Nuno Brito

The boot land forums have a new location, unfortunately the previous databases could not be retrieved to add all previous postings, while the whole site is in contruction progress and all projects get re-updated, both forums will coexist, but new questions should be placed in the new link in order to keep track of developments. http://www.Boot-Land.net/forums Sorry for the inconvenience and thanks for the support..

Open Builder distribution comes with two projects under active development at this moment: nanoXP and standard. This thread only mentions nanoXP, because it is only meant to provide a small console with hardware support - it's sort of a fun discussion to see how small things can get.. However, this was all based on the standard project wich aims to build 45~55Mb ISO's - mostly intended to create very fast rescue boot disks running from CD/USB drives LiteStep is a good shell, but we've been using xoblite because it was updated more often. Using some of the experiments from nanoXP, the standard project can now also be reduced significantly, but it's still necessary to add suport for more programs before starting to reduce the final size - a lot of work and testings still need to be done - we really need more help on it.. any volunters? Here are a few screenshots: The standard project, using xoblite as default shell including a few more apps.. And the latest works using explorer as default shell.. This is mostly usefull to learn how to do this sort of things using any common windows XP/2003. These scripts are easy to read and understand, the goal here is provide as much information as possible to let others know what can really be achieved with these boot disks.

Winternals has a very good option to restore system points from PE rescue CD's.. Perhaps the repair option on your windows install CD can also be of some use. I hope it helps!

Well, I can help you with the registry part if you get stuck anywhere.. btw: A RAM boot surely gives more performance on any sort of build, it's a good option. Good luck with your project!

The standard project has a script file that will allow to create RAM bootable ISO's, you just have to ensure to use a win2003 r1 / r2 as source (available as trial on the ms site)

NanoXP is a free project meant to create size reduced bootable windows XP based builds. It's a good way to demonstrate some size compression/reduction techniques that can be used in most windows NT based OS. Some of the methods used: Selective file criteria when including files and drivers Using CAB'ed files that are supported by the boot process UPX on files that don't support the makecab method Carefull removal of system hives and adapting txtsetup.sif Using freedos-32 dll smaller files that can replace the original ms versions These scripts have been tested using a Windows XP SP2 as source - Windows 2003 is supported, but adds more 1,5Mb to the final ISO size. This project uses Open Builder, wich will create the entire build from a windows XP/2003 install CD, based on a similar process used by Bart's PE builder to create PE boot discs. The scripts are quite readable and easy to understand, to make a build one only needs to indicate the path to the source files (a windows XP/2003 install CD/Folder) and press play to see the results.. This build supports NTFS drives, and allows to add further customizations like changing the screen resolution, keyboard language and drivers. At the moment only CMD.EXE is tested and supported, other win32 command line programs should work properly, all applications that depend on graphical GUI components won't be compatible with freedos-32 dll's (they remove all GUI functions), you'll need to disable this script to get them working (adding 6Mb to build size), some extra work adding necessary file dependencies might be required. For graphical support on windows apps, a standard project is also included wich will create 45Mb ISO's, this project includes xoblite as default shell, A43 file manager and the possibility to boot and run your windows from RAM if you use a windows 2003 install CD as source. Both projects are not intended to replace a working windows XP/2003, produced ISO's are still quite limited when compared to instaled windows versions, it is only focused on support to simple windows applications. You can always get the latest updated versions included in openbuilder's distribution here: http://z3.invisionfree.com/Boot_Land/index.php?showtopic=107 The last discussion posts on the old host are here: http://z3.invisionfree.com/Boot_Land/index.php?showforum=39 The current location for all projects discussion is here: http://www.boot-land.net/forums Original development using batcher as script interpreter and the microPE project can be found here: http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?sho...6528&st=80# The nanoXP project is not static or closed source - anyone is free to edit, change and contribute to make it even better, I'll be answering related questions either here or in the home site, since this is still a very young project, there's also a lot of work to do and bug fixing to solve - Any contributions on feedback/development/beta testing are very welcome if you find this project interesting.. Have fun!

I'll surely get my hands on it now.. Thanks for posting your guide.

