06:30 AM

it is really very useful guide... great job rado354 (Y) (Y) (Y)
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#4 User is offline   timbertide Icon

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Posted 03 December 2007 - 11:38 AM

Wow, I'll give it a try soon! :rolleyes:
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#5 User is offline   rado354 Icon

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Posted 03 December 2007 - 09:41 PM

Thanks for the positive feedback guys!

It's great to see your hard work being appreciated :)
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#6 User is offline   Johnnyboy Icon

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Posted 04 December 2007 - 06:09 AM

How can I do the same with my Vista DVD?
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#7 User is offline   aarohimostwanted Icon

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Posted 04 December 2007 - 11:32 AM

@rado3354

buudy I tried this long while back and I think there was a program given on neowinforums which could create addons or cab files but I was not able to make addons..you know any easier way....will this work with any exe file..

This post has been edited by aarohimostwanted: 04 December 2007 - 11:34 AM

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#8 User is offline   rado354 Icon

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Posted 04 December 2007 - 10:51 PM

@ Johnnyboy - use vLite instead of nLite.

@ aarohimostwanted - I thought 360 addons for nLite would be more than enough to begin with :P

You can create cabs with CabPack for example.
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#9 User is offline   Songocide Icon

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Posted 04 December 2007 - 10:52 PM

Damn you beat me. But anyways thanks for this. I hated how I'd always have to go reinstall drivers and apps after a restore or something. Now its all in the same process. Thanks. And btw, I truly never knew I had never made a post here.

--Songocide

This post has been edited by Songocide: 04 December 2007 - 10:54 PM

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#10 User is offline   SharmanNet Icon

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Posted 05 December 2007 - 08:19 AM

View PostJohnnyboy, on Dec 4 2007, 06:09 AM, said:

How can I do the same with my Vista DVD?

vLite
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#11 User is offline   kth7 Icon

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Posted 07 December 2007 - 06:49 AM

hmm, What about Windows XP MCE? i think it's slightly different(more steps) right? The newest version(2005) comes with 3 cds (i beleve in this order: [1]XP Pro SP2 core [2]MCE addons [3]update rollup #2 ).
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#12 User is offline   Johnnyboy Icon

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Posted 07 December 2007 - 10:30 AM

I'll use it to slipstream Windows XP SP3 :D
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#13 User is offline   GamerSmurf Icon

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Posted 09 December 2007 - 08:11 PM

OK, if anyone tries to do this with MCE; DO NOT INTEGRATE WMP11!

It requires Update Rollup 2! And it will not install that update with WMP11. It does not allow you to uninstall WMP11. It just screws the f*cker up!! BAD! TRUST ME I KNOW.

Much time was wasted to isolate the problem. So hopefully rado354 will inform everyone in his post!
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#14 User is offline   mofd509 Icon

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Posted 12 December 2007 - 12:40 PM

rado354......Great program! I like it. I made a up-to-date CD yesterday and it works just fine. One funny thing though, I woke up this AM and got notice of a few more updates by microsoft. LOL!

Anyway, I say that you are working on Office 2007. Thank you very much!

MEDIC
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#15 User is offline   rado354 Icon

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Posted 01 January 2008 - 09:32 PM

First post updated, thanks GamerSmurf!

There will be an easy Office 2007 + SP1 step by step guide, I just need some free time ;)
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