Making a Slip-Streamed CD

Here's the problem. Friend lives in Atlanta, I'm in upstate NY. Old friend
has system that got bitten by the Bagel.C worm (McAfee) Beagle.C
(Symantec). He has WinXP Home (original Full Version CD) and the SP-2 update
CD from Microsoft which he previously installed.

In order to clear up some problems from the worm, I want to do a repair
install but that means he needs a CD with SP-2 already integrated or else
windows will not do the repair and he would have to do a complete
re-installation from scratch. Want to avoid that if I can.

So... I have a Dell WinXP Home CD and was wondering..... If I make him a
slip-streamed CD using the Dell CD, would it work to do a repair install of
his system? The Dell CD is a full version, bootable CD. I've made the CD
already but I can only test it against the Dell system here. Would that CD
work to do a repair of a non-Dell system? His system is a generic home-brew
but of fairly recent vintage - maybe two years old at most.

Not cheating here, he has his own license and would use it. The other
alternative I see is to have him send me his CD and I make a slip-streamed
version and send it back to him. Somehow I have the feeling that's going to
be the answer but I've read that some of the earlier CD's from Dell - even
though OEM, have all the files needed but I have no way to verify that.

What say the guru's ....

Thank you,

Bob S.

Just to add some more info. I borrowed a Compaq laptop (WinXP Home, SP-2
installed) and tried the slip-streamed CD I made in it. Booted fine and I
was able to get to the Repair Install menu. Indicates that this just may
work but I didn't go any further since I didn't want to mess up the laptop's
installation.

Bob S.

Your slip-streamed Dell Windows XP HE may not work on self-built pc as
installation may check for Dell BIOS stuff!

To find out more about slip-streaming, visit:
http://www.petri.co.il/windows_2000_...pstreaming.htm

Rgds

Actually, the repair installation /can/ be done with the RTM Full Version CD
that he has, he'll simply need to reinstall the SP2 after the repair is
complete. I have personally done this several times without issue.

The key is to not run the CD from within the Windows enviroment, but to
/boot/ from the CD, and then select the appropriate menu options to get into
the "repair" installation.

Your Dell system CD will not install on a non-Dell system, as the OEM CDs,
particularly the Dell CDs, do hardware verification prior to installation,
and not finding a Dell systemboard (or the requisite BIOS information) will
annoy the setup utility that's looking for Dell-specific information -- like
the Service Tag among many things.

Making a slipstreamed CD from /his/ copy is a viable solution, but as noted
above, it is not necessary.


"Bob" <no-> wrote in message
news:%23J20$...
> Here's the problem. Friend lives in Atlanta, I'm in upstate NY. Old
> friend has system that got bitten by the Bagel.C worm (McAfee) Beagle.C
> (Symantec). He has WinXP Home (original Full Version CD) and the SP-2
> update CD from Microsoft which he previously installed.
>
> In order to clear up some problems from the worm, I want to do a repair
> install but that means he needs a CD with SP-2 already integrated or else
> windows will not do the repair and he would have to do a complete
> re-installation from scratch. Want to avoid that if I can.
>
> So... I have a Dell WinXP Home CD and was wondering..... If I make him a
> slip-streamed CD using the Dell CD, would it work to do a repair install
> of his system? The Dell CD is a full version, bootable CD. I've made the
> CD already but I can only test it against the Dell system here. Would
> that CD work to do a repair of a non-Dell system? His system is a generic
> home-brew but of fairly recent vintage - maybe two years old at most.
>
> Not cheating here, he has his own license and would use it. The other
> alternative I see is to have him send me his CD and I make a slip-streamed
> version and send it back to him. Somehow I have the feeling that's going
> to be the answer but I've read that some of the earlier CD's from Dell -
> even though OEM, have all the files needed but I have no way to verify
> that.
>
> What say the guru's ....
>
> Thank you,
>
> Bob S.
>
>
>
>

Well... if it worked on the Compaq... then perhaps your Dell CD is of the
vintage that did not include those hardware verification checks that I
encountered when I tried such an experiment. :-)

However, even if you get all the way through the character-based
installation, where you're likely to run into problems is missing hardware
drivers, or mismatched hardware drivers, and the Dell CD may also have a
customized HAL which would not appear as a problem until after the character
based installation is completed and the system tries to boot into the GUI
install.

As a first step, I would simply do the repair from the existing Full Install
Retail CD, and then reapply the SP2 after the "repair" has completed. If
/that/ doesn't work, then I'd look at building a slipstreamed CD from his
media (and you might even swap CDs in the mail and try your CD while you're
working on building his CD).

