Hi OldGrantonian, Its pretty straight forward. HERE is an guide that will take you through the process of slip streaming, and it has got plenty of pictures. Not that you will need the pictures, but it helps.

Thanks for the response :emotion-1:

I followed the instructions. As far as I know, there were no problems creating the slipstreamed DVD.

However, when I tested it, I might have a problem. :emotion-6:

Here's the story.

I need to do a repair install (not urgently!)

My laptop is now SP1, but my Dell DVD is only SP0. You cannot do a "repair" install if your laptop is a higher SP version than your DVD. You must first uninstall SP1.

Reminder:  A "repair install" allows you to keep your data files, settings, and programs.

After you accept the license on the DVD, you have a choice of doing a "repair" install, or a "clean" install (where you can't keep your data files, settings, or programs).

If your laptop is a higher SP than your DVD, the "repair" option is greyed out. That's what happened with my slipstreamed DVD :emotion-6:

If you have a DVD that was slipstreamed by vLIte, I would be most grateful if you could do the following check on the DVD:

1)  Leave Vista running. (Important. Don't boot from the DVD.)
2)  Insert the DVD.
3)  Follow the instructions. Accept the license. (You can cancel before anything actually happens!)
4)  Now, you get the option "Which type of installation do you want?"
5)  This is where you get the "repair" or "clean" options. Is your "repair" option greyed out?
6)   Now you can cancel :)

Thanks for your help :emotion-1:
.

I believe that in order to do a  repair you must boot from the DVD and select the repair the installation instead of installing it see Here

From within window one would want to try running the system file checker or sfc

Hi Davet50,

I'm no techy, but it seems that there are two types of "repair".

 -  There's the "startup repair" that you refer to. You would use this repair if something prevents your Vista from starting. That's why you boot straight into the DVD. A startup repair can take about 5 seconds.

 -  There's the "repair install" (which is what I want to do). In my case, I had two minor problems which I wanted to fix. Neither of these problems prevented Vista from starting. A repair install can take an hour or more, because each file needs to be examined for corruption.

This is the link that I use for a "repair install":
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/88236-repair-install-vista.html?ltr=R

Note that this link warns you *not* to boot into Vista.
.

Hi OldGrantonian, That link HERE is telling me to install Vista over the original install of Vista. The reason being, on my old XP system, i did an reinstall  which meant booting off the CD, and it would not copy all the files over. So what I did was to install XP that way that link says to get all my files over. It does work and it is handy to use, but I would not call it an repair if something goes wrong later.

Thanks for all the responses :)

Well, we seem to have sidetracked a bit from my originad post, which was using vLite to create a slipstreamed SP1 DVD. But that's OK :)

Each sidetrack adds a bit to my knowledge for the future, and I bookmark every useful link.

Coming back to vLite. Here is the link posted earlier by RobinBredin:

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/151606-vista-sp1-slipstream-installation-dvd.html

At the start of the referenced tutorial, it says:

----------------------------------------------------

How to Create a Vista SP1 Slipstream Installation DVD

Information

      This will show you how to create a Vista installation DVD with the Vista SP1 slipstreamed into it for any 32 and 64 bit version of Vista you want. This DVD will allow you to do a clean install of Vista with the SP1 all at once instead of installing Vista first then the SP1.     []

NOTE
      This Vista SP1 slipstream installation DVD will also allow you to run a Repair install on Vista with SP1 installed now. Before, you could not use a normal Vista installation DVD ro run a Repair install on Vista with SP1 installed since Vista with SP1 was a new version than what was on the Vista DVD.

----------------------------------------------------

So, that's what I'm trying to do :)

I would like to repeat a request I made earlier. If anyone has successfully slipstreamed SP1 using vLite, I would be grateful if they could try the "repair install" steps up to the point where you are asked "Which type of installation do you want?". It only takes about a minute.

Please tell me whether the "repair" option is greyed out.

Note that you can cancel at this point, and nothing will actually happen :)

Here is another point that I forgot to mention, but it should perhaps be obvious.

If your original Dell OEM DVD is SP0, and your machine is now SP1, then I think if you use the OEM DVD, then the repair option is greyed out. So maybe someone could try this as well. (I can't try this at the moment, because my laptop is back at SP0, because I needed to uninstall SP1 to do the repair install with my OEM DVD.)

Are you confused yet :)

Many thanks :)
.

OldGrantonian,

I have an issue with System Restore. The other people helping you know this, so I decided that maybe doing a system repair of Vista would help. I will post back there if this helped with fixing System Restore.

I made a Slipstream disk using vLite. I have Windows Vista Home Premium (32-bit) SP1. Here are my findings on how do do an actual repair. The repair procedure is NOT the same as with XP and that's where it gets confusing. Before I procede, I want to say the RobinBreding's post is very helpful with making a slipstream disk. Davet50 and me also include our drivers with our slipstream disk. The program we use is Wndrvrbckup Backup Utilities

How to do a System Repair with Vista using a Slipstream Disk made with vLite.

Make sure you're logged into an unrestricted account.

After you're logged in, then you insert the Slipstream Disk. Allow it to run. Choose install now.

Go Online to get the latest Updates.

The other screens did NOT appear about a Windows Key as I used an OEM Version of Vista and on a Dell computer, the product key is on the motherboard.

Now you click on Upgrade.

It seems like it sits in the compatibility mode for a while, but that's ok. It will eventually start. You leave the disk in until you see a screen that asks you about Windows Securitty(Windows Update Settings) and then about your clock settings.

