Unattended install form USB HDD

[zpashaz]

Hello,

I'm trying to use my USB HDD as a media for my Unattended install instead of CD/DVD. I did manage to boot into Windows XP installation, but when it goes to the part of choosing partition to install onto, the partition on USB HDD which boots and contains installation is marked C: and partition on primary IDE HDD where i want to install Windows XP is marked D:. When install is complete Windows XP appears to be installed on D: even with USB HDD disconnected. I guess Windows XP setup marks USB HDD partition as C: because it boots into it. I would like to know if there is anyway to change that behavior, so my USB HDD partiotion would be marked as D: or E: and the partition i want to install Windows onto C:.

Thanx in advance

Note, that i boot directly into windows setup without using CD, Floppy or DOS setup mode

Edited December 29, 2005 by zpashaz

[cluberti]

You'll likely have to use WinPE (or BartPE) to boot into first, and use command line options on winnt32.exe to make sure that the IDE drive is C:\, rather than D:\.

[zpashaz]

Thanx for the input cluberti,

I actually thought about doing it through WinPE, but i think if I boot WinPE of the HDD the parthition where its on would be C: again and the one I want to install windows on would be D:.

And then again it would not be that much unattended, plus it would increase installation time since I would have to wait WinPE to get loaded as well.

What i was thinking, if there anyway to make USB HDD or partition containing installation files to emulate CD or something like that.

[varcoris]

You know, there are a ton of posts asking how to get an unattended Windows installation from a USB device. Sounds like that is what you have accomplished, care to share?

[TbbW]

i got kinda far with win98 on a usb memory.

i culd boot it up and all that with no problems but i had to do alot of workarounds.

1. the usb memory sticks can boot without problems in dos.

this bound that make's them accessable is like an link the bios provide.

the same second windows starts to poke around with pnp that link is broken and the usb device is

disconnected.

2. an usb device is realy slow tbh but yeh i still wanted to have it done so i did not give up.

after googeling for tools and other gear i culd need i found an site about win98 on a cdrom.

and it got me interested i there heard of a program that whas named COA2 ( Change Of Address ).

with this program i culd actualy install the windows 98 onto a harddisk then move it to the usb drive.

well it worked but the usb pen drive sometimes stalled and it made windows totaly to freaze.

i started to split windows up into seweral parts instead of everything on the same place.

so i needed something to put this other part on.

after i whent back to that windows 98 on a cd site he had some good tips.

dos long filename suport and pkwarez zip tools. ( ther not so hard to find on the net. )

and i also grabbed xmsdisk.

and then moving files back and foreward from the usb memorystick to the zip file on the usb memorystick.

while the majority of files whas on a ramdrive.

even doh the boot time with the extraction of the files from the usb memory stick to the ramdrive whas werry slow i managed to get it run quiet well.

but stuff i had to get rid off whas i.e:

the swap file.

i had to use 98lite to beef 98 down abit and use the swap of explorers and use the win95 to get some speed improvements. ( and i needed to save up on ram thanks to the ramdrive )

and focus on programs that did not need to be installed like greenbrowser, windows media player classic ( dont even try watching a video exept if it's on a harddisk or cdrom )

so after a while i kinda got alittle tierd of the minimum progress and long boot up and the setup whas not even something i culd put in my friends computer and use my portable win98 there.

then i came back to the issue with the spooky pnp and with 98lite a hardware switch culd just end up with a BSOD about drivers been corupted and IOSubsys wining.

so i looked for other options.

and i actualy found an option that wuld work for windows 98/2k/xp.

the answer whas CompactFlash.

yeh the compact flash you have in you'r cameras and mp3 players.

i stumbled ower an CompactFlash to IDE connector on a swedish Ebay type of site and it whas real cheap aswell problem whas the CompactFlash whas not so cheep but i desided to give it a go.

but first a googled abit and i can share the site's with you guys that cought my atention.

ok heres the first site i visited:Site1

and it realy interested me that it looked like they go straight to the ide connector.