The truth is, based on the current description of the situation, you really
have nothing to lose by trying any of the available methodologies. Worst
case scenario is that he'll have to do an original install (without
formatting) of the XP Home system, which will require reinstallation of
applications, and recustomization of the enviroment, but will not cause any
data loss, since the Documents and Settings folder would be retained.

For further discussion on this issue, though,
microsoft.public.windowsxp.general is probably the best forum.

"BobS" <no-> wrote in message
news:...
> Just to add some more info. I borrowed a Compaq laptop (WinXP Home, SP-2
> installed) and tried the slip-streamed CD I made in it. Booted fine and I
> was able to get to the Repair Install menu. Indicates that this just may
> work but I didn't go any further since I didn't want to mess up the
> laptop's installation.
>
> Bob S.
>

Thanks for the information and we'll give your recommendations a try.

Thank you for your time,

Bob S.


"Lawrence Garvin" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Actually, the repair installation /can/ be done with the RTM Full Version
> CD that he has, he'll simply need to reinstall the SP2 after the repair is
> complete. I have personally done this several times without issue.
>
> The key is to not run the CD from within the Windows enviroment, but to
> /boot/ from the CD, and then select the appropriate menu options to get
> into the "repair" installation.
>
> Your Dell system CD will not install on a non-Dell system, as the OEM CDs,
> particularly the Dell CDs, do hardware verification prior to installation,
> and not finding a Dell systemboard (or the requisite BIOS information)
> will annoy the setup utility that's looking for Dell-specific
> information -- like the Service Tag among many things.
>
> Making a slipstreamed CD from /his/ copy is a viable solution, but as
> noted above, it is not necessary.
>
>
> "Bob" <no-> wrote in message
> news:%23J20$...
>> Here's the problem. Friend lives in Atlanta, I'm in upstate NY. Old
>> friend has system that got bitten by the Bagel.C worm (McAfee) Beagle.C
>> (Symantec). He has WinXP Home (original Full Version CD) and the SP-2
>> update CD from Microsoft which he previously installed.
>>
>> In order to clear up some problems from the worm, I want to do a repair
>> install but that means he needs a CD with SP-2 already integrated or else
>> windows will not do the repair and he would have to do a complete
>> re-installation from scratch. Want to avoid that if I can.
>>
>> So... I have a Dell WinXP Home CD and was wondering..... If I make him
>> a slip-streamed CD using the Dell CD, would it work to do a repair
>> install of his system? The Dell CD is a full version, bootable CD. I've
>> made the CD already but I can only test it against the Dell system here.
>> Would that CD work to do a repair of a non-Dell system? His system is a
>> generic home-brew but of fairly recent vintage - maybe two years old at
>> most.
>>
>> Not cheating here, he has his own license and would use it. The other
>> alternative I see is to have him send me his CD and I make a
>> slip-streamed version and send it back to him. Somehow I have the feeling
>> that's going to be the answer but I've read that some of the earlier CD's
>> from Dell - even though OEM, have all the files needed but I have no way
>> to verify that.
>>
>> What say the guru's ....
>>
>> Thank you,
>>
>> Bob S.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>

Good points and you're probably right about the hardware checks...

Thanks,

Bob S.

"Lawrence Garvin" <> wrote in message
news:...
> Well... if it worked on the Compaq... then perhaps your Dell CD is of the
> vintage that did not include those hardware verification checks that I
> encountered when I tried such an experiment. :-)
>
> However, even if you get all the way through the character-based
> installation, where you're likely to run into problems is missing hardware
> drivers, or mismatched hardware drivers, and the Dell CD may also have a
> customized HAL which would not appear as a problem until after the
> character based installation is completed and the system tries to boot
> into the GUI install.
>
> As a first step, I would simply do the repair from the existing Full
> Install Retail CD, and then reapply the SP2 after the "repair" has
> completed. If /that/ doesn't work, then I'd look at building a
> slipstreamed CD from his media (and you might even swap CDs in the mail
> and try your CD while you're working on building his CD).
>
> The truth is, based on the current description of the situation, you
> really have nothing to lose by trying any of the available methodologies.
> Worst case scenario is that he'll have to do an original install (without
> formatting) of the XP Home system, which will require reinstallation of
> applications, and recustomization of the enviroment, but will not cause
> any data loss, since the Documents and Settings folder would be retained.
>
> For further discussion on this issue, though,
> microsoft.public.windowsxp.general is probably the best forum.
>
> "BobS" <no-> wrote in message
> news:...
>> Just to add some more info. I borrowed a Compaq laptop (WinXP Home, SP-2
>> installed) and tried the slip-streamed CD I made in it. Booted fine and
>> I was able to get to the Repair Install menu. Indicates that this just
>> may work but I didn't go any further since I didn't want to mess up the
>> laptop's installation.
>>
>> Bob S.
>>
>
>