[maanu]

JFX, on 24 November 2011 - 12:53 PM, said:

Hi maanu, alright here, hope everything is okay by you too.

Sounds interesting, please send me additional "information" about this GHO image via PM.

sorry JFX , i have been busy lately , i forgot the source , but i will again look into it , and PM you later.

i have a request to make , and i hope you will endorse me to it,

wit the power of PECMD , i managed to stop my WIN7PE and very begining (after loading winpeshl) , and it gives 2 options, 1 , continue PE , 2 . Install win7 from WINNTSETUP.

now , i realised ,that a user MUST will format the target partition first , and i hope it is easy , as we already have BOOTICE there in your tool .

1- just show the user , drive chart
2. format the selected partition as NTFS , and Make it active .

and your tool will in the end , write boot sector to it as it already doing .

hope you liked the idea.

thank you.

edit : plz check pm

This post has been edited by maanu: 11 December 2011 - 12:19 AM

[zamarac]

JFX

You posted that your prog now use this Diskpart script:

create vdisk file="C:\Windows7.vhd" maximum=25600 type=(fixed|expandable)
select vdisk file="C:\Windows7.vhd"
attach vdisk
online disk noerr
attributes disk clear readonly noerr
create partition primary align=(32|64|128|256|512|1024|2048)
online volume noerr
attributes volume clear readonly noerr
active
format quick fs=ntfs label="Win7 VHD" unit=(512|1024|2048|4096|8192|16K|32K|64K)
assign letter=X:

Could you explain, what benefits gives using ALIGN and NOERR options? Also, how ALIGN and UNIT commands choose block size from the list - should a user type it manually when formatting a drive? If yes, which size would you recommend for which OS? If not, how the size is chosen - based on output of FILESYSTEMS command?

This post has been edited by zamarac: 11 December 2011 - 08:32 AM

[JFX]

Hi zamarac.

zamarac, on 10 December 2011 - 01:48 PM, said:

- does the latest version support install of WES7 or Thin Client to HD or VHD? If not - why exactly?
Also, I'm trying to run WES7 installed onto VHD on my real machine, inside a VM, and it gets 07b BSOD. What would you suggest to do possibly during install or now to make it run in both environments? Is this issue related to your tool not supporting Embedded?

Thin Client and Embedded versions are not supported, one reason they mssing boot files.
Another reason they often gives 0x7b or a blank screen with this direct install method.
I never had the time to find out what really happens there.

zamarac, on 10 December 2011 - 01:48 PM, said:

- should your program run from a hard drive (for what OSs) or WinPE (for what OSs) to install the OS?

You can run Winntsetup from any OS (Windows XP SP1 up to Windows 8 Pre)
It also support running from WinPE and from any read-only device like CD-ROM's

zamarac, on 10 December 2011 - 01:48 PM, said:

- after an unsigned driver is integrated into the OS during install, will the OS still require to boot it only in Test mode (64-bit )?

Unsingned drivers are only integrated if cmdline option -NT6 -ForceUnsigned -TESTSIGNING is used.
A driver that have not a trusted signed cretificated, win7x64 will always need to run in testmode

zamarac, on 10 December 2011 - 01:48 PM, said:

- what BCD commands do you use to enable install to a VHD (suppress error)?

it use bcdboot X:\Windows /s C: /l en-uS
there is actually no suppression of error, it would show error message.

zamarac, on 11 December 2011 - 08:29 AM, said:

Could you explain, what benefits gives using ALIGN and NOERR options? Also, how ALIGN and UNIT commands choose block size from the list - should a user type it manually when formatting a drive? If yes, which size would you recommend for which OS? If not, how the size is chosen - based on output of FILESYSTEMS command?

some people want to create VHD's in their forensic WinPE (no automount, readonly disk access).
The 4 NOERR lines are added that this works now.

ALIGN and UINT is usually not needed to set by user, Windows 7 default is okay in all cases.
Newer harddisk, will often have a recommanded Aligment size, if this case user should select it.

higher UINT values can result in slightly better perfomence

This post has been edited by JFX: 12 December 2011 - 03:57 PM

[JFX]

maanu, on 11 December 2011 - 12:01 AM, said:

now , i realised ,that a user MUST will format the target partition first , and i hope it is easy , as we already have BOOTICE there in your tool .

