Adding Windows Media Player 10
Windows Media Player 10 can easily be added to the installation disk files. First is to download the Windows Media Player 10 setup file to a folder on the hard drive. Next download the WMP10 Slipstreamer file. It’s a small batch file from
Bâshrat the Sneaky that is to be placed in the same folder as where the Windows Media Player 10 file was downloaded to. Make sure the Windows Media Player 10 setup file is named MP10setup.exe.
Click on the
WMP10_Slipstreamer batch file and the rest is just pressing any key to continue every so often. That’s if you can find the “any” key on your keyboard.
The batch program will automatically extract the Windows Media Player 10 files and remake them into files for the installation process. They will be extracted to a folder named I386 at the root of the C: drive.
Copy the contents, not the folder itself, of that I386 folder to the I386 folder of the nLite created slipstream files. You will click YES TO ALL when Windows asks if you want to replace files.
Find the HIVEDEF.INF file in the I386 folder of the nLite created slipstream files. It will open in NOTEPAD and search for
[AddReg]
place the following line below the [AddReg] entry. It doesn’t matter where as long as it is below [AddReg] and before the next [ ] entry.
HKCU,”SOFTWAREMicrosoftMediaPlayerPreferences”,”AcceptedPrivacyStatement”,0x00010003,1
You may choose to look for the other HKCU,”SoftwareMicrosoft entries and add the previous line in that area just to keep things neat. Close the HIVEDEF.INF file saving any changes.
Now Windows Media Player 10 is slipstreamed into the installation disk and only needs to be configured when first run.
Burn the files
NERO does a great job of burning bootable CDs. Download XPBOOT.BIN to the hard drive and start NERO. Choose CD-ROM (Boot) from the menu and choose the BOOT tab.
Choose the radio button for IMAGE file and browse to where the XPBOOT.BIN file was downloaded to. Click the ENABLE EXPERT SETTINGS tickbox and choose NO EMULATION. Remove the NERO boot message and change NUMBER OF LOAD SECTORS from 1 to 4.
Choose the LABEL tab.
Click the MORE LABELS button and enter the following information if using a corporate edition of Windows XP.
You will want to add WXPVOL_EN to the disc name if it wasn’t added automatically. Click the NEW button and add all the files in the folder where nLite slipstreamed the installation disk. Click the BURN button and insert a blank CD to be burnt.
The disc will be created and now you have a bootable, slipstreamed disc with SATA drivers built in. No need to press F6 and if you entered the license key then there’s no need to enter it manually.
Not everything is perfect
NLite is still in beta phase. Learning the program for this guide resulted in a few coasters but it was nice to have a bootable disc with SATA, service pack and updates slipstreamed. The drives were detected and the installation still parked on the choice of installation partition and how to format it. This was good. From there the installation continued unattended until complete. Everything worked like a charm.
There were two files that Windows Update did report as not installed even though they were part of the hotfixes.
- Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool (KB890830) Windows-KB890830-V1.2-ENU.exe
- Security Update for Windows XP (KB885835) WindowsXP-KB885835-x86-ENU.exe
The configuration for DISPLAY also did not set a resolution of choice and the monitor defaulted to 640×480 at 60Hz. This may have been attributable to the fact that the video card output was through a KVM device instead of direct to the monitor.
It’s a good idea to check the settings if burning any more discs. All of the language packs were selected to remove during the installation process but the next time around some were deselected.
IMPORTANT: In the PRESETS folder of the nLite install directory is a file named Last Session_u. DO NOT share this file with anyone as it will clearly contain the Windows license key if UNATTENDED SETUP was chosen and the license key was entered.
NLite remembers where it slipstreamed the files to and if the process is to be repeated with changes then some of the options are disabled. Simply rename the folder where the slipstreamed files are and create a new folder. This way versions of the slipstream can be made containing different options such as different SATA drivers. The entire procedure, including transferring files from the original installation disc, will have to be repeated.
.NET Framework is not easily slipstreamed into a Windows installation disc. It can actually be removed via nLite as the netfx folder contains an old version which is not even installed normally. There is a way to slipstream the .NET install file and .NET service packs into one main file but we were not able to find an easy method of slipstreaming .NET into an Windows installation CD.
It could be possible to slipstream NFORCE drivers into an installation CD but this involves a more complicated approach and defeats the purpose of being easy. It’s also the best idea to always use the latest drivers after windows completes its basic installation.
Conclusion
NLite is an incredibly easy tool to use. It allows for a lot of customization of the Windows installation process. It is now easy to slipstream service packs, updates and SATA drivers into one bootable installation CD. It’s still in beta phase so it’s not without it’s imperfections but it does work and works well for new users and more experienced users.
Don’t forget to read the comprehensive Operating System Setup Guide for 2005 with tons of tricks and tweaks to help set up your system the correct way.
Our thanks to Dino Nuhagic for
the creation of a free and incredibly useful tool; nLite.
Highs
- Free
- Easy
- SATA drivers can be included
- Shortens future install times
Lows
- Still in beta phase. Only a few “glitches”
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