jaclaz

Point is what was the question the OP did not ask like : How do I manage to use on a standard XP the updates intended for Windows Embedded Standard 2009? If I buy a license for Windows Embeeded Standard 2009 will it be fully compatible with my apps (that run OK under standard XP)? What is the best way to run a gang of stubborn applications that need a Windows XP environment, while having them patched?jaclaz

Yeah, you should tell this to the Unity guys: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/155290-windows-8-deeper-impressions/page-211#entry1071513 jaclaz

Is this still connected to the old thread: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/171878-boot-to-gui-windows-and-not-dos/ What do you mean by "the drive is fine" and "I tried formatting the drive on another PC but no luck"? jaclaz

Naah, no need to blush, on these "early" motherboards *everything* and the contrary of everything is possible. I will give you a link to a case that seemingly only boots to a partitioned hard disk like device BUT maps it ONLY as superfloppy device : http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?s=&showtopic=14181&view=findpost&p=121665 http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=18485 @supernova777 If you want to make a few tests with makebootfat, this might be of use: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=13784&st=44 and these for FBINST: http://reboot.pro/topic/7932-create-universal-flash-boot-disk-with-fbinst/ http://reboot.pro/topic/11463-fbinsts-automated-script-by-maanu-now-working-for-win7/ http://www.rmprepusb.com/tutorials/usbutils jaclaz

Sure . The commodity (which however is replaceable to a certain extent by using *any* hotkey program) is the following (in my perverted mind ): I am going to use a cmd prompt window most of the time I have my hands on the keyboard in a command prompt window one needs to use the keyboard to interact with the system by pressing a hotkey combo (Alt+\ in my case) I open the dropdown command prompt AND I already have the "focus" on it's command line then I type in it a command and get the result then I press the SAME hotkey combo and the cmd prompt "vanishes" (but if I re-press the key combo it gets back still with the result of the previous command) when the cmd window is "wrapped up" focus (cursor) is returned to the app I was working with before step #4 aboveConsider how in all the above I have NOT touched the mouse, nor moved my hands from the keyboard at any time. jaclaz

Wouldn't EXPAND.EXE do nicely for both CAB and MSU? Recent (today) thread: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/172046-solved-how-to-get-to-the-actual-files/ For DISM, a comfortable way is to get it without downloading the whole WAIK: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/156869-get-waik-tools-wo-downloading-the-huge-isos/ jaclaz

NO, NOT a super-floppy! The USB-ZIP tends to be connected to the "partitioned" kind of ZIP, AND usually *require* a ZIP compatible geometry. The "real" superfloppy ZIP's were actually a "workaround" and rather uncommon. http://www.win.tue.nl/~aeb/linux/zip/zip-1.html What was suggested was a "partitioned" ZIp and/or a makebootfat double effect MBR/PBR + ZIP geometry compatibility. http://reboot.pro/topic/12436-usbzipls120-booting-with-minimalist-mbr-code-and-grldr/ http://reboot.pro/topic/12436-usbzipls120-booting-with-minimalist-mbr-code-and-grldr/?p=108810 jaclaz

And, even shorter, NOONE actually suggested you to defrag one. At least myself and MikeRL were talking of defragging compacting the Registry. jaclaz

Well, then the whatever version you tried doesn't work on your OS (whatever it is, I presume Win 8.1 64 bit) or conflicts with your Chrome Browser (whatever version it is) . It is also possible that it is not compatible with any of the new updates of Windows 8.1, there is a bug still open for 8.1 but it is of a completely different nature: http://sourceforge.net/p/winqconsole/bugs/10/ Not so casually I posted originally: jaclaz

Before modifying a BIOS, I would try a few tricks, once the (new/latest) BIOS has been flashed, around the USB-ZIP format. It is gonna take some time/experiments as it is a "slippery" matter, see: http://reboot.pro/topic/4830-help-can-boot-usb-hd-in-one-pc-not-in-another/ http://reboot.pro/topic/4863-change-from-usb-zip-to-usb-hdd-by-removing-partition-boot-flag/ and: http://cheesehead-techblog.blogspot.it/2011/11/booting-old-via-epia-5000l-motherboard.html I remember that on a similar to this latter motherboard (an EPIA 6000) the "original BIOS did have the USB-CDROM and USB-HDD "enabled" but they did not work (cannot really remember if they did not work "at all" or they were simply tricky/not reliable) whilst on a later (that became last released) BIOS upgrade the two mentioned items were "disabled" (and I was able to boot - after some tweaking - through the USB-ZIP choice). Nowadays I would try first thing the (smallest you have available) USB stick and FBINST to partition/format it before making an attempt with good ol' makebootFAT. jaclaz

Sure and to this you may add that the relevance of it is never taught to anyone (of the kids) while most of the experienced folks (but not geekish enough to "evolve") have been scolded (besides by some data loss because they didn't have a backup ) also by the (generically) lack of reliability of common backup tools and/or backup media or by the extreme complexity of the actual steps involved. Nowadays backing up (twice) on hard disks and doing periodical upgrades/replacement of the disk devices is easier, faster and less complicated, yet everyone is commonly convinced that it is "optional" and not really-really needed. jaclaz

