196 replies to this topic

[maanu]

Out of curiosity, do you get BSOD 7B with the same IMG, when DriveGuard is NOT properly activated ? In other words, does "USBoot activation" has an obvious effect ?

yes it does make difference , i used DriveGuard to boot the usb img on completely new hardware before learning process/

[Doodoo]

yes it does make difference , i used DriveGuard to boot the usb img on completely new hardware before learning process/

Interesting.... But difficult to really make any conclusions.
On top of some possibly unadvertised effects, the obvious effect of activation is that DriveGuard makes removable media appear as fixed (which it does not, when not activated).
I have been speculating that this may have important consequences... So I decided to persist with trying to use dummy.sys...

For months I've been using the historical install procedure by Dietmar, which worked for me when booting flat files, but I always got a BSOD when installed in an IMG (not 7B, but I can't remember the specific error code at the moment). And then I found this very useful post by wimb, which explains that the ENUM part of the registry tweak should not be used !! So simple, so obvious... and that makes the difference !

In other words, I have now this XP IMG on USB, with dummy.sys installed. i can boot on my NC10 laptop and all removable media appear as fixed
But I still get the same BSOD 7B on the Dell laptop, and the timing of events is still exactly the same as in my first experiment !

So it seems making removable media appear as fixed is not key to our problem...

On a different note I haven't verified a claimed consequence:
http://reboot.pro/7466/

Particularly, "dummydisk.sys" has been able to filter ON-THE-FLY the install of all NEW (so never previously recognized) and pre-partitioned USB Flash Drives without the need to PRE-RECOGNIZE them

but if true, that's something really useful indeed !
Still I would really like to understand why.....The USB device needs to be driven properly, i.e. there has to be a corresponding CDDB entry. Why making the removable media appear as fixed would relax this requirement ?

[Sha0]

Still I would really like to understand why.....The USB device needs to be driven properly, i.e. there has to be a corresponding CDDB entry. Why making the removable media appear as fixed would relax this requirement ?

STOP 0x7B is caused when Windows attempts to open the ARC path from BOOT.INI and fails. Disks have nothing to do with it, except that the ARC path is usually a symbolic link to a partition on a disk.

The ARC path symbolic links can be generated by any driver, but for the disk case, they are generated based on matching a disk's MBR signature to that passed on by NTLDR.

[Zoso]

hi everyone, Ive been reading this thread and its way over my head but intresting to me. anyway.. I have some info that may be helpful or not. it was because of this thread I tried something that solved a problem for me with usboot/xp.

I was having trouble getting my garmin gps to be recognised in windows explorer by my usboot xp (booted from usbhdd) the usboot xp explorer would recognise the sd card that was inserted into the gps unit but not the internal storage of the gps however it was being shown in disk managment but as fully unallocated which it wasnt.

from reading this thread I got the idea to remove/uninstall driveguard and that in turn made the gps accessable in the usboot/xp explorer. great!

now theres a problem with driveguard removed because when I insert another usb flash drive with multiple partitions the usboot/xp can only see the first one. if I reinstall drive guard it can see all of the partitions. not a big deal and now I understand why other non usb boot systems havent been seeing the multipartitioned usb flashdrive. is there another way to have them recognise the extra partitions other than drive guard? preferably something I dont have to install with a reboot.

just weird that with drivegaurd installed, the usboot/xp can see multipartitioned usb flashdrives but not my gps's internal flashdrive and the opposite when driveguard is removed. I thought that was worth mentioning but I have no idea why.

way off topic here but I have nowhere else to ask but if I can figure out why mapsource/basecamp maps are only accessable from flash memory (SD cards, USB Flashdrives, etc.) and not directly from HDD this is something that is not a unique problem, its the way these programs were designed for some reason and the same for everyone. the problem is that some of these maps are 2gb and load slow from flash. we need them to load from hdd but how to trick these programs and make them think a traditional disk drive is a flash drive? is there something in the disk signatures that can be changed? as I said I have no where else to ask that would have a chance of insight into this situation. thanks

great thread! I think I need to read it a couple of more times.. lots to learn here.

[Doodoo]

just weird that with drivegaurd installed, the usboot/xp can see multipartitioned usb flashdrives but not my gps's internal flashdrive and the opposite when driveguard is removed.

For all removable media, Windows can only access the first partition. That's by design in windows.
If you want to access other partitions, the only way is to make the drive appear as fixed. Which is exactly what DriveGuard does.
So that explains why your usboot/xp (with driveguard) can see multipartitioned usb flashdrives, but it's very strange that it can't see your gps's internal flashdrive... Unless there is something about it that DriveGuard doesn't like.

is there another way to have them recognise the extra partitions other than drive guard? preferably something I dont have to install with a reboot.

