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VHD_WIMBOOT - Apply and Capture of WIM Files for OS in VHD

ramdisk grub4dos wimlib svbus windows 10 ssd usb wim vhd wimboot

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#1001 antonino61

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Posted 05 February 2022 - 02:10 PM

thanx alacrán for the findings, they are in line with mine, but as u were saying the other day (I honestly do not remember which but I do remember u did) the writing is slight and normal. what we do not want is the system to write elsewhere, but in the registry ..., there is and should be no stopping.

almost every writing out of the registry zone (c:\windows\system32\config) I solved many problems with zerobyting where possible (it hardly ever fails).

one caveat I have to draw alacrán and wimb's attention - vhd_wimboot and winntsetup, well, I have just realized that neither is better (when I thought the latter was better, I did not consider the latter enjoyed greater space on the target vhd, which made used space look smaller). sorry about that.

another caveat is about default vs mini in the wimbootcompress choice: I did try to follow the discussion, but I am not sure I have understood it all correctly. what I did experience is little or no difference in the capturing, the little difference (if any) paradoxically in favor of default, and practically no difference in the applying, but for an apparently non-influent registrly error winntsetup signaled slightly before finishing (most probably the one alacrán alluded to) when I applied the mini-based captured wim.  



#1002 alacran

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Posted 05 February 2022 - 02:18 PM

one caveat I have to draw alacrán and wimb's attention - vhd_wimboot and winntsetup, well, I have just realized that neither is better (when I thought the latter was better, I did not consider the latter enjoyed greater space on the target vhd, which made used space look smaller). sorry about that.

 

I strongly recommend you should go to all your previous post, where you mentioned this mistaken/wrong info, and make a note with your new info, or just delete the wrong comment, to avoid future readers confusions.

 

alacran


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#1003 antonino61

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Posted 05 February 2022 - 02:27 PM

done!



#1004 wimb

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Posted 05 February 2022 - 02:37 PM

Mitigate the grow up of used space into Mini-10x64-LZX.vhd after a filedisk boot:

 

During my tests I collected the following info:

 

Using WOF_Compress program to make the list of files compression status (before and after first boot), and Notepad++ (Compare plugin), I was able to find the files that are modified/edited and also created during first boot.

 

 

Very Good Test + Info + Procedure - Will implement everything in next version .... 


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#1005 antonino61

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Posted 08 February 2022 - 04:45 PM

While keeping on testing during these days, I have come across a portable browser called brave, which, believe it or not, I now prefer to long-standing (well, at least it has been so for me so far) maxthon. I remember setting great store by maxthon as a browser for letting me keep vital passwords, but I have now found out that I can enjoy the same facilities with brave (where I still use maxthon startpage and all the bookmarks and everything). the advantage of brave is its slenderness compared to bulky maxthon, plus the closing of everything on c:\uses\,,, when u shut the browser down, thus having no impact whatsoever on vhd size and logic.



#1006 alacran

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Posted 08 February 2022 - 06:47 PM

Not as good as FireFox Portable.

 

From: https://portapps.io/...brave-portable/

 

 

Known issues

Here is the list of known issues with this portapp:

    Cookies, passwords and settings not saved across computers

 

Then where the hell is the portability?

 

EDIT: Please also see the info from this post  for more info.

Spoiler

 

alacran



#1007 antonino61

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Posted 08 February 2022 - 07:14 PM

I will try Firefox as well and let u know, of course under the same conditions.

#1008 alacran

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Posted 09 February 2022 - 04:44 AM

Make FireFoxPortable the default Browser

 

If you run FireFoxPortable and in options or configuration you select to make it the default Browser, that seeting will work, but the path will be pointing to \FirefoxPortable\App\Firefox64\firefox.exe located into the drive where is our FireFoxPortable folder, and will work just exactly as for an installed version, creating the Profiles folder in  C:\Users\XXX\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\ (where XXX is the user name), and the program will stop working as a Portable version.

