wimb

@jaclaz Thanks for your Info. At the moment usb_prep3.cmd is not meant to be used for updating an USB-stick, but may be your routine will be helpfull in future for changing ATTRIB status of e.g. existing ntldr file. wimb

Using Apacer HT203 1 GB USB-stick and computer with ASUS M2A-VM HDMI motherboard I observed: Windows XP Setup Ready in 30 minutes, composed of: 2 min - TXT Mode Setup, Loading Boot Drivers + User Interaction 12 min - TXT Mode Setup, Copy of Windows XP files 16 min - GUI Mode Setup Windows XP wimb

Prepares Windows XP LocalSource for Copy to USB-stick First Format USB-stick with: PeToUSB.exe OR HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool Version 2.0.6 Settings PeToUSB: Enable Disk Format with LBA (FAT16X) For AUTOSTART: COPY PeToUSB.exe in your usb_prep folder OR COPY HPUSBFW.EXE from C:\Program Files\DriveKey folder @lilas First Format USB-stick is essential for the procedure to succeed ! It seems that all your problems came from not first Formatting the stick. A log file as you suggests is a good idea for improving the program. Changing MakeBS.cmd to version 0.07 is OK, but version 0.03 does not give a problem.

As I see it, 99.99% of users of this method will normally use on their PC's, at one time or another, a PE of some kind, and of those 99.99% will use a SP2 build, so we can make the drive letter X: as fixed, and that will cover in 99% of cases, then provide an easy way for the remaining 1% to change letter manually. jaclaz @jaclaz The USB-stick was given already a fixed DriveLetter, but it was during XP Setup that the Drive Check in undoren.cmd was causing problems with Cardreaders, which have been overcome by limiting the range for the Drive Check such that the probable range where Cardreaders might occur is excluded. Regards, wimb

NEW RELEASE is Available as usb_prep3.zip file in Attachment. All necessary changes regarding NLite, boot.ini and Cardreader have been taken into account. The new release was tested twice with success on different computers. GOOD LUCK ! Regards, wimb usb_prep3.zip

@ilko_t I was not aware of the two problems when using NLite, because I was using RyanVM Integrator for integrating Updates in XP. But I think that the changes that you proposed for the usb_prep2.cmd file can solve the problems with NLite and I will try to make an updated version. I noticed also that for some cardreaders (ICIDU) the valdid drive check for USB-stick in undoren.cmd results in an ERROR Alert, which can be overuled by clicking Continue for each cardreader drive. This might be overcome by limiting the range of valid driveletters for USB-stick e.g. that the valid range is M-Z, so that the probable range where cardreaders might occur is excluded. @lilas Your problem in combining UBCD4Win and XP Install in a MuliBoot USB-stick corresponds to what occurs for BartPE. I found in this case a nice solution by using a small Hexedit of peldr as described here: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=20089 I think a corresponding solution will be possible for MultiBoot USB-stick with UBCD4Win by a similar Hexedit of setupldr.bin in minint folder. Regards, wimb

Your statement is wrong. In the normal situation for install of Widows XP from real bootable USB-stick, the stick remains all the time connected and can only be removed after first logon of Windows XP, when setup has completely finished. I have no experience with the use of QEMU, but it seems to me that the use of real hardware is preferred and will make things less complicated.

In my newly build computersystem with ASUS M2A-VM HDMI motherboard, the BIOS provides two ways to change the boot sequence. By pressing F8 it provides a BIOS boot menu, from which one can select a temporary desired boot device. The USB-stick is seen as second Harddisk and can be selected as boot device. This is usefull for booting from USB-stick Puppy Linux, BartPE or MS-DOS, but it is not usefull for Windows XP Setup from USB-stick ! For Windows XP Setup from bootable USB-stick it is necessary to enter BIOS Setup by pressing [Del] and change Boot settings more permanent so that Harddisk is used as first Boot device type and USB-stick is seen as first Harddisk. In this case everything works very well. In Windows Setup from USB-stick it is essential that also after Restart for the GUI-mode of Setup, booting occurs again from USB-stick and that USB-stick remains to be seen as first harddisk = rdisk(0). After Setup has completed, binifix4.cmd will make the necessary correction in boot.ini on computer harddisk by changing rdisk(1) in rdisk(0). More INFO: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?sho...=19731&st=7 Regards, wimb

Good idea, I will surely use it in the next version

Boot with BartPE from CD / DVD / USB-stick so that you can make changes in WINDOWS\inf WINDOWS\system32 and WINDOWS\system32\drivers dirs and rename entries for ctoss2k.inf ctoss2k.PNF and ctoss2k.sys (e.g. org_ctoss2k.sys ). Or boot from your Windows Setup CD in TXT mode and enter Recovery Console with option R to do the same from the Recovery Console command line as described above.

