SFC - changing install directory

  • Thread starter Thread starter cyberdyne
  • Start date Start date
The date and time was Friday, April 03, 2009 3:07:01 PM, and on a whim,
Tim Meddick pounded out on the keyboard:
HI Kelly,
NO, no, no, have you not been reading all the previous
posts? The path must be one BELOW that of the i386 folder or it won't work
anyway. That is if your the folder you copied the cd-rom i386 folder
contents is C:\i386 the reg value of SourcePath should be C:\ and for the
C:\WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles\i386 folder the reg value must read
C:\WINDOWS\ServicePackFiles ONLY! See the post in this subject by John
John - MVP (and please note, he is a MVP!).
Click to expand...

Umm, so is Kelly...


Terry R.
 
LOL....

I must admit to being a little confused now.

Two MVP's have given conflicting information.

Does the registry value need to read C:\ or C:\i386 ???

I'm pretty convinced it's C:\ as that's what the majority have stated, but
it would be good to have this cleared up - despite that I don't think it'll
fix my problem s it hasn't yet...

Thank you :)
 
There is no conflicting information, the information that Kelly gave is
for the SourcePath value at:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion. The
SourcePath value there is the full path to the i386 folder for the
installation media used during Setup.

The SourcePath value at
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup
points to the path above the location of the i386 folder.

Registry settings for Windows File Protection
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/222473
(Written for Windows 2000 but also applies to Windows XP)

As for the ServicePackSourcePath SFC checks the files in the SourcePath
against those in the ServicePackSourcePath, if the file is not in the
ServicePackSourcePath SFC will use the files in the SourcePath, if the
file is in the ServicePackSourcePath SFC will use the newer file from
the Service Pack.

John
 
OK John, thank you.

Can you offer any suggestion as to why I'm still being asked to insert a CD
please?

Thank you

John John - MVP said:
There is no conflicting information, the information that Kelly gave is
for the SourcePath value at:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion. The
SourcePath value there is the full path to the i386 folder for the
installation media used during Setup
Click to expand...
[........]
 
Did you reboot the computer?

John
OK John, thank you.

Can you offer any suggestion as to why I'm still being asked to insert a CD
please?

Thank you

John John - MVP said:
There is no conflicting information, the information that Kelly gave is
for the SourcePath value at:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion. The
SourcePath value there is the full path to the i386 folder for the
installation media used during Setup
Click to expand...
[........]
Click to expand...
 
The date and time was Friday, April 03, 2009 8:48:51 PM, and on a whim,
Kelly pounded out on the keyboard:
No, no, no I haven't.

Thanks, Terry.
Click to expand...

I think TM is out to displace everyone here... ;-)


Terry R.
 
Thanks Kelly, nut I'm not sure what else to do now.

I've checked all the relevant registry entries, as confirmed by the screen
shots I posted earlier, I've ensured the i386 folder is indeed in my C:\
directory and I've rebooted since making all the necessary checks, yet I'm
still being asked to insert my CD which I don't have.

Could it be a problem with my actual i386 directory itself?
Here's a screen shot just as a matter of interest.
http://f.imagehost.org/0575/Untitled-1_12.jpg

Thanks again to all who have tried to help.
 
One other possible solution is to embed the Service Pack files into
the original source \i386 folder. This results in only the \i386 folder
being the source point for SFC|Windows File Protection. There are
numerous web sites that have instructions for "Slipstreaming" XP.
*Because you have a OEM version of XP there are some extra
steps you have to do to allow an embedded Service Pack to
be added.

I've also run into situations where it is necessary to purge the folder
\DllCache prior to running an SFC
Command = SFC /PurgeCache

This is definitely an advanced operation and you'd want to backup
or burn a copy of your original \i386 folder before doing anything.
 
Thank you R McCarty.
I have just tried 'SFC /PurgeCache' and it didn't help.

I've not yet tried embedding the Service Pack files into my i386 folder but
may give it a go over the weekend.

Thanks for trying to help.
 
The date and time was Saturday, April 04, 2009 4:14:43 AM, and on a
whim, R. McCarty pounded out on the keyboard:
One other possible solution is to embed the Service Pack files into
the original source \i386 folder. This results in only the \i386 folder
being the source point for SFC|Windows File Protection. There are
numerous web sites that have instructions for "Slipstreaming" XP.
*Because you have a OEM version of XP there are some extra
steps you have to do to allow an embedded Service Pack to
be added.

I've also run into situations where it is necessary to purge the folder
\DllCache prior to running an SFC
Command = SFC /PurgeCache

This is definitely an advanced operation and you'd want to backup
or burn a copy of your original \i386 folder before doing anything.
Click to expand...

