ilko_t

Vers. 0.2.0 released, please look at the first post for list of changes and download links.

I believe you should ask this question in grub4dos support forum: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showforum=66

Can you test the same stick on another computer? This would be harmless- just get to the partitioning screen in Text mode and see drive letters, no need to continue with installation. Then you can shut down the PC or use F3 to abort Setup.

You will have BOOTMGR instead of NTLDR in your bootsector, since you run HP format tool under Vista. The simplest way perhaps is to run "bootsect.exe U: /nt52" under Vista, where U: is the drive letter of your USB stick, and continue with the procedure. This will place a bootsector, invoking NTLDR rather than BOOTMGR. bootsect.exe must be on the Vista's DVD if cannot be found on the local disk. What else do you have on this USB stick? You could have placed RC with a few mouse clicks only using either of the methods above...

I have to correct myself- using WinSetupFromUSB 0.2, which will be published in a few days and custom directories, defined in winnt.sif DOES work. Seems the trick with merging back the unattended section to $winnt$.inf using presetup.cmd does the trick. The directories entries are parsed from $winnt$.inf after start of GUI mode, after presetup.cmd was launched and actually a few minutes after T-39, when the directories are created as well. winnt.sif: [Unattended] UnattendMode=FullUnattended UnattendSwitch="Yes" OemPreinstall="Yes" OemSkipEula="Yes" FileSystem=* WaitForReboot="No" NoWaitAfterTextMode=1 NoWaitAfterGUIMode=1 DriverSigningPolicy=Ignore NonDriverSigningPolicy=Ignore OemPnPDriversPath="drivers\01 wireless;drivers\02 lan;drivers\03 video" ProgramFilesDir="D:\Program_Files" CommonProgramFilesDir="D:\Program_Files\My_Common_Files" .... [GuiUnattended] EncryptedAdminPassword="No" AutoLogon="Yes" AdminPassword=* TimeZone=085 OEMSkipRegional=1 OemSkipWelcome=1 ProfilesDir="D:\Documents_Settings\" setuplog.txt: setupapi.log: As far as I remember 0.1.1 should work fine with those entries as well. In other words pretty much everything in winnt.sif has been covered

In the same fashion you may use WinSetupFromUSB- select your Windows source and check "Copy setup boot files only". This will install grub4dos bootsector and the necessary files for RC.

Try copying folder CMPNENTS from CD2 to CD1, overwriting any existing files on CD1. Not sure, but you may need to edit TXTSETUP.SIF too, and change CD2 to CD1: from: 2 = "%cd2name%","%cd2tagfilei%",,\cmpnents\tabletpc\i386 3 = "%cd2name%","%cd2tagfilei%",,\cmpnents\mediactr\i386 4 = "%cd2name%","%cd2tagfilei%",,\cmpnents\netfx\i386 to 2 = "%cdname%","%cdtagfilei%",,\cmpnents\tabletpc\i386 3 = "%cdname%","%cdtagfilei%",,\cmpnents\mediactr\i386 4 = "%cdname%","%cdtagfilei%",,\cmpnents\netfx\i386 Don't have a MCE or TABLET cd to play with, hope that's all you have to do. Please let us know how it went. edit: Edit the above in both files TXTSETUP.SIF, found in USB root and ~BT folder. edit2: copy CMPNENTS folder to USB_root\....~LS\

Nope, it must NOT be checked.

Changing default directories paths is not yet supported in WinSetupFromUSB. In my last tests I noticed that "program files" and "documents and settings" were not created during Text mode part, which gives pretty good chances to find a workaround by using presetup.cmd for example. However, I was after something else and did not pay much attention, the above statement could be wrong.

Similar problem described here and the following posts: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...st&p=824348 Can you try with another USB stick? This was the resolution in that case.

Yeah, it uses 100. I had the wrong impression from your first post that you have used WinSetupFromUSB.

Try this: - make sure ntdll.dll is present in USB_disk\$win_nt$.~bt\system32\ . If not- copy it from XPCD\I386\ - make sure smss.exe is present in USB_disk\$win_nt$.~bt\system32\. If not- copy it from XPCD\I386\usetup.exe (rename usetup.exe to smss.exe)

Hmm, just checked WinSetupFromUSB 0.1 beta, 0.1 and the latest 0.1.1, all them use 1, NOT 100. What did you use to prepare your USB stick?

Thanks for the links, a lot to be read as usual Or BIOS is buggy or not supporting 48LBA? It's a Dell laptop, made end of 2005, the original disk was 60GB, now is 160GB. BIOS do not display hard disk size, nor I could find a program, which can detect if BIOS supports 48LBA, apart from the paid HDinfo. Any hints how to check that? A couple of interesting links: http://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/959 http://blogs.msdn.com/ntdebugging/archive/...the-second.aspx

I guess that explains why.Perhaps not very many people are using similar version, as this syntax has been used since the first versions of USB_prepare and USB_multiboot and no one reported the issue. Thanks for posting this, will take care of it in the next version.

Was the source with any service pack? What are contents of SourceDisksNames.x86 and Strings sections in txtsetup.sif?

