Get into Windows XP w/o initial prompt screens

Sorry if my subject line was a bit confusing, couldn't
think of anything else.

This is the situation: a manufacturer built a machine for
us to deliver to a client. It has SCSI, PCI Express,
etc... but they failed to properly partition the 73GB
HDD. The client likes 16GB for the primary, and
everything else in a logical partition. There's only two
ways to fix this, either reinstall or use Partition Pagic
(or something similar) to do the re-allocate on the fly.

Reinstalling everything will probably take a long time,
so I'd prefer to use Partition Magic. However, since this
was a sysprep (or OPK, whatever the right word is) the
first boot screen (with internet setup, license number
and most importantly USERNAME) has never been completed.
We don't know the right username to put in, and since I
believe that if I type in "Desktop User" and later change
it to say "Mona Lisa" then it will still be c:\documents
and settings\Desktop User", which is rather messy
(leaving remnants behind).

My question is, is there a way to get past this first
screen, bypassing the prompting for username, to do my
thing with Partition Magic and then get back out so the
customer will still see the first boot screen?

Thanks a lot for any replies.

Hi Duncan,

If you have Norton Partition Magic 8.0, the program CD is bootable. Boot
from the CD and run Partition Magic from outside of the operating system. If
you have a previous version of Partition Magic, you can create the set of 2
"Rescue" floppy disks on another system. Boot the client's computer from the
first disk, and then insert the second "program" disk when prompted, and
this will enable you to run Partition Magic from outside of the operating
system.



Regards,

--
Patti MacLeod
Microsoft MVP - Windows Shell/User

"Duncan" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:ca7601c48a3d$7ad31af0$a401280a@phx.gbl...
> Sorry if my subject line was a bit confusing, couldn't
> think of anything else.
>
> This is the situation: a manufacturer built a machine for
> us to deliver to a client. It has SCSI, PCI Express,
> etc... but they failed to properly partition the 73GB
> HDD. The client likes 16GB for the primary, and
> everything else in a logical partition. There's only two
> ways to fix this, either reinstall or use Partition Pagic
> (or something similar) to do the re-allocate on the fly.
>
> Reinstalling everything will probably take a long time,
> so I'd prefer to use Partition Magic. However, since this
> was a sysprep (or OPK, whatever the right word is) the
> first boot screen (with internet setup, license number
> and most importantly USERNAME) has never been completed.
> We don't know the right username to put in, and since I
> believe that if I type in "Desktop User" and later change
> it to say "Mona Lisa" then it will still be c:\documents
> and settings\Desktop User", which is rather messy
> (leaving remnants behind).
>
> My question is, is there a way to get past this first
> screen, bypassing the prompting for username, to do my
> thing with Partition Magic and then get back out so the
> customer will still see the first boot screen?
>
> Thanks a lot for any replies.

Thanks a lot for the reply. I'll give it a shot.


>-----Original Message-----
>Hi Duncan,
>
>If you have Norton Partition Magic 8.0, the program CD
is bootable. Boot
>from the CD and run Partition Magic from outside of the
operating system. If
>you have a previous version of Partition Magic, you can
create the set of 2
>"Rescue" floppy disks on another system. Boot the
client's computer from the
>first disk, and then insert the second "program" disk
when prompted, and
>this will enable you to run Partition Magic from outside
of the operating
>system.
>
>
>
>Regards,
>
>--
>Patti MacLeod
>Microsoft MVP - Windows Shell/User
>
>"Duncan" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
message
>news:ca7601c48a3d$7ad31af0$a401280a@phx.gbl...
>> Sorry if my subject line was a bit confusing, couldn't
>> think of anything else.
>>
>> This is the situation: a manufacturer built a machine
for
>> us to deliver to a client. It has SCSI, PCI Express,
>> etc... but they failed to properly partition the 73GB
>> HDD. The client likes 16GB for the primary, and
>> everything else in a logical partition. There's only
two
>> ways to fix this, either reinstall or use Partition
Pagic
>> (or something similar) to do the re-allocate on the
fly.
>>
>> Reinstalling everything will probably take a long time,
>> so I'd prefer to use Partition Magic. However, since
this
>> was a sysprep (or OPK, whatever the right word is) the
>> first boot screen (with internet setup, license number
>> and most importantly USERNAME) has never been
completed.
>> We don't know the right username to put in, and since I
>> believe that if I type in "Desktop User" and later
change
>> it to say "Mona Lisa" then it will still be
c:\documents
>> and settings\Desktop User", which is rather messy
>> (leaving remnants behind).
>>
>> My question is, is there a way to get past this first
>> screen, bypassing the prompting for username, to do my
>> thing with Partition Magic and then get back out so the
>> customer will still see the first boot screen?
>>
>> Thanks a lot for any replies.
>
>
>.
>

You're very welcome for the reply :-)

Let me know how you fare with it!



Regards,

--
Patti MacLeod
Microsoft MVP - Windows Shell/User

"Duncan" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:cdc501c48a50$ecaacd90$a601280a@phx.gbl...
> Thanks a lot for the reply. I'll give it a shot.
>
>
> >-----Original Message-----
> >Hi Duncan,
> >
> >If you have Norton Partition Magic 8.0, the program CD
> is bootable. Boot
> >from the CD and run Partition Magic from outside of the
> operating system. If
> >you have a previous version of Partition Magic, you can
> create the set of 2
> >"Rescue" floppy disks on another system. Boot the
> client's computer from the
> >first disk, and then insert the second "program" disk
> when prompted, and
> >this will enable you to run Partition Magic from outside
> of the operating
> >system.
> >
> >
> >
> >Regards,
> >
> >--
> >Patti MacLeod
> >Microsoft MVP - Windows Shell/User
> >
> >"Duncan" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
> message
> >news:ca7601c48a3d$7ad31af0$a401280a@phx.gbl...
> >> Sorry if my subject line was a bit confusing, couldn't
> >> think of anything else.
> >>
> >> This is the situation: a manufacturer built a machine
> for
> >> us to deliver to a client. It has SCSI, PCI Express,
> >> etc... but they failed to properly partition the 73GB
> >> HDD. The client likes 16GB for the primary, and
> >> everything else in a logical partition. There's only
> two
> >> ways to fix this, either reinstall or use Partition
> Pagic
> >> (or something similar) to do the re-allocate on the
> fly.
> >>
> >> Reinstalling everything will probably take a long time,
> >> so I'd prefer to use Partition Magic. However, since
> this
> >> was a sysprep (or OPK, whatever the right word is) the
> >> first boot screen (with internet setup, license number
> >> and most importantly USERNAME) has never been
> completed.
> >> We don't know the right username to put in, and since I
> >> believe that if I type in "Desktop User" and later
> change
> >> it to say "Mona Lisa" then it will still be
> c:\documents
> >> and settings\Desktop User", which is rather messy
> >> (leaving remnants behind).
> >>
> >> My question is, is there a way to get past this first
> >> screen, bypassing the prompting for username, to do my
> >> thing with Partition Magic and then get back out so the
> >> customer will still see the first boot screen?
> >>
> >> Thanks a lot for any replies.
> >
> >
> >.
> >