jaclaz

It seems like some of the new features have found an actual practical use , JFYI: http://reboot.pro/topic/20004-boot-a-acronis-true-image-2014-iso-image-with-grub2-at-uefi/ Merry Chistmas to you too. jaclaz

Sure it is doable. And it also seems like a good plan. : The only change I would make is the E:\ drive, which I would personally make a little bit larger, say 3 or 4 Gb and NTFS formatted[1] (of course it depends on the amount of programs you plan to install on the 2K, by itself the windows 2000 takes around 650 Mb) or even "remove" it completely or moving it "past" the 10 Gb "exchange" volume. Since you plan to have more than 4 volumes, at least one needs to be a logical volume inside extended, and the C:\ volume needs to be a primary, you can have (say) all primaries but the G:\ volume as primaries, whilst what i would personally do would be to have only the C:\ volume as a primary partition and make all the other logical volumes inside Extended, but if you don't plan to install another Operating System you can do anything "midway". [1] Now let's talk of DEFAULT drive letter assignment in the various OS (assuming that you have only one connected hard disk in that system and that the CD/DVD drive letter at the most will "shift" some letter assignment: C:\ will be C:\ under all OS's D:\ will be D:\ under all OS's E:\ will be E:\ under 98 and 2K but will NOT exist under NT 4 F:\ will be F:\ under 98 and 2K but will NOT exist under NT 4 G:\ will be G:\ under 2K, will NOT exist under 98 and will be E:\ under NT 4.00 (but you can change manually the drive letter assignment in the NT 4) What about making the: 1) My C:\ drive, approx. 1GB, formatted with FAT16, used to install Windows 98. 2) My D:\ drive, 1GB, formatted with FAT16, used to install Windows NT 4.0. 3) My F:\ E:\ drive, approx. 10 GB, formatted with FAT32, used for storing files for Windows 98. 4) My E:\ F:\drive, 4GB, formatted with NTFS, used to install Windows 2000. 5) My G:\ drive, remaining 22GB, formatted with NTFS C:\ will be C:\ under all OS's D:\ will be D:\ under all OS's E:\ will be E:\ under 98 and 2K but will NOT exist under NT 4 F:\ will be F:\ under 2K will NOT exist under 98 and will be E:\ under NT 4.00 (but you can change manually the drive letter assignment in the NT 4 to F:\ ) G:\ will be G:\ under 2K, will NOT exist under 98 and will be F:\ under NT 4.00 (but you can change manually the drive letter assignment in the NT 4 to G:\ ) Or even make only one volume out of the last two ad have Windows 2K installed on it. jaclaz

... and of the involved Registry key. jaclaz

Alrighty. I'll go for the PLoP Boot Manager ... Perfect! jaclaz

If you have to start experimenting, start with grub4dos, PLoP is an excellent thingy, but grub4dos is much more flexible when it comes to device assignment. jaclaz

Well, that Registry entry seems to me (common sense only, not specific knowledge) more like a "two way link". The entry is simmetrical to the entry in protocol.ini, meaning (maybe) that the same device Root/Net/0002 has two compatible ID's, and the entry in protocol.ini may mean that the same netcard can be called indifferently E1000$ or *PNP8fff. Possibly you could try adding (of course only if you are after experimenting, and knowing that there is a risk to need to reinstall/restart) to add to both entries a comma and "MyNic", nothing should change. Then try removing from both the *PNP8fff. And finally try removing again the "MyNic" and see if only the "pair" of E1000$ is actually *needed*. jaclaz

In the meantime, here is why the name E1000$ and how to configure further settings: http://web.mit.edu/cron/documentation/dell-server-admin/en/IntelNIC/dos_odi.htm though nothing about the "comma+PNPID" or "comma+Name" I guess that something here: ftp://ftp.microsoft.com./Services/whql/Tools/NSTL/000316/HCT/docs/ might be of use, but really cannot say if my guess can be accurate and/or if anything in it will be useful for what. The RK98BOOK.CHM also contains possibly some related info: ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/services/technet/samples/ps/win98/reskit/HELP/ but still nothing about that "comma" and added parameter. jaclaz

