natan770

Good to hear! I've just made other improvements, like giving the possibility to choose wether a CD or a DVD will be burnt. There's a bug correction, too... the latest release can be obtained there (direct link that will remove any old version and install the new one instead: http://www.windowsdream.com/dl/DVD_Generat...EN-NoDotnet.exe ). Concerning dvdburn.exe... has the Generator been able to successfully burn the ISO ? Yes. In fact, the install mode I've built is different from a CD-based one. Let me explain. Normally, CD's setup.exe is being launched by the setup version of ntldr, and if a winnt.sif exists on the CD, you'll see something like that: [DATA] OriSrc = "D:\" or no OriSrc parameter at all. We do it another way. The Generator builds a c.7z file. If you open it, you'll see two folders inside: winnt.~ls and winnt.~bt. The Linux PE script formats or repartitions the future C: drive, and copies these 2 folders on C:\. Ntldr does not launch any setup.exe, but is made to believe that a setup.exe has already been launched, and generated the 2 winnt.~ folders. That's the reason why at the end of the Linux step, the CD is ejected. It's not useful any more. And that's also why our winnt.sif must have these lines: [DATA] OriSrc = "C:\$win_nt$.~ls\i386" If you have replaced the default winnt.sif with yours, make sure this line is still there. If there's no OriSrc line (default i386\winnt.sif), MS's setup will look for a CD... and won't find it. Regards Natan

You definitely can and should reuse them! Regards Natan

DVD Generator 1.10 is out! Many people have requested much more interaction to be added. That's why I've modified the application, and added a customization step, with a better GUI. It's now possible, easy and fast (well, I hope so), to choose exactly what software will be installed by the generated DVD, to add/remove drivers, etc. nLited i386 folders are now supported. Several little annoyances have been removed (ex.: the need for more free space than needed in several cases). This means you now get the advantages of a Linux PE environment, plus the possibilities of a nLited i386, plus the possibility to do most current customizations by editing a couple of INI files. There would be much to say about the features brought by this release, and I still have to write a DOC about integrating this with a PXE/RIS environment... Download => http://www.windowsdream.com/dvdgen/download.html News => http://www.windowsdream.com/dvdgen/news.html Regards Natan

Hi there! Much possible, since I have no DVD burner, and assumed it was not a major obstacle, since an ISO can be burnt easily. But you'd be nice if you helped me a little concerning this issue. The goal is to have DVDBURN.EXE burn the ISO. Currently, the app does this: dvdburn d: c:\Output_Rep\dvd.iso /Erase dvdburn e: c:\Output_Rep\dvd.iso /Erase and so on, up to z: :) I'm considering repeating twice each line, so to have one with /Erase, one without. Any suggestion will be welcomed. In fact, burning from the app is cool, and prevents not se few people from burning the ISO as a file instead of as an ISO. This is quite new, indeed. By booting the DVD made out of the ISO, you should have isolinux load a linux kernel on your system, and see no mention about Windows. Can you give more details ?... Regards Natan

yep sorry that was my (MFSN GEEK) wanting to MOD anything and everything about it. Me I don't care about the C: if thats all its gonna do in cause I'll restore very quickly with my well prepared UAXP created by my own program. Just giving ya some thoughts. I don't do French so the DBdesigner in fench does me no good. Lol, in fact, I'm really taking your remarks into account, and preparing a new release... your remarks are really welcome. In the new release, you'll be able to customize everything. I think I will have finished by tomorrow or after tomorrow, since a lot of testing must be done. Regard Natan

Thanks for it... Yep, this was conflicting with a nLited i386. That's why I've just added a checkbox to prevent any check for i386 consistency. You don't need any more to have a complete XPCD. One of the initial goals of the project was: let's not make another nLite. Here, we want a Windows distribution ready to install anywhere (except a MSFN geek's computer, that was obvious...!) Say you want to get a unique DVD in your briefcase, and save a neighbour without spending the night. On another hand... (below) I didn't do it first, but I'm on my way to add this. In the next release, you'll be able to modify everything, and download only needed stuff. So, you should enjoy the benefits of the Linux pre-install scripts, and all the possibilities it gives, without having to use other features if you don't need them, or say, if you've built better ones. This is a main feature of the Linux PE: it definitely can install on a C: drive without formating anything. Well, don't use it on your own system if you want to keep your existing Windows... but it should not kill your other partitions. Will be back soon with improvements... your comments do help. Natan

Hi there; they are 7-zipped, so you should be able to open everything. Every exe contains a msi, sometimes mst too, and there's a small cmd to execute the msi. The msi are made to get ride of problems, like reboots, etc. Packages are regularly updated. See http://www.windowsdream.com/updater/news.html for news. Regards, Natan http://dvdgen.windowsdream.com -- Burn your own complete and unattended Windows installer on a DVD http://updater.windowsdream.com -- Auto-update your PC with freeware/opensource http://ping.windowsdream.com -- Partimage Is Not Ghost http://repository.windowsdream.com -- All software... everything self-exe, msi-packaged http://www.windowsdream.com -- Corporate homepage.

