jaclaz

P.S. it is possible also to directly edit the Registry, but it is tricky business. jaclaz

You can use MOUNTVOL, then. Open a command prompt and type in it MOUNTVOL [ENTER]. If you do not have mountvol in your install, it may work if copying it from the main one. To remove drive letter X: type mountvol X: /d [ENTER] jaclaz

Easiest would be when booted in C: to remove in Disk Management the assignment of the drive letter to D:. And when booted in D: to remove the assignment of the drive letter to C:. BE VERY careful NOT to remove the Drive letter from the currently booted system partition! You may need to manually assign a different letter to drive E:, say Z: in both system /one at the time), then make it E: again, just to make sure it is statically assigned. jaclaz

In a dual boot Vista/XP normally the Vista BOOTMGR is called, which access the BCD, which accesses the NTLDR+BOOT.INI. If the BCD is OK, you can recreate a BOOT.INI fromm scratch, read here: http://www.msfn.org/board/BOOTINI-and-diff...ive-t25365.html http://www.msfn.org/board/Discovery-of-an-...ery-t33030.html jaclaz

As said is my personal preference, but though I've nothing against CDBurnerXP , I seem not to miss it's additional features: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/?showtopic=5027 jaclaz

If while nliting you did not remove the "Operating System Options-->Manual Install and Upgrade for removal" (see FAQ#2): http://www.msfn.org/board/FAQs-t116766.html You can use USB stick allright: http://www.msfn.org/board/Install-XP-from-USB-f157.html Otherwise a DVD works with no problem, no particular drivers are needed. Personally I use and like ImgBurn: http://www.imgburn.com/ jaclaz

Well, I was just trying to understand where the error came from. "DISK ERROR" does not come from MBR, which has: Invalid partition table Error loading operating system Missing operating system It does not come from the bootsector, that has either (2K/XP/2003 version): Invalid system disk Disk I/O error Replace the disk, and then press any key or: NTLDR is missing Disk error Press any key to restart You may note how the "Disk error" message in bootsector is not ALL CAPITALS, so, either the error comes from the BIOS or it was a "Disk error" reported as "DISK ERROR". However since you are afraid that I may take you on "another way" that you wish not to take, I guess we can live the matter as is, as said: The point I was trying to understand was whether the unusual 128 hidden sectors had a role in this or not. To try understanding this, I need reports of tests done as I recommend, otherways I cannot see if there is a relationship. The report about having the stick first formatted by diskpart with the MBR replaced by the one(s) I posted does not make sense to me, as is. If diskpart partitons the stick "correctly" writing a MBR with 63 hidden sectors, and then formats it with that geometry, replacing the MBR with the ones I posted, should work as you report, but then HOW the hidden sectors were made 128 before? If you used diskpart to only format the stick starting with the "old" MBR with 128 hidden sectors, there is no way that replacing the MBR will result in a bootable stick. The only other test that I would try, but that you do not want to is trying booting another operating system from that stick on that computer, in order to understand whether the problem is only Vista (or VistaCE) related or is a "general" USB booting failure. Then I would try a new version of VistaPE, the CE edition is outdated anyway, but since you do not want to try anything else, I guess that we have come to an end of this unresolved puzzle. The main thing (for me) is to have succeeded in convincing you of the "innocence" of the Filter Driver , the main thing (for you) should be to understand what the problem is, but to get that you may need to step out of your "main" way, as I see it, something that you seem not willing to do. Sorry if I cannot give you an explanation for your problem. jaclaz

piotrania, sorry, but "no boot" means nothing to me, I need a description of what happens and what errors (if any) are displayed, like "non system disk", "cannot find NTLDR" a flashing cursor, a "j" or "k" in top left of the screen....something. I omitted a step that I gave for implicit. When using the format command on the stick with the MBR's I posted, you should have a VALID partition. If you do that on XP the bootsector code will of course invoke NTLDR. Copy a NTLDR+NTDETECT.COM+BOOT.INI (this latter with at least two entries) to the stick. If you can see the BOOT.INI choices, the "real" (CHS/LBA/MBR/bootsector related) part of the booting process. If you use the format command under Vista the bootsector code will be that invoking BOOTMGR. To "switch" between the two codes you can use the bootsect.exe utility. bootsect.exe /nt52 <DriveLetter>: will produce a NT/2K/XP/2003 compatible bootsector invoking NTLDR. bootsect.exe /nt60 <DriveLetter>: will produce a Vista/2008 compatible bootsector invoking BOOTMGR. Pleas try again applying the posted MBR's, formatting under XP and adding NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM and BOOT.INI, this way we can make sure that it is not a problem in the "initial" "real" part of booting. Another test that you should/could make is using fuwi's batch here: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=21702 What I still cannot get is whether the problem is something related to "general" USB booting or to the particular VistaPE/VistaCE. jaclaz

Try with a smallish ISO first. Use nlite to reduce it, a "normal" nlited image is a few hundreds of Mbytes, usually less than 400. IF it works, try with a bigger one, it is possible that there is some hardcoded size limit somewhere. jaclaz

If I may, the idea of a list like this should be that of adding NEW apps, AFTER having read what has already been posted. Thanks anyway for the update. jaclaz

Maybe that Dell has USB 2.0 ports but only boots at 1.1 speed. For the moment no solution, something is in the works, but nothing yet functional. jaclaz

Sure, the idea behind a forum thread is not that of a "rent-a-coder-for-free", you should put something of yours in the batch. You said you are not expert enough to code it from scratch, I gave you a base. If you just try to understand how it works, you will see that just a few lines below the FOR /F loop there is a line: that limits the length to 8 characters, using a similar syntax will get the first letter of each word, once put in a loop. However, since I am really a nice guy, try the attached files.... jaclaz renzips1.zip

