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[Release] Siginet's PLoP USB Boot Manager Installer

Siginet

By Siginet
in Install Windows from USB

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Siginet

Siginet

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Why are we mentioning boot.ini and Vista/7 ? They use BCD instead, boot.ini is the configuration file for NTLDR in NT-2003.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa468626.aspx

Because on PLoPs website the reccomended using a boot.ini file for Vista/Win7. It is a simple method of adding PLoP to the boot menu. In certain cases win7/vista will still use a boot.ini file. ;)

It was much easier for me to use a boot.ini file then BCD because I allready made the coding structure for boot.ini when I made compatability for XP.

All I can think is in this case he allready had a multiboot system and his boot.ini did not reside on the Vista/Win7 boot drive. So my tool created a different boot.ini. I may need to make sure my program allways looks for an existing boot.ini first. Which is what it does in 2000,xp,2003 systems. But I was under the impression in vista/win7 the boot.ini could only reside on the vista/win7 boot drive. which I think I was incorrect when it comes to multiboot drives with other OSes.


Siginet

Siginet

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I think I just need to make sure I have the tool look for any existing boot.ini files on the hard drives and allow the user to select the correct boot.ini if found. Which is how I have it working in an environment of 2000,xp,2003. I just need to implement this same behavior in Vista/2008/Win7 and i think it will cure the problem.

jaclaz

jaclaz

Posted
Posted
I think I just need to make sure I have the tool look for any existing boot.ini files on the hard drives and allow the user to select the correct boot.ini if found. Which is how I have it working in an environment of 2000,xp,2003. I just need to implement this same behavior in Vista/2008/Win7 and i think it will cure the problem.

And which kind of magic spell are you going to use to update the BCD? :unsure: Just for the record, spells involving the use of parts of dead animals have been recently banned by the 2009 Witches and Wizard Association Annual Congress.

jaclaz

Siginet

Siginet

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:wacko:

The only thing I suppose is needed to modify BCD is the timeout which the tool allready does. The boot.ini file should be perfectly fine. Most of my testing was done in a Windows 7 environment.

ilko_t

ilko_t

Posted
Posted

I think boot.ini will be read by bootmgr if there is already an entry for ntldr in BCD.

In other words- simply creating boot.ini does not guarantee that you will be able to start PLoP this way.

jaclaz

jaclaz

Posted
Posted
I think boot.ini will be read by bootmgr if there is already an entry for ntldr in BCD.

In other words- simply creating boot.ini does not guarantee that you will be able to start PLoP this way.

Yep. :)

As graphically explained in the linked page:

http://www.multibooters.co.uk/multiboot.html

Normal NT 4.x/5.x booting:

MBR->bootsector->NTLDR->BOOT.INI->NTDETECT.COM->Windows 5.x

Normal NT 6.x/7 booting:

MBR->bootsector->BOOTMGR->BCD->WINLOAD.EXE->Windows 6.x/7

Normal NT6.x/7 with NT 4.x/5.x dual booting:

MBR->bootsector->BOOTMGR->BCD->WINLOAD.EXE->Windows 6.x/7

or:

MBR->bootsector->BOOTMGR->BCD->NTLDR->BOOT.INI->NTDETECT.COM->Windows 5.x

The bolded part should be the link you are missing, you need an entry in BCD for booting a previous NT system.

Or if you prefer BOOT.INI is read by NTLDR and not by BOOTMGR.

There might be an exception, possibly a LONGHORN version, if I remember correctly. :unsure:

jaclaz

ilko_t

ilko_t

Posted
Posted
...Or if you prefer BOOT.INI is read by NTLDR and not by BOOTMGR.
On a working Win7 system, which already has an entry for NTLDR in BCD, I added c:\dummy="test" to boot.ini, alongside the existing c:\grldr="Grub4dos".

"Test" was displayed upon reboot in bootmgr's menu.

Next try- rename ntldr to ntldr.bak. Upon reboot the new entry in boot.ini "test" is still displayed. Ntldr is not used in order to display contents of BOOT.INI, which is apparently read by BOOTMGR.

Haven't tested whether contents of BOOT.INI will be displayed if there is no entry for NTLDR in BCD.

What's interesting- selecting "Grub4dos" in BOOTMGR menu leads to error from BOOTMGR's

Windows failed to start...

...File: \grldr...

....status 0xc000007b..

...the application is missing or corrupt

, although it's present, next to NTLDR, BOOTMGR and BOOT.INI. It does work when selected from NTLDR's menu.

Rename NTLDR.BAK to NTLDR. Add to BOOT.INI:

d:\grldr="Grub4dos D"
e:\grldr="Grub4dos E"

and remove c:\dummy="test".

BOOTMGR displays

Earlier versions of Windows

Windows 7

Grub4dos

What happened to Grub4dos D and E? :blink:

Go figure. First partition is hidden primary. It might be ignored by NTLDR, but counted by BOOTMGR. Won't go any deeper, this is improper way of adding new boot menu entries.

Proper and documented ways are:

Add the desired entry in BCD.

Or add an entry for NTLDR in BCD if not present, next add whatever you need to BOOT.INI and use BOOTMGR's "Earlier versions of Windows" menu to launch NTLDR, next launch whatever is needed from NTLDR's menu. This is only in case 2000/XP/2003 are already present, otherwise no point of going through all this.

jaclaz

jaclaz

Posted
Posted

I seem to remember that in BOOTMGR you need to chainload grldr.mbr and not grldr with latest grub4dos versions. :unsure:

jaclaz

Siginet

Siginet

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Yeah I had the same issue with grub when I tried to create a boot.ini. But when I just create a boot.ini with plop it works. I did not have any ntldr files on my Windows 7. I have no idea why it doesn't work with grub but it works perfectly with plop.

Delete your test files and use my tool and you will see it should work on your system too.

ilko_t

ilko_t

Posted
Posted
...Delete your test files and use my tool and you will see it should work on your system too.

Deleted test entries in boot.ini and left this:

;
;Warning: Boot.ini is used on Windows XP and earlier operating systems.
;Warning: Use BCDEDIT.exe to modify Windows Vista boot options.
;
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /NOEXECUTE=OPTIN /FASTDETECT
c:\grldr="Grub4dos"

Run the program, gave admin privileges when asked and rebooted- no new entry in boot menu.

Checked boot.ini- it was not modified. Win7 x64.

Partition layoutand drive letters from 7:

dickmgmt.th.jpg

Boot.ini is on E:\ as seen in Win7. PLoP folder is present in C\Windows with 2 files inside.

  • 2 weeks later...
jaclaz

jaclaz

Posted
Posted
@Siginet in your installator is v5.0.5 20091205

I guess the bolded part is exactly to avoid a continuous "running after" the new releases:

Release Notes:

v0.9.9.0 12/17/09

GRUB4DOS removed. Now it uses only PLoP!

Added support for Vista, 2008 and Windows 7!

Fixed a potential bug with the uninstall process.

If you want to use your own PLoP files put them in a folder called PLoP inside the directory with SiginetUSB.exe

;)

jaclaz

  • 3 weeks later...
nickblame

nickblame

Posted
Posted

I am currently using a floppy disk to use plop on systems without the usb boot bios option. So this is great since if the system still boots to windows I can now use this to get plop running and boot my savior usb right?

excellent idea and work! thanks man

  • 2 weeks later...
xul

xul

Posted
Posted

@Siginet or someone other who has set up plop under win7.

if the win7 install was not an upgrade then there is no ntldr and ntdetect.com which are needed for the {ntldr} option in the BCD settings.

can someone please write the output of a working setup from bcdedit.ecxe /enum ?

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