cdob

flyakite's FAQ is very nice. But old in the meantime. Adapt instructions slightly: e.g. it's win51ip.sp2 at SP2 files. Winbom.ini is not used anymore at pebuilder (3.1.10). Ignore winbom.ini. win51, win51ip, and win51ip.sp1 are never at i386 folder. Include \win5*.* from BartPE root folder to multi-boot DVD root folder.

@jaclaz I like rdisk(z-1) idea. This should work in most cases. Tests have to follow. Strange BIOS, like wanderer's BIOS, may get different results. I changed one line at binifix.cmd. rem IF "%%A"=="Default" SET DefaultEntry=%%B IF /I "%%A"=="default" SET DefaultEntry=%%B Signature compare Post #34 http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?s=&amp...st&p=585105 Dosn't signature() contain rdisk(0) already? Do we habe to change a signature() line? Nice, your code is already fail safe Yes BOOT.INI should always be on C:\BOOT.INI, but it isn't always in real life. Please read Post #220, boot.ini is seeked at %SystemDrive%. If this fails, drive letters are seeked in decending order. This support more cases. Of course this may fail at strange machines. Given a default MS MBR: How to detect the drive letter of primary active partition? Can you backup a existing boot.ini as e.g. boot.bak? %date% from Post #220 was a bad idea. This may fail at different languages.

XP Pro SP2 and XP Home SP2 can be integrated similar to Flyakite's guide. Difference: Instead of file win51ic.sp1 use file win51ic.sp2. Instead of file win51ip.sp1 use file win51ip.sp2. There are a lot of CD Boot Menu solutions. They use a loader and a configuration file. Cdshell is one example. I don't know a much simpler guide.

Thanks for correcting. Sorry, bad message from bad memory last time. I opened old logs and found: U:\minint>gsar -o -s:000txtsetup.sif:000 -r:000txtsetup.off:000 setupldr.bin setupldr.bin: 6 occurrences changedYes, \txtsetup.sif is the keyfile.

@ilko_t Please try A updated BOOT_REN.CMD \bootfiles is not used anymore. Ntldr and ntdetect.com are copied from $WIN_NT$.~LS Boot.ini is builded at boot time: Boot.ini maybe not at %SystemDrive%: e.g. c:\boot.ini and d:\windows If a signature line exist, boot.ini is not updated. SystemRoot folder and partition number are read from boot.ini. rdisk is set from 0 to 3. @echo off set BootIniDrive=%SystemDrive% SET TAGFILE=\BOOT.INI if not exist %BootIniDrive%%TAGFILE% FOR %%h IN (Z Y X W V U T S R Q P O N M L K J I H G F E D C) DO IF EXIST "%%h:%TAGFILE%" Set BootIniDrive=%%h: set BootIni=%BootIniDrive%%TAGFILE% echo SystemDrive %SystemDrive% echo BootIniDrive %BootIniDrive% echo BootIni %BootIni% SET USBDRIVE= SET TAGFILE=\$WIN_NT$.~LS FOR %%h IN (C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y) DO IF EXIST "%%h:%TAGFILE%" SET USBDRIVE=%%h: echo USBDRIVE %USBDRIVE% for %%a in (ntldr ntdetect.com boot.ini) do attrib -r -s -h %BootIniDrive%\%%a copy %USBDRIVE%\$WIN_NT$.~LS\I386\ntldr %BootIniDrive%\ /y copy %USBDRIVE%\$WIN_NT$.~LS\I386\ntdetect.com %BootIniDrive%\ /y ren %USBDRIVE%\txtsetup.sif txtsetup.bak ren %USBDRIVE%\$WIN_NT$.~BT WIN_NT.BT ren %USBDRIVE%\$WIN_NT$.~LS WIN_NT.LS call :createBootIni goto :eof :createBootIni (echo [boot loader] echo timeout=10)>%BootIni%.new for /f "tokens=1-9* skip=2 delims=(=)" %%a IN (%BootIni%) DO ( if %%a.==signature. (del %BootIni%.new & goto :eof) if %%a.==default. echo %%a=%%b^(%%c^)%%d^(%%e^)%%f^(%%g^)%%h^(%%i^)%%j >>%BootIni%.new ) echo [operating systems] >>%BootIni%.new for /f "tokens=1-10* skip=4 delims=(=) " %%a IN (%BootIni%) DO ( if %%a.==multi. ( echo %%a^(%%b^)%%c^(%%d^)%%e^(0^)%%g^(%%h^)%%i=%%j rdisk^(0^) %%k >>%BootIni%.new echo %%a^(%%b^)%%c^(%%d^)%%e^(1^)%%g^(%%h^)%%i=%%j rdisk^(1^) %%k >>%BootIni%.new echo %%a^(%%b^)%%c^(%%d^)%%e^(2^)%%g^(%%h^)%%i=%%j rdisk^(2^) %%k >>%BootIni%.new echo %%a^(%%b^)%%c^(%%d^)%%e^(3^)%%g^(%%h^)%%i=%%j rdisk^(3^) %%k >>%BootIni%.new ) ) (echo. echo [debug] echo SystemDrive %SystemDrive% echo BootIniDrive %BootIniDrive% echo BootIni %BootIni% echo USBDRIVE %USBDRIVE% )>>%BootIni%.new type %BootIni%.new copy "%BootIni%" "%BootIni%.%date%.txt" /y copy "%BootIni%.new" "%BootIni%" /y goto :eof Edited: Rename missed in BOOT_REN.CMD Added: rename txtsetup.sif, $WIN_NT$.~BT and $WIN_NT$.~LS

