[Siginet]

Well... it is finally here! Windows XP PowerPacker v1.0 RC5

This is the biggest update ever!

PowerPacker will help a user create a Multiboot Windows XP disk with or without DriverPacks. It will do almost everything for you, even hex edit the files needed to be hexed, create the boot directory, boot menu, etc. It makes creating multiboot XP disks a breeze.


This program was made with the BTS DriverPacks in mind. Basically it does just about everything you need to do to add a windows XP load to your MultiBoot Disk.

It will gather the needed files from your source XP CD and put them into a directory you specify. It will grab the DriverPack Files and install them. It will create a boot directory for your load and even hex edit the files that need to be HEXED to allow you to boot to it. It will put the needed info into the boot list so you can select your XP load. It makes testing the DriverPacks very easy!!!

==================================================

History:
==================================================

v1.0 RC5 - 08-17-05
I have extensively re-written most of the code to make it function much better.

1. RC4 had hesitation issues when browsing and selecting things. That is fixed in RC5.
2. I have added a checkbox which allows the user to exclude WIN9XUPG folders from being copied to the destination (To help save a lot of space of your final product if you do not plan on using the winnt32.exe upgrade option... which nobody should use anyways).
3. Also another check box for the user to exclude the LANG folder from being copied to the destination (Which also saves a lot of room and is not needed if you are only going to be using a localized version of WinXP).
4. Also as promised... I made major use of the new powpack.ini file! You now can call PowerPacker_v1.0RC5.exe from a script file using certain parameters and you can actually create your whole entire multiboot disk 100% unattended!!! Completley from the first pack to the last pack... and even have it compile your iso into the destination and name you specify! No more sitting at the computer for hours waiting for every pack to finish so you can start the next pack. Once you have created your script file... and your set of ini files all you will need to do is run your script and leave. Come back later and everything is done! I think I deserve a round of applause for that! You all will never know what I had to do to get this program capable of doing that. (Check the updated help file for more information.)
5. Updated the help file with instructions on how to use the unattended parameters.
6. Added a "Tri-Pack" Checkbox... which will allow a user to quickly create three packs from one source. (Unattended with Driverpacks, Unattended without DriverPacks, and a regular attended pack.)
7. Added a Checkbox called "Custom Pack Name" which will allow a user to choose a four character name to be used as the destination directories and boot files. (**NOTE** when you use this option you have to manually edit the BOOT\cdshell.ini file to add your custom pack to the boot menu.)
8. Many other changes were made... but there are too many to list and remember.

Please post bugs and requests in this thread... and be nice... this is my first Public App!

ScreenShots:
powerpacker-gui.jpg (Screenshot Updated August 17th 2005)

Download/Rate Windows XP PowerPacker HERE ONLINE @ BetaNews.com

Or download it from these mirrors:

HERE ONLINE Thanks to my server for this mirror.

Mirror 2 ONLINE Thanks to Telenut for this mirror!

Mirror 3 ONLINE Thanks to Moesasji for this mirror!

Mirror 4 ONLINE Thanks to UnO for this mirror!

P.S. Please check out Windows XP PowerPacker's spot at BetaNews.com
Give it a rating and place a comment if you get a chance. Thanks everybody!


Looks like Windows XP PowerPacker is becoming very popular! Check out google to see what I am talking about.
Search: Windows XP PowerPacker on GOOGLE.com

I even found a site that claims to have a keygenerator and Crack for WinXP PowerPacker!
(Duh... it's freeware and doesn't need a keygen or crack.) Please Don't get the crack it must be a virus!!!

This post has been edited by Siginet: 23 August 2005 - 12:21 PM

[dale5605]

Hey, you have your very own forum!!

Congratulations.

Thanks for all the good work you do, like the powerpacker and the ryanvm integrator, I really appreciate it.

[moesasji]

Siginet,

Congrats on the new forum and even more on the new PowerPackerXP release. I'm going to try it real soon and post my feedback on this forum.
Keep up the good work, but (as I noticed you spend a lot of time for coding PowerPackerXP and the RyanVM Integrator) also do not forget to get some sleep

[moesasji]

Sorry to have to report a possible bug so soon, but I wanted to try out the new TriPack-option.
So I chose the input and output director, chose XP Professional Corporate edition etc... Did not fill out whether I wanted to make an unatteneded or DP-pacakage, since I figured PowerPacker would fill this in....
When I chose to make the pack(s), I got the following errormessage:
"Invalid DriverPack Files!: Please check your driverpack settings. Make sure the directory you select contains the RUN_ME.cmd file, usually found inside the UWXP_ROOT dir"

I however filled out the path to my UWXP_CD dir correctly and checked for the presence of RUN_ME.cmd.... is is there....
Any ideas ?
I'll test it in a few other ways now...

