[cdob]

Install XP from a ISO file.
Use a original ISO file. Or use a custom version, e.g. integrate mass storage drivers.

No RAM disk used.
Usefull at low RAM machines and slow USB BIOS speed.

Quote

WinVBlock is a free and open source Windows driver for using virtual disks.

http://reboot.pro/8168/

New winvblock 2011-01-23 version maps a ISO file from a USB drive. Thanks Sha0.
Windows setup recognice ISO file as a CD: Installation is possible.
This is experimental so far: use a current development version
http://github.com/Sh...commits/master/

Create a floppy image winvblock.ima

Quote

\txtsetup.oem
\WinVBlk.INF
\WVBlk32.sys

Create a bootable USB drive. Grub4dos menu.lst

title 1 Start Windows XP setup
map /winvblock.ima (fd0)
map /winvblock.ima (fd1)
map /Inst/XP_RAM.ISO (0xff)
checkrange 0x80 read 0x8280 && map (hd0) (hd1)
checkrange 0x80 read 0x8280 && map (hd1) (hd0)
map --hook
chainloader (0xff)

title 2 Continue Windows XP setup
map /winvblock.IMA (fd0)
map /winvblock.ima (fd1)
map /Inst/XP_RAM.ISO (0xff)
checkrange 0x80 read 0x8280 && map (hd0) (hd1)
checkrange 0x80 read 0x8280 && map (hd1) (hd0)
map --hook
chainloader (hd0)+1

Boot twice from USB drive.

Use continuous files.
Wincontig does defragment files: http://wincontig.mdtzone.it/


A default XP SP3 ntdetect.com did work at a old AMI BIOS, 256MB RAM.
Flat file PE1 booting results to a 0x7b at this BIOS.

Other machines has to be tested. Happy testing.

This post has been edited by cdob: 04 February 2011 - 09:34 AM

[submix8c]

(heh heh! "sister" website! BTW, new website is better than old...)

UmGuanaTryThis (l8tr)

(note - not a wasted post - "hooks" me as a reminder)

[Doodoo]

cdob, on 03 February 2011 - 11:38 PM, said:

Install XP from a ISO file.
Use a original ISO file. Or use a custom version, e.g. integrate mass storage drivers.
New winvblock 2011-01-23 version maps a ISO file from a USB drive. Thanks Sha0.

Fantastic !! For me install from an ISO on USB is the most convenient stuff you can imagine !!
For even more conveniency, I find it's even better to get the Driver packs outside the ISO so that they can be updated very easily, as explained in this post
Therefore it doesn't get too messy on your USB stick: one plain ISO, plus one folder with the driverpacks, that's it ! Happy install :-)

[wimb]

Hi cdob,

I tried your NEW way of Install of XP.

In GUI-mode of XP Setup there was an unexpected STOP at T-13

The message is Access denied for Windows\system32\grpconv.exe

Setup can continue and at T-9 the video driver is installed by DriverForge

On booting Windows XP then it freezes just before Desktop ....

Do you have any idea how to fix it ?

This post has been edited by wimb: 11 February 2011 - 10:49 AM

[cdob]

A idea: does PNP disconnect winvblock CD drive?
Open a command prompt, does exist CD drive still?

Try a vanilla XP too.

[wimb]

At T-13 STOP then I have used Shift + F10 to open command prompt.

Then used ListDOSdevices.exe and see only real build-in CD-ROM drives (plus all other normal drives)

I think at T-13 install of Windows Media Player version 11 should occur (but pop-up of small progress window does NOT appear)

After Continue with GUI Setup and Reboot - Then freezes just before Desktop ....

This post has been edited by wimb: 12 February 2011 - 02:42 AM

[cdob]

I'm deeply impressed, you've good connections: a vanilla XP with Media Player 11

Try edit txtsetup.oem and comment WinVBlk.INF line.

[tonyzg]

Hello guys, my first post here so be gentle

I tried this metod on HP d51c desktop PC and stuck with a problem.
I made winvblock.ima with 3 files and save it to the root of USB (16 GB Kingston).
I made XP_RAM.ISO from my Windows XP with SP2 installation CD. Both image
files were made with Magiciso. XP_RAM.ISO is also in root of USB.

