Slashdot Mirror

You can get it even smaller than that using Nlite. I've gotten an XP install down to as little as ~700MB (Knock about 250-300MB off that if you disable system file protection), although I'm not counting anything in the "Documents and Settings" directory in that total...

With Nlite you can even remove the IE rendering engine. Of course, some things in Windows won't work afterward, but that shouldn't be surprising considering how hard MS has worked to make IE impossible to remove. Take note that Nlite is still very much beta software and has plenty of bugs that need to be worked out, but all-in-all it is a very nice program. Currently it requires the .net framework 1.1, but the author is currently working on a C++ version. I suggest anyone who uses Windows 2000/XP/2003 check it out.

Build a CD of Windows 2000 without IE (or Outlook, etc. etc)

Build a CD of Windows 2k, XP, or 2k3 without IE (or Outlook, etc. etc)

Download an IE removal program for Win2k

choice 2, for XP and 2k3:
http://nuhi.msfn.org/

You can use an unattended install with hotfixes. Qchain.exe is a file that automatically installs the hotfixes in the correct order. The article mentions where to download qchain.exe.

MSFN's Unattended XP CD might be worth looking into. It allows you to automatically install programs as well as updates. I've messed around with it a little bit and it's definately a timesaver.

Or you can go to this link and it will explain the process of integrating sp2, hotfixes, drivers, and apps you may want all onto one cd or dvd.

I prefer this to using ghost which may or may not work on different machines and does clean installs of everything.

I install nothing.

I put my DVD in the drive and restart my system. Then I go back upstairs and watch Tivo.

58 minutes later, I have the following:

Windows XP - SP1a
All critical patches.
DX9.0b
ATI Drivers and control panel
All device drivers for my system.
WMP9
Office 2k3, customized for me, Outlook set for my accounts.
MusicMatch Jukebox
Everquest
Virtual PC
WinInstallLE
Quicken 2004 Deluxe
AVG Antivirus
PGP8
DVDShrink
TeamSpeak
Trillian Pro
Putty
Firefox
Dreamweaver
Fireworks.

Wanna know how? Check MSFN.org.

Check out the MSFN unattended CD guide - it's not exactly "slipstreamed" per se, but it's pretty well automated. It takes a good bit of work to get it set up, though... so unless you're like me (and reinstall three times a second) the effort seems sort-of wasted.

Windows XP Unattended Install

Check this site out if you want to create your own OEM-type Windows XP installation CD. You can quietly install applications at the time of the OS installation, as well as all those Windows XP hotfixes.

What I do see being a huge problem is that Windows XP setup doesn't seem to support SATA devices without using a driver floppy to allow it to recognize SATA ports as a Mass Storage Controller. -- an annoyance for people who have discarded their floppy drives long ago.

Not a problem. Make your own unattened install, and add the SATA drivers. Been doing it for a year now, and it's a wondrous thing.
Check out MSFN.org for more info.

My unattended install (which has grown to a DVD) installs WinXP fully patched, DirectX 9.0b, Office 2k3 (customized to my settings), all of my apps except Firefox, and tweaks my system out. It does it in 45 minutes, with only 1 user intervention (carving drives). It mtakes a couple of days to set it up initially, but once you're done, the maintenance is very low.

Go here.

I'm running my SIS AGP drivers from XP with my ATI Cat 3.10 XP drivers with my SB Live! XP drivers with the Astra 3400 scanner dlls I copied over from XP SP1. 2003 will run most everything XP does, including system restore (if you want such nonsense). 2003 is configured without any acceleration enabled. You will have to jump through a few configuration hoops and enable some services, but it can be done. See this invaluable setup guide.

I'm running my ATI 9700 Pro/SB Live! rig with cats 3.10 on 2003 right now.