---EDIT---
Tried the same (tri-pack checked), but also with the DP-button selected now; PowerPacker does not report the above mentioned error any more and has just started to automatically build the packs...

This post has been edited by moesasji: 18 August 2005 - 02:07 PM

[Siginet]

moesasji, on Aug 18 2005, 02:02 PM, said:

Sorry to have to report a possible bug so soon, but I wanted to try out the new TriPack-option.
So I chose the input and output director, chose XP Professional Corporate edition etc... Did not fill out whether I wanted to make an unatteneded or DP-pacakage, since I figured PowerPacker would fill this in....
When I chose to make the pack(s), I got the following errormessage:
"Invalid DriverPack Files!: Please check your driverpack settings. Make sure the directory you select contains the RUN_ME.cmd file, usually found inside the UWXP_ROOT dir"

I however filled out the path to my UWXP_CD dir correctly and checked for the presence of RUN_ME.cmd.... is is there....
Any ideas ?
I'll test it in a few other ways now...

---EDIT---
Tried the same (tri-pack checked), but also with the DP-button selected now; PowerPacker does not report the above mentioned error any more and has just started to automatically build the packs...
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It could also be a possibility it was reading an old Powpack.ini file from RC4. I made a few changes to the ini file... so that may be the problem. I will test out the error you posted and see if anything is incorrect. I wouldn't doubt if some bugs are reported because the code was so drastically changed.

BTW... to create a tri-pack you must have all setting inputed. You must have the unattended settings and the driverpack settings. Because a tri-pack needs all of this information to create the tri-pack. You will also notice that creating a Tripack is much faster than if you manually created the three packs. I will post a tutorial on how to make the DPs RUN_ME.cmd file unattended. Because that is important if you want everything unattended.

This post has been edited by Siginet: 18 August 2005 - 03:20 PM

[moesasji]

Just installed the tri-pack in VMWARE for the first time, and everything went great. The tripack-option works like a charm and it is indeed much faster to build than the previous way. Great option therefore !!

I ran into a problem however when I also integrated my release without masstorage drivers. I was able to name it differently (XHPT) with the new rename option in PowerPacker, and it integrated in the total package just fine.
When I tried to install it in VMWare though, on this install Windows reported hpt3xx.sys missing and aborted the setup.
This has probably nothing to do with PowerPacker and I'll look into the way I integrated the Highpoint drivers in the image with Nlite first.

Seems you again have made a great application even better; I'm very curious what more you can do

[Siginet]

Keep me posted.

[Hawkwing]

Maybe a stupid question after a whiskey or tw.... three... but, does it support and work with other languages? For example swedish?

[Siginet]

It should. But I have not had the ability to test it myself. Let me know if it works fine for you. I also plan on making a Language file so the program can be translated into different languages.

[VCC]

Just a little good news FYI: I was having trouble with my packs from RC4 where the PC would reboot in the GUI part of setup just as it seemed to be finishing T-30 "Installing Devices". This was happening on 2 out of 3 computers, all computers were different (all Intel motherboards; an Easton P-III, 950Mhz; a D850EMV; and the one that worked was a newer D925XECV2) I couldn't even get success out of a regular XP SP2 CD with the D850EMV, and I could with the Easton.

Now to the actual good news: I build a tri-pack using RC5 with the same software I had previously used with RC4 and it worked so far on the Intel D850EMV. I didn't have enough time to try it on the other machines.

Thanks again Siginet for all your hard work and late hours coding this, another awesome creation! Keep up the excellent work. Oh, and congrats on the forum.

This post has been edited by VCC: 20 August 2005 - 01:08 AM

[Telenut]

Just tested RC5

have a question: The winnt.sif files are edited by powerpacker itself I guess?
They are not all the same (lot of things missing in them)

They should be all the same except the serial key and the guirunonce section.

This post has been edited by Telenut: 20 August 2005 - 09:59 AM

[Siginet]

Telenut, on Aug 20 2005, 06:16 AM, said:

Just tested RC5

have a question: The winnt.sif files are edited by powerpacker itself I guess?
They are not all the same (lot of things missing in them)

They should be all the same except the serial key and the guirunonce section.
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Winnt.sif is not edited by powerpacker (yet). I plan on creating a plugin for that. The DriverPacks do edit the winnt.sif file though.

[Siginet]

VCC, on Aug 20 2005, 01:07 AM, said:

  Just a little good news FYI: I was having trouble with my packs from RC4 where the PC would reboot in the GUI part of setup just as it seemed to be finishing T-30 "Installing Devices". This was happening on 2 out of 3 computers, all computers were different (all Intel motherboards; an Easton P-III, 950Mhz; a D850EMV; and the one that worked was a newer D925XECV2) I couldn't even get success out of a regular XP SP2 CD with the D850EMV, and I could with the Easton.

