Guide - Install WinXP From HDD or USB Drive Or CD

[mawi]

in [winnt] subject u have i386 folder too that should be unrenamed

Hmm, do you mean [winntdirectories]? I can't find a [winnt] section.

Winntdirectories has one occurence of i386:

[WinntDirectories]
1980 = PCHealth\HelpCtr\Binaries
1 = "\"
2 = system32
3 = "system32\config"
4 = "system32\drivers"
...
39 = "Driver Cache\i386"
40 = security
...

[aviv00]

yep only them

[mawi]

yep only them

OK, I have changed from the above to this (only one line, the one with 40 at the beginning):

[WinntDirectories]
1980 = PCHealth\HelpCtr\Binaries
1 = "\"
2 = system32
3 = "system32\config"
4 = "system32\drivers"
...
39 = "Driver Cache\$WIN_NT$.~BT"
40 = security
...

I also discovered that I must use harddisk1, as you mentioned:

[SetupData]
SetupSourceDevice = \device\harddisk1\partition1
SetupSourcePath = "\"

So, as a side note, if I try SetupSourceDevice with harddisk0, it tells me "No previous version of Windows NT can be found..." [press F3], like so:

I have two problems that I will see if I can solve now:

(1) Reboot after "blue"/text phase doesn't continue install

(2) I get (E:) as letter for the harddrive

/mawi

Edited March 19, 2009 by mawi

[mawi]

I have two problems that I will see if I can solve now:

(1) Reboot after "blue"/text phase doesn't continue install

(2) I get (E:) as letter for the harddrive

So, here I continue.

Problem (2) above depends on my own doing:

- I have two partitions on the harddrive, and

- as I repartitioned and reformatted the first - so I could retry installing - the second partition got assigned letter C: and the first partition got E:, for some reason. Bah.

But problem (1) is left. What happens is this:

* Boot from USB goes fine, I use F12 to temporarily select USB

* The first part of setup (blue, text phase) goes nicely.

* I reboot after partitioning and the copying is done, then:

* I think it tries to boot from harddrive, but it doesn't seem to work, for some reason.

I get the following screen with the text starting with

"Windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware configuration problem.

Could not read from the seleected boot disk. Check boiot path and disk hardware.

Please check the windows documentation about hardware..."

What could the problem be?

What can I do about it?

Have I missed some step?

Thanks for your replies and your time!

/mawi

[ilko_t]

I get the following screen with the text starting with

"Windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware configuration problem.

Could not read from the seleected boot disk. Check boiot path and disk hardware.

Please check the windows documentation about hardware..."

Wrong rdisk value in boot.ini on the internal disk...

[mawi]

OK, so I used a PE boot disk (on another, small USB disk) to check what was on the harddrive, and it had accumulated different installs.

After erasing, I decided to clear all partitions and start from scratch.

After first phase (blue/text mode) reboot, I then get a new error message:

"Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt:

<Windows root>\system32\hal.dll

Please reinstall a copy of the file."

I have tried this twice now, and I get the same error message.

It seems that I may have missed some edit in TXTSETUP.SIF?

If so, what?

Thanks again!

/mawi

PS

Here is my complete TXTSETUP.SIF:

TXTSETUP.zip

Edited March 19, 2009 by mawi

[ilko_t]

This one should be because of wrong partition(X) value in boot.ini. Did you start from USB the second time? Does partition number in boot.ini match the partition number you installed to?

Do rdisk values in boot.ini on the internal hard disk match?

Since you can boot from PE disk you should post the relevant information, this would save both parties time.

In other hand- what are you trying to accomplish? Need one-off install or you are willing to experiment?

[mawi]

This one should be because of wrong partition(X) value in boot.ini. Did you start from USB the second time? Does partition number in boot.ini match the partition number you installed to?

After reboot, I try to boot from hard drive.

That is how I interpreted the instructions. Should I start from USB disk the second time?

I am assuming for this procedure, that I should not, is that false?

About boot.ini: I don't know, right now I just have one partition on the harddrive, so it should work, I guess...

Do rdisk values in boot.ini on the internal hard disk match?

How do I check this, these so called rdisk values - boot.ini on hard drive or USB drive? Do I match that against values in some other file?

Since you can boot from PE disk you should post the relevant information, this would save both parties time.

In other hand- what are you trying to accomplish? Need one-off install or you are willing to experiment?

I would like to get this install to work. I dont have access to CD right now. I have tried many methods, this one seems to be close.

It would be nice to not have to experiment. But like one poster said, many instructions are complicated or large. I have tried the GUI, but I didn't get it to work either, I posted about the 16 bit CONFIG.NT problem. Maybe I will retry using it.

Again, thanks for all your help and time.

/mawi

[ilko_t]

How do I check this, these so called rdisk values - boot.ini on hard drive or USB drive? Do I match that against values in some other file?

From PE disk, boot.ini on the hard drive. When you open it there are 2 lines with rdisk in it. Both values should be the same.

It would be nice to not have to experiment.

