Multibooter

Docu of Paragon Hard Disk Manager 15 and GPT Loader - http://download.paragon-software.com/doc/Paragon-Hard-Disk-Manager-15-Premium-User-Manual.pdf text on p.258: "GPT Loader enables to use all disk space of modern 2.2TB+ drives under Windows XP, but only for storing data, not for the Windows XP accommodation. Only internally connected single 2.2TB+ drives are supported, not external storages, or those combined into RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks)." This text has remained unchanged in the manual from the initial release of the manual thru the manual for SP5 Therefore it may be quite a task to get the Paragon GPT Loader to work with external HDDs >2TB - http://download.paragon-software.com/doc/Paragon-Hard-Disk-Manager-15-Premium-SP2-User-Manual.pdf - http://download.paragon-software.com/doc/Paragon-Hard-Disk-Manager-15-Premium-SP3-Manual.pdf pp.14-15 indicates: "Supported Media - Support of both MBR and GPT hard disks (2.2TB+ disks included) - IDE, SCSI and SATA hard disks - SSD (Solid State Drive) - AFD (Advanced Format Drive) - Non-512B sector size drives - FireWire (i.e. IEEE1394), USB 1.0, USB 2.0, USB 3.0 hard disks " HDDs with 512 byte sector size and eSATA connections are NOT listed. - http://download.paragon-software.com/doc/HDM15Premium_SP5_en270517pdf.pdf - The Suite edition apparently does not contain the GPT Loader, GPT Loader is not mentioned in the manual: http://download.paragon-software.com:80/doc/HDM15Suite_SP3_en.pdf Good search key in the .pdf manuals above: "Loader" http://download.paragon-software.com/doc/GPTLoader_RG_081111.pdf

My old Inspiron 7500 laptop (SSE-only, Pentium 3, 700MHz) can handle three internal HDDs. It has an internal 120GB IDE HDD for booting various opsys, a 320GB IDE HDD as data drive in the right-bay and a left-bay for various left-bay modules, e.g. a combo of floppy drive+HDD in a single module. In have inserted a 1TB Advanced Format laptop GPT HDD into a SATA ODD caddy in a left-bay module, with the Paragon GPT Loader installed under WinXP, i.e. I was using the 1TB SATA GPT HDD as a 3rd internal HDD, not as an external HDD connected via an external docking station to the eSATA PC Card. The 1TB GPT HDD seems to work great as 3rd HDD in the SATA ODD caddy under WinXP. System Commander v9.04 booted without any issue into WinXP. The laptop also booted without any issue into Win98, no drive letter shift etc. The 1TB SATA GPT HDD was listed in Win98 Device Manager as "Generic IDE Type 02", but no drive letter was assigned, Win98 was working OK. The old Inspiron 7500 laptop (SSE-only, Pentium 3, 700MHz) has a Phoenix BIOS 4.0 Release 6.0 (1985-1998) and displayed the 1TB SATA GPT HDD as 65,535MB. Since the 1TB GPT HDD seems to work OK inside this old Pentium 3 laptop, I may buy eventually a laptop HDD > 2TB for the left-bay module with the SATA ODD caddy, for further experimenting. How about a 25-year-old 700MHz Pentium 3 laptop, with a 3TB or 4TB data HDD inside? Or maybe an SSD, because the max.height of the HDD/SSD which fits into the SATA ODD caddy is 13mm, not 15mm. The major issue, however, is the slow data transfer speed between the internal GPT HDD and the other components inside the laptop. Data transfer via external docking station + eSATA PC Card would be maybe 2-5 times faster (my guess) than via internal HDD. In the old Inspiron 7500 an internal SSD is only marginally faster than a 5400rpm HDD, I have reverted from a 120GB IDE SSD to a 120GB IDE HDD for the boot drive.

