jaclaz

I give up. jaclaz

Cannot really say if it can help, not even if it works at all, but you can try using the "other" DOS ramdisk, SRDISK: http://sourceforge.net/projects/srdisk jaclaz

The usual entry to boot from Recovery Console is something like this: where bootsect.dat is a bootsector created by the install routine (WINNT32.EXE /cmdcons). Try copying to the ROOT of the floppy the BOOTSECT.DAT you have in your C:\CMDCONS\ directory and change the entry in boot.ini as follows: Or make a directory like A:\CMDCONS_F and copy C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT to A:\CMDCONS_F\BOOTSECT.DAT and edit BOOT.INI entry to: Explanation (supposedly) : It seems like NTLDR, when not using an ARCPATH, defaults to the ROOT of the drive (does not matter whether floppy or HD) where it is started, thus the entry C:\CMDCONS_F\BOOTSECT.DAT actually reads A:\CMDCONS_F\BOOTSECT.DAT which chainloads the SETUPLDR.BIN on "real" C:\ drive jaclaz

I am sorry but I really have no idea how Backup and Restore work in Vista, judging from the *ahem* quality and number of restrictions of previous MS Backup apps, I guess that you shold use other third party apps, here is a thread where a few are listed: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=99702 jaclaz

Yep, we got that. 1.95 Gb is NOT however an exact capacity, the actual "RAW" capacity of a stick depends on the kind of Flash IC are inside it, theoretically capacity goes like this: 128 Mb 131.072.000 bytes 256 Mb 262.144.000 bytes 512 Mb 524.288.000 bytes 1 Gb 1.048.576.000 bytes 2 Gb 2.097.152.000 bytes some controllers leave this entire capacity "available", some use part of this capacity for internal use, knowing the exact (in bytes) amount of available space may help in identifying the controller. The amount you are getting is the capacity after formatting (i.e. excluding the amount of space used by filesystem structures, which can vary depending on filesystem used and, in the case of FAT16/FAT32, on the size of clusters the format uses). Point is, the ONLY way to do what you want is getting to know which EXACT make/model of USB controller is inside the stick AND with this information search for and hopefully find the right "Manufacturer Utility" or "Mass Production Tool" capable to reset the capacity data to the correct values. This site: http://www.everythingusb.com/forums/forumd...php?forumid=109 has lots of info about "fake" drives, and some possible ways to tru and fix them (see this just as an example): http://www.everythingusb.com/forums/showth...mp;postid=25758 jaclaz

To try and identify the stick and (hopefully) the controller used: Check the Vid and Pid of the stick: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=15776 Check the list: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=1659 Try making an image of the stick using either: Roadkil's Disk Image: http://www.roadkil.net/program.php?ProgramID=12 or dsfo from the DSFOK toolkit: http://members.ozemail.com.au/~nulifetv/freezip/freeware/ http://members.ozemail.com.au/~nulifetv/fr...eware/dsfok.zip Size of resulting image should be the correct size. Edit: HISUN should be this one: http://www.hisuntec.cn/EN/index.html (nothing really useful there) jaclaz

Some ideas: Did you use the the /F or the /R option of chkdsk?: http://www.ss64.com/nt/chkdsk.html Try the /R one. Check that the NTFS Partition is Primary and Active. Access the Registry (from a PE) and delete (after having made a backup of the key) the contents of: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices Try (having a SLIPSTREAMED install CD) to use the ® repair option: http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm jaclaz

Here are some good infos: http://www.multibooters.co.uk/ and these should be what you are looking for: http://apcmag.com/5485/dualbooting_vista_and_xp http://forums.techguy.org/windows-vista/55...fter-vista.html http://support.microsoft.com/kb/919529/en-us Easybcd or Vistabootpro are recommended instead of BCDEDIT: http://neosmart.net/dl.php?id=1 http://www.vistabootpro.org/ jaclaz

Here: http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documen...c.mspx?mfr=true http://support.microsoft.com/kb/251192/en-us http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms810435.aspx http://makemsi-manual.dennisbareis.com/sc_exe.htm Particularly, pay attention to this: http://svn.collab.net/repos/svn/trunk/note...ows-service.txt jaclaz

alexBB, take it easy, man , I am sure geezery only tried to help. Before going around accusing people to be criminals, it would be a good idea to think over it a little and check the history of posts of a member. The Elby program is actually quite good. If you want a good driver for .ISO images, try IMDISK, though NT/2K/XP/2003, it appears to work correctly under Vista: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/ImDisk-f59.html http://www.ltr-data.se/opencode.html#ImDisk I guess that you are the same alexBB that posted here: http://forum.winimage.com/viewtopic.php?t=3023 http://forum.winimage.com/viewtopic.php?t=3024 I am crosslinking them to here. jaclaz

Here is some info: http://www.msfn.org/board/Creating-WinPE-b...on-t106822.html Particularly this one should be what you are looking for: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=18480 An OLD related thread: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=47773 jaclaz

