[airmr]

Heyas,

may sound easy (and i bet theres an easy solution), but i just cant find one.

I've done a few XP Bootdisks, that fit my needs and provide the drivers for different pc types.
I got 2 PCs with different components (Motherboard, Videocard, etc.)
I made 2 Unattended Installation CDs. One for each PC. They work fine.
The difference between them ist not only the different components, more important are the different settings for Screensize, etc.

Now i would like to combine these Unattended XP Installations and maybe a few more different Installations on a DVD.
I am trying to create a Menu where i can select which Unattended XP installation i would use.

I need a MultiBootCd but with different XP Versions, and not WinXP, Win98, etc.
that would take different Unnatended.txt or winnt.sif files for the installation.

There must be an easy way to do this. I just cant find it.
As im a User, and no programmer i would need a detailed instruction on how to do such a menu.
Best would be an example file


If anyone could help me i would be glad.

[Weed]

http://gosh.msfnhosting.com/part2.htm

here is a great tutorial how to do this
iam using CDShell for Bootmenü

[evilvoice]

ok, well, what I would do is create 2 root folders (ie C:\ROOT\*) and name one XPP1 and XPP2 (this is where you will extract your Windows XP Bootfloppies and hexedit setupldr.bin in these 2 folders from i386 to XPP1 and XPP2 respectively). Then under each, create a folder called nr2pfre_en (same for both) and under each of those, dump your I386, $OEM$ and any other folders that are normally in the root of the cds that you create. Once doing that, go back to your 4-letter folders and open txtsetup.sif in notepad, search for "\" and change it to \XPP1\NR2PFRE_EN\ for both (changing XPP1 to XPP2 when youre in that folder). copy winnt.sif from you I386 folders of each to XPP1 and XPP2 respectively (again), and you should be set. So your folder ROOT should look like this

c:\root
\XPP1
txtseup.sif
setupldr.bin
winnt.sif
\nr2pfre_en
\I386
\$OEM$
\XPP2
txtseup.sif
setupldr.bin
winnt.sif
\nr2pfre_en
\I386
\$OEM$

(I only listed the important parts that you HAVE TO MAKE SURE EXIST - also, there are supposed to be spaces, but it seems that the board doesnt like MY spaces HMMMM!)

If this isnt clear, I can try and make a better explanation, but it seems pretty clear to me.

[airmr]

@weed:

ive looked at cdshell before but couldnt figure out where i tell the menu to look in a different folder.
And i dont really know what these .dat files are for......... i try..but im confused, dont have the clear view of what happens there yet.


@evilvoice:

so i have 2 folders in my Root directory: xpp1 and xpp2.
Here i create a folder named NR2PFRE_EN In this folder i copy my existing $oem$ and i386 folders.
looks like this: root->xpp1(2)->NR2PFRE_EN ->i386 and $oem$

then i copy the txtsetup.sif, the setupldr.bin and winnt.sif from the i386 folder into root--> xpp1(2) folder.

Change txtsetup.inf like you said and change setupldr.bin like you said.

Where is the choose option to chosse which one to install ?

[prathapml]

go here and download the PDF version of the guide, its very easy to follow.

And a suggestion that you might like - use cdimage from M$ or UltraISO to generate optimized ISO images of multi-boot CDs.
What does that do? look here for more information.

[Weed]

here is my CDShell.ini, only the WinXP Section


....
print c "\n\cXXÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ<\c0B$time $date\cXX>ÄÄ \n\n"
print c "\cXXMulti_OS_DVD v1.0\n\n"
print c "\cXXÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ \n\n"
print " 1) Windows XP Professional SP1 \n"

MenuKey:
getkey 30 goto Menu
if $lastKey == key[1]; then goto WinXP

WinXP:
cls
print c "\n\cXXMicrosoft Windows XP \n"
print c "\cXXÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ \n\n"
print " 1) Regular \n"
print " 2) Unattended \n"
print " 3) OEMPreinstall \n"
print c "\n\n"
print "Press any key to return to main menu... \n"

WinXP_Key:
getkey 30 goto menu
if $lastKey == key[1]; then chain /VOL1.DAT
if $lastKey == key[2]; then chain /VOL2.DAT
if $lastKey == key[3]; then chain /VOL3.DAT
goto menu

the DAT Files are the Bootsectors, just download this from Gosh´s Site
when u choose "OEMPreinstall " it boots from VOL3 Folder and looks here for the winnt.sif File
its very easy to understand his Tutorial...

i cant write a small Tutorial...u dont understand then my english

[airmr]

Thnx a lot. I think i know now how it works...

