jaclaz

I don't seem to remember any simple way to get arcpath, but I'll look into the matter, maybe we can get something from the Registry.... jaclaz

Yes, it is possible with Grub/grub4dos, but the wkole point should be that one should be able to do everything in the MBR, i.e. in 512 bytes Here is a tutorial to do it the "IBM" way. http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=18480 Check these Open Source MBR, fitting in 512 bytes and it should be possible to use them this way: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/OS-BS-ride...mbldr-t334.html http://www.boot-land.net/forums/MBR-Boot-Manager-t1105.html jaclaz

@Biohead As I won't touch MediaCenter with a three feet long stick (though shorter of the five feet one I currently use to NOT touch VISTA ) I only supposed that the additional components you find missing are not specified in the txtsetup.sif you used. Maybe, when you create the two bootfolders, a "reduced" file is generated? Just check what differences are (if any) between the one on stick and the one on CD you already installed from succesfully. jaclaz

Here: http://www.uwec.edu/Help/Word03/frm-flds.htm http://www.mousetrax.com/autoforms2.html http://gregmaxey.mvps.org/Linked_DropDown_Fields.htm http://support.microsoft.com/kb/253542/en-us jaclaz

Just checked, original Win2k appears to have USBSTOR.SYS Version 5.0.2138.1 size:19,760 bytes Service Pack 3 should be: USBSTOR.SYS Version 5.0.2195.4854 size:21.552 bytes Service Pack 4 should be: USBSTOR.SYS Version 5.0.2195.6655 size:21,552 bytes As soon as I have time I'll check what's inside other SPs. jaclaz

No, if you somehow "skipped" the run of undoren.cmd the only effect is that you have on your stick the two "install" directories mis-named, so you will not be able to run a second install from the stick. What you report appears to me more like something missing in txtsetup.sif or however in a similar file that lists all added components for Media Center. Are you positive that you used as base the correct txtsetup.sif? Maybe you can use some of the info here: http://www.msfn.org/board/Windows_XP_2003_...ion_t61070.html jaclaz

If I may, there is probably a misunderstanding, one thing is a BACKUP, another one is a CLONE or IMAGE. Acronis TrueImage or Ghost represent the typical applications that do the second. If you need a backup, I can suggest you the FREEWARE: SAMEDIR http://samedir.sbn.bz/ or COBIAN BACKUP: http://www.educ.umu.se/~cobian/cobianbackup.htm If you need an image, though it is very strange that Acronis does not work for you, you can try the FREEWARE: DRIVEIMAGE XML: http://www.runtime.org/dixml.htm or SELFIMAGE: http://selfimage.excelcia.org/ or NFGDUMP: http://sourceforge.net/projects/nfgdump/ jaclaz

@ditto_n Though it is not a very straightforward process, it is possible to "pre-install" XP on a hard disk. The procedure is generally called "sysprep" install (search on the board for this specific keyword). Basically you start the setup from an already booted WIN32 environment, in a "special" way, so that XP files are copied to the target (laptop) disk temporarily connected to the desktop and at the first boot from the (laptop) hard disk the windows setup will autoatically start from hard disk. I am afraid you'll have to read and learn a bit and make some tests before being able to perform such an install. Of course you have to add to the source all needed drivers, and this can be in some cases a bit tricky, expecially if some drivers come packed, you will probably need to search and study a bit in the "unattended" section of the board to learn how to add your drivers, but I guess that you can start a "normal" XP install and add drivers later, if you are not going to re-install frequently the amount of time spent learning and testing "unattended" solutions would be a waste. A viable alternative could be using a PXE/RIS install (I am assuming that your laptop does have PXE booting capabilities) using the network as "install media", this gives more flexibility and allows faster "redo from scratch" if a problem occurs). A thread with some details (and a report of success) is here: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?...ic=2322&hl= jaclaz

Well, NO, the: title BartPE chainloader /setupldr goes into the menu.lst file, sorry for the mistyping . To further clarify, NTLDR looks for choices in boot.ini. Grub4dos' grldr, grldr.mbr and grub.exe look for choices in menu.lst. Syntax of menu.lst entries is detailed in the download and docs, briefly here is an example of a complete menu.lst: # This is a basic menu.lst file for GRUB4DOS, in the version for ezG4DOS. # You can make changes to it. # Following lines load a splashimage and set text foreground/background colour # splashimage /GRUB4DOS/ezG4DOS.xpm.gz foreground = 69ed4e background = 337326 # Following line is the choice for colours when background image is NOT SET # (see above) they are commented out as a splashimage is SET # color black/cyan yellow/cyan # Following is the timeout for the default choice # By not pressing any key during the timeout, the default will be chosen timeout 10 # Following is the menu item that will default default 0 # This reflects the "normal" behaviour of a PC # i.e. booting the first partition of first harddisk # By setting it as default with timeout 10 seconds (see above) # We try to replicate somehow the "Press any key to boot from CD..." message # of Microsoft Install CDs, this way if no key is pressed, as an example for # unattended installs, the system will boot "normally" even if CD is inserted # of course if the "any" you press is [ENTER] system will boot from this entry title Boot Hard Disk MBR on (hd0,0) chainloader (hd0,0)+1 rootnoverify (hd0) title Win98.ima memdisk Boot find --set-root /grldr kernel /memdisk.gz initrd /win98.ima title Win98 HD find --set-root /IO.SYS chainloader /IO.SYS title BartPE find --set-root /setupldr.bin chainloader /setupldr.bin title NTLDR find --set-root /NTLDR chainloader /NTLDR I am correcting my previous post. jaclaz

