34 replies to this topic

[v77]

Here is a GUI to easily make a RamDisk with ImDisk.

ImDisk already has GUI for image file mounting in control panel and with context menus in Explorer, so this GUI only covers the "ramdisk part".

The GUI works from Windows XP to Windows 8 (32 and 64 bits). No additional libraries required.
 
You can download the latest version here:
 
http://reboot.pro/fi.../268-ramdiskui/
 
 
   

[kreon]

Great! Downloading thank you

[bluespy]

Wow! so much goodie!

 

If possible please add "mount" and "unmount".

[Olof Lagerkvist]

Great work! Really appreciated! Thanks a lot!

 

[v77]

Here is a new release. Following bluespy idea, I added an "Unmount" button. Also added tooltips to give hints about some controls and to help beginners.

I think I now have added all I wanted, so suggestions are welcome.

 

http://d-h.st/RmW

 

Mirror:

http://www.filedropper.com/ramdiskui_1

 

 

changelog:

 

Version 0.2.0
- added an "Unmount" button
- added tooltips
- don't display console windows anymore
- show exFAT in File System list only if supported
- added application file properties

 

Version 0.1.0
- first release

 

 

(Can a moderator update the links of the first post? And, by the way, also correct the title and add commas in the tags. It would be nice...  )

Edited by v77, 13 January 2013 - 03:11 PM.

[Olof Lagerkvist]

(Can a moderator update the links of the first post?

 

Sure, done now. But I wonder if it would be better to keep some kind of changelog thread where you post each new release. Maybe we could think of something that is both easy to follow and easy to manage.

 

And, by the way, also correct the title and add commas in the tags. It would be nice...  )

 

I was able to update the title, but I am not yet sure about how to change tags. If at all possible. If someone knows, please tell!

 

Btw, I pin this thread now to keep it easy to see and follow.

[v77]

Sure, done now. But I wonder if it would be better to keep some kind of changelog thread where you post each new release. Maybe we could think of something that is both easy to follow and easy to manage.

Well, I don't think to make a new release every days... So it may be enough for now.

 

Btw, I pin this thread now to keep it easy to see and follow.

 Great! Thanks!

[TheHive]

I like it. How about a link to the program its a GUI for.

 

[Brito]

This is a simple looking UI, handy.

 

Can you please make it available on the downloads portal? This way it gets easier to be found by others: http://reboot.pro/files/

 

[v77]

Can you please make it available on the downloads portal? This way it gets easier to be found by others: http://reboot.pro/files/

 

Good idea. I will do it for the next release.

Edited by v77, 14 January 2013 - 12:08 PM.

[v77]

New release (sooner than expected  ), now hosted by reboot.pro, available here:

http://reboot.pro/fi.../268-ramdiskui/

 

Version 0.2.1
- rewrite the service creation for Windows startup: should fix some issues
- fixed: the icon was not displayed in title bar
- other minor fixes and improvements

Edited by v77, 15 January 2013 - 07:13 PM.

[kreon]

Thanks

[v77]

New version, same URL, thanks to reboot.pro and their excellent system for updating

 

Version 0.3.0
- added a button to set the TEMP environment variables
- minor fixes

[andresayang]

Bonjour,

 

Is it possible to add in you app, the option to hide the ramdisk from explorer ?

 

Another thing: will you make source code available ? (so I can do it myself !)

 

Thanks,

[v77]

Bonjour,

 

Is it possible to add in you app, the option to hide the ramdisk from explorer ?

 

Another thing: will you make source code available ? (so I can do it myself !)

 

Thanks,

 

Hiding a drive letter? It seems possible... and interesting. I will give it a try. Thanks for the idea.

 

The source code will be soon released, with some other little things...

[Wonko the Sane]

May I ask what is the use of "hiding" the drive letter from Explorer?
I mean, you can unmount it alright with mountvol.exe, but then how one would access it (unless it is re-mounted to a mountpoint)?
 

Wonko

[v77]

May I ask what is the use of "hiding" the drive letter from Explorer?

I mean, you can unmount it alright with mountvol.exe, but then how one would access it (unless it is re-mounted to a mountpoint)?

 

Wonko

 

I was hoping that andresayang gives his own reason, but I don't think he was talking about removing a drive letter, like the mountvol command does, but only make sure that Explorer not shows it.

We can imagine several reasons, like to not show too many drive letters for a more clean aspect, or maybe for confidentiality in some contexts...

[Wonko the Sane]

That's good , as - on second thought - I was VERY wrong .

An IMDISK mounted volume is NOT "conneceted" with MOUNTVOL.

This being at least the SECOND time I make the SAME mistake :
http://reboot.pro/to...disk-in-win-2k/
http://reboot.pro/to...win-2k/?p=28992
I guess it is inexcusable.

BUT the question on the reason (and ideas on what this would be useful for) still stands.


Wonko

[Olof Lagerkvist]

That's good , as - on second thought - I was VERY wrong .

An IMDISK mounted volume is NOT "conneceted" with MOUNTVOL.