[SetupParams] UserExecute = "%systemdrive%\windows\system32\boot_ren.cmd" Yes, boot_ren.cmd is executed at T-9. http://unattended.msfn.org/unattended.xp/v...19/#setupparams boot_ren.cmd is processed after first reboot. Dosn't setup delete files earlier at textmode? Writeprotect in migrate.inf does prohibit deleting files at textmode. ilko_t remode HiveOEM.inf, because renaming replace this. True, MkMigratgeInf.cmd dosn't create this line, because this line is not required in migrate.inf.@buseeliu Name your boot.ini. There maybe false settings. Which hardware and partitions do you use? Do you use a SATA hard disk? Short notice about 2003 setupldr.bin RAM loaded idea. I made a false assumption in the past. Booting to recovery console (press F10 at F6 message) list 2003 setupldr.bin drive as C: Grub4dos loaded image is not listed. This is contrary to a 2003 setupldr.bin PE image: drive X: is used.

@ilko_t At first glance I dislike renaming $WIN_NT$ folder. Is this reliable? Contrary no long wait at T-1: You confinced me. I like renaming $WIN_NT$ folders. Nice solution, thanks. BOOT_REN.CMD: Can you backup a possible existand boot.ini? Idea, not tested: copy %SYSTEMDRIVE%\boot.ini %SYSTEMDRIVE%\boot.%date%.ini /y xcopy %USBDRIVE%\bootfiles\*.* %SYSTEMDRIVE%\ /y /h /r /k And can you create boot.ini dynamically? Not a fixed \WINDOWS, extract foldername from %SystemRoot% ? About multi boot: Setupldr.bin seek folder minint first, $WIN_NT$.~BT next. Hexedit \$WIN_NT$.~BT\setupldr.bin. Change minint to miniOf. menu.lst chainloader /$WIN_NT$.~BT/setupldr.bin chainloader /minint/setupldr.bin