I am using driver 1.3.68.2 of 13Apr2007 under WinXP for the Vantec eSATA PC Card (has a Silicon Image Sil 3512 SATALink Controller) in my SSE-only Pentium 3 laptop, has worked great with HDDs <2TB. It came on the original driver CD of the eSATA PC Card. Under Win98 I use v1.3.65.2. Where did you find v1.3.71.1?

I had first attempted to install Paragon Hard Disk Manager 15 build 813 without having installed .NET FrameWork 4, but the installation stopped with the msg: ".NET 4.0 not found. Please install .NET 4.0 for further installation of the product" After having installed .NET Framework 4 the installation completed OK. The installer also modified I:\WINXPSP2\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\ngen_service.log I can also confirm that build 813 requires MS Visual C ++ 2010 x86 Redistributable v10.0.40219, which was already installed on my SSE-only Pentium 3 laptop. (this specific build of C++ Redist is required). install_xp.reg and install.reg of Hard Disk Manager 15 build 813 have the same MD5 values as those of your build 779. The MD5 checksum of vid_custom.dll, also in the install-to, is CFC582BB605FFF80C2BACD5D43C0E485 Total Uninstall indicates a quite sophisticated installation, when just the GPT Loader is selected for installation with build 813. For example, 7 .exe files are added to \Windows\Installer\{619A89DE-5F01-11E2-85E8-000C2982512D}\ and a lot of registry entries. \Windows\Installer\d80b3.msi was also added by the installer and is digitally signed by Paragon 11Nov2015 but the signature is not valid. d80b3.msi is 6,334,976 bytes and has the MD5 B253CAE901F0D54D962DEF76E219135E and contains, among others, the 7 .exe files.

Paragon 16 v11 does not install/work under WinXP, requires a more recent opsys, if I remember right. No idea about the GPT loader v11 from MediaFire, it is digitally signed OK. Maybe v11.0.0.175 is for Toshiba HDDs? Toshiba is mentioned in "Installer v1.0.2.cmd"

I have restored the original WinXP SP3 disk.sys, partmgr.sys and sp3.cab on my SSE-only Pentium 3. I installed .NET Framework 4 because this is required by Paragon Hard Disk Manager 15. I don't like software requiring .NET Framework. I then installed Paragon Hard Disk Manager 15 v10.1.25.813 (Premium, 299-PME, 11Nov2015), entered the registration details, and selected only GPT Loader in the installation menu (I did not select Paragon Hard Disk Manager and did not select HotCore Driver). The installation was under Total Uninstall, for identifying the registry entries etc made during the installation, and for a clean uninstall. I do not have any HDD >2TB. The GPT Loader seems to read and write OK with a 1TB GPT HDD in a docking station connected via eSATA to an eSATA PC Card. I don't have \gpt_loader\ from other builds of Paragon Hard Disk Manager. Here is the MD5 of the 3 files in the folder of build 813: MD5 checksums of Paragon Hard Disk Manager 15 build 813: gpt_loader.sys: B0AFB269EBA85F9EC264035640319138 gpt_loader.inf: B04C4E8E712B6CB283C4AB1C53F06226 gpt_loader.cat: 9FC7222187B2A809C21E543E928686BE BTW, Total Uninstall lists 150.30MB space used by the installation when only the GPT Loader is selected. The main culprit is a 143MB .msi in \Documents and Settings\

Paragon Partition Manager 15 Professional x86 v10.1.25.779 is the most recent build of v15 I have come across. Paragon Hard Disk Manager 15 also has a "GPT Loader" selection in its installation menu. I have various builds of Paragon Hard Disk Manager 15 in my archive, among them: v10.1.25.779 (Suite, 32bit, 9Sep2015) v10.1.25.813 (Professional, 299-PRE, 19Nov2015) and v10.1.25.813 (Premium, 299-PME, 11Nov2015) v10.1.25.1125 (Professional, 799-PRE, 12Apr2017) v10.1.25.1137 (Professional, 799-PRE, 24Apr2017) Maybe the more recent build 813 contains an improved GPT Loader? A new release 813, only 2 months after build 779, indicates serious issues with build 779. Build 813 is the last build for SSE-only. I had installed build 813 on my SSE-only Pentium 3 laptop, but removed it again because the Linux ext3 partitions created by Paragon Partition Manager 15 were displayed as BAD by Symantec PartitionMagic 8.05, i.e. the ext3 partitions created by Paragon HDM 15 are not compatible with PartitionMagic, i.e. not backward-compatible with Win98 software.

