How to install Windows from USB- WinSetupFromUSB with GUI

[Doodoo]

It's about properly generating boot.ini by Setup at the end of Text mode.

The idea is to shift disk order making the internal disks first, and USB and virtual ones in your case last, just as if Setup was started from CD and in BIOS boot order internal disks are next.

OK so if I understand properly, the important thing is to actually make the target disk first, but not so much to make the USB (boot) disk last. All the other disks can pretty much be in any order, right ?

E.g. if I wanted to install to a virtual disk, a mechanism would have to be introduced to make sure that target disk is first. Right ?

You may try

map /WinSetup.img (hd)
map --hook

If you have 2 disks- hd0 and hd1, (hd) will be hd2:

This is really useful indeed ! Be design this will make sure that the virtual (source) drive is NOT first, so there is no need to shift it to a different position.

Therefore when I install from a virtual disk, the procedure I described above should be adapted slightly: shifthd.bat and usbdrive.tag should also be moved from the virtual disk to the physical USB boot disk because the latter is still first in BIOS boot order, so it should be moved somewhere else.

As a result, something needs to be sorted, because when shifthd.bat is executed, it sets RDSK to point to the physical USB boot disk instead of the virtual disk (where the setup source files are).

So here is what I've done: just add a tag file in the virtual disk, .e.g imgdrive.tag. Then in winmenu.lst, just after shifthd.bat is called, add the following:

find --set-root --devices=h /imgdrive.tag
# get current root drive
set /a RDSK=*0x82A0 & 0x7F

Now the initial boot sequence works fine for me... Except I still get this BSOD 7E at the end of TXT=mode setup... Any ideas ?

[class101]

sorry for the late reply ilko, but busy, I will do this tommorrow once back at work

//EDIT1

Hey ilko I have more Windows 8 infos

at home, installation of Windows 8 with eSATA key worked

at work, installation of Windows 8 with USB failed (same key in usb mode), it complains right after I click Install it does not find a driver, with FAT32 partitioned key, no advanced options

but I don't really know which driver is it about, my key does not need a specific driver to work in usb mode, I will try in NTFS mode and a few of your advanced options and let you know

//Edit: Same in NTFS with advanced option #3

//Edit2: Tried DriverPacks Mass Storage and Chipsets but couldnt find one working for the problem, Intel SATA AHCI and USB drivers are shown in list but when I select it and continue it comes back to the driver selection, will look if someone in thread as got same problem

//Edit3: Have tried numerous of drivers without sucess, the "Windows 7 USB DVD Download Tool" also failed to recongize my usb stick, I will try another approach by using bootsect.exe to make usb bootable and XCOPY windows files, its explained on MSDN blog here

//Edit4: Looks like machine specific problem rather than a usb key problem because now I'm back at home, the same key works in USB mode, the only difference I notice is that on my home machine(where it works for both eSATA+USB) I see the grub4dos menu you have customized with a Green background, and on my work machine (where it fails in USB) booting on the key does never show the grub4dos green menu, instead there is a blackscreen for 10sec. (seen physically and also in Qemu) then the Windows installation starts and fails later (asking for an unknown driver after hitting Install), very weird bug, I'm stuck, I will try to look the long list of replies to see if someone experienced the same trouble

//Edit5: Finally method in Edit3's link worked with diskpart.exe, bootsect.exe and xcopy.exe invocations on my work computer, it looks like a winsetupfromusb with win8+usb problem, unfortunelly it is not a complete solution for you ilko but at least from my edits you can easly spot there is something wrong with winsetupfromusb with win8+usb but not with esata

Can you give some more details about the machine at work? If laptop- brand, model, if desktop- motherboard model?

Do you have an option in BIOS how USB mass storage devices are emulated- USB-FDD, USB-ZIP, USB-HDD etc. ?

What is the USB disk, brand, model? Is it a pen drive or USB/eSata hard disk in enclosure? What's its disk space?