@jaclaz Thanks for floppy image / recocery console link. I tried direct mapping of the image and failed. And integration some Dietmar's ideas, like load USB drivers earlier, failed too. Sad, I like this idea more. This dosn't require 2003 files. Second approach: Yes, ntldr is a renamed 2003 SP1 setupldr.bin.And I forgot to mention to copy 2003 ramdisk.sy_ to image. By the way: did you opened KB310994 floppy image? Bootsector loads setupldr.bin. "hiveOEM.inf goes to H:\I386\txtsetup.sif" in more words: Edit file H:\I386\txtsetup.sif, add hiveOEM.inf entries. Copy file hiveOEM.inf to <USB drive>\$WIN_NT$.~LS\I386\hiveOEM.inf. File location hasn't changed to previous messages. The "RAMLOAD.IMG" contains: a dirtectory \I386 containing all files from \$WIN_NT$.~BT\ + txtsetup.sif And migrate.inf, if necessary for drive letter fixing. Writeprotect at migrate.inf is not necessary. Break, maybe my memory fails: did I include writeprotect in migrate.inf?. I don't recall my latests tests anymore. Good question, let's say this is my impression.SETUP dosn't list C: to a partition. C: is not assigned to a real partition. Most likely 2003 SP1 RAM loaded partition get letter X: internally. So I assume C: goes to grub4dos virtual partition. XP Embedded virtual hard disk appear in Disk Management and registry. Windows thread them as a real hard disk.For testing purposes I like to use this informations. If this leeds to a solution, VDK may come in handy. But currently I avoid additional confusion.

Main idea: satisfy setupldr.bin, ntdetect.com and get rdisk(0): Map a boot image to a floppy drive. Swap USB and internal drive. A hdx is NOT doubled used, this may be a secure approach. map /boot.img (fd0) map (hd1) (hd0) map (hd0) (hd1) $WIN_NT$.~BT and $WIN_NT$.~LS are splitted: \$WIN_NT$.~BT part goes to boot image \$WIN_NT$.~LS goes to USB drive I used a floppy image from reanimatolog http://bootcd.narod.ru/images_e.htm fd011520.zip Floppy image 11.52mb (8x1.44mb) ImDisk Virtual Disk Driver mount this file. http://www.ltr-data.se/index_en.html Run ImDiks applet from the Control Panel, mount image. Let's use letter G: Format virtual drive. This creates a ntldr bootsector. 1) XP installation floppies KB310994 offers XP installation floppy images. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310994/ Open the six floppy image files at ImDiks and copy files to drive G: Rename G:\setupldr.bin to ntldr. hiveOEM.inf goes to G:\txtsetup.sif. Setup does boot. But next a famous BSOD 0x7b Inaccesable boot device does appear. Can anybody solve this? New game: 2) Two virtual drives 2003 SP1 setupldr.bin does RAM load a image. Use 2003 SP1 setupldr.bin and ramdisk.sy_, that's not 2003 SP2 files. Mount virtual floppy again. Delete all files and add files Ntldr is the renamed 2003 SP1 setupldr.bin. G:\RAMLOAD.IMG: Use ImDisk, create a new virtual image, 10 mb. Let's use letter H: Format virtual drive. Copy \$WIN_NT$.~BT\ files to H:\I386\ Copy txtsetup.sif to H:\I386\txtsetup.sif. hiveOEM.inf goes to H:\I386\txtsetup.sif. XP installation does work. Files goes to a AHCI SATA harddisk. Boot.ini get rdisk(0). This is NOT rdisk(1). One drawback: grub4dos virtual floppy get's drive letter c: Therefore internal harddisk get's d: Sad, I expected a different behaviour because of floppy mapping. Does a more experienced grub4dos user have a solution? Fixing c: at H:\I386\migrate.inf does work too. However this is not a general soution. Partition and format at USB XP installation creates a new DiskID. Fixed c: is not valid anymore. Random idea: XP Embedded creates virtual hard disks, including MBR and MountedDevices. Extract hard disk image: dd if=raminst.sdi of=raminst.img skip=8 More testing time needed. @snowden Yes, a working \I386 solution would be nice. If you provide a working solution, I'll use this happily. Setupldr.bin support two modes: CD and floppy/harddisk mode. Selecting mode is unknown. I suspect ntdetect.com hardware findings or different file systems. IF a BIOS would boot from ISO9660 at USB... At CD mode folder \I386 is used. At floppy/harddisk mode folder \$WIN_NT$.~BT, \cmdcons or \minint is used. But there are more files involved. Setupdd.sys at textmode setup. Gui mode setup is the next difficulty. Winnt32 with options syspart and tempdrive copy \$WIN_NT$.~BT and \$WIN_NT$.~LS files to hard disk. In addition partitin is marked as active. This can be run from a running PE. In addition I wonder, what hapens if this is applied to a USB drive? And windows is installed. Are files deleted at USB drive?

