Win10 Pro 1903 - Live Install is destroying my active Win8 install

HelloJackson

New Member
This is bothersome. I install nLite v 1.9.0.7455-64bit. I have Win8 installed on my machine and I want to make an ISO file to install Win10. I load the original ISO and load it.

I then start to make customizations to my new proposed operating system for Win10 and I LOSE my settings on my original Win8 install. Specifically most all of the files in the directory: C:\Users\Gary\AppData\Roaming. This effectively wipes out my live version of Win8. I have NOT clicked on apply so I don't understand why Live install is updating and destroying my Win8 install.

I then have to restore an image of Drive C using Acronis and start all over. I've lost about 10 hours doing this.

My question is: How do I make nTLite NOT make modifications to my live version of Win8 and still be able to create my new ISO for Win10?
 
That defeats the whole purpose of using nTLite. First off I have to load my SATA drivers for a hard drive controller. Second, I'd have to install Win10 clean and then go through the whole process again.

upgrade via normal microsoft tools, then make changes on win10 host.
 
Hi,

your report is practically impossible from normal use nor anyone else ever reported anything similar, so let's see what went wrong.
Did I understand you correctly that you lose AppData\Roaming by only editing the Win10 image, not by actually deploying it (upgrading Win8) ?

What is your Temp and Scratch directory set in tool's File - Settings window?
Should be default temp same as what Explorer fills for %TEMP% in the address bar, e.g.:
C:\Users\Gary\AppData\Local\Temp

Scratch leave as default, remove checkbox from custom. If the custom scratch dir was set to some location like C:\Users\Gary\AppData\Roaming, that would explain it.

You can also reset the tool's settings by deleting .\settings.xml from its directory before starting it, but then reenter the license key if any.

If the folders were already set as suggested by their default values, then I have no clue what could have happened.
Maybe install it in a virtual machine and retry, then if the same happens it's easy to revert to snapshot and send me the %temp%\ntlite.log and the preset used to replicate on my part.

Make sure to backup the preset used as well, if you have it from the earlier session would be even better, so that I can try and review it.
Don't spend any more time on it until we have a grasp what it could be.

Thanks.
 
I still have not figured this out. I thought it was working properly but here it is again. When I started configuring my image here's how it starts with my settings:

NLite-Settings-2020-06-02.jpg
I DID UNCHECK "Automatically load present 'Auto-saved session"

My original Win8-C-ProgramData directory looked like this:

Win8-C-ProgramData-2020-05-30.jpg

I made changes to various settings, added drivers, etc and then before exiting the program saved the session. As soon as I did this and refreshed the C:\ProgramData directory I now have a corrupt operating system. This is the entirety of the subdirectories.

Win8-C-ProgramData-Corrupt-2020-06-03.jpg

So now I have to restore an image of my operating system and I'm back to the beginning of the problem.

The only thing I have not tried to do is to disable secure boot in my BIOS. Could that cause such a problem?

I'm also attaching the NTLite.log.
 

Attachments

  • NTLite.log
    4.9 KB
NTLite does not touch the C:\ProgramData while configuring an image.
The log attached is from another session probably, as just image was loaded and 2 drivers added to the list, no processing.

Also weird in the log there are timestamps missing or you change the date on the machine, maybe edited the file manually?
If those are real, then the tool did nothing at all, just sitting there for hours.

Code:
6/2/2020 9:18:19 AM    Refreshing hardware list selection
6/2/2020 10:43:57 AM    Reading driver files information
6/2/2020 10:43:57 AM    Reading driver info 1/1 (asstahci64.inf)
6/2/2020 10:43:57 AM    Refreshing hardware list selection
6/2/2020 10:43:58 AM    Drivers added to queue (1)
6/2/2020 10:44:20 AM    Reading driver files information
6/2/2020 10:44:20 AM    Reading driver info 1/1 (272x_1x.inf)
6/2/2020 10:44:20 AM    Refreshing hardware list selection
6/2/2020 10:44:21 AM    Drivers added to queue (2)
6/2/2020 10:44:42 AM    Reading driver files information
6/2/2020 10:44:42 AM    Wrong architecture: D:\Temp_Gary\(__IMAGES\Drivers\System Devices\mvs91xx.inf
6/2/2020 10:44:42 AM    Reading driver info 1/1 (mvs91xx.inf)
6/2/2020 10:44:42 AM    Refreshing hardware list selection
6/2/2020 10:44:42 AM    Drivers added to queue (2)
6/2/2020 10:56:31 AM    Info: Configure Windows setup choices in advance, making a fully automated installation. Enable this page with the top-left toolbar option.
6/2/2020 10:56:51 AM    Info: Configure Windows setup choices in advance, making a fully automated installation. Enable this page with the top-left toolbar option.
6/2/2020 11:07:22 AM    Warning: When skipping local account wizard, make sure to add at least one local account or be part of the domain, in order to be able to logon.
6/2/2020 11:09:36 AM    Warning: When skipping local account wizard, make sure to add at least one local account or be part of the domain, in order to be able to logon.
6/2/2020 9:41:17 PM    Refreshing hardware list selection
6/2/2020 9:59:22 PM    Refreshing hardware list selection


Please attach the preset (or send it to my PM), to see exactly which settings when loaded in the tool produce this.
Take the identical preset you used when observed the issue, usually last "autosaved session".

Will also try that preset in the exact folder and image that is in it, as I see you use some kind of special folder naming with brackets.

Also if you can get the real log of the processing taking place, would also help, any kind of proof that NTLite is causing this - if it comes to it, a GIF capture demonstrating it with Explorer window open while starting the process.

Still puzzling, makes no sense - please keep an open mind what else could cause that.
Maybe some kind of backup/restore tool in the background.
 
