Deploying Windows XP on an HP system

For proper partition alignment when deploying Windows XP on an HP system, observe the following guidelines:

∙Remove the ExtendedOEMPartition command line from Sysprep (or other unattended installation method).

∙Allow the disk cloning tool to manage/extend the partition size.

∙Do not use the KB931760 WinPE registry patch on an HP system.

In MDT and SCCM, ZTIDiskPart.wsf should be edited to prevent these registry settings from being applied automatically. Consider the sample ZTIDiskPart.wsf code shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Excerpt of code used to update WinPE registry settings

//----------------------------------------------------------------------------

//If needed, set diskpart workaround as described in KB 931760/931761

//Always set the variables for Windows XP and 2003

//----------------------------------------------------------------------------

If Left(oEnvironment.Item("ImageBuild"), 1) = "5" Then oEnvironment.Item("OSDDiskpartBiosCompatibilityMode") = "TRUE"

End If

If UCase(oEnvironment.Item("OSDDiskpartBiosCompatibilityMode")) = "TRUE" then

oLogging.CreateEntry "Implementing Diskpart BIOS compatibility fix (see KB 931760 and KB 931761)", LogTypeInfo

On Error Resume Next

oShell.RegWrite "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CURRENTCONTROLSET\SERVICES\VDS\ALIGNMENT\LessThan4GB", 0, "REG_DWORD" oShell.RegWrite "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CURRENTCONTROLSET\SERVICES\VDS\ALIGNMENT\Between4_8GB", 0, "REG_DWORD" oShell.RegWrite "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CURRENTCONTROLSET\SERVICES\VDS\ALIGNMENT\Between8_32GB", 0, "REG_DWORD" oShell.RegWrite "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CURRENTCONTROLSET\SERVICES\VDS\ALIGNMENT\GreaterThan32GB", 0, "REG_DWORD" On Error Goto 0

End If

While the ZTIDiskPart.wsf code varies somewhat between different versions of MDT and SCCM, the excerpt shown in Figure 2 is fairly consistent. In the highlighted portion, the script determines if Windows XP 5.1.2600, for example, is being deployed; if so, the registry settings listed below are applied to the WinPE registry. Subsequently, these settings would result in misaligned partitions when DiskPart is used.

To prevent the patch being applied, you can comment out the highlighted code.

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