1- just show the user , drive chart
2. format the selected partition as NTFS , and Make it active .

Hi maanu,

bootice is not included anymore, because of bugs and missing x64 version.

an option to format i can properly add. but why not launch Partition Guru before or parallel to Winntsetup and use it to make partitions ready?

[maanu]

hi JFX ,

i have already included PG in my PE , but the problem is , i HAVE to call WInNTsetup before the PE loads , actually i make PE stop before loading WInpeshl.exe , and give choice menu by PECMD ,

F1 Install Win7 ( WinNTsetup )

F2 Continue booting Win7 PE

There is no way to call PG before F1 . thats why i requested to have this native function at hand. thanks.

[ghfujianbin]

Hi JFX,

You've made an amazing app. It's really nice.

I do have a question: how can I install windows srv 2008 r2 on a computer that already has XP installed and have two operating systems running together?

I tried couple times, but it won't work. Here is what I do:

I chooe partition D as the installation destination for win srv 2008 r2 when XP is on partition C. I do notice that the PBR checkbox is not green when I hit the setup and choose bootsect option (also've tried bootice) to update the boot code, and of course the option to detect OS already installed on this PC. After a reboot, my computer won't go to sysprep phase. It displays the boot selection to XP and win srv 2008 r2, but when I choose 2008 r2, an error happens, saying I have to repair boot xxxxx (I can not really remember) using a windows CD/DVD.

Can you pls tell where I did wrong and how can I do it correctly? Thanks.

This post has been edited by ghfujianbin: 13 December 2011 - 08:35 PM

[JFX]

@maanu
why not let PECmd call a batch file that start both?

I found a way to bring up the native format dialog of windows inside default winpe, so next version will have a (F)ormat button.


@ghfujianbin
that strange, i installed Windows7 several times that way next to Windows XP and never had a problem.
If there is an entry in boot menu means, that the update of boot sector did work all right.
What exactly is the error message?

[maanu]

JFX, on 15 December 2011 - 12:43 PM, said:

@maanu
why not let PECmd call a batch file that start both?

I found a way to bring up the native format dialog of windows inside default winpe, so next version will have a (F)ormat button.

hi JFX

i tried that already ,but after closing PG , the setup does not automatically show Setup screen to select, i 'd wait for the new version. and will you be nice to mention what files are needed in PE for this Format function , in case you know already...

[ghfujianbin]

JFX, on 15 December 2011 - 12:43 PM, said:

@ghfujianbin
that strange, i installed Windows7 several times that way next to Windows XP and never had a problem.
If there is an entry in boot menu means, that the update of boot sector did work all right.
What exactly is the error message?

Hi JFX, I'll try again and see what's exactly the error message.

So it doesn't matter if the PBR checkbox is red when I install win srv 2008 r2 next to windows xp? It'll still work, as you've already tried that?

Edit: It says status: 0xc0000225

Any thoughts?

This post has been edited by ghfujianbin: 16 December 2011 - 11:05 AM

[maanu]

JFX ,

i have another idea, and i guess , you will just have to pull few strings , and every thing will be ready .

1- remove limitation , that only windows 7 ultimate or enterprise can be installed to VHD.

2-when any other win7 version is selected ( say win7 Pro) , the latest version of WinVblock will automatically be installed to the VHD using DISM.

see following reference thread

http://reboot.pro/15997/

[jaclaz]

maanu, on 17 December 2011 - 02:12 PM, said:

1- remove limitation , that only windows 7 ultimate or enterprise can be installed to VHD.

