[cannie]

Being almost impossible to collect in the first post each and every excellent idea, I have modified also the "Remarks" so that any reader knows that more detailed explanations can be found in your documented posts all along this thread.

Thank you very much to you all again!

[cannie]

Hi, jaclaz!

According to your suggestions about the last paragraph of the first post, I have removed the fdisk/mbr mention. In fact , it is only needed when the mbr is damaged, and that is not normal.

I've nevertheless preserved the last instruction to prevent a failure in the case that any of the BOOTSECT.W98, boot.ini or msdos.sys files may not exist or be corrupted (it has already happened to me), being easy to restore the copy in case of need.

I finally created a batch file including all orders to make things easier, leaving a pause between them to give the user the possibility of supervising the process and be aware i.e. of any error in the redaction of the batch file.

Thanks a lot for everything!

This post has been edited by cannie: 17 March 2009 - 12:49 AM

[cannie]

After several essays and using the same instruments the XP cloning procedure has been considerably simplified, as you may see in the modified first post of this thread.

HTH.

[jaclaz]

Ok, now that you have reached (actually you think you reached ) your goal through a "simple" method, it's time for you to start with a simpler one.

I am assuming you have a C:\ drive with (at least) these files:
NTLDR
NTDETECT.COM
BOOT.INI
IO.SYS
MSDOS.SYS
COMMAND.COM
AUTOEXEC.BAT
CONFIG.SYS

Add to it following files:
grldr
grub.exe
menu.lst

from this download:
http://nufans.net/grub4dos/
http://nufans.net/gr...-2009-03-25.zip

Edit BOOT.INI adding to it this line:

C:\grldr="grub4dos"

Boot from the system as if you were booting in XP, choose among BOOT.INI choices the entry "grub4dos", choose among menu.lst choices entry "find and load IO.SYS of Windows 9x/Me".

You should boot to Win9x/Me normally.

Exit Windows GUI to "pure" DOS.

Run C:\grub.exe.

Choose among menu.lst choices entry "find and load NTLDR of Windows NT/2K/XP".

You should be back to BOOT.INI choices.


jaclaz

[cannie]

jaclaz, on Mar 26 2009, 12:56 AM, said:

Ok, now that you have reached (actually you think you reached ) your goal through a "simple" method, it's time for you to start with a simpler one.

The Microsoft doubleboot solution reflects my own experience and works perfect, AFAIK, being valid to choose only among Microsoft products.

After trying grub I find it to be an excellent option, allowing you a lot of possibilities.

[jaclaz]

cannie, on Mar 28 2009, 10:27 AM, said:

After trying grub I find it to be an excellent option, allowing you a lot of possibilities.

To be picky, it's grub4dos, not "legacy" grub.

jaclaz

[cannie]

jaclaz, on Mar 28 2009, 10:13 PM, said:

cannie, on Mar 28 2009, 10:27 AM, said:

After trying grub I find it to be an excellent option, allowing you a lot of possibilities.

To be picky, it's grub4dos, not "legacy" grub.

jaclaz

That's what I really meant. I never used the legacy version: I've just followed your instructions, and only simplified the name.

Thank you!

This post has been edited by cannie: 29 March 2009 - 02:06 AM

[seaweed]

cannie, on Jun 4 2008, 04:08 PM, said:

3 .- INSTALLING THE CLONED UNIT

- Boot XP and create a text file by copying the following lines:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[-HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices]

- Rename the text file as "Unmount.reg". Now you have built a registry script to modify it. This registry script is just the key for cloning: you can't do it without unmounting first all the mounted devices. We double click on it twice, and XP becomes ready to be cloned into any other primary partition.

Is it possible to clone XP the same way if you use a SATA HD and NTFS?

Thanks.

[cannie]

seaweed, on Apr 7 2009, 01:49 PM, said:

Is it possible to clone XP the same way if you use a SATA HD and NTFS?

Sorry, this thread is into the Windows 98 section and that post is about using Windows 98 to clone and repair itself and also to clone and repair XP.

