jaclaz

Just to clear what I said (I should know what I have said): meaning from the adapter. Second advice: Third advice: The (few) cable connectors with no hole corresponding to pin #20 I have seen were "solid plastic", if yours is a "normal" connector with a "plastic pin" inserted in it at #20, you can of course try removing it. jaclaz

No, you can use convert.exe allright. Do read this seemingly unrelated thread: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=16713 No, that is called "textmode part" of the SETUP. PE is a (optionally graphical) Preinstallation System, a sort of mini-XP with no user logged in (the logged user is actually System) in which you can perform almost anything you can do in a "full" XP. A BartPE, UBCD4WIN or Winbuilder's Projects are an example of "evoluted" PE's form the original WinPE 1.x. jaclaz

Should be #20: http://pinouts.ru/HD/AtaInternal_pinout.shtml Double check it, then you can remove the pin with a pair of pliers or buy another IDE/ATA cable without Pin 20 "blocked", or drill a hole on your existing cable connector (not really advised ). jaclaz

I meant if I want to learn and do it my self on my IO.sys so I don´t need to replace. Hmm , you "only" need to: run a diff between the posted file and the "normal" one learn a fair bit about assembly learn a fair bit about image compression examine the differences understand how the patch works replicate it on "your" IO.SYS jaclaz

Nice tip. One small word of warning, be very, very aware of static electricity. Make sure the slip of plastic has not been "charged" by friction, have some form of grounded metal handy to make sure it is fully discharged before attempting inserting it. jaclaz

@Tripo The file already has logo removed. @starcraftmaster It is meant to have a smaller executable, handy for using on floppies or a little faster for booting on a VM. Here is an interesting "replacement", though logo.sys can still be used with the reduced IO.SYS: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=131002 jaclaz

@joe tweaker I misunderstood the symptoms, sorry. Can you try running Chipgenius on the USB enclosure? Here: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?...c=4661&st=0 Maybe this way we can pinpoint the "problematic" controller, there may be a "manufacturer tool" available for it. @dencorso The one you found: http://www.techsupportforum.com/hardware-s...-usb-drive.html seems like a report confirming my initial idea (wrong MBR/bootsector and attempt to booting from it) The one on the "mac" forum seems like it. jaclaz

If I get it right, the PC tries, no matter what the settings in BIOS are to boot from the external USB if it is switched on at boot time. If this is the case, it is possible to workaround the problem. Which exact "crash" do you experience (are you getting a readable error - if yes post it EXACTLY as you see it - or a flashing cursor or j in the top left of screen or whatever - please describe it). One can install on the external USB stick a MBR/Bootsector or loader that actually boots and then passes control to the internal drive. Tests must be made to check whether drive numbers are shifted and a disk BIOS swap is needed or not. This technique is used commonly for the "Install XP from USB" using grub4dos. jaclaz

Sure but the tricky part has always been the S..... Since you appear to have all the needed space and more, you might want to put all the \I386 in a .zip file, transfer it zipped and expand it in the target machine (you will need a DOS zip compatible app on target). How are you accessing the network share from DOS? Something like: \\xpmachine\folder If this is the case, you should trying mapping the network path to a local drive: net use k: \\xpmachine\folder If you make a single archive, you can use copy allright: http://www.computerhope.com/copyhlp.htm Otherwise it might be better to use xcopy: http://www.computerhope.com/xcopyhlp.htm jaclaz

Well, it's you that started "malforming" directory names , you should know how to "malform" a DIR /S into DIR /X /S <malformed name> : jaclaz

No need to be sorry. Thread here on MSFN is this one: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=99220 that has additional info/notes as said there, here is a rough English translation of the original italian site: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=2411 jaclaz

Anyone wondered why I asked ( and completely failed to obtain ) this: Words and "descriptions" can be easily misunderstood , results from a DIR /S CANNOT. jaclaz

Check this: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=5434 jaclaz

Out of Topic (but not much ) there is also ninja pendisk: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/?showtopic=4350 http://nunobrito.eu/ninja/ http://nunobrito1981.blogspot.com/2008/05/...pendisk-16.html jaclaz

Lots of limitations, hardware on one side, and poor skills on the other.... Seriously, most probably you'll have to either: learn a bit of DOS ask for help to a "local" friend more skilled If you can see directories on another machine through LAN, you can copy files locally allright. How big is the hard disk? How would you like it to be partitioned? Which OS are you installing? (I mean a "full" XP or a nlited reduced version) jaclaz

As fdv pointed out, besides scratching the CD, the "genius" must have also deleted NTLDR on the HD. If not, you may have a problemm with your bootsector. If this is the case, you should make yourself a PE or a Recovery Console CD and repair the bootsector also. Guide for making an XP RC (it will work allright for 2K as well): http://www.boot-land.net/forums/?showtopic=2254 jaclaz

Well, you should try using some more modern techniques. The thread by Markymoo: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=69211 is very old, and grub4dos has changed a lot since, and as well distros. Take your time around here: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showforum=66 If you cannot find yourself a suitable solution, post detailing WHAT you wish to achive (as opposed on HOW you want to achieve it ), I am sure you will get all the needed help.... jaclaz

Just for the record, a comparison test with different filesystems on different sticks: http://www.testfreaks.com/blog/information...-ntfs-vs-exfat/ Is it possible that Vista has re-added some speed to FAT32? jaclaz

If you just formatted your hard disk, something worth a try as first thing is TESTDISK: http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk Be aware that if you re-build your filesystem and it contains a virus, it is possible that you re-trigger it. To recover single files from RAW data, you can try using it's accomapanying app PHOTOREC. jaclaz

You too need some more reading, what you described is almost but not quite, completely UNLIKE the way WinsetupfromUSB works. A rough explanation is the following : Start the app Insert a stick Choose options PROPERLY Run the app Remove the stick This stick, once booted from on any machine, is capable to install XP on it, just like a booted CD would do. Once the XP has finished installing, you can carry the stick to another machine and install XP to it.....and so on. No need whatsoever to apologize, the main thing is that you succeeded in what you wanted to achieve. jaclaz

The 1.6 is XP/2003 as well: http://web.archive.org/web/20030801141307/...ds/download.htm http://web.archive.org/web/20040607134323/...ds/download.htm jaclaz

Yep. But it would be a little limitative, as I see it, being comaptible ONLY with a newly formatted drive and with ONLY one NT/2K/XP/2003 and no multibooting. jaclaz

Did you tried with a "malformed" directory name? Does XP Setup delete the folder anywway? jaclaz

Also, there is a project OfflineSysPrep, here: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showforum=43 that might be just waht you are looking for. jaclaz

Yep, but still you are failing (and this is surely not under a NDA ) whether you want a tool to be able to calculate exactly an offset (which the spreadsheet might be) or if you want to know a suggested range (for which anything in this thread is pretty much useless). The Server 2003 diskpart.exe has the same (though with another "unit of measure") function of diskpar: http://www.messagingtalk.org/content/69.html http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2005/08/10/408950.aspx I cannot see any difference between "offset" and "align", unless this one (maybe): http://nathanbean.com/wp/?p=13 This should be the (hopefully complete) diskpart commands explanation, though it is not really clear: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc766465.aspx jaclaz