WLnotify.DLL, Mounted Devices, Boot Sector

[RUSerious]

Currently have an XPPro UA that installs flawlessly on both first partition of first HDD and third partition of second HDD.

When attempt to install on first partition of second HDD (with first partition of first HDD install in place), I get a boot to that fresh install that has a long delay when it gets to WLnotify.DLL and then gets into a loop where it appears to be trying to shut down.

This UA imports a fresh Mounted Devices key at first RunOnce to reset drive letter order.

Could this Mounted Devices key not be importing soon enough for the first partition of the second HDD?

I've tried loading that hive and replacing its Mounted Devices key, but same result.

OR

Could this have something to do with first partition of the second HDD having no First Sector Boot Sector files?

OR

Maybe a problem with bad sectors being used after the install format?

Any ideas?

[RUSerious]

I realize this is long past where Boot Sector comes into play, but it almost acts like its booting to the wrong set of files: like it can't find the profile it's looking for.

Any ideas?

[jaclaz]

I'm afraid you describe not with enough details what your setup is.

How are the HD(s) partitoned formatted?

Which partitions are Active/Primary, which ones are Logical Volumes inside Extended?

How is the MountedDevices key loaded/generated/what it contains?

Have you tried with migrate.inf?

jaclaz

[RUSerious]

Hey jaclaz,

>>How are the HD(s) partitoned formatted?

>>Which partitions are Active/Primary, which ones are Logical Volumes inside Extended?

2 HDDs (0 & 1), 4 partitions each (1,2,3,4), ALL Primary, ALL NTFS.

I use these volume labels: 01,02,03,04 &11,12,13,14 (C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J).

01 = System, 02 = Page File, 11 & 13 = used for test installs and XP makes active whichever one it installs to.

Use boot.ini to choose which one I try to boot to.

Fresh install on 13, installs & boots the same as 01.

Fresh install on 11, appears to install fine, but boots to a “load user / log off loop”.

>> How is the MountedDevices key loaded/generated/what it contains?

This reg is imported to the fresh install on its first boot via a RUNONCE batch file. This batch file also defines Page File location AND ends with a restart. MountedDevices key (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices) is exported from 01 (System) and trimmed down to a minimum needed to get desired letters (USB & CD-ROMs left in, so likely could use less).

>> what it contains

###########

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices]

"\\DosDevices\\Q:"=hex:bf,4e,dc,ea,00,7e,00,00,00,00,00,00

"\\DosDevices\\A:"=hex:5c,00,3f,00,3f,00,5c,00,46,00,44,00,43,00,23,00,47,00,\

45,00,4e,00,45,00,52,00,49,00,43,00,5f,00,46,00,4c,00,4f,00,50,00,50,00,59,\

00,5f,00,44,00,52,00,49,00,56,00,45,00,23,00,36,00,26,00,32,00,38,00,35,00,\

37,00,65,00,35,00,32,00,31,00,26,00,30,00,26,00,30,00,23,00,7b,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

"\\DosDevices\\L:"=hex:5c,00,3f,00,3f,00,5c,00,49,00,44,00,45,00,23,00,43,00,\

64,00,52,00,6f,00,6d,00,43,00,79,00,62,00,65,00,72,00,44,00,72,00,76,00,5f,\

00,43,00,57,00,30,00,36,00,38,00,44,00,5f,00,43,00,44,00,2d,00,52,00,23,00,\

52,00,57,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,\

00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,31,00,35,00,30,00,44,00,5f,00,5f,00,\

5f,00,5f,00,23,00,35,00,26,00,33,00,35,00,63,00,36,00,63,00,61,00,31,00,31,\

00,26,00,30,00,26,00,30,00,2e,00,31,00,2e,00,30,00,23,00,7b,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

"\\DosDevices\\K:"=hex:5c,00,3f,00,3f,00,5c,00,49,00,44,00,45,00,23,00,43,00,\

64,00,52,00,6f,00,6d,00,43,00,4f,00,4d,00,50,00,41,00,51,00,5f,00,44,00,56,\

00,44,00,2d,00,52,00,4f,00,4d,00,5f,00,47,00,44,00,2d,00,32,00,30,00,30,00,\

30,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,\

00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,5f,00,30,00,30,00,35,00,36,00,5f,00,5f,00,\

5f,00,5f,00,23,00,35,00,26,00,33,00,35,00,63,00,36,00,63,00,61,00,31,00,31,\

00,26,00,30,00,26,00,30,00,2e,00,30,00,2e,00,30,00,23,00,7b,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

"\\DosDevices\\C:"=hex:6f,92,6f,92,00,7e,00,00,00,00,00,00

"\\DosDevices\\D:"=hex:6f,92,6f,92,00,ba,f8,4c,00,00,00,00

"\\DosDevices\\E:"=hex:6f,92,6f,92,00,46,4a,6f,00,00,00,00

"\\DosDevices\\F:"=hex:6f,92,6f,92,00,c0,96,a7,01,00,00,00

"\\DosDevices\\G:"=hex:75,62,b1,22,00,7e,00,00,00,00,00,00

"\\DosDevices\\H:"=hex:75,62,b1,22,00,88,17,60,00,00,00,00

"\\DosDevices\\I:"=hex:75,62,b1,22,00,08,78,7f,00,00,00,00

"\\DosDevices\\J:"=hex:75,62,b1,22,00,90,8f,df,00,00,00,00

###########

>> Have you tried with migrate.inf?

I searched my build folders and could not find any migrate.inf file.

Does nLite use anything like that?

Thanks

[jaclaz]

migrate.inf is a way to assign drive letters BEFORE runonceex:

http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=19663

Could this have something to do with first partition of the second HDD having no First Sector Boot Sector files?

If the partiion has been formatted as NTFS under a NT based system, it has a bootsector allright.

The kind of boot loop you describe seems to me similar to the one described here:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/249321/en-us

I'll have to study your data and think a bit about them, at first sight it might be possible that somehow the XP install is getting confused by the numbers of primary partitions and/or there is some conflict with "default" letter assignment that results in an error that prevents DosDevices assignment to take place.

Some reference (to keep you busy in the meantime ):

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=90495

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=125945

http://www.msfn.org/board/profiles-directo...me-t125819.html

http://www.msfn.org/board/Drive-letter-pro...ll-t118149.html

http://www.msfn.org/board/Drive-Letter-a**...ent-t90946.html

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=85729

If I were you I would try the migrate.inf approach, possibly using the .exe by zomos.

Assigning the letters in the early stage should prevent the problem.

jaclaz

[RUSerious]

Thanks for the great info jaclaz,

I now have a migrate.inf folder… :<) And some studying to do.

The only other info I had on migrate.inf is that it needs to be removed as part of a source reduction process.

If I wanted to put both install and PE on the same CD (my next goal), would relying on migrate.inf cause problems?

Thanks

[jaclaz]

If I wanted to put both install and PE on the same CD (my next goal), would relying on migrate.inf cause problems?

No, you can have as many migrate.inf files as many \I386, \XP01, etc. directories, but first I would check if it (hopefully) solves the problem on just the single install.

jaclaz