I still have the (rejected) file replacement with the Windows 2003 Server files disk.sys and partmgrs.sys running on my old Pentium 3 laptop (SSE-only). When I inserted a 2TB MBR HDD into a Sharkoon Combo docking station, connected via eSATA to an eSATA PCCard, a Found New Hardware Found bubble come up and then I got the message: "Hardware Installation. The software you are installing for this hardware Disk drive has not passed Windows Logo testing to verify its compatibility with Windows XP." The HDD had probably been detected already earlier in this docking station, before I used the replacement disk.sys and partmgr.sys. This msg "has not passed Windows Logo testing" may be related to the file replacement, it has been displayed when inserting 2 other MBR HDDs since I replaced disk.sys and partmgr.sys. No such msg has been displayed when I inserted maybe 5 other MBR HDDs. Any idea what may be going on?

Your topic may help to prepare for the inevitable end of Windows XP, nothing lives forever. Kurt_Aust prepared in 2014 a now-pinned topic "VirtualBox Windows 98se step by step" https://msfn.org/board/topic/170785-virtualbox-windows-98se-step-by-step/#comments foreboding the end of Windows 98. His outstanding how-to instructions for Win98 are now at https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=59559 Which other VM software did you consider, when you decided on VirtualBox? Why did you decide on v7? https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?t=104726&start=45

Very interesting comment, but don't give up, your topic is definitely a great topic! I had test-installed MS Virtual PC 2007 v6.0.192 (32bit, SP1, 8May2008) in June 2024 on my ancient Inspiron 7500 laptop (700MHz, Pentium 3, SSE-only). I had wanted to compare the usefulness of Sandboxie to a Virtual PC, but then I gave up because creating an OK .vhd file with a good/clean opsys was a major time-consuming new project,

I am continuing here the anti-virus discussion of AstroSkipper's flagged WinXP files uploaded to MediaFire https://msfn.org/board/topic/183352-proxhttpsproxy-and-httpsproxy-in-windows-xp-for-future-use/page/62/#findComment-1276757 so that his topic "ProxHTTPSProxy and HTTPSProxy in Windows XP for future use" will stay focussed on ProxHTTPSProxy and HTTPSProxy. @VistaLover I have tried to load https://opentip.kaspersky.com/ (the page to upload a file to Kaspersky for checking a potentially falsely-flagged file) with Tor Browser v7.5.6 (WinXP, 23Jun2018), but apparently this web page does not work with Tor Browser v7.5.6 under WinXP. The reason that I used Tor Browser is that I do not want Kaspersky to know my IP, for not endangering the ability to update my ancient version of Kaspersky from this IP. Unfortunately I do not have VPN. @AstroSkipper, the co-author of cacert_Updater.exe, appears not to be inclined to clear up the false-flag reporting by Kaspersky, MediaFire and virustotal of his program. @VistaLover could you submit the falsely flagged file "cacert_Updater.exe" to Kaspersky? @VistaLover I have been able to fetch Kaspersky definition updates after the Sep2024 US ban. The last update of my ancient version of Kaspersky was on 8Nov2024. I plan to update again in Feb.2025, or earlier if Kaspersky corrects the false flag and indicates that AstroSkipper's file will not be flagged anymore by their current signature. BTW, I also have in my software archive the server version corresponding to my ancient version of Kaspersky (same build, same release date). Most likely the server version can still be updated, just like my workstation version. The minimum system requirements of the server version are a Pentium 400MHz, 512MB RAM and Windows 2000 Server with Advanced SP4 Rollup1. Windows Server 2003 SP2 and Windows Server 2008 are also indicated as OK. I had tried to install the server version under WinXP SP3, but I got the installer msg: "Current operating system is not supported". I did not continue any further with the server version because I don't have Windows 2000 Server installed on my computers. Nevertheless: an excellent virus checker with (most likely) a current virus signature ... for Windows 2000 !!!

