Yeah it's one of those sort of threads again. =/

I'm sitting here with a copy of Windows NT 4.00 Server +SP1 in vmware and wondering what I can do to make this disc up to date(as far as the retirement date is concerned). I am going this route due to several annoying reasons:

Slipstreaming isn't supported on the NT 4.00 platform.
Hardware detection is horrible. Upgrading some files to the latest version stops these problems.
I cannot rely on the $OEM$ method because I just get a bluescreen.
The existence of WINNT.SIF will cause a bluescreen.
Instead of automating the impossible task of running SP6 after installation or configuration changes, I would rather just have all the files on the install disc already upgraded and neatly packed for fast installs and quick configuration changes.


Now I realize there are several issues with what I want to do:
I have to overwrite SP1 files with SP6 files.
I have to unpack SP1 files for checking, look for a SP6 mirror and repack it.
The files that have no mirror will have to be added manually(DOSNET/TXTSETUP? Both?)
There are registry hives that need editing but I cannot find them in complete form.
I have to slip some registry information into the installation to make sure SP6 is registered correctly.


Am I walking in the footsteps of any failures or has anyone ever done this successfully? This task is one of those things that make me wonder "can do it and should I?"

Does anyone have any suggestions or know of any tools that can help me? I looked at Bart's method but it only involved making a WINNT disc bootable. I've looked everywhere for help on this and they all point to Bart's method. Did I miss something?

NT 4 is dead
why would you even want to bother with it
I would never use it myself i do still use 2k on a few old pII's

i think not so!
my server is still running NT4, and i see no reason, to change that.

Joshua

O RLY?

Well like everyone else, I don't. Same goes with anything before XP. I can get started doing this manual integration and about halfway into it my brain gets so exhausted from this that I almost have to sleep. The decision to work on this is for a business model and needs. I just want to make the deployment and reconfiguration processes easier. Sometimes the lack of what an OS offers over another is a reason to keep it instead of throwing it out.

Points proven:
All of the above
I need to get the feel for doing this kind of work again if I want to continue working on WinPE or building custom deployment models.
If I can accomplish this, I can do pretty much anything to any and every NT-based OS now and in the future.

You're gonna get nubbed.
Look at what NT 4 doesn't offer in comparison to Windows 2000/XP/03 and you have your answer.
I like Windows 2000 as much as the next guy(until that damn SP4 security rollup/screwup), but sometimes you just have to stick to the classics. Besides that it's the oldest OS I have that is based on the NT platform. I refuse to add any form of Win9X to my multiboot disc, so NT stays and I support it as much as I can. When NT 7 is finally released as a full packaged product, I'll start thinking about dropping support for NT and 2000.

I already notice flaws in Windows 2000 that are already starting to piss me off(and half the development lab) while the only flaw I see in NT is the tight security. I really can't add much to that. =/

Yay!

Only you can mess with it.

Ok there are several things that go wrong. Windows NT starts...The BSOI loads and it just hangs after the kernal loads. Getting past that by booting with a normal SP1 disc, none of the updated files want to copy over.

I have about 600 files left from updating the I386 section of the disc. What went wrong? I'm starting to believe this really isn't worth it. =/

I did a fairly hefty batch file that installs all sorts of Windows NT patches and batch files on two reboots. It seems that you do need a reboot, though.



You might also want to look at something like: http://nt4ref.zcm.com.au/patch.htm for patch infos.

W

p.s. i am thinking of extending the integration of stuff.

W

That should be some time off yet.

Windows 2000 is NT 5.0 Windows XP is NT 5.1 Windows 2003 is NT 5.2 Vista is expected to be version 6.

There is some kind of division point between 2000 and XP as well, in that all WinNT versions up to 2000 install by default into \winnt, while xp and later install into \windows. There are other differences in the way xp and later implement things.

xp and later support debugging the kernel, and the /minint switch. This means that they can be used as sources for winpe builds, and also can appear in the vista main boot menu menu (rather than in the legacy os). But then of course, so will DOS and Linux :S. Microsoft regards with vista, that any previous version of Windows is "legacy". Ho hum.

W

That is why all Longhorn builds to this very day are listed as Unknown Windows NT OS. It has been NT 6.0 since I've been using it.

I changed that in my discs. They all default to Windows and Windows 2000 uses "Users" instead of "Documents and Settings" for profiles. Windows NT seems to be very secure while Windows 2000 is now full of networking flaws. I can root any of these boxes in a matter of minutes, so I fail to see the point. I'm considering dropping support for Windows NT and Windows 2000 on the grounds that they suck. Windows NT is rediculously huge(I have ALL of the WinNT binaries for X86, Alpha and Sparc!) and I'm only planning on installing it on an X86 should the need arise(it won't). Windows 2000 boxes are still around because people don't like TCPA and all that garbage that comes with it. It's finally past the midpoint in its life and XP is right in the middle. The only thing that saves XP is the Windows Firewall. Right now it seems the only operating systems I should keep are those that can use /MININT. Everything else is just wasting space.

I'm having a hell of a time figuring out how I'll put some linux operating systems on my disc. Knoppix isn't something guaranteed to work too well from a DVD, so I might replace it with Slax or DSL.


This has been a really bizarre week where I've finally gotten something done. =/

I use the same rexx script for all versions of NT install. it does all the bits and peices.

So i follow this convention

Windows install to \WINNT

Users install to \NTUSER

I then set up, in vista fashion, the Windows drive icon to be shell32.dll,39, and the ramdrive to be shell32,12.

Apart from that, i selectively not install certain þings, and run scripts here and there.

W