ilko_t

Install form a CD and install using winnt32.exe, which you reported not to work differ. Why- ask Microsoft. Here, for now, we can use only the winnt32.exe approach, in earlier versions using directly winnt32.exe, in latest by "cloning" its functionality. If you can help to develop a way to prepare stick like if using CD- please do so, you are more than welcome. Why your nlited source didn't work with winnt32.exe you have to figure out. Start with a clean, not Nlited source, and find when functionality gets broken. This may take you more than 10 builds. The questions I asked may not seem relevant for you, but to ask them I have reasons. If have to explain in details, this is going to take time, more than the one I could afford, so feel free to pay or not attention at all. And I asked you to check LBA and LARGE hard disks mode, not AHCI or SATA. In some cases when hard drive is not seen properly this may lead to all kinds of "not making sense" results, as are their resolutions, this is not very likely, as I believe the problem is in your source, but would have taken you way less time to check settings, than the time I've spent to type all this.

?Did you change winnt.sif AFTER usb_prep...? You have to remove the whole section [uNATTENDED], so the installer would prompt you where to install. Also make sure in [DATA] AutoPartition=0 I tried it both with and without the Unattended sections and I always get the same error about that one file. I've made at least 10 builds with this utility alone and it hasn't worked. Winnt32.exe doesn't work because of nLite, most likely. I've seen this happen before when I tried to run setup from inside Windows and it would skip to the last step and say it didn't work, and have me click Finish. Despite this not working, I have always been able to install Windows when I boot from the CD. Like I said, I can copy the setup files to the HD in BartPE, but does that get me anywhere? You did not answer most of my question, neither confirmed if the other suggestions were tried...how can I help you?! Sorry, but you should do 10 rebuilds with Nlite, not with usb_prep.., since the problem is in your source. Deleting [unattended] is to prevent TXT Setup NOT asking you where to install windows to and has nothing to do with ntoskrnl.exe error. Nlited sources do work, just you have to be careful and understand what you are removing. @Rudi1- thanks for feedback

How many partitions you have you your HD? Where do you install windows to? Do you have any hidden or non-standard ones? Try in BIOS to play with LBA and LARGE mode if it is AUTO. Do you have any other USB mass storage devices plugged, including card readers, smartfones etc. What do you mean ?Did you change winnt.sif AFTER usb_prep...? You have to remove the whole section [uNATTENDED], so the installer would prompt you where to install. Also make sure in [DATA] AutoPartition=0

In first scripts winnt32.exe was used, will it like subst? If yes- good idea, where were you a few months ago ? Why virtual drive was used- post #295 and the next few. Anyway, winnt32.exe is no longer used and virtual drive will not be used in next versions. About rdummy.sys- I hoped for a simple recompiling, but that was no go, the code must be rewritten/changed, so we need a proper programmer to do this. I have something in mind, but am not sure at all whether I can get him to do that.

Happy New Year everyone @pucelle- your information is confusing The above message indicates that there is something wrong within your winnt.sif, look here:http://support.microsoft.com/kb/247882 At the same time you said that you used USB_Prep8, which doesn't use winnt32.exe parsing winnt.sif. In version 8 winnt.sif is simply copied, in all previous versions it's parsed by winnt32.exe. The rest of your errors are because winnt32.exe didn't complete it's job creating ~BT and ~LS folders from your source. Regards, ilko edit: wimb, may be you should remove the check for winnt32.exe in source and check for some other file(s), since it's no longer used and there are people, which remove this functionality from their source. if exist %src_ok%\i386\winnt32.exe ( SET xpsource=%src_ok% ) else ( echo. echo Error: The path %src_ok% does not contain Windows XP Source Files Another idea is not to use tmpdrive and vdk anymore, either copy to a temporary folder or right to the USB destination, this will simplify the procedure and give x64 compatibility. Just a quick remind to anyone with 64bits source and USB hard disk- rdummy.sys won't work on 64 bit windows. If there are requests for it I will compile it for x64 too.