The ATI installer thought it was installing to XP 64-bit and punked out. I installed the drivers manually from device manager update driver tab. After reboot the control panel with all the 3d games options failed to load. Ramped up the hardware acceleration and reboot and I now have the standard control panel minus the smartgart tab (I have no need to switch my AGP bus settings). I also had to install my SIS AGP 1.17 driver to get the card to run in AGP 8x mode. 2003's intel drivers might not need this, but the XP drivers will run.

Getting the exact same 3d-mark as under XP, but system in general seems more responsive. So far I have run Battlefield 1942 and Lock On with no problems. I don't own any DOS games. Also had to copy my scanner driver dll's from XP sp1 to 2003, but they are running fine.

See this as a great 2003 as workstation FAQ.

Why not go with a slipstreamed copy of WinXP that includes SP1a and RU1? Hell you can even make it install all of your apps and drivers automatically, or even tweak the hell out of it! Now from the initial install you've got a protected system, plus if your relatives system gets too screwed up they can pop in their cd and reinstall XP and all their default apps without being tech savvy!

Jonah Hex

Why not go with a slipstreamed copy of WinXP that includes SP1a and RU1? Hell you can even make it install all of your apps and drivers automatically, or even tweak the hell out of it! Now from the initial install you've got a protected system, plus if your relatives system gets too screwed up they can pop in their cd and reinstall XP and all their default apps without being tech savvy!

Jonah Hex

Um... actually, Microsoft doesn't call it a fix. The poster of this story TO SLASHDOT does to stir up anti-Microsoft sentiment in an otherwise non-news article. Even stirring up anti-Microsoft sentiment falsely on Slashdot isn't news (it's been going on for a long time)!

Who in this room actually expected MS to officially support any OS's not produced by them? This isn't news, it's confirmation. Fine. Now it is not confirmation of your statement calling MS monopolistic oil barons, etc. (there is plenty of other evidence of that, this is not an example of it, read on).

With that said, the OS's removed from the listing in the wizard (and that's the only removal) are NOT prevented from running in any way. They simply don't explicitly get in the list of OS's to automatically configure. They can, of course, be configured manually through the "Other" setting in the aforementioned list... which is probably better than letting Microsoft automatically choose how best to configure memory, etc. for Linux, right (if they did, you would probably change your bitching to claim that Microsoft is choosing bad settings, on purpose, to undermine the performance of any non-MS, non-proprietary operating system to continue with their legacy of monopolistic behavior you so clearly expressed you hate)?

Please seek another side street to jump on the "I hate Microsoft" parade route. This is clear evidence of your taking the post and believing its biased spin as facts rather than reading all the available literature to make your own determination. (Even if you had read the linked article which doesn't go in-depth, you would have clearly seen that: "The first thing we noticed was the removal of Linux, BSD, Netware and Solaris from the Guest Operating System Wizard list, which was bound to happen to Virtual PC in the hands of Microsoft." Source)

No one, particularly not Microsoft, called this a fix other than the person posting this article to Slashdot.

If you feel that Microsoft is the pinnacle of evil, that is fine. You are more than entitled to your opinion, and the expression thereof. But, when you use spin that is CLEARLY untrue as the factual basis for the venting of your sentiments, you simply undermine yourself. This is why academic papers require citation of sources, research of facts, and opinions based on facts, not prejudices for or against ideas.

What you have posted is a discredit to your publicly portrayed persona. Do you really want people to think that you are simply willing to jump onto any bandwagon to claim your opinions are right? Wouldn't you rather validate your opinions with facts? You can do better!

I've tried it, and it kicks major ass. It's about 10 times better than using XP by itself: think all of the convience features of XP, with the performance characteristics and interfaces of it's lighterweight sister, Win2k.

Sure, you can turn on theming if you want, it's in there. It supports DirectX9 and everything else.

Also, it's IE is (finally) secure by default, and it has gobs of cool management tools for policies, etc, and not just with TweakUI. Stuff that you used to need a registry editor and google or seperate tool to manage.

It rocks. It feels faster than Windows XP on the same box, and it exposes control over more features through the services/administrative tools.

Okay, I'm done blabbing. This guide explains it better than I can.