50 replies to this topic

[Technotika]

Hi
I recently successfully used the above to get round booting an ISO that was looking for a CD ROM drive.

Today I applied the principal to another machine, but just as it was about to lay the ghost file down on the PC it error'd
and said x:not ready retry abort fail CDR101 is not ready (similar)

the working config.sys entry is as below

DEVICE=himem.sys /testmem:off /v
rem DEVICE=oakcdrom.sys /D:cd0
DEVICE=btdosm.sys
DEVICE=flashpt.sys
DEVICE=eltorito.sys /D:cd0
LASTDRIVE = Z

My question is, Shall I change the config.sys on the problem ISO to match that which is being asked for i.e

DEVICE=himem.sys /testmem:off /v
rem DEVICE=oakcdrom.sys /D:cd0
DEVICE=btdosm.sys
DEVICE=flashpt.sys
DEVICE=eltorito.sys /D:CDR101?????????
LASTDRIVE = Z

I know I could just try it but quite a lengthy process rebuilding 3.5 gb image and just want to know if I'm on the right track or not before
recompiling - thanks team , looking 4 wrd to some top tips!!

[Sha0]

I don't think that your above change would help at all.

I would bet that you are using a floppy emulation mode, bootable .ISO. As mentioned here[1], ElTorito.Sys can only access the floppy image, if using floppy emulation mode. You need to use no emulation in order to access the entire disc (disc image, in your case).

[1] Can I set up a ramdrive 4 iso boot? : "Historically, when using a floppy-emulation..."

[Technotika]

right I see, i'll try that, thank you very much, what would the path/code be like using g4d if I may ask?

would it be like this shao?

mkisofs -R -b grldr -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -o grldr.iso iso_roo

where would the lets say EXTRACTEDBOOTDATAFROMISO.FILE sit within that
path statement

would it be

mkisofs -R -b EXTRACTEDBOOTDATAFROMISO.FILE -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -o grldr.iso iso_roo



I only ask since I already am a bit familiar with g4d mkisofs iso creation, and would like to just boot the ISO in its entirity (preferably)??

[Sha0]

You needn't include the floppy/HDD image (that you were previously using for emulation) in the mkisofs. Simply plop that image along with all the other files quite plainly into the .ISO. Later, when you boot the .ISO, GRUB4DOS will boot, then you can easily root the disc (or image, in your case, I believe), then map the "extracted" image.

[Technotika]

hmmm confused again here is the iso structure



Uploaded with ImageShack.us
(only using ULTRAISO to show code - file deffo made with mkisofs)

here is the code to boot it, I have the boot data in the VFD ; should that be extracted aswell
when I try and load this iso grub just restarts itself and sits at a prompt???


title HP NC-6930-P
map (hd0,0)/6930.iso (0xFF)
map (hd1) (hd0)
map --hook
chainloader (0xFF)
boot

[Sha0]

I've lost you on your scenario. Is this it? USB stick -> GRUB4DOS (right?) -> .ISO mapped as disc -> GRUB4DOS (GRLDR from mkisofs -b ). If that's your scenario, then yes, that's why you see GRUB4DOS twice. Once from your USB stick, once from the .ISO when you booted it. If you're guaranteed that you will only ever be using the .ISO on the USB stick, then you can simplify this scenario by not bothering to make the .ISO bootable. Otherwise, if you might be burning it to a DVD, you'd want to keep its bootable nature.

Either way, two GRUB4DOSes means two MENU.LSTs. One that the USB will use. One that the CD will use. Your "outer" one maps the .ISO as the CD, then boots it. The "inner" one should then map the 6930p floppy image and boot it.

What you might be missing above in your "outer" MENU.LST is root (0xFF), since without setting the root, you are not passing along the boot-device choice to whoever you boot. This could potentially cause the "inner" GRUB4DOS to use the "outer" MENU.LST, instead of the "inner" MENU.LST, which is on the emulated CD.