Your question should be made into the XP section, I'm afraid.

This post has been edited by cannie: 16 April 2009 - 09:29 AM

[cannie]

cannie, on Jun 4 2008, 11:08 PM, said:

[b]@echo off
echo Restoring Master Boot Record...
pause
FDISK /MBR

After some experiences, it seems convenient to include this command in the first post tutorial batch file, because the batch file doesn't work if the MBR has not been created previously, so it is convenient to check the MBR in any case before running the bootpart.exe commands, in special to avoid surprises to newbies.

HTH.

This post has been edited by cannie: 23 April 2009 - 12:46 AM

[cannie]

The structure of the first post has been reviewed and made more clear in some points to make it easier to understand.

HTH

[dencorso]

Great work, cannie! Thanks!

[cannie]

dencorso, on Apr 30 2009, 10:07 AM, said:

Great work, cannie! Thanks!

It was you who gave me the main idea for XP cloning (post number 5).

Thanks to you, dencorso!.

This post has been edited by cannie: 30 April 2009 - 05:27 AM

[seaweed]

I've moved to FAT32 and installed both OS. It works perfect. Thanks!

[cannie]

seaweed, on May 8 2009, 01:54 PM, said:

I've moved to FAT32 and installed both OS. It works perfect. Thanks!

You are welcome.

[seaweed]

seaweed, on May 8 2009, 06:54 AM, said:

I've moved to FAT32 and installed both OS. It works perfect. Thanks!

I forgot to say that I'm using a motherboard Gigabyte 945GCM-S2L, no drivers at all for Windows 98 but the video generic one that I found in this forum.

I use Windows 98 only for maintenance, backup, cloning etc.

I always used XP and keep using it as before, but I feel much better being "out of the trap".

[dencorso]

Do you all know it's possible to share the same swap file between Win XP and Win 9x? Here's how: common swap!
I have been using a Shared Swap File for a long time, now, and it never gave me grief. And if you find this interesting, look around the rest of Nienhuis' Win 98 & 2k Pro page, which has lots of good info. While it's about 98 and 2k, most, if not all of it applies "as is" to XP also.

[seaweed]

dencorso, on Jun 1 2009, 04:46 PM, said:

Do you all know it's possible to share the same swap file between Win XP and Win 9x? Here's how: common swap!
I have been using a Shared Swap File for a long time, now, and it never gave me grief. And if you find this interesting, look around the rest of Nienhuis' Win 98 & 2k Pro page, which has lots of good info. While it's about 98 and 2k, most, if not all of it applies "as is" to XP also.

In the Nienhuis page there is a procedure for "Changing Win2K's system (boot) drive letter" which IMHO could also be used as a way for cloning XP. Even when it is considerably more difficult to implement it than the simple change of active partition, it would eventually be useful i.e to allow booting the second XP unit from the same doubleboot screen without changing the active partition.
It would be interesting to know if anybody has already done it.

[jaclaz]

seaweed, on Jun 16 2009, 10:19 AM, said:

In the Nienhuis page there is a procedure for "Changing Win2K's system (boot) drive letter" which IMHO could also be used as a way for cloning XP. Even when it is considerably more difficult to implement it than the simple change of active partition, it would eventually be useful i.e to allow booting the second XP unit from the same doubleboot screen without changing the active partition.
It would be interesting to know if anybody has already done it.

YEP.
here:
http://www.msfn.org/...showtopic=90495

2K, not XP, but there should be not much difference.

Possibly you would need to stop a couple of services, like VSS or similar things if doing it from a "live" system.
Doing the changes "offline" would be probably more advised.

jaclaz

[seaweed]

jaclaz, on Jun 17 2009, 06:44 AM, said:

Doing the changes "offline" would be probably more advised.

jaclaz

I've copied Windows XP into drive K using Windows 98 to do the changes offline, and I'm trying to find out what comes next.
May I have your advice?
Thanks.

This post has been edited by seaweed: 20 June 2009 - 01:59 AM