The Problem
I decided to give Microsoft one more chance to have one of its (non)operating systems on my primary home computer. After reformatting my drive and beginning installing Windows XP from a freshly opened WinXP CD that I received direct from Dell, the following message appeared: “Manifest Parse error: Invalid at top level of document”. The installation failed and stopped because it could not correctly parse the CONTROLS.MAN file.
There are many theories as to what causes the error. Many folks prefer to keep their original disks in close-to-pristine condition and install from CD copies, yet rumors abound that as many as 60-70% of copies experience this error during installation. On the other hand, hundreds of people have gotten the error while installing from fresh-out-of-the-shrink-wrap, boxed versions of Windows XP. I’ve heard everything from “it’s a copy protection scheme” to “it locks you out after three installations”. None of the theories seem to be accurate.
I must be a glutton for punishment, because rather than scrapping the OS completely, I decided to push all the theories aside and figure out how to get around the problem. Old habits — like most computers running Microsoft operating systems — die hard.
The Solution
The /i386/asms/6000/msft/windows/common/controls/controls.man file on the CD is corrupt. Microsoft’s installation program doesn’t 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!
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. Burning a CD is the best 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.
After making the change of controls.man file, I was still unable to install Windows XP.
I just used Richard’s controls.man content to resolve the installation problem with XP’s “manifest parse error”. I tried to follow instructions from Richard to run i386winnt.exe, but i could not find the winnt file in my dumped harddisk, instead of this it shows winnt32.exe file.
I followed the steps descibed by “Happy User” to change my Product ID. I only get the activation window without any options. It is a blue-colored window. Any idea why I do not get the options to change the CD key? I guess I can try installing SP1 without changing the Product ID???
It is a bad CONTROLS.MAN file that will stop XP from installing. I had the same problem, but with different error messages (when installing from a CD it only said “error: a required installation file cannot be found in i386asms”, and when trying to install from the harddisk it said “error: the manifest file does not begin with the required tag or format information: *:i386asms”. Then my computer started forcing a boot into win xp, but win xp wouldn’t load! This would have disabled the system if I didn’t have a backup C: drive handy. I checked CONTROLS.MAN on my CD and HD (image from CD) and the CD said it was there with 2 kb, but when opened with Notepad it was empty. The HD image was missing CONTROLS.MAN entirely. I opened up a new Notepad window and copy/paste(ed) the script from above into it, then saved it as CONTROLS.MAN to the /i386/asms/6000/msft/windows/common/controls directory. I then successfully installed XP to my D: drive (previous C: drive made unbootable earlier). It works perfectly! Do not install using the key that starts with “FCKGW”. Find a newer corp key or use xpkey.exe (a search on Google, or any p2p can’t miss it)!!! Sorry if this is redundant to some, but I wanted the above errors to come up when others search. I looked forever, before finally finding this site. Thanks to everyone here for solving this small problem. XP should be free to anyone who got suckered into buying ME as the “ultimate OS”.
Actually you can get around having to do a full reinstall by letting the system restart after it encounters the error and removing the Windows CD. It will continue setup right where you left off and ask for the “asms” file and you simply click OK and it will let you enter in the path to the file. At this point you insert a floppy disk which you’ve made to have the complete file tree (all folders the same) as on the CD down to the CONTROLS.MAN file. Make sure that your CONTROLS.MAN file is correct (4kb or so) and then in the path change “E:/I386” to “A:/I386” and hit enter. This should do the trick. It will read the Manifest file from the floppy and when it’s done it asks you to reinsert the Windows CD and installation continues as normal. Email me if you have any other questions as I have done this install numerous times. Adios and Good Luck!
Thanks!
1. downloaded MSDN XP Pro image
2. burned to a CD-RW 8x
3. got the stupid manifest error
4. Google sent me here
5. used winiso to look at the image
6. all the files were correct on the downloaded image
7. burned a CD-R at 2x disk at once with Nero
8. checked that CD
Yea, finally got past the stupid error! Thank you, Microsoft, for making everything we do just a little bit harder!
If you go look on the CD, open up the CONTROLS.MAN file, you’ll see that’s it’s broken. It IS empty. Trying to change CDROM is just plain stupid.
I got a similar yet different error message when installing WinXP! My corrupted file was i386asms1000msftwindowsgdiplusgdiplus.man – line 0. Did anyone else find this file empty?
Jeez… Fûçk Bill Gates and use XP corp. plenty of keygens out there…. C’mon people! Civil disobedience is the only way to bring Billy Bob Gates down.
While I do not condone or support the illegal usage of pirated software, I do support the reduction of power currently held by the Evil Empire! – RDL
Dear, Richard — I have one thing to say about your help in proliferating the abuse of Microsoft software… THANK YOU!!!! That dåmn error was driving me crazy after just spending $2K on a new PC and then not being able to even use it… Can’t even think about it now but, once again, thank you. You’re a gentleman and a scholar.
You’re welcome! My purpose of informing the interested public is certainly not to proliferate the abuse of Microsoft software, but merely to point out the ridiculousness of putting up with mediocre products from the Evil Empire. As I’ve stated several times, I ran into the problem with a fully licensed OEM version that I obtained directly from Dell with my PC purchase and desired to help others with the same problem. I am nonetheless very pleased that my tribulations and subsequent workaround has helped so many. – RDL
Well, I’ve had the same problems also, and I’ve wasted about 20 blanks trying to fix the problem!
There are some things I’d like to point out, firstly the *.MAN files are somehow corrupted by the Windows system! This happens either when its copied to an image file from CD or harddrive. It’s not that the text is changed in anyway… its how its written to the disk causing a “crc error” or “bad cd cluster”. I also had the same problem with MSWINCRT.MAN on installation “in the asms7000 folder” (maybe cuz I have an Athlon x86 chipset?)
