I could turn that book into a volume set... Hearing you loud and clear!

My advice would be to stock up on some replacement parts now... .

Jeff

LOL @ volume set

Already stockpile parts. See this way if I ever do build a system in the very distant future, I'll really be getting a bang for my buck. I'll just keep buying the same replacement motherboard that supports XP. I even burned a perfect ISO of XP Home with Service Pack 3 slipstreamed and talked Microsoft into giving me a free product key. I have this all worked out. I'm always prepared. BartPE, ghost image, disabled OEM tattoo check - Microsoft's no match for me. ;^)

My advice would be to stock up on some replacement parts now... .

Jeff

I doubt that... i expect IDE emulation to disappear... It is already being phased out on many platforms. You don't see MFM and RLL support any more do you?

Probably you will jsut need to be careful when you purchase...
Make sure you buy a MB that has XP SATA drivers available.

I really don't know why you think you will be running XP on hardware 20 years from now or even 8 years from now.

although i must admit i have a DOS 6.22 and win 3.11 box here with a 5 1/4 floppy and a QIC drive in it... BUT it is running on a DFI Socket 7 with a 486 processor.... Just because it won't die. I would also like to point out it is just a conversation piece and something to show off like an old trophy. The point is if you want to run a 20 Year Old OS run it on a ten year old platform.

If it is because you have some softwware you are married to... Then simply run it in a Virtual Machine. OR Windows 7 has a XP compatiblilty mode... whereby the XP kernal is loaded into ram with the Win 7 kernal and that works very nicely.

What is it you hope to achieve?

To use 32-bit Windows XP Home with Service Pack 3 for the rest of my life. I spent seven grueling years learning hardware and software - tweaking the system the exact way I want it - cleaning the file system of ALL junk folders and files. I don't have the desire, time or energy to do it again.

I still use dial-up because it's dirt cheap and does the job. I don't upgrade unless it's NECESSARY. I know my system like second nature. My boot time is under 20 seconds. I can run my system over two years without rebooting! My system has crashed only once or twice in seven years. Buying and repairing hardware is a snap... 

If, and it did, the system met all my needs in 2004 and my needs haven't changed, this system will continue to meet my needs in 20xx. Computer companies hate consumers like me, because I'm not stupid and see right through them. Only a fool would upgrade to Windows 7 or fall for one-percent-hardware-performance increases. Microsoft and Windows are stupid. For example, XP's NTBackup doesn't even support backing up to CD or DVD. Yeah, because every XP Operating System is under 1.44 MB and everybody uses tape drives. LOL What MicroSTUPID employee's idea was that? I could write a book about everything wrong Microsoft does - especially Windows.

Probably you will jsut need to be careful when you purchase...
Make sure you buy a MB that has XP SATA drivers available.

I really don't know why you think you will be running XP on hardware 20 years from now or even 8 years from now.

although i must admit i have a DOS 6.22 and win 3.11 box here with a 5 1/4 floppy and a QIC drive in it... BUT it is running on a DFI Socket 7 with a 486 processor.... Just because it won't die. I would also like to point out it is just a conversation piece and something to show off like an old trophy. The point is if you want to run a 20 Year Old OS run it on a ten year old platform.

If it is because you have some softwware you are married to... Then simply run it in a Virtual Machine. OR Windows 7 has a XP compatiblilty mode... whereby the XP kernal is loaded into ram with the Win 7 kernal and that works very nicely.

What is it you hope to achieve?

it is unlikely that future chipsets drivers will be written to support XP. the current chipset drivers are probably the last of the line. EOL for XP is in two years.

If you slipstream Chipset and Mass you are good to go. Much as our Mass storage drivers are all inclusive so are our Chipset drivers. I can't garauntee that you will not have to update your disc over the next 20 years... But you can't do any better for today.

If you don't install Chipset you may find that you can find and install the HDD and get through textmode and PE stages of setup but will then crash at the third stage of setup, GUI mode. MR smartepants is correct if all you want is mass storage support then you must install the drivers that Mass Storage are dependent on IE Chipset.

You can't put a capstone on a pyramid if you have not built the base first.

Chipset drivers definitely won't be supported in two years. Full focus will be on 7 and maybe 8. Official Microsoft XP support ends in 2014 and most anti-virus support for XP ends in 2015.

That's the problem: downloading your Chipset and MassStorage DriverPack would only cover me for all XP-supported chipsets and mass-storage devices to date and the few in the future. So say in eight years I buy a new motherboard, my XP install disc would be useless because it wouldn't have the AHCI drivers to use the SATA drive in its native mode.

It sounds to me I'm trying to do the impossible, and the best compromise would be to disable AHCI or RAID, or enable IDE emulation mode in the new BIOS before XP setup. This would make the SATA hard disk look and act like a PATA hard disk, allowing XP setup to successfully complete. The only limitation would be I couldn't use any SATA benefits, such as hotplugging, so I'd basically be running a PATA hard disk with thinner cables for improved airflow.

