jaclaz

If you can write a simple Vbasic program, it is possible, but I suspect that the way I normally do it is easier. I have an Excel spreadsheet where a database is kept with all "Fields" connected to a Word "template" I update the database fields, which can have formulas in them, copying one or more rows and adding them, that I use the "Mail merge" function of Word. Some reference to get you started: http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/M/mail_merge.html http://www.its.ipfw.edu/training/howto/mailmerge.shtml A google search for "mail merge" will give you more results. Once you have done it "manually" it is quite wasy to make a VBasic macro or function to automate it, but that's all another thing. jaclaz

Yep, just to keep things together and prevent possible misunderstandings, here is the thread where it all started: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=61384&hl= jaclaz

@haggisnneeps Look here: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=68252 http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?sho...c=13516&hl= http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?sho...c=16702&hl= jaclaz

Because, as said just two posts above, there is a FREEWARE Read/Write capable driver, more efficient than the reader. jaclaz

yep, but it is NOT an operating system and it does NOT boot from USB: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=85569 jaclaz P.S.: @esallou, to save some time, should it not be working, here is a post of mine where I try to "sum up" the various tutorials with links to them: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?sho...181&st=1988

Maybe you took too many things off with nlite, or maybe you missed some steps. I can guarantee that it is possible to install and boot a reduced XP image from USB, but it can be a long and troublesome experience. The original thread is here: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?sho...c=14181&hl= The one you linked to is one of the derivatives. jaclaz

NTFS4DOS, here: http://www.datapol.de/dpe/freeware/ Works very well, in my opinion much better than the Wininternals/Sysinternals NTFSDOS, and, besides being Read/Write instead of Read Only - comparing freewares, it also takes much less space.... jaclaz

Well, as I read it, it seems to me that it was related to GRLDR installed on a NTFS partition, there should be no problems on a FAT one. The "boot" directive at the end of the menu entries should not be needed. I had a deeper look at the mstechnet article here: http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsServe...f63a971033.mspx It appears that the deletion takes place at step 7. below: or at step 10 below: At that moment it seems like TXTSETUP.SIF is not used anymore, other files like (maybe): Maybe something can be made in Unattended settings, though I doubt it. I am not at all an expert in setup, maybe there is a way, just before files are deleted, to execute a command to rename the folder to something else, and then set at next boot of the GUI (first real boot of the installed system) with RunonceEx or some other Registry entry, a command to rename folder back.... jaclaz

That's VERY strange. Try directy chainloading a setupldr.bin, something like: jaclaz

cdob, how big is the image, and how much RAM do you expect to be needed for this? Well, actually, no, but in latest releases there is a hmload.com tool that works that way.With "normal" DOS (or Linux for that matter), you boot to DOS, execute the hmload.com with the appropriate parameters this is an example: and it does a raw-copy of the given image file in RAM, i.e to the (rd) Grub4DOS device, then you invoke grub.exe from DOS, using parameters like: or (I am not 100% sure about latest syntax, I haven't right now handy the Grub4dos setup I had working) But I cannot say if it would work with a NT based syste, unless, you are right: Dietmar doesn't give us some more details about his ramdisk method described here: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?sho...c=18326&hl= or some one finds another way, or try using one of the other programs.... ...also, in the same thread there is a reference to direct SDI booting from Grub4DOS, if you have time, can you try it and report? jaclaz

Sorry for your stick. Maybe, depending on make/model, or to be more exact actual USB controller that it is on stick, it may be possible to use the manufacturer Production Tool to "low level" format it to factory condition. Please post Vid&Pid of the device, maybe it's one of those for which a tool is available. About the GRLDR renamed as NTLDR, it is possible that it is one of those cases that it doesn't work, but through "real" NTLDR/BOOT.INI it SHOULD work. Try using the Find command in Grub4DOS with autocomletion, i.e. type: (the above means type "find", an open parenthesis (, then press the TAB key. It should list devices available.... Is it possible that it is one of those incompatibilities with motherboard BIOS (i.e that it reads CHS ok, but not LBA or viceversa) ? jaclaz P.S.: cdob just reported that the "other" method is working: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=81788&hl=

