os2fan2

Using NTLDR from the most recent version of Windows allows you to multiboot with more recent versions. For example, if you install 2k and XP, then the bootloader ntldr should be from the XP version, or later. Luckily, NTLDR and NTDetect.com (which should match), will boot any version of NT, DOS and Win9x. It will even boot partitions as well, such as the OS/2 boot manager, or a linux boot. For what it's worth: NT4 should be installed with the SP6A versions, but you can modify SP6A to install the XP or 2k3 versions. NT5 works with the XP or 2K3 versions even from install. NT6 (leghorn) uses a different boot model.

Several things are posible. 1. Update your ASPI layer. Win2k has a buggy APSI, and so it is best to hunt down the ADEPTEC version. 2. Try creating an ISO file from your source. Your cd might have several tracks on it. [civ3 has 10 extra audio tracks]. A good freeware proggie here is "isobuster". 3. The directory might end in a space, which causes windows all sorts of problems. That is why i used isobuster to extract the files in this instance.

It is not possible to slipstream any service pack into Windows NT. This is based on a ecconomic decision made by microsoft, rather than a technical reason of the product. It is possible to patch the NT install set so that it works on some modern hardware. You can replace the files in i386, as NTLDR, NTDETECT.COM and ATAPI.SYS to get around the 8GB limit. You can add a Win2k cd-boot thing to prevent it automatically installing. You can add a Win2k, XP or 2k3 NTDETECT.COM and NTLDR to sp6a. This is handy if you are multibooting WinNT and some later version of Windows. I experienced problems when i tried to qchain several elements including sp6a, srp and some of the other fix-packs.

It is not possible to slipstream all the hotfixes after install, because the service-pack rollup makes changes to the way update.exe works. On the other hand, you can set a batch file that will slipstream the fixes as required, over just two rebbot. You can slipstream SP6A and the SP rollup togehter, reboot, and then apply the balance of fixpacks. W

On the other hand, i have not been trying to thin it out like that. Instead, what i did is to set up a single composite Win9x diskette, with Win95, 95B, 98SE and ME on the one disk. Sometimes you read such and such is in this directory, so it's pretty handy to have. With a little bit of effort, you can squeeze all four, plus Win3.11 and WfW3.11, and MS-DOS 6.22, the resource kits, the P!us directories, and a couple of other bits and peices, like the service pack 2.02 for SE, and a fist full of other patches. Win95 and Win95B To get these to go together, rename Win95 to Win95B, and merge the two trees. Here are the common directories Win95 ADMIN Merge the two DATALINK keep (don't know why DRIVERS i moved this to disk 2 FUNSTUFF i kept only HOVER and PICTURES OTHER just merge the two (they're the same) WIN95 Windows 95 4.00.0950 WIN95B Windows 95 4.10.1214 Win98/ME ADD-ONS Merge the two DRIVERS Merged to a second disk TOOLS Merge the two WIN98 Win98SE = 4.10.2222 Keep all of this WIN9x WinME = 4.90.3000 Kill off the 11MB winme.wmv file. Extras ALSO 98LITE, Beta, DOS, MDGX = 95logos.zip. w31-11d.zip, w95-11.zip MSDOS7 from the GMXHOME site QUALTYSYS makes Bootable cdroms BIN A mob of utils i copy across on any install BITMAP random wallpaper from Win3.x, 9x, NT CDROM MSDOS622 amd WIM311 stuff. When Win9x wants to see a valid upgrade, use Win311! DOS Stuff that matches the DOS boot disk DOS\BOOT So you can sys-and-copy the stuff! DRIVERS ASPI adeptec aspi 4.60 and aspichk. CDROM cdrom drivers from the CDGOD55 disk IOMEGA iomegazip for DOS, Win3.x Win95, Win98, WinME USB USB drivers for Win98SE EXTRAS MSJAVA install and uninstall POWERTOY yeah RESKIT95 ditti TTFONTS mainly the webfonts PATCHES MISC miscellaneous (all) stuff WIN95,etc windows 95 specific (updates + redistributables, eg vcredist.exe PLUS! P!us for 95 and 98, + home-grown spin-offs. RESKIT The Windows 98 reskit, thinned by removing stuff. SUPPL More freebies etc. You then use some utility that doubles up the dups, like cdimage, and burn the iso. You can install pretty much any version of Windows from MS-DOS 7.10. What makes it great is that projects like MDGx's 98toME thing can be done without diskchange. W

I suppose you could go 32-bit, and use OS/2. It has pretty good plug and play, and the version i use picked up all the drivers, video etc without hassle. -------------------------------------------------------- OS/2, because a 586 is a terrible thing to waste

Try creating a subfolder under your \windows\sendto directory. You can fill it with whatever you like, and there will be a submenu under sendto.