Now to the actual good news: I build a tri-pack using RC5 with the same software I had previously used with RC4 and it worked so far on the Intel D850EMV. I didn't have enough time to try it on the other machines.

Thanks again Siginet for all your hard work and late hours coding this, another awesome creation! Keep up the excellent work. Oh, and congrats on the forum. 
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That's great to here. I'm not sure if PowerPacker is the reason it worked or not if you tried a regular disk and had the same results. But I am glad you enjoy the Tri-Pack option. It is a very good option that I have implemented.

[Telenut]

found my error: there was a winnt.sif file in my source files... This one was not overwritten by the one I selected with powerpacker.

Now I have an other problem (I guess not with powerpacker but with the driverpacks)

In step1 I get this error:
_ back-up of DRVINDEX.INF made..
Error: Could not write to file

The 'Error: Could not write to file' comes up more then once.
No idea how to solve this at the moment

[Siginet]

Telenut, on Aug 20 2005, 01:11 PM, said:

found my error: there was a winnt.sif file in my source files... This one was not overwritten by the one I selected with powerpacker.

Now I have an other problem (I guess not with powerpacker but with the driverpacks)

In step1 I get this error:
_ back-up of DRVINDEX.INF made..
Error: Could not write to file

The 'Error: Could not write to file' comes up more then once.
No idea how to solve this at the moment
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Not sure what the Drvindex error is caused by.

As for the winnt.sif file. I think I'll add the option to overwrite it. Thanks for reporting that.

[VCC]

Concerning the DRVINDEX error (I'm just curious):
By any chance, have you checked the rights on the file to make sure it isn't set to read only or got changed somehow to read-only?
Also, what version of the DPs are you using?

How funny, I just noticed I'm labeled as a newbie. LOL ya, ya, I know I'm a newbie to the site. A newbie with 10 years under my belt. I have to laugh.

This post has been edited by VCC: 21 August 2005 - 02:33 AM

[Siginet]

VCC, on Aug 21 2005, 02:30 AM, said:

Concerning the DRVINDEX error (I'm just curious):
By any chance, have you checked the rights on the file to make sure it isn't set to read only or got changed somehow to read-only?
Also, what version of the DPs are you using?

How funny, I just noticed I'm labeled as a newbie. LOL ya, ya, I know I'm a newbie to the site. A newbie with 10 years under my belt. I have to laugh.
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

LOL Newbie.
The file shouldn't be read only. If it is then WinXP PowerPacker is not doing it's job. It is supposed to undo all readonly files.

@Telenut Do you get the same error if you manually run the Run_me.cmd file from within an i386 directory?

This post has been edited by Siginet: 21 August 2005 - 09:46 AM

[Ghostrider]

I don't think this question has been asked before so here goes... I am a system builder and as such have all the XP installs ie Home, Pro, OEM and Retail also Corp. So do i have to select the CD for each build or can i select just one install CD and tell Powerpacker it is the OEM, Home or Pro or Retail etc... but use the same original CD for all, i find that selecting the Retail cd's to create 1 multiboot cd with D/Packs and my OEM installs gives me a CD over 700mb but if i select OEM then i can make it less than 700mb

[VCC]

Minor problem; I'm noticing when I go to name the ISO, if I name it the same name as the Destination folder, it goes into the destination folder instead of saving the ISO file. I have to manually add ".ISO" for it to save to that name.

[Siginet]

Ghostrider, on Aug 22 2005, 09:51 AM, said:

I don't think this question has been asked before so here goes... I am a system builder and as such have all the XP installs ie Home, Pro, OEM and  Retail also Corp. So do i have to select the CD for each build or can i select just one install CD and tell Powerpacker it is the OEM, Home or Pro or Retail etc... but use the same original CD for all, i find that selecting the Retail cd's to create 1 multiboot cd with D/Packs and my OEM installs gives me a CD over 700mb but if i select OEM then i can make it less than 700mb
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well... If I understand your question correctly. What you are asking is... can I use an OEM CD as my source files for every different pack. The answer is yes... as long as you put the setupp.ini file in the ExtraPackFiles\I386 directory. That way the file will be overwritten on each pack with the specific setupp.ini
for each different OS. I have never tried this though... so let me know if it works. Also I am not sure the legalities of this. I would think if you own the disks there shouldn't be a problem.

VCC, on Aug 22 2005, 10:59 AM, said:

Minor problem; I'm noticing when I go to name the ISO, if I name it the same name as the Destination folder, it goes into the destination folder instead of saving the ISO file. I have to manually add ".ISO" for it to save to that name.
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That is pretty normal. I think most programs do the same. Because when you type in a folder name it has no way to know if you are meening the folder or the iso. It sees the folder exists so it goes into the folder.