[Technotika]

TOOT! WE HAVE A WINNER - in emulation anyway.....

shao that scenario is the one!thanks!

"NO EMU iso to get access to X: via eltorito"


title HP NC-6930-P
map (hd0,0)/6930p.iso (0xFF)
map (hd1) (hd0)
map --hook
root (0xFF)
chainloader (0xFF)
boot


the inner menu within that

title 6930p
map /6930p.vfd (fd0)
map --hook
root (fd0)
chainloader /io.sys
boot

does that look ok? will test later today at the machine - right now its bed time

[Sha0]

That looks perfect to me, with the tiny note that in MENU.LST, you can omit the boot command. It's needed when using the GRUB4DOS CLI.

Also: I haven't seen the nc prefix in the model name for the HP EliteBook 6930p. Do you really see that or does it mean something else?

[Technotika]

Awesome, just thought though, will I need to transpose..........

title HP NC-6930-P
map (hd0,0)/6930p.iso (0xFF)
[map (hd1) (hd0)]<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
map --hook
root (0xFF)
chainloader (0xFF)
boot


to the "inner" menu or will that stay set from loading "outer menu" I'm guessing I'd better do it?

title 6930p
map /6930p.vfd (fd0)
[map (hd1) (hd0)]<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
map --hook
root (fd0)
chainloader /io.sys
boot

[Sha0]

No, don't do that!

• The previous mapping stays
• If you made such a change and burned your .ISO to an actual physical disc and booted it, what would happen then?
• You can ditch the boot lines, as mentioned

What about the model name for that 6930p? It's got me curious.

[Technotika]

phew... saves me a job....looking forward to testing this....Feeling confident!!!

If you made such a change and burned your .ISO to an actual physical disc and booted it, what would happen then?

Not too sure? shall I burn one and leave it in my bosses PC to see what happens?? (apart from being given the boot ) see what I did there ?

I work so many HP's lots of them have NC but perhaps 6930 doesnt you know, either way the NC gives it a bit more presence in the menu....speaking of which the NC6120, a huge part of the estate, only has usb 1, which kind of negates this process in a way, hence the DVD query ealier.

On the newer desktops it flys though, 2/3 mins to ghost as opposed to 20/25 mins from DVD!!!

[Sha0]

The answer is: You would boot that physical DVD and it would fail when trying to map (hd1) (hd0), because there wouldn't be a second HDD. The only reason there're two HDDs is because when you boot from USB, BIOS shifts the internal HDD up one to (hd1) and then gives the USB as (hd0). So having that line in the DVD's MENU.LST would fail at that line... Or worse! There might be a second HDD with important contents that then is overwritten by the re-imaging process!

PLoP might be able to help you with USB 2.0 speeds, if the hardware actually supports it. BIOS might provide a slower speed than the hardware is capable of. PLoP might be able to increase that speed for an OS like DOS. Look into it.

By the way, very punny, in regards to the boot.

[Technotika]

...Nooooooooooo!.........

Just tested @ wrk same pesky error

(in full this time)

ABORT:10010, cannot open image file X:\LSR31.GHO, access denied
CDR101: not reading drive X:
abort, retry, fail?

...if...retry.....

CDR101 CD-ROM not high sierra or ISO-9660 format reading drive :x

Thought it was a done deal this time, really stuck now?

[Sha0]

What was your mkisofs command? Are you using the ElTorito.sys build that I provided or a different one? Would it be better to use (0xA0) or (hd32) throughout?

[Technotika]

"mkisofs -R -b -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -o build3.iso iso_root"

im using the eltorito.sys from the post here.....about hlaf way down the page :-)

http://www.boot-land...amp;hl=eltorito

Currently (0XFF) as worked on other build.....

"Would it be better to use (0xA0) or (hd32) throughout?"
which would be the best you reckon to try?

wierd thing, this image will load on a laptop that is not what it is designed for
i.e I grabbed any spare machine just to see if would get past the CD ROM error

however on the INTENDED machine it fails as it does now, maybe some kind of hardware thing????

thanks, shao!

