windows xp image

**HipHoper** · October 20th, 2005, 04:04 PM

I have bought an slot1 board from an EBAYer and as we talked he told me that i can make an generic xp image if i change HD drivers to generic ones....going to try that (in my opinion it will work except SATA drives....).
I want to buy several SATA boards (based on VIA and SIS , someone told me that intel have no issues), in order to build an "ULTIMATE" XP image.
I i will install the xp on the ide channel and install the SATA drivers and then image the IDE contents to the SATA, will it boot ?
Thanks

**Gabriel** · October 23rd, 2005, 03:15 AM

Hi,
IMHO if you will use Sysprep than you will have no trouble (just do not forget
the "pnp" flag).

Cheers,
Gabriel

**HipHoper** · October 23rd, 2005, 03:41 AM

Have you had the experience of creating an image that work on several sata's drives ?
Thanks

**HipHoper** · October 23rd, 2005, 03:43 AM

Ooops.... I meant on several SATA'S and ATA chipsets....
LOVE your profile picture gabriel....

**Gabriel** · October 23rd, 2005, 04:14 AM

Hi,
I use the sysprep quite often as a way to "prepare" a master OS/application suite. in most cases it works without a glitch.
just bare in mind that when you run it - it alters your "current" OS (you will have a small setup. this also removes most user files.

101 guide (how i do it - though it can be done in many other ways:
Install OS (try to avoid installing any "special" drivers, SP and updates, install application suite, remove as much "temp" files as you can (including Hyberfil.sys -used for hybernation- and $directory$ under windows -stores uninstall for updates-), Run Sysprep with PNP (and mini-setup if you want) flag, Image (Ghost or acronis Image will do the trick) or Clone the partition.

Cheers,
Gabriel

**Guts3d** · October 23rd, 2005, 04:20 PM

I have had tremendous luck with "overwriting" XP just like we did with Win98. I use an image from a Pentium 2 450 slot one board and put that drive into a case with a brand new SATA enabled board ( Athlon 3200 ) and booted up with cd, hit regular install, and when it finds a previous version hit the "R" for repair. It then deletes only the windows portion of the install, leaving installed proggies such as Orfice ( I mean Office ) and such alone. This saves a lot of time, and you still have to register with Microsoft so there are no issues of copyright.

**HipHoper** · October 24th, 2005, 12:05 AM

Thanks for the info, i will add it to my arsenal of knowledge, but usually i preffer to re-install from scratch instead of repairing windows.I do it because there are always newer versions of codecs and compression utilities.And i have several "Can't find NTLDR" errors, So i think it is safer that way, but i am willing to try.

**Ferrit** · October 24th, 2005, 12:43 AM

As Guts said its really a simple matter.
I have gone back and forth between intel and Via and nvidia a large number of times.
Slip in the new board go directly to a repair install and away ya g.

**HipHoper** · October 24th, 2005, 01:58 AM

So i want to creat a DVD that will contain my "perfect" image, win xp installation files, Acronis TI8 and a drivers folder.
Is it possible to make it bootable so i can choose acronis boot or windows installation boot ?
Thanks

**Gabriel** · October 24th, 2005, 02:17 AM

Originally Posted by Guts3d

I have had tremendous luck with "overwriting" XP just like we did with Win98. I use an image from a Pentium 2 450 slot one board and put that drive into a case with a brand new SATA enabled board ( Athlon 3200 ) and booted up with cd, hit regular install, and when it finds a previous version hit the "R" for repair. It then deletes only the windows portion of the install, leaving installed proggies such as Orfice ( I mean Office ) and such alone. This saves a lot of time, and you still have to register with Microsoft so there are no issues of copyright.

I agree that this can be accomplished - I have done it numorous time also.
-BUT- (IMHO) this is more suitable to a person "moving" his OS to another machine from time to time. it is not suitable for a guy that sits in a lab or a office and have several computers to "deploy" the installation.

Reason #2 - it takes more time

P.s. this repair install method is really useful when something "fu^&*es up" in the system and you don't know what it is.

BTW - is anyone uses the System restore option - I never used it and I wanted to know if someone used it and to what extent did it helped (-NooNoo- if u think it deserves a different thread - please do...

)

Good Day,
Gabriel

**NooNoo** · October 24th, 2005, 02:45 AM

System restore is useful when the machine is clean - but it will not help with spyware or viruses.

**HipHoper** · October 26th, 2005, 09:32 AM

I think i've succeeded to make a great image.
I've SYSPREP'ed an image on P3-450 with i810 chipset, and it worked with bx chipset and with sis p4 chipset.
I connected SATA drive to the sis p4 chipset and SYSPREP'ed it too.
So now i have an image which is SYSPREP'ed (run mini setup on boot) and can be imaged to SATA drive on sis motherboard.
I planned to buy a VIA motherboard with SATA to extend the compatibility of my image but i though that what i'll do on a VIA chipset is connect an IDE hard drive, install the SATA controller driver and then clone the image to SATA drive.
This way i'll save money on buying the VIA motherboard and because the image is SYSPREP'ed i hope it'll work.
Thanks for your help

**Gabriel** · October 31st, 2005, 04:49 AM

Originally Posted by HipHoper

I think i've succeeded to make a great image.
I've SYSPREP'ed an image on P3-450 with i810 chipset, and it worked with bx chipset and with sis p4 chipset.
I connected SATA drive to the sis p4 chipset and SYSPREP'ed it too.
So now i have an image which is SYSPREP'ed (run mini setup on boot) and can be imaged to SATA drive on sis motherboard.
I planned to buy a VIA motherboard with SATA to extend the compatibility of my image but i though that what i'll do on a VIA chipset is connect an IDE hard drive, install the SATA controller driver and then clone the image to SATA drive.
This way i'll save money on buying the VIA motherboard and because the image is SYSPREP'ed i hope it'll work.
Thanks for your help

Just don't forget the PNP Flag

**HipHoper** · November 2nd, 2005, 07:53 PM

I've tested this image on various chipsets till now...It works great.
Today i installed it on a P3 SIS chipset and it restarted the computer again and again....So i thought i am done with this image, But then i played with the bios and turned on ACPI and VOILA !!!! it works !!!
I've tested it with 2 p3 intel chipsets (810,BX) SIS P3 chipset,and SIS P4 chipset.
I hope that it will boot on IDE HD connected to SATA enabled boards and then i can D/L sata drivers while image is running from IDE and after SATA driver installation to clone the os.....

**NooNoo** · November 3rd, 2005, 05:08 AM

I wonder, when you consider the time it has taken to produce this image, whether it is quicker overall...

Douglas Adams was also one for spending 24 man hours on automating something that that only took 30 seconds to do manually every day