If you look into the microPE scripts (wich are plain text files..) you0ll find a script that will make your ISO ram bootable - but you'll have to use windows 2003 r1 or r2 as a source for your build.. Inside this script you'll find all the steps to create your own ram boot - this is valid either for winPE or any other xp/2003 boot - In fact, you can directly use batcher and the original RAM boot script to create this RAM ISO from your already made ISO file.. There's also a lot of info in the CD forums - they have quite a lot of good tips to follow..

I wonder how small would a microPE with SDI get?

UPX is a bit agressive when it comes to resources that are stored inside an EXE or DLL - these resources expect to find data at a predefined offset - and this is the reason why most of the time these dll's fail to work properly causing BSOD when booting windows. MakeCab on the other hand is quite safe to be used on most (not all..) dll's or system drivers - windows has a native handling of cab files, so it can automatically unarchive and run these compressed files without further issues. These tests are the result from experiences using a bartPE as source - but I guess they are also valid for windows PE since all the targeted files that I've cross compared match between them. A minimum bartPE win2003 based build sized in a bootable 16Mb ISO - wich only gave a command console, ntfs support and little more.. a "regular" microPE based on bartPE is sized in 40Mb with full network support, ntfs and includes third party freeware programs like xoblite and some other admin free tools to add more functionality.. If you want fast results, I'd recommend downloading microPE and let batcher do all the hard work, otherwise you can always use the filenames listed below to get you started with some "fail-safe" values.. This a snippet of micrope_Compressed.script it will UPX and CAB compress a selected number of files wich are tested and work just fine under compression. It will upx a few files in the system32 dir and makecab the rest of dll's and sys files that only support this cab compression, you should add more files to this list since this one was made using an already very reduced XP PE version (around 120 files).. [process] Echo,1,"UPX compressing 17 files" Echo,1,"Extracting UPX to tempdir" ExtractAllFiles,1,"%ScriptFile%","Folder","%tempdir%" Echo,1,"UPX'ing advapi32.dll (1/17)" ShellExecute,1,"hide","%tempdir%\upx.exe","-9 %TargetDir%\i386\system32\advapi32.dll" Echo,1,"UPX'ing comctl32.dll (2/17)" ShellExecute,1,"hide","%tempdir%\upx.exe","-9 %TargetDir%\i386\system32\comctl32.dll" Echo,1,"UPX'ing comdlg32.dll (3/17)" ShellExecute,1,"hide","%tempdir%\upx.exe","-9 %TargetDir%\i386\system32\comdlg32.dll" Echo,1,"UPX'ing crypt32.dll (4/17)" ShellExecute,1,"hide","%tempdir%\upx.exe","-9 %TargetDir%\i386\system32\crypt32.dll" Echo,1,"UPX'ing lsasrv.dll (5/17)" ShellExecute,1,"hide","%tempdir%\upx.exe","-9 %TargetDir%\i386\system32\lsasrv.dll" Echo,1,"UPX'ing netapi32.dll (6/17)" ShellExecute,1,"hide","%tempdir%\upx.exe","-9 %TargetDir%\i386\system32\netapi32.dll" Echo,1,"UPX'ing rpcrt4.dll (7/17)" ShellExecute,1,"hide","%tempdir%\upx.exe","-9 %TargetDir%\i386\system32\rpcrt4.dll" Echo,1,"UPX'ing samsrv.dll (8/17)" ShellExecute,1,"hide","%tempdir%\upx.exe","-9 %TargetDir%\i386\system32\samsrv.dll" Echo,1,"UPX'ing scesrv.dll (9/17)" ShellExecute,1,"hide","%tempdir%\upx.exe","-9 %TargetDir%\i386\system32\scesrv.dll" Echo,0,"UPX'ing shell32.dll (10/17)" ShellExecute,0,"hide","%tempdir%\upx.exe","-9 %TargetDir%\i386\system32\shell32.dll" Echo,1,"UPX'ing setupapi.dll (11/17)" ShellExecute,1,"hide","%tempdir%\upx.exe","-9 %TargetDir%\i386\system32\setupapi.dll" Echo,1,"UPX'ing sxs.dll (12/17)" ShellExecute,1,"hide","%tempdir%\upx.exe","-9 %TargetDir%\i386\system32\sxs.dll" Echo,1,"UPX'ing