[Sha0]

Find[1] and use ETTool and ETDump to get information on which drive number ElTorito.sys is using on your problem computer.

[1] Bart's utilities page

[Technotika]

cool....

is it obvious what Im looking for or shall I post a screen shot?

[Sha0]

Screen-shots are useful. What I'd be interested in is whether or not the ElTorito.Sys DOS driver is using the .ISO you mapped as a drive with GRUB4DOS, or whether it's using a BIOS-provided optical disc drive number. ElTorito.Sys scans for ODDs in a particular order; if BIOS is responding first (0x??), that could explain why you aren't able to access the emulated ODD (0xA0 or 0xFF, depending on your choice).

[Sha0]

Uh oh... It just occurred to me that we will never find drive 0xFF with my ElToritoSys patch. Please try 0xA0 while I think of a solution...

[Technotika]

Shao,

Call me sad but I woke up this morning thinking about this problem (you wouldnt be the first )

I think there's a chance I may have over complicated it....with this inner and outer menu situation...when I though about it...I realised I dont need that.

All I need is the nu emu iso and the floppy.vfd to map and boot off......

So what about scrapping that.....(NEW SCENARIO)........just boot USB, grub4dos, select ISO(use vfd map to boot it)...and away it goes.

I think this because within the second menu at the moment it is accessing the VFD from within the ISO which in essence might still be seen as emulation by the system??? perhaps???

Gonna try and get my mitts on a 6930 to test......

also did that dump but it means nothing to me fella.....

El-Torito Dump v1.2
Copyright © 2002 Bart Lagerweij. All rights reserved.
This program is free software. Use and/or distribute it under the terms
of the NU2 License (see nu2lic.txt or http://www.nu2.nu/license/).
http://www.nu2.nu/utils/

Does El-Torito status (INT13h/AX=4b01h) scan from drive number 0xff until 0x80
Prints carry flag and specification packet in hex.
Returns:
<drive>: <CF> <Specification packet>

This program helps you find out if you have bad El-Torito BIOS support.

FF: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
FE: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
FD: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
FC: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
FB: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
FA: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
F9: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
F8: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
F7: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
F6: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
F5: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
F4: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
F3: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
F2: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
F1: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
F0: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
EF: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
EE: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
ED: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
EC: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
EB: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
EA: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
E9: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
E8: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
E7: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
E6: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
E5: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
E4: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
E3: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
E2: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
E1: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
E0: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
DF: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
DE: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
DD: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
DC: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
DB: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
DA: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
D9: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
D8: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
D7: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
D6: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
D5: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
D4: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
D3: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
D2: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
D1: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
D0: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
CF: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
CE: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
CD: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
CC: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
CB: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
CA: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
C9: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
C8: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
C7: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
C6: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
C5: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
C4: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
C3: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
C2: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
C1: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
C0: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
BF: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
BE: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
BD: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
BC: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
BB: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
BA: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
B9: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
B8: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
B7: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
B6: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
B5: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
B4: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
B3: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
B2: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
B1: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
B0: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
AF: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
AE: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
AD: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
AC: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
AB: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
AA: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
A9: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
A8: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
A7: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
A6: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
A5: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
A4: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
A3: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
A2: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
A1: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
A0: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
9F: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
9E: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
9D: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
9C: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
9B: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
9A: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
99: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
98: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
97: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
96: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
95: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
94: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
93: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
92: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
91: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
90: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
8F: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
8E: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
8D: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
8C: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
8B: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
8A: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
89: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
88: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
87: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
86: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
85: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
84: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
83: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
82: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
81: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
80: CF=1 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00

[Wonko the Sane]

Just for information, I tried my best, but I cannot make head or tail of this thread, it seems to me like it is completely lacking the base info, which is normally:

WHAT is the goal

while it focuses on:

HOW to solve the problem with the means used

Maybe if you can re-sum up WHAT the problem is, as opposed to HOW it should be solved more/different ways can be found.