Hi Locaj, If I understood you correctly I see 2 problems: 1. BSOD 2. Your stick seen as fixed To resolve them: 1. What hardware you are booting on? Dell? Try to overwrite on stick ntdetect.com with Dietmar's modified ntdetect.com. Details here: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=14181 2. Did you try in usb_prep.cmd changing USB drive type to USB hard drive? Please try so, I think it was option 0. Few other questions- 3. What is the windows version you are installing, is it customized? 4. Did you insert custom mass storage drivers? 5. What do you mean here- You should provide details about your stick model etc. Some manufacturers have utilities for that purpose, did you have a look at it's web site? jaclaz may help you more on this question.@wimb- nice work I haven't tested latest batch, no spare time at all, just a quick question which bothers me- are we sure there are not "not documented" actions from winnt32.exe? In case of such it would be tricky to replicate it's behavior. You say the problem with winnt32 is that it deletes any $win_nt$... folders, I think for regular user that shouldn't be a problem. How many have those folders on their hard drives? If they have it intentionally, probably deletion of such wouldn't bother them much, warning should be enough. Just my opinion. Thanks again for your time and enthusiasm Regards, ilko

Thanks for that, please enlighten us some more As far as I saw it, MS prepares WinPE with the setup source you provide. This WinPE could be booted from USB media, CD or whatever. Or did I miss something? Unfortunately my fresh installation of Microsoft Deployment keeps freezing when building WinPE ISO, so I couldn't dig much. @wimb I think you are going to need this: Microsoft Deployment: http://download.microsoft.com/download/b/3...Toolkit_x86.msi It may download the necessary components for you, or get WAIK from here (992.2 MB ), extract image and place WAIK MSI and WinPE.zip in the temporary folder, which will be created when you start download via Microsoft Deployment in \program files.... http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.as...5-LRMAIK_EN.img Quoting file names by memory, installation is in my home PC, if you have troubles I can post exact names and paths.

Glad it worked, I gonna have a beer for it tonight Anyone thinking of GUI ? Regards, ilko

Hi all, Sorry about the delay, lack of spare time lately. Here is what has to be added to usbprep.cmd to add rdummy driver. ECHO Adding lines to TXTSETUP.SIF .... ............. REM added for USB hard drives, loads rdummy.sys during Text Setup, which makes usbstor to see USB drives as removable fedit -f %tmpdrive%\txtsetup.sif -add -once -l "rdummy.sys = 1,,,,,,4_,4,1,,,1,4" -s SourceDisksFiles fedit -f %tmpdrive%\txtsetup.sif -add -once -l "rdummy = rdummy.sys,4" -s SCSI.Load fedit -f %tmpdrive%\txtsetup.sif -add -once -l "rdummy = \"USB hard disk as removable\"" -s SCSI fedit -f %tmpdrive%\$WIN_NT$.~BT\winnt.sif -add -create -l "\"sc config rdummy start= disabled"" -s GuiRunOnce copy rdummy.sy_ %tmpdrive%\$WIN_NT$.~LS\I386 copy rdummy.sy_ %tmpdrive%\$WIN_NT$.~BT rdummy.sy_ and it's source code are in the attachment. Installation tested with XP SP2 source, 80GB IDE HD, generic IDE-USB adapter. Drive formated FAT16x with 1.9GB partition using PEtoUSB. XP built-in format didn't make it bootable. On first GUI logon rdummy service is disabled, on next reboot it'll be inactive. If one needs to reenable it simply change startup type in services to 0, or use "sc config rdummy start= boot". WARNING!!! There is no warranty whatsoever for this driver and it's behavior, use it COMPLETELY at your own risk. The only issue I've seen by now is BSOD 7B when F3 is pressed to quit from Setup, but there may be others. Not tested with 2K/2K3. @wimb- would you add this as an option, the same way we choose source path etc. I didn't want to mess with the batch file. A few minor suggestions for usbprep.cmd- 1. boot.ini options on stick could be easier to be like: [Boot Loader] Timeout=10 Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS [Operating Systems] multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Steps 2 and 3- GUI Mode Setup and first start " /FASTDETECT C:\SETUPLDR.bs="Step1- TEXT Mode Setup (Don't unplug USB drive until after first GUI logon)" 2. For the usbprep.cmd options- I'd rather "dumb" copy all files and folders from source\I386 to ~LS\I386 skipping existing files, instead of having option 0. This doesn't add too much space, USB sticks are bigger and if one would like smaller source, he would do that in advance. It's also safer. @all- Question- xcopy /d would copy non-existing files to target, I read that if files are NOT newer than 1 day they'd not be copied, is that right? What would happen if one makes a new XP source today, NLite it and use xcopy /D ? http://www.ss64.com/nt/xcopy.html3. Boot.ini on target drive- the second entry is "USB Repair Microsoft Windows XP Professional", may be is good idea to add "do NOT use to start", or something similar. 4. Option to delete tempimage.img could be nice after unmounting virtual drive. What do you guys think? @jaclaz- I wanted to boot from mapped by Grub4Dos floppy image, containing all boot files. Setup keeps looking for bioinfo.sif in ~BT folder. That means for me it does not recognize the mounted floppy as such, but rather as a hard drive. Then I saw cdob posted some results trying to achieve the same goal, post #189. I am curious if boot files when he was getting BSOD 7B were in ~BT folder or in root. I couldn't go that far when files are in root. For now I'd rather not play again after reading his results. @tonich-Thanks, nice to see you around. This above applies for all in here regards, ilko rdummy.zip

