1007 replies to this topic

[doveman]

Just use IMG_XP_Compact.exe
it works also with XP VHD Source file.

Ah, thanks that's cool then

Now with that, I think the only boxes I need ticked are NTFS Compress and EWF Write Filter (Windows Updates and System Restore are already disabled by the tweaks I incorportated into my XPSP3 ISO, so I'll just add the "SuppressNewHWUI" one). I presume the latter installs the filter and this is the best filter for my project? Does this option just run EWF_INSTEWF_org_PPinstall.cmd on the destination VHD, in which case I presume I can always do that manually after booting XP_Portable/Mini.

I need to know whether it can be toggled off permanently, so that changes that aren't fixed until after a reboot can be made, I've seen there's a "Write changes to the protected volume and turn EWF back on.cmd" to use, but that appears to re-enable EWF at the next boot, so would I have to just make a "disable and commit.cmd" and another "re-enable.cmd" to run manually after rebooting?

In practice, how quickly does the EWF filter fill RAM? Obviously trying to download 100MB files to C: is a bad idea, but I'm just thinking of whatever writing (logs, etc) XP normally does to C: anyway, which is insignificant when it's to a HDD but might become a problem with limited RAM.

Anyway, I was pleased to see that even before compacting the VHD, XP is only using 100-150MB, which is just as good as TinyXP's claimed 145MB and this is much more functional. I daresay some of the HKLM, HKCU tweaks I used have helped by disabling some services but nothing important

[wimb]

On first use just keep Default Settings.
Later go experimenting with EWF

[doveman]

I never just use Default Settings, at least until I know what they do


I'm pretty sure I don't need UsbBootWatcher Tweaks as I'm not going to be booting from USB (I've tested and confirmed that booting from my CF card in an IDE adapter is just like booting from a real HDD).


I don't think I'll be needing the HKLM System + Drivers as I've already set it to standard PCI IDE and one intended PC is using Intel 82801AA IDE controller and the other VIA Bus Master IDE Controller, both of which I presume will get installed (if necessary) just fine on boot using the Driverpacks that are incorporated into my VHD.

Similarly, I don't think I need the iaStor Driver + Registry.

And the HKLM Software Tweaks I think are just Disable System Restore, Disable Windows Updates and Disable HW Pop-up, the first two of which have already been done and the last I can do manually.

And unless the "Add Adobe Flash" options does anything special, I'd rather download and install the latest version manually later.

Do please let me know if I've misunderstood what any of those options do. I will leave the EWF filter alone for now as advised though

[doveman]

OK, so I've made my Portable and Mini XP IMGs (had to convert the VHD to IMG with IMG_XP_Compact, but I guess there's no practical difference) and checked they boot fine on my Gigabyte motherboard. As I added the AMD AHCI driver to system32drivers and the registry entries for it, it boots whether the BIOS is set to AHCI (obviously it then prompts to install the AHCI drivers, which I declined as the intended PC is IDE only) or IDE (maybe this is something that could be added to the tutorial, as I'm not sure it would have booted in AHCI mode otherwise).

I should get a chance to install/test this on the intended PC at the weekend, so getting back to my questions about the EWF filter (I don't want to leave it installed without a filter, in case the user does something stupid!)

I presume I can just run EWF_INSTEWF_org_PPinstall.cmd once I've booted the IMG on the intended machine?

Can it can be toggled off permanently, so that changes that aren't fixed until after a reboot can be made, I've seen there's a "Write changes to the protected volume and turn EWF back on.cmd" to use, but that appears to re-enable EWF at the next boot, so would I have to just make a "disable and commit.cmd" and another "re-enable.cmd" to run manually after rebooting?

In practice, how quickly does the EWF filter fill RAM? Obviously trying to download 100MB files to C: is a bad idea, but I'm just thinking of whatever writing (logs, etc) XP normally does to C: anyway, which is insignificant when it's to a HDD but might become a problem when writes are being cached to (limited) RAM.

[doveman]

I've just noticed that the Portable and Mini versions created with IMG_XP_Compact have had the WindowsDriverPacks folder removed. I can understand why this might be considered necessary to keep the size down (on the original VHD it says it's 566MB, Size on Disk 370MB) but doesn't that rather prevent them being "Universal" images as surely the DriverPacks need to be available so that the drivers can be found when booting on different hardware?

