ilko_t

Good to know, thanks. Did you use version 0.2.3 or 1.0 beta6?Have you tried the modified ntdetect.com as mentioned in the FAQs?

Which 7-zip version are you using? 9.20 on Windows 7 x64 opens and extracts Win7 ISOs just fine. Not sure about MagicDisc mounted ISO, winsetupfromusb.log file in program directory may come handy after attempt to use such source.

1) Extract ISO somewhere using 7zip 2) Extract and use WinSetupFromUSB 1.0 beta6: 3) Format the USB stick using the tools provided, try FAT32 or NTFS 4) Select the folder where you extracted Windows 7 in the appropriate field 5) Press GO 6) Test and report back

This makes it easier 1) Use WinSetupFromUSB 1.0 beta6 2) Format stick with either of the tools included, use FAT32 3) Select your WIndows 7 source in the appropriate field 4) Select the Ubuntu ISO 5) Press GO 6) Edit menu.lst in the USB stick root and add "persistent" to Ubuntu kernel parameters, for example: 7) Create casper-rw file in root of the USB stick with help of the links above, there is a Windows program if you don't want to mess with Linux. 8) Report back

Try this: In short- in winsetup.lst remove --mem option after map command. map --mem /WINSETUP/XPpSP3.ISO (0xff) becomes map /WINSETUP/XPpSP3.ISO (0xff) You will also have to ensure each ISO file in \WINSETUP\ folder is contiguous. Use Wincontig or Sysinternal's contig to check and defragment them. Can you list the exact models of these laptops?

How did you add Windows 7? Do you use grub4dos MBR or bootsector? Which Ubuntu version are you using? Windows 7 setup and Ubuntu can happily coexist in the same partition, just provide details what you've got so far. How familiar are you with Linux? Could you create the persistent file from Linux? Will need these links: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LiveCD/Persistence http://www.pendrivelinux.com/casper-rw-creator-make-a-persistent-file-from-windows/ https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LiveUsbPendrivePersistent The idea is to have Ubuntu Live loaded by grub4dos as an ISO file, create casper-rw and add "persistent" to kernel parameters.

Are you using the sample menu.lst as in here: The one I gave you was as per your customizations although you can safely add an entry for the second part if you wish to start from USB stick after Text mode, rather than from the internal hard drive: title Continue XP setup map (hd0) (hd1) map (hd1) (hd0) map --hook rootnoverify (hd0) chainloader (hd0)+1

And this happened because you didn't use the proper menu.lst entries at first place... Advice- start from a scratch. Follow instructions to the letter. Do NOT introduce any changes, this means ANY.

Sure, that's what I proposed you a few post above, follow the instructions to the letter. Then something else must have changed. Booting process hasn't reached grub4dos which loads menu.lst so changes in the latter cannot lead to what you describe.

Then you'll have to edit: Did you get grub4dos menu?

title XP setup from iso find --set-root /xpsp3.iso map (hd0) (hd1) map (hd1) (hd0) map --mem /XP_INST.ima (fd1) map --mem (md)0x6000+800 (fd0) map --mem /xpsp3.iso (0xff) map --hook dd if=(fd1) of=(fd0) count=1 chainloader (0xff) title Continue XP setup map (hd0) (hd1) map (hd1) (hd0) map --hook rootnoverify (hd0) chainloader (hd0)+1And you have to amend the appropriate files for the new file name and location of xpsp3.iso. Or simply follow the instructions in the first post to the letter and do not introduce any changes unless you get everything working and understand what is what.

Success, at last. It seems loading the ISO image in memory causes the hang. Mapping it with no ---mem option seems to do the trick. Of course the file has to be contiguous. The only change is in winsetup.lst: map /WINSETUP/XPpSP2.ISO (0xff) As a side note- Syslinux memdisk also seem to work on this system: title Boot memdisk kernel /memdisk initrd /flp.img flp.img is an image of floppy disk with SETUPLDR.BIN, NTDETECT.COM and TXTSETUP.SIF and bootsector invoking SETUPLDR.BIN. Txtsetup.sif has a few lines added in order to change boot and source paths: [SetupData] ... SetupSourcePath ="\WINSETUP\XPpSP2\" SetupSourceDevice=\ArcName\multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1) BootPath="\WINSETUP\XPpSP2\I386\" BootDevice="multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)" ... Memdisk was used just for testing purposes, it won't be suitable as we cannot change on the fly rdisk values according to th enumber of hard drives connected as we can do with grub4dos and cat --locate=rdisk(X) --replace=rdisk(Y) (0xff)/I386/TXTSETUP.SIF I am going to open a new thread in grub4dos support forum at boot-land.net and check if the good guys there have a workaround or clue what's going on.

There is no readme files in the beta versions. In 0.2.3 and formers there are. Although last betas work just fine in most of the cases, the whole new method is still experimental and (maybe) to be changed. The readme file in 0.2.3 version nearly covers everything you need to know to get you started. If you are looking for something to start with: There are also balloon tooltips for each field and button in the program, just keep the mouse for a few seconds over the object in question.