Finally got it working with USB hard drives. Dummydisk.sys was remade, many many thanks to Anton Bassov, who responded to my emails and gave the hint what had to be changed in source code, despite being a single statement. The new rdummy.sys worked fine loaded from txtsetup.sif , USB hard drives are now seen as removable, thus having lower priority when getting drive letters. To be tested on other machines and sources. Without rdummy.sys: With rdummy.sys: Furthermore- Setup considers it as critical SCSI driver and adds it as service in the new installation starting at boot time. Every USB hard disk attached is seen as removable. This is not wanted, will be taken care of. [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\rdummy] "Type"=dword:00000001 "Start"=dword:00000000 "Group"="SCSI miniport" "ErrorControl"=dword:00000001 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\rdummy\Enum] "0"="Root\\LEGACY_RDUMMY00" "Count"=dword:00000001 "NextInstance"=dword:00000001 A little bug in the driver- if during Txt Setup when disks are detected and/or format or repartitioning performed, quit by pressing F3 causes BSOD, without any harms though. The driver doesn't have unload functionality, I believe that's why, may be Anton or anyone else familiar with this matter could add such. If Setup is let to finish copying files and restart everything is fine, no BSODs, unattended install was performed without any glitches with XP SP2 source. Boot.ini and source folders are as with USB sticks. Next days I'll add the necessary changes to the bat files, wimb already included an excellent help file so not much left to be done here. A few more results: Make small (15MB) image file, mount it as disk, copy boot files there ($win_nt$.~bt folder, setupldr.bin, ntdetect.com and txtsetup.sif in root), use Grub4Dos to mount it as fd0- no go, Setup starts, but cannot find biosinfo.inf in $win_nt$.~bt. Grub4Dos floppy is ignored, why it searches in $win_nt$.~bt? TXT Setup considers it as hard disk. Copy all files for ~BT folder to root- same result. Mount it as non- existing HD- hd5. Same story, in previous tests I found that setup insist on having all boot files on first HD or complains about biosinfo.inf setupldr.bin in 6 XP boot floppies differs from normal XP setupldr.bin. Using it didn't help, neither disk101 marker files. I've tried also to speed up USB boot, moving usbstor.sys, disk.sys and all usb drivers to earlier stages, like in [bootBusExtenders], this didn't help. It seems like Setup loads all drivers, but actually starts them when "WINDOWS IS STARTING" is displayed. I've read similar statement in the past, no idea where it was. Regards, ilko