Good , at least we know that the missing item was the comma and the name of the device, which in Sfor's case is a "plain" name: and in your case is a PNP ID: jaclaz

Good news , though I hate it when this kind of things happen (without apparent reason/by sheer magic). jaclaz

Should be: http://www.pctools.com/guides/registry/detail/50/ Not even through PLoP or grub4dos (or good ol' Smart Boot Manager)? jaclaz

Isn't your wife using it to recharge her phone? jaclaz

Naaah, the Amiga already used 3.5" floppies, though "low density" or DD: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Floppy_disk_variants#Commodore_Amiga The 8" floppy is so pre-Apple II Disk II , and just to show how size does matter, the new, miniaturized floppy drive from Shugart was actually called "minifloppy" : http://apple2history.org/history/ah05/ jaclaz

What will be next? That FAT16/32 is much better than NTFS? jaclaz

Well, not really. Cannot say about that specific PC, but there is not a limit of 7.88 Gb in NT4.00 as you describe it. The limit is only for the "system" partition, you can have more volumes fine beyond that CHS limit (with SP4 or later): http://support.microsoft.com/kb/224526/en-us Whether the issue is just the "system" partition (as defined "reversed" by the good MS guys) or also the "boot" partition, see this "clear" KB: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/197667/EN-US is to be seen. I wonder if the limit is just in the NTLDR/NTDETECT.COM and using the 2K one it will be gone (of course the install procedure will need to be modified, possibly by installing to a "dummy" and copying files to the "final target"). But - for the record - a "plain" NT 4.00 install (the OS only) will be less than 200 Mb in size, you can add to it all the programs you want and even few more, but as long as you keep data on another volume a 1 Gb (or at the most a 2 Gb volume) will be more than enough for it. A 1 Gb volume is perfectly fine in FAT16, the 2 Gb is also OK, on a border line. And the NTFS version used by NT (there is a lot of confusion on this) is actually version 1.2: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTFS As long as you disable last accessed times in the Registry, even NTFS should not be such a problem on CF cards. jaclaz

Then maybe it would be easier to set a (say) 15 seconds timeout at booting time, if you do not switch it on like 25 times a day and you are not in a hurry when you switch it on, it won't be that much an issue, IMHO, after all before you get to a fully usable desktop/start menu there will be anywyay a delay of anything between 45 and 120 seconds. Alternatively, you could see (if applicable) if you can find one of those PSU's with a power outlet for the monitor, this way you will switch the monitor always "in one piece" with the PC or use one of those multi-plugs with a power switch or an UPS... jaclaz

No , you are not alone. But it is not a politically correct attitude back to oligarchy vs. democracy: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/172856-guideway-to-disable-keylogger-well-im-not-sure/?p=1087279 jaclaz

Well said , and I would add that allowing a "new user" to type *any* drive letter (actually *anything* as there is NO input control of any kind) at the SET /P prompt may result, besides likely breaking the batch execution, in targeting ANOTHER device, where each and every *.lnk *.exe *.inf *.vbs *.cmd *.bat will be deleted . You need to be d@mn sure that the user cannot enter anything but a drive letter, actually anything but a drive letter related to a USB stick, and check (and double check) that the nameless directory(ies) exist on that drive BEFORE EVEN THINKING of deleting (or renaming) ANYTHING. In this sense the last snippet I posted is much safer, in the sense that it will only rename the directory(ies) which name is only "ALT+0160", and in any case a "wrong rename" is usually easier to revert than undeleting tens, huindreds or thousands of files. jaclaz P.S. And now, for NO apparent reason, marriedtothesea http://www.marriedtothesea.com/041808/this-is-what-i-get.gif P.S.: Oneliner: @ECHO OFF&FOR /F "tokens=*" %%A IN ('dir /B/S/AD ^|FIND "\ " ^|FIND /V "\ \"') DO ECHO Nameless is found:&& ECHO REN "%%A" MickeyMouse

