17 replies to this topic

[Myk3]

I got vistaPE to boot from ufd, I want to add another dos based floppy to boot also. I tried the following

title Boot from floppy image
map (hd0,0)/aa.img (fd0)
map --hook
chainloader (fd0)+1
rootnoverify (fd0)

&

title Boot from floppy image
map --mem (hd0,0)/aa.img (fd0)
map --hook
chainloader (fd0)+1
rootnoverify (fd0)

each one could not find the img file specified

I then tried with memdisk

title Boot from virtual disk using internal map command
map --mem (hd0,0)/aa.dsk (hd0)
map (hd0) (hd1)
map --hook
chainloader (hd0,0)+1
rootnoverify (hd0,0)


& (i could not so this since i dont have a .dsk file for my floppy image. As i understand a .dsk is for a hard drive img)
EDIT: i did get memdisk to load here but the error is "Loading boot sector... booting...00037c00:0000loading at 0x9d000" then it freezes with a blinking cursor

title Boot from virtual disk using external memdisk
kernel (hd0,0)/memdisk
initrd (hd0,0)/aa.dsk

[was_jaclaz]

Why don't you just follow this:
http://www.boot-land...mine-t3963.html
(changing of course the "base" (fd0) with your (hd0,0) )


Are you positive that the floppy image boots by itself (i.e. is good and tested)?

Whenever in doubt with grub4dos use command line and input commmands one by one, just search around I have given several examples on how to check expecially paths by using [TAB] for auto-completion, do remember that grub4dos is CaSe SeNsiTiVe!

You can put whatever extension you like to a floppy or hard disk image, .ima, .img, .dsk, etcetera are just "conventions", if you like to name a file representing a valid bootable floppy image "donald.dck" or "mickey.mou", you are welcome to do so .

jaclaz

[Myk3]

yes the floppy does boot normal.. It is a modified floppy based on netbootdisk.. works normal. i will try your link and report back

[Myk3]

when i copy the file myfloppy.img.gz to the floppy disk it says it is full..

[Myk3]

ok i was able to make a "standard" image with just the fat12grldr.img and i was able to boot that.. however when i make a img of just the netbootdisk it does not work. i'm going to try to make a fat12grldr.img disk then replace everything from the netbootdisk to it. i'm not sure if thos will work or not..

[was_jaclaz]

If the "netbootdisk" is downloadable/Freeware, can you post a link to it?

I'll have a look and see if anything is preventing it from working.

jaclaz

[Myk3]

here is the link http://netbootdisk.com/ . I think maybe since that disk compresses some files that might be the issue. but i'm not sure.

[Myk3]

i just seen something on their site.


"The NetBootDisk can be booted via PXE, but with one very important catch; the NetBootDisk can not be based on Windows XP DOS. Instead you must use a PCDOS7 (or another alternative).

When attempting to boot an XP bootdisk via PXE, the "Starting..." message appears then nothing else happens. According to my research, it seems no one has been able to get a XP based bootdisk to boot via PXE. If you know how to solve this, please let me know!

I personally use PC-DOS7 based NetBootDisk with PXElinux/Memdisk + a TFTP server + M$ DHCP on 2003 Servers.

PXElinux & MemDisk is a PXE bootloader for loading floppy images via PXE. Even though it has linux in it's name, you don't need any linux knowledge in order to get it to work. It's really just a couple of lines of config, then you can place the files on your friendly windows-based TFTP server! "

I will try using a pc dos7 disk to see if it works. I know this is talking about PXE but it is still using memdisk right?

[was_jaclaz]

Cannot say if what is in your last post is related, but I doubt it.

It's peculiar the supposed need for "XP dos" (actually Windows ME one), see here for details and to see how I made the floppy image:
http://www.911cd.net...showtopic=16745


Anyway I just rebuilt the image, calling it XPdos.ima, tested in Qemu.

Memdisk hangs on booting it. (version 2.10)
Even the unmodified XP dos image (just extracted) hangs with memdisk.

Both these entries (grub4dos 0.4.2) work:

title Boot from floppy image

map --mem (hd0,0)/XPdos.ima (fd0)

map --hook

root (fd0)

chainloader +1



title Boot from floppy image IO.SYS

map --mem (hd0,0)/XPdos.ima (fd0)

map --hook

root (fd0)

chainloader /io.sys

As soon as it's booted, the network image does something and then unUHARC throws an error about not enough memory, but this is a problem with the image, not with memdisk or grub4dos.

jaclaz

[Myk3]

ok so.. You made the img using a windows xp (ME) bootdisk then ran the makedisk.bat to make the netbootdisk> then ran diskextract to make the img?

i'm kinda confused if i needed to do something else or not based on the link you posted

edit: ok i ran the diskextract and made a default img. I then added the files from the netbootdisk. (i had to change from a 1.44 to a 2.88)

[Myk3]

It worked thanks for the help...

[was_jaclaz]

ok so.. You made the img using a windows xp (ME) bootdisk then ran the makedisk.bat to make the netbootdisk> then ran diskextract to make the img?

i'm kinda confused if i needed to do something else or not based on the link you posted

edit: ok i ran the diskextract and made a default img. I then added the files from the netbootdisk. (i had to change from a 1.44 to a 2.88)

WHY?

The instructions say:

To build the disk, extract files (and sub-directory structure!) to a temporary folder on your hard drive, then run MAKEDISK.BAT

(The batch file will convert/compress a standard WinXP / PCDOS7 bootdisk in to the network bootdisk.)

You are supposed NOT to "add" the files from netbootdisk, only to run from a temporary folder makedisk.bat and point it to a XP made floppy.