 

To make it our default Browser but keep using it as Portable keeping all required files/folders to use it into FireFoxPortable folder, and not creating the Profiles folder in C:\Users\XXX\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\ , it is required to use a path pointing to Y:\FirefoxPortable\FirefoxPortable.exe

 

I spended some time googling for a solution and I found following links:

 

Set Firefox Portable as default browser  that is based in  Register a portable browser and make it the default

 

But unfortunatelly it didn't work fine, but after making some modifications I finally was able to make it work fine.

 

For users convenience I attached here my version of Set_FireFoxPortable_as_default_Browser.7z  Password = alacran

 

That contains my version of Set_FireFoxPortable_as_default_Browser.reg and a README_FIRST.txt file with instructions and comments.

 

Following is the content of the README_FIRST.txt file

Spoiler

 

@ wimb

 

My friend, this REG file is working very fine, and I suggest you to adapt it and add it to your Win_Reduce_Trusted program.

Also attached you will find some new links into Links for Desktop & Send to.7z folder  Password = alacran

 

I will see if the approach used in this REG file (with some changes) is useful for some other portables, I'll start making some test with Y:\System_Info\Foxit_Reader.exe, but in the main time putting the link into the attached file, into Send to folder works very fine.

 

alacran

Attached Files


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#1009 antonino61

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Posted 09 February 2022 - 07:31 AM

With brave u have the same scenario but still outside the vhd, without y: or any other adjustment. The only writing to the vhd, if any, is in 2 brave folders which disappear as soon as u shut it down. The rest is kept in it's own folder outside the vhd. C it 4 ourselves.

#1010 antonino61

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Posted 25 February 2022 - 03:24 PM

Well, folks, after a couple of weeks trying (in vain) to safely delete over 1,000 files from system32 and syswow64, I have decided to proceed the other way round, by proceeding as follows:

1) copy ur vhd and make sure it is a working one, as u will need to alternatively boot off it many a time.

2) keep everything vital for u open and try to move all syswow64 dll's elsewhere; the reboot must be successful and everything that was open must work ok. if it is the case get rid of the dll's u have moved (u must be left with some 800 dlls in syswow64).

3) now get a bootlog and guarantee the presence of the following files 

BOOTLOG_LOADED \SystemRoot\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
BOOTLOG_LOADED \SystemRoot\system32\hal.dll
BOOTLOG_LOADED \SystemRoot\system32\kd.dll
BOOTLOG_LOADED \SystemRoot\system32\mcupdate_GenuineIntel.dll
BOOTLOG_LOADED \SystemRoot\system32\PSHED.dll
BOOTLOG_LOADED \SystemRoot\system32\BOOTVID.dll

BOOTLOG_LOADED \SystemRoot\system32\CI.dll

in order to boot successfully; place these files in a separate directory to be sure (the above files are necessary but obviously not sufficient for the system to boot ok).

Unlike the dlls in syswow64, which get blocked (undeletable) when ur favorite sofware is open, those in system32 don't tell u until ... u can't reboot, never mind get the software to work, so this is where ur vhd copy might have to come into play. So,

4) list the system32 root by type and concentrate on the dlls; select them, cut all deleteble ones and paste them to another directory, leaving alone those dlls that do not come off. the rebooting will not be successful, so

5) u will need to boot the copy and get the directory u have pasted the dlls to (now u can proceed by the criterion u see fit, me I prefer the alphabetical order, while others I know proceed by size - choose the criterion u can best manage, whereby u can keep track of all the files, as u have to do some trial and error). so, supposing u go by alphabetical order,

6) copy the dlls starting with an a and paste only the needed ones (2nd option on the copy box) back to the system32 root folder of the (obviously) offline vhd that had not booted before.

7) try to reboot and repeat the operations until u reach the bunch of dlls that will allow the system to boot (to cut a long story short, the system boots and works ok if the dlls with the following initials

A, bootvid.dll, C down to ci.dll, D (here I need some surgical integration to make my favorite software work, but you might as well not), F, kd.dll, L, M, Pshed,dll, T, W, X

are pasted back into the original root folder.

The above procedure leaves u with nearly 700 dlls deleted from system32 (and I believe some more can be deleted letter by letter, with a little more patience), plus 600 from syswow64 = nearly 1300 dlls deleted. ain't that something!?