Hi people! I've just updated the release of the DVD Generator so that it supports nLited i386 folders. Everything available here: http://dvdgen.windowsdream.com/dvdgen/download.html Please note that executing a .EXE install file will automatically uninstall the previous version of the Generator prior to installing the new one. Regards Natan

Hi ! I'll release a nLite-friendly new version tomorrow evening, as I realize it's important... Have a good WE Natan

Hi people ! as many people have downloaded the tool and burnt ISOs, I'd like to have a little feedback... did this work for you ? have you experienced trouble or not-100%-working things ? etc. Thanks! Natan

Hey! I wish I had someone like you to give help and advice The MP3 idea is not bad. It's not always evident, with Linux, to set the soundcard up, but yes this can be done. On another hand, I wanted the RAM image not to be bigger than 256 Mo, because this is the memory size they currently sell everywhere -- and who would like to install XP with less memory?! even to my mother-in-law, I wouldn't do that and the X11 is taking a looooot of room. As for XBox... I don't know, never tested such a thing! But I think a VERY interesting approach would be to add more NICs, and above all, wifi cards. And ADSL support out of the box. The Linux PE offers very very nice possibilities, that I've coded but didn't advertise yet. See: Take 3 files out of your output directory: initrd.gz, kernel, isolinux.cfg. Then, burn a CD with only these 3 files, and isolinux.bin as boot sector (no emul, boot size = 4 sectors). Boot it! you can install the same image than what you've got on your DVD with only this. More. Use pxelinux instead of isolinux (see PING, http://ping.windowsdream.com, for a working example, and ajust the pxelinux parameters with isolinux values) and put kernel and initrd.gz on a RIS server. This works too, the exact same way. In this case, the Linux script asks for a Windows XP CD, and use it the same way the DVD Generator does. It even applies the Service Pack (yes, linux can ...) Of course, files must be downloaded from network. Either LAN, either Internet. Supported protocols are FTP, HTTP, and Samba (= Microsoft Shares). Proxies are supported. The current kernel supports a LOT of NICs, and we can improve this. (Another thing about this kind of installation: you can take the c.7z file the DVD Generator creates, and share it with all other files. In this case, the Windows CD is not needed any more.) There are finally other advantages with a Linux PE: We can use already NTFS-formated partitions, and (re)install Windows on them, a clean way, without formating it (Microsoft setup cannot, or you've got to install on another part, which makes a discrageful D:\Windows NOBODY wants). If choosing to format, we can pre-partition the way we want, an unattended way (you cannot tell winnt.sif to do this; Microsoft forgot it.) Currently, the Linux script, when you choose to make an install from scratch, will let you fix the size of the C: drive (to install the system on it), and affect everything remaining on a D drive (so you can reajust with no need for software like Partition Magic). S-ATA is supported with no effort. Never add drivers in your i386 again. The LinPE does the job the first part of Microsoft's setup used to do... so forget about F6. Now... We're presently 3 people working on the idea and a lot has been done. But a lot more can be done to improve and maintain. I mean that if someone out there would like to join the team, it'd just be great! Regards Natan

Hi CBC! Concerning nLite: yes, you can tell the Generator to use a nLited i386. It will accept it without complaining. Consistency of a i386 directory is checked against the presence of a dozen of typical files. Here they are: "ARIAL.TT", "ATAPI.SY", "CALC.EX", "CMD.EX", "COUR.TT", "DRIVER.CA", "HIMEM.SY", "NET.EX", "NTLDR", "NTOSKRNL.EX", "WINHELP.HL" There should be more than 4,000 files, too, a SYSTEM32 subdir, and a ASMS subdir. So, if your nLited i386 matches these criteria, no pb. And if doesn't, please let me know, so I'll add a checkbox to avoid the consistency test (advanced users...) Concerning the languages: you're right. Presently, the program only downloads MUI packs if the i386 flavor is English, as they are useless otherwise. I considered the weight of the packs, the size of a DVD, the speed of today's ADSL connections, and well... but it seems right to me that in a next version, you could choose this, and not only this, but as well what selection of softs you want. But there's a second possibility. Well, we've got a LinPE That means that we can put everything on the DVD, then add a menu on Linux to let the choice be done THEN. It's good to know that on a DVD, you've got everything ready... Maybe I'll add menus in the Generator AND in Linux as well, so you can choose what you put on the DVD, AND what is installed on the target computer when you use the DVD. What's your opinion ?... Regards Natan http://www.windowsdream.com/dvdgen/index.fr.html -- Graver une distrib Windows complète et silencieuse sur un DVD automatiquement http://www.windowsdream.com/updater/index.fr.html -- Mises à jour automatiques des softs de votre PC (freeware/opensource) http://ping.windowsdream.com -- Partimage Is Not Ghost http://www.windowsdream.com/index.fr.html -- La page corporate