@All
Be VERY AWARE of Rule #1.a of this board:
http://www.msfn.org/...tion=boardrules

Quote

1.a This is not a warez site! Links/Requests to warez and/or illegal material (e.g., cracks, serials, etc.) will not be tolerated. Discussion of circumventing WGA/activation/timebombs/license restrictions, use of keygens, or any other illegal activity, including, but not limited to, requests for help where pirated software is being used or being discussed, will also not be tolerated. Offenders may be banned on first violation.

jaclaz

[JFX]

@maanu
I truly respect the work on alternative file backed disk drivers like winvblock, firadisk or vboot.
But at current development state their are just far cry from Microsoft's own drivers.
They never will be supported if this not change.
Anyway it's up to the end user to decide. You currently can launch winntsetup with option -DisableVHDChecks
which let you install any system on a mounted VHD. Next version will ask on click of the VHD icon.



@ghfujianbin
Yes i tried all of this, MBR/PBR icon are not important if one choose option to update boot sector (default set).
Only active primary icon is highly recommended to be green.

0xc0000225 - means inaccessible device

so far it seems that the destination of the boot entry for your new Win2008 install point to an invalid location.
maybe it helps if you boot your winxp and try fixing the BCD store with tools like bcdedit/easybcd.
most interesting would be the output of:

bcdedit -store C:\Boot\BCD -enum all

where C: is the drive you selected as boot drive in winntsetup.

@jaclaz
don't think he meant anything to circumvent the VHDBoot license restrictions.

The first time one noticed that a system isn't licensed for nativeVHDBoot is on the first login.
To avoid that "useless" install i added a check right before installing into a VHD mounted drive.

[jaclaz]

JFX, on 19 December 2011 - 04:49 AM, said:

@jaclaz
don't think he meant anything to circumvent the VHDBoot license restrictions.

The first time one noticed that a system isn't licensed for nativeVHDBoot is on the first login.
To avoid that "useless" install i added a check right before installing into a VHD mounted drive.

Yep , and this provision makes a lot of sense.

Since it was not clear what exactly maanu was meaning, I posted a general kind of warning.

The idea of by-passing the license limitation is "in the air" since a few days, so IF that was the idea, THEN it won't be acceptable/accepted on MSFN, there is an Italian (actually tuscan) proverb:
[italian]

Quote

Meglio aver paura che toccarne

[/italian]
to the effect of:

Quote

it's better to be afraid than to be beaten

jaclaz

[maanu]

@ JFX

ok , thank you , i got what you are saying , and basically i did not know about that VHD switch . thanks.

@ Jaclaz

it was clearly not my intention . it was just that i could not express more clearly . matter solved since i know that winntsetup can install other 7 versions on VHD . i ll take care of the rest manually. (i.e installing Winvblock using DISM or whatever)

happy weekends to both of you.

[JFX]

Update: Version 2.1.1.0

- ISO File support*
- fixed instant VHD creation no longer requires fsutil.exe
- add "F" button that bring up the windows format dialog
- accept "Preview" edition type for native VHD Boot
- added bootice button, if bootice.exe is in same folder
- updated tool MSSTMake

* check up the WinNTSetup2_iso.cmd batch and define how to mount the ISO

[maanu]

Hi JFX ,

thank you for the new version , and accepting my request of adding Format Button.

[ghfujianbin]

Hi JFX,

Thank you very much for the new version.

[click-click]

Hi JFX,

I noticed for Win7 etc. WinNTSetup only allows for install.wim. I have several integrated .wim images under different names, but cannot select them without renaming the images. Did you have a specific reason for doing this?

Thanks...

This post has been edited by click-click: 19 January 2012 - 06:56 AM

[JFX]

Hi click-click,

WIM file name should not matter, seems that i have set up the filter for "Choose the install.wim file" dialog wrong.
Will be fixed in next release.

For now just type "*.wim" and hit Enter, it should display all wim files now.

[JFX]

Update: Version 2.1.2.0

- fixed WIM file selection only shows "install.wim" Thanks click-click
- fixed UniqueID issue with instant VHD creation since version 2.1.0.0
- changed "LANG" folder from 2000/XP/2003 source now always copied
- removed option for "XP Partition Mode"
- added option "No Reboot on BSoD"
- fixed GPT Partitions could not be selected
- fixed MountedDevices entrys for MBR/GPT devices
- display Alignment for select partitions