[ilko_t]

Jotto, on 20 November 2010 - 06:09 AM, said:

I added Windows XP Professional SP3 (from MSDN) using WinSetupFromUSB, I've done no modifications to it (MSDN's .iso image).
A while ago i posted here that i get error when using Plop which errors prints that biosinfo.inf is missing, error 14.
Now i am not using Plop and i get the same message. My USB-HDD is NTFS formatted, two primary partitons. With this configuration it fails.
I tryed with my USB thumb drive PQI4GB FAT32 formatted and it works and i actually copied the files from my USB-HDD, but i had to use grub_inst manually.

Where are file placed, which partition? Which partition is active? Are both primary? Which version of WinSetupFromUSB did you use?

tstaddon, on 20 November 2010 - 11:29 AM, said:

Hi,

Great tool, I use it in conjunction with RMPREPUSB.

Slight issue though: if I try and build a second install on a pen drive with an existing install could you possibly change it to create a seperate winsetup.lst file or let the name of the XP install get edited? It gets a bit confusing when the same file has two options for step 1 and the text descriptions are similar...

Also, is there a dev build of WinSetupFromUSB or is it just a case of keep coming here and checking the version hasn't been updated?

Which version did you use? Latest 1.0 beta6 takes menu names out of txtsetup.sif including service pack number and they should be different. In case they are the same program adds 1/2/3... to the name at the same time asking you for a custom menu name.
You could always edit winsetup.lst, after 'title....'.

And yes, you have to check this thread for updates. Working on beta7 currently, but it would be just minor fixes and updates of some of the tools included.

[ilko_t]

ilko_t, on 21 November 2010 - 08:47 PM, said:

... at the same time asking you for a custom menu name...

Opps, bug, wrong inputbox possition, doesn't ask, just adds and uses 1/2/3... Fixed in beta7.

[Jotto]

ilko_t, on 21 November 2010 - 08:47 PM, said:

Where are file placed, which partition? Which partition is active? Are both primary? Which version of WinSetupFromUSB did you use?

I'm using WinSetupFromUSB beta6.

I have Windows XP Professional SP3 and Windows XP Home SP3 - all placed in //WINSETUP in the root dir on both devices. Both Windows' CDs/Versions are not modified by anyone, because i downloaded them from MSDN and i've also checked the hash sums.

My devices are:
1. Samsung S2 500GB split in two: 1. 65.6 GB primary, non-active, NTFS 2. 400 GB primary, non-active, NTFS. I've used "grubinst-1.1-bin-w32-2008-01-01" and placed "grub4dos-0.4.4-2009-06-20" in the root of #1 65.6GB, then i used WinSetupFromUSB beta6 to add both Windows sources.
I've never had problem before, i've done many successful installations, but this time on a desktop PC it resulted in error that (i cant quote the exact info) biosinfo.inf is missing, error 14.

2. PQI 4GB USB-Thumb drive: FAT32, Primary, active. I did the same procedure like i did on my Samsung and it works.

[tstaddon]

Hi,

I'm using Beta 6 at the minute.

I use NLITE to bundle in the post-SP3 hotfixes, then driverpacks.net to slipstream in the drivers. Finally, I use WinSetupFromUSB to put the completed build onto the pen drive. The issue seems to be that the menu name is always going to be the same if I'm using XP Service Pack 3. I've now resorted to manually renaming the WINSETUP folder and the associated paths in the lst files prior to using WinSetupFromUSB to commit a new build to the pen drive.

I'm using an OEM XP Service Pack 2 CD, slipstreamed to SP3 and burnt to an ISO, as the basis for each setup and I have created several different NLITEd packages from this ISO, for different PC builds.

So if you're looking at txtsetup.sif the description will always be the same.

It's never asked me for a custom menu name so the "first part of..." menu entries all look exactly the same, e.g. "First part of Windows XP Professional SP3 setup" appears many times even though the "Second part of..." entry only appears once.

This post has been edited by tstaddon: 22 November 2010 - 08:54 AM

[cdob]

Jotto, on 22 November 2010 - 04:21 AM, said:

My devices are:
1. Samsung S2 500GB split in two: 1. 65.6 GB primary, non-active, NTFS 2. 400 GB primary, non-active, NTFS. I've used "grubinst-1.1-bin-w32-2008-01-01" and placed "grub4dos-0.4.4-2009-06-20" in the root of #1 65.6GB, then i used WinSetupFromUSB beta6 to add both Windows sources.
I've never had problem before, i've done many successful installations, but this time on a desktop PC it resulted in error that (i cant quote the exact info) biosinfo.inf is missing, error 14.

