Begin the slipstreaming process
The nLite program can be installed once .NET is installed. nLite will not run without .NET in place.
Click NEXT to get to the first step of the slipstreaming process. This menu selects what options the program will guide the user through for configuration and slipstreaming.
Click on any or all of the menu bars. This will only activate that part of the program for configuration later on in the process. If an option is selected and no settings are changed then it is as if the option were never selected in the first place. For this guide all but CREATE A BOOTABLE ISO are selected. NERO will be used to burn back the finished files to a bootable CD as this guide will add Windows Media Player 10 to the slipstreamed disk.
Click NEXT and nLite will ask where the source files are. Insert the original installation disk into an available optical drive and browse to that drive letter…not any of the individual installation folders or files.
A message will pop up asking for the location of where the installation files will be ripped to.
Click OK and browse to any place on the hard drive(s) where the files will be transferred to. Make sure there is at least 1 GB of free space. Create a folder and name it. The name does not matter. For this test XP CD was used as the folder name.
Click OK and the process will automatically begin of transferring the Windows installation files from the source disk or folder to the newly created folder.
The process will finish and display the version, language, path, size and remaining free space on the drive/partition.
Click NEXT and then SELECT where the Service Pack 2 download is. Remember that Service Pack 2 for Windows XP contains all the files for Service Pack 1 and 1a. There is no need to download Service Pack 1 and 1a.
Click OPEN and nLite will begin to extract then slipstream Service Pack 2 into the install files.
After a few minutes the Service Pack 2 integration process will complete.
Click OK and nLite returns to the Service Pack selection screen. Windows 2000 users may want to install further Service Packs but Windows XP users need only integrate Service Pack 2 at this time.
Click NEXT and nLite brings up the REMOVE COMPONENTS screen. Each of the listed categories has an expandable area to remove certain components of Windows from the installation process.
Each of the entries has a help description beside it when it is highlighted. Putting a checkmark beside the entry means it WILL BE REMOVED from the installation process.
NLite also highlights important entries in red. These should be thought about twice before selecting.
It’s very important that time is taken to carefully consider what options are to be selected for removal. Remember that the original installation disk or folder where the original installation files are WILL NOT BE CHANGED. You can always go back and create another slipstreamed disk.
IMPORTANT: if SATA drivers are to be installed then the SCSI/RAID option must be removed via the REMOVE COMPONENTS stage. nLite will remove the stock Windows XP SCSI/RAID drivers and use user supplied SATA boot drivers to be integrated at a later step.
If no options are selected then nLite will bypass this area. Click NEXT and the UNATTENDED SETUP screen appears. UNATTENDED SETUP will allow for several options to be completed automatically that normally occur during the setup process. GENERAL 1/2 allows for selection of what type of computer. Most new computers today are ACPI Uniprocessor PC. The CD KEY can be entered. (Not shown because I’m not going to show you it. :p) There are several other selections and help windows appear on mouseover.
The GENERAL 2/2 screen allows for automatic entry of the domain data.
The PERSONAL screen is for entering personal information about the computer owner and the admin passwords.
The DISPLAY screen allows for setting a specific resolution and hertz frequency when windows finishes installation.
Click NEXT and nLite will give a last chance to keep or remove any files that are orphaned by the previous removal steps. If none of the removed components are cross linked to other files then these two boxes will be blank.
Click NEXT and the following step will bring up the INTEGRATE DRIVERS menu. Choose INSERT and browse to the location where SATA drivers have been extracted to. .EXE files will not work at this stage. NLite is looking for .INF files.