Ready to 
Slipstreaming Windows XP
Robert Hallock
May 22, 2008 1:00 AM ET in Tech
Preparing XP For Modification
Having prepared the items we want to slipstream in advance, it’s time to start integrating these objects into the disc. At this time, you can launch nLite and press “Next” to skip the welcome screen (Fig 3-1).
Fig. 3-1: Simply skip this screen by pressing “Next.”
Step 3A: Press browse on the window indicated in figure 3-2, and locate the ROM drive that contains the Windows XP CD you’ll be using as the basis of the new disc. In this case, my original Windows XP CD is in my F:\ drive.
Fig. 3-2: Select your Windows XP CD in the browse window.
3B: Once you have selected the Windows XP CD, nLite will ask you where to save the contents of the disc. Direct nLite to the Windows CD directory created in step 1C. When nLite is done copying the disc, it will give you information about its size and version as in figure 3-3.
Fig. 3-3: Windows XP has been copied to the hard drive and is ready to be worked on.
3C: Because of the vast variety of options nLite presents when customizing an XP disc, it’s very easy to select one that will cripple support for a feature or type of hardware you find critical. Thankfully, when you are done customizing your XP CD you can save a presets file as a record of all the options you selected. If you load this file now, repeat steps 3A and 3B, and then proceed as prescribed throughout the remainder of the guide, you can easily correct any mistakes and burn a new disc in less than twenty minutes.
Fig. 3-4: You can load a presets file here to reload all prior settings and change them.
3D: nLite breaks the slipstreaming process down into four stages. In the “Integration” stage, all the materials we downloaded in steps 2A – 2C will be decompressed and added to the Windows CD we put on the hard drive in step 3B. In the “Remove” stage, you’ll be able to flag components of Windows for removal; these components include services, hardware support, languages and drivers. In the “Setup” stage, you can add custom Windows themes to the disc, tweak the appearance of the desktop, supply a CD key for automatic usage and more. Lastly, the “Create” stage will allow you to decide how you want your disc created: Either as an ISO, or directly to CD. Because all of these stages are important to us, configure this screen as in figure 3-5 and press next.
Fig. 3-5: Select all integration stages as seen here.
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