I don't think so, since you can download them on Microsoft's website for free. In my opinion, they do have a license, but you can redistribute them the exact same way you'd do for hotfixes or a service pack. They are mirrored in a number of sites... say, mine is just one more

Sounds good, but someitmes, we have hundreds of drivers in one directory... what would be really nice is a script that would eliminate doubles, keep latest versions, and do it in spite of the cases where several drivers and .inf are in one folder. It's not that easy, indeed !

Hi Bi0haZarD! first, thank you for the remark you've sent to me by mail (...) you know what. Hey, it can be done easily! are you serious about the need? the bootsector is built using some of lilo's magic, so adding a boot entry is easy. But, see. By default, we create a standard boot.ini and NT5 bootsector. And by default, we create 2 partitions: C for the system, D for everything else (you can set the size of the C during the menu-driven step). So, it's very simple, afterwards, to resize D from Windows itself (no need for Partition Magic) so to add some Linux partitions, and boot.ini only needs one more line to boot it. Can be done a lot of ways... I was not expecting less from you... Yes, the RELEASE directory to be downloaded is about 1.5 Go-big. But once it's downloaded, files are kept on your drive, so you don't have to download them twice. I know it's time-consuming (and bandwith-consuming, BTW...) so I've coded the soft to download only what is lacking, or what has changed. So, if you reuse the Generator next month, you're not likely to download more than 200 Mo. It's important to mention that it can be stopped at any time, and will continue at the point it has stopped. Regards Natan http://dvdgen.windowsdream.com -- Burn your own complete and unattended Windows installer on a DVD http://updater.windowsdream.com -- Auto-update your PC with freeware/opensource http://ping.windowsdream.com -- Partimage Is Not Ghost http://www.windowsdream.com -- Corporate homepage.

Hi there! it's absolutely true. I made it a different way, because Microsoft's setup is not so clever : - You cannot tell a classical unattended winnt.sif file that you want 2 partitions, etc. - Another problem with Micorosft's setup is the problem of formating. Sometimes, I don't want to format. - And if I've got 2 parts and an old Windows on the C, maybe I don't want setup to install another Windows on the D (yes, it does this oddity). - You cannot compress the $oem$ directory... in my case, it's weight is 1Go, resulting to 255Mo after 7-zipping (because many files appear several times in the drivers repository) But there's more. You can do *a lot* when you have a good PE OS. I'll soon release a 50Mo Linux ISO that can install the exactly same FULL Windows on the fly! In fact, this is already working nice: take the initrd.gz and kernel, put them on a RIS server ALONE, and you'll still be able to install Windows, granted you've got a i386 somewhere. In that case, needed stuff is downloaded, either from the internet, either from your LAN.

Hi! I'm pleased to release a new and easy-to-use tool that will generate a bootable unattended Windows XP install out of a standard Windows XP CDRom. No computer knowledge is required to use this. It might not be the master you'll deploy in your 50,000-PCs company, but it's likely to be the perfect DVD you'll install for your neighbour. Cooking Receipt: 1. Prepare your own Windows XP CDRom (or a i386 directory) 2. Get the serial number 3. Let the DVD Generator make a nice release out of your CDRom, adding: - Latest service pack; - Hotfixes; - MUI Packs, if available; - More than 1 Go of drivers; - Up-to-date software, including OpenOffice, 7-Zip, Adobe Reader, etc. Once you've made your DVD, you can boot it on any x86 computer and have Windows XP installed for you -- painless. All questions are raised at first, and it takes 5 minutes to answer them. Afterwards, you can safely leave the screen. Note that you can integrate it within a RIS environment, though I've not documented it yet. Features, screenshots, download => http://dvdgen.windowsdream.com I'd be very interested in getting feedback from users... Hope you'll find the idea useful. Regards, Natan http://dvdgen.windowsdream.com -- Burn your own complete and unattended Windows installer on a DVD http://updater.windowsdream.com -- Auto-update your PC with freeware/opensource http://ping.windowsdream.com -- Partimage Is Not Ghost http://www.windowsdream.com -- Corporate homepage.