ufat.dll (13/17)" ShellExecute,1,"hide","%tempdir%\upx.exe","-9 %TargetDir%\i386\system32\ufat.DLL" Echo,1,"UPX'ing untfs.dll (14/17)" ShellExecute,1,"hide","%tempdir%\upx.exe","-9 %TargetDir%\i386\system32\untfs.dll" Echo,1,"UPX'ing user32.dll (15/17)" ShellExecute,0,"hide","%tempdir%\upx.exe","-9 %TargetDir%\i386\system32\user32.dll" Echo,1,"UPX'ing userenv.dll (16/17)" ShellExecute,1,"hide","%tempdir%\upx.exe","-9 %TargetDir%\i386\system32\userenv.dll" Echo,1,"UPX'ing wldap32.dll (17/17)" ShellExecute,1,"hide","%tempdir%\upx.exe","-9 %TargetDir%\i386\system32\wldap32.dll" FileDelete,1,"%tempdir%\upx.exe" Echo,1,"CAB compressing 21 files" Echo,1,"CAB'ing bootvid.dll (1/21)" ShellExecute,1,"hide","%SourceDir%\i386\system32\makecab.exe"," %TargetDir%\i386\system32\bootvid.dll %TargetDir%\i386\system32\bootvid.dl_" FileDelete,1,"%TargetDir%\i386\system32\bootvid.dll" Echo,1,"CAB'ing hal.dll (2/21)" ShellExecute,1,"hide","%SourceDir%\i386\system32\makecab.exe"," %TargetDir%\i386\system32\hal.dll %TargetDir%\i386\system32\hal.dl_" FileDelete,1,"%TargetDir%\i386\system32\hal.dll" Echo,1,"CAB'ing halaacpi.dll (3/21)" ShellExecute,1,"hide","%SourceDir%\i386\system32\makecab.exe"," %TargetDir%\i386\system32\halaacpi.dll %TargetDir%\i386\system32\halaacpi.dl_" FileDelete,1,"%TargetDir%\i386\system32\halaacpi.dll" Echo,1,"CAB'ing halacpi.dll (4/21)" ShellExecute,1,"hide","%SourceDir%\i386\system32\makecab.exe"," %TargetDir%\i386\system32\halacpi.dll %TargetDir%\i386\system32\halacpi.dl_" FileDelete,1,"%TargetDir%\i386\system32\halacpi.dll" Echo,1,"CAB'ing halapic.dll (5/21)" ShellExecute,1,"hide","%SourceDir%\i386\system32\makecab.exe"," %TargetDir%\i386\system32\halapic.dll %TargetDir%\i386\system32\halapic.dl_" FileDelete,1,"%TargetDir%\i386\system32\halapic.dll" Echo,1,"CAB'ing halmacpi.dll (6/21)" ShellExecute,1,"hide","%SourceDir%\i386\system32\makecab.exe"," %TargetDir%\i386\system32\halmacpi.dll %TargetDir%\i386\system32\halmacpi.dl_" FileDelete,1,"%TargetDir%\i386\system32\halmacpi.dll" Echo,1,"CAB'ing halmps.dll (7/21)" ShellExecute,1,"hide","%SourceDir%\i386\system32\makecab.exe"," %TargetDir%\i386\system32\halmps.dll %TargetDir%\i386\system32\halmps.dl_" FileDelete,1,"%TargetDir%\i386\system32\halmps.dll" Echo,1,"CAB'ing halsp.dll (8/21)" ShellExecute,1,"hide","%SourceDir%\i386\system32\makecab.exe"," %TargetDir%\i386\system32\halsp.dll %TargetDir%\i386\system32\halsp.dl_" FileDelete,1,"%TargetDir%\i386\system32\halsp.dll" Echo,1,"CAB'ing kdcom.dll (9/21)" ShellExecute,1,"hide","%SourceDir%\i386\system32\makecab.exe"," %TargetDir%\i386\system32\kdcom.dll %TargetDir%\i386\system32\kdcom.dl_" FileDelete,1,"%TargetDir%\i386\system32\kdcom.dll" Echo,1,"CAB'ing ntoskernel.exe (10/21)" ShellExecute,1,"hide","%SourceDir%\i386\system32\makecab.exe"," %TargetDir%\i386\system32\ntoskrnl.exe %TargetDir%\i386\system32\ntoskrnl.ex_" FileDelete,1,"%TargetDir%\i386\system32\ntoskrnl.exe" Echo,1,"CAB'ing acpi.sys (11/21)" ShellExecute,1,"hide","%SourceDir%\i386\system32\makecab.exe"," %TargetDir%\i386\system32\drivers\acpi.sys %TargetDir%\i386\system32\drivers\acpi.sy_" FileDelete,1,"%TargetDir%\i386\system32\drivers\acpi.sys" Echo,1,"CAB'ing acpiec.sys (12/21)" ShellExecute,1,"hide","%SourceDir%\i386\system32\makecab.exe"," %TargetDir%\i386\system32\drivers\acpiec.sys %TargetDir%\i386\system32\drivers\acpiec.sy_" FileDelete,1,"%TargetDir%\i386\system32\drivers\acpiec.sys" Echo,1,"CAB'ing cdfs.sys (13/21)" ShellExecute,1,"hide","%SourceDir%\i386\system32\makecab.exe"," %TargetDir%\i386\system32\drivers\cdfs.sys %TargetDir%\i386\system32\drivers\cdfs.sy_" FileDelete,1,"%TargetDir%\i386\system32\drivers\cdfs.sys" Echo,1,"CAB'ing fastfat.sys (14/21)" ShellExecute,1,"hide","%SourceDir%\i386\system32\makecab.exe"," %TargetDir%\i386\system32\drivers\fastfat.sys %TargetDir%\i386\system32\drivers\fastfat.sy_" FileDelete,1,"%TargetDir%\i386\system32\drivers\fastfat.sys" Echo,1,"CAB'ing isapnp.sys (15/21)" ShellExecute,1,"hide","%SourceDir%\i386\system32\makecab.exe"," %TargetDir%\i386\system32\drivers\isapnp.sys %TargetDir%\i386\system32\drivers\isapnp.sy_" FileDelete,1,"%TargetDir%\i386\system32\drivers\isapnp.sys" Echo,1,"CAB'ing ksecdd.sys (16/21)" ShellExecute,1,"hide","%SourceDir%\i386\system32\makecab.exe"," %TargetDir%\i386\system32\drivers\ksecdd.sys %TargetDir%\i386\system32\drivers\ksecdd.sy_" FileDelete,1,"%TargetDir%\i386\system32\drivers\ksecdd.sys" Echo,1,"CAB'ing ntfs.sys (17/21)" ShellExecute,1,"hide","%SourceDir%\i386\system32\makecab.exe"," %TargetDir%\i386\system32\drivers\ntfs.sys %TargetDir%\i386\system32\drivers\ntfs.sy_" FileDelete,1,"%TargetDir%\i386\system32\drivers\ntfs.sys" Echo,1,"CAB'ing pci.sys (18/21)" ShellExecute,1,"hide","%SourceDir%\i386\system32\makecab.exe"," %TargetDir%\i386\system32\drivers\pci.sys %TargetDir%\i386\system32\drivers\pci.sy_" FileDelete,1,"%TargetDir%\i386\system32\drivers\pci.sys" Echo,1,"CAB'ing setupdd.sys (19/21)" ShellExecute,1,"hide","%SourceDir%\i386\system32\makecab.exe"," %TargetDir%\i386\system32\drivers\setupdd.sys %TargetDir%\i386\system32\drivers\setupdd.sy_" FileDelete,1,"%TargetDir%\i386\system32\drivers\setupdd.sys" Echo,1,"CAB'ing spddlang.sys (20/21)" ShellExecute,1,"hide","%SourceDir%\i386\system32\makecab.exe"," %TargetDir%\i386\system32\drivers\spddlang.sys %TargetDir%\i386\system32\drivers\spddlang.sy_" FileDelete,1,"%TargetDir%\i386\system32\drivers\spddlang.sys" Echo,1,"CAB'ing wmilib.sys (21/21)" ShellExecute,1,"hide","%SourceDir%\i386\system32\makecab.exe"," %TargetDir%\i386\system32\drivers\wmilib.sys %TargetDir%\i386\system32\drivers\wmilib.sy_" FileDelete,1,"%TargetDir%\i386\system32\drivers\wmilib.sys" Echo,1,"CAB'ing mup.sys (21/21)" ShellExecute,1,"hide","%SourceDir%\i386\system32\makecab.exe"," %TargetDir%\i386\system32\drivers\mup.sys %TargetDir%\i386\system32\drivers\mup.sy_" FileDelete,1,"%TargetDir%\i386\system32\drivers\wmilib.sys" Echo,1,"CAB'ing ks.sys (21/21)" ShellExecute,1,"hide","%SourceDir%\i386\system32\makecab.exe"," %TargetDir%\i386\system32\drivers\ks.sys %TargetDir%\i386\system32\drivers\ks.sy_" FileDelete,1,"%TargetDir%\i386\system32\drivers\ks.sys" Echo,1,"CAB'ing ftdisk.sys (21/21)" ShellExecute,1,"hide","%SourceDir%\i386\system32\makecab.exe"," %TargetDir%\i386\system32\drivers\ftdisk.sys %TargetDir%\i386\system32\drivers\ftdisk.sy_" FileDelete,1,"%TargetDir%\i386\system32\drivers\ftdisk.sys" Echo,1,"CAB'ing atapi.sys (21/21)" ShellExecute,1,"hide","%SourceDir%\i386\system32\makecab.exe"," %TargetDir%\i386\system32\drivers\atapi.sys %TargetDir%\i386\system32\drivers\atapi.sy_" FileDelete,1,"%TargetDir%\i386\system32\drivers\atapi.sys" Echo,1,"CAB'ing null.sys (21/21)" ShellExecute,1,"hide","%SourceDir%\i386\system32\makecab.exe"," %TargetDir%\i386\system32\drivers\null.sys %TargetDir%\i386\system32\drivers\null.sy_" FileDelete,1,"%TargetDir%\i386\system32\drivers\null.sys" btw: UPX'ing shell32.dll is an option youmust ponderate - most resources are contained inside it, and it will most likely give you a BSOD with some programs - it would be better if you added your programs, check if they run fine, then upx shell32.dll to see the results (migth spear you some time debugging..) The memory needed to run all the UPX'ed files is quite reduntant in our days, if you're booting a computer with at least 128Mb RAM you'll be just fine.. a mini PE version can even be loaded into RAM on a 128Mb RAM computer - I've tried it myself and it works like a charm.. You can also significantly reduce size removing blank lines and empty spaces in all text based files on your build, let me know if need further help achieving this.. Good luck!