8) once u r thru, keep a copy of the system32 and syswow64 root dlls elsewere to be sure to be able to resort to whenever needed.



#1011 antonino61

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Posted 25 February 2022 - 03:26 PM

I also have noticed that, as we got more surgical these days (every whimmy piece (there are 5 of them at most) of software of mine needs only one of those dlls to work), the difference between barebone mini vhd and barebone mini vhd with "my favorite software functionality" is not that great, which is also the case with the difference between the original isos recommended and their ltsc counterparts, as one would still need those files one needs (we can run but we cannot hide from that).



#1012 vigipirate

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Posted 28 February 2022 - 11:07 AM

hello demo  video installation thank you for noobs



#1013 wimb

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Posted 01 March 2022 - 08:26 AM

Update Download:  from wimb GitHub  -    Win_Reduce_Trusted-62
 

Download File E = Encrypted PassWord = bootwimb  -  AntVirus Software and Windows Defender must be Disabled for working with signed SVBus driver !!

 

Update Manual:   VHD_WIMBOOT.pdf   - Download:  Win10_2004_English_x64.iso  and  Win11_English_x64v1.iso

 

- Make FirefoxPortable the Default Browser + Deskto and SendTo Links - Thanks to alacran

- Reduce UsedSize After FileDisk Boot of Mini VHD using Custom FileList Menu Entry - Thanks to alacran

  New Files are removed according to Custom_remove_files.txt

  Compress_Mini.txt is used as List for build-in Wof_Compress Function


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#1014 antonino61

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Posted 02 March 2022 - 08:29 AM

working fine with win11. with win10, I will try it this afternoon. space gain is not negligible, I will be more specific this afternoon, both for win10 and for win11. Attaboy 2 both of u for the time being! compress_mini wants integrating also in vhd_wimboot_trusted anyway, I guess, but I mighta missed out on something.



#1015 alacran

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Posted 02 March 2022 - 02:58 PM

 

Update Download:  from wimb GitHub  -    Win_Reduce_Trusted-62

 

 

I booted from my PE_10x64_US_S.wim buided using Make_WinPE_Trusted-35, and I decided to try Win_Reduce_Trusted-62, then I attached my 10XPE_x64_LZX.vhd and tried to remove all garbage from previous Filedisk boot.

 

Win_Reduce_Trusted-62 was loaded fine, and I selected only Add Registry, Custom Folders, Custom FileList and User FileList, so far no issues, but when made click in Reduce button appeared a message saying it didn't found the WinSxS file (that was not selected), and also Invalid User_Path, as you can see in attached photo.

 

I know this program is intended to be used in Mini VHDs, but if VHD_WIMBOOT can deal with VHDs made from a WinPE, it will be good if Win_Reduce could also work on them too. :rolleyes:

 

EDIT: But if the comment in previous paraghaf means for you to invest too much hard work to modify your program, that by the way works very fine in Mini-VHDs, no problem my friend, as for these especifiic cases of VHDs from a PE, (that not many people uses), the cleanning can easily be done manually.

 

By the way I edited Custom_remove_folders.txt, adding following lines:

 

 

\Windows\Boot\EFI\en-US
\Windows\Boot\PCAT\en-US
\Windows\Boot\PXE\en-US
;
\Windows\Boot\DVD
\Windows\Boot\EFI\qps-ploc
\Windows\Boot\PCAT\qps-ploc
\Windows\Boot\PXE\qps-plocm

 

 

alacran

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#1016 antonino61

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Posted 05 March 2022 - 04:29 AM

well, I have gathered quite a few lists of required files for this, that and the other application (about a dozen) for permanent reference. the goal normally reached so far is about 1.4-1.5gb of used space, for a 2gb vhd. As I insist on stripping even more (which is obviously what led me to gather the abovementioned compartimentalized filelist on a per-app basis), I have thought of starting from alacran's ultimately minimal filelist available here and add all my filelist content and see if it suffices, if it does not (most likely, I guess) I will match the so-obtained vhd structure with my working one and see which files (mostly dlls) are missing. that will be the day! in order to do that, I would like to know if there is some command or instruction to add to, let's say

copy g:\folder\fiile.dll h:\folder

etc.

if I go like this, it will copy nothing because it expects the destination folder to be there in advance. ur help would spare me the trouble of pre-building directory structure to feed the folders.