It sometimes sits there and you think it's not responding but it's actually doing something. There were a few times I thought it wasn't responding but it then started going faster and then it went back to slow again. This procedure took over 2 hours. I don't know how much longer over 2 hours it took, as I fell asleep because I did this after work. I did a check and it still has SP1, unfortunately I used an older slipstream disk and now have 47 updates to download and install.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Rick

Hi Rick,

Thanks for your response :)

Please note that I know how to do repair installs. My problem is trying to use vLite to slipstream SP1 with an SP0 OEM DVD :)

I created a slipstreamed DVD, using the link in RobinBredin's post:
http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/151606-vista-sp1-slipstream-installation-dvd.html

I wanted to test it to verify that SP1 had been slipstreamed. One way to do that would be to do a clean install, and then look in my system settings to see if SP1 is installed. But that would wipe all my settings. So, instead I wanted to test it by doing a repair install.


>>  I made a Slipstream disk using vLite. I have Windows Vista Home Premium (32-bit) SP1.

Did your original system OEM DVD contain SP1, or did you slipstream SP1?

>>  Now you click on Upgrade.

That proves that you have the "Upgrade" option. For my slipstreamed DVD, this option is greyed out. Only the "Custom" option was available. I think this proves that SP1 was not successfully slipstreamed. So my slipstreamed DVD cannot be used for repair installs :(

Instead, I must uninstall SP1. Then do the repair (the "Upgrade" option is available when I uninstall SP1).  Then I re-install SP1. (I did this yesterday, and it was completely successful. But of course it takes hours to uninstall SP1, then re-install afterwards with hundreds of windows updates.

So, coming back to my original post, I'm trying to find out why SP1 was not slipstreamed. It's probably due to one of my stupid errors, because as far as I know, I'm the only person in the world who cannot slipstream SP1 to a SP0 DVD :(

BTW:  The Wndrvrbckup Backup Utilities tool looks very useful.

.

OldGrantonian,

You downloaded the Stand Alone version of SP1 from the red box, correct? You have to integreate this plus any other updates into the slipstream disk. Do NO use the unattended setting as it asks for product key and on a Dell the motherboard contains this information.

When you start vLite, after each item, then click the next button at the bottom and go screen by screen. At the bottom, you might get an error message saying the some of the hotfixes didn't install but continue anyway. It will continue until you get everything together and then the last screen should come to, create an image. I create the image to the desktop. I then open my burn program and burn the image to the disk. If you're prompted, make sure it's bootable, depending on the burn program you're using. If using Roxio, it should be simple.

After the burn yoiu can insert the DVD into the DVD rom and then follow the instructions above and choose upgrade and it should work. Please make sure your bios is set to boot from the CD/DVD rom before the hard drive.

The location of the Windows Updates in Vista should be C:\Windows\SoftwareDistribution\Download\

You'll need the .cab files and like I said they all do not install.

Rick

OldGrantonian,

Maybe you'd like to slipstream Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 and Windows Vista Service Pack 2 - Five Language Standalone (KB948465) in your new disk!

Rick

>>  You downloaded the Stand Alone version of SP1 from the red box, correct?

I'm not sure what you mean by "red box", but I downloaded SP1.exe from here:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=B0C7136D-5EBB-413B-89C9-CB3D06D12674&displaylang=en

>>  ... make sure it's bootable

After I created the ISO, I tested that it was bootable. It is :)

However, to do a "repair install" (which is what I want), the DVD is started from within the running Vista. (Not booted into the DVD.) When I start the DVD from the running Vista, the "Upgrade" option is greyed out. So I think this proves that although the ISO seemed to be created without problems, SP1 is not actually slipstreamed. That's why I'm hoping some kind person will run the following quick test:

1)  Must have a computer that arrived with SP0, and has since been upgraded to SP1,

2)  Must have a DVD that was created from the SP0 OEM DVD, with SP1 slipstreamed.

3)  Insert the DVD in the running Vista, and see whether the "Upgrade" option is greyed out. If greyed out, SP1 is not slipstreamed. If "Upgrade" is not greyed out, then SP1 is successully slipstreamed.
.

Hum, now that I have SP2 installed I guess it means I need to make a Slipstreamed SP2 disk  :emotion-18:

OEM(not a Dell DISK) SP0

Hi Davet50 :)

What is the SP level of your original manufacturer's system DVD? SP0 or SP1?
.

>>  [OldGrantonian]  What is the SP level of your original manufacturer's system DVD? SP0 or SP1?

>>  [Davet50]  OEM(not a Dell DISK) SP0

Excellent!

>>  [Davet50] Hum, now that I have SP2 installed I guess it means I need to make a Slipstreamed SP2 disk

Because you are planning to slipstream SP2, then I'm guessing:

 (a) that you previously upgraded to SP1

and

 (b)  you have a slipstreamed SP1 DVD

I'll bet you a pint of Guinness that you can't do the following:

 -  You can't use your original OEM DVD to do a repair install, because the option will be greyed out. It's greyed out because you can't use an SP0 DVD to repair an SP2 machine.

 -  You can't use your slipstreamed SP1 DVD to do a repair install, because the option will be greyed out. It's greyed out because you can't use an SP1 DVD to repair an SP2 machine.

So, the only way you can do a repair install is to:

 (a)  Uninstall SP2. Use your slipstreamed SP1 DVD to do the repair. Re-install SP2.

or

 (b)  Uninstall SP2. Uninstall SP1. User your original OEM DVD to do the repair. Re-install SP1. Re-install SP2.
.