2. PQI 4GB USB-Thumb drive: FAT32, Primary, active. I did the same procedure like i did on my Samsung and it works.

Possible cause: BIOS, fixed versus removable drive, USB drive itself

Which desktop PC do you use?
Did you use the same desktop PC at both?

Which Samsung S2 do you use?
HX-MU050DA, HX-MU050DC, HX-MTA50DA or another?
Does your S2 use 512 byte, 1 kb or 4 kb sectors?

[ilko_t]

Jotto, on 22 November 2010 - 04:21 AM, said:

ilko_t, on 21 November 2010 - 08:47 PM, said:

Where are file placed, which partition? Which partition is active? Are both primary? Which version of WinSetupFromUSB did you use?

I'm using WinSetupFromUSB beta6.

I have Windows XP Professional SP3 and Windows XP Home SP3 - all placed in //WINSETUP in the root dir on both devices. Both Windows' CDs/Versions are not modified by anyone, because i downloaded them from MSDN and i've also checked the hash sums.

My devices are:
1. Samsung S2 500GB split in two: 1. 65.6 GB primary, non-active, NTFS 2. 400 GB primary, non-active, NTFS. I've used "grubinst-1.1-bin-w32-2008-01-01" and placed "grub4dos-0.4.4-2009-06-20" in the root of #1 65.6GB, then i used WinSetupFromUSB beta6 to add both Windows sources.
I've never had problem before, i've done many successful installations, but this time on a desktop PC it resulted in error that (i cant quote the exact info) biosinfo.inf is missing, error 14.

2. PQI 4GB USB-Thumb drive: FAT32, Primary, active. I did the same procedure like i did on my Samsung and it works.

Try this grub4dos version:
http://grub4dos-chen...-2010-11-21.zip

Older versions lack needed feature to search and replace a string in a file.
In addition- set the first partition active.

tstaddon, on 22 November 2010 - 08:52 AM, said:

Hi,

I'm using Beta 6 at the minute.

I use NLITE to bundle in the post-SP3 hotfixes, then driverpacks.net to slipstream in the drivers. Finally, I use WinSetupFromUSB to put the completed build onto the pen drive. The issue seems to be that the menu name is always going to be the same if I'm using XP Service Pack 3. I've now resorted to manually renaming the WINSETUP folder and the associated paths in the lst files prior to using WinSetupFromUSB to commit a new build to the pen drive.

I'm using an OEM XP Service Pack 2 CD, slipstreamed to SP3 and burnt to an ISO, as the basis for each setup and I have created several different NLITEd packages from this ISO, for different PC builds.

So if you're looking at txtsetup.sif the description will always be the same.

It's never asked me for a custom menu name so the "first part of..." menu entries all look exactly the same, e.g. "First part of Windows XP Professional SP3 setup" appears many times even though the "Second part of..." entry only appears once.

Why do you need to edit WINSETUP folder?
Each new source goes into a new folder under WINSETUP folder. All you have to do is to amend winsetup.lst title for the new installation/first part of setup, leaving paths alone. Those paths are also used in txtsetup.sif in the small ISO file, so changing paths could be tricky if you don't know all the places where they are used.
In beta7 it will ask you for custom name, as stated there is a bug in beta6 and the input box for a custom name is not showing up.
As for the second part menu name is only one because it is the same for GUI mode of all kind of 2000/2003/XP installations, and has to be second entry in winsetup.lst so it becomes default entry once any of the FIRST PARTs is selected and booted, making boot menu somehow unattended.

[Jotto]

cdob, on 22 November 2010 - 12:11 PM, said:

Possible cause: BIOS, fixed versus removable drive, USB drive itself

Which desktop PC do you use?
Did you use the same desktop PC at both?

Which Samsung S2 do you use?
HX-MU050DA, HX-MU050DC, HX-MTA50DA or another?
Does your S2 use 512 byte, 1 kb or 4 kb sectors?

If my memory is correct the desktop PC is: GA-M52L-S3P
And yes i used both on the same PC.