Your old version of April 2022 gets flagged by my ancient version of Kaspersky, signature of 8Nov2024, as follows: detected: Trojan program Trojan.Win32.Gamaredon.gj file: E:\Downloads_5\cacert_Updater_Fixed_Recreated.7z//cacert_Updater.exe No riskware is detected. virustotal: https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/245eb2147210581ce8965cd1337d1137b48da190e5e5e2dd6627d8eb803dd563 Software which gets flagged has a much shorter life expectancy. A programming job may be considered complete after having ensured that it will not get flagged.

I have a 2TB HDD, labeled "FLAGGED", nearly full with flagged stuff. The flagged stuff is in the subfolders: adware, corrupt, incomplete, infected [=Trojans+viruses], malware, riskware and password-protected. Password-protected installer files require full trust. Your files may enjoy full trust because the source/referring page is msfn.org. The only installer containing pw-protected files which I use is for Beyond Compare, which has my full trust.

It is not unusual that trojans etc only get detected/added to virus signature updates several years after they came out. Again, why not just create a different SFX?

I just saw a description of the Gamaredon trojan flagged by Kaspersky in cacert_Updater.exe: "Gamaredon ... is a Russian, state-sponsored cyber-espionage hacking group with cybersecurity researchers linking them to the FSB (Russian Federal Security Service)" https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/gamaredon-hackers-start-stealing-data-30-minutes-after-a-breach/ Russian Kaspersky is very unlikely to flag real Russian state-sponsored trojans, cacert_Updater.exe for ProxHTTPSProxy must therefore be clean, and this must be a false flag Why not just create a different SFX?

I used Cert_Updater_v1.6.exe just as an example of another certificate updater, to see whether it also gets flagged when virus-checking. MiTeC EXE Explorer v1.2 indicates for cacert_Updater.exe an incorrect timestamp of 10May2012, even if the most recent file in the .exe, HTTPDL.exe, has the file modification date 13Feb2019. An incorrect timestamp is a little unusual, but not suspicious, many OK .exes have an incorrect timestamp. Maybe, if the content of cacert_Updater.exe (CERTUPD.bat, HTTPDL.exe and URLLINK) is put into a different SFX, it will not be flagged by virustotal/MediaFire?

Kaspersky's flag of cacert_Updater.exe is most likely a false positive, only 5/74 scanners, including CrowdStrike, of virustotal flag the file: https://www.virustotal.com/gui/file/9f805311953057a944567d9a2e45ee4d65ffb7804925115b3b05bf02d3ff7821 When the content of cacert_Updater.exe is extracted with WinRAR, Kaspersky does not flag anything, so maybe Kaspersky doesn't like the .exe container. When cacert_Updater.exe is run in a sandbox, the program window "Mozilla trusted root certificates Updater" displays: "Do you want to update certificates?", maybe that's what Kaspersky doesn't like, no idea. With another root certificate updater for Windows, Cert_Updater_v1.6.exe (is a Windows Root Certificate Updater which I use for WinXP), Kaspersky does not flag anything when virus-checking.

