[Intro]
Installing Windows. The usual thing, especially if you install modern versions: choose a language, see the license agreement and select a disk partition, click "Next" and that's it,...
...10-15 minutes you stupidly look at the monitor and watch the whole process of installation or just start doing other things.
And at the end of the installation, you went through the OOBE, which only has a few steps.
Installation of modern versions of Windows, starting with Vista is as follows: you insert a disk or flash drive, then boot Windows PE (a special version that runs from a CD or flash drive)...
...and from under Windows PE you start the system installer, where you do the other steps.
The process of copying files on Windows Vista and higher systems was a simple unpacking of the install.wim file using the program ImageX, or using the console utility DISM in Windows 7 and higher.
The Windows XP, Windows 2000, and Windows NT 4.0 versions had no Windows PE - when you booted from the disk, you got into a sort of separate operating system which worked exclusively in text mode.
In it, you could run the recovery console and obviously install the system.
Before Windows Vista, there were two stages of installation: text mode and graphical.
In text mode, you formating the disk; copy the system files from a special list, which is specified in the file TXTSETUP.SIF; generate the system registry and install the boot loader.
The last three actions, of course, are automatic.
After the text mode phase came the graphical installation phase, and it was already fully installed drivers for devices, installed and registered components, configured the network equipment and did other small things.
The text mode installation step is stored in the SETUPLDR.BIN file, while the graphical one is started with the setup.exe file from under an already installed but not fully configured system.
In older Windows NT, all installation files were stored in the i386 folder, where each file was packed into a format with underscores at the end.
With 7-Zip it opens perfectly as a normal archive and we end up with a valid file.
With Windows Vista, the entire system is stored in a single .WIM file, and opening it, you see already a complete system image.
WIM files can be easily edited via the DISM console utility, which comes with Windows Vista SP1 and later, or via DISM++ if someone is not comfortable with the console or just needs a friendlier interface.
And so I had this funny idea: what if you take the installation files of Windows NT 4.0, Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, and combine it all into one.
Completely randomize a part of the files from the four images and see what happens.
I have no idea what this will do or if it will work at all, but I'm very interested in trying to do it.
To begin with, before randomly taking from the four images, let's make one condition: the most basic system stuff, such as the boot loader, the kernel, the initial system drivers will be taken from Windows Server 2003.
We only do this to make sure that everything doesn't break down the first time, while it's still running.
But why Server 2003?
First, the Windows NT 4.0 boot loader will not start Windows XP. Secondly, Server 2003 a perfect candidate to me.
The operating system kernel consists of several core files and libraries. I suggest that you get the kernel itself from Windows Server 2003, but the libraries from Windows XP.
But how do we know what files are loaded at startup and what it uses?
Easy!
In normal Windows XP we edit the boot.ini file and put the command "/bootlog" at the end of the line there
This command lets the Windows loader know that in addition to starting the system, it also needs to write a special file with a list of what drivers and most important files are used to start the system.
Then reboot, go to the Windows folder and see the file ntbtlog.txt, open it and see the same list.
Most of the files on this list we do not touch in any way.
[dialogue, Sergey:] - No touching? Are you serious?
[dialogue, Sergey:]. - I would try, for example, to replace some "classpnp.sys" from 2000 in XP.
[dialogue, Sergey:] - It's quite realistic. It worked.
[dialogue, Daniel:] - Well... It's a risky thing to take, but for fun or some kind, why not give it a try?
Okay, well, let's go change and test.
We have an unlimited number of attempts - we will do this until we get past the graphical installation phase and finally get to the desktop.
Attempt 1
[if you're reading these subtitles, know that I love you, and to all this I hasten to remind you that I'm saving your ears and declare that there will be some beeps like this here, I've warned] Attempt 1
Attempt 1
[the sound of the palm tapping against the other palm]
And that's how it always is: I want everything to work right the first time, but it turns out to be the absolute opposite.
It looks like we overdid the randomization, and hit a file that the installer thinks is supposedly corrupted, but is actually taken from Server 2003.
most likely
Okay, it's not hard for me to try again, so let's lighten up the random and replace this file with the original one from Windows XP.
Attempt 2
And this time (btw this is the second attempt) the initial loading of the drivers in the first stage of the installer goes without problems.
Oh, I think I random copied the license agreement - it's from Windows Server 2003.
But that's okay, we agree, partition the disk and install the system. I also want to remind you that we are doing everything in a virtual machine.
