486 replies to this topic

[wimb]

I will return to my previous XP Image file made from XP installed to partition and where WinVBlock was installed manually.
That approach is working for me and gives stable image file.

That means that I only have to carry out as extra Step 11. of Sara's tutorial where usb_xp_init.cmd will add CDDB entries to make it Universal,
since all other steps were already present for me in the IMG_XP approach.

usb_xp_init.cmd of cdob is indeed quite useful to improve CriticalDeviceDatabase.

The machine with Intel i3-550 processor is booting now also as WinVBlock FILEDISK on USB-drive,
wheras previously for that machine I could only boot the XP image from WinVBlock RAMDISK loaded from USB-drive.
http://reboot.pro/13...249#entry120249

http://www.911cd.net...pic=22473&st=37 - Thanks to cdob

The hardware is quite different in these three cases.


= =

[agni]

Hi Wimb

You can try this version of Winvblock http://www.mediafire...8dsz199gw9ixbsb to install XP to a Disk Image.

Now I have use latest WinVBlock development version 30-01-2011 of github
https://github.com/S...tree/master/bin

Hardware detect is working and I can select to install in xp.vhd file.
This version of WinVBlock allows me to install XP in xp.vhd file (without pressing F6).
Strange is that this version does not install WinVBlock as SCSI controller, but as Unknown device.

Also my video and audio driver were not installed auto by DriverForge,
which normally occurs at T-9 for me. I installed them manually after booting with XP from FILEDISK.

[wimb]

Hi Wimb

You can try this version of Winvblock http://www.mediafire...8dsz199gw9ixbsb to install XP to a Disk Image.

Hi agni,

Yes, I will test that version of WinVBlock too and let you know the result.

[Sha0]

...Unfortunately the xp.vhd is not stable for me. It crashes now...

Did you pass the filename to WinVBlock? As far as I'm concerned, people are lucky if they can use a sector-mapped disk without crashing. Defragmentation or the image file being moved can ruin everything for a sector-mapped disk. This is why I typed post #6 in this thread.

You can try this version of Winvblock http://www.mediafire...8dsz199gw9ixbsb to install XP to a Disk Image.

Perhaps you were suggesting this Jan-22-2011 version in case of a regression. Or perhaps you might be interested in knowing that the latest development version is 0.0.1.8-DEV Jan-30-2011.

[maanu]

usb_xp_init.cmd of cdob is indeed quite useful to improve CriticalDeviceDatabase.

The machine with Intel i3-550 processor is booting now also as WinVBlock FILEDISK on USB-drive,
wheras previously I could only boot that image from WinVBlock RAMDISK.
http://reboot.pro/13...249#entry120249

http://www.911cd.net...pic=22473&st=37 - Thanks to cdob

The hardware is quite different in these three cases.


= =

thats very nice , it means we should expect the new version of img_Xp soon with this enhancement .

also ,

1.i think it will automatically add usbbootwatcher to the img
2.add EWF install button somewhere which SHOULD look for files in EWF folder .it might be useful for many guys who boot from usb .

[wimb]

7. open device manager and change all "ide&usb" drivers to "standard..." and computer to "Advanced Configuration and Power Interface"... reboot pc...

Can you describe what you do exactly in this case, and why you do it.

I guess you use Hardware Update Wizard and Select and use the list of Compatible drivers and then Select Standard
Until now I did NOT have problem at this point, but may be was lucky to start with Standard

And in case of Computer you select Advanced instead of ACPI Multiprocessor.
I don't know if this is needed since almost all computers are Multiprocessor now
and in Restore one can support in boot.ini Multiple hal if needed.

Thanks for your help.

[Brito]

Hi Sara,

Your tutorial is the cover of our newsletter this week.

Please update the first topic with the most recent changes if possible.

[wimb]

Did you pass the filename to WinVBlock? As far as I'm concerned, people are lucky if they can use a sector-mapped disk without crashing. Defragmentation or the image file being moved can ruin everything for a sector-mapped disk. This is why I typed post #6 in this thread.

In that case I did not pass the filename to WinVBlock.
Thanks for reminding me of post #6

Now I tried again and used also pass of filename to WinVBlock.
From 3 tested versions only the latest of Jan-30-2011 allows me to Install XP in xp.vhd file.
All others (version 0.0.18 and the one send by agni) stop at hardware detect with black screen and flashing cursor.