I asked this earlier in thread and it appears your answer above is that
there isn't any reason to have two different locations of the same
files, correct?

"My i386 (compressed) folder is SP3. What I was asking is why the
ServicePackFiles folder (uncompressed) is needed if my SourcePath folder
is also SP3 on another drive. If SFC detects a version difference in a
file, it would go to the SourcePath, correct? So the ServicePackFiles
folder seems redundant."

Terry R.
 
Yes, with \i386 at SP3 level there is no need for \ServicePackFiles.
Any SFC/ ScanNow would be satisfied with the single source point.
 
The date and time was Saturday, April 04, 2009 11:55:20 AM, and on a
whim, R. McCarty pounded out on the keyboard:
Yes, with \i386 at SP3 level there is no need for \ServicePackFiles.
Any SFC/ ScanNow would be satisfied with the single source point.
Click to expand...

Just for clarification, do you know if it would matter that the files
are compressed in the i386 folder, since the ones in ServicePackFiles
are not?


Terry R.
 
Well, I feel I've ensured every conceivable setting is correct and that
nothing else is amiss, yet I'm still asked to insert my CD.

I'm at a loss now as to what to try next. I've checked out other sites too
and they all offer the same advice. I hope this would be the one place where
I'd find an answer but I guess this one is going to be the one that got away.

Thanks to everyone who tried to help.
 
Hi all,
It does not matter whether or not the folder are compressed as,
by default, the dllcache folder within the system directory SFC uses, IS
compressed. The way I understand it is this: First SFC.EXE goes and checks
for the folder "i386" within the folder specified in the registry value:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup]
"SourcePath"=""

....if another registry value is specified differently:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion]
"SourcePath"=""

....then SFC will ask for the cd, if this second value for SourcePath is
non-existent - no problem.

Then SFC checks the version numbers of the files in the system directory
against those in the specified i386 folder, if they are different (because
you have installed a service pack), it looks for the service pack cache in
another i386 folder within the directory specified in the registry value:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup]
"ServicePackCache"=""

So both folders, the original installation cd folder (copied over or not)
AND the service pack cache folder are necessary. I really don't know what
would happen if you replaced the files in the i386 folder of SourcePath with
those of ServicePackCache as has been mooted at, but suspect strongly that
it will mess things up because service packs don't replace ALL of the
original file versions included with the original install i.e. there are
more files in the original cd i386 folder than there are in the service pack
folder.

Again here is a link to where I originally sourced my information on this
subject from:

ftp://edgarcaycehouston.org/pub/Reinstalling%20Windows/scannow-sfc.pdf
 
The date and time was Sunday, April 05, 2009 8:13:04 AM, and on a whim,
Tim Meddick pounded out on the keyboard:
Hi all,
It does not matter whether or not the folder are compressed as,
by default, the dllcache folder within the system directory SFC uses, IS
compressed. The way I understand it is this: First SFC.EXE goes and checks
for the folder "i386" within the folder specified in the registry value:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup]
"SourcePath"=""

...if another registry value is specified differently:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion]
"SourcePath"=""

...then SFC will ask for the cd, if this second value for SourcePath is
non-existent - no problem.

Then SFC checks the version numbers of the files in the system directory
against those in the specified i386 folder, if they are different (because
you have installed a service pack), it looks for the service pack cache in
another i386 folder within the directory specified in the registry value:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup]
"ServicePackCache"=""

So both folders, the original installation cd folder (copied over or not)
AND the service pack cache folder are necessary. I really don't know what
would happen if you replaced the files in the i386 folder of SourcePath with
those of ServicePackCache as has been mooted at, but suspect strongly that
it will mess things up because service packs don't replace ALL of the
original file versions included with the original install i.e. there are
more files in the original cd i386 folder than there are in the service pack
folder.

Again here is a link to where I originally sourced my information on this
subject from:

ftp://edgarcaycehouston.org/pub/Reinstalling%20Windows/scannow-sfc.pdf
Click to expand...


Tim,

You misunderstood what I said. But since you're using a sig file and OE
places a delimiter above your sig, a proper newsreader (like mine)
removes everything below the delimiter, effectively wiping out the thread.

The files in the dllcache folder are compressed. The files on an
installation CD are compressed, but not yet expanded. That is why all
the files end with an underscore. That is different than a compressed
file on a hard drive (denoted as the color blue). I asked R. McCarty if
it makes any difference to SFC whether the files are compressed
(expanded) or not. I would think that if SFC requests an install CD it
MUST read non-expanded files.

Since my i386 folder is SP3 as is the ServicePackFiles, SFC won't find
anything different, so no reason to have both.


Terry R.
 

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