I have built many NT servers from scratch and have never seen this. Please help. During the nt server install (after the first boot) I get the following error.

The file was not copied correctley. Although setup did not encounter any errors while copying this file etc..etc....This may indicate a problem with the NT CD-ROM and so on.

I "retry" and get same error. I can "skip" and a few secconds later I get the same error with a different file (mostly dlls). If I skip all the files with problems NT will not even boot up.

I have tried 3 different cds and I have tried 2 different hard drives. My next step is to try a different cd rom drive. Any suggestions ?

thanks a bunch

You have tried 3 different hard drives...on the same computer, or on different computers?
If they are all on the same computer, have you tried using these CD's on different computers?

If you have, and they worked on the others, have you tried installing any other software on the trouble computer? If you do, and the other software doesn't install either, it is likely your CDROM.

I would agree. If the CD-ROM has had
three CD's through it, then it is probably
the drive that is in question. Try a different
CD (not Windows NT)in the same drive
and see if it has a problem. If you have
any compressed air you can try blowing it
through, as it is probably a bit of hair or
dust on the laser lens.

This is maybe a variation on an old M$ mis-info...

Came across this issue a couple of years back; changed CD - got another from M$, problem seemed to go away. Have since used the original NT CD several times without problems... (on the same and other PC's - I have several copies of NT and several PC's).
Symptoms were similar to yours... (cleaning the CDROM made no difference; and it was brand new Dell system...)

A chap on the Virtualdr.com NT forum first alerted me to the M$ mis-direct...

His advice: it's really a RAM issue... Check your RAM. It may not be properly installed...; it may be defective (NT is really 'picky' about RAM). It may not be a CD/CDROM issue - as my own experience atests...

It won't hurt to clean the CDROM unit; there are cleaning kits available that I've used with success.

The other route to suggest:

Create a smallish C: system partition (FAT16) - make it around 250Meg (even 500Meg) if you have lots of HD space...; make it bootable (sys c: off a boot-disk - ideally DOS 6.22); copy the i386 folder to the c: system partition. Install NT from there. You will need a boot-disk with CDROM support obviously; http:www/bootdisk.com is one place to get one... (but I get the feeling you probably have one already...)

c:\i386\winnt /b /x /s:c:\i386

is the command.

/b = no floppu install;
/x = make no set-up floppies;
/s: points to location of the winnt.exe (in this case c:\i386)

Install into the extended area; the boot/start-up files will go into the C: system FAT16 area. You will also have created the dual/multi-boot requirement should you wish it...

If this is a low security installation, then you could install DOS6.22 (with CDROM support) first; then install the NT as outlined above. Doing this allows easier recovery options in the future...

HTH...