The batch program usb_prep2.cmd for making a bootable USB-stick for Install of Windows XP, was further improved. Filling of the USB-stick with files was analysed with WinHex using 1stSector column. The MakeBS3.cmd was moved such that the Bootsector file SETUPLDR.bs gets a position close to BOOT.INI in the beginning of the drive, instead of being the last written sector. $OEM$\CMDLINES.TXT can be used for making UserAccounts and install of Registry Tweaks at T-12 If $OEM$ folder is present in usb_prep2 folder, then it will copied now to the right position in the temporary drive. On first logon the Extracted BTS DriverPacks are deleted, which normally takes a long time, because SystemRestore copies them to System Volume Information folder. The Disable_SystemRestore.reg Registry Tweak prevents this action, so that first logon is much faster. Personally I am using only the 5 smallest BTS DriverPacks with Mass Storage text mode enabled. So I do not integrate the 5 large Sound and Graphics DriverPacks, but use these Packs manually when Updating Drivers. The extraction and deletion of these 5 large DriverPacks is taking a lot of time. The file winnt_sif.txt can be used for making your own winnt.sif file to be placed in the xpsource\I386 folder. If an appropriate USB-stick Format Program like PeToUSB.exe is present in the usb_prep2 folder, it will be launched automatically at the beginning of the usb_prep2.cmd batch program. The usb_prep2 folder is given as Attachment. A Guide for making MultiBoot USB-stick with boot.ini Menu including other boot options like MS-DOS and Linux is given here http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=20089 Regards, wimb usb_prep2.zip

Hi Ilko The HP_USB_Boot_Utility.exe V2.0.6 download (2024 kB) from http://download.chip.eu/en/USB-Disk-Storag...0.6_176935.html gives after install two small program files in the DriveKey folder. HPUSBFW.EXE is a portable Windows version (432 kB) and HPUSBF.EXE is a CMD-line program. An EndUser might copy PeToUSB.exe and/or HPUSBFW.EXE in its own usb_prep folder. It is possible to provide a command at the beginning of usb_prep.cmd for launching the USB-stick Format program, so that one can use automatically the right type of Format program in the automatic preparation of the usb-stick. PeToUSB.exe is more safe and most suitable for this purpose, because it cannot format USB-harddisk ! Regards, wimb

Everything seems correct, except maybe for the way of formating the USB-stick. Did your computer boot already from this stick e.g. in MS-DOS ? Or is there a general problem that your computer cannot boot from the stick ? Try the HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool Version 2.0.6 and use FAT filesystem, without DOS startup. Then you get a stick with MBR and Partition with NTLDR Bootsector, which refers to NTLDR that uses BOOT.INI Info: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=20089 Create MBR, Partition and Format USB_stick using HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool Version 2.0.6 http://download.chip.eu/en/USB-Disk-Storag...0.6_176935.html

@cdob Install of XP Windows from the bootable USB-stick next to WINDOWS on the same or on a different partition of the harddisk, was realised successfully by proper manually adjustment in advance of the BOOT.INI file of the USB-stick. Ilko_t already indicated that for Install on the second partition, adjusting BOOT.INI on stick to partition(2) is sufficient, and I can confirm that. So these non-standard installs are still possible, but require only small changes in the BOOT.INI on the stick in advance. For a brand new harddisk it is always advisable to reboot the computer after creating partitions with TXT mode Setup. So in this case one boots twice in the TXT-mode Setup, so that after the reboot drive letters get their correct value. It is a very good idea to use fsutil.exe instead of fsz.exe and to use QuickFormat of the TempDrive. When making the TempImage, the binifix4.cmd is written in winnt.sif as [GUIRunOnce] command, and so it should be removed from your CMDLINES.TXT @ilko_t MigrateDrive is set in MkMigrateInf2.cmd fixed at U: but can also be set to a different value by giving in the CALL a third parameter e.g. R: But in the Setup procedure a fixed value of U: in MkMigrateInf2.cmd seems OK to me.