@fdv I used the files as listed in the current version of the page, as it stands. I added the following items: tweakui, two .reg files, msi 3.x, IE6, defectx 9.0c, and that Windows genuine annoyance. The fdv files were unzipped into the fdvfiles, and i added my productid and time-zone to it. The reg files worked ok. I set things like imeasure=yes, etc. Will have to have a look at the profile path. Maybe it was not in the setup.inf. (i use a profile path that has no spaces in it eg \NTUSER). When i ran it with the IE.IN_ in the FDVFILES, it came to no problem in the install. I could not install IE6 afterwards, even on applying the "Active Setup" reg file. When i ran it with IE.IN_ in the HIDE directory (ie where non-active things are set up), the install asked for (in order), dhtmled.ocx, and iexplore.exe from the cdrom, and then when it registered the components, it asks for another .dll file. The only files i add via FIX at this time are the ntldr and ntdetect.com files. I usually add these via $OEM$\C. Wendy

Alternately, one could build a program that produces that result. The legality issue would be that people would have to own the appropriate source. Consider that the projects like the SP2 for Win9x, and MDGx's 98ME projects, as well as GMXHOME's MS-DOS 7,1, Bart Langerweij's BartPE, and 98Lite's micro and sleek code all rely on the user providing a microsoft source from onr or more versions of Windows/DOS, such would not be inappropriate to develop.

Subfolders in the 'sendto' folder correspond to submenus in the shortcut command. You can create eg a folder 'viewers' in the sendto menu, which becomes a submenu for all items, eg sendto\viewers\lister.lnk would create a submenu viewers under listers, and an item Lister for the listers.lnk You can add a verb to any given file-type, eg REGEDIT4 ; We put lister at the top here. :) [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.txt\shell\0Lister] @="&0Lister" [HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.txt\shell\0Lister\command] @="lister.exe \"%1\"" This creates an extra item in the menu for Lister, that points to lister.exe to open the file.

@tommyp Is it possible to reserve the word HIDE for files that one wants to hide (rather than delete). This would allow one to hide files by moving them to the HIDE directory.

@fdv The problem i had with IE6 and W2K was that files were not being copied in the initial phase, and that setup would ask for two files later in the setup. The thing was done on vmware 4.0 box, and this has since been destroyed. I am fixing to do a new build tomorrow. On the main, i have been very impressed with the joint projects. I am not a big IE fan either, but i do develop web pages, and need to look at them under IE, Firefox, OffByOne, Lynx, &c. Wendy

Gak! and just after i ported edlin to Windows ME!

I normally keep all three lying around. You can easily integrate something like MS-DOS 7.10.2222 into one of them, which means you can boot from the floppy as well as the cdrom. I found that sometimes one or more of them don't work on every machine, and both the grub and bcdl diskettes allow you to store ordinary files (eg key files, reg scripts, winnt.sif) on then. The main reason for suggesting all three was because my experience is that one or more don't work on machine X. It's also much faster (and safer) to boot modern machines from a disk that redirects to cdrom, than to fiddle bios. For this, i use a write protected smart boot manager. It allows you to pick external drive (like cd0 or cd1) to boot from, and you can refresh its memory as well. smb = http://btmgr.webframe.org/