Well, newish (latest-latest-latest) grub4dos of the 0.4.6 series does have a USB stack. Some motherboards, particularly those with a limited amount of settings in BIOS, may be able to directly boot from USB (even if not stated anywhere in the BIOS) when a "particular" set of conditions are met concurrently. As an example I have a motherboard that needs "Legacy USB enabled" AND USB 2.0 disabled AND a USB device connected at cold boot BUT NOT a grub4dos installed to the MBR+hidden sectors while Syslinux MBR is fine. Usually the "removable" vs. "fixed" bit is ignored at BIOS level ( it will make a difference for Windows NT's, DOS and Linux/BSD also ignore that). Post a link to the motherboard manual or to some screenshots of the BIOS that thingy has. jaclaz

@NoelC As said, performance differences may be trifling on today's fastish devices, but try recovering a corrupted database (or filesystem) in which entries/contents are not contiguous (or compacted, or defragged), then come back saying that it is unneeded (again with moderation). In a "perfect world" where you have TWO (daily) backups the above doesn't obviously make any sense, as you won't EVER be needing to recover anything from anywhere. If you can convince everyone to adopt such a backup strategy, then all is fine and dandy. BTW, by the same token, aligning filesystems (or databases) to device blocks makes little sense on fastish machines/devices, but still on slowish ones it is *needed*. @TELVM For whatever it matters, the same can be said about conventional hard disk manuifactured in - say - last 15 years (the fact that where the data actually is has nothing to do to where Windows "sees" it being), think a bit about the G-Lists, P-Lists and spare sectors. The advent of SSD's has only exacerbated the same "problem" or "feature" (Windows or any OS, with the exclusion of the proprietary on-board firmware of the disk have NO idea of where actually the data is). As a matter of fact *any* chip based device (such as, besides SSD's the common SDcards and USB sticks) stores data not only "wherevet it sees fit", but also in a particular form/pattern (including where appliable CRC and/or other forms of error correction) that makes "chip off" reading particularly "nasty". jaclaz

Why not?http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/171875-long-term-system-stability/#entry1078900 http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/171875-long-term-system-stability/#entry1078910 An interesting point would be the "practical effects" of compacting a database (or a filesystem), i.e. the difference in performance in a comparison between two identical machines, used the same number of hours, let's say 2,000 hours by two twin brothers/sisters doing exactly the same thing, on one of which routine compacting/defragging is carried regularly (without overdoing it) and on one of which nothing is done. Possibly on modern (fastish) hardware there wouldn't be a sensible difference, but - as an example - IF the database (or filesystem) becomes corrupted (for any reason) the difference result in an attempted recovery would be likely the same between success and failure. jaclaz

Try looking under the carpet, left corner, just in front of the TV. TXTSETUP.SIF (often found CAB compressed as TXTSETUP.SI_) is the main "configuration" file for NT/2K/XP/2003 installs and it can be found in the \I386\ directory of *any* original install CD. jaclaz

Just to clear the extent of my previous comment, the point was not about your guesses being senseless or hazarded (actually - as most of your ones - they were educated guesses ), only about of the inherent senselessness of guessing in itself (with such a short period left before having the "real thing"). There are IMHO more useful activities, like (example) : jaclaz

Yep, and it is far from (yet) perfect, but, as an example, it is useful when you simply *need* to run a quick command (let's say a "ping" or an "IPCONFIG /all") as it opens in a "predictable" place on the screen and has this transparency that is less "impacting" visually than other solutions, of course it's use somewhat *implies* that you keep your taskbar at the bottom. jaclaz

Good. Another happy bunny in the basket! http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/128727-cant-access-repair-my-pc-option-via-f8-startup/?p=828512 jaclaz

Try using CFF explorer: http://www.ntcore.com/exsuite.php on them. jaclaz

Well, the idea of "no comments" is "try and see" .... Seriously, it is (on my desktop) an increase in its usefulness, as it provides a quick way (and a nice one IMHO since i am among the "lovers") to run a couple command line utilities. Anyone that has ever played, even for a few minutes Quake would know what it does, and the rest can just try it. For the lazy ones , there is a quick video here: jaclaz

Post a link to the file(s). jaclaz

Just to make things worse : http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/142911-ibm-3390-the-worlds-largest-and-most-expensive-hard-drive-teardown of course that is not at all "the most expensive", hard disks date back to the '50's. The oldest I could find a price reference for is however the IBM 1301: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_IBM_magnetic_disk_drives#IBM_1301 A hard disk model 2 + it's controller for around US$ 250,000 in 1961! According to: http://www.measuringworth.com/uscompare/ this means : : jaclaz

It's good AND you are responsible. jaclaz

Can you try *not* installing it? I mean it could be some strange quirk of DISM "injection" process. What happens if you make a "plain" PE without the driver and then try to install it in the booted PE? Also (still on the same line of thought), does the Windows 7 driver actually install and work fine on a "normal" Windows 7? jaclaz

I'll throw this on the table without comments (and without having *any* idea if it works (or can work) on Windows 8/8.1 ). It is something for which there is NO "middle way" people can only choose between "hating it" or "loving it": http://sourceforge.net/projects/winqconsole/ One needs to try it for a few days, I became "addicted" to it in no more than three days, but of course a lot of people may find it useless . As a matter of fact, since it is going (alas) to become unsupported, if anyone among the programmers would contact the Authors and take the matters in his/her hands it would be a great thing. jaclaz