I will try and post later if it worked for me .

Thnx again.

[mrconet]

Good grief.....

I treid the cdshell thing version..... followed the tutorial step by step.....

i always get an:"Error booting from CD/DVD Drive" Error.

Well i didnt thought it would be so complicated...

[Aaron]

Make sure your directories are laid out like this:
C:\ROOT\boot\loader.bin

Then the CDImage switch would be:
CDIMAGE.EXE -lMyBootCD -h -n -m -o -bC:\ROOT\boot\loader.bin C:\ROOT D:\CDSHELL.ISO

[mrconet]

My CDIMAGE Switch looks like this:
cdimage -lAIOCD1 -t08/23/2001,09:00:00 -bd:\xpcd\loader.bin -h -n -m -o d:\xpcd d:\xpsp1.ISO

I have the X.DAT Files in the root d:\xpcd as well as all the diskemu files necessary (Loader.bin, diskemu.cmd, diskem1x.bin, deload.bin)

The Diskemu Menu works without a problem.

Just the cdshell Menu gives me non bootable CD errors.......

Well diskemu works, so i can work with that, but i still would like to work with cdshell.
And it can only be a small thing that prevents me from working with cdshell.... i cant sleep till i find out what it is

[airmr]

OOPs seems that i have 2 Logins here

Sorry for that "mrconet" is me too

[Aaron]

mrconet, on Feb 11 2004, 12:53 PM, said:

My CDIMAGE Switch looks like this:
cdimage -lAIOCD1 -t08/23/2001,09:00:00 -bd:\xpcd\loader.bin -h -n -m -o d:\xpcd d:\xpsp1.ISO

This is because loader.bin looks for /boot/cdsh.bin

Place all the files you currently have in d:\xpcd into a folder called boot then it should work. (hopefully!)

[airmr]

still the same....

Could you give me a short description what i need for the bootmenu?! And just for the bootmenu. I think just to get the bootmenu working i need the bootmenu files without win installation and the.dat files....

So my folder would look like:
xpcd
- cdsh.bin
- cdshell.ini
- cdshw.com
- loader.bin

is that correct ?

[evilvoice]

well you say diskemu works, so that means your using loader.bin from diskemu, correct? cdshell has its own loader.bin that you must use. If I were you though, I would get cdimagegui and use that, makes it a lot easier.

Actually all your cdshell files should be in a folder called boot (depending on if you have the newest version) so it should be like this

xpcd (this contains your xp cd stuff like i386 folder)
-boot (under here put all your cdhs files)
--cdsh.bin
--cdshell.ini
--loader.bin
-I386

(you dont need cdshw.com as this is to test your script on a windows machine)

[airmr]

Im Using Loader.bin from diskemu for the diskemu Menu.
Im using the loader.bin from the cdshell for the cdshell menu......

seemed logical to me....

Just did the Folder construction you just posted without any i386 folder and stuff. Just the cdshell files in the boot folder in xpcd folder.

Still same error.....
hmm..

[evilvoice]

well the folder xpcd shouldnt be in your cd...ie boot folder should be in root. when I talk of folders, I assume youre using xpcd as the root location for cdimage to build from. So Boot should be the only folder on the cd, if you wanna test. Also, what are you testing in? vmware? I have found that sometimes cdshell will not work on vm's. Also make sure you have all folders that go with cdshell, I forget the folders under boot, but there are some that allow commands to run. Also, make sure youre not using a bitmap - no csi or bmp files...your vid card may not allow the showing of the splash screen.

[shawn26]

Is there a way to make a boot menü for WinXP to select....
1. the OS (in this example only WinXP)
2. the Apps i want to install
3. the Bootlogo i want to install
4. the Theme i want to install

so that i can choose at the first installation...(WinXP with Office 2003,Photoshop and so on) and some month later i will install (WinXP with Office XP, Ad Aware and so on)

I think about a menu to choose the different things i want to have installed!

Many ThX!

Shawn26