Or maybe the instructions are good for the "stable" as opposed to "latest" netbootdisk build as latest version does not fit inside a 1.44 Mb floppy?

However happy it is working for you.

jaclaz

[Myk3]

ok i got it to work.. but now i need the same img (or any netbootdisk) to boot from pxe.. I am currently using syslinux. (no sure if this is the right thread, there was no postings in the linux area), and i can boot from it using BartPE, VistPE, and various other floppy imgs. How ever when i load this img with the following from the pxelinux.cfg/default i get


default file...

Label netbootdisk
kernel memdisk
append initrd=net.ima

freezes...
"Loading memdisk....
loading net.ima......................ready.
MEMDISK 3.61 2008-02-03 Copyright 2001-2007 H. Peter Anvin
Loading boot sector... Booting...C0037c00:0000loading at 0x9cc00"

This looks very familar

[Myk3]

Ok i just tried to do the pxe boot with a disk made from PCdos but had no success.. Can anyone get this "netbootdisk" workign over pxe?

[was_jaclaz]

I think you need to do a step back, and investigate why memdisk hangs with that disk.

Try a "normal" Win98SE (DOS 7.1) or Freedos floppy.

If it works, try adding manually to it the Netbootdisk structure/utilities/drivers.

This snippet of the makedisk.bat makes me wonder:

echo	   *** This startup disk MUST be formatted from Windows XP/ME ***echo		*** Windows 95/98 or older DOS bootdisks can not be used ***echo	   --- If this script fails; try using a newly formatted disk ---

The only thing that comes to my mind right now is that the XP (read Me) DOS has HIMEM.SYS "embedded", see here:
http://www.911cd.net...o...16745&st=13

Maybe HIMEM.SYS creates some conflicts with memdisk.

jaclaz

[Myk3]

Ok i got it to work and the same .img works over pxe and through grub4dos..

I copied this from the netbootdisk forums, But I edited the instructions since they where kinda misleading.

(http://www.netbootdi...der=asc&start=0)


1- Load the Windows98 OEM image into WinImage. Extract the files command.com and himem.sys and save them somewhere, c:\tmp for example.

2- Delete all the files apart from command.com, msdos.sys, io.sys

3- Make an image of this, c:\tmp\win98.img

4- Format a floppy disk using XP - make it a startup disk!

5- Download the latest Universal network zip file. Unpack it and make a floppy disk using Makedisk.bat

6- Edit a:\config.sys top remove the REM from the loading himem.sys line, it should now say 'device=himem.sys' (without the single quotes)

7- Replace the file command.com that's inside the file a:\boot.zip with that that you extracted to c:\tmp. to do this copy the file a:\boot.zip to c:\tmp. Now drag and drop onto the zip file the file c:\command.com. Once replaced, copy c:\tmp\boot.zip back to the A: drive.

8- In WinImage, load the image, c:\tmp\win98.img

9- From the Image menu inside WinImage, choose 'Inject'. Select the files a:\autoexec.bat and a:\config.sys.

10- You now need to make the image a 2.88MB image before the next stage. To do this, in WinImage, from the image menu, select 'Change Format'. Select the 2.88MB option, press OK.

11- You now need to copy over the a:\netboot folder. In WinImage, make sure you are looking in the root of the image (you'll see 5 files listed, autoexec.bat, command.com, config.sys, io.sys and msdos.sys). From the image menu, select 'Create Folder'. Make one called NETBOOT. Now go into that folder.

12- You now need to import the files from with a:\netboot into your image\netboot. From the Image menu, select 'Inject a folder'. From the 'Browse a Folder' window, open up My computer and the A: drive and highlight the NetBoot folder. Press ok to import. You should now see 8 file within the \netboot folder and another sub folder called FileCopy.

13- You now need to import himem.sys from c:\tmp. In WinImage, go back to the root of your image and from the Image menu, select Inject. Navigate to c:\tmp and select the himem.sys file

14- Now save the image as something.img from within WinImage.

15- Copy the img file to your pxe server and try it out

[Myk3]

Ok i got everything like i want it.. So i am wondering if there is a "easy" way to clone this to another ufd "of a different size / brand" I tried Ghost with the -fdsp switch and im getting a mbr error. I also followed the same steps i did to get the last one to boot and I have gotten it to boot but when i try to load images it fails..

for the netbootdisk i get

map --mem (hd0,0)/net.img (fd0)
Error 26: Selected disk does not exist
Press any key to continue...

For the VistaPE i get a error of

File: \boot\BCD
Status 0xc0000001
Info: An error occurd while attemopting to read the boot configuration data.

EDIT: My 1st UFD is in FAT32 format. I see posts on the forum about going to NTFS instead but i'm not sure

EDIT2: I think i might have figured part of the problem out.. The 2nd UFD i'm using when the boot pc see it, it sees it as fd0 and not hd0 like the 1st ufd i used.. This is weird as they are the same make but not model..

[pjsaggie]

I've followed the instructions in this thread and been able to successfully boot to netbootdisk, BUT, i'd like to be able to invoke ghost.exe from the command prompt. I've done this before without using the boot loader simply installing netboodisk directly to the usb drive. I'm trying to inject ghost .exe into the image I've created but there is not enough room in the image.

Is there a tool I could use to increase the image size beyond 2.88 MB? Forgive me as I'm fairly new to all of this.

Edit:

I was able to get the ghost.exe file included in the image but now I run into a problem when I boot to the image file. After the files have been decompressed and I move past the login screen I see that I am out of environment space. What determines the size of the environment and how to I resolve this issue?