Is a custom WinXP install disc possible?

H

HighwayAssassins

Supreme [H]ardness
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Mar 2, 2004
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Reinstalling windows is a pain in teh ass. The worst part is installing norton, then installing firefox, then installing winamp, then installing powerdvd...so forth and so on.

Is there a way to make a copy of my existing XP disc, tweak it so things like firefox are installed right off the bat, and then burn it?

I thought I have heard of this before, but i dont know exactly what to search for.

Thanks!
 
http://www.nliteos.com/ or something along those lines can work for that sort of thing. It's relatively easy to set it up to install with the latest service pack/drivers. Applications are a little more cumbersome.
 
Once you have a clean install the way you want it, use a drive imaging program like Ghost to make a custom restore DVD. I have one DVD for each of my computers that let's me restore / rebuild in a few minutes.
 
nLite is a fucking aweosme program, and exactly what I was looking for!!

nLite + nLite add-on maker is perfect.

Thanks alot, time to test it out.
 
general said:
nLite is great. I don't know why you need Norton though.
Click to expand...
He asked about his applications and how to have them installed right away. Ghost is the easiest way to do that. Some of us are also hesitant to recommend Nlite. There have been a ton of threads on here with users experiencing weird problems, and the one common point is that they used Nlite to create the install disc. I personally wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole. I use Autostreamer to incorporate my service packs. It's easier and faster. Combine that with Ghost & Sysprep, and I have a custom install disc that works on any of my systems.
 
djnes said:
He asked about his applications and how to have them installed right away. Ghost is the easiest way to do that. Some of us are also hesitant to recommend Nlite. There have been a ton of threads on here with users experiencing weird problems, and the one common point is that they used Nlite to create the install disc. I personally wouldn't touch it with a ten foot pole. I use Autostreamer to incorporate my service packs. It's easier and faster. Combine that with Ghost & Sysprep, and I have a custom install disc that works on any of my systems.
Click to expand...
i've tried ghost. the problem with ghost is you cant boot off teh disc and install. you have to start with ghost in the OS, point to the image, then it takes FOR-EV-ER.

This is obviously not good if you bork your install when overclocking...in which case you would have to load windows just to load ghost, then format again. Just doenst make sence.

also, Ghost = $$, nLite = free with tons of support.

And programs are easy as shit to install. all you need to know is the silent install switch.
 
Yep. It's called Disk Imaging.

Set the machine up exactly as you want, then image it.

There are several programs out there, but I prefer Acronis TrueImage these days.

-Larry

HighwayAssassins said:
Reinstalling windows is a pain in teh ass. The worst part is installing norton, then installing firefox, then installing winamp, then installing powerdvd...so forth and so on.

Is there a way to make a copy of my existing XP disc, tweak it so things like firefox are installed right off the bat, and then burn it?

I thought I have heard of this before, but i dont know exactly what to search for.

Thanks!
Click to expand...
 
HighwayAssassins said:
i've tried ghost. the problem with ghost is you cant boot off teh disc and install. you have to start with ghost in the OS, point to the image, then it takes FOR-EV-ER.

This is obviously not good if you bork your install when overclocking...in which case you would have to load windows just to load ghost, then format again. Just doenst make sence.

also, Ghost = $$, nLite = free with tons of support.

And programs are easy as shit to install. all you need to know is the silent install switch.
Click to expand...
You're missing some of the most important functionality of using Ghost. Forget about Ghost the windows program....it's useless. Ghost should always be run from DOS. You simply burn a dos bootable DVD and add the ghost.exe file and the ghost images to a DVD....what's so hard about that? I think this is why so many people think Acronis is better...because they don't take the time to learn how ghost is supposed to be used...not the dumbed down, cutesy windows version.
 
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