"The system is not fully installed": after you run Sysprep and restart
After using Sysprep to reset the SSID in Windows XP , I got the a message saying The system is not fully installed when trying to restart the machine. Microsoft have this knowledgebase article showing how to recover from the problem, although I discovered that this does not work very well on machines that have already been built from a Sysprep (such as Dells). If you're working in a reasonably well equipped environment with another XP machine and a suitable external USB drive enclosure then it's probably easier to edit the registry on the affected PC's hard disk by plugging it into the USB port of another machine, i.e.: Load REGEDIT Select HKEY_USERS Go into File.. Load Hive.. Browse to the \WINDOWS\System32\Config\System file on the USB connected drive Name the hive "system" or whatever you like Find the Setup key on the newly loaded hive and locate SystemSetupInProgress . Change the data from 1 to 0 . Unload the HiveThen, once the hard disk is reinserted int...