As per title, I am v new to this, but have managed to make my first multi vendor XP Home SP3 DVD. I started out with a Dell XP Home SP1 disk and just followed several guides. Now that seems to work, and I don't have to enter a key during the install process I have become interested in trying to make an unattended install version. I have downloaded the Deployment Tools from MS for XP SP3, and have tried to run their setup manager. However, when I run the setup manager it always crashes in the "Date and Time" section of the answer file when I am making it. It complains that it cannot get the required info from the registry, says it will skip the question, and then crashes. I am running the setup manager on my laptop that is running Vista. Is that the wrong thing to do? Do I have to run the setup manager from a machine that I have installed XP Home onto?
But isn't it better to use an already made XP SP3 VLK by microsoft and transform it to OEM and then add all the certs? I did it like that for my ACER, but I choose to not tag it with the ACER pictures so it stays neutral.
I think better is how you want to do it. It is a personal thing. Some like the oem logos and such, I use my own. If you are making a DVD install, I think original OEM is out the window anyway. I think it is better to have the M$ SP3 than a slipstream, because they are different. It is not like they are hard to find retail. You can have one iso, and add OEMBIOS and install programs per need.
No I made a CD, unattended it with .sfx regtweaks, updates, IE8, WMP11, that I all added in the SVCPACK, added new themes in NLVST, edited the winnt.sif to make a full automated install, but didn't create the $OEM$ folder for the logos. I used rvm integrator for this.