@Albuquerque I don't know if you've been following the latest developments of batcher and the other projects, but microPE has a few scripts that can be used directly in your windows PE. microPE can go as low as a bootable winXP 16Mb folder, but I don't think you'll need this result, so I'd recommend using only the compressing scripts - wich will compress and UPX most of the drivers and other files in the I386 folder gaining around 20Mb. An average microPE ISO is around 45Mb with net support and some other good tools - they can probably use your windows PE as source instead of a bartPE (I just never tested it this way but guess they work quite look alike..) This project is being developed in the boot land forums.. Good luck! B)

They're good in software development too, while most people tend to develop new programs that need better hardware specs, I've seen a lot of great software solutions for older hardware, stretching the machine beyond (what I considered) the limit.. I can recall the case of 286 machines when the JPG file format first made it's appearance and everyone complained about the need of a 486 or Pentium processor to see those images with some decent quality.. A russian author made a small DOS app that could efectively read JPG files with a quite acceptable speed on 286 machines runnning at 8Mhz.. saved me from spending $$$ on a newer machine at the time. Then there's the case of mHDD or HDD regenerator, wich can literally ressurect faulty HDD drives - mHDD is completely freeware and really does a great work fixing drives - too bad few people ever hear about these cases and give more attention to hackers with bad intentions (which are obviously being confused with everyone who knows how to tweak a piece of software or hardware and is also labeled as being an hacker)... I personnaly recommend to take a look at the definition of "hacker" in wikipedia, might be interesting to see how people define this term..