Try Bootable Ghost restore CD-Rom "ELGHOST" http://www.nu2.nu/bootcd/#elghost By default this creates a bootable floppy image and add ghost files to CD. Create ISO image only. Burn ISO file to DVD.

@Ilko_t Don't misunderstand me. I appreciate all your testings and findings. I'm slitting myself: At testing machines insane approaches are allowed, e.g. two USB sticks. All data may be destroyed. At testing machines I like grub4dos map and boot.ini signature. I haven't understood BIOS, grub4dos and windows setup behaviour fully. Contrary a final solution has to work at unknown machines too. No partiton or data is destroyed. At unknown machines I like a low risk solution. Currently that's avoid grub4dos map. Boot.ini may have to be manually edited. If there is a secure map solution, I happily change my mind and use this solution. Thanks for migrate.inf scripting report. First version is more a basic test version. Yes write-protect entries can be added. I've limited free time: no further testings and no development so far.

Different user have different needs. I consider USB WinXP installation as a emergency solution. This should work at different machines, manually parts are allowed. My menu.lst part is pretty dump title boot /$WIN_NT$.~BT/setupldr.bin chainloader /$WIN_NT$.~BT/setupldr.binAs known, this gives a broken boot.ini pointing to rdisk(1). A "map (hd0) (hd1)" use fixed hdN numbers. At different machines both source and target may use different hdN numbers. E.g. a internal card reader may result in different hdN numbers. And different BIOS use different USB boot handling. A new unkown machine may get different results to previous experience. That's not a general solution. A general working unattended solution would be nice. In the meantime I use a manually workarround: I knew false boot.ini entries from the past and will recognice this in future. I manually edit boot.ini at first reboot. $winnt$.inf was not edited, false entries are there still. Recovery console, PE and Knoppix are at this USB stick anyway. I din't used unattended feature to remove USB write protection. At first windows boot, I opened regedit.exe and deleted StorageDevicePolicies. A idea, NOT tested: hiveOEM.inf [Version] Signature = "$Windows NT$" DriverVer=07/01/2001,5.1.2600.2180 [AddReg] ;WriteProtect USB HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies","WriteProtect",0x10001,1 ;remove WriteProtect USB at first windows boot HKLM,"Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce","Remove_WriteProtect",,"reg.exe delete HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies /f" ;set OEM drivers at USB U: HKLM,"SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion","DevicePath",0x00020002,"%SystemRoot%\inf;U:\OEM_driver\int1;U:\OEM_driver\vga1"ilko_t's winnt.inf [GuiRunOnce] remove WriteProtect makes more sense. Some fun: title boot (hd1,0)/$WIN_NT$.~BT/setupldr.bin map --read-only (hd0) (hd1) map --hook root (hd1,0) chainloader (hd1,0)/$WIN_NT$.~BT/setupldr.bin savedefault 1Setup is started, textmode does work, first reboot fails. Broken boot.ini: multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(2)partition(1)\WINDOWS2 Recognice rdisk(2), that's not rdisk(1). A second USB stick was attached too. Idea: second USB stick was hd1, internal harddisk hd2. After removing second USB stick, grub4dos fails: Error 27: Disk read error. There is a internal SATA ACHI hd with NTFS partitions. Neither at second second USB stick not hard disk is a /$WIN_NT$.~BT/setupldr.bin. /$WIN_NT$.~BT/setupldr.bin exist once at hole machine. chainloader (hd1,0)/ntldr_bt give Error 27 too. Second USB stick inserted again: map --read-only (hd0) (hd2) map --hook root (hd2,0) chainloader (hd2,0)/$WIN_NT$.~BT/setupldr.binSetupldr.bin is loaded, however ntdetect failed. At the other hand boot.ini signature(de33eaf8) indicates: Windows setup detected some strange environment and use a fall back settings. Requested settings ask grub4dos to build a insane mapping: two hds mapped to the same hdX. That's a broken design. Contrary this may work at all machines or fail at some machines. I like a fixed USB drive letter still, compare OEM drivers at USB U: So I created a first version to extract MountedDevices setting. Copy MkMigratgeInf.cmd to <USB drive>\$WIN_NT$.~BT\MkMigratgeInf.cmd and launch it. This USB drive is mapped to DosDevices U:. A MIGRATE.INF.TXT is created, open it and read file. Rename file to migrate.inf. MkMigratgeInf.cmd @echo off REM MkMigratgeInf.cmd v0.01 REM created by cdob setlocal EnableExtensions set Drive=%~d1 if %Drive%.==. set Drive=%~d0 set FileName=%~2 if %FileName%.==. set FileName=MIGRATE.INF.TXT set MigrateDrive=U: if not %~d3.==. set MigrateDrive=%~d3 set Value= FOR /F "skip=2 tokens=1-2*" %%a IN ('reg query HKLM\System\MountedDevices /v \DosDevices\%Drive%') DO set Value=%%c if %Value%.==. (echo drive settings %Drive% not found & goto :EOF) set MigrateStr=%Value:~0,2% set count=2 :begin_parse call :exec set MidStr=%%Value:~%count%,2%% if %MidStr%.==. goto :exit_parse set MigrateStr=%MigrateStr%,%MidStr% set /a count+=2 goto begin_parse :exit_parse (echo [Version] echo Signature = "$Windows NT$" echo. echo [Addreg] echo HKLM,"SYSTEM\MountedDevices","\DosDevices\%MigrateDrive%",0x00030001,\ echo %MigrateStr%)>%FileName% goto :EOF :exec %* goto :EOFA XP default reg.exe is expected. By the way: A RAM loaded PE image read file \I386\system32\migrate.inf. Another untesed idea: use migrate.inf for general settings Create tow similar PE, small registry changes. Two setupldr.bin: one calls migrate.inf, another calls migrat2.inf.