@signal64 FAT16 is for USB boot compatibility and sometimes speed. If FAT32 works for you, that's ok. About slow speed- 1) check your USB speed settings in BIOS and 2) do some benchmarks with small files, the speed you mentioned is probably valid ONLY for large files. A few posts before (post #386) you will find link to a good program, it will tell you how fast your stick is with small files, like the most of source files are.

@flasklax Can you post some details: 1. What motherboard/model/BIOS version 2. What storage devices you have (SATA/IDE disks, DVD/CD, card readers, printer with card reader...) 3. In case of SATA disks how are they set up in BIOS? In SATA/ACPI/IDE/RAID mode...Where are IDE devices connected if you have such? 4. How do you choose to boot from USB? By going in BIOS and changing boot order or pressing F8/F12/something_else at boot and choosing USB or.... 5. What entries did you have in BOOT.INI on destination hard drive, before you edited it? If don't remember there must be a backup file of BOOT.INI in your destination root. Thanks.

Please read this post and the next few: http://www.msfn.org/board/boot_install_USB...762#entry698762 I think you unplugged USB stick before first logon. Do not do that if you did. Stick MUST be left plugged until you COMPLETE your first logon, when 2 batch files are executed, fixing BOOT.INI and renaming back the 2 source folders+txtsetup.sif on stick. If that's not the case please post your boot.ini on the destination hard drive. The problem is with it. Another way- what's the name of 2 WINNT folders on stick after installation?

Did you select 0 for "MCE / Tablet - NLite", was "currently"... showing this? Script is supposed to copy all files from source\I386 to $WIN_NT$.~LS\I386, thus eliminating all possible issues with missing files/folders. This happens ONLY when for source type "MCE / Tablet - NLite" is selected in order not to copy unneeded files with not customized sources. ............ IF "%xp_type%" == "MCE / Tablet - NLite" ( ECHO. ECHO Media Center/Tablet PC - NLite require extra xcopy of i386 folder to have all files in LocalSource ! ECHO. pause xcopy %xpsource%\i386\*.* %tmpdrive%\$WIN_NT$.~LS\I386\ /i /k /e /y /h echo >> usb_prep.log Extra xcopy of i386 folder necessary for MCE / Tablet - NLite Ready )...........

@effgee All the issues you mentioned were taken care of in usb_prep.cmd and it's last versions, including BTS drivers packs, RVM, Nlite stuff, tablet/media files... The guides are outdated, still could be used as a very basic start, but most improvements were done in USB_PREP.CMD, which you may want to have a look at to see all steps performed. binifix.cmd is to set BOOT.INI on destination drive from rdisk(Z) to rdisk(Z-1), because Text mode setup sets it according to the current setup, USB drive is first (you booted from it), IDE hard disk gets second and so on. When you remove USB stick for regular usage, IDE disk becomes first ( rdisk(0) ), but in BOOT.INI you have rdisk(1), that's why binifix.cmd makes it Z-1. Regards, ilko