I'm using HX-MU050DA. It's sectors are set on default and i think that they are 4096 byte according to this link to MS

P.S. What's the difference between active and non-active partition, because i honestly don't know?

[cdob]

Jotto, on 22 November 2010 - 03:48 PM, said:

I'm using HX-MU050DA. It's sectors are set on default and i think that they are 4096 byte according to this link to MS

Not windows cluster size.
Internal hard disk sector size. Hardware, not software.
Allmost all DOS/Windows compatible hard disk use 512 bytes. However there are some exception nowadays.
S2 production date seems to be importand. http://gbatemp.net/t...0

Try a updated grub4dos as recommended first.

[tstaddon]

Hi,

I would use a newer one, but I must be thick because I can't find a download link for any version newer than Beta 6. Certainly the first place I would've looked would've been in the top post of this thread and that only goes up to Beta 6.

I renamed the WINSETUP folder so it's clear which ones are which.

In my house (large family, long story) there are at present: three Dell desktops, two HP laptops, one Dell laptop, one clone with a LEGAL retail OEM build, and a Philips Freeline mini desktop PC also with its own retail OEM build.

Using your method to cover all the machines for a recovery situation without a DVD to hand, the folder structure my super-duper-recovery-pen-drive would end up looking a bit like this:

Recovery media
--- First part of OEM XP Pro SP3 Slipstreamed install with drivers, hotfixes and applications (for the clone PC and the Philips Freeline)
--- First part of Dell XP Pro SP3 Slipstreamed install with updated F6 drivers, hotfixes, and preinstalled applications (for the desktops)
--- First part of Dell XP Home SP3 Slipstreamed install with updated F6 drivers, hotfixes, and preinstalled applications (for the laptop)
--- First part of HP XP Home SP2 vanilla install for the Pavilion (the drivers and software can all be installed from a second ISO which has SP3 already configured to go)
--- First part of HP XP Pro SP3 vanilla install with F6 slipstreamed drivers for the NC6320
--- Second part of install

This would mean the WINSETUP folder would end up being a single point of failure; I've already had the annoyance of my eldest son borrowing the pen drive and deleting the WINSETUP folder causing me to lose two OS install routines already in there and I shudder to think what would happen if I'd spent a week putting them ALL onto the pen drive only for the same thing to happen again!

That is why I would prefer the folder structure to be more like this:

Dell Desktop PC Recovery Media
--- First part of Dell XP Pro SP3 Slipstreamed install with updated F6 drivers, hotfixes, and preinstalled applications (for the desktops)
--- Second part of install

Other Desktop PC Recovery Media
--- First part of OEM XP Pro SP3 Slipstreamed install with drivers, hotfixes and applications (for the clone PC and the Philips Freeline)
--- Second part of install

Dell Laptop Recovery Media
--- First part of Dell XP Home SP3 Slipstreamed install with updated F6 drivers, hotfixes, and preinstalled applications (for the laptop)
--- Second part of install

HP Laptop Recovery Media
--- First part of HP XP Home SP2 vanilla install for the Pavilion (mount the SWSETUP.ISO after the reboot and install the rest from there)
--- First part of HP XP Pro SP3 vanilla install with F6 slipstreamed drivers for the NC6320
--- Second part of install

I'm quite happy to do this manually, of course...

[ilko_t]

tstaddon, on 23 November 2010 - 10:55 AM, said:

I would use a newer one, but I must be thick because I can't find a download link for any version newer than Beta 6. Certainly the first place I would've looked would've been in the top post of this thread and that only goes up to Beta 6.

ilko_t, on 21 November 2010 - 08:47 PM, said:

...Working on beta7 currently, but it would be just minor fixes and updates of some of the tools included.

Just trying to get it working on my own laptop
http://www.msfn.org/...all-iso-method/

tstaddon, on 23 November 2010 - 10:55 AM, said:

I renamed the WINSETUP folder so it's clear which ones are which.

You'd have to amend txtsetup.sif in the small iso files as well as setup.cmd in each I386 folder.

tstaddon, on 23 November 2010 - 10:55 AM, said:

This would mean the WINSETUP folder would end up being a single point of failure; I've already had the annoyance of my eldest son borrowing the pen drive and deleting the WINSETUP folder causing me to lose two OS install routines already in there and I shudder to think what would happen if I'd spent a week putting them ALL onto the pen drive only for the same thing to happen again!