Unfortunately the successful XP install in xp.vhd is not stable.
As soon as I try to make changes, e.g. install of missing audio and video driver,
then at reboot the system crashes.

I prefer to prepare my XP Install on real partition and then manually add WinVBlock driver.
Everything works then OK and I can use IMX_XP_Create.exe to make XP Image file,
that I can boot from grub4dos menu on HDD or USB as WinVBlock FILEDISK or as WinVBlock RAMDISK
or Restore to any partition without problem.

[davlak]

excellent job sara!

gonna try it. (I must confess I never used wimvblock )

by the way, just few days ago I succeeded into installing onto and booting from universal VHDs on USB using another way (VBoot) without installing the vboot code but chainloading vbootldr.mbr by g4d, with no xp.iso mem-mapping .
only needed to make few changes on to the vboot-2k3.img because 2003 setup previously gave me an error about not finding vbootsmp.sys.
It seemed to me very easy.

only thanks to this thread and agni's suggests (this forum is really GREAT) i've noticed shao's wimvblock for iso direct mapping, so I think to try both sara's method AND agni's suggest (and i totally agree about using dps_base to integrate drivers instead of nlite).

Edited by davlak, 01 February 2011 - 09:27 AM.

[sara - pmedia]

Hello everyone
I'm sorry I did not answer your responses.
Some unexpected things took me out of routine

@wimb

The reason for updating the all drivers to standards is more success to run on computers with different hardware... It is written in many places And it works for me.

for your instability direct installation , sounds strange.
maybe sha0 might have an idea. Everything is stable and proper for me.

Yesterday I checked at work on another 5 computers - works like a charm

@Nuno Brito

helo
I do not see anything needed updating.
If anyone sees , tell me please

@ everyone

You have no idea how happy I am
I have a multi-boot usb with all the tools/installations/full os running in the world...

All versions of windows installation
dozens of versions of live Linux
full Ubuntu+Kubuntu running from ext2 partitions
all sardu tools
full universal win7 running from vhd
and now finally
full universal xp running from vhd

From my experience I can say the most comfortable system for pc repairs/virus cleaning/portable os for internet/multimedia/mail/Quick work with files... is this xp.vhd .
* its small (lass than 1 gb)
* its boot very fast (11 sec with ewf - 19 sec without ewf)
* full multimedia support so you can Immediately play your media
* full printing support
* your anti virus always up to date (no need wait for updates like in pe builds )
* your anti virus real time protection work (Unlike pe builds)
* easy to install driver from driverforce or driver geek including all type of drivers (better than pe builds)
* with ewf you are protected - only when you need to update or install something you commit write to disk and return to ewf protection
* all portable apps are works (i has 8gb collection i made with Thinstall )

[wimb]

I do not see anything needed updating.
If anyone sees , tell me please

@ everyone

You have no idea how happy I am
I have a multi-boot usb with all the tools/installations/full os running in the world...

Congratulations with your GREAT multi-boot usb which gives you full XP booting fast from USB.

You say booting xp.vhd in 11 sec with ewf or 19 sec without ewf
If it is from USB then it is extremely fast. What USB-drive do you use ? (Hitachi ?)
- And what are the specs of your host computer ?

In my case I can boot XP from USB-partition or from WinVBlock FILEDISK XP Image file on 2.5 inch Hitachi USB-drive
both in 45 seconds for i3-550 host machine (Intel Quad core).

What makes the difference ?

Improvements for the tutorial might be:
- grub4dos entries in menu.lst should not contain boot
boot statement is used only in grub4dos on the command line

- You might add in grub4dos menu to pass filename to WinVBlock as described by Sha0 in post #6

- Also you speak of xpsp3.iso in text but use sp3.iso in g4d menu.

- A reference link to IMG_XP might be useful, where you refer to use it.

- Add reference link to WinVBlock thread of Sha0

- Instead of img_update in step 13. you can use the right filename IMG_XP_Update.exe

- add description on how to prepare initial xp.vhd and winvblock.ima

- add reference link and how to use ewfmgr

It is a nice result you have obtained.

I think the main improvement is making use of WinVBlock driver of Sha0 and usb_xp_init.cmd of cdob

[sara - pmedia]

All updated

for

- You might add in grub4dos menu to pass filename to WinVBlock as described by Sha0 in post #6

I could not understand this issue .. can You explain more?

