Manifest Parse Error…
You receive the following message: “Manifest Parse error: Invalid at top level of document” when installing Windows XP for the first time and the installation fails because it cannot correctly parse the CONTROLS.MAN file. At no point does Microsoft’s installation program allow you to select an alternate source location for the file. It doesn’t even allow you full command prompt access. And the Recovery Program is useless, as it doesn’t even allow you to copy directories or copy using wildcards!
That’s what happened to me, too, after I decided to give Microsoft one more chance to have one of its operating systems on my main computer. I must be a glutton for punishment, because rather than scrapping it completely, I decided to figure out how to get around the problem. Old habits, like most computers running Microsoft operating systems, die hard.
I’ve heard everything from “it’s a copy protection scheme” to “it locks you out after three installations”. I’ve even heard of hundreds of people who have experienced the error from fresh-out-of-the-shrink-wrap, boxed versions of Windows XP. I couldn’t even get my freshly opened XP CD direct from Dell to work properly. Also, many folks prefer to install from CD copies and keep the original disks in close-to-pristine condition, yet rumors abound that as many as 60-70% of the copies experience this same problem. It must be another one of those undocumented Microsoft features.
The /i386/asms/6000/msft/windows/common/controls/controls.man file on the CD is corrupt. Copy your entire CD to your harddrive, use my version of the CONTROLS.MAN file (don’t forget to change the file extension!), and burn another CD. In theory, you could copy the entire i386 directory to your harddrive, replace the damaged file, and then run \i386\winnt.exe to install, but if you really want a reliable and stable system, it is not wise to install the XP operating system over an existing, older OS. So burning a CD is the only viable option for a fresh, clean install.Whether the new OS works well enough to dissuade me from breaking down and purchasing an iMac remains to be seen…
WOW. That’s all I can say.
Been burning my own cracked version of XPprofSP1a and it’s just not working! Weird thing is, check this:
~ Crappy Korean generic CDR :: burn, works fine
~ Quality Sony CD :: burn, parse error VCTRL.MAN
From my years as a PC user I can only think that the chap that talked about Joliet standards is right - the directory structure is too deep and therefore it’s incredibly temperamental to burning errors. It’s got to be that. All very well saying that but none of the methods mentioned above seem to work. Very odd this, I’m amazed there’s no KB article on this since MS do say that making one backup copy of a CD is fine (correct me if I’m wrong).
Hmm… this has got me pìššëd off - 5 CDs burned so far with no luck. Run out for tonight, gotta go buy some tomorrow!
I hope this post will help. I had to download the WinXP Pro twice to get it right. I did not bother about the speed of burning (2x in my case). The problem with the first download was I could not get the VCRTL.MAN currectly. I downloaded another XP iso image and burned it on another cd. Started installing from the first cd and once it booted (before the famous 39 min notice), I removed the first cd and waited for the prompt to insert the XP cd and popped in the second cd. It worked like charm and I had no problem. I would also suggest to go with FAT32 and not with NTFS. NTFS supporters can convert later once the installation is perfect. Hope it helps.
Shekhar
i don’t know if this has been posted, but some people were saying after using your fix that they then get an error on the 4th line. this may be because they have word wrap on in note pad, with this enabled the second half of the third line becomes the 4th line which may explain why the 4th line is now the problem, hope this helps some people.
well, another sucsess story, worked first time for me, i used win iso to rip my win-xp cd to the hard disk as an image, then replaced the controls.man with the one from this page. saved the iso, burned it to cd-rw at 2x, checked the file on the cd to make sure it had worked, and it had. so i installed xp and had no troubles. thank you so much, i’d have never done it without this site!!
matt
I checked the control.man file and everything was OK with it.SO I decided to burn the CD again with a lower speed.I created an image with Alcohol 120% and reburned it using the same program, with 8X speed.Voila,it worked fine. I booted the computer using the CD and install Windows XP with SP1a just fine.Hope it works for all as it worked for me.
Hi everybody..I’m from Turkey and I have good news for u all 2 fiz all these *.man errors… In addition to all these methodologies and Richard’s marvelleous technique here, I also tried other advices without burning any CDs and yes! it worked. How it works? If u have 2 partitions, it is easy. Copy all XP files to D: for instance and setup to C:. You get some .man errors like controls.man or gdiplus.man etc. PANIC NOT! Go to MS’ website to download SP utility as Franks tells in this web page as follows: Go to microsoft get Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 1 Utility: Setup Disks for Floppy Boot Install 6 floppies. When you get these error insert floppy #1. Reboot, then #2, 3… 6… and VADAAAAA! MS XP is installed! Congratulations… now you can eat some turkish delight or schich kebap. LOVE From Turkey…
Erhan
Many thanks for your website richard. After 5 days of suffering I finally managed to install winXP. dámn that manifest error