Hi ilko The batch program for making a bootable USB-stick for Install of Windows XP, was further improved and renamed to usb_prep.cmd ( see attachment ). Now User options with choice of Source and Target Drive are selectable at the beginning in a Start Menu. MkMigrateInf2.cmd of cdob was slightly edited so that it is available as a Selectable option using a CALL from the batch program. Some more security checks on drives and files were also included. The type of XP Source being either Home / Professional OR Media Center/Tablet PC Edition is selectable and determines the :all option in the winnt32.exe command for making the LocalSource. I found some handy sites with a lot of information for making batch programs: http://www.ss64.com/index.html http://www.robvanderwoude.com/index.html http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documen...h.mspx?mfr=true http://www.allenware.com/ http://www.computerhope.com/batch.htm Regards, wimb usb_prep.zip

Hi ilko From your experiments with Install of windows XP from bootable USB-harddisk, I understand that in this case the problems are rather complex and perhaps difficult to overcome. For the moment it is indeed better to focus on using the bootable USB-stick for this purpose, and we are lucky that everything is working so well for the USB-stick When the :all option is used in the winnt32.exe command, I can simply manually overrule the missing of tabletpc.cab and mediactr.cab for my case of XP Professional. We might also introduce the :all option as a user selectable option for use with different XP sources. When the LocalSource was made with option :all, I had no problems during the install of Windows XP. The use of MkMigrateInf.cmd might also be a user selectable option, so that for simple cases the advantage of drive letter U: for the USB-stick is available. But I agree with you that this must not be the default choice, because you explained quite well the disadvantage of using always U: for the USB-stick. As attachment you will find prepare3.zip with the slightly modified _prepare3.cmd and binifix4.cmd The EXIST winnt.sif Check that you made, is also included in the _prepare3.cmd Regards, wimb prepare3.zip

The automatic making of a bootable USB-stick for Install of Windows XP using prepare2.zip was tested. Collecting files in a Virtual Disk and file editing with Fedit.exe are very handy in this approach Fresh and Repair Install of Windows XP from the bootable USB-stick was realised successfully, after some modifications in the _prepare.cmd file as described below: For my version of XP it was necessary to remove the :all option in the winnt32.exe command. Otherwise in making the LocalSource I get Error messages for missing files: tabletpc.cab and mediactr.cab The /h /k option is not valid in the copy command, but gives no problem. MakeBS3.cmd .... was replaced by CALL MakeBS3.cmd .... in order to see the messages and to return to the following statements in the _prepare.cmd It is interesting to integrate also CALL MkMigrateInf of cdob for giving the USB-stick drive letter U: because without it the USB-stick gets the unwanted drive letter D: and consequently the drive letters of other partitions on the harddisk are changing. Fedit.exe was used in _prepare.cmd to make the for the Repair option necessary change in the presetup.cmd of BTS DriverPacks. The btinifix4.cmd was made ready for unattended install by removing the pause and the YES confirmation. I think the automatic approach is very worthwhile and removes the previous risc of someone forgetting to reset boot.ini after the winnt32.exe command, resulting after reboot in an unexpected install of Windows XP.

Launching TXT-mode Setup direct from boot.ini Menu is faster and more logical, and in my opinion the better choice. Once making the custom bootsector is automated, it is not to difficult for a novice. Perhaps the most difficult step in the whole procedure is the making of the LocalSource with the winnt32.exe command. There a novice might need some more support of what is actually occurring and what answers he has to give. Especially it is important to mention that the Setup procedure is taking only a few minutes ( instead of 59) and that one returns to the existing installation. Resetting boot.ini as mentioned already is of course very important.

Hallo Ilko, You described already very well how the occurrence of signature entry and the value of rdisk in boot.ini depend on the way of booting the USB-stick. Thank you for reminding me of your post #207. I learned a lot again about Booting USB-sticks these days ! I wish you a pleasant vacation.

binifix3.cmd was tested on the 4 different boot.ini files and everything is OK ! Thanks wimb

I am sorry to say, but I have made a mistake. Today I made a Fresh Install from USB-stick without the xcopy command for bootfiles folder with boot.ini The boot.ini that was produced by the Install procedure is given: [boot loader] timeout=30 default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS [operating systems] multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect As you can see there is no longer a signature entry and I have now also to correct the rdisk(1) to rdisk(0) I was not aware of this change caused by the renewals that the Install Procedure has undergone. I never saw this before because I was always using the procedure with the xcopy of bootfiles folder included. So the signature and bootdelay problem no longer exists and we can return to the code of binifix2.cmd And that means indeed that your code can replace the use of the xcopy of bootfiles\boot.ini as cdob already suggested. The effects of different Booting procedures are complicated and sometimes not to be foreseen. I must apologise for the confusion that I have made.