Since one image speaks more than words.. In this link: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechn...ilesharing.mspx You'll find all the steps (along with good images) to set permissions on files and folders - remember this works both for your local users and network connections. Don't forget you need to use distinct users - one with full acess to your computer (Administrator) and another(s) with the restriction you wish to implement (usually the group "Everyone") I hope this helps..

I'm not sure how you can achieve this throught the registry, I've googled for some answers but it seems it's always more easy to find solutions to unlock files rather than the other way around.. Can you be a bit more specific on your goal? If you're trying to lock users from hurting your system I would recommend enabling the guest account under winXP - it will avoid people from deleting important system files. If you really don't want them to touch anything at all - then I would recommend using windows server 2003 as your OS. It allows you to set up permissions for each folder you have on your disk (I guess this works also on XP, but 2003 is quite more safe on this matter and offers more options). In NTFS you can set the security permissions and specify what people can and cannot do inside your computer - they can for example read some files, but only the admin or someone allowed can copy/move/delete these files.. Win2003 is a lot more configurable than XP, that's the reason why I recommend you to use if you wish to customize your system in order to prevent anyone (except yourself perhaps..) from deleting unauthorized files.

You can build a bartPE from winMCE without problems - since all the needed files are there. As for sound and theme support - I would definitively recommend going into the UBCD4WIN forums, where they distribute a package with all the things you've been searching for: network support, themes, all sort of multimedia and disk rescue tools, and a huge pack of drivers.. UBCD4WIN You might also consider Reatogo (from the CD forum), it's also based on XPE - and therefore supports themes and sound. This is a much easier approach rather than searching for all drivers all applications for yourself and use these builds as a start point.. I hope this helps!

[Portuguese] Por acaso vou entrar de férias por 3 semanas, mas não tenho muitas saudades do continente.. prefiro mesmo ficar por cá. Nunca fui à Terceira, estive 2 meses em Santa Maria e estou há 2 anos em São Miguel.. a qualidade de vida por aqui é bem melhor.. Se visitares o meu blog percebes o motivo.. [/Portuguese]

Thanks for the welcome messages, I have narrowed the signature - you are right about the length - I'm sorry for not noticing your policies on this issue, in any case I am here to help.. I'm liking this forum so far, keep up the good work! p.s. cumprimentos aí para o pessoal de Lisboa, eu sou de Coimbra mas trabalho nos Açores..

I'm not using windows PE for my testings, but there is a tool I've used to cross compare files and folders to automatically create a script file from reduced PE versions. Try going to http://nunobrito.100free.com/filematcher.html and download FileMatcher - this will surely help you to create a fast script to replicate your results with windows PE..

The smallest possible PE size at the moment is a 16Mb build based on bartPE - this project is named microPE and uses batcher (a program that runs script files) You can easily build a microPE project around 40Mb - wich includes a bblean shell, network support and some other freeware applications like A43 file manager and a CD writer. If you use Windows 2003 SP1/SP2 as the source for your bartPE - you can select the option to make your build RAM bootable. The minimum size can be decreased much further - but you only get a command console window - with virtually no support for any other program - a simple winXP 32bit cmd.exe window that can still acess NTFS partitions The scripts use a combination of UPX, MakeCAB and selective file removal to achieve better results, there's a forum at http://BootLand.pt.vu that just started up, where anyone can post questions on how to get this working.. I hope this helps you..

I've known MSFN forums for some time now, but felt this would be an appropriate time to join this forum - this seems a good place to post questions, just hope that I'm able to help out someone else along the way.. Cheers..