alexBB

Well, IcemanND, as another poster has said, you've probably saved me tons of time and money. Many thanks. It is a very clear and well organized compendium of yours. You've got an exceptionally clear mind which is not that common. I first focused on XXCOPY for the very same reason: unbelievabley clear and thorough documentation. You seldom see anything like this, a compete documentation plus a review of the subject and a tutorial on the matter. I will most likely purchase a Pro because I may need it for other purposes: driving files across VPNs. However, then I read a note about WD SafeDataGuard and realized that I got it with the HDD I purchased and this is what Iam going to do. I will simply instlal the 10,000 rpm in the second bay, run SafeDataGuard in my Vista and hopefully it will create an exact clone of my C:\. It's been very educational. Thanks.

Thank you very much, IcemanND. It is a wealth of information. I've got my work cut out for me. What is the differnece between taking an image of a hard drive and cloning? Logically there should be none. Thanks.

Further musings. There was this post by Nepali that I read yesterday: http://www.msfn.org/board/MAKE-VISTA-DVD-B...ded#entry633950 In it he is saying that one should first place all Vista source files into a separate directory and then run this command creating a bootable image. If I follow this advice the problem it that there seem to be too much software already loaded, perhaps hundreds of APIs, etc. Many of them have been hooked up to the registry. How is oscdimg.exe going to take care of it? Is it looking into the registry as well? I don't think it is even possible if one places the software into a different drive altogether. This is what he says: place/extract all your vista source to ur E:\vistaDVD then open command prompt and type this command (you need to have oscdimg inside system32 directory) QUOTE oscdimg -bE:\vistaDVD\boot\etfsboot.com -h -u2 -m -lVISTA_EN_DVD E:\vistaDVD\ E:\VistaDVD.iso Output will be stored on E:\ with file name vistadvd.iso The output vistaDVD.iso will be in UDF format and will be bootable as well ( Tried more then 10 times and 100% successful) Now check if ur DVD is bootable (set the option to boot from CD/DVD from BIOS) I am confused how it can relate to my situation. Also I noticed that he uses etfsboot.com . Is it a part of WAIK also? So far I could not find it in there. Any comment? Thanks.

To the OP: You can run your DOS software in emulation mode. You can run XP on your Vista and run your DOS from there, you can most likely find a direct DOS emulation for Vista. It will be much less expensive for you to do it, perhaps even will cost nothing. Just investigate.

Hi there, I've got a couple of GX-280 DELL machines that still work very well but I am running out of space on my C: drive. I've purchased a new 300 GB 10,000 RTM internal HDD and want to transfer the complete image of my old C:\ to this drive and then replace them. I can probably do it with some C# instructions but I've decided to focus first on oscdimg command that comes with WAIK (Windows Automated Installation Kit). I installed it yeasterday. I also spent a couple of hours researching evrything I could get my hands on about this command and found that it is mostly used to create a bootable image of Vista (or XP for this matter). Please, correct me if I am wrong because it is very important. This cmd is used in such a way: You set parameters that will list some exclusion directories you don't want to be present in the image, you can potentially leave just a couple of directories or so and define what's includeed into the boot sector, like if it is a single or multiboot, etc. This is not what I need. I can clean my system before I used this cmd. I can clean the recycle bin, temporary internet files, etc. I want to make a bootable image of the entire disk. Can I do it with this cmd? That failed I will try to use CreateFile C++ command (in C# with P/Invoke, or even directly in C++) and try to copy my C: drive byte by byte. I understand I may have hard time doing it in Vista because of some additional protection over XP but my reading is that I can set up some constants (options) in such a way that it will be overridden. Is it true? That failed I will try to create an executable, take it to my XP partition (on yet another HDD) and run it from there taking image of Vista in C:\. Now, this is how I shaped my command this morning: oscdimg -a -g -g1 \\?\Volume{979e819d-7cc1-11dc-a6fd-806e6f6e6963}\ J:\WindowsXP_Iso_File\winXP.iso. I want to mention that here I am trying to create an image not of my C:\ but of my XP D:\ drive in an attempt to gain some experience. Bear in mind it is not Vista but I am running the command from my Vista partition (C:\) Therefore that volume's label is my D:\ drive's label, J: drive is an external HDD (500 GB MyBook by WD) and I am getting these warnings and one error right from the outset: Microsoft Windows [Version 6.0.6001] Copyright © 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. C:\Windows\system32>oscdimg -a -g -g1 \\?\Volume{979e819d-7cc1-11dc-a6aa-806e6f6e6963}\ J:\WindowsXP_Iso_File\winXP.iso OSCDIMG 2.54 CD-ROM and DVD-ROM Premastering Utility Copyright © Microsoft, 1993-2007. All rights reserved. Licensed only for producing Microsoft authorized content. Scanning source tree WARNING: Using alternate directory name "DOCUME~1" for "\DOCUMENTS AND SETTINGS" WARNING: Using alternate directory name "OPENMA~1" for "\OPENMANAGE" WARNING: Using alternate directory name "PROGRA~1" for "\PROGRAM FILES" WARNING: Using alternate directory name "VFP_PR~1" for "\VFP_PROJECTS" WARNING: Using alternate directory name "XPINST~1" for "\XP INSTALLATION FILES" WARNING: Using alternate directory name "ALEXBL~1" for "\DOCUME~1\ALEX BL" WARNING: Using alternate directory name "ALLUSE~1" for "\DOCUME~1\ALL USERS" WARNING: Using alternate directory name "DOWNLO~1" for "\DOCUME~1\ALEXBL~1\DOWNLOADS" WARNING: Using alternate directory name "FAVORI~1" for "\DOCUME~1\ALEXBL~1\FAVORITES" WARNING: Using alternate directory name "MYDOCU~1" for "\DOCUME~1\ALEXBL~1\MY DOCUMENTS" WARNING: Using alternate directory name "STARTM~1" for "\DOCUME~1\ALEXBL~1\START MENU" ERROR: Failure enumerating files in directory "\\?\VOLUME{979E819D-7CC1-11DC-A6AA-806E6F6E6963}\DOCUME~1\ALEXBL~1\COOKIE S" Error 5: Access is denied. C:\Windows\system32> I want to mention that I placed oscdimg.exe into Windows\system32\ directory. What is it all about? Any comments? I would appreciate is someone reads it carefully and possibly make comments of everything I've said. Even why I am typing this I am thinking as to what my options could be? If so much is protected even in XP how about Vista? How other people manage to do it. Many people have reported great success with this command. I should study those reports. Many thanks. P.S. I don't want to use any commercial third party software, please don't recomment those.