well, you can use nlite to make a CD with documents and settings not in the "default" way. But there is no way to make a CD that will autopartition several partitions from winnt.sif. You need to run before a partitioning program. I see this is your first post, next time you should post in the proper section of the forum, which are these ones: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showforum=101 http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showforum=70 If you search within those for "partitioning", "partition" and "autopartition" you will see that the same question has already been asked several times, and some alternative ways have been suggested. About using Ghost or other imaging software, I personally think that it is the best solution, if you have a problem, you just re-image the C: partition, leaving the D: one untouched. Of course programs installed AFTER the image has been taken won't be there anymore and would need being re-installed. jaclaz

Well, since you sound like "knowing what you are doing", why don't you simply make a copy of the "normal" XP bootsector of that partition, save it as "bootsect.bin" then hexedit it to invoke, instead of NTLDR, PELDR (which is SETUPLDR.BIN renamed as PELDR)? Any hexeditor capable of direct disk access can do this, besides commercial ones, tinyhex: http://www.mirkes.de/en/freeware/tinyhex.php The full edition also have scripting support, so that you should be able to automeate the task. jaclaz

Sure! Word doc files, mostly, that contain sensitive information (names, for example). I want to encrypt these in a folder on my hard drive, which seems straight forward, but I'd also like to back them up periodically (twice a month, for example) to an optical disc, but have the disc be encrypted. Then, easiest solution is following LLXX advice, or use one of the programs in the 2nd link I posted. A very nice "self-standing" and portable solution is here: http://www.donationcoder.com/Software/Other/fSekrit/ Another option you might want to explore is the use of Steganography: http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/S/steganography.html here is an example program: http://www.dancemammal.com/imagehide.htm more (almost every related program) here: http://www.stegoarchive.com/ jaclaz

Flinstone, just for the record, you are at the moment in the "wrong" place, this is Windows PE are, not the BartPE one. However, what you are trying to do is a different thing from the original question, this is simply a "Dual boot Windows X and BartPE from hard disk", only doing manually instead of using the already "established" methods and tools. You might want to try the "standard" peinst (do READ Bart's page): http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/faq/#9 or this one: http://www.911cd.net/forums/index.php?show...c=11226&hl= If it's allright to use a bootmanager, here is tutorial using Grub4Dos that also covers booting BartPE from ANOTHER (not first one) partition: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=18031 jaclaz

Not really sure I fully understood what you need, can you explain better what type of data you need to protect, how big are the files and how often you need to copy the files to CD? The "standard" freeware/Open Source is Truecrypt: http://www.truecrypt.org/ But maybe you need something different/simpler, here are a few crypting programs: http://members.ozemail.com.au/~nulifetv/fr...ware/index.html jaclaz

You must thank Spacesurfer, that found this way to cut some corners: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=18031 I checked on some other posts/howto, you are right, the exchange takes place. To make sure, you can try from a Grub4dos command line, repeating the same commands one by one, and use "root" instead of "rootnoverify", Grub4dos should put on screen a brief message describing the partition it "rooted" too. jaclaz

hmmm, very strange, however, if it works with the double exchange, let it be! Well, according to this: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=14852 the 3 would mean "do not copy", most probably it means "ignore". It seems like I cannot find a "proper", i.e. complete TXTSETUP.SIF howto, I am trying to put tohether all bits of info I can find...., but at the moment nothing that can resolve the file deleting problem. More info on gosh's pages: http://gosh.msfn.org/txtsetup.htm jaclaz P.S.: about: Though possible, as you made it, to install grldr.mbr to the MBR and copy GRLDR to the stick, it is not the "recommended" way, as the MBR code is (of course) different from "standard" NT/Win2K/XP2003 MBR code, it is possible (and there were reports abut this) that the motherboard BIOS won't boot from it. The recommended way is to prepare the stick with the HP tool under Win2K/XP/2003 WITHOUT telling it to put DOS files in the key, or however format the key under the same OSses in a manner to have the bootsector of the primary partition that invokes NTLDR. Then either: 1) copy to the stick NTLDR and a boot.ini with an entry : or 2) copy to the stick grldr and RENAME it as NTLDR