Setup tries to delete all files still, but can't delete files.I've no idea, how setup works internally. Yes, a batch can convert MountedDevices keys. This is a job for a Rob van der Woude third party author. Rember a fixed USB drive letter is not required, but may be nice anyway. Yes, StorageDevicePolicies could be one line in migrate.inf. REG_BINARY is easier to read and may get less errors at editing migrate.inf. And this was a hint, migrate.inf can hold additional entries. BTW: At PE setupldr.bin read \minint\system32\migrate.inf.

It dosn't care about hex address: At this example 2003 SP2 files does boot. I get neither "NTLDR is corrupt" nor "NTDETECT Failed". Another hardware or name may get different result.

Setup deletes files at two times: -end of textmode setup -end of graphic mode setup: T -1 minutes Set USB WriteProtect twice. First \$WIN_NT$.~BT\migrate.inf [Version] Signature = "$Windows NT$" [Addreg] ;fix USB drive letter, adjust setting to your partition HKLM,"SYSTEM\MountedDevices",,0x00000010 HKLM,"SYSTEM\MountedDevices","\DosDevices\U:",0x00030001,\ 5c,00,3f,00,3f,00,5c,00,53,00,54,00,4f,00,52,00,41,00,\ 47,00,45,00,23,00,52,00,65,00,6d,00,6f,00,76,00,61,00,62,00,6c,00,65,00,4d,\ 00,65,00,64,00,69,00,61,00,23,00,37,00,26,00,31,00,64,00,64,00,65,00,34,00,\ 37,00,39,00,65,00,26,00,30,00,26,00,52,00,4d,00,23,00,7b,00,35,00,33,00,66,\ 00,35,00,36,00,33,00,30,00,64,00,2d,00,62,00,36,00,62,00,66,00,2d,00,31,00,\ 31,00,64,00,30,00,2d,00,39,00,34,00,66,00,32,00,2d,00,30,00,30,00,61,00,30,\ 00,63,00,39,00,31,00,65,00,66,00,62,00,38,00,62,00,7d,00 ;WriteProtect USB HKLM,"SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\StorageDevicePolicies","WriteProtect",%REG_DWORD%,1 [Strings] ;Handy macro substitutions (non-localizable) REG_SZ = 0x00000000 REG_BINARY = 0x00000001 REG_DWORD = 0x00010001 REG_MULTI_SZ = 0x00010000 REG_SZ_APPEND = 0x00010008 REG_EXPAND_SZ = 0x00020000MountedDevices fixes USB drive letter to U: This can be used at PNP time. Setting is hardware related, export MountedDevices USB setting from local registry. Different USB Sticks may require different MountedDevices settings. Create different migrate.inf. Second \$WIN_NT$.~LS\I386\hiveOEM.inf [Version] Signature = "$Windows NT$" DriverVer=07/01/2001,5.1.2600.2180 [AddReg] ;WriteProtect USB HKLM,"SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\StorageDevicePolicies","WriteProtect",0x10001,1 \txtsetup.sif: add hiveOEM.inf [SourceDisksFiles] hiveOEM.inf = 100,,,,,,_x,,3,3 [HiveInfs.Fresh] AddReg = hiveOEM.inf,AddReg \$WIN_NT$.~BT\winnt.sif [data] msdosinitiated="1" UseSignatures="no" EulaComplete="1" Install windows. At T -1 minutes wait a looong time or remove USB stick. Setup reboots then. No files are deleted at USB stick. After windows installation USB stick is write protected still. You may change StorageDevicePolicies to 0 to disable write protection and delete USB stick in device manager. Another solution might be fbwf (File Based Write Filter Driver): write protect drive letter U: A XP Embedded user may have more knowledge.

Read Post #69 http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...st&p=580692 Search string "46 da 74 03" does work at 2003 SP2 too.

Sorry, I've to disappoint you, I misleaded myself.Method 5 dosn't work. Image is loaded in RAM, txtsetup.sif is processed. However files are copied from hard disk c:\$WIN_NT$.~LS. Conclusion: Setup copies files from a BIOS device. A 2003 setupldr.bin ramdisk dosn't fit in. If BIOS support is required, I doubt a ramdisk work at all. As known, $WIN_NT$.~BT does work at USB stick. However files are deleted. Idea: a write filter driver like fbwf may help. Free time: I won't try USB install anymore this year.

Continued:They are no files deleted. Well, maybe files are deleted inside a RAM loaded (SDI) image. But who cares? At reboot windows setup does work. No files are requested. XP got installed. Yes, a "fixed" USB Mass Storage device may get a prefered drive letter. And given a empty harddisk without a partition, USB stick may get letter C: Windows %SystemDrive% may get letter D: Of course, this dosn't break windows. But a lot of user expect windows at C: There comes the preset USB drive letter at migrate.inf.

