Alignment issue -- Installing Win XP 32 bit on a new SSD

[WhipperSnapper]

Problem is, when I did that using the modified CD without the service packs (only adding the SATA drivers in nlite), it didn't like the CD key either.

If I try it using just the plain Windows XP Pro CD it freezes after the reboot. (Windows loads up to finish the installation and it freezes.)

I need some sort of a way to get those SATA drivers in there while using the original Win XP Pro disk.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Whippersnapper's Big XP installation onto SSD Adventure

What an adventure I've had over the past several days. I wanted to install Windows XP on my new SSD for my desktop. The problem is that the Windows XP installation does not support SATA drives, in which case it freezes up when it goes to do its first reboot (for the Windows screen part of the installation).

The solution to this problem is to create a "Slipstreamed" installation CD that contains a SATA driver. The only other computer I have at home for this is a Vista laptop. No problemo, right? So I downloaded the NLite program and created one XP installation CD with the SATA drivers in it and one XP installation CD with both the SATA drivers and Service Pack 3 integrated.

When I went to install on the desktop, the computer did pass the reboot part and started the Windows part of the installation...BUT...when it got to the part where you enter your CD key it claimed that the CD key was invalid!!! That's weird because that CD key has worked before.

So I researched this problem on the Internet and it turns out that for some retarded reason if you create a slipstreamed installation CD for XP on Vista or Windows 7, when you go to install, the software will claim that your product key is invalid!!!

Solution? You have to create the slipstream XP CD under XP. If you have Windows 7 you could try to run the NLite program in XP mode. If you have Vista then you need to install a Virtual PC / Virtual Machine that's running XP and do it from within the XP sub-computer.

First I tried Microsquish's Virtual PC program. After installing Win XP Pro, .Net framework, and NLite I was able to create .ISO files. The problem is that it's very difficult to transfer any of that out of the Virtual PC!!! It recognizes your CD drive, but only as a ROM drive and won't burn. It also won't recognize USB sticks. You can't drag your product files to your host computer's file system either. (I'm sure it's possible to set it up so that you can do some of that stuff, but I don't feel like figuring it out.)

So, I uninstalled MS's Virtual PC program and went with VMware, which I think is a much nicer program. VMware won't let you burn CDs either without doing a modification, but it will easily let you use USB sticks. So I created my XP installation CD ISOs and folders in VMware and copied to a USB stick. (It's copying right now.) From there I'm going to burn CDs in Vista (one just plain XP with the SATA drivers, the other XP + SP3 with the SATA drivers) and try to get my installation going on the new SSD again.

Whew! What a big pain-in-the-ass this has been. I guess I've learned a lot about creating custom installation CDs and Virtual PCs.

 

[groberts101]

Not sure where your getting this info.. but I have never had to install drivers for any sata drives that I use XP on. Including several brands of SSD's.

That's definately a new one on me.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Without the drivers, the installation would immediately freeze after the first reboot.

I have finally succeeded, but it got hairier. It turns out that you can't slipstream SP3 in because SP3 requires SP2. I tried using a CD with plain XP Pro and the SATA drivers and that one repeatedly froze at the 39 minutes stage. Finally I was able to get an XP Pro with SP2 and SATA drivers disk to work.

 

[mattMEDIX]

You will have to create an aligned partition before entering the XP installer.

There are many ways to do this. The simplest is if you have access to a Windows 7 disc.

Boot the Windows 7 disc with the SSD connected as if you were going to install Windows 7 to the disk. Once you arrive at the drive partitioning section, create your partitions how you see fit. Once finished, exit the installer and power off.

Swap the installer discs so the XP installer is now in the drive. Run the XP installer and when you get to the partition selection section, choose the partition you want to install to and use the option NTFS quick format.

I did this and it installed XP on the SSD... the problem is that it made the "system reserved" drive (100mb that W7 creates) my C: and it made the "Local Disk" (where XP is installed) drive D:

How do I change D to C and still have it boot?

Advice?

 

[Coup27]

Er not sure on that one. Everything will have been installed with the D : \ paths so changing it to C: \ might cause systemwide carnage. I've missed the step out of removing the 100MB system partition.

When you create a new partition in the Windows 7 installer and it creates the 100MB system partition and your remaining data partition, delete the data partition. Then extend the 100MB partition into the remaining space. This will then give you a single aligned partition. Exit the installer and install onto that single partition. That will only give you a C drive.

I don't know how far into your installation you are but it may be easier to re-do it doing the above. Sorry about that.

 

[Arkaign]

Check this guide out :

http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/showthread.php?43460-Making-XP-pro-SSD-friendly

XP is not ideal for SSDs, but you can get it close enough I guess.

As for an ideal copy of XP, I'll PM you info on a non-modified SP3 ISO that only has updates + SATA drivers streamed in. I've used it a few dozens times for customer reloads, and it checks out 100% clean, no junk/spam/etc.

 

[Elixer]

yep.. that'll do it. Need to install the XP version that the key was generated with. THEN.. update to the later service packs after the base install. IIRC(been a while).. has something to do with the genuine advantage thingy.

Stupid MS made things too damned difficult as usual.

Hmm? That isn't true, you can slipstream the SP in, and it works. I have done this hundreds of times.

Not sure where your getting this info.. but I have never had to install drivers for any sata drives that I use XP on. Including several brands of SSD's.

That's definately a new one on me.

It depends on the motherboard, and what controller. I pretty much had to install SATA drivers for pretty much all motherboards, I would also add in video, sound, and NIC, and chipset drivers as well.
It just really depends on the hardware you got.

 

[Elixer]

I did this and it installed XP on the SSD... the problem is that it made the "system reserved" drive (100mb that W7 creates) my C: and it made the "Local Disk" (where XP is installed) drive D:

How do I change D to C and still have it boot?

Advice?

That is odd, just go into disk management, on system reserve, tell it to unmount it, and don't assign any letter.
Then you can assign D to C.
Though, I am wondering how this all went down.
I would most likely reinstall, since that could fubar some registry stuff IIRC.