Yes there is... I know of Anton Bassov's dummy.sys and also of Hitachi Microdrive filter. I don't think the effect can be turned on and off without a reboot, but one of the experts here might suggest a possible workaround....
You can find more information related to these drivers here:
http://www.911cd.net...showtopic=22795
http://www.911cd.net...showtopic=20089
http://reboot.pro/75...3162#entry63162
http://www.msfn.org/...on/page__st__12

To install dummy.sys, don't make the same mistake as me... Check a couple of posts above.
With either of these drivers installed, you should be able to see your multipartitioned flashdrive,it would however be interesting to let us know if you can see your gps's internal flashdrive, or if it disappears, similarly to what happens with DriveGuard installed.

[Wonko the Sane]

Also, and just for the record, usually it is possible to find the actual USB stick controller "manufacturer software" and "flip the bit", making the USB stick appear as a "Fixed device", thus having not anymore any need for a "Filter Driver" such as dummydisk.sys or cfadisk.sys (or driveguard).


Wonko

[Zoso]

thanks Doodoo and Wonko, now I know that these tools dont actually "flip the bit". I was thinking that is what they did.

I will look at this usbflashdrive with usbview and chip genius and see if it is possible to actually flip the bit on this one. I wonder if they can also read the gps info?

[Sha0]

WinVBlock is getting closer to being able to boot from GRUB4DOS sector-mapped disks on a USB backing disk. Fingers crossed for Monday.

[MedEvil]

Ok, i hold all thumbs to you.

[Doodoo]

Fingers crossed for Monday.

Well, apparently it was not meant to be for that monday.... Perhaps this one ?

No offense really.... I'm just being cheeky !! We're all pretty busy I suppose, and life imposes its priorities on us sometimes !
I just didn't want my silence be considered as a lack of interest.... It is rather the opposite !! I am really looking forward to trying the next WinVBlock version !

[Wonko the Sane]

Well, apparently it was not meant to be for that monday.... Perhaps this one ?

You seem like not yet familiar with "latin times" .
JFYI:
http://reboot.pro/5227/page__st__17

"Official" definition here:
http://reboot.pro/1013/page__st__208




Wonko

[Doodoo]

You seem like not yet familiar with "latin times" .

We French can't pretend to be more latin than you Italians.... But we're certainly familiar with "latin times"
However on this particular occasion it looks like Shao is more latin than us !

[Sha0]

I had done the work by that Monday, but the code isn't doing what I'd expected. More investigation is required.

In brief, it seems that I cannot provide a disk in a DRIVER_REINITIALIZE routine registed with IoRegisterBootDriverReinitialization(), but that's difficult for me to accept.

[maanu]

I had done the work by that Monday, but the code isn't doing what I'd expected. More investigation is required.

In brief, it seems that I cannot provide a disk in a DRIVER_REINITIALIZE routine registed with IoRegisterBootDriverReinitialization(), but that's difficult for me to accept.

it seems to be like forever since i am waiting for this big update, i know that you had been so busy in that coding stuff you mentioned in pm , but still come on mannnnnnnnn

[Sha0]

it seems to be like forever since i am waiting for this big update, i know that you had been so busy in that coding stuff you mentioned in pm , but still come on mannnnnnnnn

Agreed. It has been too long and was a disappointing experience. I'm working on WinVBlock now, but won't give a timeline, this time.

[Doodoo]

It has been too long and was a disappointing experience.

I suppose disappointment is part of the journey to solving a difficult challenge.... I'm sure you'll get there in the end !

I'm working on WinVBlock now, but won't give a timeline, this time.

No need to give a timeline... I'm more than happy to know work is in progress, even if it is unknown when the goal should be achieved !

[wimb]

This thread is about booting XP from Image file on USB and describes the BSOD 7B boot problem that for most cases is solved now.

Your method is about Install of XP from USB, so that is quite a different subject.
May be you can give details about the procedure that you propose and make comparison with allready working solutions described at MSFN forum.

http://www.msfn.org/...ndows-from-usb/

There are 4 well known methods for Install of XP from USB:

1. ilko_t - How to install Windows from USB- WinSetupFromUSB with GUI - http://www.msfn.org/...omusb-with-gui/

2. cdob - Install XP from a ISO file No RAM disk - http://www.msfn.org/...rom-a-iso-file/
karyonix - Install Windows XP from ISO on UFD to SATA hard disk - http://reboot.pro/13967/
Doodoo - A (relatively) simple yet powerful way to installXP from USB = http://reboot.pro/13...385#entry122385

3. cdob - Install XP from a RAM loaded ISO image - http://www.msfn.org/...aded-iso-image/