I guess it's all a matter of preferences, and of what you want to do. Personally, though it is fun to try different methods/solutions, I try to keep things as KISS as possible. There is no actual need to have the stick multipartitioned, unless you are going to boot a few tens of different OS. Of course there are limits, but most can be overcome, as long as you stay (STRONGLY suggested) with FAT16 or FAT32 as filesystem. What I usually do is: 1) Keep the Win2K/XP/2003 MBR (if it is the case in the "hacked" version that comes with the "HP" utility) untouched 2) Keep the bootsector (invoking NTLDR) written by the Win2K/XP/2003 FORMAT command or by the HP utility untouched 3) Add to root of the stick NTLDR, grldr and a boot.ini with a line: C:\GRLDR="Grub4dos" 4) from the above setup you can boot a FULL 2K/XP directly through a line in boot.ini 5) for a PE/BartPE/Winbuilder you simply have an entry in boot.ini menu.lst like: title PE/BartPE/Winbuilder chainloader /setupldr or title PE/BartPE/Winbuilder chainloader /minint/setupldr 6) For DOS (7.1 aka Win98) you can use either BOOTPART and chainload it directly from BOOT.INI or add an entry in menu.lst like: title DOS 7.1 chainloader /IO.SYS though usually it is much more convenient to use images, loaded either directly or through memdisk 7) for Linux, see above, also worth a shot is the RAMDISK using HMLOAD Here are a few links with some more ideas, details: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?sho...c=19873&hl= http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?sho...c=18045&hl= http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?sho...c=18031&hl= http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?sho...c=18846&hl= http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=95537 More generally search on the 911CD forum for keyword "grub4dos", please DO remember that here we are talking of grub4dos, NOT grub, the grub4dos WHERETO is here: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/Grub4Dos-t14.html http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?sho...c=19097&hl= And here there are some more related threads: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/Boot-methods-f12.html Have a look at the given links, and if anything is not clear or you need additional help just post so, specifying which OSses you are willing to multiboot. jaclaz

OT = Off Topic jaclaz

@stevesumner What you report is VERY strange, markymoos entries in boot.ini come in pairs: So everything should be cool. However, you can add a "service" only entry in menu.lst, something like: title Unhide all partitions unhide (hd0,0) unhide (hd0,1) and choose it when you find problems, if it works, nothing prevents you from adding the two line at the top of each entry. FYI, this interesting tutorial by markymoo appears to be a bit dated now, there are other ways to boot, expecially the direct chainloading feature of system files from grub4dos and the mapping features, so that in most cases hiding/unhiding partitions is not necessary. jaclaz

To solve lettering problems, you might want to actually try Letter Assigner, it does have a DOS version: http://www.v72735.f2s.com/LetAssig/ do read the docs. Some reference here: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=85729 jaclaz

@rickytheanuj @Sonic Hey guys, take a deep breath, and start revising your opinion on this, it is PERFECTLY possible to install XP from USB. @wrayal The topic is here: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=61384 Quick links to various releases of the tutorials: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...1384&st=128 http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...1384&st=154 http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...1384&st=178 http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...1384&st=199 jaclaz

OT, but not much, here is the tool I use daily, as I simply cannot remember computer names, IP addresses or whatever: http://www.softperfect.com/products/networkscanner/ (not tested on VISTA , but said to be working there too ) jaclaz

@Maximus Decim You might be interested in this: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=99220&hl= am alternative "Universal" USB driver Direct link to my post with translation of original article: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?...ic=2411&hl= jaclaz

Happy you are back to "work"! In my "bootsector renaming" script there is a re-usable (clever? ) routine that checks the attribute status of BOOT.INI, whatever it is, does the needed changes and re-applies the same attributes. jaclaz

Just for the record, this can be of interest: http://grubletrang.com/SoftwareList.aspx http://grubletrang.com/Software.aspx?app=PowerPrompt Be VERY aware of the Disclaimer! jaclaz

I posted a rough English translation of the main part of the article here: http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=2411 Good find, Molecule! jaclaz

OT, but not much , you might find this useful: http://www.softcircuits.com/sw_apps.htm jaclaz

If I may, it should be rather obvious that a site like www.wintricks.it is not Spanish or Portuguese, but rather Italian. jaclaz

Installing from USB is not so straightforward, how to do it has been found only recently (stilll experimental) and I doubt it will be much faster, however here is the thread where you can find tutorials on how to do it with XP i386, NOT x64, maybe you can use that as a base to develop a method for x64: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=61384 Links to tutorials: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...1384&st=128 http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...1384&st=154 http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...1384&st=178 http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...1384&st=199 jaclaz

Yes, the "wba.dbl" backup: http://www.windowsnetworking.com/kbase/Win...Activation.html but still you have to backup it for and restore it for every single machine, and it does not work in a number of cases see this detailed article: http://aumha.org/win5/a/wpa.htm jaclaz

Have a look at this comparison to have an idea how size of files and/or filesystem can affect performance: http://www.anandtech.com/printarticle.aspx?i=2549 jaclaz

Hmmm, to be a little picky , it's you that are in the need for the converter, NOT them. jaclaz