nLite

I am adding a whole bunch of new computers to my business and having the experience of just how mind numbing it is to install Windows over and over again, inputting the same boring questions (yet funny how the Windows Setup wants you to pretend how utterly critical and exciting each question it asks you is), I decided to search for some way to automate this process of which I knew can be done having had some MSCE background.

I found out about nLite probably through some kind of google search, although at this time I cannot recall how. Seems to perfectly fit the bill in several respects, the main one it is NOT from Microsoft, which is important considering how manipulative Microsoft is with its pretentions of controlling OS markets.

I highly recommend this program, and even though it seems to be perpetually in RC stage, it worked for me. I had to scrap RC3 for RC1 because RC3 would not finish (but not hang entirely) its build process.

I had some bad experiences trying to incorporate the latest x64 drivers, but that is not unexpected considering I am really going for state of the art in O/S (Windows XP x64) for my new batch of computers. I will relate to that in my next post (hey... isn't this supposed to be a programmers journal? oh well).