Well, you have two options:
(1) Be a guinea pig and just follow the instructions straight up
(2) Or slipstream the install just in case

Guinea pig, huh? Hmmm. Well, when I get back next week, I'll give that a shot and post the results.

Kevin

OK, for another scenario:
If I am putting in a new, blank hard drive, and I have my own copy of XP Pro (not what came with the T42, but a true XP Pro CD with license and key), then I don't need to do any of this correct??

All i would have to do is copy the two directories to the new drive after XP is installed, and download the driver installation tool, right???

Just verifying.

Thanks,
Andrew
Austin, TX

Right. Just make sure you visit IBM web site for the latest drivers.

Well I put, as far as I know, all the files in the right place but still can't burn a cd.
I can see the "scanningscreen" but nothing else happens.
The program closes and that's it.
No ISOfile or burned cd.

Please help!

UPDATE:

Downloaded a newer aspidriver and no problems anymore ...

just finished reinstalling everything with SP2. works like a charm!

The iso file (bcd.iso) should be located in your temp folder.

...I am stupid and am doing something wrong!! My machine was originally shipped with Win XPP SP2. Wanted to make a fresh install. I went through every step as indicated in the guide. Step 7 where you extract the SP2 package gave me an message box giving me various options instead of integrating.

Used the following commands to integrate the SP2 pack:
c:\sp2\windowsxp-kb835935-sp2-enu.exe /x
cd c:\sp2\i386\update
update /integrate:c:\bcd\cds\wxppro\files

SP2 was integrated giving exactly the same windows as indicated in the guide. Phew!!

When I tried to burn the CD....bcd gives me this error message:
error...c:\bcd\cds\wxppro\files\i386\winsxs\manifest\BIG FILE NAME has the same joliet file name as c:\bcd\cds\wxppro\files\i386\winsxs\manifest\BIG FILE NAME.CAT

Gave the same for a list of files.....I was struck here......

Did something crazy. Moved the Manifest folder from the build directory to somewhere else and tried to burn the CD. bcd aborted saying that the CD size was not sufficient. Created an iso image using the bcd -b \bcd\wxppro command and the iso image was 727MB. My CD drive (Matshita UJDA755y) is not overburning inspite of fiddling with the maximum overburn of 10000.

So I used a personal Win XP Pro CD slip streamed with SP2 and made a fresh install!!

Now, can I use the serial number supplied by IBM with my perosnal CD? If not, does this mean that the version of win XP Pro supplied by IBM is lost forever? I have burned a complete recovery CD set.

I have a problem where I would like to reinstall Windows, but still keep the IBM service partition, but I don't know the password to Rapid Restore.

I brought this up to IBM support, and they suggested created restore discs. Turns out the restore discs copy over the existing password.

I tried upgrading Rapid Restore, but the upgrade keeps the existing password as well.

Can anyone help me figure this out? Would it be possible to use a different Rescue and Recover disc? (I just got another thinkpad, albeit a different model than the problematic one).

Thanks.

Edit:

Nevermind, figured this one out w/ the help of pchrista.

I updated the guide with more specific instructions and screenshots for SP2.
I can confirm now that by following the instructions in the guide you should not have any problems in installing a clean copy of Windows XP with SP2 whether your machine came preloaded with SP1 or SP2.

The only thing though you may encounter with SP2 is that the “unattend.txt” trick might not work. So you just need to use the product key that is on the back of your machine and do the activation.

Thanks for everyone for his comments and positive feedback.

Thank YOU for managing such an important and informative thread!

Has anyone tried to burn a slipstreamed version of SP2 after substituting the correct unattend.txt file (with the proper product ID) from the original IBM installation for the file created in the slipstream process?

since there may be problems with activation with a slipstreamed SP2, isn't it better to just slipstream with SP1,and then update the final installation with SP2. Is there a downside (other than extra step) that I am missing?

My question was not an attempt to address the activation problem. My slipstreamed SP2 installed without having to activate. I did, however, forget to write down the product ID before starting the install, which was easy to solve. But that got me thinking, why can't you just use the original unattend.txt file when making the slipstreamed CD?

I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong but after I disable the IBM partition I'm still not able to see it in my computer. I went ahead and opened up partition magic and it see's the main drive as NTfs and the IBM drive as FAT. What did I do wrong? Thanks for any help.

Not a bad guide, but a few things that could be done to really bump it up to the next level:

- With the method you use it'd be easy to go one step farther and set up an unattended install process. You already touch the unattend.txt once, so configuring a few options in there wouldn't be much of a stretch. Not only would it make the install faster & easier, you could add the drivers to the PNP search path, so that the correct IBM drivers are installed DURING OS setup, instead of after the fact. Little cleaner process.

