[ilko_t]

Because your SATA controler is in AHCI/SATA mode and XP does not natively support such.
You can:
1) Integrate the appropriate SATA driver with nLite for example
2) Switch SATA mode to IDE/compatible if your BIOS has such option
3) Integrate BTS mass storage driver pack in your source, links are just a few posts above

This is very common question which has been answered numerous times, please do use the search option.

Quote

Also in the beginning when it boots from the usb I see this messages:

First part of Windows xp Professional setup
Second part of Windows xp Professional setup

I don’t know if this is normal.

It's perfectly normal, why is this bothering you at all? That's the boot menu which the program made...

[user999]

I have problem installing windows xp from usb. When it finish the installation just before to start the operation system it starts cycling. It loads from BIOS, then I see the screen that appears when pressing F8 for safe mode, I choose the option to start windows xp normally. It loads the logon screen and then crashes and return back from the beginning. It can’t start the operation system. Any idea why this is happening?

This post has been edited by user999: 02 July 2012 - 01:24 PM

[ilko_t]

Did you try with a good, unmodified source?

Try pressing F8 at start, select "Disable automatic restart on system failure" or whatever the option was called. Do you see a bluescreen? What is the error code on it?

[user999]

I don’t think the reason is the windows xp copy I am using. I test it on virtual machine and it was working fine. I can’t see what error it shows. Before it crash it shows a blue screen but only for part of the second so I can’t see what is the error message.

If I want to try another copy of windows do I have to reformat the usb drive again or I just can delete everything on it and copy the new installation files?

I already installed my old copy of windows xp from CD because I couldn’t get it work with the installation from usb, but this trial and error thing is too time consuming.

[ilko_t]

user999, on 02 July 2012 - 03:08 PM, said:

... I can’t see what error it shows. Before it crash it shows a blue screen but only for part of the second so I can’t see what is the error message.

Did you miss this part?

ilko_t, on 02 July 2012 - 01:46 PM, said:

...Try pressing F8 at start, select "Disable automatic restart on system failure" or whatever the option was called. Do you see a bluescreen? What is the error code on it?

user999, on 02 July 2012 - 03:08 PM, said:

If I want to try another copy of windows do I have to reformat the usb drive again or I just can delete everything on it and copy the new installation files?

If you have enough space on the USB disk you can add it alongside the first copy, just run the program again with the same settings.
Or you can reformat the driver and add it.
Again, I recommend you to use the latest version available, use the auto format option, add the new source and test.

How did you fix the internal disk not showing? Added a driver to the source or changed SATA mode to IDE?

[user999]

I manage to install it from the second try. It seems i have done everything correctly with creating the installation USB. Just the first time when it started installing devices i received a message for missing iaStor.sys driver on Intel Matrix Storage Manager. I couldn't find it so i decided it will not be fatal if i not install it so i think this error was due to this driver. Second time i found the driver somewhere on the USB and install it and the windows loaded normally.

But i don't understand why the setup process didn't install this driver automatically. I integrated all driver packs available with the program DriverPacks BASE.

My other question is about the driver packs. I saw that during the installation process the driver packs were decompressed. Do you know in which directory these files are decompressed? I guess i don't need them any more and i want to delete them. I want to free space from my drive.

[ilko_t]

Quote

I integrated all driver packs available with the program DriverPacks BASE.

Did you integrate them directly on the prepared USB disk? You should do it on your source, then redo the USB disk.

Quote

My other question is about the driver packs.

http://driverpacks.n...uide-windows-xp
http://driverpacks.net/docs
http://forum.driverpacks.net/

[jaclaz]

user999, on 03 July 2012 - 02:48 AM, said:

I manage to install it from the second try. It seems i have done everything correctly with creating the installation USB. Just the first time when it started installing devices i received a message for missing iaStor.sys driver on Intel Matrix Storage Manager. I couldn't find it so i decided it will not be fatal if i not install it so i think this error was due to this driver. Second time i found the driver somewhere on the USB and install it and the windows loaded normally.

Allow me a carpenter's comparison .

fake carpenters Forum said:

Q: How do I connect two planks of wood?
A: You will need a hammer and some nails of appropriate length (roughly 3/4 th of the summed thickness of the two planks).
Then you put the two planks one over the another and hold vertically a nail (point down) and you hit it's head with the hammer until it is completely driven into the wood.
Repeat with more nails until the connection is solid.
Ask if you need more instructions.

Q: I tried but failed . Since I could find no nails, I decided it will not be fatal to not use any nail and put the two planks one over the other and hit the top one with the hammer, several times.
No solid connection was made and the planks remained loose.
Then I tried again using some nails, and this time it worked, so I think that the issue was related to not having used nails.
A: How queer...

jaclaz

This post has been edited by jaclaz: 03 July 2012 - 06:30 AM

[user999]

Well, i may missed the importance of this driver but i am just an average windows user. It would be good if there was a simple tutorial with screenshots, since installing windows from usb is quite different than installing from CD.