That is why I would prefer the folder structure to be more like this:

Dell Desktop PC Recovery Media
--- First part of Dell XP Pro SP3 Slipstreamed install with updated F6 drivers, hotfixes, and preinstalled applications (for the desktops)
--- Second part of install

Other Desktop PC Recovery Media
--- First part of OEM XP Pro SP3 Slipstreamed install with drivers, hotfixes and applications (for the clone PC and the Philips Freeline)
--- Second part of install

Dell Laptop Recovery Media
--- First part of Dell XP Home SP3 Slipstreamed install with updated F6 drivers, hotfixes, and preinstalled applications (for the laptop)
--- Second part of install

HP Laptop Recovery Media
--- First part of HP XP Home SP2 vanilla install for the Pavilion (mount the SWSETUP.ISO after the reboot and install the rest from there)
--- First part of HP XP Pro SP3 vanilla install with F6 slipstreamed drivers for the NC6320
--- Second part of install

I'm quite happy to do this manually, of course...

The only issue with having menu titles in this order is that you cannot auto select the second parts automatically, once the first part have been selected and booted. In other words to achieve unattended setup- manually select first part, select partition to install to and leave it running unattended right to the end of setup.
Well, you could do it, as long as you know the positions of each Second part of setup in winsetup.lst and amend each "savedefault 2" line accordingly. If you are looking for unattended installs of course.

[jaclaz]

tstaddon, on 23 November 2010 - 10:55 AM, said:

I've already had the annoyance of my eldest son borrowing the pen drive and deleting the WINSETUP folder causing me to lose two OS install routines already in there and I shudder to think what would happen if I'd spent a week putting them ALL onto the pen drive only for the same thing to happen again!

Wait until your youngest son gets his hands on it!




Seriously, once you have a working stick, IMAGE it!

A picture An image is worth a thousand words....

jaclaz

This post has been edited by jaclaz: 23 November 2010 - 12:18 PM

[gunner13]

Hi, thanks a lot for this tool. I will definitely donate if i can get this to work as i want. I've been searching around the net for the past couple of weeks for a way to have an aio stick for everything. Basically i want to have all of those in one stick:
Windows XP Home SP3 Greek
Windows XP Pro SP3 Greek
Windows XP Home SP3 English
Windows XP Pro SP3 English
Windows Vista x86 (all versions in one setup) Greek
Windows Vista x64 (all versions in one setup) Greek
Windows Vista x86 (all versions in one setup) English
Windows Vista x64 (all versions in one setup) English
Windows 7 x86 (all versions in one setup) Greek
Windows 7 x64 (all versions in one setup) Greek
Windows 7 x86 (all versions in one setup) English
Windows 7 x64 (all versions in one setup) English
Hirens BootCD
memtest86+
Acronis True Image.

So with your tool I'm able to add all xp version but not all of vista/7. I also don't see anywhere mentioning hirens bootcd. I believe it will fall into the same category as UBCD so i'll go with that. I will be working with a 32GB Corsair stick and i have yet figured out how to make and use multiple partitions. Bootice make them but doesn't format them. I'll try with gparted and i guess i need to make them all "primary" and "active" right?

[jaclaz]

gunner13, on 24 November 2010 - 03:33 AM, said:

So with your tool I'm able to add all xp version but not all of vista/7. I also don't see anywhere mentioning hirens bootcd. I believe it will fall into the same category as UBCD so i'll go with that. I will be working with a 32GB Corsair stick and i have yet figured out how to make and use multiple partitions. Bootice make them but doesn't format them. I'll try with gparted and i guess i need to make them all "primary" and "active" right?

Be VERY careful.
UBCD is a perfectly legal tool.
Hiren's is WAREZ.
Be VERY aware of Rule #1.a:
http://www.msfn.org/...tion=boardrules
a good idea would be to simply forget using that.

ONLY one partition can be active at ANY given time, and if you are using grub4dos installed on the MBR you don't even need one..
You don't *need* all of them to be Primary.
To partiion a device that is seen as removable you can use Disk Management allright, once you have installed a filter driver, known are cfadisk and dummydisk.sys, see here for reference:
http://www.msfn.org/...showtopic=69211

For multiple Vista/7 you can integrate steve6375's method, see here:
http://www.boot-land...wtopic=8043&hl=
http://sites.google....and-server-2008

jaclaz

[tstaddon]

Can't dispute that, I should've known better but in fairness I've only had my 32GB pen drive for a couple of weeks, the previous pen drive I was using only had room for two builds so while it was annoying it wasn't going to take me forever to rebuild the thing from scratch.

