Slipstreaming Windows XP
Integrating Prepared Customizations
3E: For the first step in our integration stage, we’re going to add SP3 to our Windows disc. To do this, press select and navigate to the service packs folder we downloaded SP3 to in step 2A. Once the file has been opened, nLite will decompress its contents and update your disc. When the process is complete, your nLite window should appear as in figure 3-6.
Fig. 3-6: nLite reports that our XP CD is now running service pack 3.
3F: In this step, all the applications we downloaded in 2C should be added via the insert buton. If you have any Windows hotfixes you would like to add, you can also add those at this time. Any hotfixes you’ve added will appear in the window, as in figure 3-7. Secondly, hit advanced and configure your window as shown in figure 3-8. This will save space on your CD and accelerate installation. When you’re all finished here, press next.
Fig. 3-7: Some commonly-chosen addons are ready for slipstreaming.
Fig. 3-8: These options make for a smoother time during Windows installation.
3G: Windows XP recognizes two different types of drivers, the first of which is called a “PNP” driver. This is the kind of driver you install inside of Windows, such as the sort your video or sound card would use. The second kind are known as “Txtmode” drivers, and these are drivers required by the Windows XP setup routine to activate various pieces of hardware. To wit, all the drivers in step 2B are txtmode drivers that activate your computer’s SATA controller for use during installation. This is what will finally allow Windows to understand how to talk to your SATA drives and, subsequently, install on them!
Alternatively, if you have drivers you can extract to a folder that contain a .INF file, you can add them as PNP drivers and these hardware devices will be ready to go when you first install windows. Popular options include network drivers, video card drivers extracted from their executable installers, or the more simple sound drivers.
You may recall that in step 2B we provided an archive which contains various drivers for today’s most common chipsets. Because my computer uses the Intel P35 chipset, we can see that driver version 8.3.1.1009 in the Intel folder will support my SATA controller. At this time, press insert then single driver. Navigate to the folder which contains the driver appropriate for your chipset, and then add the .INF file contained in the folder. You’ll often be presented with a list of controllers the driver supports, so it’s best to select all of them if you’re not sure. Refer to figure 3-9 for a visual example.
Fig. 3-9: The INF file for a txtmode SATA driver has been opened, and all supported devices will now be recognized by the XP install.
I liked this especially because of the thorough handling of of the drivers and options issues. I remember cobbling together my own slipstreams with Nero- this answers a lot of the questions, gotchas and inconveniences.
Well done, Rob- and thanks.
I do slipstreaming all the time at work. I've always done it the manual way which takes more time and lot of screw ups along the way. When nLite started a few years ago, I tinkered with it but never gave it a serious thought.
Rob (Thrax) has done a great job walking us through the process and, much to my chagrin, made my way of slipstreaming obsolete.
Rob,
You have outdone yourself. That's slick. Shall be following that in the week when I reinstall my desktop (finally!). Cool read
Your article is amazing and very useful. You are the only who puts detail in their article that is actually useful. Keep up the good work.
The only problem I had was getting the article printed out without all of the ads & comments. Not finding a print option on the web page
I used print preview, paged through until I found "about the author" and used that to print out the pages up to that for each web page of the article.
I am asuming that you play Tabula Rasa since your forum name is Thrax. Zarlon is my toon name when I play.
Thank You
Zarlon
No, I don't play TR. My name is actually inspired by a high score on the Autumn Valley track in 1994's The Need for Speed.
I'm very glad I could help you with one of my articles, Zarlon! Thanks for commenting.
I'll poke our web guru with a big stick to see if we can get a "print" button that will render a printable page in the future.
Nice suggestion.
cheers
This may sound like a dumb question but here goes.
You indicate that we can add programs by downloading them into the Addons directory. Do they just go into that directory or subdirectories?
I am building two versions, one an OEM (for me at home) and other is a VLK for work. Knowing how they go into the Addons directory will save me valuable time both at work and with my family/friends.
Thank You
Zarlon
PS. I am in the process of looking at all of your articles. Man you are a fountain of information & procedures. You are
You download the .CAB/.ZIP/.RAR/.7z files to that directory. It's just a storage folder, really, to keep things organized.
Hi!
after a very long sleepless weekend, hours of foul language and one big pile of newly burnt useless winxp installation cds - I am left to discover that all hope is lost and despite my heroic efforts to manually (and later with nlite) slipstream blooming windows xp - so it could acknowledge the existence of my very real (just ask Fedora) WD80 SATA drive on my crappy ASUS P4S800D MOBO - the forces of money grabbing evil (i.e SIS hatred, Micro[on global scale]Soft Evil and the rest of the lot) have once more prevailed! for it seems a "txtmode" version of the SIS 180 or 180OB - which according to section 5 of the slipstreaming article is needed for the rest of the just battle - is no where to be found on the World Wide Web - so it seems the only solution will be to write this weird forum S.O.S!
guys where's that driver in txtmode anyone anyone at all!?!?!
p.s
thanks for the article btw if I didn't stumble upon in it (round 4 am or so but still) I would keep burning copies of winxp containing cursed PNP drivers for ever!
ok think i got it now just had to drop the .oem file in the same folder as the drivers - this will be a good time to blow my brains off for being so dumb after all someone should hold responsible for all the suffering
can you tell me how to create this from the files stored in my recovery partition?
m.
It's not possible. A recovery partition is a proprietary piece of technology and generally cannot be harnessed to do anything outside of its intended purpose.
I have maybe the dumbest question... when i add the wmp11 exe to the addons, it says to either install wmp11 slipstreamer or to copy the installed .exe to the nlite root folder. and all the other addons are running the installations while nlite is processing the final steps. why is that ?? do i really have to re-install all my exe s to the pc ?? please help....
Where are you downloading the version of WMP11 you're using for nlite from?
microsoft site...
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/B...n&categoryid=4
and can you help me with the 2nd and most critical problem ?? why do all the exe s prompt as if i have to install them ?? and when i cancel them, nlite says that the addon is not the expected type...
Cheers...
The executables that can be integrated with nLite are not the same type of executable you can download from any website. In the application integration section of my guide there are three links to sites that have software specifically repackaged for the slipstreaming process. All of these sites carry WMP11 repackaged to work with nLite, and you must make sure that all software you're trying to integrate also comes from these three sites.
Thanks Buddy.. i should be able to carry the process from here onwards.
Cheers...
Thanks for stopping by, Panduka.
THANKYOU! THANKYOU! THANKYOU! I am one of those jerks that never posts comments, but I could not let this one go without expressing my gratitude. I am technical, but by no means a computer builder. Your Slipstreaming Forum was still able to walk me through step by step on how to bring myself out of 3 days of utter computer he((.
I appreciate the help that even the tech at the computer store could not give me. I will tell everyone I know that may be interested in this article all about it, and I look forward to reading more of your work.
You are a life saver. Keep it up.
Thanks, Walnutz.
I appreciate your comments.
Bookmarked. While I'm not ready to reinstall my XP builds, I'll sure be wanting to use this when that time comes. Thanks for putting together this how-to guide! =D
Welcome to Icrontic Bandrik. Stick around for the fun
No problem, Bandrik! Thanks for commenting!
great article
it is the first i m integrating components and drivers into a winxp cd
thanx a lot