jaclaz

There was another thread about this, with examples posted, here: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=37572 and this is a file I use normally: @echo off if not exist turiweb md turiweb if not exist turiweb\log.log date /t > turiweb\log.log date /t > turiweb\date.now time /t > turiweb\time.now Set CURRDATE=%TEMP%\CURRDATE.TMP Set CURRTIME=%TEMP%\CURRTIME.TMP DATE /T > %CURRDATE% Set PARSEARG="eol=; tokens=1,2,3,4* delims=/, " For /F %PARSEARG% %%i in (%CURRDATE%) Do SET DDMMYYYY=%%j_%%k_%%l Echo Copying file turiweb.xml in turiweb\turiweb_%DDMMYYYY%.xml if exist turiweb\turiweb_%DDMMYYYY%.xml goto error if not exist turiweb\turiweb_%DDMMYYYY%.xml copy turiweb.xml turiweb\turiweb_%DDMMYYYY%.xml > nul :OK echo OK,File turiweb_%DDMMYYYY%.xml correctly created echo OK,File turiweb_%DDMMYYYY%.xml correctly created > turiweb\temp.now Goto end :error Echo Error, file turiweb_%DDMMYYYY%.xml already existing, file NOT copied echo Error, file turiweb_%DDMMYYYY%.xml already existing, file NOT copied > turiweb\temp.now :end copy turiweb\log.log+turiweb\date.now+turiweb\time.now+turiweb\temp.now turiweb\log.log > nul del turiweb\*.now > nul pause (the good thing about this one is that keeps a log file) Just change the occurrencies of turiweb and turiweb.xml jaclaz

Have a look here: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=37939 http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=47206 http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=26185 http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=43610 jaclaz

Each operating system should have it's own System directory and it's own boot.ini entry. You just open the boot.ini file that you can find on your First active primary partition, i.e. C: Read here: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...ndpost&p=226081 http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=43748 http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=25365 There should be THREE entries: one for "Windows 2000 Professional" (probably going to C:\WINNT) one or two for "Windows XP" (probably going to C:\WINDOWS) You can delete the lines NOT referring to Windows 2000 and delete the folders NOT pointed to in the Windows 2000 entry. You could still have some "remains" of the XP installs, like some directories. I haven't handy an XP install to compare with the Win2k one, maybe someone that have both can give you more exact info. jaclaz

Try this evaluation/trial: http://lpt.usbfireinfo.com/USB_Info_Softwa...fo_software.htm jaclaz P.S.: this one (FREEWARE) does the job too: http://www.cpuid.org/pcw.php

Here is the link: http://www.mp3car.com/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=70 I cannot say if it's legal, though. After all it is part of XP embedded..... jaclaz

You are welcome. Post results. jaclaz

That is true up to a certain point, it was a limit of the BIOS on elder machines (accessing HD through INT13 in CHS instead of LBA), see here:http://www.essaysample.com/essay/000982.html it should not apply on modern PC's/OS's. The partition where (talking about NT based systems) NTLDR, BOOT.INI and NTDETECT.COM reside MUST be PRIMARY. The actual OS files (i.e. /WINNT or /WINDOWS ) can be on another partition, that can be either Primary or a Logical Volume inside an Extended Partition, but this does not apply in your case, if you want to have two alternate partitions, BOTH of them MUST be PRIMARY. Installing Partita is quite simple, you must boot from the diskette while having BOTH partitions visible, then: As said, you should try the settings are correct before going on. If you need to manually set the partition table from the DOS diskette, you can use Ranish Partition Manager. jaclaz

It does look interesting. One question though: This switch is said not to be working in post SP1 XP....? jaclaz

No, sorry, but you did not read my post. I did not provide the suggestion of BootItNG (not that it is not good, but it is not Freeware). I gave you the links to three different programs that would achieve the hiding of the other partitions at bootup. However you can do it manually, just to try. Have a look at the info you can find here: Basically, you need TWO PRIMARY PARTITIONS. To make them you will need a third party tool, a freeware one is Ranish Partition Manager, but there are many other (not freeware) and even the XFdisk linked above can do it, though it is less "exact" in sizes. Both partitions should be formatted (either FAT, FAT32 or NTFS) you can do it during the installation of the first OS or using some utility. One of the two partitions will become marked "Active" i.e. the value 80 will be written in the related partition entry. This partition will get letter "C:", the other one will get letter "D:". In your BOOT.INI file there will be an entry similar to this one: multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\Windows="Microsoft Windows XP" this means that the System directory is to be found on the 1st partition "partition(1)" of the first hard disk "multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)", see an explanation here: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=43610 and links. Now you use for example this FREEWARE: Beeblebrox http://students.cs.byu.edu/~codyb/ to: 1) remove the "80" active state from the 1st partition and write it to the s2nd (in the boot column) 2) if you want to hide the partition you set (in the Type column) a "hidden type value: NTFS non hidden=07 NTFS hidden=17 FAT non hidden=06 or 0e FAT hidden=16 or 1e FAT32 non hidden=0b or 0c FAT32 hidden=1b or 1c see here: http://www.win.tue.nl/~aeb/partitions/partition_types-1.html Reboot from OS installation CD (the 2nd OS) and redo the above. Now you install one of the three bootmanagers I linked to. Before doing ANY of the above, you should make certain that you have understood HOW the booting process works, and how the partitioning and formatting is made: http://www.ranish.com/part/primer.htm Though it is aimed to a different scope, you might find this small tutorial of mine interesting: http://home.graffiti.net/jaclaz:graffiti.n...B/USBstick.html Also, the partition hiding is not strictly necessary, if you change the active partition setting, that partition will be "C:" and the other one will be "D:", leters will be reversed when you cahnge settings back. jaclaz