The throbber.reg thing that fdw put up does indeed work, but the thing resets the full set of buttons in the process: it turns everything off and on to the reg settings to dethrob the throbber. The actual rexx script was based on a description of what was really needed. This is the one from my external menu in "bartpe", the necessary rexx processer lives in a pathed directory \programs\exe, while the script lives in \programs\registry We use two freeware proggies to do the heavy lifting: this works on Windows NT, 98 and later. It will work on Windows 95, if you have the mscv60.dll runtime present. need: 1. regina from http://regina-rexx.sourceforge.net/index.html 2. w32utils and regutils from http://home.interlog.com/~ptjm/software.html 3. filerexx from http://www.borg.com/~jglatt/rexx/rexxuser.htm The minimun runtime is regina.exe, regina.dll, w32util.dll, rexxutil.dll, and filerexx.dll (all in the path). You will need to have the mscv60.dll runtime for Win95, but it is better to install this using the MSFT install routine. This rexx script only uses regina and w32util, but the other two are quite handy to have lying around. It's quite portible, small, etc, and one can add .rex to run as commands from the command-line. Unlike the reg file, this *just* sets the throbbers on or off. You should close all instances of the affected programs (ie have no windows open, and then run "file run", and then launch the command processor. This is a sample batch (change the file locations in it), for launching it from an icon. Its default behavour is to deactivate the shell throbber, and leave the exploiter (MSIE) one on. [it is very important, when you pay a dollar an hour for prepaid dialup, to see if you have browser windows open. @echo off :: This command removes the throbber, without upsetting the other :: shell settings. This is preferrable to using the .reg files. \programs\exe\regina.exe \programs\exe\throb.rex 0 1 echo Shell throbber turned off pause exit /* Shell throbber/dethrobber. The core now works. */ numeric digits 50 regroot = 'HKEY_CURRENT_USER' regbase = 'Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar\' regword = 'ITBarLayout' call rxfuncadd 'w32loadfuncs', 'w32util', 'w32loadfuncs' call w32LoadFuncs parse arg a1 a2 if pos(a1,'012') = 0 then do say "THROB.REX non-distructively alters the throbber in IE and the Shell" say "" say "the throbber is the little rotating thing in the top right hand corner" say "of the window" say "This is to be run under the target system, not in PE boot"; say say "Usage: THROB shell ie" say " 0 turn off the throbber" say " 1 turn on the throbber" say " 2 just look."; say "" say "if the throbber is on, then the last hex digit is a letter or over 8" say "a value of 0 to 7 means it is off". end if pos(a1,'012') = 0 then a1 = 2 if pos(a2,'012') = 0 then a2 = 2 /* Shell Browser */ call regpeek 'ShellBrowser', a1 call regpeek 'Explorer', a1 /* IE */ call regpeek 'WebBrowser', a2 exit regpeek: parse arg t0, t1 reghere = w32regopenkey(regroot, regbase || t0) if reghere=0 then do; call w32regclosekey(reghere); return; end; k1 = w32regqueryvalue(reghere, regword) parse var k1 1 k1a 33 k1b 34 k1c select when t1 = 1 then r1 = b2x( bitor(x2b(k1b), '00001000')) when t1 = 0 then r1 = b2x(bitand(x2b(k1b), '11110111')) when t1 = 2 then r1 = k1b otherwise; r1 = k1b; say 'invalid option' t1; end r0 = w32regqueryvaluetype( reghere, regword) r2 = k1a || r1 || k1c s1 = w32regsetvalue(reghere, regword, r0, r2) if s1=0 then s2 = 'Y'; else s2 = 'N' call w32regclosekey(reghere) say t1 left(t0,20) r0 k1b r1 s2 return Once an OS/2 user, always an OS/2 user :S

The tommyp + fdv package is great if you use dialup: you can intergrate things as you acquire them. Well done @tommyp I have regtweakage program, and thought it was missing some features it ought have. It does not handle "ParseAutoExec" in the startup section, which is useful to turn off if you are dual booting a DOS or Win9x session. I made a reg file from this. I use a home-grown and a regtweakage reg file. It doesn't handle a lot of international stuff, so i have a home-grown one for that. @fdv A handy way of booting to a cdrom, rather than by freedos, is to use bcdw. There is a boot diskette there that will start a cdrom, even when the bios does not support it. I installed NT4 on an old machine with one floppy using it. There's a freedos disk running around with grub on it, so that works, too. Also check out the "oldbios.exe" program at powerload: http://oldfiles.org.uk/powerload/bootdisk.htm One of the three should work on even older machines, and on new ones, you don't have to fiddle the bios to get cd booting first: boot first with it in, once loaded, pop it out, and the second boot is from hard drive. I am not over fussed on XP or 2k3 either, even though i tried both of them. They seem too clunky for my tastes. I have a post-install rexx script or so, which allows you to reconfigure things like whether you want the throbbers (little animations in the top-right) running, and another one that rolls out reg-files to activate or deactivate the services in the style of blkviper. Windows runs a lot faster without throbbers, and you get more real-estate! You can't do it by a reg-file, though...., because it's a single bit in a long binary string...

i actually run half a dozen operating systems, sometimes four or five at once. At the moment, the OS/2 boot is broken, and Win2k is currently used for most things. but i still have an OS/2 boot 4.52 on the system. W