Then I made submenu winset.lst like this:

Quote

default 0
timeout 30
color NORMAL HIGHLIGHT HELPTEXT HEADING
splashimage=/grub_face.xpm.gz
foreground=FFFFFF
background=000000

title Back to Main Menu
configfile /menu.lst

title 1 Start Windows XP setup
map /winvblock.ima (fd0)
map /winvblock.ima (fd1)
map /XP_RAM.ISO (0xff)
checkrange 0x80 read 0x8280 && map (hd0) (hd1)
checkrange 0x80 read 0x8280 && map (hd1) (hd0)
map --hook
chainloader (0xff)

title 2 Continue Windows XP setup
map /winvblock.IMA (fd0)
map /winvblock.ima (fd1)
map /XP_RAM.ISO (0xff)
checkrange 0x80 read 0x8280 && map (hd0) (hd1)
checkrange 0x80 read 0x8280 && map (hd1) (hd0)
map --hook
chainloader (hd0)+1

I'm geting to this submenu through menu.lst:

Quote

title Windows XP SP2 - LOW RAM SYSTEMS
configfile /winset.lst

The setup start and I get massage to click a key to start setup from CD.
The files start to copy and than at one point (I think when it sais "Starting Windows"
at the bottom) I get blue screen with this:

Quote

A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to yout computer.
IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
.......................
.......................
Tehnical information:

*** STOP: 0x0000000A (0xE1187000, 0x00000002, 0x00000001, 0x808CDB80)

Can someone please help me?

This post has been edited by tonyzg: 15 February 2011 - 01:33 AM

[jaclaz]

tonyzg, on 15 February 2011 - 01:17 AM, said:

Can someone please help me?

YES/NO.
http://homepages.tes...no-answers.html

See if anything in here applies:
http://support.micro...kb/314063/en-us
Confirm that hardware is OK.

jaclaz

[tonyzg]

I don't mind receiving YES/NO answers as long as there are few YES
This one doesn't help thou.
The hardware is OK because there are already Windows XP SP2 on same PC,
installed from the same CD I made iso.
I'll try to put WinXP SP3 iso file on USB and test same config with it.

My guess is that there is problem with mapping

Quote

checkrange 0x80 read 0x8280 && map (hd0) (hd1)
checkrange 0x80 read 0x8280 && map (hd1) (hd0)

or maybe with my winvblock.ima

This post has been edited by tonyzg: 15 February 2011 - 05:42 AM

[jaclaz]

No, the mapping should be allright, but you can just do:

Quote

map (hd0) (hd1)
map (hd1) (hd0)
map --hook

It is very possible that the version of WinVblock makes a difference, but the 0x0000000A error is a lot like a problem with HAL detection, the fact that hardware is good is a good thing, but there are several other possible causes on the mentioned KB, Methods 1 and 2 cost nothing to try.

jaclaz

[tonyzg]

Yes the problem is not in mapping. I tried in the way you sugested and I got same error.
I tried Windows XP SP3 iso (made from my original XP SP2 CD with nLite) and "no go" there to.
I'd be thankfull if someone could post their working winvblock.ima so that I can verify is the problem in my floppy image.

Thanks

This post has been edited by tonyzg: 16 February 2011 - 12:14 AM

[ilko_t]

Try the attached, grub4dos supports gzip compression so may not need to extract it, just amend winset.lst accordingly.

Just tested it with XP SP3 on an old laptop up to the partitioning screen, winvblock files are from today or yesterday.

Attached File(s)

•  winvblk.ima.gz (147.29K)
  Number of downloads: 564

[wimb]

I found that WinVBlock virtual floppy and virtual CD drive only survive in GUI mode when they are defined in RAM or on local harddisk.
It means that WinVBlock virtual CD on USB-drive is present in GUI mode at beginning of install of devices, but is lost after install of devices is finished.
Result is that second part of GUI mode has no access to virtual CD with XP Setup ISO and then XP Setup will FAIL with earlier described STOP at T-13

I tried also to use clean XP-SP3 source, but that makes no difference.

These are some interesting list of devices made during GUI mode of XP Setup, before and after install of devices.

WinVBlock virtual CD defined in RAM survives install of devices in GUI mode

C:\WINDOWS>D:

