ForThatMatter

So it is about that time of year where I start to work towards a reformat. I start to clear thing off my desktop, uninstall crap and check for updates on software. This time I used nLite slipstreaming software. What a great little application. It truly makes things easy. I have read about slipstreaming before but never really tried it. So I thought this would be the chance to try it out. Interestingly, once I decided I was going to create a slipstreamed CD I starting thinking it would be nice to have all hot-fixes integrated since service pack 2. Then I found RyanVM's Windows XP Post-SP2 Update Pack. Holy crap, great stuff here. Not only does he provide an easy to install post sp2 hot-fix pack but a crap load of pack addons. So, using nLite and the install directions on Ryan's page I downloaded the update pack and a selection of addons then began the slipstream. After the .iso was burned I rebooted and began my installation on the partition. All was going well until after the first reboot. I then got a GDIPlus.man error. This, of course, put me into a reboot loop. Thank god for F8 into safemode. I did a little diggin' and - if I'm understanding this right - learned that it is related to hardware changes, usually related to video cards. Well I haven't made hardware changes so I assumed it wasn't that. I decided that I would incrementally rebuild my slipstreamed CD staring with removing addons. No sense in removing the sp2 and Ryan's update pack; that would defeat what I wanted to do. Interestingly, I decided to work backward and take one away instead of building up. The first addon I removed was a RoyaleMod Theme. I created and new CD, rebooted and started the install. Luck for me the install went fine. I know some are thinking that it was probable an bad or dirty CD but I don't think so. I didn't go into everything I did to solve the problem (only generalized). There was more than one CD made all gave the same error until I removed that RoyaleMod Theme addon. So, I blame the addon.

Anyway, I just wanted to gloat that I got it running and to say I love slipstreamed installs. So much easier, so much smaller. Now, what I need to figure out is how to slowly switch to the new install to eventually remove the original install. I am afraid that if i remove the first installed version of XP the PC wont boot right. Has anyone ever transitioned like this? Is it recommended? Is there an easy way to handle it?