[wimb]

Sha0 described in post #6 that it would be a good safety measure to protect your xp.vhd file.

Personaly I have had no benefit from it, but I always take care already that all image files are defragmented.


EDIT:
Thanks for ewfmgr.iso
I get BSOD 7B when booting the ISO from grub4dos menu
Burning the ewfmgr.iso to real CD and then booting from CD solved the problem

For me with Dual Core AMD Athlon machine,
the boottime of XP from USB-harddisk is about 1.8 minute and did not change when enabling ewfmgr.iso

[Elba Stevenson]

Shalom - great job

[hieroglyph]

Forgive me asking if this is already covered, but I needed a boot XP from USB originally a year back when my laptop older (XP) HDD failed and I needed access to some Win XP only apps that W7 won't run... Then after hours of trawling around for a workround, it transpired that none of it would work as XP resets the drives after the BIOS 'boot from other device' hands over to XP...!!

So, rather than waste ages again, would this be the case still if I had NO access to the main PC HDD??

Equally, could I plug this routine into ANY XP PC and boot into the USB XP?? - EVEN WITHOUT ANY SUPERVISOR privileges on main PC?? !!

Thanks

[sara - pmedia]

Forgive me asking if this is already covered, but I needed a boot XP from USB originally a year back when my laptop older (XP) HDD failed and I needed access to some Win XP only apps that W7 won't run... Then after hours of trawling around for a workround, it transpired that none of it would work as XP resets the drives after the BIOS 'boot from other device' hands over to XP...!!

So, rather than waste ages again, would this be the case still if I had NO access to the main PC HDD??

Equally, could I plug this routine into ANY XP PC and boot into the USB XP?? - EVEN WITHOUT ANY SUPERVISOR privileges on main PC?? !!

Thanks

I could not understand what exactly you are asking
If your problem is access to files without permission, then use erd2005 to reset file permission (or erd explorer from hbcd)

[hieroglyph]

OK, ermm... well maybe I am unclear of what XP.VHD does... ?

I need to BOOT and RUN XP from an XP installation on a USB key ultimately. This was seemingly not possible previously because the way XP resets the USB drives in the boot sequence...? Can XP.VHD be run (when fully setup of course) in isolation of acess to a HDD on the required host PC (either becauase it has a dead/faulty HDD or, is a PC hosting another version of Windows XP/W7 where there is no permitted non Supervisor access to change anything? say like in a public access point?).

Thanks

[davlak]

hi sara, consider the chance to stop the setup after the first reboot, attach the vhd from Win7_PE (or other tool), apply the usb_xp_init.cmd, copy the vhd onto your usb-hd and continue the setup from it.
once inside the usb-xb apply the reg tweaks.
I successfully followed this way (well I was using VBoot, but this doesn't matter I suppose).

Edited by davlak, 01 February 2011 - 01:00 PM.

[Sha0]

...
- You might add in grub4dos menu to pass filename to WinVBlock as described by Sha0 in post #6
...

...I could not understand this issue .. can You explain more?...

Sha0 described in post #6 that it would be a good safety measure to protect your xp.vhd file.

Personaly I have had no benefit from it, but I always take care already that all image files are defragmented...

Suppose xp.vhd occupies sectors XXX through YYY on your USB disk. Now you boot from it and WinVBlock redirects sector 0 of the virtual disk to sector XXX of the backing disk. Now suppose something you do or some background process decides to move xp.vhd to sectors AAA through BBB. Despite the fact that the file has been moved, sector 0 is still being mapped to sector XXX on the USB disk. Now since sectors XXX through YYY are free to use, Windows might write your next Notepad file there. Now when you try to run some program from the virtual disk, it could have been overwritten by your Notepad file! I strongly urge users to pass the filename from GRUB4DOS. It's not that hard. When you pass the filename, WinVBlock won't map sector 0 to sector XXX, it will map it to the first sector of the image file, wherever that might be. The file will also be marked as "in use", so it cannot be accidentally moved or overwritten.

[Wonko the Sane]

I need to BOOT and RUN XP from an XP installation on a USB key ultimately. This was seemingly not possible previously because the way XP resets the USB drives in the boot sequence...?