GOOD! A quick small correction: is exactly the same as: Yes, there must be somewhere a directive "keeep all files".... jaclaz

This should be possible using the "default" file and the savedefault directive in a "cross-linked" manner, I'll have a look in the matter. jaclaz

This poses another problem, if I read correctly the KB, it talks about fixed hard disk, not about internal ones, while it makes a distinction of JAZ,ZIP and MO.It is most probable, that just like it was found out by Dietmar, some differences exist if the USB Mass Storage device is seen as "fixed" or as "removable", one might need somehow to install a filter driver during setup. Good work! jaclaz

hmmm, more research to do.... About: I am clearly missing something:where is the $WIN_NT$.~LS directory, if not on the stick? I assumed that the syntax of would be similar to the BOOT.INI one, where first disk is 0, but first partition is 1, byt I may be wrong. To better analyze the contents of your migrate.inf, can you do the following ?: 1) Download on the computer you used WINNT32.EXE the DSFOK here: http://members.ozemail.com.au/~nulifetv/freezip/freeware/ 2) unzip it, open a command prompt in the directory and run the VLM tool like VLM > VLM.TXT 3) from the same command prompt run mountvol >> VLM.TXT 4) post (attach) the VLM.TXT There might be a relationship between the drive signature and the entries in migrate.inf aka entries in the Registry or however another way to "couple" migrate.inf drive letter assignments to the fixed hard disk. I'll post what I can find or if some other idea comes out. jaclaz

Here: TESTDISK (and PHOTOREC) http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/TestDisk PC FILE RECOVERY: http://www.pcinspector.de/file_recovery/uk/welcome.htm Please note that to be on the safe side, installing the recovery programs and recovery itself should be performed from ANOTHER system, with your hard disk mounted in it as "slave" or from a "live-CD" of some sorts, EVERY write operation, every single second you keep your system switched on can make file recovery difficult or impossible, don't even THINK of downloading or installing the files to the system/hard disk on which the deleted file is, if you have a scheduled defrag program, turn it off immediately. Good free products are EBCD (DOS based): http://ebcd.pcministry.com/ and UBCD http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/ or UBCD4WIN (BartPE based): http://www.ubcd4win.com/ (you will need to add testdisk) jaclaz

I cannot say about the F8 access to it, and there is something not clear about (I cannot see why they should mount a partition under a filesystem that is going to be re-formatted ) But the idea of having a "hidden" setup partition (being it a ghosted image, a BartPE or a setup partition) is not new, and it is usually achieved through a bootloader in the MBR, but it is also possible to have an entry in boot.ini. Some related posts are here: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=84411 http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=47773 (and links therein) I might add, if you want to follow the MBR bootloader way, that recently, besides Partita, there is another MBR bootloader that fits in 512 bytes, Open Source: http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=162108 jaclaz

Hmmm, I think that you are getting really close . The fact that in boot.ini the "signature" syntax is used should mean that the drive is recognized as a "peculiar" one, but this, as I see it, is a good thing. You can check the Disk (and stick) signature with MBRFIX or MBRWIZARD: 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 The title Boot WinXP Setup from USB map --read-only (hd0) (hd1) rootnoverify (hd1) chainloader (hd1)+1 boot should work as follows: You map the stick (booted from, and thus first drive, or hd0) to second drive hd1, then you boot from it. The question is how is "mapped" the internal hard disk drive and how is this seen by windows setup? The reference to should mean that (if I get it correctly the \xpsprtm directory is on the stick) the mapping is correct, i.e. the stick gets letter "d:".On the other hand, the fact that the reference to gives the missing file error, should mean that by this part of the setup the stick is NOT seen as second drive (HARDDISK1) but probably as first one (HARDDISK0) One thing you could try is the following: most probably you will have the same behaviour, but the box list could be "populated" by instead. Also, can you post (attaching it) the migrate.inf file you get when you prepare the stick with WINNT32.EXE? I still have the "feeling" that the solution could be there.... jaclaz