[(Solved, maybe) Making a bootable CD from emachines OEM CD install]

Thanks. There are so many programs, it is nice to get a recommendation.

Steve

[(Solved, maybe) Making a bootable CD from emachines OEM CD install]

Just the first one <g>.

That might have been a problem with the nLite one. I got a BSOD which interrupted the burning. Then, it rebooted and a MS window popped up asking if I wanted to send an error report.

I guess it's possible that's why the second nLite burn didn't work either. Or maybe my CDs are flakey.

I will try another burn with nLite using the last iso and see if it works this time.

Thanks again.

Steve

[(Solved, maybe) Making a bootable CD from emachines OEM CD install]

Again, thanks.

I noted that the WIN51 files I made which contain the word "Windows" were apparently supposed to have a carriage return (2 line file with the second line blank). I then made a new iso with nLite and used nLite to burn a new iso. When I tried to boot with this iso, it wasn't detected. In nLite, I used the default burn engine and the lowest burn speed.

Then, I booted into linux and used the Burniso2cd program to make another CD of this latest iso.

This CD was detected and booted up in the Windows setup.

Since I didn't want to reinstall XP, I exited after getting to the screen that says install or repair or exit.

My plan is to install this iso as a virtual OS under virtualbox. Then, I will see if it completely installs or breaks later in the install process.

The failure of nLite to produce a working CD with the same iso that isoBurn2cd was successful with could have been due to instability of my XP install, since I had BSODs while trying this. My linux install is rather stable in contrast.

I will followup on this after installing VirtualBox and trying to install the iso as a virtual machine.

Thanks again.

Steve

[(Solved, maybe) Making a bootable CD from emachines OEM CD install]

Thanks for responding.

I have looked at the linkes you suggested and I didn't see anything different than what I have been doing.

Since you pointed me to guides, I imagine that I need to post more specific questions to get additional information.

Questions:

(1) When I used the iso I created with a 2kB Microsoft Corporation.img (instead of the eMachines bootimage.img), the CD I burned from the iso was ignored at boot.

(2) The recovery CD has a 1.44 mgB bootimage.img file but no 2 kB microsoft corporation.img. In the CDs that I burned with that file, the CD WAS detected; however, I get a message to put a disk in the A: (floppy) drive. The computer doesn't have a floppy drive. Is there a "hidden" Microsoft Corporation.img file in the bootimage.img file?

(3) I assume that there are a combination of things I need to do to make an iso that will boot. TXTSETUP.SIF is a large file (as you know) and .INF files apparently might also cause a problem. Are there any sections of my TXTSETUP.SIF file and other .INF files that I should look at to enable the CD to be detected and run without a call to put something in my nonexistent A: drive?

Thanks again.

Steve

[(Solved, maybe) Making a bootable CD from emachines OEM CD install]

I have just started to use nlite (v.1.4.9.1).

I want to make an XP iso that I can use as a guest OS in a virtual machine.

My CD is an OEM version of XP SP1 with ghosted files. The installed /i386 folder on the computer hard drive is located as a subfolder of the Windows folder.

I have made 5 isos so far adjusting each one on the basis of information I have found on this (and other) sites. I don't yet have a virtual machine set up, so I test each iso by burning a CD and booting from it.

The first four isos boot to the point where they declare they are examining setup and then have displayed the message - put a service pack 1 disk in Drive A:.

I noted that this error has been reported by many people. In my case, it persisted even after adding WIN51, WIN51IC and WIN51IC.SP1 text files to the folder within which I copied my /i386 subfolder to. (I also copied these files to the /i386 subfolder itself.)

After the first two problematic isos, I noted that I didn't have the bootimage file (Microsoft corporation.img or bootimage.img) in either folder, and I extracted a file named bootimage.img from the CD using IsoBuster. This file is ~1.4 megabytes. I placed this file in both the temp folder and subfolder holding the copy of my /i386 folder.

I used both Roxio Creator Classic, nLite itself and an isoburn program (when running linux). In retrospect, I may have made a mistake in some of these isos because I didn't use the same name for the boot image file in both the temp folder and the i386 folder.

For iso #5, I rechecked what the SIZE of the microsoft corporation.img file is supposed to be; since it is to provide the boot sector for the CD, 1.4 megabytes is way to large. In fact, it is supposed to be a 2K file. So apparently, the emachines CD has a boot floppy image that is supposed to work with the ghost.exe file to install the recovery OS, but is not compatible with a pure CD boot.

So, I found a proper copy of Microsoft Corporation.img and used that in making iso #5 with nLite. For iso #4 and #5, I used nLite itself to burn the CD (rather than Roxio [v 6]).

Notably, this was the first iso generating session in which nLite DIDN'T complain that it couldn't find the ident file (previously, I would get this message, hit enter) and the program would proceed.

More notably, iso #5 with the correct boot img file, was UNDETECTED as a boot CD. Instead, my usual boot screen from the hard drive appeared.

The only other thing I haven't tried yet is editing the TXTSETUP.SIF file.

Appreciate comments, suggestions, recommendations.

Thanks in advance.

Steve

For the fifth iso, I thought that the problem