Doing some tests and tried to install XP SP3 to the fourth primary partition of the only internal disk. Boot.ini on internal drive does get the correct partition(4), but if I start the GUI part hal.dll error occurs. Tried installing on partition 3 and everything went smoothly. Is this wrong partition table or rather NTLDR cannot access windows directory and files on the fourth partition, since it's beyond certain boundary, or maybe BIOS matters NTLDR/NTDETECT.COM are from XP SP3. Could this reveal the cause of those reports with weird hal.dll errors, where partition entry did match? MBR_HardDisk0.zip

You are welcome, thanks for sharing this

Hi, Many Linux distros can be added via "add Syslinux bootsector/distro" option and selecting the folder with the extracted ISO/IMG in order to copy it to the USB stick. This way grub4dos bootloader will load a bootsector loading syslinux, which is included with nearly all Linux distros and menu is already present. Limitations are: -NTFS is not supported, cannot make syslinux bootsector on NTFS plus many distros may complain if NTFS support is not included in the startup scripts -the distro should have a directory named syslinux in its root, otherwise you manually have to place it there and/or amend syslinux.cfg options It's easier to use grub4dos functionality and skip the syslinux part. For ophcrack in particular, extract ophcrack directory from the liveCD ISO to the root USB disk. From directory boot extract only initrd.gz and vmlinuz and place them in USB_root\ophcrack\. Add these lines to the existing USB_root\menu.lst : title Ophcrack Graphic mode kernel /ophcrack/vmlinuz ramdisk_size=6666 root=/dev/ram0 rw autoexec=xconf;startx changes=/slax/ initrd /ophcrack/initrd.gz title Ophcrack Graphic VESA mode kernel /ophcrack/vmlinuz ramdisk_size=6666 root=/dev/ram0 rw autoexec=startx changes=/slax/ initrd /ophcrack/initrd.gz title Ophcrack Text mode kernel /ophcrack/vmlinuz ramdisk_size=6666 root=/dev/ram0 rw changes=/slax/ initrd /ophcrack/initrd.gzTested on USB stick with NTFS formatted partition and worked fine on real hardware, even revealed my weak windows passwords in seconds. How did we make those entries? In ophcrack CD there is \boot\syslinux\syslinux.cfg with 1 line only- INCLUDE /boot/ophcrack.cfgSo we look into /boot/ophcrack.cfg : Quoting the important part only: This is syslinux/isolinux syntax, we have to make it grub4dos.LABEL ophcrack ---> not needed MENU LABEL Ophcrack Graphic mode ---> title Ophcrack Graphic mode KERNEL /boot/vmlinuz -->kernel /ophcrack/vmlinuz (file was moved, capital letters matter) Here will add kernel parameters later APPEND initrd=/boot/initrd.gz ramdisk_size=6666 root=/dev/ram0 rw autoexec=xconf;startx changes=/slax/ --> initrd /ophcrack/initrd.gz The rest in the line APPEND, after initrd=... goes as kernel parameter back to the line kernel /.... so our grub4dos line kernel .... becomes kernel /ophcrack/vmlinuz ramdisk_size=6666 root=/dev/ram0 rw autoexec=xconf;startx changes=/slax/ Help text will ignore for now. Latest grub4dos versions do support help text: Does this now makes sense? This way you can include pretty much any Linux distro in your USB disk with very little tweaking. To do that automatically by WinSetupFromUSB would require a lot of coding and will not be universal, plus there so many Linux distros, which are updated and changed constantly.

Look at this post: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...st&p=834123

The problem is that we make the USB stick write-protected during Text mode by using a registry key inserted by migrate.inf. Unfortunately this key works for XP SP2 and SP3 only. There have been number of attempts to overcome the problem, using the very same approach but without any luck. WinSetupFromUSB produces a warning that some files will be deleted if source is not XP SP2 or 3, that's the best I can do for now. In ReadMe.txt and How-To.txt the problem is described as well. If install often, using various sources you should consider using PE (WinBuilder/BartPE/WinPE...) and setup launched by winnt32.exe, or wimb's implementation of this method. As for the hal.dll error- USB_multiboot and WinSetupFromUSB use the same algorithm when creating the boot files. Maybe something else went wrong. Check the FAQs topic for details.

Would be helpful if you mention what actually the problem is Do you see the boot menu? 1. Begin TXT Mode Setup Windows XP, Never unplug USB-Drive Until Logon, 2. and 3. Continue with GUI Mode Setup Windows XP + Start XP from HD 1 What happens when you select 1? Does it start Text mode part of the setup? Does it complete Text mode? Then what happens when you select "2 and 3"? FYI- drive letters C, D etc. are given by windows and do not provide information about disks and partitioning. When describing similar problem use first hard disk/partition 2, second hard disk/partiton 1 etc. etc. Did you try Safe mode first?You may also have a look at OffLineSysPrep which may help you transfer the existing Windows: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=19397 Have it redetect HAL (Auto configuration) and inject Standart MS mass storage drivers (advanced-->install standard IDE drivers), tick "Complete OffLineSysPrep without running SysPrep" as well. Then make the first reboot in Safe mode.

That's perfectly normal, nothing to worry about. Sync is used to flush data to the USB disk. As for the corrupted file- maybe bad download (did you get it from MSFN link to datafilehost.com? ), AV scanner or something interfering with installation Anyway, glad you got it sorted.

I am afraid not yet. That part is parsed during Text mode and since we remove the whole unattended section it does not get applied. I can think of 2 possible workarounds- put programfiles directive in [data] section in ~bt\winnt.sif and hope it gets parsed. The other would be messing with setup.hiv etc. to change ProgramFiles path in advance. I have looked at that option before but don't recall much.

usb-SETUP.EX_ is filled with zeroes as is setup.exe if you extract it using expand setup.ex_ setup.exe You can open it up with the free TinyHexer for example. If that's indeed setup.ex_ found in ~LS\I386 folder then copy manually setup.ex_ from \WinSetupFromUSB\files\winsetup\ to ~LS\I386 on the USB disk overwriting the existing corrupted file. This should get you going. You may want to check in TinyHexer \WinSetupFromUSB\files\winsetup\setup.ex_ first. If you see again all is zeroes then please let me know. As for why the file is corrupted I can only guess, maybe antivirus scanner interfering