Trying to multiboot Vista, VistaPE and others

[wrayal]

Guys, I've got rather stuck on this little problem, and I was wondering if anyone had some insight? I wanted to multiboot Vista, VistaPE and a few other OSes from a DVD. However, as Vista and VistaPE have the same boot files, they can't exist unless you use the bootmgr boot menu. However, for this, I would then need two bootloaders (one to select whether to use say, linux, or to use a vista variant, then another to select between the vista variants), which is not so aesthetically pleasing! Does anyone have a way round this? I'd happily even just use an iso emulator if I found one which would work for vista.

Cheers,

Wrayal

[Innocent Devil]

try GRUB to do that, with some source patches grub is able to load ISO images

and can even boot iso images.

but u can do with bootmgr to load all version of Windows (XP,2003,Vista)

then load grub to get all linux to boot

(i suggest this is better method)

or use ISOLINUX for linux

if u want vista kind of OS to boot bootmgr is a must (AFAIK u cant do without it)

[wrayal]

Ah, ok. Although, is "with some source patches grub is able to load ISO images

and can even boot iso images." a typo? Could you possibly point me towards these patches, as I've searched for similar things in the past to no avail.

I am aware of the second method (and the opposite way round of doing it - easyboot -> bootmgr etc), but was really hoping to avoid having two bootmanagers ^_^ can bootmgr be used to chainload arbitrary bootsectors? That way I could load my bootsectors without need for grub I guess...

[Innocent Devil]

No, thats not a typo

i used an pgm (windows app) to load bootable iso images from harddisk while booting

(sorry i 4got the apps name) , it has a nice gui for doing that

wen i further dug int that app it uses source patched version of grub to support ntfs parttion and iso booting

it was able to load even gzipped disk images (floppy)

look at this isoemu

Also refer "http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=18045&st=45"

yes , bootmgr can load bootsectors, just read BCD store knowledge base

or try getting help by running bcdedit /?

i used loop grub (on mbr) and boormgr (on C: drive) to load each other , just for fun

[wrayal]

Ok cheers, thanks very much I'm working on a rather ambitious project (home server, server 2008, Vista, XP, 2k3, 2k, OSX + various live and linux variants together with mountains of software, though it'll require a dual layer DVD) so I was trying to figure out the bootloading!

Alex

[Innocent Devil]

Ok cheers, thanks very much I'm working on a rather ambitious project (home server, server 2008, Vista, XP, 2k3, 2k, OSX + various live and linux variants together with mountains of software, though it'll require a dual layer DVD) so I was trying to figure out the bootloading!

Alex

i still say, to make it clutter free is to use keep 2 bootloader (ie bootmgr and grub or isolinux)

use bootmgr to boot and load all flavours of Windows (smbdy need to remove sig-check in 2k3 SP2 SETUPLDR.BIN)

and load grub or isolinux from it

and grub or isolinux to boot all linux variants

for a iso there will always be class of filesystem.

i tired to load bootmgr from islonux but sme clash b/w Joliet and RockRidge made me back

i resorted to grub

grub is a worderful boot loader to see

AFAIK it is the only loader able to load all kind of *nix variants (and to chainload others too)

with grub4dos projects grldr, u can boot a cdrom manually or even work as standalone mini-console in grubshell

[spacesurfer]

grldr now can boot iso's. however, you probably won't be able to start vista setup because you lose the Cd drive that is emulated during setup. Same for XP.

I've tried Acronis disk director iso and it works fine.

[Innocent Devil]

by changing

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SourcePath to proper drive name

it can be overcomed ,isn't ???