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How do I get XPs Recovery Console on my Multiboot DVD

andyd

By andyd
in Multi-Boot CD/DVDs

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Vigilante

Vigilante

Posted
Posted

This is my first post here, and this is exactly the question I needed to ask. But not on a multiboot CD. I just wanted to know how to get a bootable CD that can go right into Recovery Console.

There is already a discussion of this on another forum I'm on:

http://www.techspot.com/vb/showthread.php?...4312#post254312

I'm so close, but need to know any more details about RC I might be missing.

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Incroyable HULK

Incroyable HULK

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Posted

Here is my method

1- Download the Boot Disk here using the proper language: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310994/en-us

2- Create a folder named i386 at the root of your CD-ROM (you can change the name if you want BUT you'll have to Hex Edit the same way as you would with a OS)

3- Extract the content of the Disk Setup Set and open each floppy images (with WinImage) and extract the content to the i386 folder you just created

4- Now you can boot this i386 folder like you do with any other OS (In EasyBoot, you would call the w2ksect.bin to boot this recovery console... and this is the file you would Hex Edit to change the name of the folder i386 to something else)

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LiquidSage

LiquidSage

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Bart PE can take a while to boot and is overkill when someone needs to do simple, quick things like fixmbr, fixboot, sfc scans, etc.

There is no way to get to RecCons to start automatically (w/o pressing 'r') unless you alter files.

If this is really something you want to do, I would suggest looking at O&O BlueCon XXL Administrator's Suite, which can boot directly into RecCons and includes more robust features.

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Nakatomi2010

Nakatomi2010

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Posted (edited)

I'm posting this here for two reasons... I figure the following information is relavent to the discussion, and since it's something I want to do, and I'm at home right now, I'm posting it so that when I get to work I don't forget where it's all located....

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?...kb;en-us;307654

KB Article discussing how to add Recovery Console to boot.ini

Note: When using the command displayed above in conjunction with an x64 copy of XP i386 should be changed to amd64

[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="Windows XP Professional x64 Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
C:\CMDCONS\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows Recovery Console" /cmdcons

Boot.ini after cmdcons installed...

On %systemroot% a HIDDEN directory called cmdcons appears with all necesary files to start recovery console on boot from boot.ini. 64-bit directory is about 10mb, 32-bit directory is about 8mb...

This concludes my 'Notes out loud', sorry if it's not a complete thought, but I intend to see what I can do with this in terms of adding it to a Multi-boot environment when I get to work... Should be around 9:30ish EST....

Edit: I'm at work now..... It would appear as though doing the command listed in the KB article above is the equivalent of copying the BT directory to the hard drive, the directory sizes and content appear to be the same...

Based on this information, and looking at the boot.ini file it's ,my belief that all of our Multiboot CD/DVDs ARE Recovery console ready, we just need to be able to excute the '/cmdcons' parameter when loading the thing....

Edit 2: I can pretty much confirm now that when doing "%XPSOURCE%\i386\winnt32.exe /cmdcons" the cmdcons directory it creates IS the equivalent of the BT directory that we make when we grab it from doing winnt32.exe 'upgrade' to get it in the first place. I know this because I took the cmdcons directory and stuck it on the CD and treated it like a BT directory, so I made CMD1 directory and .dat file from a boot sector, deleted bootsect.dat and migrate.inf from the directory, then made the changes in the setupldr.bin file, and when execute it goes straight into text setup mode....

With that in mind, in order to load the recovery console from CDShell (What I use) we'd basically need to add the /cmdcons modifyer for when we execute it...

Edit 3: I've got a theory on how to do it now, but my method is going to be a bit moronic in doing it because I don't know how else to do it... So yeah... Should take more than a couple moments to do though....

Edit 4:: This KB article tells us that when starting the text setup, pressing F10 instead of F6 at the time when it says "Press F6" will make the setup boot directly into the recovery console. AFTER it loads drivers and such though, so basically rather than stop and ask you if you want to boot to recovery console, hitting F10 will tell the system to just boot to the recovery console automatically when it's done...

Edited by Nakatomi2010
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Mazarul

Mazarul

Posted
Posted

I know DreamPackPL loads the recovery console at boot for Windows 2000 and XP, maybe this will help. Sorry I can insert a link because I am not sure if this it allowed in this forum. Google DreamPackPL.

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Nakatomi2010

Nakatomi2010

Posted
Posted (edited)
I know DreamPackPL loads the recovery console at boot for Windows 2000 and XP, maybe this will help. Sorry I can insert a link because I am not sure if this it allowed in this forum. Google DreamPackPL.

No, I'm after being able to stick the CD in the drive and then letting boot straight into the recovery console. The method it's describing, if I interpret correctly is to add it as a boot option on that system. I don't want to have to make modifications from system to system, I want to be ale to pop in the CD, push a couple keys and have it boot off of any system...

Currently I'm getting an error that says "Sorry, but I placed files here that aren't here anymore, so I'm not going to work"

I've tried various things and I'm drawing a blank on this one....

Edited by Nakatomi2010
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Mazarul

Mazarul

Posted
Posted (edited)

Maybe we didn't understand each other but, I have the console on my Muilt DVD and I select this from my dvd boot menu and the recovery console loads off the DVD. So I pop my DVD in any computer and I can load the recovery console without making any changes or adding any files to that system.

Edited by Mazarul
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Nakatomi2010

Nakatomi2010

Posted
Posted
Maybe we didn't understand each other but, I have the console on my Muilt DVD and I select this from my dvd boot menu and the recovery console loads off the DVD. So I pop my DVD in any computer and I can load the recovery console without making any changes or adding any files to that system.

If I understand that correctly, then yes that's what we're trying to do...

However, if you used the software to do it, what I'd like to know is how to do it manually...

I've found the while having something do it for you is great, knowing how to do it manually is better because you tend to learn more about how the OS works, and the method you used there could be applied elsewhere...

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Mazarul

Mazarul

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This is how I did it,

Everything was done in VMware, then I burn the CD/DVD.

1- What I did was install the RC, then copy the folder and rename it RCXP

2- Hex edit SETUPLDR.BIN and replace i386 with RCXP.

3- Hex edit my .dat file and change i386 to RCXP

3- Since I have a Muilt DVD, I use Ezboot to create my DVD boot menu

and call my .dat file to load the RC.

I am at work right now and I wrote these steps by memory, when I go home tonight I will edit this post if necessary.

Edited by Mazarul
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Vigilante

Vigilante

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Posted

Seems to me it aught to be simpler then using a special boot loader and hexing files. And why hex and not just leave it i386 anyway? For those of us who want a boot CD with ONLY RC on it.

Seems to me that if RC can be installed to your hard drive with no more then a folder and an entry in boot.ini, it should be similarly easy to place those same files on a CD and call it somehow? Can someone explain how that might be done?

After reading these threads, are we supposed to take the bootsect.dat and make that the cd-rom boot sector or something? Or instead use a normal boot sectore from anything, and then call that file somehow?

Because when RC is installed to the hard drive, all the boot.ini does is point to bootsect.dat /cmdcons. From what I've played with, thist just can't work from a CD.

So I'm still trying to find out how to just put RC on a CD and boot strait to it, no pressing keys, not questions or menus, just a strait RC boot disk.

Getting there though!

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