nLite

Clean install Windows XP efficiently

In Windows XP, nLite on 28 July 2005 with 2 comments

If you haven’t heard of nLite, it enables you to do create a custom Windows XP CD slipstreamed with SP2, hotfixes, and let it all run unattended. You could tweak it further, but it’s a little tricky if you go bonkers on the check boxes. But basically, it helps you save time by not requiring you to sit through the install process, manually installing SP2 and applying a ton of hotfixes. Sure, you can do this manually, but this has a GUI to make it easier. (more…)

nLite 1.0 beta 4

In Geek, Windows XP, nLite on 23 June 2005 with 2 comments

I’m going to be using nLite 1.0 beta 4 (with quite a bit of customization in the setup) to clean install Windows XP on my laptop. If that goes well, I’ll basically do the same at home (of course creating another nLite CD for that system). I’ve put it off for awhile on both systems, but I think they’re due.

Clean install inevitable

In Geek, Windows XP, nLite on 19 March 2005 with no comments

Using RSSOwl on my desktop system has been quirky. A few of the dialog boxes were wider than my screen. I installed Crystal XP BricoPack RC1 awhile ago, but then phased that out. Shortly afterwards, I tried Flyakite OS X I installed awhile ago. However, Flyakite did a backup of the system files before proceeding, and I’m thinking Crystal XP didn’t completely uninstall. (The login screen is still themed with Crystal XP, sort of.)

The good news is that the problem definitely had to do with those themes. Using RSSOwl on my laptop looks perfectly fine.

Still, I think I’m due for a clean install. I didn’t drive image my last one because I’ve been trying out nLite. Each of the releases have new fixes and stuff, so I didn’t want to image something that’d probably be fixed the next clean install. At least I don’t have to sit and click through the responses using an nLite-created Windows XP CD.

I haven’t done a backup of my data in awhile, too. Not good. I definitely need to get a DVD burner in the near future. Hopefully if I go through all my stuff and purge most of it, I won’t need to backup too much.

Clean installing Windows on main system

In Geek, Windows XP, nLite on 25 October 2004 with no comments

Update: I think I figured out that if I try to install to an NTFS partition, my unattended install won’t go through - I need to use the FAT filesystem. Why? Because I thought I read it somewhere in the nLite forums. I don’t really utilize the NTFS anyways, and I’m 99% sure I was using FAT32 when I first reviewed nLite. In any case, I’ve just installed the latest drivers and hotfixes since SP2. Without anything else installed, my PF Usage is steady around 101 MB, and my Windows partition is taking up 806 MB of space (paging file is on another partition). In a little bit, I should be back in full effect on my main desktop. I’ll post how things are running when I finish up. (more…)

nLite - a GUI Windows install customizer

In Geek, Windows, nLite on 16 September 2004 with 2 comments

I finally convinced myself to clean install Windows XP, so I decided to try out nLite to see how well it worked. For some background:

MSFN’s Unattended XP CD

It takes quite a bit to do step 2 and 3 on that site, which requires manually typing some batch files and stuff. nLite is different because it allows you to do essentially all from a GUI (Graphical User Interface).

All that’s really required is the .NET Framework and a CD burner. I had already slipstreamed SP2 (Service Pack 2) onto my Windows XP CD, so all I had to do was go through the other prompts.

(more…)

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