I downloaded one of the files which mediafire did not like: https://www.mediafire.com/file/4sqkixfd2waaypt/ProxHTTPSProxy_TLS_1_3_1_5_220717_PopMenu_3V3_CheckedByAstroSkipper.7z/file I checked with my ancient version of Kaspersky, updated with the signature of 8Nov2024 (I only update once every 3 months). 1 Trojan and 1 riskware were detected: detected: Trojan program Trojan.Win32.Gamaredon.gj file: E:\Downloads_5\ProxHTTPSProxy_TLS_1_3_1_5_220717_PopMenu_3V3_CheckedByAstroSkipper\ProxHTTPSProxy_TLS_1_3_1_5_220717_PopMenu_3V3\cacert_Updater.exe detected: riskware not-a-virus:RiskTool.Win32.Cmdow.a file: E:\Downloads_5\ProxHTTPSProxy_TLS_1_3_1_5_220717_PopMenu_3V3_CheckedByAstroSkipper\ProxHTTPSProxy_TLS_1_3_1_5_220717_PopMenu_3V3\PopMenu\cmdow.exe Kaspersky gives substantially fewer false positives than other virus-checkers. My feeling is that there is only a 10% chance that the Trojan msg for cacert_Updater.exe is a false positive. I would not be concerned about the riskware msg.

I cannot download these 2 files, I get the message: "Dangerous File Blocked, The file you attempted to download was determined to be dangerous. For your protection, MediaFire does not enable distribution of dangerous files." Any other way that I could get these 2 files? Added: sorry, I could just download the pw-protected files. Thanks anyway.

Could you temporarily upload again the 4 original files flagged by MediaFire's virus checker, to a different location? It would be interesting to see whether my ancient version of Kaspersky also flags them.

GPT disks under SSE-only (Pentium 3) Thanks, my above posting referred to compatibility with SSE-only, i.e. compatibility with my old Inspiron 7500 (SSE-only Pentium III, e.g. 700MHz). For me, external HDDs set to GPT, regardless of capacity, would only be useful if they can be accessed under both SSE-only and under more modern computers. 1) The last build of Acronis Disk Director which has installed AND worked for me under WinXP SP3 and SSE-only was v12.0.3223 (30May2014). This build 3223 requires WinXP SP3, it does not install under WinXP SP2. Also, after installing build 3223 the Help file in the install-to has to be renamed to anything else to avoid crashing under SSE-only. Unfortunately, I don't have it installed anymore on my Inspiron 7500, so I cannot check whether it works OK with GPT HDDs, unless I re-install it. A more recent Acronis v12.5.0.163 is listed in your excellent posting as compatible with GPT >2TB, but this build v12.5.0.163 can most likely not be installed and run under WinXP SP3 SSE-only. 2) The bootable CD of Acronis Disk Director v12.5.163 (en, workstation, 26Dec2018), however, DOES work great under SSE-only. I also have the corresponding bootable server CD with the same build, which I had marked "works with Inspiron" [=SSE-only], but the following experiments were made with the workstation version. With this bootable CD I have created OK a FAT32 partition on a 1TB GPT HDD. The 1TB GPT HDD was inside a Sharkoon Combo [=for IDE and SATA HDDs] docking station, connected via eSATA to an eSATA PC Card in the SSE-only laptop. Data on the FAT32 partition was read and written to OK under Win10 on a more modern desktop, and then read and written to OK again on the SSE-only Inspiron. The bootable CD of Acronis Disk Director v12.5.163 could also format a partition to ext3 on the 1TB GPT HDD. ext3 partitions are not displayed under WinXP and Win10. "Ext2 Installable File System v1.12" (26Dec2015), has worked for me OK to display ext3 partitions under WinXP under SSE-only. It can be downloaded from http://www.fs-driver.org/download.html [http, NOT https] According to https://community.chocolatey.org/packages/ext2ifs it works OK with GPT HDDs. If a GPT HDD, with an ext3 partition >2TB does work OK under WinXP, then the chkdsk issue with Win10/WinXP NTFS partitions can be circumvented. It might show that this issue is a file system issue. Using the ext3 file system may be an alternative to trying the UDF file system (has no partitions) to help identify the cause of the Chkdsk issue. 3) MS Disk Management could reformat OK a FAT32 partition under WinXP SP3 on the SSE-only laptop, BUT: could format only to NTFS, not to FAT32 etc.