I integrated and edited my migrate.inf. Now this file contain USB stick lettter only. [Version] Signature = "$Windows NT$" [Addreg] HKLM,"SYSTEM\MountedDevices",,0x00000010 HKLM,"SYSTEM\MountedDevices","\DosDevices\U:",0x00030001,\ 5c,00,3f,00,3f,00,5c,00,53,00,54,00,4f,00,52,00,41,00,47,00,45,00,23,00,52,\ 00,65,00,6d,00,6f,00,76,00,61,00,62,00,6c,00,65,00,4d,00,65,00,64,00,69,00,\ 61,00,23,00,37,00,26,00,31,00,64,00,64,00,65,00,34,00,37,00,39,00,65,00,26,\ 00,30,00,26,00,52,00,4d,00,23,00,7b,00,35,00,33,00,66,00,35,00,36,00,33,00,\ 30,00,64,00,2d,00,62,00,36,00,62,00,66,00,2d,00,31,00,31,00,64,00,30,00,2d,\ 00,39,00,34,00,66,00,32,00,2d,00,30,00,30,00,61,00,30,00,63,00,39,00,31,00,\ 65,00,66,00,62,00,38,00,62,00,7d,00This works, setup set drive letter U: for USB stick. A fixed letter U: may be useful later: load PNP driver from USB stick. Dosn't this example boot from internal hard disk and map USB stick?This change USB drive to first hard drive. Setupldr.bin find files at hd0 now. However a USB booted drive is mapped by BIOS to hd0 already. I like to map USB stick to hd1, internal hard disk to hd0. And launch setupldr.bin from hd1 then. Setupldr.bin may behave different in minint mode and in installation mode too. title boot - /$WIN_XP$.~BT/setupldr.bin map (hd1) (hd0) map (hd1) (hd0) chainloader /$WIN_XP$.~BT/setupldr.binTxtset01.inf not found. title /$WIN_XP$.~BT/setupldr.bin on USB stick (hd0) (fd0) map (hd0,0)+1 (fd0) map --hook map --floppies=1 chainloader (fd0)/$WIN_XP$.~BT/setupldr.binNtdetect failed. Known: chainloading bootsector files at ntldr/boot.ini does work too. But this is acroos one hard disk, the same or different partition. Maybe chainloading bootsector files at USB stick is usefull too. Contrary setupldr.bin might seek files at hd0 still. I doubt this idea at second glance. Different term: RAM Loaded Image: Intermediate success: method 5 RAM loaded image does work. Adapt flyakites multiboot DVD tutorial. ISO image XP.ISO contains: Txtsetup.sif SetupSourcePath [SetupData] SetupSourcePath ="\$WIN_NT$.~LS\" Part of winnt.sif [SetupData] BootDevice = "ramdisk(0)" BootPath = "\I386\" OsLoadOptions = "/noguiboot /fastdetect /rdexportascd /rdpath=XP.ISO" [Data] MsDosInitiated = "1" Setup find files, dosn't ask for CD ROM anymore and copied files to hard disk. Because of time I truncated at this point, full test has to follow. A NTFS compressed SDI image may be possible too. But what's the point? Windows source files are compressed still. Hot fix integration may be a point. However this increase RAM requirements. Some answers, but list of questions grows each day.