It's rather how BIOS recognizes the USB disk/flash drive, probably in different way depending how its formatted, hence the different results. Contents of USB disk should be the same no matter what you have used, above Vista it's simply copying the whole source as it is, the only difference are the steps before bootmgr is launched, i.e. what MBR is, how bootmgr is launched- chainloaded by grub4dos, invoked by the bootsector etc.

WinSetupFromUSB only adds a few extra debug boot options for Vista/7/8 Setup for some rare machines where Setup may fail at very early stage, or for cases when Setup is confused where to place boot files and USB and internal disks must be swapped.

Machine dxdiag is attached

Summary

------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 8/24/2012, 14:44:14
       Machine name: WINDOWS8PROARN
   Operating System: Windows 8 Pro 64-bit (6.2, Build 9200) (9200.win8_rtm.120725-1247)
           Language: French (Regional Setting: French)
System Manufacturer: Acer
       System Model: Aspire X3812
               BIOS: Default System BIOS
          Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU    Q8300  @ 2.50GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.5GHz
             Memory: 8192MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 8192MB RAM
          Page File: 4130MB used, 8668MB available
        Windows Dir: C:\Windows
    DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
   User DPI Setting: Using System DPI
 System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
    DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled

Key: Maxell SSD 32Gb eSATA link

Forgot Bios stuffs, will watch them Monday

DxDiag.txt

Edited August 25, 2012 by class101

[ilko_t]

OK so if I understand properly, the important thing is to actually make the target disk first, but not so much to make the USB (boot) disk last. All the other disks can pretty much be in any order, right ?

E.g. if I wanted to install to a virtual disk, a mechanism would have to be introduced to make sure that target disk is first. Right ?

The idea is to put all internal disks in the same order as if there was no USB device connected to interfere with ARC paths and creation of boot.ini.

In case of 2 internal disks, first goes first, and second goes second. In this case if ones wants to install XP to the second internal disk, boot files will go on first disk, pointing to the second disk with proper ARC path, disk(1) in this case.

So it is not only the first disk important, all internal disks should be mapped properly.

Now the initial boot sequence works fine for me... Except I still get this BSOD 7E at the end of TXT=mode setup... Any ideas ?

I have never tried this scenario, have to learn from your experience.

What bothers me is that in txtsetup.sif in the small ISO file there are references where boot and source files reside, this is with ARC paths. If those are on a virtual disk mounted by a driver, does the mounted disk have a working ARC path to it?

If Setup starts and goes past the file copy stage then all should be fine.

For the GUI mode the virtual disk should be mapped prior to launching it ensuring WinVBlock mounts it and makes it available for the Setup, so boot from internal disk is not possible, it should be the USB one again. You may need to modify setup.cmd and amend the tag file, so script sets the virtual disk as a source.

As for the 0x7E error- when exactly it occurs? Is it after file copy stage in Text mode? Is it after "Windows is loading/starting" message, when EULA or partition screen is displayed?

Have you tried with other WinVBlock version?

How is WinVBlock integrated currently? Can you integrate it manually, following Sha0's instructions on reboot.pro?

[ilko_t]

sorry for the late reply ilko, but busy, I will do this tommorrow once back at work

//EDIT1

Machine dxdiag is attached

Summary

------------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 8/24/2012, 14:44:14
       Machine name: WINDOWS8PROARN
   Operating System: Windows 8 Pro 64-bit (6.2, Build 9200) (9200.win8_rtm.120725-1247)
           Language: French (Regional Setting: French)
System Manufacturer: Acer
       System Model: Aspire X3812
...

Key: Maxell SSD 32Gb eSATA link

Forgot Bios stuffs, will watch them Monday

The machine being Acer reminds me of another issue:

http://reboot.pro/10503/#entry117680

Can you try something? Let's check if BIOS behaves differently according to the MBR code.

Reformat the USB disk with RMPrepUSB, use NTFS and XP/BartPE for bootloader option, and maybe the "boot as HDD" option.