Hi! I'm pleased to release a new and easy-to-use tool that will generate a bootable unattended Windows XP install out of a standard Windows XP CDRom. No computer knowledge is required to use this. It might not be the master you'll deploy in your 50,000-PCs company, but it's likely to be the perfect DVD you'll install for your neighbour. Cooking Receipt: 1. Prepare your own Windows XP CDRom (or a i386 directory) 2. Get the serial number 3. Let the DVD Generator make a nice release out of your CDRom, adding: - Latest service pack; - Hotfixes; - MUI Packs, if available; - More than 1 Go of drivers; - Up-to-date software, including OpenOffice, 7-Zip, Adobe Reader, etc. Once you've made your DVD, you can boot it on any x86 computer and have Windows XP installed for you -- painless. All questions are raised at first, and it takes 5 minutes to answer them. Afterwards, you can safely leave the screen. Note that you can integrate it within a RIS environment, though I've not documented it yet. Features, screenshots, download => http://dvdgen.windowsdream.com I'd be very interested in getting feedback from users... Hope you'll find the idea useful. Regards, Natan http://dvdgen.windowsdream.com -- Burn your own complete and unattended Windows installer on a DVD http://updater.windowsdream.com -- Auto-update your PC with freeware/opensource http://ping.windowsdream.com -- Partimage Is Not Ghost http://www.windowsdream.com -- Corporate homepage.

Why bother with Ghost, GhostCast, DOS NIC drivers or BartPE to customize... I've had the same problem, and I made it using Linux instead. Get my PING project here => http:///ping.windowsdream.com Natan PS: I'm not a heroe. Not even proud. But, hey! it works http://dvdgen.windowsdream.com -- Burn your own complete and unattended Windows installer on a DVD http://updater.windowsdream.com -- Auto-update your PC with freeware/opensource http://ping.windowsdream.com -- Partimage Is Not Ghost http://www.windowsdream.com -- Corporate homepage.

Do you need to ? on my PC it's working with no need to register.

And for a LaTeX nawbie like me, a package of Lyx would be great, too. Has it been compiled for win32 so far?

Hi Rik! nice to hear from you. Sure, I'll add the size -- no problem here. Good that there's a packaged iTunes available, I've been looking for it for a few days! will be on the repository soon enough. Regards Natan

Hi there; I've just started my little software repository... here are the rules of the making : MSI only (customized with a MST, or repackaged) switchless (of course) shrinked (that is, with 7-zip) auto-extractable (sfx, with cmd batch included to launch the install). Everything is shared there : http://repository.windowsdream.com/ Enjoy! Natan http://updater.windowsdream.com -- Auto-update your PC with freeware/opensource http://updater.windowsdream.com/why_msi.html -- Understand why installing packaged MSI is better" http://ping.windowsdream.com/ -- PING (Partimage Is Not Ghost)

Hi there! Just added : - VobSub 2.23 (Lang: EN) VobSub is a plug-in for VirtualDub that allows you to rip subtitles from DVD VOB files and to use the provided DirectShow filter for DivX playback with subtitles. Package also contains other tools like SubResync which allows you to synchronize subtitles with your video file. - Mediaportal 0.2.0 RC1 (Lang: EN) MediaPortal turns your PC in a very advanced Multi-Media Center / HTPC. It allows you to listen to your favorite music & radio, watch your video's and DVD's, view, schedule and record live TV and much more. You get Media Portal for free/nothing/nada/nopes and best of all it is opensource. This means anyone can help developing Media Portal or tweak it for their own needs! (All these applications can be deployed directly onto your PC through the SysAngel Updater, which you can get there: http://www.windowsdream.com. It's connected to a regularly-updated software repository, and it's free). Regards Natan http://updater.windowsdream.com -- Auto-update your PC with freeware/opensource http://updater.windowsdream.com/why_msi.html -- Understand why installing packaged MSI is better"

hehe... I guess the kernel has been compiled with NFS support, but I might have suppressed the binaries to gain some room on the RAM disk (can't remember). If so, you'd just have to add them again... but not many people want to use NFS shares when it comes to store gigas over the network...!