Triple-boot WinPE 2004 /Win XP SP2/Recovery Console

[Takeshi]

I've read these:

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=25604

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=14316

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=41147

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=40604

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=25100&st=0

The steps for dual boot here:

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=14316

would also work for triple-booting WinPE/XP SP2 and Recovery Console all on the same primary partition C, but it only works in VMWare!

When I did the same in actual desktop machine and a DELL laptop, it always gives an error:

Setup is inspecting your hardware configuration...

[on the next screen]INF file txtsetup.sif is corrupt or missing, status 14.

Setup cannot continue. Press any key to exit.

I've searched Google with no luck.

If I replace txtsetup.sif in cmdcons with a copy from minint, RC will no longer boot but will boot into WinPE.

If I copy SETUPLDR.BIN to ntldr, it will boot automatically to WinPE (as expected).

The actual WinPE 2004 CD will boot successfully in the desktop PC and DELL, so it can't be a hardware problem.

I'm at a loss why triple-booting only works in VMWare and how to fix it.

Any ideas please.

[jungle_warrior]

yes it may not be a hardware problem.

I think it is because there are only 2 available boot loaders, actually: the normal \NTLDR and \CMLDR.

NTLDR loads the XP system, or NTLDR loads CMLDR, but CMLDR cannot process BOOT.INI, It seems that

CMLDR will then process the file cmdcons\txtsetup.sif, in which "osloadoption..." line

instructs it to load WinPE or RC. It is not possible to make a choice at runtime.

Maybe, try use 3 loaders: NTLDR, CMLDR of RC, and SETUPLDR.BIN of winpe.

you can rename SETUPLDR.BIN to, for example, STLDR; then edit \BOOTSECT.DAT file, replace the ASCII

string "CMLDR" to STLDR.

[Takeshi]

Thanks for your reply, much appreciated of your time.

I've just figured it out and it's very simple!

The Recovery Console version must match the WinPE version, i.e. SP2. In VMWare it is but on the desktop PC it was pre-SP1 and on the DELL SP1.

After updating the RC to SP2, it now works on the desktop PC (actually multip-booting a few XP SP2, RC and WinPE).

I can't update the DELL RC yet as the CD is SP1 and I have to slipstream SP2. It won't allow the RC to be installed from the non-DELL SP2 CD presumably because it needs the DELL OEM CD.

AFAIK, cmldr comes from the RC, it's absent in installations without the RC. The error message above concerning txtsetup.sif comes from cmldr.

NTDETECT.COM from XP is the same as that from minint. So there's no need to replace it if there's a pre-existing Win XP.

Winbom.ini is not needed in C:\.

Do not copy SETUPLDR to C:\ntldr. The existing ntldr will do.

The working setup (triple-booting, actually quadruple-booting with two XPs) in VMWare is as follows (and similarly for the desktop):

C:\

|---cmdcons

|---WINDOWS

|---minint

|---boot.ini

|---BOOTSECT.DAT

|---cmldr

|---NTDETECT.COM

|---ntldr

boot.ini

[boot loader]timeout=30

default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS

[operating systems]

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="XP SP2 on C" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="XP SP2 on D" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

c:\BOOTSECT.DAT ="Microsoft Windows PE"

C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows XP Recovery Console" /cmdcons

==================================

ADDENDUM 11 Dec 2005:

I slipstreamed SP2 to DELL OEM SP1a and installed RC (SP2) on DELL. Now triple-booting works in DELL too.

Edited December 12, 2005 by Takeshi