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NTLite does not touch the C:\ProgramData while configuring an image.
The log attached is from another session probably, as just image was loaded and 2 drivers added to the list, no processing.
Something is corrupting the C:\ProgramData directory. I'm not saying it's NLite. But I can't start and complete a session before that directory is completely corrupted.

Also weird in the log there are timestamps missing or you change the date on the machine, maybe edited the file manually?
If those are real, then the tool did nothing at all, just sitting there for hours.
I don't know what happened with the timestamps. I did not change anything. Yes there is a wide gap in the times of the actions I took. I am not familiar with this program and I'm reading while I'm trying to understand my configuration.

I know for sure that I had much more configured than what that log file says I had configured. I had set the OOBE to define the network, the time, the language, etc., etc. I see none of that information in the log file.

The line in the log "6/2/2020 10:44:42 AM Wrong architecture: D:\Temp_Gary\(__IMAGES\Drivers\System Devices\mvs91xx.inf" came from a driver I tried to incorporate in the image. The driver was incompatible so I deleted it from the preset.

Will also try that preset in the exact folder and image that is in it, as I see you use some kind of special folder naming with brackets.
Are you telling me you want me to save the preset in the folder that I load the image file from? What directory is the preset usually saved to by default?

According to the help file under
Preset list
  • Contains a list of presets, XML files containing previous choices for a given session.
    Last saved preset will be named “Auto-saved session” and usually on top of the list, copy in the root of the configured ISO/folder.
My question here is where do I set the ISO configured folder?

I do have Acronis True Image running in the background to back up my hard drives but none of the scheduled backups were scheduled to run at the time I was using NLite.

The only thing I have not tried to do is to disable secure boot in my BIOS. Could that cause such a problem?
 
might be quicker to disable secure boot/test than wait for a reply. its gotta be worth a try.
 
helpline wallahs are(sometimes) as much use as a chocolate teapot. here is what ms says on the matter -
" You may need to disable Secure Boot to run some PC graphics cards, hardware, or operating systems such as Linux or previous version of Windows."
source, give it a go i say, wot yoo got to lose(apart from hair sanity and sleep)?
i'll ping pmikep, i know he has 1903, see what he says about secure boot.
 
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I was just noodling thru the forum and saw this. AFAIK, I am NOT running Secure Boot on my Dell Win 10 Box.

In fact, I vaguely remember booting into Win8.1 on it, just to see if it could be done. (At Clanger's urging. Because we were having a discussion where I told her that the Dell "BIOS" said that only Win10 would boot with their BIOS. Maybe it's in our PM chain.)
 
great timing. i cant remmber wot we said about secure bott on 10 but im certain there was a bad SB update(or summat) on 8.1.
pkimep, ive not left that pm,, ive got it all to hand if needed(handy to keep things), lemmy know if you want me tohave a look in there(theres a lot of it).

nuhi, question. is it possible to save a whole chat as a text file(without copy/paste each message) for long pm's? if not, maybe a suggestion to XenForo?
 
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OK I was able to disable secure boot and I can still boot into Win 8.1; will now install latest version of nLite and record what I'm doing with Camtasia.
 
I was able to disable secure boot and I can still boot into Win 8.1

wonder what else that asus johnny dont know squat about, technical support my ,,,,,,

many moons ago,,,,
i was sold an intel board to go with an amd cpu,
i phoned ms support to find out what a url was, they said go to this url, palming of the face followed.
 
Poor Asus johnny. I now have regrown all of my hair :cool: Working like a charm now. Fricking secure boot was the problem from the beginning.

Some questions:

1) Setting the partition to install. I'm install to "C" which is an SSD. Should I set the partition to install? Very nervous if I don't get it right even though I have images of all my hard drives. What do most people do in setting that unattended setting?

Here are my disks. I leave 93GB free unallocated because Samsung recommends leaving 10% free in that partition due to it being an SSD.

Diskpart-Main-Partitions2020-06-06.jpg

Referring to the image below: If I set the individual partition to ID "1" - GPT (UEFI) - do NOT Wipe disk - Partition ID "2" Create - Install to this partition - size 838 MG (same size as what I have presently) is this correct?

Diskpart-Settings-Individual-Partition-C-2020-06-06.jpg

Closer to the home stretch now.
 
HelloJackson,
presets are in the NTLite\Presets folder, or when you start it on the right list.
Top one is the latest.

Copy of the autosaved session is copied to the root of the image you edit, e.g. D:\Temp_Gary\(__IMAGES\Windows 10 Pro x64 1903 ...

I don't see how secure boot can be related to this, I put my bets on the backup/restore tool.

Glad to see that nothing happened the last time, do keep us updated if you find out what exactly it was.

Autopartitioning is best used when wiping the entire disk, when you want to select an exact partition then it's a too much power and delicate for non-pro users. Meaning admins that reinstall daily and a lot of machines, it makes sense to invest time in it.
But for a normal user with occasional reinstall, it's much safer to just automate unattended setup except disk selection, as you noticed it's stressful to automate that.

If you do insist, I recommend to test it in a virtual machine which is setup similar to your real machine, just smaller sizes of partitions of course.

Even if I tell you what to do, there is a chance that something is wrongly communicated and then you blame us for losing data.
So I suggest to test yourself in a VM, with same partition/disk IDs (amounts, locations).
Careful you have 2 disks, and the targeted one is second - careful of its ID, as if you put the first one then the other drive will be wiped.
In a sense if you want to have a good starting point, use Disk Template instead, but careful your disk is the second one.
For non-wipe version, as you tried, it cannot create a partition that already exists, it must be modified/formatted.

If you decide to go with autopartition, do send me your preset for review before testing, if you don't have a VM setup.
 
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