- You really don't need software installer. It's a decent way to get blanket coverage with only a little thought, but control freaks would probably prefer the old fasion way to just get the drivers from
http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site. ... PAD-MATRIX

- Nice job recommending people to save IBMTOOLS before getting started. The next step I'd recommend is looking through that folder for \OSFIXES\. It's a folder full of MS hotfixes released specific to IBM for TP's, and that OSFIXES folder is the only place you can find 'em.

The partition type is set as another primary partition, and your system can only have 1 active primary partition at a time. Disabling it in BIOS only frees up the space.

Thanks for this guide. I tried it today and it worked just fine, including setting the machine up with the proper workgroup, name, and so on as well as picking up the installation key from the file, so I did not even have to enter it.
http://unattended.msfn.org/ gives the rest of the details.

One thing I noticed was that in slipstreaming the SP2 file into the i386 folder, it kept replacing the original IBM unattended.txt with some truncated version from somewhere else. No idea where it came from, but the key was totally wrong.

Therefore, if you need to use the installation key, make sure you get it from the ORIGINAL i386 folder, not the one that is present after slipstreaming.

thanks again for this. Worked a treat and obviated the need to contact IBM for restore cd package.

should i update all the ibm drivers after i receive my new t42 and then backup the driver folders....or do it afterward

Either way will work. If you update your drivers now, you will not need to do that after reinstalling WinXP.
Note that if you just received your T42 with SP2 preinstalled, then most likely that most of the drivers are up-to-date.

Thanks for your comments. This guide was design primarily to serve the novice users who need simple steps that are easy to follow and I believe that what you are suggesting here will add undesirable level of complexity to the guide. The site http://unattended.msfn.org/ mentioned by mr.physics would help anybody wants to go beyond the simplicity of this guide.


I think you got confused between the TP Software Installer and the IBM Update Connector. With the former you need to go to the driver matrices and download the drivers you need by yourself then use the Software Installer to install them on your machine. While the IBM Update Connector connects to IBM server and selects for you the drivers you need based on your current configuration. The site you are recommending http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=TPAD-MATRIX is the same one I’m referring the reader to.


Thanks for the tip. I will add this to the guide.


Thanks for your feedback. I will add your note to the guide.

Wow! What a difference it makes getting rid of all that superfluous dreck! My GUU thanks you, UCI_MECH (and so do I)!

I've wanted to do this since I bought the machine 8 months ago, but I was always afraid of what I didn't know I didn't know. Your guide made for smooth sailing and calm waters all the way.

The product key in my unattend.txt file worked sweetly.

Again, thank you!

Glad it worked out. Welcome to our Forum. Please update your profile with location and other relevant information.

Whoa, off topic, but isn't detailed info like location optional.

Yes (that's why I said "Please" ), but it's nice to know, and in particular, location information is appreciated because it helps to answer those questions that may be specific to a particular part of the world. No need to worry about privacy, be as specific or as general as you want to be.

"Please" doesn't make it sound optional to me; just polite.

Well, to clarify again, it is. I would appreciate yours too, but it is entirely optional.

Thanks for the welcome!

I recently reinstalled WinXP on my T23 from base media (I have no idea where the recovery disk is) to shrink my win partition & grow my linux partition...One thing that drove me nuts was that I could not get standby working after the reinstall (function-F4/F12 didn't work), and in the microsoft shutdown menu stand by was greyed out...after installing and reinstalling power management drivers, bios updates, etc, I finally loaded the IBM video drivers and everything started working

Hopefully I can save somebody else from the pain of that experience.

I'm taking delivery in the morning of my T42 2373N3U and have questions about wiping the drive and reinstalling WXPP:

1. Is the performance gain really that substantial as to be noticeable?

2. How is the procedure modified if I have an SP2 CD (used to install on my desktop)?

3. Getting rid of the IBM restore hidden partition - why? Does their restore/recovery program not work well? Could I restore the IBM recovery program if I wanted to? (I also have Acronis True Image that I use on my desktop, but I would think the IBM version more reliable on TP, right?)

4. I see mention of going onto the web soon after reinstalling WXPP - isn't that risky without first installing and updating an AV program? I once had to go to the microsoft web for updates after reinstalling WXP-H, and did so before installing/updating AV and got big time infection that required another HD wipe and fresh install!!

5. My web connect at home is via modem (I have network in office) - are the downloads mentioned in the procedure large enough that I should defer this process until I can do it on the network?

Thanks,
-Doug

1. IMHO, no.

2. Explained in the thread above.

3. IMHO, the restore partition is one of the valuable features of the Thinkpad. I would/do keep it. It works very well. Acronis as an "off machine" backup is good too; it is what I use.

4. I would install the AV/AS/FW programs first.

5. Yes.