Our Compact Flash IDE Adapter provides a cost effective interface to the Compact Flash card, and doesn't require the drivers and support software required for Compact Flash Readers.

ok it's desided so i bought one from this actuion site i mentioned earlyer.

the final price whas 10Euro ( but then the shipping whas payd by the seller )

and then i looked for a CompactFlash.

when i poked around on these sites about compact flash they all ( or most ) had pics of "Sandisk" so i whent chicken and whent for an sandisk type 1 at the size of 1Gb.

it costed me 70Euro so if you calculate with the CF2Ide it all costed 80Euros ( or 800Sek ... one Euro is like 8 to 10 Sek depending on where the world is going ).

anyway.

i got it all home safe and sound.

i culd not wait to try it out.

so it had Fat32 filesystem by default i tryed to plug it into the comp and i got these wierd characters in the bius and when all **** and S... well u get the picture.

i later discoverd that it whas alittle bit more i hadto push the card into the compact flash reader ( well the pinns looked to fragile ).

when i did that in the bios i got: SANDISK ( and some numbers after ) and it told me it whas around 1gb.

i booted it up with a windows 98 startupdisk.

and it worked fine.

then i copyd my windows98 files from the 98lite installation and ran sys and copyed the io.sys msdos.sys ower the one's sys put there for me ( i had system.1st and all that on a harddisk so it whas a mather of xcopy ).

okey now i had everything copyd and in place so i whent into bius and disabled my other harddisks to see how windows culd reacd.

the resuld whas more then i expected.

windows 98 booted in _4_ seconds from the bios beep.

and i had 600Mb ( well count the swapfile into that free space ). to space after installing firefox, divx suport and my candy i wanted in windows98.

after a while i did a real install of win98 and the boot time whas alittle bit less but it whas not as sensative as the beated 98lite installation i had.

and i benched the Sandisk flash memory and it whas about 4,3Mb/s in read and alittle less in write.

atm i'm not that rish to go buy a i.e 2Gb typ2 coz they coz just as much as a new harddrive but i did some experimentations with nlite i found here on this fourm.

with some patiance i got the installation down to exactly 1gb with a winxp pro sp2 but then it's basicly not much room to use for i.e other programs then basic plugins they have on the nlite's homepage.

but this will work to use as i.e an install disk ( the memory module itself culd fit seweral times in a pack of smokes. )

and it can also run an windows based os stable coz it's an ide drive and wont fail at pnp like the usb did so an usb device as an medium to carry an unattended installation build is what i can see not possible thanks to the pnp probing disconnecting it ( and sometimes hangs the comp. ).

but a small compact flash i.e 256mb or 512mb suld be perfect and there is no moving parts in it and u most often get a good plasic case to put it in ( it's alittle bit smaller then Gameboy games ... well just alittle ).

and there is no seek time due to the entire component is electonic memory.

maby my failures with the usb experimentations can help you guys.

and ah yeh i tryed to disable the pnp in the setup but err... maby someone else got more luck then me on that part.

you wuld probobly have a bigger chance to copy the files to the harddisk and run it from then then disabeling the pnp.

ah yeh... there is actualy some usb drivers that work on hirens boot cd i "herd" they work on most usb memorys this is good if you come to close with an older comp then a p4 ( most p3 comps cant boot of usb devices ).

exept for that then we got zip drives LS floppys or and cdrom

and ps.

some usb pen drives identifye themselfs as removeble devices. they go as A: or B:

while some usb pen drives goe's as a normal disk and they become C: as an example.

i have one usb memorystick that is kinda wierd.

it whas actualy a fake "sony" usb memory drive.

it whas supose to be 2Gb... but it whas 128mb with an partition as 2Gb everytime i hit ower 128Mb all those files got ????????.??? filenames after some googeling i found what i whas looking for... well frustration made me use the search keywords: sony usb scam

and it whas a company named ICreate.

they jave a formating tool named Iformat or Uformat ( depends on what chip u got ).

it identifyes as a harddisk if you format it to be one.

or if you format it as a Zip/removable disk it goe's as A:

and that helped med alot with playing around with what limits the usb memory sticks have.

anyway.

after all this mumbojumbo long life story tale is get the files on a local medium away from the usb drive b4 the pnp starts.

if no then you wuld hafto find a way of relocating it.

well hope it helps

i need a coffy

[p4ntb0y]

best bet is to boot from winpe into ramdrive use diskpart to assign letters first format and install.

Try MBRfix in the forum somwhere which is very good.

if you use winpe dont forget the syspart as this makes the drive bootable.

[TbbW]

yeh but usb is slow... compared to a CF memory.

okey usb get a speed boost while windows is running but before that it's realy slow lol

but maby my fingers start to itch and i'll do it anyway lol who knows.