Great, all the system files have been copied and there are no errors in this regard; and now we are asked to reboot, to which we happily agree.
Come on, come on~
bruh
Bad luck.
We have a blue screen with a broken user environment.
We are told that the required entry point was not found in the USER32.DLL library, but I haven't changed this file at all.
In other words, we get the following situation: the kernel itself has booted properly, which you can see on the death screen - it is actually displayed, informing us about the error.
But nothing, you can try again, but this time fixing the problem.
Attempt 3
And the third attempt gives a negative result, but with a different error.
(a Russian joke that gets lost when translated into English)
So, the name of the error indicates that the system has booted, but one of the phases of the initialization of the system session was not completed.
And there are five phases in all.
And in fact, the reason for this error is fuzzy, because in this case, anything can be here.
In general, these attempts behind the scenes went on for a very long time. In the end, I managed to do something.
And not to tire you out, let's look at what came out at the end.
Attempt 4
This time I do less random and let's start with the simplest: the first step of the installer was left over from Windows XP, but it broke in some places for some reason...
I didn't touch installer :D
After installation, we are greeted with a boot screen that tells us that we are using some kind of Windows Server Family and after booting, we finally get to the graphical installation phase.
We "got it" from Windows Server 2003.
And suddenly we are told that the battery driver (and here we are probably talking about the controller) has not been tested for compatibility with Windows XP.
However, it's funny that the system asks for this kind of thing. Especially looking at the name of the device the system is trying to install.
Before the device installation phase, for some reason the system asks for my region and language, layouts and other language settings.
I can't understand why it needs to do that, but okay. And after that it finally starts installing devices.
And it has a lot of errors, which is not surprising - it can't do something for the sound card, or it can't set something for the monitor.
Now we are greeted by the configuration of the system: user name, key, date and time: nothing is damaged here, everything is saved and specified calmly.
Further the installation here is no different from the original, everything goes well and at least no errors appear, which in this case I just can't believe: there is clearly some surprise here...
After the second restart, the boot screen already tells you that Windows XP is in front of us and the OOBE is started.
Well, or tries to start, because at this stage the system freezes up.
I'll have to reboot again.
And here everything is normal, we are not looking at the welcome screen, but at the classic login screen with an account already entered, which is the "Administrator".
We log in, wait for the initial user setup, and it also hangs (*light laughter*).
But, in this case, this can be fixed, I open the task manager, which incidentally comes from Windows NT, and remove the regsvr32.exe process
I also mixed everything randomly, but not as much as the first attempts, BUT I still can't tell why or under what circumstances the initial user setup hung up.
Although the regsvr32 process shows that there is a problem with registering any DLL files.
After going through all these circles of pain, we finally got to the desktop with lots of errors, but this time from Rundll32.
ha-ha, classic
The desktop here is absolutely typical, no changes have been made.
The Start menu is at least not broken, but here the icons of some folders have changed.
Internet Explorer here seems to be standard, although the icon seems to be not quite, but I do not recognize it, because the button "About" does not work, and the browser itself somehow behaves strangely.
And the help system immediately tells us "goodbye" when we open it :D
In software plan there are complete problems, at least there are no games, Windows Media Player, Outlook Express and Paint.
And most likely now revealed the catch I mentioned earlier - the system installer could not install the optional components.
Again, why this happened is unknown.
But okay, it can't be helped.
As you can see, there is a mix of programs from Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000.
And the control panel almost all consists of old Windows NT, and in some places applets, or simply put, components of the control panel fall with errors.
Among the desktop backgrounds there are no wallpapers except winnt and "winnt256" - but there is just the Windows XP logo.
Console MMC works partially, but will go in principle.
And now the most unusual thing: I honestly find it very funny to see a picture like this, when one program says that Windows NT is running now, another says Windows 2000 is running, another says Windows XP, and the fourth even claims Windows Server 2003.
And at first glance, the question becomes obvious: who is right here and who should we believe?
In software plan it bad: VMware Tools did not want to install drivers, and Microsoft Office 2003 refused to install, allegedly because Windows Installer is disabled, although it is enabled.
So, that's the result.
So, you'll ask: Why and what was the point of doing this in the first place?
And other similar questions that may be on your mind right now.
First, it was just for fun. Second, it was just to show that crossing systems is possible, but it may not always end up correctly.
Anyway, that's all I wanted to show.
And, btw, the system also hangs when shutting down ;)
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