Compare with point #f1 and #f2 of the common sense advice:
http://www.boot-land...?showtopic=8804


Wonko

[Technotika]

Ok here goes......

1. Aim of Project.

a.) Render the use of "endlessDVD's & burning" for building PC's @ work obsolete.
b.) Have all builds required on "1" USB key with G4D front end menu selection.

2. Details of Challenges.

a.) the ISO' and resultant burnt DVD's use a basic DOS boot system to start and prepare the system
then the ghost images are copied across from the DVD (CD DEVICE) to HDD and then goes from there. The DVD's contain batch files and bios interogating files to update the sysprep files with PC names etc.
b.) I need to boot the ISO's directly as having a flat file structure on the USB's will cause
file overwrites as files and folders share same names.
c.) Crux of issue faced in terms of getting these ISO's booting from USB is tricking the process to "not" look for a CD ROM device during the boot up process so the USB can be used instead.

When I tried to load the ISO's using G4D ISO mapping it always failed because the process was looking for a physical CD device for the images and files etc.

3. Successes so far

a.) By Extracting the boot info from the ISO's, editing the config.sys file to use ELTORITO.SYS
and "REMING" out the OAKCDROM reference, and also injecting the eltorito.sys file into the boot information has lead to 50% success. However one of the machines intended for this process refuses to allow the ISO to work with this eltorito set up.

the error as reported earlier in this thread is

ABORT:10010, cannot open image file X:\LSR31.GHO, access denied
CDR101: not reading drive X:
abort, retry, fail?

...if...retry.....

CDR101 CD-ROM not high sierra or ISO-9660 format reading drive :x

From this point with the great help of shao and others just been trying to seek the source of this error. It does seem to point to something specific within the hardware as if I test the image on a different machine it loads the ghost image fine but obviously fails in the end result because the image wasnt intended for that machine.

Thats basically where this is at....hope that helps

[Sha0]

Your dump shows that no INTerrupt 0x13 is responding to the El Torito calls. Something's wrong. Did you run it while the .ISO image was mapped? Is there really a reason that you need .ISOs at all? Could you use and map HDD images, instead (thus avoiding your "files would overwrite each other")? Have you switched to using 0xA0?

[Wonko the Sane]

Yep, using a .img instead may remove TWO THREE layers of "uncertainty":
1) grub4dos .iso mapping
2) lousy DOS CD/DVD support by means of hardware driver (ELTORITO.SYS)
3) lousy DOS CD/DVD support by means of EXTERNAL filesystem driver (MSCDEX.EXE, which should ANYWAY replaced by SHSUCDX)

The current problem sounds like being the effect of the use of MSCDEX+ELTORITO.SYS +grub4dos mapping, but I wouldn't at all exclude a probelm with the actual mkisofs.ese parameters.

Being DOS based, I would first thing try using NOT a no-emulation kind of image, but rather a normal el-torito floppy emultion one, using as boot image a DOS + grub.exe floppy image (or a grldr enabled boot floppy image).

Once booted from the "main" boot floppy image, I would use any number of other floppy images containing the DOS+Ghost, each with it's own autoexec and config.sys pointing to the actual "specific" files (in order to avoid any overwrite like in "as files and folders share same names.") or map a HD image containing also the actual files and folders.


Wonko

[Sha0]

If you use a floppy emulation bootable .ISO, the eventually booted DOS will not be able to access the entirety of the emulated CD/DVD. Originally, I believe .ISOs were wanted in order to minimize the management of image files; that is, the same .ISOs that are used for burning a model-specific Ghost re-imaging DVD should be able to be dropped onto a USB stick and simply booted. HDD images sure are simpler, but lead to an .ISO for every model and an HDD image for every model. Maybe not too big a deal, but maybe it is.