D:\>dev

Drv Type       DosDeviceName

A:  REMOVABLE  \Device\Floppy0
B:  REMOVABLE  \Device\Floppy1
C:  FIXED      \Device\HarddiskVolume9
D:  FIXED      \Device\HarddiskVolume6
E:  FIXED      \Device\HarddiskVolume1
F:  FIXED      \Device\HarddiskVolume7
G:  FIXED      \Device\HarddiskVolume8
H:  FIXED      \Device\HarddiskVolume3
I:  FIXED      \Device\HarddiskVolume4
J:  REMOVABLE  \Device\Harddisk3\DP(1)0-0+10
K:  REMOVABLE  \Device\Harddisk4\DP(1)0-0+11
L:  REMOVABLE  \Device\Harddisk5\DP(1)0-0+12
M:  REMOVABLE  \Device\Harddisk6\DP(1)0-0+13
N:  FIXED      \Device\HarddiskVolume5
O:  FIXED      \Device\HarddiskVolume2
P:  REMOVABLE  \Device\Floppy2
Q:  CDROM      \Device\CdRom0
R:  CDROM      \Device\CdRom1
S:  CDROM      \Device\CdRom2
T:  ----
U:  ----
V:  ----
W:  ----
X:  ----
Y:  ----
Z:  ----
Press any key to close
D:\>dev

Drv Type       DosDeviceName

A:  REMOVABLE  \Device\Floppy3
B:  REMOVABLE  \Device\Floppy1
C:  FIXED      \Device\HarddiskVolume9
D:  FIXED      \Device\HarddiskVolume6
E:  FIXED      \Device\HarddiskVolume1
F:  FIXED      \Device\HarddiskVolume7
G:  FIXED      \Device\HarddiskVolume8
H:  FIXED      \Device\HarddiskVolume3
I:  FIXED      \Device\HarddiskVolume4
J:  REMOVABLE  \Device\Harddisk3\DP(1)0-0+33
K:  REMOVABLE  \Device\Harddisk4\DP(1)0-0+2f
L:  REMOVABLE  \Device\Harddisk5\DP(1)0-0+2d
M:  REMOVABLE  \Device\Harddisk6\DP(1)0-0+31
N:  FIXED      \Device\HarddiskVolume5
O:  FIXED      \Device\HarddiskVolume2
P:  REMOVABLE  \Device\Floppy2
Q:  CDROM      \Device\CdRom0
R:  CDROM      \Device\CdRom5
S:  CDROM      \Device\CdRom3
T:  ----
U:  ----
V:  ----
W:  ----
X:  ----
Y:  ----
Z:  ----
Press any key to close
D:\>

WinVBlock virtual CD on USB-stick does NOT survive install of devices in GUI mode

Microsoft Windows XP [versie 5.1.2600]
(C) Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.

C:\WINDOWS\inf>G:

G:\>dev

Drv Type       DosDeviceName

A:  REMOVABLE  \Device\Floppy0
B:  REMOVABLE  \Device\Floppy1
C:  FIXED      \Device\HarddiskVolume2
D:  FIXED      \Device\HarddiskVolume6
E:  FIXED      \Device\HarddiskVolume3
F:  FIXED      \Device\HarddiskVolume4
G:  REMOVABLE  \Device\Harddisk2\DP(1)0-0+f
H:  FIXED      \Device\HarddiskVolume7
I:  FIXED      \Device\HarddiskVolume8
J:  REMOVABLE  \Device\Harddisk3\DP(1)0-0+10
K:  REMOVABLE  \Device\Harddisk4\DP(1)0-0+11
L:  REMOVABLE  \Device\Harddisk5\DP(1)0-0+12
M:  REMOVABLE  \Device\Harddisk6\DP(1)0-0+13
N:  FIXED      \Device\HarddiskVolume1
O:  FIXED      \Device\HarddiskVolume5
P:  CDROM      \Device\CdRom0
Q:  CDROM      \Device\CdRom1
R:  CDROM      \Device\CdRom2
S:  ----
T:  ----
U:  ----
V:  ----
W:  ----
X:  ----
Y:  ----
Z:  ----
Press any key to close
G:\>dev

Drv Type       DosDeviceName

A:  ----
B:  ----
C:  FIXED      \Device\HarddiskVolume2
D:  FIXED      \Device\HarddiskVolume14
E:  FIXED      \Device\HarddiskVolume3
F:  FIXED      \Device\HarddiskVolume4
G:  REMOVABLE  \Device\Harddisk2\DP(1)0-0+f
H:  FIXED      \Device\HarddiskVolume15
I:  FIXED      \Device\HarddiskVolume16
J:  REMOVABLE  \Device\Harddisk3\DP(1)0-0+2b
K:  REMOVABLE  \Device\Harddisk4\DP(1)0-0+2d
L:  REMOVABLE  \Device\Harddisk5\DP(1)0-0+27
M:  REMOVABLE  \Device\Harddisk6\DP(1)0-0+29
N:  FIXED      \Device\HarddiskVolume1
O:  FIXED      \Device\HarddiskVolume13
P:  CDROM      \Device\CdRom0
Q:  CDROM      \Device\CdRom4
R:  ----
S:  ----
T:  ----
U:  ----
V:  ----
W:  ----
X:  ----
Y:  ----
Z:  ----
Press any key to close