[wimb]

IMG_XP_Compact has a Checkbox that you can Select to keep the WindowsDriverPacks folder.
Indeed keeping this folder is desired if you wish to to be Universal and want to boot on different Hardware.

[doveman]

I guess you mean the "Add Driverpacks Store" checkbox? I didn't read that as "Don't delete driverpacks" but that it would add something, which I didn't think I'd need as I'd already included the Driverpacks in my VHD.

If I use that, can I just manually delete the Driverpacks folder later to reduce the size or are there some other references to that folder somewhere that would cause problems if I do that? That way I can make a Mini/Portable image that is universal and reduce it later. Otherwise, it might be best if I just boot with the original VHD on the intended machines first, then make a non-Driverpack Mini/Portable image from that, once it's detected and installed the hardware.

[wimb]

Otherwise, it might be best if I just boot with the original VHD on the intended machines first, then make a non-Driverpack Mini/Portable image from that, once it's detected and installed the hardware.

The above approach is the best if you want Universal Image for your Hardware, and which has the smallest size possible.
After Install of the drivers for your set of Hardware, then make Mini / Portable XP with DriverPacks checkbox Unchecked.
Once the drivers are installed and the registry knows how to use them, then you don't need the DriverPacks anymore for your hardware.

I wil change the Label in "Keep DriverPacks"

Removal of the DriverPacks folder has no further consequences, you can do it at any time.

[doveman]

Thanks. I'll do that then

[wimb]

-
*** Update IMG_XP package Version 4.9 ***

• Update - IMG_XP_Compact.exe - Mini XP OS Size reduced to 280 MB in 0.6 GB Boot Image file
  
• Added - AMD AHCI driver support to allow booting XP Image on computer with AHCI BIOS Setting
  
• Changed - Program Version - latest version is 4.9

Download - IMG_XP_49 - mirror

Run IMG_XP.exe and Extract to simple path

The portable Apps of IMG_XP were tested in XP and Windows 7 with User Account Control Off (also x64 version)

Mini XP = OS Size 280 MB - including IE8 + WLAN + Audio + Printer + 7-Zip + ImDisk and all installed drivers
Portable XP = OS Size 600 MB - extra system32 complete + Windows Media Player - Multimedia support

Portable XP is Universal XP in 1.0 GB Image file for booting as FILEDISK or as RAMDISK on any computer and is advised for most cases.

Mini XP is interesting if small size is required e.g. for fast loading of RAMDISK or when the amount of RAM is limited,
but it requires that the XP Source Image has eXPerienced all the hardware that you want to support e.g. HID mouse / keyboard,
since the size reduction down to 280 MB is obtained by removal of DriverPacks + driver.cab + inf + CatRoot folder,
so that on connecting New Hardware there will not be automatic install of the corresponding driver.

[MedEvil]

since the size reduction down to 280 MB is obtained by removal of DriverPacks + driver.cab + inf + CatRoot folder,
so that on connecting New Hardware there will not be automatic install of the corresponding driver.

Do you really mean all drivers or just the none generic ones?

[wimb]

Do you really mean all drivers or just the none generic ones?

Mini XP has support for all Installed drivers.

That means the source XP Image from which it is made must first get eXPerience with ALL the Hardware that you want to support
so that registry has the knowledge on how to use the installed drivers. (you need here the learning process)

Then you can make Mini XP of 280 MB in which you omit drivers.cab + inf + CatRoot.
But when you connect some New Unknown Hardware to Mini XP, then the drivers for that Hardware will not be automatically installed,
but of course you can push a bit and get them installed Manually.

[MedEvil]

My question was more regarding generic USB, Firewire, Maus, Keyboard, ... driver, which do not just handle one specific device, but all devices from all vendors of that class.

[wimb]

Unfortunately there was an error in latest IMG_XP_Compact.exe of IMG_XP_49 package.

Please download again:

Download - IMG_XP_49 - mirror

[doveman]

Just tried the fixed IMG_XP_49 and making XP-Portable with IMG_XP_Compact it's deleting some of my driverpacks, even with the "Keep Driverpacks" box ticked.