In WinSetupFromUSB in advanced options, mark "Don't check for and install grub4dos MBR". Prepare the disk as usual. When finished, make a copy of the file GRLDR in root and name it NTLDR.

Then try again on the work machine.

[Doodoo]

The idea is to put all internal disks in the same order as if there was no USB device connected to interfere with ARC paths and creation of boot.ini.

That is crystal clear ! Thanks for the consice yet very accurate answer !

As for the 0x7E error- when exactly it occurs?

It is immediately after the "Windows is loading/starting" message, just before the EULA or partition screen is displayed.

Have you tried with other WinVBlock version?

No I haven't. For now I only stick to the latest development version that is ditributed as a virtual floppy in Wimb's latest XP_IMG package. The virtual floppy also includes a tweaked INF file to work around problems with the device manager.

Now the initial boot sequence works fine for me... Except I still get this BSOD 7E at the end of TXT=mode setup... Any ideas ?

In fact my initial suspicion seems to be correct. This problem seems to be caused by the WinVBlock integration into the XP setup files. When I use a virtual floppy (standard WinSetupFromUsb option), then everything goes well. However, I would really like to have a flopyless solution, as I have problems on some machines when a virtual floppy is used (setup hangs at the very begining, on the message "setup is inspecting your hardware configuration")

How is WinVBlock integrated currently? Can you integrate it manually, following Sha0's instructions on reboot.pro?

Like I said, I suspect that the BSOD 7E is caused by an incorrect integration in the XP setup files. Ideally I wish I could use MSSTMake, but there is something it does not like about WinVBlock (is it the INF file ?). So I used IntegrateDrv instead, but again, I might be doing something unconventional, as it has been designed to operate on the temporary Windows Installation directories ('$WIN_NT$.~BT' and '$WINT_NT$.~LS) but I point it to I386 instead.

I haven't tried doing it manually, but I'm not sure if Shao's intructions include anything like this ? There are instructions to install WinVBlock indeed, but not (to my knowledge) any to integrate it in the Xp setup source files.

If Setup starts and goes past the file copy stage then all should be fine.

Yep everything goes well till the first reboot. Even the migrate.inf works as expected, and when the partition list is displayed, the virtual drive where the setup source files are located is mounted as expected as U:\

For the GUI mode the virtual disk should be mapped prior to launching it ensuring WinVBlock mounts it and makes it available for the Setup, so boot from internal disk is not possible, it should be the USB one again. You may need to modify setup.cmd and amend the tag file, so script sets the virtual disk as a source.

Thanks for the info. This is the stage I'm looking at right now. I'll report soon on my findings ;-)

Hopefully the whole thing will work. I can only see many advantages in having the source files in a virtual disk: copy and general mangement in much faster (only 1 file), updates are a lot easier (easy to mount the drive and change the contents, no need to rebuild an ISO), new drivers (including TXT-mode) can be integrated, possibly problems with Grub4Dos are avoided (not all ISOs are treated in the same way when mounted with Grub4Dos, but I am not aware of any such issues with IMGs)

[Doodoo]

This is the stage I'm looking at right now. I'll report soon on my findings ;-)

Good news, GUI-mode setup completes without any problems, and everything works as exected (tested with a shared DriverPacks install, where the OEM folder still resides on the USB boot disk)

For the GUI mode the virtual disk should be mapped prior to launching it ensuring WinVBlock mounts it and makes it available for the Setup, so boot from internal disk is not possible, it should be the USB one again.

Yep, and once again, all it takes to make it work is to edit the winmenu.lst entry for GUI-mode setup. Just before

ls /shifthd.bat > nul || find --set-root --devices=hf /shifthd.bat

I now add:

map /WinSetup.img (hd)
map --hook

and just after shifthd.bat is called, add the following:

find --set-root --devices=h /imgdrive.tag
# get current root drive
set /a RDSK=*0x82A0 & 0x7F

You may need to modify setup.cmd and amend the tag file, so script sets the virtual disk as a source.

