Bootable CD WIzard 2.0

[mediapla]

Hallo, in just a beginner, but i have tried BCDW 1.5 the last time. Now i would use bcdw 2.0, because the new options looks good. But i have tried some time and DVD-RWs to install this tool and it doesnt work ! My questions : Must i also hex patch some files like at version 1.5 ? Where must be the different files of BCDW on the disk ? How is the structure of the directories, if i wanna use more than 1 different XP versions ? (At ver. 1.5 i had over 10 OEM Versions running on one DVD) Can i point the bootmanager directly to setupldr.bin ?

My idea is

root

|-$OEM$ (for all Versions to use)

|-BCDW

|-LDR1(Barts PE-XPE for Recovery)

|-PROGRAMS (for Bart)

|-XPH1(should be the I386 from first OEMVersion)

|-XPH2( I386 XPH2 the 2.)

|-XPH3( " the 3.) ....AND MORE

etc.

Is this possible ? I have tried it out just with one Version, but if XP wanna install and format my HDD it says: "Partition cannot be formated - Maybe there is not

enough memory or some files are not ok.

If i point to the BartPE, it runs ! Why does windows not install....

Pleas eforgive my bad english, i hope you can understand what i mean.

[htc]

Natürlich verstehe ich deine problem! Auf dieser Idee ist man schon viel früher gekommen!

Short answer for your question: you have to hex modify the boot files(boot sector+setupldr.bin) and text-modify the txtsetup.sif - the BartPE can boot without modification because it used very few function of setupldr.bin, but the windows setup used it full.

I've created a multiboot AIO Windows XP unattended install CD with diffrent original I386 folder at the root of the CD, I named them as "I386", J386", "K386"...

The advantage of such AIO setup CDs is you can still use it as "Upgrade/Update-CD", not only for a clean boot installation.

[mediapla]

I understand, i must place the I386 in a subdirectory of thr root ! This was the way i used with BCDW 1.5. I patched the bootimage/setupldr ant txtsetup. But i thougz in the new version 2.0 you can link direct to the "I386-setupldr.bin". The problem is not the diskspace - i use cdimge - its the time. I work as PC Tech with Hardware

of some manufacturers,the use preactivated OEM Versions - so i have 17 XP versions on my old disk. Ive tried to be up do date, with drivers and MS-patches - but thats a lot of work, to update each of this 17 $OEM$ dir. So i hoped bcdw 2.0 can help....

[htc]

BCDW v2 patches the setupldr.bin "on-the-fly" during the loading proccess. I recommand you load the patched boot sector instead.

I've created a multiboot AIO Windows XP unattended install CD with diffrent original I386 folder at the root of the CD, but only one $OEM$ folder, thus the "common used" folder "drivers"/"install" for all OS version, and with BCDW 1.5z, and monthes ago.

The advantage of BCDW v2.0 is you can use the new cd shell v2.1 and create mouse supported menu structure. I'm working on it and will post the results here in forum.

The current CD(w/o mouse support, but with interactive menu via arrow keys) iso image is only 600MB in size but contains:

1. 8 multiboot option, at boot time to select which windows and how many applications/languages would be istalled

2. Upgrade possible, from Win9X/ME/2k/XP

3. Integration of almost all driver of Chipsets, RAID/SATA-RAID, video cards, audio cards,NIC, USB/PCI/DSL-Modem

4. Registry tweaks and unattended install following applications:

Total CMD 6.03a, Screensaver Aquarium 2.0, Hardwood Solitaire 3.0, MS TweakUI, Flashplayer 7.0, Acrobat Reader 6.01, MS JavaVM v3810, MS .NET FW 1.1 SP1, winrar, multimedia/divx codecs pack, RealPlayer 10.0, WinDVD 6.0, Nero 6.3.25 UltraEd., Office XP SP2, WinFax 10.02

[mediapla]

...and thats my problem, i dont know how. I BELIEVE i must do this: Bootable loader is loader.bin in the bcdw dir. this calls bcdw.bin/bcdw.ini. Here i load the patched bootsectorfile ( change I386 in XPH1 f.i.). The bootsectorfile boots the setupldr.bin in dir %Root%\XPH1 - is this right ? If yes, something going wrong at my bootable DVD. I tried it in that way, but 1. XP says at the point of part./form. bootpartition it cant format, there are not enough memory or bad files...or 2. It loads and ask me for the update CD...but it is a regular OEM Full version.

Today i have made some test at work and all installations canceled....then i tried the way about bcdw 1.5 - that runs (but there are also Problems, i used a MCE2005 OEM, it installed, but not the MCE functions, only as XPProf. Its a shame....1 week work and i found no way....

[Whampoom]

I don't think this tool is ready to be used , mine boots but then says it cannot find the EULA although the XP iso works fine and the EULA.txt is there .

And the OemSkipEula = Yes in my winnt.sif .

[mediapla]

...this was also a error i had. winnt.sif ok, eula.txt in some directorys...i think this beta version isnt 100% functionally.