It's leaves folders C, M and P and deletes 3, L and W.

It also deletes a separate Drivers folder I put in the root with drivers that need to be installed with setup.exe and thus aren't Driverpack compatible. I'd rather it didn't delete this if possible.

It also gives me an error about not finding Winvblock or Firadisk. I'm not sure if this means it can't find it in the VHD I'm using as source or it can't find it in the IMG_XP folder. Is the latter sensitive to being in subfolders? It's been a week since I used IMG_XP_48, but I don't recall seeing this error, and the resulting IMG files booted fine from grub4dos, which the error suggests won't work without Winvblock or Firadisk being installed, which makes me think it was either installed when I built the VHD or IMG_XP_Compact added it when building Portable/Mini.

[wimb]

Just tried the fixed IMG_XP_49 and making XP-Portable with IMG_XP_Compact it's deleting some of my driverpacks, even with the "Keep Driverpacks" box ticked.

It's leaves folders C, M and P and deletes 3, L and W.

In folder IMG_XPIMG_XP_C there is file dp_xp.txt which is the list of DriverPacks that you want to keep. Adjust to your needs.

It also deletes a separate Drivers folder I put in the root with drivers that need to be installed with setup.exe and thus aren't Driverpack compatible. I'd rather it didn't delete this if possible.

For Portable and Mini XP the files copy_xp.txt and mini_xp.txt describe which files and folders will be copied. Adjust to your needs.

It also gives me an error about not finding Winvblock or Firadisk. I'm not sure if this means it can't find it in the VHD I'm using as source or it can't find it in the IMG_XP folder. Is the latter sensitive to being in subfolders? It's been a week since I used IMG_XP_48, but I don't recall seeing this error, and the resulting IMG files booted fine from grub4dos, which the error suggests won't work without Winvblock or Firadisk being installed, which makes me think it was either installed when I built the VHD or IMG_XP_Compact added it when building Portable/Mini.

The Message "WARNING - FILEDISK Driver Not Found ", " Install WinVBlock Or FiraDisk in Source " " as FILEDISK and RAMDISK Driver "
can be caused in case of Overflow when not all files can be copied to the destination Image file.
In case of NTFS compression one needs during filecopy more space than actually needed.
In any case the program test if wvblk32.sys or firadisk.sys occur in system32drivers folder in the destination Image.
Try to Increase the IMG Size setting.

[doveman]

Thanks, that will enable me to fix the first two problems for sure and hopefully the third as well

[doveman]

Just to report I still got the error after increasing the IMG size. To get rid of it I added wvblk32.sys system32drivers to the source VHD, so it seems to be looking for it there. The tips about dp_xp.txt and copy_xp.txt solved those problems thanks

EDIT: Hmm, seems IMG_XP_Compact doesn't add the service entry to the registry on the IMG either, so I had to mount my VHD and add it myself and then create my Portable XP IMG again. Would be cool if IMG_XP_Compact could do both (install wvblk32.sys driver to system32drivers on the destination IMG and create the registry service entry for it as well).

[wimb]

XPCMD Universal OS of 118 MB in 200 MB Image file

Booting from USB portable harddisk on AMD Athlon Desktop and Intel Dual Core laptop





This is probably the smallest Universal XP booting as FILEDISK or as RAMDISK on any machine
and having a lot of functionality like diskpart, device and disk management and WLAN Internet



And these are the running Services ....

[doveman]

I wonder if it's possible to use a differential VHD with XP Portable?

So I would take my IMG created with IMG_XP_Compact and convert it back to a VHD, then create a differential VHD for it. Then I could send both to somewhere, have them boot from the differential and after it's detected and installed their hardware, they'd only need to send me the differential back and I'd have a mirror of their install, with the added advantage that they can always make a new differential and start from the base VHD again if anything goes wrong.

This would be a great help for testing as well, as I could boot the differential and let machine X install it's drivers, etc and then just take the base VHD and a fresh differential somewhere else, rather than having to keep a virgin copy of my IMG somewhere and making a copy for each machine I want to test it on.

If this is possible, could it be booted from grub4dos (assuming the base VHD has the winvblock driver installed) or can differential VHDs only be booted from Win7 boot menu?