 

 

That is true, but command line imdisk.exe can mount to a subdirectory pretty much in the same way anyway. There is also my junc.exe tool that can turn a subdirectory into a junction to an ImDisk drive (among other things).

 

This being at least the SECOND time I make the SAME mistake :
http://reboot.pro/to...disk-in-win-2k/
http://reboot.pro/to...win-2k/?p=28992
I guess it is inexcusable.

 

 

No worries. Nothing is inexcusable when it comes to Windows driver stacks, relations between positions in the driver stack and the classes of drivers that manage them, volume mount manager etc. Rather a couple of very excusable mistakes around. 

[Wonko the Sane]

That is true, but command line imdisk.exe can mount to a subdirectory pretty much in the same way anyway. There is also my junc.exe tool that can turn a subdirectory into a junction to an ImDisk drive (among other things).
 

Very good , and thanks for being forgiving , but don't even think of getting away without providing a couple examples of EACH of the subdirectory/junctions tricks you just mentioned ...


Wonko

[Olof Lagerkvist]

but don't even think of getting away without providing a couple examples of EACH of the subdirectory/junctions tricks you just mentioned ...

 

Start with number 11 in the FAQ:

http://reboot.pro/to...qs-and-how-tos/

 

Then, even if you have created an ImDisk drive without any mount point at all, you can still create a subdirectory mount point using junc.exe:

junc C:\subdir\virtualdrive \Device\ImDisk0\

 

This tool can be used to joiin a subdirectory to any point in any filesystem, so:

junc C:\subdir\floppydrive \Device\Floppy0\

would work in similar way.

 

To remove the junction definition:

junc -r C:\subdir\virtualdrive

or simply remove the subdirectory using rd or similar. An ImDisk drive can still be removed without any mount point, using the device number, such as imdisk -d -u 0 to remove device with number 0.

[andresayang]

Hi,

 

About "hidding the ramdisk from explorer" is because i use a "familly computer", and do not want people to mess anythings with the ram drive.

So i think "they do not see it, so they do not use it".

To do this, It is only a question of registry key to setup.

 

Thanks,

[Wonko the Sane]

About "hidding the ramdisk from explorer" is because i use a "familly computer", and do not want people to mess anythings with the ram drive.

So i think "they do not see it, so they do not use it".

To do this, It is only a question of registry key to setup.

Good , but my question was different, I do understand that removing the drive letter access has the scope of "hiding" a device, what I was curious about was what the use is planned of the virtual disk once it is "hidden", or in other words how do you plan to access it once the drive letter has been removed.

 

Olof cleared how the IMDISK mounted *whatever* can be connected - besides to a drive letter - also to a mountpoint/junction/reparse point, but then it becomes again "visible" (though of course far less "evident" than a drive letter).

 

The "general" way to hide a drive letter in Explorer (not "specific" to IMDISK) is through Registry:

http://www.pctools.c...ry/detail/148/o

or thorough a GPO to the same effect:

http://support.micro...kb/231289/en-us

is this latter what you are asking for?

 

 

Wonko

[howardb21]

imdiskinst.exe broke my XP boot: I removed everthing I could think of or find of my old imdisk.exe batch file drive method of creating a ramdisk. I installed imdiskinst on my XP professional sp3 system.  OOps - OS went into endless loop when booting:

My Dell starts up, loads drivers, etc., desktop appears while it loads startup programs, then - WAM back to square one as the machine acts as if it received a restart command - back to the Dell Logo, and driver loading -- endlessly until I turn off the machine. I was able to recover by restoring the registry from a few days ago (thank you Erunt!). I assume  the trouble must be with the new registry keys that imdiskinst inserts (and perhaps some interaction with old imdisk entries that were not removed?).

 

My imdisk.cmd batch files works fine:

 

 

c:\windows\system32\imdisk -a -s 900M -m R: -p "/fs:ntfs /q /y"

c:\dos\swapadd R:\pagefile.sys 100M 700M

mkdir R:\temp

mkdir R:\Cache

label R: RAMDISK

net start awealloc

exit

 

Is the new imdiskinst setup really better than the batch file? I do not really understand what new things it is doing:

There is an awelloc.sys driver presumably that replaces awealloc, some registry entries that I guess load the ramdisk

using the registry and windows services with imdisksvc.exe, rather than the scheduler. Some batch file extras like

runwait. and messagebox intended for batch files that are yet to be written (by me?).  

 

Does this setup run the ramdisk better, faster, make more memory available? I would love explanations of how all this

works, especially why it messed up my xp boot? Also - my xp system has 4 gb of ram. Is it worth it to put a browser

Cache on a ramdisk that will give the cache perhaps 500 MB ? Not a very big cache for a browser. Thanks for any

feedback.

 

 

I

[war59312]

Hi,

 

Any chance on "fixing" these two "errors" that are logged on every boot up now:

 

A timeout was reached (30000 milliseconds) while waiting for the ImDisk RamDisk starter service to connect.

 

The ImDisk RamDisk starter service failed to start due to the following error:

The service did not respond to the start or control request in a timely fashion.

 

Thanks,

 

Will