So to be clear, I want to SATA-future-proof an XP install disc for at least the next 20 years.

That's simple, as simple as Perpetual Motion

If you slipstream Chipset and Mass you are good to go. Much as our Mass storage drivers are all inclusive so are our Chipset drivers. I can't garauntee that you will not have to update your disc over the next 20 years... But you can't do any better for today.

If you don't install Chipset you may find that you can find and install the HDD and get through textmode and PE stages of setup but will then crash at the third stage of setup, GUI mode. MR smartepants is correct if all you want is mass storage support then you must install the drivers that Mass Storage are dependent on IE Chipset.

You can't put a capstone on a pyramid if you have not built the base first.

In my opinion, DriverPack Chipset should ALWAYS be included.  This is because it loads the drivers for the motherboard components.  If the drivers for the motherboard components aren't recognized correctly, then the secondary components (sound, LAN, Mass Storage, etc) that connect through the board chipset will also not be recognized correctly.

See, here's my thinking... If I were to create this XP install disc with your most recent version of DriverPack Chipset and MassStorage right now, most or all of the drivers would be useless, especially the chipset drivers, many years into the future and my new motherboard wouldn't support the SATA drive. That's why I'd like to add only generic SATA drivers (Intel and AMD, and AHCI and RAID), because I think SATA drivers that'll work today will work tomorrow for any SATA drive. It's the chipset drivers that vary board to board.

So to be clear, I want to SATA-future-proof an XP install disc for at least the next 20 years. How would you do this?

You stated that you wanted the widest support possable...

In that case you should add all the main packs... .
Mass, chipset, LAN, WLAN, Grapihcs and Sound.

Yes, I stated I wanted the widest possible support for SATA drivers. I'm not sure if that includes chipsets? I want to create an XP install disc that'll support any future drivers for Western Digital SATA hard drives.

In that case you should add all the main packs... .
Mass, chipset, LAN, WLAN, Grapihcs and Sound.

1) Possibly.  It depends on the preference of the board manufacturer and what "chip-set" they choose.  Most modern boards have the SATA controller built into the "South Bridge" chip or have discrete chips.  So if your main "chip-set" is from Intel, AMD or Nvidia then chances are high that the SATA controller is also from that same OEM.  Other controllers are available (Jmicron, Marvell, HighPoint, etc.)

2) Correct.  The best course of action is to include ZERO drivers with nlite and integrate DriverPacks in your source using DriverPacks BASE.

3) While possible, it's certainly NOT recommended.  Using system files from other OS types is definitely asking for trouble (and possibly illegal).

Do you suggest I download the most recent version of your Chipset DriverPack as well to achieve my goal? Or, is your MassStorage DriverPack all that's needed?

1) Do motherboards that use AMD processors use the Intel SATA AHCI controller driver, or AMD SATA AHCI controller driver?

2) Doesn't your MassStorage DriverPack for XP already include the Intel SATA AHCI Controller Driver, Matrix Storage Manager, and Rapid Storage Technology; and therefore I shouldn't use nLite and only use your DriverPacks BASE to slipstream the drivers into my XP install disc?

3) Is it possible to download the "ataport.sys" driver and its associated drivers for Vista, and integrate them into the XP install disc as a generic SATA driver, or could this cause an instability?

1) Possibly.  It depends on the preference of the board manufacturer and what "chip-set" they choose.  Most modern boards have the SATA controller built into the "South Bridge" chip or have discrete chips.  So if your main "chip-set" is from Intel, AMD or Nvidia then chances are high that the SATA controller is also from that same OEM.  Other controllers are available (Jmicron, Marvell, HighPoint, etc.)

2) Correct.  The best course of action is to include ZERO drivers with nlite and integrate DriverPacks in your source using DriverPacks BASE.

3) While possible, it's certainly NOT recommended.  Using system files from other OS types is definitely asking for trouble (and possibly illegal).

Do motherboards that use AMD processors use the Intel SATA AHCI controller driver, or AMD SATA AHCI controller driver? I could only find the AMD SATA AHCI controller driver for HP notebooks, not desktops, which is what I use. Is this a generic AMD driver, or a driver for a specific chipset or chipsets?

Doesn't your MassStorage DriverPack for XP already include the Intel SATA AHCI Controller Driver, Matrix Storage Manager, and Rapid Storage Technology; and therefore I shouldn't use nLite and only use your DriverPacks BASE to slipstream the drivers into my XP install disc?

Is it possible to download the "ataport.sys" driver and its associated drivers for Vista, and integrate them into the XP install disc as a generic SATA driver, or could this cause an instability?

See our tutorial linked in our signatures.