Is this problem still persisting? Do you need to logon as administrator in order to execute binifix.cmd and undoren.cmd? What rights first logged user had? If yes then we will need to use RunOnceEx. http://unattended.msfn.org/unattended.xp/view/web/31/ good ideas I am having similar troubles when ImDsk has mounted drive for too long, unmounting and creating a new one it fixes troubles. Another thing- boot files position on stick is critical in most cases, a fresh format should be performed prior to using usb_prep.cmd. The script copies those files first. I believe it's the stick which is slow, many of the copied files are too small and in that case slow sticks perform really bad. Very nice program to test your sticks speed, AFAIK backing up data is not required, but you never know... http://www.hugesystems.com/supportspace/bench32.exe Test on many different USB sticks, thread is in bulgarian, but pictures give very clear idea: http://www.hardwarebg.com/forum/showthread.php?t=92033 At also should work if you use XP/2k bootsector (PEtoUSB, HP format tool...) and just rename BOOTMGR to NTLDR. Jaclaz's makeBS.cmd is also very handy if want to use multiboot with ntldr/boot.ini. Jaclaz answered already this, just wanted to add a few things: 1. Mixed SATA/IDE devices may break order and how USB disk is seen by TXT Setup- disable or unplug the unnecessary device. Details here: http://www.msfn.org/board/boot_install_USB...345#entry655345 2. If planning to install in disk/partition other than 0-1 then boot.ini on stick should be amended accordingly. BTW in my old tests- 341MB source with BTS mass storage and LAN completed in 16 mins. first boot- first working desktop, Barton 2400М @ 2000, 1GB RAM and 400GB SATA disk, motherboard did not support USB2 boot, otherwise a few minutes could have been saved. USB stick- Buffalo FireStix 2GB type R RUF2-R2G-S, it's really fast stick. To do: 1. Use NTFS compressed temp drive, this should save space, 1GB sometimes could be too much and not possible. 2. Ask to detele tempimage.img when script has completed 3. If needed use RunOnceEx instead of GuiRunOnce to execute binifix.cmd and undoren.cmd. Possibly merge these 2 scripts. 4. USB hard drives- reverse dummydisk.sys logic 5. May be add Vista support too? Shouldn't take much effort. Regards, ilko

hi lilas, The boot.ini entry for GUI and normal start is no different, hard drive is still seen as rdisk(1), USB stick is still rdisk(0). If GUI setup is not performed yet it will be, if it's completed a normal start will occur when using the second entry. So the boot.ini should look like this: [Boot Loader] Timeout=10 Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS [Operating Systems] C:\SETUPLDR.bs="Step 1: TEXT Mode Setup Windows XP" multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Steps 2 and 3: GUI Mode Setup and First logon" /FASTDETECT We should also put a clear message somewhere not to unplug stick until the first logon has completed. Regards, ilko

@lilas After GUI Setup leave stick plugged, on next reboot windows will be launched. The default entry in BOOT.INI on USB stick applies for both GUI Setup and normal launch. So your first normal launch (after GUI mode) should be made from the stick again, then on the first logon files will be fixed- boot.ini to Z-1 and the 2 folders + txtsetup.sif renamed back to their original names. Once you complete your first login you may remove stick. You raise makes sense- the entry "GUI Setup" in boot.ini is a bit misleading. May be rename it to "GUI Setup and First logon" or something like this. About cmdlines- without being an expert at all in cmd I think EXIT should not affect the other CMD files listed, I may be wrong, somebody with better experience should comment on that. I am glad it worked for you, seems just a few minor fixes should be made. Regards, ilko

Did you leave stick plugged in until after the first logon? At first logon binifix.cmd and undoren.cmd should fix BOOT.INI to Z-1 and rename the 2 folders back, there is also txtsetup.sif renamed.

@wimb I found 2 minor glitches in the procedure: 1. Some addons for Nlite place their files in \I386 and/or in subfolders in I386. This is not reported in dosnet.sif and/or txtsetup.sif, thus winnt32.exe doesn't copy those files/folders, which causes errors during setup. We need a final check when copying files to the virtual drive, like copy all from I386 to I386, including subfolders, do not overwrite if file/folder exist. This way we won't need the option for XP/Tablet, folders will be copied anyway. Actually dealing with winnt32.exe on anything but an original source is such a pain... 2. I had a custom $OEM$ folder with NLite cmdlines, and this was overwritten by the batch, put some prompt or check if such folder exist. This could be helpful- put in boxes with the default values like drive letters etc. [currently: none], then [currently K:] or something like that, what do you think? The other thing was marker file for BTS mass storage, did you change that already? Can the drive letter be typed without : ? Would be easier. If you have the time could you look at these, if not I will try during the weekend. Regards, ilko

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/309283 Is this what you are looking for?