In fact setup.cmd does not need to be changed, since the TAG file its looking for to establish the CD drive, is the folder WINSETUP/XPpSP3 which is located on the virtual drive, which is the correct place.

Edited August 25, 2012 by Doodoo

[ilko_t]

Try integrating WinVBlock using these lines:

http://reboot.pro/8168/page__st__375#entry127781

Modify txtsetup.sif in source prior to using WinSetupFromUSB, or edit the one in the small ISO file and make sure you copy the .sys file in I386.

In fact setup.cmd does not need to be changed, since the TAG file its looking for to establish the CD drive, is the folder WINSETUP/XPpSP3 which is located on the virtual drive, which is the correct place.

I stand corrected

Good news, GUI-mode setup completes without any problems, and everything works as exected

Perfect

[Doodoo]

Try integrating WinVBlock using these lines:

http://reboot.pro/8168/page__st__375#entry127781

This is something I had tried a couple of days ago, but didn't seem to work. Now that the whole procedure works ok, I shall give it another try and see what happens.

Modify txtsetup.sif in source prior to using WinSetupFromUSB, or edit the one in the small ISO file and make sure you copy the .sys file in I386.

Hmm thanks for the details. I think I had modified the txtsetup.sif in the I386 folder so that might well be the cause of the problem ;-)

By the way http://reboot.pro/8168/page__st__375#entry127841 seems to confirm something:

The limitation will be that the WinVBlk.inf file does not contain the hardware IDs for the bus device.

This is more or less exactly what MSSTMake seems to complain about, when I try to use it to integrate WinVBlock. I think Shao, cdob and others have been looking at the problem, but there does not seem to be any real solution.

Good news, GUI-mode setup completes without any problems, and everything works as exected

Perfect

If the whole thing works satisfactorily, and given the relatively limited changes that need to be made, would you consider making this as a new option in WinSetupFromUSB ? E.g. an IMG file instead of a USB drive could be selected from the drop-down menu (you'd still need to specify a (USB) boot drive though), all the rest would be identical. I believe this would bring many benefits (would make each setup entirely standalone and independant, e.g. XP, 2K3, W7, etc, etc... would all live in their own IMG so you can have as many flavours as you like, even on a single-partition USB stick)

[layman]

Hi,

I'm using Vista Home and with the kind help of WinSetupfromUSB 0.2.3 I'm now trying to create a bootable USB to give new life to my Asus EEE pc (Windows XP). I got to the point when the program asks me to boot from USB two times, I did restart, XP setup boots from my USB (SanDisk 4GB, NTFS, NTLDR), but then I got the screen 'Cannot install \WINDOWS'.

Can anyone help me on this? I'd be appreciate it since I started this 3 days ago, not with WinSetup but with other programmes (Bart, PEbuilder, USBprep8, USBmultiboot, bootsect.....

cheers

layman

[ilko_t]

How far did Setup go? When do you see this error? What is the exact error message?

Are you installing XP on the internal disk/SSD? Is it confirmed working?

I'd also suggest you to use the latest beta version, currently 1.0 beta8, download link is in the first post.

[ilko_t]

Modify txtsetup.sif in source prior to using WinSetupFromUSB, or edit the one in the small ISO file and make sure you copy the .sys file in I386.

Hmm thanks for the details. I think I had modified the txtsetup.sif in the I386 folder so that might well be the cause of the problem ;-)

Txtsetup.sif in I386 is not read and used at all during setup, only the one in the small ISO file is.

If the whole thing works satisfactorily, and given the relatively limited changes that need to be made, would you consider making this as a new option in WinSetupFromUSB ? E.g. an IMG file instead of a USB drive could be selected from the drop-down menu (you'd still need to specify a (USB) boot drive though), all the rest would be identical. I believe this would bring many benefits (would make each setup entirely standalone and independant, e.g. XP, 2K3, W7, etc, etc... would all live in their own IMG so you can have as many flavours as you like, even on a single-partition USB stick)

My idea was simplicity, as much as possible, wider compatibility with all Windows versions, as little as possible modifications to the source, at the same time giving advanced users possibilities to play around at will.