Yep, the "proper" way is to use WINNT32.EXE with a slipstreamed install, but since RatPack actually asked for a workaround.... ...and usually workarounds and bypasses are not straight lines from A to B, they tend to go through C, D and E before finally getting to B from A.... jaclaz

Your best bet is TESTDISK: http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk Usually in these cases it can rebuild the Partition Table. Otherwise, you can use a file recovery tool, like PHOTOREC or PCINSPECTOR: http://www.pcinspector.de/ jaclaz

Maybe the SOURCE files are in some way nonstandard. I mean whence they come from? An OEM release (DELL,HP, etc.)? Have they been modified in some way (slipstreaming, nlite, HFSLIP, etc.) ? Most probably it's the first error (WINNT.SIF error) that triggers a chain of errors. jaclaz

Workarounds: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?...ic=2254&hl= http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?...ic=2362&hl= Some info is also here: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?...ic=2692&hl= jaclaz

SINGLE XP install from USB: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=61384&hl= http://www.msfn.org/board/boot-install-USB...html&st=437 Since it uses grub4dos it should be easy to add a UBUNTU install, adding a second instance of XP install might be tricky and require some hexediting of hardcoded paths. jaclaz

Yep, you don't even need a Primary partition, you can boot from floppy or oter removable device (can also be used as a primitive but quite effective security measure if you do not want people fiddling with your PC): http://www.xxcopy.com/xxcopy33.htm jaclaz

Cannot answer your question, but as I see it this is not correct: There is NO need whatsoever for the partition to be Primary, nor Active, any NT based system can be as well installed on logical volumes inside Extended. As far as I know all the booting happens using "internal" names, like arcpaths and \\Hardiskx\ syntax, drive lettering is only used later for some Registry settings, automatic lettering can be overridden by migrate.inf. Check these for some info: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=85729&hl= http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?...ic=2425&hl= http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=19663 (and links therein) jaclaz

Well, the idea is to find the VID and PID of the device via SOFTWARE, without being cruel to the poor little thing.... See these: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=15776 http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=1659 jaclaz

Version 1 is here (not really "hidden" ) : http://home.woh.rr.com/pombo/tools/ http://home.woh.rr.com/pombo/tools/ManualWindowsSetup1.zip Besides being compiled, version 2.0 coorected bugs of version 1.0, so, without TonyPE's support, you might need to directly correct them in the .wsh, if those bugs affect your particular setup. jaclaz

Maybe you might try LZ-DOS: http://dos.nm.ru/ It is said to be fully compatible with DOS 7.1. About compatibility of DR-DOS, I would say NO, see this: http://www.drdosprojects.de/cgi-bin/anyboa...;aO=1&iWz=0 Q&A #3. jaclaz

Yep, as said drive letters are NOT properly set. I mean, the SAME drive gets different drive letters depending on what you chose when booting. If you are OK with this, this is not a problem , but it is very easy to confuse a volume with another, thus saving data to one while thinking to be doing it on another one, on what I call "properly set" all drives and partitions should get the same letter no matter which OS you booted from. jaclaz

Or use diskless angel: http://www.disklessangel.com/ I guess it is the cheapest of the available COMMERCIAL solutions, and has virtually no limits as there are packages for 1, 2, 3 and 4 gigabyte sizes. Alternatively, and provided you are ALLOWED to use SERVER 2003 SP1+ files, and willing to be limited to 512 Megabytes, you can use euhenio's method: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?sho...19056&st=29 Of course using tftp32.... jaclaz

@All FYI, I recently had the confirmation of my long time suspect that the "several passes" are only wasted time; even the man who began it all, Mr. Peter Guttmann, admits as much in his "revised edition" paper: http://www.forensicfocus.com/index.php?nam...opic&t=2065 The "revised edition" can be found here: http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/secure_del.html And here is an excerpt from it, the "Epilogue" (i.e. the newly added part): (emphasis is mine) jaclaz

NO, changing the BOOT.INI won't work by itself, as drive letters will NOT be properly set. For an explanation of the suggested changes to BOOT.INI see this: http://www.msfn.org/board/BOOTINI-hard-drive-t25365.html Drive letter assignment is dependent on Disk Signature (4 bytes in the MBR), see this: http://thestarman.pcministry.com/asm/mbr/Win2kmbr.htm You need to change the Disk Signature, using MBRfix: http://www.sysint.no/Nedlasting/MbrFix.htm http://www.sysint.no/Nedlasting/MbrFix.zip http://home.graffiti.net/jaclaz:graffiti.net/ http://home.graffiti.net/jaclaz:graffiti.n...X/mbrfix0.2.zip or MBRWiz: http://www.mbrwizard.com/ AND change the /DosDevices key in Registry to avoid possible "mixing" of the two drives: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=20094 http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=19663 jaclaz