Well, you have hit a thread with a method, which is relatively new and barely tested. Unless you have the time and willingness to experiment I'd suggest you to stay with the proven to work and well tested methods:

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=111406

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=120444

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=121446

Using (heavily) modified sources makes the things trickier, but I do not remember a case in this subforum, which has not been resolved.

Setup started by WINNT.EXE from DOS and WINNT32.EXE from PE environment are always an option too.

I posted about the 16 bit CONFIG.NT problem

And you got reply. Rebuilding the USB disk in order to gather the required information would have not costed you much time, would it? I guess not more than 10-15 minutes with USB hard drive formatted in NTFS.

[mawi]

How do I check this, these so called rdisk values - boot.ini on hard drive or USB drive? Do I match that against values in some other file?

From PE disk, boot.ini on the hard drive. When you open it there are 2 lines with rdisk in it. Both values should be the same.

I'll check this as soon as I get time (which sadly means tomorrow). Could this really be the culprit for the hal.dll not found problem?

It would be nice to not have to experiment.

Well, you have hit a thread with a method, which is relatively new and barely tested.

I do realize that this is newer. I meant that I would have preferred to not have to experiment. The reason for trying this method is simply that the others I tried did not work.

Unless you have the time and willingness to experiment I'd suggest you to stay with the proven to work and well tested methods:

The one proven that I tried didn't work in my situation.

I don't know which of these are more proven than the next. It may be obvious, to you, that one is better than another, but as one new here, looking for a solution, it is really not that obvious.

One proven would be easy to get started with. These first and last look experimental to me. I tried the GUI one, second link.

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=111406

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=120444

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=121446

Using (heavily) modified sources makes the things trickier, but I do not remember a case in this subforum, which has not been resolved.

The only modification I have is added driver, without which setup wont recognize my disks. I never doubted anyones ability or good intentions. I am sure the answer is out there, somewhere.

Setup started by WINNT.EXE from DOS and WINNT32.EXE from PE environment are always an option too.

I tried this but I made some mistake and didn't get far.

I posted about the 16 bit CONFIG.NT problem

And you got reply.

Yes I got a reply, I never said I did not. I'm merely answering your question, explaining where I ran into a snag.

Rebuilding the USB disk in order to gather the required information would have not costed you much time, would it?

Hmm, what is the point of this? (Shall I say: "Oh, I did wrong. I repent, I am sorry. I will not ask anymore questions." ? Silly.) I am trying the best I can, I hope you see that.

I will retry, tomorrow!

Again, I do appreciate your and everyone elses help and time. And I understand that you must get frustrated at times! I sure do.

/mawi

[aviv00]

ok one things ur txtsetup is not right u changed it

39 = "Driver Cache\$WIN_NT$.~BT"

try use f12 button when the system start to load the bios boot menu

and choose directly the hdd / usb that have the setup files

if its not working try change back to hdd(0)

"No previous version of Windows NT can be found..." [press F3], like so: "

i had that problem while making this but i solve it

maybe u missed do something try to make it from the guide from start

Edited March 21, 2009 by aviv00

[jaclaz]

aviv00

Maybe you could edit your initial post adding in it some more explicit instructions, like which exact lines need to be edited, instead of this:

a. Open TXTSETUP.SIF and rename I386 folder to $WIN_NT$.~BT

WARNING!!!!! don't rename the folders in winnt dir just those are relevant to setup

or possibly attach an already edited and known to be working TXTSETUP.SIF, I could put together a simple batch to do "automagically" just the needed edits....

jaclaz

[aviv00]

Hi,

I use a USB-stick (Sandisk Cruzer)

Jaclaz is right. Making a bootable USB-stick with "HP Windows Format Utility for USB Drive Key" works

I used version 2.00 and formatted NTFS.

I had no success with FAT32.

Changing BIOS-settings did not solve the asking for "missing" SP3-files

Screenshot shows file names of "missing" files.

After setting BIOS-setting back to HD-boot something strange happened.

I can not install XP now from the same USB-stick!!.

Booting is OK, files are transfered, but at reboot HAL.DLL is missing.

i found the problem DOSNET.INF should rename there too

i will post good list soon

edited:

i didnt find the problem so i find way to bypass it check in post number #1

and post a better method to solve it check method 2

Edited April 18, 2009 by aviv00

[Spewk]

None of this is getting me anywhere..

It boots, it loads all files, and when "starting windows" I just get the good ol' BSOD everytime....

I used DBAN on the HDD after several attempts, and now that the drive is wiped clean, I'm still getting the BSOD.

I tried changing the Setup data, by adding this line :

SetupSourceDevice = \device\harddisk1\partition1

And even tried changing from 1 to 0 and back, to no avail....

I don't believe the actual HDD is even being seen, honestly - but I don't get far enough to know......

[ilko_t]

What does the blue screen say? This is the interesting part, not the blue screen itself

If it's the 0x0000007B error try the modified ntdetect.com as mentioned in the pinned FAQs topic. Cure for other error messages are also mentioned there.