I finally received a copy of 2005 and am in the process of testing the ram drive boot option.

Following the instructions in the help file I:

1) Created and tested my initial WinPE iso

2) Created the folder structure as specified (c:\ramdisk)

3) Copied bootfix.bin, ntdetect.com, and setupldr.bin to the c:\ramdisk\i386 folder.

4) Created the Winnt.sif file and placed it in the c:\ramdisk.

5) Created the iso

When I attempt to boot to it but get this error:

inf File txtsetup.sif is corrupt or missing, status 14

Setup cannot continue.  Press any key to exit.

Am I missing a step?

I didn't see the step there where you build the ISO that goes inside - the one that becomes the RAMDisk? Did you do that? Does your winnt.sif point to it?

I didn't see the step there where you build the ISO that goes inside - the one that becomes the RAMDisk? Did you do that? Does your winnt.sif point to it?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Did this in step 1.

1) Created and tested my initial WinPE iso

Here is my Winnt.sif, basically copied what was in the chm.

[setupData]BootDevice = "ramdisk(0)"

BootPath = "\i386\System32\"

OsLoadOptions = "/noguiboot /fastdetect /minint /rdexportascd /rdpath=winpe2005.iso"

The winPE2005.iso is in the root of the ramdisk folder

Duh. My bad. The ISO is at the root of the CD, and is called winpe2005.iso? Have you done any file removal, and was Server 2003 SP1 your source?

So at the root of your ISO, you should have an I386 directory with the three boot files, and then winnt.sif and winpe2005.iso. Is that what you have?

One other thing - in the example I have working, there is also one more line under [setupData] -

Architecture = "I386"

Do you have that as well?

Yes, at the root I have the ISO, i38

6 directory with the 3 files, and the winnt.sif.

I had the line Architecture="i386" in there when I first created it, but removed it when I attempted to recreate the iso.

Taken from the chm:

The Architecture entry must be present for x64 computers. For i386 computers, you can omit this entry or ensure that the value of the Architecture entry equals i386.

I created the ISO on a 2003 std server with SP1 installed.

Either we are two that can't read the chm or they got a problem. If you copy winnt.sif to txtsetup.sif it finds the sif but then it can't access the ramdrive

Weird - it works perfectly for me... :-/

Oki kan you post a dir of your build directory for the iso and the content of winnt.sif? I think that should be the easiest way to nail any differences

Folder structure is such:

C:\RamDrive

Winnt.Sif

WinPE2005.iso

C:\RamDrive\i386

Bootfix.bin

Ntdetect.com

Setupldr.bin

In the Sif

[setupData]

BootDevice = "ramdisk(0)"

BootPath = "\i386\System32\"

OsLoadOptions = "/noguiboot /fastdetect /minint /rdexportascd /rdpath=winpe2005.iso"

At the suggestion of someone else, I moved all the files in the i386 to the root folder. I didn't get the error anymore but nothing happened on the VirtualPC that I tested the iso on, black screen only. Havn't burned a CD yet but plan to do so today.

Oki

I had placed my sif in the i386 folder and that's why it failed for me

Current structure

c:\work

winnt.sif

test1.iso

c:\work\i386

bootfix.bin

ntdetect.com

setupldr.bin

and the content of the sif is:

[setupData]

BootDevice = "ramdisk(0)"

BootPath = "\i386\System32\"

OsLoadOptions = "/noguiboot /fastdetect /minint /rdexportascd /rdpath=test1.iso"

Architecture = "i386"

and how are you assembling the final ISO?

Have you tried this on a DVD?

What are the advantages / disadvantages of using this method, VS using regular WinPE boot and launching winnt32 from there (unattended of course)? Just wondering.

I would say that i allows u to change the removable media if that is the source of installation, nice feature if u only have a CD and not a DVD unite....

and RAM is somewhat faster when performing file copy sequences then performed from a CD for example.. then again, takes longer to load the .iso into RAM also.

Otherwise, it is just show off...

There is a killer function in this too.

Try PXE on a 10 Mbit network. Some nics will need up to 30 min. to boot, with ramdisk, they do it in 5.

Just one small question...

did you start from a FAT16 partition, FAT32 or NTFS

Cause in my case it doesn't work;

Or i receive "Non system Disk"

or I/O read error

How did you format the disk...

Cause i've followed all said heere and no way while it works if i boot pe from a CD, format it in NTFS and copy all the files...

Thanks for helping