No, you have some outdated/wrong info/assumptions.

Installing XP ON a USB stick/disk and running it from a USB stick/disk is possible since SEVERAL YEARS:
http://www.911cd.net...showtopic=14181

The above has been working allright.

The problem is when you want to make a "Universal" XP on USB device.

wimb wrote and made available relatively recently a method to this effect, here:
http://reboot.pro/9830/

The topic at hand is about betterings and alternate ways to that method.

You need to have clear that method AND be familiar with it in order to appreciate the enhancements presented here.

Can XP.VHD be run (when fully setup of course) in isolation of acess to a HDD on the required host PC (either becauase it has a dead/faulty HDD or, is a PC hosting another version of Windows XP/W7 where there is no permitted non Supervisor access to change anything? say like in a public access point?).

Generally yes.

On some motherboards if NO internal disk is detected the boot may fail.

... is a PC hosting another version of Windows XP/W7 where there is no permitted non Supervisor access to change anything? say like in a public access point?).

Say that if you are not given a "Supervisor" acces to a machine it usually means that there are REASONs why you shouldn't access it.
Let also say that any non-completely-demented public access point manager would have disabled USB booting completely, by putting a "Supervisor" password to the BIOS and monitoring anyway hardware resets.


Wonko

[wimb]

Suppose xp.vhd occupies sectors XXX through YYY on your USB disk. Now you boot from it and WinVBlock redirects sector 0 of the virtual disk to sector XXX of the backing disk. Now suppose something you do or some background process decides to move xp.vhd to sectors AAA through BBB. Despite the fact that the file has been moved, sector 0 is still being mapped to sector XXX on the USB disk. Now since sectors XXX through YYY are free to use, Windows might write your next Notepad file there. Now when you try to run some program from the virtual disk, it could have been overwritten by your Notepad file! I strongly urge users to pass the filename from GRUB4DOS. It's not that hard. When you pass the filename, WinVBlock won't map sector 0 to sector XXX, it will map it to the first sector of the image file, wherever that might be. The file will also be marked as "in use", so it cannot be accidentally moved or overwritten.

Thanks for interesting explanation. It is an important protection.
I will surely specify in GRUB4DOS menu to pass the filename of xp.vhd to WinVBlock driver.

[agni]

@wimb

Have you integrated Driverpacks Mass Storage and Chipset drivers to your XP Installation Disk?

@sara - pmedia

You can also add instructions to create the Winvblock.ima file.

I had posted the instructions here => http://reboot.pro/81...post__p__119877

[wimb]

Have you integrated Driverpacks Mass Storage and Chipset drivers to your XP Installation Disk?

Yes.

My XP Setup source has integrated all Windows Updates and Massstorage DriverPack with TXT-mode enabled.
Also I slipstream the other 4 small DriverPacks - Chipset, Processor, LAN and WLAN Network.

http://reboot.pro/13...post__p__120634

[adric]

Hello,

I finally managed to install XP on a USB HDD and it actually boots. The problem I have is that it will only run
using my laptop, but not others that I tried. They all start to boot, but then bluescreen with a 07B. I really
don't want to start over with the VHD method and was wondering what I need to add to my current system to make it
a bit more universal?.

If I had installed the system in a VM and then transfered it to USB, would it have been more generic than installing directly using a real PC?

My previous 07B abends were all related to the missing USB support booting from USB. This was fixed via UsbBootWatcher
and usb_xp_init.cmd. I assume my problem now is 07B because I'm trying to run on different HW configurations.

Right now, I boot directly from the active partition of the USB drive. Is there anything I might try or do to be a bit more flexible or do I have to bite the bullet and redo everything?

Thanks .....

[wimb]

@adric

Could it be that you prepared your USB on Intel machine and now wants to boot from USB on AMD machine ?

In that case you might need to fix intelppm Service using reg tweak
It is needed to change the Start value of intelppm service from Start=0 into Start=3

Procedure:
In other OS e.g. XP run regedit and click on HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE

Then Load SYSTEM registry of XP on USB-drive as systemdst
You will find SYSTEM registry on USB in Windows\system32\config folder

Then run registry tweak or edit direct the Start value of intelppm service of systemdst

Then select and Unload systemdst registry component

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00



[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\systemdst\ControlSet001\Services\intelppm]

"Start"=dword:00000003

That could do it.