WinVBlock virtual CD defined on HDD will survive - XP Setup OK

This post has been edited by wimb: 16 February 2011 - 03:45 AM

[wimb]

The WinVBlock virtual floppy drive must be defined in RAM by using --mem option.
In that case the WinVBLock virtual CD drive with XP Setup ISO can be located on USB

This works OK for me for Install of XP from USB using XP Setup ISO file on USB

title 1 Start Windows XP setup - XP3_11_1.iso
map --mem /winvblock.ima (fd0)
map --mem /winvblock.ima (fd1)
map /XP3_11_1.iso (0xff)
checkrange 0x80 read 0x8280 && map (hd0) (hd1)
checkrange 0x80 read 0x8280 && map (hd1) (hd0)
map --hook
chainloader (0xff)
 
title 2 Continue Windows XP setup
map --mem /winvblock.ima (fd0)
map --mem /winvblock.ima (fd1)
map /XP3_11_1.iso (0xff)
checkrange 0x80 read 0x8280 && map (hd0) (hd1)
checkrange 0x80 read 0x8280 && map (hd1) (hd0)
map --hook
chainloader (hd0)+1

Attached File(s)

•  D_CD_USB.png (103.81K)
  Number of downloads: 151

This post has been edited by wimb: 16 February 2011 - 06:29 AM

[tonyzg]

@ ilko_t

Thanks for the image. I'll test it today or tomorrow.

@ wimp

Thanks for your testing and advice. I'll test your method too and post about results.

EDIT: OK, here is test result. I installed GRUB4DOS on new stick manually and used ilko_t's winvblock image
and settings wimp proposed and I passed over the "starting Windows" massage in the botoom. SO no blue screen now
But the problem is that this USB won't boot on few test PC's here where I work (HP 8000 CMT and older workstation HP COMPAQ W6000)
My old USB stick from which I first tested this method of installing Windows from USB did boot in HP 8000 CMT (didn't try it in W6000)
That old bootable USB was made with "MultiBootISOs-2.1.5.1.exe" and that app puts syslinux on USB (I think) so maybe that kind
of bootable USB is producing blue screen error. Maybe someone will know why is that so.
Now, my question is how can I make bootable USB stick that can run this method of installing Windows and that can boot on many
different PC configurations preferably on those that don't have BIOS option to boot from USB (like that workstaion W6000).

Maybe if some of you who have bootable USB stick that works on almost every PC and work with this method of installing Windows
can point me in right direction of making that kind of stick.

Thanks in advance

This post has been edited by tonyzg: 17 February 2011 - 04:14 AM

[wimb]

You can use Make_USB.exe of U_XP_SET package.
In that case use Format Stick button and NTFS format

http://www.911cd.net...showtopic=21883

This post has been edited by wimb: 17 February 2011 - 04:44 AM

[jaclaz]

tonyzg, on 17 February 2011 - 12:03 AM, said:

Now, my question is how can I make bootable USB stick that can run this method of installing Windows and that can boot on many
different PC configurations preferably on those that don't have BIOS option to boot from USB (like that workstaion W6000).

Maybe if some of you who have bootable USB stick that works on almost every PC and work with this method of installing Windows
can point me in right direction of making that kind of stick.

The usual recommendations (by me) are:

Quote

The 1st recommended solution is to flip the "Removable" bit and have a "Fixed" device.
The 2nd recommended solution is to use RMPREPUSB to partition/format it.
The 3rd recommended solution is to use FBINST to partition/format it.

More details here:
http://reboot.pro/13675/page__st__126

The above equates to:
Try using RMPREPUSB first thing:
http://reboot.pro/7739/
http://sites.google....site/rmprepusb/

More tools:
http://reboot.pro/9460/

jaclaz

[tonyzg]

@ wimp & @ jaclaz

Thanks guys, I'll try those solutions, hope at least one of them will give the result I need.
I've been playing with bootable USB for last few weeks but so far none of the methods
I tried were good enough for me. Good thing is that every time I'm step closer to my goal

[davlak]

I've tested it and works, setup goes on in text mode but after reboot I needed to build the MBR before step 2.
But I seriously suppose there must be a bug into the bios of my old test machine (mobo foxconn cpu intel p4).
as usual no way to repair the unknown device (winvblock) in device manager into XP.