At the same time, integration of Firadisk or WinVBlock in Vista and above is not such an easy task, there are issues on some machines with 2003 and XP 64 bits and so on which yet have to be polished. Actually those are the reasons I haven't gone in this direction- Setup from ISO or IMG files, despite all the advantages.

[momchilandonov]

Okay I got 4 errors.

Beta 7 says "could not install grub4dos mbr"

Beta 8 says "Fatal error could not install grub4dos MBR"

If I use grub4dosgui.exe it says "invalid partition table

Version 0.2.3 says "grubinst.exe cannot make a backup of mbr"

This is a new a-data 32 gb usb pen drive!

I already format it with fat32 and ntfs with no difference.

Your product must be faulty. I am using Windows 7 x64 bits version. I recently installed it so I don't have malware which could interfere.

I tried running as administrator but that didn't helped. Also how to use the command --skip-mbr-test because it doesn't seem to be a command line... It still gives the same hint to use this command.

Edited September 7, 2012 by momchilandonov

[jaclaz]

Your product must be faulty.

Hmmm.

It is very possible since there is a provision to intentionally fail every 10,000 downloads (and successful uses), you may have been simply unlucky.

I am using Windows 7 x64 bits version. I recently installed it so I don't have malware which could interfere.

Maybe it is the Windows 7 x64 bits the actual malware (or at least the reason why there is no direct access to the disk MBR and/or the first few hidden sectors)

I already format it with fat32 and ntfs with no difference.

How exactly? (Which tool, with which exact settings, etc.?)

You may want to start from scratch (clean the stick) and use RMPREPUSB (and add through it the grub4dos to the MBR).

jaclaz

[ilko_t]

Okay I got 4 errors.

Beta 7 says "could not install grub4dos mbr"

Beta 8 says "Fatal error could not install grub4dos MBR"

If I use grub4dosgui.exe it says "invalid partition table

Version 0.2.3 says "grubinst.exe cannot make a backup of mbr"

This is a new a-data 32 gb usb pen drive!

I already format it with fat32 and ntfs with no difference.

Your product must be faulty. I am using Windows 7 x64 bits version. I recently installed it so I don't have malware which could interfere.

I tried running as administrator but that didn't helped. Also how to use the command --skip-mbr-test because it doesn't seem to be a command line... It still gives the same hint to use this command.

Default Windows behavior is to format unformatted or oalready formatted as superfloppy removable disks (read USB stick) as superflopy- no MBR and partition table. It's quite normal, all kind of tools which operate with and expect MBR and partition table to complain about the lack of such. In other words, how is MBR and partition table to be backed up, replaced and so on if there is no such?!

Use an appropriate tool to format new USB sticks if you are going to look for USB boot with them- RMPrepUSB, BootIce, DiskPart (with the appropriate commands) in Vista and above and so on.

In WinSetupFromUSB 1.0 beta8 I've added an option for auto-format, mostly for this reason, did you give it a try ?

[momchilandonov]

Thanks for the help guys. I used the --skip-mbr-something command typed in the field extra and it worked. Tested the usb and still I get the error where the file /usbdrive.tag is missing. What is the point of this row when your utility doesn't install this file usbdrive.tag?

"ls /usbdrive.tag > nul || find --set-root --devices=hf /usbdrive.tag > nul"

Removing this row in winsetup.lst and menu.lst removes the display of the error. If I don't remove it I cannot start the XP installer.

Also why beta 8 adds some timers before booting installers? I get 3 seconds timer while trying to start XP installation in some black(dos like)screen? It just slows things down .

Edited September 8, 2012 by momchilandonov