Still you have "unconventional" MBR data, with 128 hidden sectors. Please do the following: 1) Backup whatever you have on the Samsung stick 2) Copy with HDhacker the attached Samsung3_test.dat to the MBR of the Samsung stick 3) Remove the stick 4) Re-insert the stick 5) Right click on the drive letter assigned to the stick in Explorer and choose to format it 6) Restore the backed up files Try booting. Repeat with Samsung4_test.dat and Samsung5_test.dat The supplied MBR's, besides having a (hopefully) right partition data have the disk signature "zeroed" out. The previous signature of the Samsung was "52C4F784", you can use MBRfix to experiment either restoring it as it was or changing it to a different one. Samsung3_test.dat has Vista MBR code (untouched from Samsung2.dat) Samsung4_test.dat has 2K/XP/2003 MBR code Samsung5_test.dat has 2K/XP/2003 MBR code with the HP utility workaround: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/?showtopic=2246&st=15 I don't think that there can be a difference, but you never know, running out of ideas.... jaclaz Samsung_test.zip

Still you have "unconventional" MBR data, with 128 hidden sectors. Please do the following: 1) Backup whatever you have on the Samsung stick 2) Copy with HDhacker the attached Samsung3_test.dat to the MBR of the Samsung stick 3) Remove the stick 4) Re-insert the stick 5) Right click on the drive letter assigned to the stick in Explorer and choose to format it 6) Restore the backed up files Try booting. Repeat with Samsung4_test.dat and Samsung5_test.dat The supplied MBR's, besides having a (hopefully) right partition data have the disk signature "zeroed" out. The previous signature of the Samsung was "52C4F784", you can use MBRfix to experiment either restoring it as it was or changing it to a different one. Samsung3_test.dat has Vista MBR code (untouched from Samsung2.dat) Samsung4_test.dat has 2K/XP/2003 MBR code Samsung5_test.dat has 2K/XP/2003 MBR code with the HP utility workaround: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/?showtopic=2246&st=15 I don't think that there can be a difference, but you never know, running out of ideas.... jaclaz

And you have integrated the specific sata drivers, right? Can you try again setting in BIOS "ATA or IDE" compatibility mode? jaclaz

Well, as said that was just a quick example. Change the parsing in the second FOR /F loop to something like: IF %found%==1 FOR /F "tokens=1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 delims= " %%A IN ('UNZIP -p %targetzip% %name%%ext%') DO SET firstword=%%A%%B%%C%%D%%E%%F%%G%%H I wonder what happens if the text files contains a sentence like: Acronyms can be ugly. jaclaz

Ok, get infozip unzip here: http://www.info-zip.org/UnZip.html ftp://tug.ctan.org/tex-archive/tools/zip/info-zip/WIN32/ ftp://tug.ctan.org/tex-archive/tools/zip/...32/unz552xN.exe (you need just the file unzip.exe from inside the sfx unz551xN.exe) Put unzip.exe and the attached renzips.cmd in the same folder where your .zips are and run renzips.cmd. First test it with the eclosed brianjester1.zip and brianjester2.zip. The .cmd is just an example, feel free to modify as you wish. jaclaz renzips.zip

You can make one in no time. Go to "Search"->"More Search options" Search in "Application Add-Ons" for posts by Johndoe74 with keyword "[Release]" (without double quotes), make sure you select "Search titles only" and "show results as topics". jaclaz

It is doable in batch, I think. Can you post a couple of SMALL examples of these .zips? Is it correct to say that every .zip file contains just one .txt file? Are you positive that all .txt files inside the .zip files begin with a DIFFERENT word? jaclaz

And.... just in case, read first thing the FAQ's: http://www.msfn.org/board/FAQs-t116766.html and expecially FAQ #2 jaclaz

1) Sometimes a seemingly "stupid" setting in the BIOS like (as an example) "Enable Leagacy USB support" - designed to support USB keyboard and mouse - can alter the way the booting is done, or "PNP OS installed", I am not familiar at all with American Trends BIOS, cannot say. 2) Please post the MBR and bootsector of the newly formatted stick, I would like to check that CHS values are allright, and check whether the disk signature has changed or not. jaclaz

You're welcome. jaclaz

Maybe you missed these: http://www.msfn.org/board/System-recovery-...ion-t84411.html http://www.msfn.org/board/Partition-to-rei...ows-t26185.html http://www.msfn.org/board/Disk-Imaging-Software-t100299.html Grub4dos is a very convenient boot manager for this kind of tasks. A smallish Winbuilder based PE + any of the freeware listed should do the job. jaclaz

Only two possibilities are left, as I see it: 1) something changed in BIOS 2) something changed on the stick that prevents it booting ONLY on that machine. For 1) it's just a matter to play a bit with the settings, I would start with "failsafe" settings. For 2) I would copy the files on the stick, repartition and re-format it properly, and restore back the files. To "see" a MBR data best apps are Beeblebrox or PTEDIT32, for "code" any Hex editor (and a lot of experience ) will do. jaclaz

Maybe you missed the "really old" part of the post. I have an Extensa with floppy and 2.1 Gbyte Hard Disk. (yes it has Windows 95) NO USB NO NETWORK Since I am a "smart" guy , I do have a PCMCIA Archos CD Reader 8x that "doubles" as "walkman" as it works out of rechargeable batteries and has a socket for a headset. I boot a floppy with a DOS PCMCIA driver+SHSUCDX and can install copy almost anything to it. If I recall correctly it has 48 Mb of memory and a 100 or 133Mhz processor jaclaz PS: and I have also a 56K (actually a 33K upgraded) PCMCIA modem and a 10 Mbit PCMCIA Network card, the early PCMCIA version, never tried to boot a network payload using an etherboot floppy, though.