Spend the last 10 days scanning thru and trying out AIO thanks to the info I found here.

Question - I've got my folders structured in an organized fashion

Multi Boot
....Make <======= yuch
.........$DOC
.........A001 - 4 char version - XP boot files
.........A001SYS - 8.3 format - XP's i386
.........A002
.........A002SYS
.........ezboot
....Other
........etc


I want to get those damend marker files (WIN5xxxxx) out of the root folder - they organizationally don't belong there, I would simply like to get rid of them period, but at the very least, relocate them to A001 or A001SYS where they belong.

If I just move them to A001/A001SYS, I get prompted to mount the CD throughout the GUI phase (as expected).

So I played around with LAYOUT.INF to change there locations there - but it seems that in so doing, I cause LAYOUT.INF's CRC to fail (or I screw something up).

I really want to get these files out of the root and into their "virtual root" - can this be done?

Also - if any one's interested - I tried the various ways to get the boot files from XP; its true that Gosh and friends method is the best way - WINNT /NOREBOOT, but I thought a small pgm that would read DOSNET.INF, parse out applicable lines, and extract the file names, then copy the files from the source CD to the folder specified would be accomplishing the same thing as WINNT /NOREBOOT and grabbing the ~BT folder, except a lot faster. Anyway, this little util works like a charm and as far as I can see, it is doing the same thing as WINNT would do. I can post it if anyone would like it - I can extract the files from my Win XP cd in 20 seconds now.

I know I'm new here - do I smell bad or doesn't anyone have any ideas?

i may be wrong, but the i386 folder needs to be labeled i386...there is just a bunch of stuff that requires it to be i386...moreso than just editing txtsetup.sif/layout.inf/dosnet.inf...in fact, I have no idea why you have yours setup that way...this is how I have mine

root (all marker files for every OS here)
--XPPR (4 char folder)
----nr2pfre_en (marker files here - for the purpose of creating a standalone)
------i386 (i386 folder...edit txtsetup.sif to point to this)
--XPHO (4 char folder)
----nr2hfre_en (marker files here - for the purpose of creating a standalone)
------i386 (i386 folder...edit txtsetup.sif to point to this)
--Support (tools for all OS's)

Because that is logically where those files belong. I'm not ready to edit 50 files to accomplish this, mind you, but the marker files belong in the owning OS's folder and NOT the root folder, so I was just wondering how to accomplish this.

BTW, if you think about it, you must agree with me, because if you didn't, you'd put all the files of all the OS's in one folder - since you DO believe that each OS should go in its own folder......... and the marker files belong to the OS.........

But as I said, I'm not prepared to turn the world upside down to accomplish this - its just that I suppose at one time, what is being accomplished with Multi Boot CD's t'was said, couldn't be done, and the people here seem to be brighter than most, so I just thought this one b***h about files being in the wrong folders might have an easy solution.

Regarding the i386 folder - that I have no gripes with. Perhaps the "diagram" was misunderstood - A001SYS contains the i386 folder under it.

It was only the marker files that I want to move.

the marker files don't belong to the OS though, but rather the CD.
But the files aren't in the wrong place. Theoretically, they belong to the root of a CD with Microsoft files on it, so they are in the right place.

and the file you want to edit is layout.inf and txtsetup.sif

look for the section [SourceDiskNames] or something like that.

Yes, Do post that little util - will be nice to have.

FYI, I don't use gosh's method to get the BOOT folder - I just extract the boot-install floppy-disk images (which you can download from MS's site).

Hmm, yes. I agree. Post it. Have you determined if it's compatible regardless of SP used (you just never know what a new SP will change and break something). And if you do figure out a way to move those files, post it. But to my knowledge it cannot be done.