The only way around this was copying the ASMS folder from the WinXP CD, to the harddrive and renaming CONTROLS.MAN to CONTROLS.MA_ and so on (there are 5 *.MAN files in the ASMS folder)
E:I386ASMS1000MSFTWINDOWSGDIPLUSGDIPLUS.MAN
E:I386ASMS5100MSFTWINDOWSSYSTEMDEFAULTDEFAULT.MAN
E:I386ASMS6000MSFTVCRTLVCRTL.MAN
E:I386ASMS6000MSFTWINDOWSCOMMONCONTROLSCONTROLS.MAN
E:I386ASMS7000MSFTWINDOWSMSWINCRTMSWINCRT.MAN
Next, add the *.MA_ files into the WinXP iso image using WINISO, and then delete the old “CONTROLS.MAN” and rename CONTROLS.MA_ to CONTROLS.MAN etc., inside the iso…
hope this helps
lenny
You guys rock! I just used the copy of controls.man file at top and it worked fine. I copied XP onto my hardrive and replaced the file, reburned it and it worked fine… Thanks for the help!
I have Win XP Corp edition and the same thing happened to me. Your solution at the top was right on, and now I am up and running perfectly! Also, I am making it a point to spread the word, thanks!
Am having the same problem as the rest. When I tried to install XP Pro, during setup I got a bunch of files not loaded correctly. Told to hit ESC to continue but XP may not load correctly.
Eventually I got through it but then the Manifest
Parse Error. My question, being a total novice, is
how is the Controls.man file replaced? When I tried to copy the CD to my harddrive using Adaptec, immediately it instructs to put a fresh CD in and it starts to burn. There isn’t any time or way to copy anything. And what are the exact
steps to replacing the Controls.man file? These may be stupid questions but I’ve only used a PC for a few years and am self-taught. If anyone out
there can discuss the process throughly, I’d
really appreciate it. Thanks.
Thank you so much your info about changing the files in controls. Helped me a lot and made shìttÿ Windows finally work. Too bad Microsoft didn’t have the brains to figure it out.
— thxs again dave
ANOTHER SUCCESS STORY!!
Richard, you are a genius! Also, thanks to all for the postings, combined, I was able to figure out a resolution for this on my system. BTW, contrary to popular belief, this is NOT a copyright protection scheme by MS, it’s a bad design. Surprise! I know this because I downloaded XP Pro AND Home from MSDN and got the same exact error (I was burning them at 40x; bad idea looking in hindsight.) I went through two paths to fix this and they both worked. They are nothing new from what’s mentioned above, but I just wanted to share
1. TEMPORARY SOLUTION: Copy the i386 folder to a FAT32-formatted hard drive. Used winimage to extract CONTROLS.MAN and overwrote the bad file on the HDD. Ran c:i386winnt and installed as normal.
2. PERMANENT, FASTER SOLUTION: I burned the XP ISO using Nero 5 at 1x (2x did NOT work!!) also chose finalize, burn proof, and disk at once and that did the job! Now, I have a working, bootable XP Pro CD!
Thanks for all of the input. This is a GREAT site! Nice work, Richard!
Your fix solved my ‘Manifest Parse Error…..’ problem too. After my first failure I formatted the Hard Disk, copied the contents of my (copied) XP Pro CD onto it. I then patched in a new and correct Control.Man file. When my second XP install fell over in the same place I simply removed the CD, rebooted and when prompted I pointed the installation file at the /I386 directory on my hard disk. I was later asked to replace the XP CD but the installation continued and worked fine. Many thanks Richard.
I, myself, had this same problem, and I have three CD-capable Readers on this machine. A Cyberdrive CDRW 40/16/48, an Artec/Ultima DvD, and an old SCSI Yamaha 4600TICP. Got the same error on every one. Will try your fix now, and see if she works.
I had the same error as everyone else… I used a different Windows XP CD to install the OS and that worked fine. I think perhaps the fixed the file on different types of CDs, or perhaps different versions of the file work better on different computers. First I was using Windows XP Pro (OEM) then I switched to a different version of XP Pro… Basically, try a different CD with a different version.
Hey, Hey, Hey! I think it worked! I copied controls.man from WinXP home version. Thanks!
Well, for those of you that want a little different approach… here is how I did it. I used WinISO and made an ISO of my Windows XP Pro CD. Then using WinISO replaced the contents of the “Controls” directory. (Consists of three files – controls.man, controls.cat, and one other one)
Using Roxio EZCD Creator 5.1 Platinum I burned the new ISO back to a fresh new CDROM. Worked just like magic…
Saved my system! My friend tried it, but couldn’t change controls.man, until i told him it was read-only… some people don’t notice the obvious things. Now if I could just figure out why my system locks and goes BBBBZZZZZZZZZZ through my speakers…
Here’s my question. I just ran into this very problem myself. I used my XP disk to install XP onto one of my computers and it worked fine. In fact, being new to XP, I ended up reinstalling XP numerous times using this disk thanks to my curiosity with the XP registry. Anyways, I have scrapped the old computer and started using a new one. But when I tried to install XP using the same CD on the new computer, I received the Parse error. Of course, the control.man file was empty when I checked it, but then it’s always been empty hasn’t it… I mean, it’s not as if it was magically erased between the last successful install and this unsuccessful one. So what’s the deal? Do you think it is hardware related? I mean, are certain systems sensitive to this error whereas others are not? I can’t think of any other explanation since CD data simply cannot be altered after it is created… I mean on regular CDs obviously, not CDRW. Any ideas?