The present binifix2.cmd does not change the signature entry, it only changes rdisk(1) in rdisk(0) You are perfectly right that rdisk(0) need not to be changed for me and that it will be just a matter of replacing signature(aabbccdd) in the lines with multi(0) . It would be very nice if the binifix2.cmd can be a way to change that. For the [Operating Systems] I got two lines which became equal after I changed signature(87538753) in multi(0), so I removed the "double" one. That seems to me always save for a new install, but for a Repair Install your save solution can be interesting. But it might be that in the configuration of ilko_t with SATA drives it is different, but I think he will comment on that.

The version of binifix2.cmd will not yet be able to replace the use of bootfiles\boot.ini because then the signature problem with 20 sec bootdelay described in my post #141 will return: Also the availability of the Repair Install option of Windows XP Setup from a bootable USB-stick still requires such a multi-entry boot.ini But in most cases one does not need this Repair Install option and one can change boot.ini if needed. Actually I had no problem with the value of rdisk. The GUI-Phase of Setup always made the correct value of rdisk(0) in boot.ini For me the problem was that the default entry was set to signature(87538753)... entry, which gives bootdelay. So I am a bit confused about the purpose of the present binifix.cmd [setupParams] runs at T-9 and that seems a suitable moment to use binifix.cmd, but I am not sure. I remember that ilko_t observed that boot.ini is changing many times during setup. Testing of the final version of binifix.cmd will be necessary to determine if this moment is right, or that we use [GuiRunOnce] at First Logon. @jaclaz After changing drive W: into C: the binifix2.cmd was tested on two boot.ini files All boot.ini files were modified correctly and the problem of trailing spaces is solved. It is nice that a backup of boot.ini is made now as well. After some modification for unattended use, it will be interesting to use the final version of binifix.cmd in a real Install of Windows XP from bootable USB-stick.

@jaclaz As fas as I know there is no boot.ini example with a line where the "=" sign is used on the left of the "main" "=" sign for description. The standard boot.ini of Microsoft is a case where more than one "=" sign is used (besides the "main" one) multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect In my posts #255 and #257 I indicated that the script does not work for the well known boot.ini of folder BOOTFILES that we all use in the procedure for Install of Windows XP from a bootable USB-stick, as reproduced here: 7. Create a folder BOOTFILES in USB stick root, and copy NTDETECT.COM, NTLDR and create there your custom BOOT.INI, which will be copied on hard disk later, during the first logon. Set them system, hidden and read-only in advance. BOOT.INI CODE [boot loader] timeout=15 default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS [operating systems] multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="XP Professional 0 1" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="XP Professional 0 2" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS="XP Professional 0 3" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="XP Professional 1 1" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(2)\WINDOWS="XP Professional 1 2" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(3)\WINDOWS="XP Professional 1 3" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect It is not easy to find, why the script does not work for this paticular boot.ini But when you select the boot.ini you can see there is a trailing space in the line with the entry default. It is this trailing space which causes the problem, because it becomes part of the seach string !DefaultEntry! used to determine EntryDesc according to: IF "%%A"=="!DefaultEntry!" SET EntryDesc=%%B Due to the trailing space, the search gives no valid result for EntryDesc When I was writing this result in my post #257, your post #256 was not yet on my screen visible, but came up after submitting the post. So this explains why I missed your request at that time. But anyway I indicated in my posts #255 and #257 that the script does not work for the well known boot.ini of folder BOOTFILES.

The second part of the script needs also some adjustment FOR /F "tokens=1,2,3 delims==" %%A in ('TYPE %source%') DO ( IF /I "%%A"=="Default" SET DefaultEntry=%%B IF "%%A"=="!DefaultEntry!" SET EntryDesc=%%B=%%C IF /I "%%A"=="Timeout" SET Timeout=%%B ) ...... ...... FOR /F "skip=4 tokens=1,2,3 delims==" %%A in ('TYPE %source%') DO ( IF NOT "%%A"=="!DefaultEntry!" ( ECHO %%A=%%B=%%C>>boot.txt ....... ........ A problem occurs when trailing spaces are present in the !DefaultEntry! string. This occurs for the boot.ini in folder BOOTFILES The traling spaces must first be removed.