I would like to put them all in a batch and automate the process.

tx in advance

 

I found robocopy ... /s - any better ideas?



#1017 alacran

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Posted 08 March 2022 - 02:55 AM

All info related to WinNTSetup and mini VHDs subject is now here: Mini Windows made with WinNTSetup

 

From this post

 

@ wimb

 

Hey my friend, don't you think it will be a good idea to move to a new topic, all posts related to the new feature of WinNTSetup to make installations in Mini-VHs?

 

And this way keep a few more order in the forum, and also in this topic you started, that so far is 42 pages long, by the way maybe a record as the longest topic.

 

alacran

 

From this post

 

Very good idea. Please Start New Topic e.g. in Windows Extreme > Windows 10  -  Mini Windows made with WinNTSetup or similar topic.

 

Can you move the MinWin related posts to that topic ? I have no rights to do that .....

 

I have rights to move posts in Project Forge, so in acordance with our comments, I created a new topic in that section: Mini Windows made with WinNTSetup

 

Even if I created the topic and the firs post (now post No. 28), as the first post of all moved is yours, you appear as the topic creator, wich in my opinion is good, as you started talking about that here on reboot.pro forum.

 

Hope this deserves the approval of higher authorities in reboot.pro forum, please keep in mind the intention is positive.

 

alacran


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#1018 wimb

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Posted 08 March 2022 - 04:28 AM

All info related to WinNTSetup and mini VHDs subject is now here: Mini Windows made with WinNTSetup

 

From this post

 

From this post

 

I have rights to move posts in Project Forge, so in acordance with our comments, I created a new topic in that section: Mini Windows made with WinNTSetup

 

Even if I created the topic and the firs post (now post No. 28), as the first post of all moved is yours, you appear as the topic creator, wich in my opinion is good, as you started talking about that here on reboot.pro forum.

 

Hope this deserves the approval of higher authorities in reboot.pro forum, please keep in mind the intention is positive.

 

alacran

 

Thank you for creating New Topic Mini Windows made with WinNTSetup and for moving all related posts to that topic.

 

The subject definetely deserves to have its own topic  :)

 

:cheers:



#1019 ali55a

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Posted 05 May 2022 - 01:13 AM

hello

please hlpe me i creative debian vhd 200 gb in drive d: but i cant add this vhd to boot menu optin windows 11 and not boot this vhd debin 11 linux boot after restart tanks



#1020 wimb

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Posted 05 May 2022 - 05:31 AM

hello

please hlpe me i creative debian vhd 200 gb in drive d: but i cant add this vhd to boot menu optin windows 11 and not boot this vhd debin 11 linux boot after restart tanks

 

How to make Linux VHD for Multi-Boot with Windows using Grub2 and vdiskchain

 

Download Manual VHD_WIMBOOT.pdf and See page 10 and try first if you can make it for KALI Linux



#1021 hai_it

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Posted 15 October 2022 - 03:30 PM

Hello,
 
From step 5 - page 5 of manual "5. VHD_WIMBOOT - RAMDISK - Apply WIM with WimBoot mode in Expandable VHD 3.9 GB located on NTFS System Drive of USB SSD", as below:
 
QMZBXxA.png[/size]
 
menu.lst:

title W10x64_US_WB_1.vhd - SVBus  FILEDISK - 2.5 GB - map as (hd)
find --set-root --ignore-floppies /W10x64_US_WB_1.vhd
map /W10x64_US_WB_1.vhd (hd)
map --hook
root (hd-1,0)
chainloader /bootmgr

title W10x64_US_WB_1.vhd - SVBus  RAMDISK  - 2.5 GB - map as (hd)
find --set-root --ignore-floppies /W10x64_US_WB_1.vhd
map --top --mem /W10x64_US_WB_1.vhd (hd)
map --hook
root (hd-1,0)
chainloader /bootmgr

Both FILEDISK and RAMDISK can't boot.
 
