Interesting headline? Ever have a setup failure and wonder why? Ever notice a weird bug once you have just loaded up Windows?

There is a little known folder in your Windows directory which provides a ton info information about your Windows install.

The folder is called the Panther folder and is locate in:

C:\Windows\Panther

This folder contains several files. The most interesting is setupact.log

Most of the information is under the “info” heading, however if you encounter errors during your install this file is very verbose. It can quickly help you pinpoint the area in your system where you’re running into difficulty.

If you dig a little further you can find an additional log file in C:\Windows\Panther\UnattendGC which details setup information about the unattended portion of the Windows setup. For some additional details check out this Kb: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb978390.aspx

Remeber you can find more help with Windows deployment at the Microsoft Springboard portal!