Slipstreaming XP and SP2

[LotusAstra]

I'd say it's worth doing even if just for one PC... I wouldn't install in any other way, no sense wasting time and disk space doing upgrades when MS kindly make it possible to update your XP Install CD to perform clean installs with far less hassle, ya only have to create the CD once (each time a new service pack is released), it's a very quick process and the only cost is the price of a blank CD-R...

I can't see any reason to NOT slipstream (providing you have a burner of-course ), reinstalls, repairs, or if you're going to use it on multiple systems etc, the more you use it the greater the benefit (as in time savings), quicker overall installation times and a secure PC right out of the box, so no need to worry about blaster/sasser or all them other vulnerabilities one would normally patch before going online...

You can do it manually like in the link posted above by Steve, (which involves a bit of reading and use of the command line), or the easy way you can use something like AutoStreamer to automate the process and do it with ease..

Also another automated way of doing it is to use nLite... nLite has many other features so you can easily create an unattended install, integrate hot-fixes and/or drivers and also remove components of XP that you don't want, using nLite it's possible to create an XP install that will use under 300MB of disk space with less than 50MB of RAM usage, great for those older PC's or a dedicated gaming box, just have to find the balance between lightness and functionality that you need... Once u created the CD, to install ya just boot the XP CD, select the partition to install to and then you can go and drink beer (or something) while the PC gets on with the rest of the installation without bugging you, so you don't need to sit in front the PC answering sporadically placed questions about CD-Key, Username, language and networks settings etc...

More complex Unattended installs can also be created manually like in the link in my signature, you can again add hotfixes, drivers and also add software to be automatically installed, include all your tweaks, themes, skins, wallpapers, explorer and IE views/settings and much much more so you can perform clean installs that are the way YOU want... I used that guide several months ago to create myself an unattended Install CD and wouldn't go back to my previous methods, it's a great time saver, plus i no longer need to worry about OS backups because it's just as easy to reinstall, so it saves all the hassle and disk space used by Ghosting too. One disk is all you need for the ultimate backup for every PC you own, love it!

Regards

EDIT: Changed link for nLite so it points to the discription page, also decided to add it to my sig, along with another cool utility i found a few weeks ago