I have burnt the ISO to a CD and tried booting from it. However, my original issue with the computer locking up after Setup is inspecting your computer's hardware configuration... is still there, so I cannot re-install from that disc.

Try burning an XP Integral ISO to disc, does the same issue still occur?

That's what I did, and the issue persists.

Wait a minute.

You *somehow* have the XP installed AND it doesn't boot properly BUT by booting from a USB stick with WinSetupFromUSB you can boot the installed XP?

So you might be having some issues with hard disk and/or partition order, that the grub4dos in WinsetupfromUSB solves.

First thing check the BOOT.INI.

Open the BOOT.INI (you will need to set "show hidden files", then unhide it) in notepad

You should have the entry:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

if the BIOS (as it often happens) has promoted the USB stick as first disk, you may instead have:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

add at the bottom of the boot.ini the lines:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional 1st disk" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

c:\grldr="grub4dos"

and put a copy of grub4dos grldr in your C: drive (you can copy the one in WinsetupfromUSB for the test).

Also, increase the timeout to 30 seconds or so, so that you have more time to make a choice.

Reboot (from the internal hard disk, without the USB stick) and try the added entry for windows and see if it boots, otherwise try the grub4dos one, you should get to the grub> prompt.

Report what happens, if you can get to the grub> prompt we can check what the situation is.

 

About offline install with WINT32, see:

https://msfn.org/board/topic/131021-winnt32-compatibility-error-from-vista/?do=findComment&comment=842405

jaclaz

 

Edited August 11, 20224 yr by jaclaz

I have edited my boot.ini and both options are visible in the boot menu. The entry for Windows XP reads rdisk(0) as it should.

Windows XP will still not boot, claiming that ntoskrnl.exe is missing or corrupt, but I can get to the grub> prompt.

Good.

Try these commands:

geometry (hd0) [ENTER] <- this should give us some info on the size of the disk

cat --hex --skip=446 (hd0)0+1 [ENTER] <- this will provide the partition table (you will need to copy the hex output), or, if you can,  get my mbrview.g4b batch and run that:

https://msfn.org/board/topic/182116-winsetupfromusb-problem-installing-xp-on-legacy-system/?do=findComment&comment=1191284

then:

find --set-root /windows/system32/ntoskrnl.exe [ENTER]<- this should establish root to the disk/partition where the file is

root [ENTER] <- this should show current root (established above)

try also:

find --set-root /boot.ini [ENTER]<- this should establish root to the disk/partition where the file is

root [ENTER] <- this should show current root (established above)

Normally a XP is installed on first partition on first disk, that would be in grub4dos (hd0,0) and as arcpath multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS

jaclaz

 

 

 

 

This is the output I get from these commands.

grub> geometry (hd0)
drive 0x80(LBA): C/H/S=7297/255/63, Sector Count/Size=117226305/512
   Partition num: 0, active, Filesystem type is ntfs, partition type 0x07
grub> cat --hex --skip=446 (hd0)0+1
000001BE: 80 01 01 00  07 FE FE FF  3F 00 00 00  02 BB FC 06  ; Ç....■  ?....╗ⁿ.
000001CE: 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00  ; ................
000001DE: 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00  ; ................
000001EE: 00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00  00 00 00 00  ; ................
000001FE: 55 AA                                               ; U¬
grub> find --set-root /windows/system32/ntoskrnl.exe
 (hd0,0)
grub> root
 (hd0,0) Filesystem type is ntfs, partition type 0x07
grub>

 

Edited August 11, 20224 yr by dearleader
Typo

Hmmm.

Everything looks fine.

There is only one partition, it is active (of course, otherwise you wouldn't get to the boot.ini choices), partition type is correct, and arcpath multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS corresponds to (hd0,0), and the file (ntoskrnl.exe) is where it should be.

Can you describe what happens when you boot from the USB stick with WinsetupfromUSB?

Which entry do you choose to boot the windows from internal disk? 

jaclaz

@dearleader

When the install of XP hangs during boot of XP from CD @Setup is inspecting your computer's hardware configuration,

there may be an error with the geometry of your harddisk.

Use RMPrepUSB vers 2.1.739 and set there XP (NTLDR), NTFS, Force use of LBA calls

Dietmar

When I boot from the flash drive, I get a menu with the following options:

0 ...Back to Main Menu

1 Auto-detect and use F6 SATA/RAID/SCSI Driver
2 Auto-detect and use F6 SATA/RAID/SCSI Driver

3 First part of Windows XP Professional SP3 setup from partition 0
4 Second part of Windows XP Professional SP3 setup/Boot first internal disk

I choose option 4, which loads Windows XP. Option 3 would start the installation again, and the other two are currently useless.

 

@Dietmar I have prepared the flash drive with RMPrepUSB, and it just tells me that NTLDR is missing.

@dearleader

This means, that nothing is written to your real harddisk during XP install

Dietmar

EDIT: You need to prepare your HARDDISK with RMPrepUSB, not the USB stick.

 

Edited August 12, 20224 yr by Dietmar

10 hours ago, dearleader said:

When I boot from the flash drive, I get a menu with the following options:

I choose option 4, which loads Windows XP. Option 3 would start the installation again, and the other two are currently useless.

 

Ok.

Check the Winsetup.lst on your stick.

Should be something *like*:

Quote

title Second part of XP Professional setup/Boot first internal disk
savedefault
ls /shifthd.bat > nul || find --set-root --devices=hf /shifthd.bat
/shifthd.bat
if "%RDSK%"=="" pause Fatal error while swapping hard disk order, cannot continue! && configfile /menu.lst
pause --wait=1 Booting MBR on hd0 ...
chainloader (hd0)+1
rootnoverify (hd0)
 

The shifthd,bat basically re-orders disks.

Try the following (booting from the stick):

1) at the menu press C to get to the grub4dos grub> prompt.

2) run

geometry (hd0)

geometry (hd1)

the disk you have (when you boot without the stick) as (hd0) should be now (hd1) and the stick should be (hd0)

3) run:

map (hd0) (hd1)

map (hd1) (hd0)

map --hook

4) run again

geometry (hd0) 

The disk should have been swapped.

5) run:

chainloader (hd0)+1

rootnoverify (hd0)

boot

The above should be the same as what the winsetup.lst+shifthd.bat do.

jaclaz

 

@Dietmar I have prepared the hard drive and re-installed Windows. The ntoskrnl.exe issue still occurs.

@jaclaz The steps you described work, and I can get into Windows. Is there a way I can do this without relying on a boot disk?

@dearleader

The "NTLDR" from Reactos is better in finding the correct Arcpath.

But it can be only used for Fat32 partition.

In my experiments in booting XP from nvme on any old compi,

this works

Dietmar