[ericgl]

Wimb,

I've downloaded IMG_XPCMD v5.0, and installed it on a USB2.0 flash drive.
I have WinXP SP3 x86 eng installed and running, so I selected "Windows folder", and selected IMG Size=0.2GB.

1. On an old machine with single-core AMD cpu and BIOS without ACPI support:
It boots fine when selecting WinVBlock RAMDISK, but still no USB-HID support (my USB keyboard and USB mouse not working).
If I select WinVBlock FILEDSIK - I get the STOP 7B error (a few seconds after the Windows logo shows up).

2. On a Toshiba U400 laptop with dual-core Intel CPU and BIOS with ACPI and set to AHCI:
In both cases, FILEDISK and RAMDISK - it gets stuck on the windows logo (which looks dim, not fully bright).

[wimb]

Eric,

The XPCMD program that will give you the desired HID support is not yet available.
It will be version 5.1 and I will publish it this week.

The pictures are NEW results which show that XPCMD Image can be made Universal with 118 MB XP OS
and has HID-support + diskpart + USB booting + Device and Disk Management + WLAN Internet.

So you have to wait a few days and then it will be published as version 5.1

[Ivan Kostov]

Hello! I have a few questions
1.
Does possible install win xp in virtual machine and making universal xp to bootable from usb? i'm tryed install from tutorial but i get message error file not found when select continue xp settup.
2. how to integrated drivers in windows 7 when making windows 7 usb? thanks

[wimb]

-
IMG_XPCMD - Program to make Mini XP Image file booting from Grub4dos Menu on HDD or USB

Download - IMG_XPCMD_51 - mirror

Run the Download and Extract to simple path

ImDisk Virtual Disk driver is required in your Workstation OS and therefore if needed Run the supplied imdiskinst.exe first.

The portable App IMG_XPCMD.exe was tested for 32-bits XP Source and will make XPCMD-x.img file

XPCMD.img is booting from Grub4dos Menu on HDD or USB as FILEDISK or as RAMDISK and by using WinVBLock driver

Portable Universal XP Image file is Preferred as XP Source and is prepared as described here
http://www.911cd.net...showtopic=23553

In this case do first a fresh Install of XP in VHD or IMG without istalling Video + Audio + Printer + .NET
In this way your Source Image file has already WinVBlock driver. Otherwise you would need to Install WinVBlock driver.

Then use IMG_XP_Compact.exe to make Portable XP Universal Image file and
Boot with Portable XP with all the Hardware that you want to support (e.g. AMD and Intel processor + HID mouse / keyboard)
so that the registry will know how to boot next time with that hardware.
After this learning procedure you don't need anymore the DriverPacks
and can proceed by using IMG_XPCMD.exe to make your Universal Mini XP with OS Size = 120 MB in 400 MB Image file

Remember that the final quality of your Mini XP is determined by the eXPerience of your XP Source,
which means that you should use your Portable XP Source on all the hardware that you are interested in.
In case of the WINDOWS folder of Installed XP as source, then the registry of that XP is used.
Also take care that WinVBlock driver is already installed in your XP Source.
You can also temporarily switch off the Video driver.

The Mini XP prepared by IMG_XPCMD.exe has the full registry of Installed XP and behaves like XP,
but has a size of about 120 MB which is comparable to LiveXP PE
In Mini XP most portable Apps are running from PStart Menu and you have diskpart + Device and Disk Management.
Also WLAN Internet is working (when it was already working in your Portable XP Source).

After booting type shell and give Enter - to get the bblean Shell and PStart Menu for Portable Apps

The batch will search for PStartPStart.exe on drive C D E F Z Y X W V U T S R Q P O H G and start the first found PStart

Alternatively you can use in IMG_XPCMD your XP Setup Source (drive, folder or mounted ISO)
but then the resulting 40 MB OS will make use of the registry prepared by Dietmar and will have limited functionality.

[Wonko the Sane]

Good work wimb!

Though you will have to pry bblean/blackbox from my dead hands , I will throw this thingy on the table:
http://www.nymtec.co...top-lite-thingy
(for those peeps that like the "classic looks")


or:
Michelle:
http://www.nymtec.co...wnload-michelle



Wonko