Troubleshooting the customized Windows XP unattended install CD
Thankfully, most issues with customized boot CDs are pretty easy to track down
due to the Windows error messages that tend to crop up. Let's run through
a few of the most common scenarios that could cause your disk to fail.
1. Service pack slipstreaming
errors
The upgrade -n -s: command used to integrate Service Pack files with your operating system files
cannot handle multiple word directory names. If you are having trouble
updating your files, make sure none of the affected items are in folders that
have a space in their names; 'boot cd' would be bad, while 'bootcd' is a better choice, for
example.
2. SATA/RAID errors
If you are getting a syntax error or an error on line xx of your 'txtsetup.sif'
or 'winnt.sif' files, you have a mistake in one or both of these files. Go
back and recheck the entries you made and the steps you took, then recompile the
CD.
If you are getting an error message stating that the
installation process cannot find the (yourdrivername).sys file, this means you have not added the
file correctly to the I386 directory of your CD. You need to redo the
makecab portion of step 4 and ensure that you have spelled the driver name
correctly.
If you have added RAID/SATA controller drivers and are attempting to install
to this device but Windows cannot find your hard drive, chances are you've added
an incompatible driver file. Verify the version and try again.
Lastly, while we've made an effort to try these instructions with many hardware variants and RAID/SATA
controllers, there are still many combinations we have not experimented
with. If you've followed everything here to the letter and you are
still getting errors, try using Google to search the Internet for answers specific
to your RAID/SATA controller.
3. Bootable CD creation errors
If you are having trouble creating a bootable CD, make
sure you are setting the correct options. Most importantly, emulation must be
set to 'no emulation,' bootable sectors to 4, the 'do not add the ";1" ISO file
version extension' option must be enabled and the 'ISO level 2 (max of 31 characters)
option must be set.
We hope you've enjoyed this Guide from PCstats and found
it very helpful. We'd like to hear from you about your own CD customization
experiences. If you have any questions or comments, or know of something that
might make a valuable addition to this guide, please add it to our knowledge
base on this article in the forums.
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