4. You can also first boot with PE or e.g. Portable XP from USB and then mount your XP Setup ISO in ImDisk Virtual drive
and use WinNTSetup2_x86.exe to prepare your TargetDrive for Install of XP.
JFX - WinNTSetup v2.1 - http://www.msfn.org/...winntsetup-v21/

http://www.911cd.net...showtopic=24424
http://www.911cd.net...showtopic=23931
http://www.911cd.net...showtopic=23553
In that case:
- First use BOOT_USB.exe to prepare USB drive for booting with Grub4dos Menu and using Boot Image file
- After booting with PE or Portable XP from USB, you can use R-mouse to Mount Windows Setup ISO in ImDisk virtual drive
- Then use WinNTSetup2_x86.exe of JFX to prepare your Target drive for Install of XP or Windows 7
- Reboot from Target drive and Install XP or Windows 7



EDIT: The post of Neuron_ is gone. But anyway he likes my reply ....

[m4D]

hi everyone.

i used another way of installing xp-sp3 to ext usb hdd, described here (http://www.techspot....opic116114.html). in short, i modified install media so it sets up usbstor, usbhub, usbport, esbXhci to be loaded in first place and never being unloaded/reloaded (moved them to boot bus extenders group). then i installed xp-sp3 from this modified installation media on an external usb3 hdd stad750202 running p5k (ich9r) machine with no sata drives connected (so that first-stage installer won't mess with internal hdd mbr). everything boots ok, no matter if i connect or disconnect internal sata hdd now. after that i tried to boot on another machine p6e-ws - everything was ok too. both these machines had raid controllers and so, but didn't required iastor.

now the problem is: i'm trying to boot with this system on fs-lifebook ls7020 and getting 0x7b error. i've read the whole topic and still didn't find a way to boot. can someone plz hlp me a bit?
p.s.: adding iastor entries to cddb doesn't work
p.p.s: using waitbt driver causes x10 'no signature found' and bsod 0x7b

Edited by m4D, 31 March 2012 - 02:23 PM.

[Wonko the Sane]

now the problem is: i'm trying to boot with this system on fs-lifebook ls7020 and getting 0x7b error. i've read the whole topic and still didn't find a way to boot. can someone plz hlp me a bit?
p.s.: adding iastor entries to cddb doesn't work
p.p.s: using waitbt driver causes x10 'no signature found' and bsod 0x7b

I am not sure to understand the logic , if you used this:
http://www.techspot....opic116114.html
why not asking for help in it's Forum?:
http://www.techspot.com/
OR try repeatig the steps here.
These are very complex topics, and it is UNprobable that you can "mix" things, there could be n reasons why you get a 0x0000007b, however first thing that comes to mind, are you using the "Dietmar's" modified NTDETECT.COM?


Wonko

[m4D]

I am not sure to understand the logic

in the first place, i thought ppl here actually KNEW, what were they doing, and not just applying some modifications.

are you using the "Dietmar's" modified NTDETECT.COM

no. read above

p.s.:

n reasons

can't find any logic in blabbing about how f$@%g difficult it is or how lunar phases influence on the process also

[Wonko the Sane]

can't find any logic in blabbing about how f$@%g difficult it is or how lunar phases influence on the process also

Naaah, lunar phases are ininfluent, months with R, are .

Seriously, try the modified ntdetect.com, first thing.
http://www.msfn.org/...ing-text-setup/

Then, try the USBbootwatcher approach.

Have you some ways to connect to the offline Registry in the USB thingy and check Start status of the various USB related services?

The 0x0000007b Stop Error means "inaccessible boot device" and should be independent from the internal hard disk and it's drivers, i.e. if you don't have (or don't have properly installed) the appropriate drivers for the internal hard disk in your build, what should happen is that you cannot see/access the internal hard disk, but the OS should boot nonetheless.


Wonko

[Gerolf]

At the web archive, I found Dietmar's original posting with the modified NTDETECT.COM hex dump. At msfn.org, ilko_T explains: "Copy and paste all in Tiny Hexer (freeware), select HEX TEXT, save as ntdetect.com and put it in USB stick root, filesize must become 47,596 bytes." This can be done easily indeed. I may not upload the binary, but are there legal issues against hosting it? Dietmar's patch, however, did not help me in the case of Atrus' USB booting tutorial. At least the Windows watchdog did not bark at it, contrary to what happened to my download of Wimb's VHD_XP_setup 85.exe. I wondered whether the allegedly detected "Trojan:Win32/Triggre!rfn" malware might have entered there via the hex dump that Dietmar presented out of the box, but as it seems, this is not the case.

 

Gerolf