I integrated driver packs first in the source on my PC and them copy the files on the USB. So, may be if this driver is not installed automatically this is because of the program DriverPacks BASE.

I will try to integrate with nLite only the mass storage driver pack and see if the driver will be installed.

Do i risk to damage the usb drive if i reformat it too often?

[jaclaz]

user999, on 03 July 2012 - 05:38 AM, said:

Well, i may missed the importance of this driver but i am just an average windows user. It would be good if there was a simple tutorial with screenshots, since installing windows from usb is quite different than installing from CD.

Well, no . (meaning that you would have had exactly the same issue if you attempted to install from CD, the test on the virtual machine went OK because the virtual machine on which you tested needs NOT a Mass Storage driver - i.e. the needed one is already in your source).
If you prefer, if you have not an adequate mass-storage driver, no-matter from which device you attempt the install, you will have issues.
There is a FAQ sticky:
http://www.msfn.org/...ic/116766-faqs/
which is was originated for the "other" app, but Q3 is "common" between all "install from USB" thingies, and relatively to the (SATA) Mass Storage device drivers.
On most machines you can get around a missing SATA driver by changing the settings in the BIOS to "IDE emulation mode" or similar, but you will have later to install the driver and often it is not very easy.
On laptops (where BTW it is more likely that you will install from USB because you miss the CD/DVD drive), such option in the BIOS is very often not present, so you need the integrated driver (or use one of the available "F6 floppy" workarounds).

user999, on 03 July 2012 - 05:38 AM, said:

I integrated driver packs first in the source on my PC and them copy the files on the USB. So, may be if this driver is not installed automatically this is because of the program DriverPacks BASE.

This is the part that is not clear (to me at least) .
The idea is to have the Source integrated with the needed drivers and then create the stick through WinsetupfromUSB from this integrated source, if you did this, then it should have worked.

user999, on 03 July 2012 - 05:38 AM, said:

I will try to integrate with nLite only the mass storage driver pack and see if the driver will be installed.

Yes, but remember to start from a non-nlited source.

user999, on 03 July 2012 - 05:38 AM, said:

Do i risk to damage the usb drive if i reformat it too often?

No, the issue is not when you format (I mean unless you format it 100,000 to 1,000,000 times ) it is more an issue when using NTFS (or any journaled or semi-journaled filesystems).
From the first /actually very vague) data about lifetime of USB sticks (actually of the memory in them) a lot of betterings have been introduced, besides changes in the actual flash memory, modern sticks use "wear leveling" algorithms, so right now, though I personally recommend - unless there is a "real" *need* for NTFS - to use FAT16 or FAT32, the reports of sticks wearing out have lessened or completely disappear, with a recent USB stick I would rate probabilities of a failure as follows:

• 55% lost//stolen/forgot on another site
  
• 25% factory defect/bad solder/poor components
  
• 12% my dog ate it
  
• 5% zapped due to static electricity/desktop not properly grounded/with 120 or 240 V AC connected accidntally to the chassis
  
• 2.5% worn by using a journaled or semi-journaled filesystem (please read as NTFS)
  
• 0.45% other reasons
  
• 0.05% worn by repeatedly formatting it

Please take note that when you format under XP, very little writes are performed, while when formatting under Vista or 7 without the /q switch the whole drive will be wiped (00 written):
http://www.msfn.org/...s-the-question/

jaclaz

This post has been edited by jaclaz: 03 July 2012 - 06:33 AM

[ilko_t]

user999, on 03 July 2012 - 05:38 AM, said:

I integrated driver packs first in the source on my PC and them copy the files on the USB. So, may be if this driver is not installed automatically this is because of the program DriverPacks BASE.

Double check the options needed in the tutorial.

user999, on 03 July 2012 - 05:38 AM, said:

I will try to integrate with nLite only the mass storage driver pack and see if the driver will be installed.

BTS mass storage drivers pack is NOT intended to be integrated with nLite. Use a suitable driver pack for nLite or an appropriate single driver.

user999, on 03 July 2012 - 05:38 AM, said:

Do i risk to damage the usb drive if i reformat it too often?

Already answered.
To add- I have a few good USB sticks,Lexar and Buffalo, bought 2006 or 2007, 30-32 MB/s read speed and 15-25 MB/s write speed. They are still in great shape, on one of them there was Debian on ext3 running occasionally for over an year, then there was a full XP on NTFS, all were formatted and used for tests literally thousands of times, mostly with NTFS. None of them have failed yet.