Short notice, busy. No further tests so far. I deleted file migrate.inf at \$WIN_XP$.~BT in the past. Migrate.inf contain MountedDevices settings. This may work at one machine only. I booted from USB stick, but internal hard disk got drive letter c: Thanks for crosslinks. KB234048 does describe this behavior: Internal hard disk is the first fixed hard disk. Active primary partitions get letter c: This create a question: What about a clean hard disk without any partition? Back to step 5: ISO loaded RAM image: I tried \I386 in the past. This failed. I'm wondering: What about a image containing \txtsetup.sif, \$WIN_NT$.~BT and \$WIN_NT$.~LS? Idea: Dosn't grub4dos load hd images in RAM too? Dietmar, where are you?

I failed at item 3 and 5. Setupldr.bin does boot, however request a CD-ROM later. Yes, item 4 \$WIN_NT$.~BT and \$WIN_NT$.~LS does work at USB, at least almost. My experience: At first step use a empty USB drive. Make local source files winnt32.exe /makelocalsource /noreboot Copy files and folders to USB Stick There is grub4dos at USB Stick: menu.lst Next step, let's use unique names: gsar -i -o -sminint -rdummy:x00 setupldr.bin gsar -i -o -swinnt.sif -rwin01.sif setupldr.bin gsar -i -o -stxtsetup.sif -rtxtset01.sif setupldr.bin gsar -i -o -s$WIN_NT$.~BT -r$WIN_XP$.~BT setupldr.bin \txtset01.sif [SetupData] SetupSourcePath = "\$WIN_XP$\" Existing files This failed. Setup dosn't find installation files at \$WIN_XP$\.Change unicode string $WIN_NT$ to $WIN_XP$: expand -r setupdd.sy_ del setupdd.sy_ gsar -i -o -s$:x00W:x00I:x00N:x00_:x00N:x00T:x00$:x00.:x00~:x00L:x00S:x00 -r$:x00W:x00I:x00N:x00_:x00X:x00P:x00$:x00.:x00~:x00L:x00S:x00 setupdd.sys Existing files menu.lst title boot - /$WIN_XP$.~BT/setupldr.bin chainloader /$WIN_XP$.~BT/setupldr.bin I booted machine, pressed F12 and selected boot device USB drive. And installed winodws to c: (internal hard disk, first primary partition). At end of installation, setup clean USB drive: \$WIN_XP$.~LS is deleted First reboot failed. c:\boot.ini default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS rdisk(0) is not used. BIOS change hard disk order at selecting USB boot device: rdisk(1) is internal hard disk BIOS set default order at next boot from hard disk : rdisk(0) is internal hard disk After editing c:\boot.ini, winodws is installed. default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS Next step, swap hard disk order menu.lst title boot - /$WIN_XP$.~BT/setupldr.bin map (hd1) (hd0) map (hd0) (hd1) chainloader /$WIN_XP$.~BT/setupldr.binThis failed, setupldr.bin dosn't find txtset01.sif anymore.