I have about 30+ 1TB and 2TB WD SATA HDDs, mainly manufactured 2019 and later, no issues, also 20+ 2nd hand WD SATA HDDs with lower capacity, with manufacturing dates going back to 2011. I also have Hitachi HDDs. I started to like Western Digital because their Data Lifeguard Tools v11.2 could DDO OK WD-brand HDDs >137GB for the Inspiron 7500 under Win98. I used WD HDDs DDOed with DLG v11.2 for about 5 years, until I found out that the Win98 "137GB unofficial patch (for IBM only)" also works with the 240 heads, SSE-only Dell Inspiron 7500.

I have replaced Partmgr.sys and disk.sys with the Win2003 versions + updated sp3.cab under WinXP SP3 on my Inspiron 7500 (Pentium III, SSE-only, 240 heads disk geometry). I used, on a more modern desktop computer, TeraByte BootIt Bare Metal v1.73 (can partition pre-boot) to set a 1TB HDD to GPT and partitioned it pre-boot to 6 FAT32 partitions. The 1TB HDD was detected OK by Win10. The 1TB GPT HDD was also detected OK on the SSE-only Inspiron laptop. It was inside a different Sharkoon IDE/SATA combo docking station, with USB 2.0 and eSATA connectors, connected vie eSATA to an eSATA PC Card in the SSE-only laptop. My Computer and Hard Disk Sentinel v6.20 seem to work OK with the 1TB GPT HDD with WinXP under SSE-only, also Beyond Compare v2.5.3. TeraByte Image for Windows v2.92 also displayed OK the GPT disk and indicated that it is GPT, so I would speculate that there is a good chance that it could clone the 1TB GPT HDD under WinXP. MiniTool Partition Wizard v9.1 did display the GPT HDD, but did not display the partitions on it.

Maybe you were unlucky. I had no bad experience with Western Digital HDDs: 1) An old Inspiron 7500 Pentium III laptop, dedicated to just downloading stuff 24/7, has a 1TB laptop HDD WD10JPVT inside, as 2nd HDD. This WD HDD has been working surprisingly well, health 100%, running and reading/writing continuously 24/7, 1527 power on days, 987 total start/stop, total data written onto it maybe 20TB. 2) The 320GB IDE laptop HDD WD3200BEVE is great for retro-computing. They have worked fine for me as 2nd and 3rd HDDs inside an Inspiron 7500 laptop (Pentium III, one FAT32 partition 298.1GB), under Win98 and WinXP, I have not seen IDE laptop HDDs of other brands with 320GB capacity.

Perhaps it is an issue of different NTFS file system drivers under WinXP and Win10? Maybe you can create on the 3TB HDD GPT disk fourteen or fifteen FAT32 partitions of 196.600MB each [=192GB, 32kB sector size each, aligned to cylinder]. Will then the data beyond 2TB be scrambled up or will it be OK? Old Partition Magic v8.05 has a max.FAT32 partition size of 196.600MB, no idea why, but this size has always worked OK for me, under Win98/XP/10. I don't have any HDDs >2TB, for compatibility reasons and to avoid huge data losses. I have not yet tried to replace the Partmgr.sys, Disk.sys and sp3.cab with those of Windows Server 2003 because I am a little afraid to risk damaging my software collection on my HDDs, maybe later when all experimenting is done and Dave-H and jaclaz give the green light. If the issue is shown to be a file system driver issue, I can eventually buy a 3TB HDD, look for my old WriteDVD! v1.0.0.4 (works under WinXP) and try to format the 3TB GPT disk to UDF. WriteDVD! v1.0.0.4 installs under WinXP the UDF file system driver saiudf.sys [its Property sheet displays "Company: Software Architects, Inc., File version: 6.2.8.1, Description: UDF File System for Windows XP"]