Just read my post above. That is the reason (hiding partitioning and having two different partitions as C:) why you need another bootmanager. In all other cases the XP/2003 built-in NTLDR would have been enough. jaclaz

ASTON is VERY good, but it is Shareware/Commercial. This is a GOOD freeware one: http://www.bb4win.org/news.php It is in continual development, and is derived from a Linux project: http://blackboxwm.sourceforge.net/ http://blackboxwm.sourceforge.net/DownloadBlackbox so you can have the same shell/window manager under Windows AND Linux jaclaz

You need a boot manager with the ability to hide partitions BEFORE the NTLDR/BOOT.INI/NTDETECT.COM take control (and you will need TWO primary partitions, each with a OS install). That I know of there are these FREEWARE solutions: 1) XFDISK minimal (needs a DOS diskette) http://www.mecronome.de/xfdisk/index.php 2) gnu grub http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/ http://gnuwin.epfl.ch/apps/grub/en/index.html lots of features, non-graphical 3) XOSL http://www.ranish.com/part/xosl.htm FULLY graphical, lots of features, mouse support There are some other ones, the smallest I found was this one: PARTITA http://www.pedrofreire.com/crea1_en.htm that fits ENTIRELY in the first 512 bytes jaclaz

Some good progs, BOTH freeware and "portable": http://www.portablefreeware.com/ http://www.portablefreeware.com/about.php jaclaz

The only way is through a DOS based install, (but if you use nlite, the 16 bit WINNT.EXE does not work well) or through a BartPe based one, (the 32 bit winnt32.exe is said to work well) Basically you find a way to boot an OS from CD, then start the "normal" windows setup (either winnt.exe or winnt32.exe) Read here: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=17144&hl= http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=46675&hl= http://www.911cd.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=11096 http://www.911cd.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=11250&hl= jaclaz

The illegal part is modifying the OEM OS you have now, as egres suggested. But you can delete it and replace it with the PRO retail version you bought. Just do as Alanoll said and get all needed drivers from DELL. jaclaz

Yes, where can I go and buy it? jaclaz

Yes, the forum is unreachable now. Here is the SFiorito personal "Main" page: http://osf1.gmu.edu/~sfiorito/eXPinstall.htm Here is the google cache for the thread: http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache:6UEm_...-38484%22&hl=en and the ggogle cahe of the forum index: http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache:yvLQp...-70.html+&hl=en To find more cached pages, just copy the links you find on the pages and make a Google search for them. But you should re-try the Mp3car forum as there are lots of related info, most probably it is a temporary malfunction. jaclaz

Have a look here: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=41695&hl= http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=33155&hl= And search on the board for Sfiorito's posts, he is the real expert at this. jaclaz

If I recall correctly, legal matters put aside, you cannot. The CD detects that the PC is NOT an HP one. And there is no winnt.exe or winnt32.exe in the \i386 directory jaclaz

No, they don't even have a "price tag" on the site, I think their target is BIG companies. There is/was another solution, that seems abandoned (but site still works) here: http://www.apct.net/en/products/AB.php3 So the technology exists for NT based systems. (for Win9x there is the registry redirector the now FREEWARE Qualystem Rescue uses) They also have a solution for NT based systems: http://www.qualystem.com/en/index.php (never tried it, but most probably uses the same technique of redirecting the Registry to a RamDisk) I thought that the question was related to Open Source or Freeware solutions. jaclaz

Actually there are two different "kinds" of MSDOS.SYS: 1) The MSDOS.SYS present in DOS up to 6.22 is a BINARY file You CANNOT/SHOULD NOT edit this "kind" of MSDOS.SYS 2) The MSDOS.SYS present in DOS 7.0 upwards (i.e. Win 95/98/ME) is just a text file, with a structure IDENTICAL to an .ini file, it can be edited with ANY text editor, the only thing to do is that you have to modify the attributes (Read-only and Hidden) of the file. You can even use utilities written to modify (for example from batch) INI files. jaclaz

Short Answer: NO, but read long answer. Long answer: NO, but you can achieve that in two ways: 1) Use ERUNT to backup the Registry, do whatever you want, then restore the registry 2) Make the USB key bootable with BartPE and run programs from the BartPe environment jaclaz P.S.: There are quite a lot of standalone apps, here is a few good lists: http://sapps.batcave.net/ http://www.kikizas.net/en/usbapps.html http://standalone.atspace.org/apps.html (and you can also use this tip: http://standalone.atspace.org/tip1.html)

Don't want to hijack the thread, but there is this other one, from which is derived the version that FDV uses in his "Remove IE" setup: http://www.d--b.webpark.pl/reverse04_en.htm FDV page: http://www.vorck.com/remove-ie.html from http://www.vorck.com/2ksp4.html#8 The approach is very interesting, as it simply leaves WFP enabled, but with an empty list of files to be protected. jaclaz

My two cents:1) Yes it's free 2) but it is BIG As I think that half part of a fast (responsive) PC is the hardware, and the other half is slim software, I like slim solutions, like FOXIT: http://www.foxitsoftware.com/pdf/rd_intro.php True, maybe it won't work with ALL .pdf files, but what do you want from a 1Mb proggie that needs no install, BLOOD? jaclaz

Also, you could try this: http://www.joeware.net/win/free/tools/cpau.htm jaclaz