Use a enhanced search string "46 da 74 03" gsar -o -s:x46:xda:x74:x03 -r:x46:xda:xEB:x1A setupldr.bin gsar.exe http://home.online.no/~tjaberg/

XP SP2 use file name ntoskrnl.exe, not ntkrnlmp.exe.

@TheCrowX There are reliable CD-RW. Winnt.sif and txtsetup.oem has to contain the same string. You may edit txtsetup.oem. A edited txtsetup.oem may contain 'iaAHCI = "Intel SATA AHCI Controller"'. ISO9660 directroy name has to be $OEM$, not _OEM_. ISO9660 names has to be uppercased: $OEM$, WINNT.SIF, TXTSETUP.OEM Run ISOBuster and compare. Does your hardware use ID PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_27C3 ?

@TheCrowX [MassStorageDrivers] has to match the description in txtsetup.oem. That's not the hole line. Remove iaAHCI_ICH7R. [code][MassStorageDrivers] "Intel(R) 82801GR/GH SATA RAID Controller (Desktop ICH7R/DH)" = "OEM"[/code] Or try[code][MassStorageDrivers] "Intel SATA RAID Controller" = "OEM" "Intel SATA AHCI Controller" = "OEM"[/code] [code]; **************************************************************************** ; **************************************************************************** ; ** Filename: TxtSetup.OEM ; **************************************************************************** ; **************************************************************************** [Disks] disk1 = "Intel Matrix Storage Manager driver", iaStor.sys, \ [Defaults] scsi = iaStor ;----------- Component Section ----------- [scsi] iaStor = "Intel SATA RAID Controller" iaAHCI = "Intel SATA AHCI Controller" ;------------------------------------------- [Files.scsi.iaStor] driver = disk1, iaStor.sys, iaStor inf = disk1, iaStor.inf catalog = disk1, iaStor.cat [Files.scsi.iaAHCI] driver = disk1, iaStor.sys, iaStor inf = disk1, iaAHCI.inf catalog = disk1, iaAHCI.cat ;------------------------------------------- [Config.iaStor] value = "", tag, REG_DWORD, 1b value = "", ErrorControl, REG_DWORD, 1 value = "", Group, REG_SZ, "SCSI miniport" value = "", Start, REG_DWORD, 0 value = "", Type, REG_DWORD, 1 ;------------------------------------------------------- [HardwareIds.scsi.iaStor] id = "PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_27C3&CC_0104","iaStor" id = "PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2652&CC_0104","iaStor" id = "PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_24DF&CC_0104","iaStor" id = "PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_25B0&CC_0104","iaStor" ;id = "PCI\VEN_8086&CC_0104","iaStor" [HardwareIds.scsi.iaAHCI] id = "PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_27C1&CC_0106","iaStor" id = "PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2652&CC_0106","iaStor" id = "PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_2653&CC_0106","iaStor" ;id = "PCI\VEN_8086&CC_0106","iaStor"[/code]