I would edit setup.cmd where most paths are already determined and add a few lines to copy I386 folder, then change the installation path in registry using GUIRunOnce in winnt.sif using the REG command.The installation path is in registry, in a single key, google a bit for the exact key to be changed, AFAIR it should be HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup -->SourcePath

Lets go step by step. Get WInSetupFromUSB 1.0 beta6: http://www.datafilehost.com/download-deec7fdd.html Extract it somewhere using 7-zip or other software supporting 7z archives: http://www.7-zip.org/ Use your 2GB drive. Start WInSetupFromUSB if required with admin privileges (Windows should ask you for this) and press RMPrepUSB button and use the following options, don't touch others: FAT16, Boot as HDD, XP/WinPE v1 Press Prepare drive and once finished close RMPrepUSB. Next select your Windows source and tick the option "test in QEMU". Press GO. If some error comes up please mention it and attach with your next post WinSetupFromUSB.log file found in program directory. You may have to zip it first if too large or board software doesn't allow .log files to be attached. Does it start fine in QEMU? Close QEMU and WinSetupFromUSB. Move the USB stick to the computer in question, use "safely remove hardware icon" when disconnecting the USB stick. Start from USB. How far does it go?

What grub4dos menu entry did you use to start the GUI mode? What about the Text mode entry? Can you post your entire menu.lst, there must be something wrong or omitted in it. For the GUI mode you even don't have to start from USB if properly used cdob's method, ISO loading by grub4dos is also not necessary, it's loaded later on by imdisk driver, when windows USB 2.0 drivers are loaded and should not take that long at all.

Just trying to get it working on my own laptop You'd have to amend txtsetup.sif in the small iso files as well as setup.cmd in each I386 folder. The only issue with having menu titles in this order is that you cannot auto select the second parts automatically, once the first part have been selected and booted. In other words to achieve unattended setup- manually select first part, select partition to install to and leave it running unattended right to the end of setup.Well, you could do it, as long as you know the positions of each Second part of setup in winsetup.lst and amend each "savedefault 2" line accordingly. If you are looking for unattended installs of course.

For the record- what's this machine, laptop model or motherboard of desktop? I'd try also firadisk method and eventually PLoP for faster loading.

Do you have ~BT\system32 folder with ntdll.dll and smss.exe files in it?

Try the attached plpbt.bin, no need to press ctrl+a, it will auto start. 0x6B reminds me of removed manual install and upgrade option in nLite which must not be used, at least not with 0.X.X versions of WinSetupFromUSB and USB_multiboot. Check pinned FAQs topic. plpbt.zip

In addition- try various PLoP versions. On my machines 5.0.10 works on one of them where 5.0.11 fails and vice versa. Added: title Start PLoP boot manager find --set-root --ignore-cd /plpbt.bin kernel /plpbt.bin Extract plpbt.bin to USB drive root from PLoP zip archive: http://www.plop.at/en/bootmanagerdl.html

I am still chasing this one... Dell released new BIOS, A27- same issue. Tried to start Setup from a floppy image with setupldr.bin, ntdetect.com and txtsetup.sif in it mapped to fd0 and fd1- setup hangs the same way, this works on other machines. Use latest chenalls grub4dos build- http://code.google.com/p/grub4dos-chenall/downloads/detail?name=grub4dos-0.4.5b-2010-11-21.zip&can=2&q= - same result. Interestingly, the firadisk method hangs the same way. What the heck is wrong with these Dells... Any ideas and clues are more than welcome

I'm using WinSetupFromUSB beta6. I have Windows XP Professional SP3 and Windows XP Home SP3 - all placed in //WINSETUP in the root dir on both devices. Both Windows' CDs/Versions are not modified by anyone, because i downloaded them from MSDN and i've also checked the hash sums. My devices are: 1. Samsung S2 500GB split in two: 1. 65.6 GB primary, non-active, NTFS 2. 400 GB primary, non-active, NTFS. I've used "grubinst-1.1-bin-w32-2008-01-01" and placed "grub4dos-0.4.4-2009-06-20" in the root of #1 65.6GB, then i used WinSetupFromUSB beta6 to add both Windows sources. I've never had problem before, i've done many successful installations, but this time on a desktop PC it resulted in error that (i cant quote the exact info) biosinfo.inf is missing, error 14. 2. PQI 4GB USB-Thumb drive: FAT32, Primary, active. I did the same procedure like i did on my Samsung and it works. Try this grub4dos version: http://grub4dos-chenall.googlecode.com/files/grub4dos-0.4.5b-2010-11-21.zip Older versions lack needed feature to search and replace a string in a file. In addition- set the first partition active. Why do you need to edit WINSETUP folder?Each new source goes into a new folder under WINSETUP folder. All you have to do is to amend winsetup.lst title for the new installation/first part of setup, leaving paths alone. Those paths are also used in txtsetup.sif in the small ISO file, so changing paths could be tricky if you don't know all the places where they are used. In beta7 it will ask you for custom name, as stated there is a bug in beta6 and the input box for a custom name is not showing up. As for the second part menu name is only one because it is the same for GUI mode of all kind of 2000/2003/XP installations, and has to be second entry in winsetup.lst so it becomes default entry once any of the FIRST PARTs is selected and booted, making boot menu somehow unattended.

Opps, bug, wrong inputbox possition, doesn't ask, just adds and uses 1/2/3... Fixed in beta7.

Where are file placed, which partition? Which partition is active? Are both primary? Which version of WinSetupFromUSB did you use? Which version did you use? Latest 1.0 beta6 takes menu names out of txtsetup.sif including service pack number and they should be different. In case they are the same program adds 1/2/3... to the name at the same time asking you for a custom menu name.You could always edit winsetup.lst, after 'title....'. And yes, you have to check this thread for updates. Working on beta7 currently, but it would be just minor fixes and updates of some of the tools included.