I don't like blinking harddisk led without my activitiy Vista directly using my machine.What can i do about that? I do believe that's the indexing doing it's thing so it can find "searches" faster. If you disable indexing and windows search you won't see vista using the disk so much. At the same time it may be installing updates or defragging the drive. Why are people so upset about their machine talking to MS? In my experience paranoid people are paranoid because they have something to hide. Quite a good point. I now run Vista on 3 machines and about to get the fourth, perhaps tomorrow. I have Vista on 2 partitions on every machines for emergencies, just in case, although I work just one. I went thru hell with them since August 15th when my XP lost Internet connection and I installed my first Vista. With that XP DELL support could not resolve the issuse and did what they typically do: change the motherboard. Still there was no connection because it was fine on other partitions. In retrospect I see that four or five catastrophic crashes I've had since then were of my own doing. When you installed an update you should wait an extra minute or two, or perhaps 10, your screen will come back. I would panic, turn the machine off, curse MS and reinstall Vista. It is just pathetic to realize how tiny the boundary was for me every time between continuing working on an improved system and plunging into failure and every time I took the wrong path. It took me a while analyzing my own experience, reading posts like these to come up with my final opinion: it is a much superior OS and I wish it well. It is just awesome in terms of how it empowers a user like me. There are so many more options, easier to find them, much richer environment. I am doing some development in .NET C# and my Vistas are mostly Ultimate or Business.

I am not quite dure this is what you want but there is SoundRecorder.exe in Windows\System32. It is a small GUI. You can use it with a digital mike to sing in it and create wma files. I use it to record simple messages that my apps sound to me as warnings, etc. I've never done it but I think you can easily use it for inline input by modifying some Settings in Control Panel Sound. This way you may even get exactly what you want.

MagicISO is a malware. I downloaded it and innstalled. It took my computer over, changed my Inernet Explorer home Page with crap offering to shop throu them. You must be one of the owners of the website. I assume the first one is a clone in disguise. The folder was absolutely set in cement. There was no way for me to delete it. It said that the ownership was inherited and I had to sever the inheritance. In fact in the Security window it said: <not inherited>. There was a TrustedInstaller which could not be removed from the security window. There was also so called "Original Owner" of unknow identity. I had no such characters among my users or groups. I am wondering how you guys do it. Can you share your criminal ways? Wrrite a book: "How I beat MS." You will make lots of money. I had extremely hard time getting rid of you. Had to roll the system back to preinstall point. Checked my registry thru and thru. Some of your poison may still be there, hopefully decaying. I suspect some of you guys must be former MS employees, perhaps even current. How does it feel living double life? Otherwise how one can explain that you can beat the system so easily. A lot of internal knowledge is a prerequisite. You probably even did Vista design with this in view, leaving back doors, writing undocumented classes, etc. If you do not want to write a book on your craft, I can write your biography. but you will have to submit to a lot of psychoanalysis.

Thank you very much but could you be more specific: Have YOU ever HAD to run in under compatibility mode? What Vista is yours? All these precious snippets are very important. They save a lot of time.

It is a continuation of the previous post of mine. I just set up reformatting WD MyBook (500Gb) to NTFS and there was an option I've never used although been aware of it: Enable File Compression. I checked it without realizing the consequences. What are the possible consequences? I kind of doubt that I will actually need it for my data. It is mostly number crunching but I most likely start storing more still photos from now on. My major usage (the way I envisage it) is to use it for system backup and restore. Could you give me a crach course on this narrow subject? Thanks.