Another Samsung USB stick failed within a week or so.

[user999]

I am using auto format option of the last version 1.0 beta 8 and i am trying to format the usb drive in NTFS system but it format it in CDFS system. I don't know why. The operating system on my laptop is windows xp service pack 3.

[ilko_t]

That's kind of quite surprising, can you post the log file? It's in program directory.

[user999]

It seems ok now. After restarting the windows now it shows NTFS but right after the format it was showing CDFS.

Here is the log file anyway.

Attached File(s)

•  WinSetupFromUSB.rar (63.01K)
  Number of downloads: 3

[ilko_t]

user999, on 03 July 2012 - 12:50 PM, said:

It seems ok now. After restarting the windows now it shows NTFS but right after the format it was showing CDFS.

Here is the log file anyway.

That's the log from last run of the program, I don't see CDFS anywhere mentioned. Can you look in \backups\ folder and find the relevant log file which mentions CDFS? All old log files are cab compressed with date-time in file name.

[user999]

These are the recent log files.


I created new installation usb and this time i integrated only the mass storage driver pack but it still prompts for manual install of the intel matrix storage driver. I will leave it like this. It is not a big problem just it is inconvenient.

Attached File(s)

•  20120703-184705-log.cab (75.7K)
  Number of downloads: 2
•  20120703-204339-log.cab (2.9K)
  Number of downloads: 2

[user999]

Do you think it is a good idea to install windows with all drivers and programs i need and make a backup on the whole "C" partition and when i have to reinstall the windows just to restore the partition?

Or it is better when i have to reinstall windows to delete and format the partition and make a clean install?

Also, is it possible to integrate in the source windows files installation files of programs and during the installation to have option to choose which programs i want to be installed?

This post has been edited by user999: 04 July 2012 - 06:56 AM

[ilko_t]

user999, on 03 July 2012 - 02:46 PM, said:

These are the recent log files.

I can't see any clue in them for something wrong in regards to CDFS. I'd ignore this for now unless another report comes up.

user999, on 03 July 2012 - 02:46 PM, said:

I created new installation usb and this time i integrated only the mass storage driver pack but it still prompts for manual install of the intel matrix storage driver. I will leave it like this. It is not a big problem just it is inconvenient.

I believe that's the same issue with the one a few posts above with newest mass storage DP. Text mode uses iastor7.sys, during PNP detection in GUI mode iastor.inf is read and it references iastor.sys, not iastor7.sys, setup prompts where the file is.

user999, on 04 July 2012 - 06:52 AM, said:

Do you think it is a good idea to install windows with all drivers and programs i need and make a backup on the whole "C" partition and when i have to reinstall the windows just to restore the partition?

Or it is better when i have to reinstall windows to delete and format the partition and make a clean install?

The former. Install and tune everything and make an image of that partition.

user999, on 04 July 2012 - 06:52 AM, said:

Also, is it possible to integrate in the source windows files installation files of programs and during the installation to have option to choose which programs i want to be installed?

There are number of solutions:

http://www.msfn.org/...forum/89-nlite/
http://www.msfn.org/...all-wizard-wpi/
http://www.msfn.org/...rum/129-hfslip/
http://www.msfn.org/...xp-powerpacker/

to mention a few..

[user999]

Quote

Text mode uses iastor7.sys, during PNP detection in GUI mode iastor.inf is read and it references iastor.sys, not iastor7.sys, setup prompts where the file is.

It doesn't prompt to the right directory. It shows this path:

C:\\windows\oem\

if i remember correctly.

But when i click OK it doesn't install the driver because i guess the driver is not there. And i have to browse for the driver on the usb drive.

I am using the second method when integrating the driver packs with DriverBase and i integrate all packs available. I hope this is the right method.

[mr_smartepants]

user999, on 04 July 2012 - 01:16 PM, said:

Quote

Text mode uses iastor7.sys, during PNP detection in GUI mode iastor.inf is read and it references iastor.sys, not iastor7.sys, setup prompts where the file is.

It doesn't prompt to the right directory. It shows this path:

C:\\windows\oem\

if i remember correctly.

But when i click OK it doesn't install the driver because i guess the driver is not there. And i have to browse for the driver on the usb drive.

I am using the second method when integrating the driver packs with DriverBase and i integrate all packs available. I hope this is the right method.

If that is true then the path is wrong. The double-slash needs to be single. C:\\windows\oem\ C:\windows\oem\
That is the root cause of the problem.

Our DriverPacks (Mass Storage) include both iastor.sys and iastor7.sys in the \D\M\I7 folder for use by the XP installer. As long as the path is set correctly, both files will be found.

DriverPacks support thread: http://forum.driverp...pic.php?id=6132