These 3 files are modified by usb_prep.cmd. Not sure where this one came from: as I believe that should be in winnt.sif (typo?) and (the entry) is created/changed by winnt32.exe. If winnt.sif exist in your source folder it's used, if doesn't winnt32.exe creates a generic one.Same applies for language=.... Thanks for the info about U3, I found it interesting That would be sooo nice You are not the only one wanting it, I think Jaclaz keeps himself very well informed in that matter and would ring the bells if there is something new.ilko

Umm...that's what we use, what cdob suggested to write-protect USB during TXT mode. It does work for USB hard drives, but those are seen as first hard disk during detection, Setup tries to put boot files there, it's write-protected and Setup aborts with "disk is corrupted". Remove write protection, boot files go to USB disk, and source files are being deleted during TXT mode. Catch 22. Get a new (waiting for that on few forums-no responses so far) from dummydisk.sys to force USB fixed disks to be seen as removable, source should not be listed as first disk, boot files go on destination hard drive, exactly how it works with USB sticks. Tests needed, and a way to load dummydisk.sys early. ilko

Hi, Thanks for the feedback Have you checked menu.lst timeout? In some of the earlier posts default entry is changed dynamically using "savedefault XX" command, 1-st boot TXT, next boot will be auto dafaulted to GUI. Using QEMU doesn't simulate real scenario with USB boot. Windows TXT Setup writes boot files (boot.ini, ntldr, ntdetect.com) to the first hard disk, first active partition, that was your SOURCE disk, not the destination one. With USB sticks, seen as removable (not fixed as USB hard disks) despite the fact USB stick was first on boot, it's seen as SECOND when TXT Setup detects hard disks to install on. Boot files are saved to 1st disk (IDE or whatever). If destination hard disk is SATA and IDE device is present, IDE must be disconnected or controller disabled for the proper order, this has been discussed several times already. Boot.ini on destination hard disk is wrong, rdisk(1) instead of (0). Binifix.cmd corrects that, rdisk(z) gets rdisk(z-1). Thanks to jaclaz for his scripts, guidance, and willingness to help Setup could be installed from 3 media types, Setup detects that and adjusts accordingly - CD/DVD, hard disk, RIS. For CD source folder must be I386, for hard disk $win.nt$.~ls and .~bt. Leave RIS alone. For hard disks folders $win.nt$.~ls and .~bt are considered as TEMPORARY, as such are being deleted on a few stages- some files when TXT part copies (moves) them, all are from ~LS folder, at GUI T-1 both folders are deleted completely. What we do is to write-protect USB device during TXT mode via MIGRATE.INF (many thanks to cdobfor that ), and temporarily rename source folders during GUI mode, so Setup cannot find them and delete. On first logon they are renamed back, that's why USB stick MUST be leaved plugged until after first logon. You used QEMU, source disk was NOT write-protected. I bet you couldn't do another install from the same disk unless using the original image again, some source files were deleted (from the ~LS folder only, but not all files). GUI trick saved the rest, but many files are deleted, the ones which are copied (moved) during TXT part. Wimb has spent a lot of time to test, added other features and polished the initial usb_prep.cmd. Now I am waiting someone to help with dummydisk.sys in order to use USB hard disks. Thats briefly what is happening. ilko

Hi, I believe all your troubles are with BIOS, once you get it solved you will have no problems with the guide or the batch file. Your system is new, many systems are shipped with old BIOSes, give it a try on HP web site for a new BIOS, it may help. Have you tried with other USB stick? My old motherboard Abit AN7 was playing funny with USB boot- if on shutdown USB stick is not present it loses boot order, on next boot with USB stick plugged it boots from hard drive, have to reboot and change boot order back to USB stick first. Had to keep stick plugged all the time in order to keep boot order. regards, ilko