[App] Boot Folder creation

[Nazgul]

I've been busy trying to create my own Multi-Boot DVD using the Creating a Multi-Boot DVD tutorial.

One of the things that annoyed me with that was the given method to create a Boot Folder, because I think messing with you boot.ini doesn't really win a price for elegance. So I started looking for an alternative method.

As a result I created a small application (which requires the Microsoft .NET 1.1 Framework) of about 32 KB, which creates the Boot Folder for you.

It asks for a folder containing the Windows files for which you want to create a Boot Folder, for example: D:\AIO-DVD\SETUP\XP\Professional.

And it asks you to select a folder that you want to use as a Boot Folder, for example: D:\AIO-DVD\PRO1\.

If you then press the 'magic' button, it automatically copies the required files to that folder.

The application can also be used from a script:

start /wait BootFolder.exe /u /f SourcePath DestinationPath

Switches:
 /u          Unattended - Don't show the GUI and start the process directly 
             (Note that the GUI does pop-up in case of errors or invalid parameters)
 /f          Force - Don't verify that the ouput folder is empty
             (Note that this option isn't available through the GUI, but it will affect the GUI)
 SourcePath  The folder which contains the Windows files for which you want to create a bootfolder
 TargetPath  The empty folder where you want to copy the bootfolder files to

I've tested it on the following Windows versions, but it should work on others as well:

- Windows XP Professional SP2 English

- Windows XP Professional SP2 Dutch

- Windows Server 2003 English

History:

1.3 (08-07-2005)

- Fixed a problem when the same file was referenced more than once in dosnet.inf

- Added the /f option, to skip the 'target is empty' verification

1.2 (13-06-2005)

- Reworked Copy code, because of instability with that code

1.1 (11-06-2005)

- Added 64-bit windows bootfolder support

1.0 (14-05-2005)

- Initial release

BootFolder13.zip

Edited July 8, 2005 by Nazgul

[Screwz Luse]

Awesome stuff. I'll try it out later today or tomorrow. I was actually going to be looking for a similar utility today anyway... heh..

[Nazgul]

So far there have been 20+ downloads, but only 1 reply.

I was hoping for some more user experiences with it.

[rikgale]

I'll give it a try next time I'm working on my multi-boot dvd. This however will have to wait until after I have finished the UA cd.

Can you give an example of:

The application can also be used from a script, by passing the source and destination folders as well as an /u (unattended) option as command line arguments.

ta

Rik

[Nazgul]

I use the following part of my UA-DVD script to call my app:

REM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
REM --- Create BOOT Folders -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
REM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IF NOT EXIST E:\Work\PRO1 (
  MD E:\Work\PRO1
)
START /wait E:\Tools\BootFolder.exe /u E:\Work\SETUP\XP\Professional\US\Attended\Base E:\Work\PRO1

[johny_cale]

Hi

I have testing this Tool to make my Bootfolder and after this i install with this Bootfolder Windows XP.

No Problems with install.

Thanks for this very nice Tool.

(sorry, for my bad english)

ciao

johny_cale

[Nightwalker]

Thank you for the Prog.

Can i use it also for x64??

[Nazgul]

I haven't tried it on x64, because I don't have one available to me.

But if you could attach your dosnet.inf file, I'd be able to see if Microsoft changed anything that 'breaks' my tool.

@johny_cale: Great to hear it worked for you.

[fifogigo]

Nice program, I tried it a couple times. First time worked with no problem, everytime after it would say that there was no dosnet.inf eventhough there was indeed one.

[Nazgul]

@fifogigo: Did you restart the program between those tries, or did you do them after each other?

[fifogigo]

I've tried restarting the program, i've also tried restarting the system. when that didn't work i tried clearing out temp files. It made no difference.

[Nazgul]

I'm unable te reproduce your problem.

Are you sure you're pointing at the root of your Windows folder and not to the I386 folder?

[fifogigo]

Yes, i'm in the windows root, i've tried in the i386 directory as well. i've also tried to use subst to try to get it to see the windows root as a stand alone drive. Is there some other check in the program that may be tripping it.

[Nazgul]

 private bool VerifySource()
  {
 	 if(Directory.Exists(SourceText.Text))
 	 {
    if(File.Exists(SourceText.Text + @"\I386\dosnet.inf"))
    {
   	 return true;
    }
    else
    {
   	 ErrorLabel.Text="The specified Source folder does not contain a DOSNET.INF file!";
   	 CreateButton.Enabled = false;
   	 ErrorLabel.Visible = true;
   	 return false;
    }
 	 }
 	 return false;
  }

This is the only piece of code that triggers that error.

It first checks if the specified directory existst and if it does, if it contains a dosnet.inf in a subdirectory called I386.

I can't figure out what could be causing your problem.

[fifogigo]

I actually had a friend try this out, and it seems to happen only when it's windows with sp1, sp2 works.