FILEDISK error: "Too many fragments"
RAMDISK info: total_sectors calculated from partition table... => Load dynamic "W10x64_US_WB_1.vhd" to RAM, show Windows logo and reboot immediately.
 
Does grub4dos not support Expandable VHDs in latest version? Or something wrong in my setup.
 
My VHD builded from WintNTSetup 5.x with partition style MBR-BIOS/UEFI with two partition (NTFS+FAT32 active, boot and EFI folders inside FAT32 partition). 
 
Note: Apply WIM with Compact LZX mode work fine with fixed VHDs for both FileDisk and RamDisk.
 
I used laptop with SSD, Virtualbox machine with 6GB of RAM + Virtual Machine USB Boot to simulate USB-SSD from VHD file on SSD host, of course I have checked "Solid-state Drive" for Virtual USB-SSD:
 
1tINQGj.jpg[/size]

 

Thank you for nice tool and your help.


Edited by hai_it, 15 October 2022 - 03:33 PM.


#1022 Wonko the Sane

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Posted 16 October 2022 - 08:18 AM

About the too many fragments, do check the  fragmentation of the backing file (WinContig or similar).

 

:duff:

Wonko



#1023 hai_it

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Posted 16 October 2022 - 03:13 PM

About the too many fragments, do check the  fragmentation of the backing file (WinContig or similar).
 
:duff:
Wonko

Thank you. I done this before but did not work.

hi guys :) Stuck with a problem while making win10 RAMDISK 3.9 gb expand. Fallowed (How to Boot VHD in WimBoot mode from USB Portable SSD as FILEDISK and with Grub4dos from RAMDISK using SVBus driver) tutorial pdf. I have done all with install svbus with reg one. Normal vhd works in usb but when im trying to run on ramdisk 3.9 with svbus driver it stucks with logo and blackscreen and restart or progress1 initiliazation failed errors that i'm getting. Any solition with it. I really need expand not fixed. Fixed was works great. Thaks all :)


I'm not alone.

The problem maybe simulate USB in virtual machine (both VMWare and VirtualBox) but I don't have a portable SSD to test and confirm.

#1024 alacran

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Posted 16 October 2022 - 08:16 PM

You can use any USB 3.0 (fast device) for Boot and/or Ramboot, not necessarily an USB portable SSD, I have used a very fast Kingston Canvas 32 GB MicroSD into an USB 3 adapter for this with good results.

 

But you always will get better results if the OS is installed in Compact mode, as all info is contained into the VHD and there is no need to access external (to the VHD) info as in case of Wimboot mode.

 

grub4dos for MBR (G4D) is capable to boot and Ramboot expandable VHDs, but this doesn't apply to grub4dos for UEFI (G4E).

 

I always recommend to use FIXED size VHDs, that will boot and Ramboot fine in MBR and UFI environments.

 

Fixed size VHD files are always contiguous since created, so not fragmented, the expandable VHD files are usually very fragmented since created, and also after every filedisk boot.

 

A (fixed size) VHD installed in Compact mode should work fine in MBR and/or UEFI even in a Virual Machine as all info is located into the VHD and available when the OS boots.

 

But if using a Virtual Machine and a VHD installed in Wimboot mode, I assume the OS into the VHD can't find the info located into the linked WIM file, if it is not located also into the same Virtual Machine.

 

alacran



#1025 antonino61

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Posted 16 October 2022 - 10:15 PM

There are also inside-vhd wimfile wimboots (the wimboot:wimcopy mode by winntsetup526, if I am not mistaken), and the result is not bad in terms of bootup time and operating speed, probably owing to the presence of the wimfile right inside the vhd. the only drawback I have noticed is the space used, which is some hundred megs greater than is the case with ordinary non-wimboot vhds. 







Also tagged with one or more of these keywords: ramdisk, grub4dos, wimlib, svbus, windows 10, ssd, usb, wim, vhd, wimboot

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