1. The intended separator for switches on these command line tools is "/" (forward slash), for all the command interpreter knows there is NO difference between: dir /B /S /AD and: dir /B/S/AD 2. Why not? @ECHO OFFSETLOCAL ENABLEEXTENSIONS@FOR /F "tokens=*" %%A IN ('dir /B/S/AD') DO (CALL :do_ren "%%A")GOTO :EOF:do_renSET nameless=%1SET nameless=%nameless:~-2,1%REM The character> <below is created by typing ALT+0160IF "%nameless%"==" " ECHO Nameless is found:&& ECHO REN %1 MickeyMouseREM The character> <above is created by typing ALT+0160GOTO :EOFjaclaz

Of course not , that is the actual beauty of plug 'n play, people like you that want to choose their own things need to go back to (say) NT 4.00 . Now, seriously, what you experience is the final effect of *something* that causes this intermittently, and this can be as hinted before, a hardware issue of some kind . You should (could) try dumping the EDID you get when the monitor is detected properly and when it is not, like with: http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/dump_edid.html http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/monitor_info_view.html http://www.eldim.fr/products/display-controller/fpdlite/fpdlite-free-tools Then you could try overriding the EDID for the generic monitor? http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/jj133967(v=vs.85).aspx? You could try what happens with PowerStrip: http://entechtaiwan.com/util/ps.shtm to see if it is possible to "tame" your system. jaclaz

Hmmm. I just got this e-mail jaclaz

Yes, but you cannot "invent" syntax. RD is used: http://ss64.com/nt/rd.html wit this syntax: Your line is: or: So, you want something more *like* but your batch as is represents more generally (in my perverted mind) a reckless, dangerous and potentially destructive tool , and you should IMHO restart from scratch, adding each and every possible check (+1) to make sure that it CANNOT be run on anything else but a such infected USB stick and that it will ONLY delete the files and folders added by the "virus" in that (those) nameless folders. What I am trying to tell you is that - no offence intended - your current approach is way too aggressive and it can potentially destroy the "good" contents of a USB stick or even of an internal disk volume in the hands of a "new user" and that you should rethink the thingy making it - within limits - as foolproof as possible. jaclaz.

No. The DEL command should work but it uncnditionally removes ALL .exe and .lnk files from current directory and all it's subfolders a teeny/tiny error (like running it from another drive/path) and you could create havoc on a system . The RD one cannot, and it is potentially dangerous with the /S switch: http://ss64.com/nt/rd.html Try posting the output of your actual directory structure and explain what exactly you need to do (or if the "test" you posted is OK, post how that structure should be changed after running the batch). jaclaz

But nothing at all "negative" in my views, as said I am very happy that you contributed to prove that Windows 8.1 (and hopefully the next 10 thingy also) is actually usable once some (many) tweaks are applied to it and a number of third party tools are installed and properly configured. Till few months ago if someone had asked me about buying a new computer I would have suggested him/her to make sure to get a system which allowed downgrade to Windows 7, should the stupid Windows 8/8.1 be not bearable, nowadays I am convinced that this is not anymore *needed* thanks to the information, tools and opinions (including your nice contributions) that were made available here on the board :. Still, unless I missed something, the result of all these efforts are/were that Windows 8.1 is "as" Windows 7, "as fast as", "as reliable as", "running same tools as", "having the same look/feel as", etc., this is not a negative view, only the plain, flat statement of fact that there is nothing (or very little) that is "much better than" or "years ahead" or the like. jaclaz

Which is exactly what is NOT allowed by it's EULA, see: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/171952-windows-embedded-posready-2009/ Wouldn't it be easier/better to use a plain XP? (on which nlite is tested and working) And then, if the issue is Windows Update, add to it one of the Registry keys that allow installing the updates past April 2014? See: https://www.sebijk.com/community/board9-community/board5-pc/2985-getting-xp-updates/ jaclaz

I am failing to see the point. OP asked for something *like* nlite. And he did not ask about something *like* nlite that would be supported by his Embedded Partner. @mario995 What is your scope (final goal)? I mean is this "edit ISO of POSReady 2009 to ..." (like remove tools subsystem, integrate hotfixes, etc.) and even more generally what is that you want to obtain in the end (maybe it is possible without actually editing the .iso at all). jaclaz