I haven't really had much time to actually look at the way the ISO works in relation to the extracted folder, when using WinSetupFromUSB.

Out of curiosity, what's the best way to configure the build so that installing from pendrive also dumps the I386 folder to the system drive and re-points the registry to look at that folder for the source files in the future? I've got a few PCs now that think the Windows install media is located on a non-existent U drive.

[jaclaz]

tstaddon, on 24 November 2010 - 06:48 AM, said:

Out of curiosity, what's the best way to configure the build so that installing from pendrive also dumps the I386 folder to the system drive and re-points the registry to look at that folder for the source files in the future? I've got a few PCs now that think the Windows install media is located on a non-existent U drive.

Boot a PE.
Install via WINNT32.exe.

I.e.:
http://www.msfn.org/...howtopic=121446

Or test this:
http://www.boot-land...?showtopic=7721

jaclaz

[ilko_t]

tstaddon, on 24 November 2010 - 06:48 AM, said:

...
Out of curiosity, what's the best way to configure the build so that installing from pendrive also dumps the I386 folder to the system drive and re-points the registry to look at that folder for the source files in the future? I've got a few PCs now that think the Windows install media is located on a non-existent U drive.

I would edit setup.cmd where most paths are already determined and add a few lines to copy I386 folder, then change the installation path in registry using GUIRunOnce in winnt.sif using the REG command.
The installation path is in registry, in a single key, google a bit for the exact key to be changed, AFAIR it should be

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup -->SourcePath

[windNsalsa]

Hi, as with some others, I've downloaded the 2 latest betas and after extraction, I don't see any doc folder or a general readme file for the instruction. thanks in advance

[ilko_t]

There is no readme files in the beta versions. In 0.2.3 and formers there are.
Although last betas work just fine in most of the cases, the whole new method is still experimental and (maybe) to be changed.

The readme file in 0.2.3 version nearly covers everything you need to know to get you started.

If you are looking for something to start with:
http://www.msfn.org/...post__p__946944

There are also balloon tooltips for each field and button in the program, just keep the mouse for a few seconds over the object in question.

[MackTK]

Hello!

First of all, thank you ilko_t, for the hard work to create this very useful program.

I have a little problem. I've made a bootable USB stick for installing Windows XP SP3 from it using WinSetupFromUSB Beta6. At first, I've tested it succesfully on VMWare and other two desktop computers, working with no problems at all. The problem appears when trying to install from USB on two other notebooks. The USB stick boots, but in the TXT setup of windows, right after "Windows is starting..." message, the screen goes black and stays that way.

Things that I've tried:
- both notebooks have SATA HDDs, so I've integrated the mass storage drivers for each notebook
- tried to change the verision of Windows to a "cleaner" one (genuine CD + SP3 slipstreamed with nLite)
- tried to put the laptop's HDD on compatibility/IDE mode

For each try, I've remade the USB stick from scratch, and after that I made combinations of all above. The falsh pen is formatted with RMPrepUSB, with NTFS and HDD checkbox ticked. Anyway, nothing worked.

For my surprize, as a last resort, I've tried with the latest stable version (0.2.3) and... it worked! Now, I would like to use the Beta6 version, mainly because for the directory structure. I know, it's a stupid reason, but beside that, I've worked on a grub4dos menu that uses Beta6 structure.

I don't know what causes the black screen and I wonder if I do something wrong with Beta6.

Thank you for your answers and for patience to read my problem.

This post has been edited by MackTK: 05 December 2010 - 02:29 PM

[ilko_t]

Try this:
http://www.msfn.org/...post__p__947272

In short- in winsetup.lst remove --mem option after map command.

map  --mem /WINSETUP/XPpSP3.ISO (0xff)

becomes

map  /WINSETUP/XPpSP3.ISO (0xff)

You will also have to ensure each ISO file in \WINSETUP\ folder is contiguous. Use Wincontig or Sysinternal's contig to check and defragment them.

Can you list the exact models of these laptops?