[htc]

..and thats my problem, i dont know how. I BELIEVE i must do this: Bootable loader is loader.bin in the bcdw dir. this calls bcdw.bin/bcdw.ini. Here i load the patched bootsectorfile ( change I386 in XPH1 f.i.). T he bootsectorfile boots the setupldr.bin in dir %Root%\XPH1 - is this right ?

I've only used the bcdw plugin for cd shell or boot scriptor, in that case is the loader.bin in boot folder.

I don't think this tool is ready to be used , mine boots but then says it cannot find the EULA blink.gif although the XP iso works fine and the EULA.txt is there .And the OemSkipEula = Yes in my winnt.sif .

have you changed the the path in txtsetup.sif too? how many times? In my case it was total# -3 !

[Whampoom]

I don't get it :

-if I use I386 folder name as it is , all fine

-if I change it to XPCD , without the winnt.sif then it doesn't find the eula.txt

-same with the winnt.sif (with OemSkipEula = Yes) then it works

Conclusion : you cannot start XP setup and rename the I386 folder unless you

use winnt.sif (OemSkipEula = Yes) line to skip that check .

this doesn't apply to Bluecon , ERD , BartPE since they do use eula check so renaming doesn't cause problems .

if anybody wants to test this and correct me, please do .

[htc]

I think we've talked about "unattended installation of windows xp" in "multiboot forum", thus the file winnt.sif MUST BE obligatory. So I really donot know why it was for you unclear.

[Vitalis8]

I can share my experience building MultiSetupCD with BCDW2.0

I followed instructions according Webpage skipping chapter 5:

5. In the folders NT_?, use a HexEditor (e.g., WinHex) to edit the files SETUPLDR.BIN Replace all occurrences of'I386' ...

as HTC said "...BCDW v2 patches the setupldr.bin "on-the-fly"..."

Here the directory tree:

root
|-BCDW
|-BLUE
  |-SYSTEM32
|-HOME
  |-DOCS
  |-DOTNETFX
  |-I386
  |-SYSTEM32
  |-SUPPORT
  |-VALUEADD
|-PROF
  |- (the same as HOME)
|-VLPK
  |-$OEM$
    |-$$         \
    |-$1           (here by your own ideas)
    |-$Docs     /
    |-$Progs  /
  |- (rest the same as HOME)
|-WIN51
|-WIN51IC
|-WIN51IP
|-WIN51IC.SP2
|-WIN51IP.SP2

excerpt from BCDW.INI:

[InitOptions]

[MenuItems]
C:\               ; Boot from drive C:
A:\               ; Boot from drive A:
\VLPK\setupldr.bin; Windows XP SP2 Pro VLPK
\VLPK\setupld1.bin; Windows XP SP2 Pro VLPK unattended
\PROF\setupldr.bin; Windows XP SP2 Professional OEM
\HOME\setupldr.bin; Windows XP SP2 Home Edition OEM
\BLUE\setupldr.bin; Windows XP Command Prompt (BlueCon)

the only thing I've pached was copy of setupldr.bin in VLPK (setupld1.bin) where I changed winnt.sif to winn1.sif (for unattended setup from CD). In other setups you can use the answer file winnt.sif by supplying it on A:

[htc]

Well done, bravo Vitalis8!

But as a IT-professionals I have still tips for you:

1. If you've changed the boot shell from bcdw to cd shell with the bcdw plugin, it is possible to do a "floppyless multi-configuration unattended multiboot setup", i.e. prepare multiple floppy image for answer file(multi-configuration) on cd optional with the mass storage driver if you F6 key press during the setup.

2. even without change your boot shell you can do multi-configuration unattended + attended setup with default provided such as product key, by putting winnt.sif(which can be as "defaul provided"), winnt.sif, winn2.sif etc. for diverse setup options.

[Vitalis8]

@htc

for the time being I use BCDW 2.0alpha and this is quite enough for my needs. Perhaps CD Shell (another topic) has more possibilities (isn't it?), but at the very first look it seems to me more complicated to build simple boot menu as with BCDW . The only trouble for people is to find a link to it (I've find it here "http://bcdw.bootcd.ru/bcdw-2.0a1.zip", but now it seems dead link).

Next thing I have to dive in is perhaps mass storage drivers (mostly SATA?).

@mediapla

About making ISO: I am using "mkisofs 2.01-bootcd.ru (i386-pc-mingw32)" with switch "-duplicates-once" and so can save space (duplicated files are written only once and don't occupy additional space; you can have $OEM$ in every build's subdirectory and this won't bloat your CD/DVD).

[mediapla]

@vitalis8:

i use cdimagegui(cdimage), i believe it has the same function. My bootdvd directory

on hdd is 32GB and cdimage reduce it to 4,4 GB as iso file...its not so the problem of space ( i hope double layer dvd price will go down...) its a problem of time and work to optimize every version (newer driver, patches). But i believe i have found a way...http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=32069

... that can be a way

[htc]

@Vitalis8

I have mirrored the original bcdw 2.0a website with all downlads,demos, ducumentations...

http://163.29.16.20/germany/bcdw/

P.S.: Please don't post this link on other forums or sites.

I've posted the above link since a week(exactly since this monday, see http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=29920&st=10#), but there is still many people dont know that... so I have to start a thread for all visiters of this forum...