Hi there, It seems I am getting some important and refreshing ideas in this forum. I need to open up many ISO files of mine and am looking for the right package. So far I had bad luck. DAEMON Tools and MagicDisk turned out to be malware. Had to roll my system back to preinstallation points. Now I downloaded WinImage by Gilles Vollant. It seems to be a trustworthy software. I was about to pay $60 for WinImage Pro and found that they do not mention Vista at all. The website says: Windows XP (30) Whatever 30 means. I presume it is 32 bit. Could anyone tell me if they had experience with running and extracting ISO images with WinImage in Vista Ultimate? The community Vista forum Vista.General is full of disgruntled Vista users who cannot run their favorite software in Vista. I myself had a major headache with running my VFP9 applications written in XP platform. Just gave up and rewrote most of them in C# 2.0.Ttook about 2 months. Any answer will be very much appreciated.

Yep, this is what I am trying to set up right now. Bought WD MyBook x 2 for my systems. They have sales. It is for the future though. The problem I am facing is different. This HDD does not appear to be usable for my purposes unless I reformat it. Yep, Just finished installing WD Mybook on one of my systems, opened up the user manual and whoops, it is formatted to FAT32. Catch-22 all over again as Yogi Berra would say.

Hi, unless I misunderstood you, your advice does not work at all. There is no checkbox to uncheck anywhere. When I go all the way thru Properties and many daughter windows I see a window that says that it is not inherited. I mean that main folder. I checked some subfolders: the same story. There are somehotfixes, the same story there. None of htem have owners but I can assign myself, no problem. It does not move me a step further. The overall folder is "owned" by me but the system does not give a ****. What I've discovered is kind of scary. I went thru my registry keying for "J:" which is the letter for my external HDD. I am about to replace it with 500Gb MyBook WD, I want to format it before I do. So I went thru the registry and discoveredd that Vista apparently has been using this HDD as a storage for temporary files while installing APIs I download from MS, like silverlight, etc. Some of the events are relatively new. It appears those temporary files were stored in a separate J:\Temp\ folder which is either not there (deleted by Vista after each download) or I deleted it yesterday without giving it even a it short shrift. So far I could not discover any references to the folder I am trying to delete but I am wondering if this could be something of similar nature. Any ideas as to what I should do?

Thank you. I am not at that computer now, will be there in an hour but it is my recollection that threre was a clear sign in that column <not inherited> and I still could not do it. I think what you call calcs is gpresult.exe or/and gpupdate.exe in Windows\System32 This has become a major issue, hopefully we will be in touch I am not sure this issue is so esay to resolve. There are other facets to it too.

Hi Ashraf, I do not think you've expressed yourseves clearly. What do you mean? Do you want to add a button "Deny?" If so just click "Cancel." If you want some programs be unaccessible to a specific user you have to take a different route. In the user account control GUI you have to specify permissions for this user that will exclude certain folders or file groups, etc. The windows you showed here have nothing to do with the problem. If you wish the windows asking permissions not to show up, it is doable. There is a post somehere up the line I cannot recall the nice guy's name who provided it. He described how it is supposed to be done. BTW UAC per say is not that window that stares in your face. You have to invoke it with lusrmgr.msc API or go thru Control Panel. You can also use command line APIs like gpupdate.exe or gpresult.exe in Windows\System32\ to preview an account or set/change permissions.

Vista's is hard ways, I'll tell you. I am a developer working with Ultimate, VS2005, SqlServer, VFP9, etc although still my knowledgebase is not sufficient to deal with some of the problems. Day before Christmas I tried to "refresh" XP on one of my secondary partitions and as a result lost Vista references in the Bios and at the start menu there was no Vista for me to log in. I had to reinstall Vista again, actually this is the third time. Before it was for a different reason, also MS related. I will address this problem which is still nagging in a separate post but now is this. I want to clean up one of my External HDD and reformat it as NTFS since I cannot do any system backup on FAT. I got a folder there with this name: 2801e0d4d586efe20e that I cannot delete no matter what I try. I have now no recollection where this darn folder came from, I mean I copied it from some system months or years ago. It could even be Win2K or a WinServer2003. I get access denied all the time. I right click on the folder, Properties==>Security Tab==> am able to add myself as a user. Give myself full rights, I am the Administrator, I am a part of the Administrators Group. I can even remove both users (groups), do Advanced. I changed the owner, now it is me, gave full rights. Nothing helps. This folder is full of MS hotfixes. I do not understand why I "saved" it. I need to get rid of it. Please, help.

Or taskmgr.exe in Command prompt Your posts are SUPER!. I have already copied at least a dozen into my DB.

Place your cursor on the item on the network you cannot access (do it on the machine where that item is located, e.g a folder), right click, Properties, Security ==> Edit, Add --> Add Administrator's GROUP to the list if it is not already there. If it is there, Add yourselves to the list, do not forget give yourselves afterwords FULL Access by checking a checkbox. Another option, may be a better one, since you will be doing it wholesale, is to Add yourselves as a User to Administrator Group in Local Users And Groups GUI.