I had a play around with hfslip, and found it most useful. Some comments. Tweakui v 1.33 is for Win2k only. One should use v 2.1 for XP. I installed it IE-less, and was generally impressed with the results. I am looking at some kind of add-on reg file that will allow IE to be installed afterwards. I have such a thing at home. Win2k install did not like the IE6 slipstream + fdv's files. Might look at some kind of documentation / rexx script for making the assorted bits and peices addable in the slipstream [ie be able to include bitmaps etc]. W

I ran Windows 98 for quite a while, both in 98lite' sleek and chubby modes. The sleek-mode was a practical response because the computer had 16 MB core. It still ran faster with IE than with IE integrated. The other form (chubby) was when i had like 256 MB core. I did not notice any sort of things over port-scans (which is more like people knocking on the door). On the other hand, it seems to artificially slow the net down. Win2k seems to pull stuff off the net at 10% more. Having the whole file-system as a single FAT32 (the default install), did not help, and some exe file decided that file-allocation table was a handy place to park itself. Oops. I now run win2k. But i still have a win98 box running at home, for mother. It gets left on all the time etc. IE intergration slows down _any_ system, whether it has a DOS or OS2 boot block. One of the first things i do is to deactivate the Active desktop, web integration, etc. When you pay a dollar an hour for internet connexions, it's not pretty impressive to not be able to tell connexions are on or not!

BartPE includes an autorun plugin. Follow that.

Also handy is the several boot diskettes that start the cd-boot. Handy if you don't want to fiddle the bios, eg boot first from cd and then from hd. http://bootcd.narod.ru/index_e.htm has a boot-cd-from-floppy loader also: http://oldfiles.org.uk/powerload/bootdisk.htm has an older version (oldbios.exe). try also: http://btmgr.webframe.org/ Wendy

It is of course, possible to make a new cdrom, using an upgrade copy of Windows 9x (including ME), and install these to a blank hard drive. Windows will not find the previous version, and ask you for where the setup files are. You can even include these on the same cd-rom! I have a cdrom, with the following versions of Windows on it: \cdrom\msdos = 6.22 \cdrom\win311 \cdrom\wfw311 \cdrom\reskit = dos / win / wfw reskits \dos = same DOS as boot disk = DOS 7.10 \patches = addins, patches for specific versions. \plus!\win95 \plus!\win98 \reskit = win98 reskit \win95 = vers 0950 \win95b = vers 1214 \win98 = vers 2222 \win9x = vers 3000 When you install an upgrade, it asks you for the previous version: so you point it at something like \win95 or \cdrom\wfw311 [the latter is *much* faster]. If you keep the rest of the layout similar (eg have the same tree as the Win95/98, except the drivers tree), it all fits neatly onto one cdrom! Programs that expect to find utilities in certian places will continue to do so. There is still *some* room for drivers. If you have a Step-Up disk, rather than an upgrade, then this will require an already installed Win98 or something, and the file set is somewhat incomplete. None the same, you can still do the trick above. Note the same trick can makes installing the service-pack 2.02 and MDGx's 98toME package without having to swap diskettes.

I mean, if you have 8 armoured units, and 8 settlers, it's pretty easy to wait a few turns before you get your first city up and running. I mean, veteran cities with no city have no support costs, and so are quite handy. I did build railways out on the sea, too. Good to build them where the whales and fish are. By the way, civ1 got me into doing interesting things with computers, and turned me from a user to a power user. W

This is a pretty easy one. You boot from a floppy, with something that passes boot to a cdrom. bcdw has a loader (which lives in a fat system to boot), which allows you to boot first to a cdrom, and the default is a hard drive. Another trick is to use jo.sys from http://www.nu2.nu/ . This simulates the press any key to boot from cd. It goes into the floppy image. You then tell it to boot from cd the first time, and in subsequent reboots, it boots first to the cdrom, and because the key isn't pressed, from the hard drive. Works a treat!

If setup.exe does not run under DOS, then you can't do a clean install. Setup.exe will indeed run under DOS, even on upgrade versions. At some point, it asks that it has no complying version of Windows, and for you to point to an install of it. So, on my home-grown Win98 disk, i have a copy of Win311 for that purpose (as well as pulling some files out of it later on ). It runs really quickly then. You have what is known as a 'step-up' version, which upgrades an existing system, typically Win98, to WinME. You need to first install the qualifying product, and then install WinME. The qualifying product (eg Win98), is then used as the base of the install and much of the configuration comes therefrom.