[Beorn]

Hi

Is it possible to put an nLited windows install on an usb flash disk? It would be handy not having to burn a bunch of cd's (and because I don't have a cd-burner ).

-Beorn

[jaclaz]

Yes,
see this LOOOONG thread here:
http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?sho...c=14181&hl=

Find any of Dietmar's posts, in the signature are links to the various tutorials.

Check also in the same thread posts by martin and by sisal, and on the board, look for threads started by bshoangl1.

For howto's to make the USB stick bootable search for posts by me (jaclaz).

jaclaz

[Beorn]

Sorry, I wasn't clear enough.
What I meant was I want to install windows from the flash drive and onto my hard drive.

-Beorn

[jaclaz]

Answer is YES again.

Ten steps tutorial here:
http://www.911cd.net...showtopic=16713

(of course you need to keep the 16bit install files)

Another possible solution is the one only hinted here:
http://www.911cd.net...showtopic=17425

jaclaz

This post has been edited by jaclaz: 18 September 2006 - 01:07 PM

[Beorn]

Is there any way to start the normal installation automatically or by starting f.ex. setup.exe from the command line? It would be a bit easier. (I want it as straight-forward and easy as possible. ) Maybe using a ramdisk like with BartPE on USB?

This post has been edited by Beorn: 21 September 2006 - 10:05 AM

[jaclaz]

Beorn said:

Is there any way to start the normal installation automatically or by starting f.ex. setup.exe from the command line? It would be a bit easier.

The method desribed in 1st link in my above post can be ALMOST COMPLETELY automated via batch - autoexec.bat, of course you will have to re-boot and take the stick off manually.


If you read between the lines of 2nd link in my above post, that is the idea, already mentioned here:
http://www.msfn.org/...showtopic=61384
basically, you invoke directly SETUPLDR.BIN (which is the same thing that the no-emulation CD bootsector on original 2k/XP cd's) by either of two methods:
1) by using a "normal" NT/2K/XP bootsector and reanaming SETUPLDR.BIN to NTLDR
2) by using Grub4dos to directly load SETUPLDR.BIN

You might need experimenting whether the /I386 directory needs to be renamed to /minint or not (I suspect so) and if there are adjustments needed in TXTSETUP.SIF.


Problem with this method is that the booted-from Stick will be first Active partition of first drive, i.e. C:\.

So you will need to find a way to fix drive letters in the installed image or experiment if using Grub4dos mapping capabilities the above can be avoided.

If you have ENOUGH RAM, i.e. size of the install .iso+amount needed to run install, in practical terms 1 Gb or more, you can try two different methods:
1) Using SETUPLDR.BIN and RAMDISK.SY_ from Server 2003 SP1 or greater
2) Using the mapping features of Grub4dos, directly or through memdisk as hinted in this post:
http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?sho...mp;#entry121758

Finally, another possible way is to start a minimal BartPE, or a similar build like batcher/Openbuilder, now Winbuilder, nanoXP or microPE:
http://www.boot-land.net/
http://www.boot-land...uilder-f22.html
and from it run Winnt32.exe, i.e. the 32bit install executable.
Also the above can be automated via batch, but it will take more time to boot to start the install.


jaclaz

[At0mic]

1. Copy the nlited folder to your flash disk
2. Boot to a DOS floppy disk or a Windows 9x CD or you could even make you USB disk bootable using a free utility from HP.
3. At the DOS prompt, run SMARTDRV.EXE (you will have to search google for smartdrive)
4. browse to the i386 folder of your usb disk and type NTSETUP

[Beorn]

Thanks for the help. I managed to start the installation through a dos prompt (first making a new nLite with winnt.exe .)

But the installation won't continue. It says it cant find any disks or that none of the disks have 538 MB (I think) of free space. I have 2 sata disks, each in its own array of RAID (JBOD). Can the RAID be the problem, and is there a way to fix it?

-Beorn

[jaclaz]

Yes, that means that you don't have the drivers for the SATA RAID disks.
You should either feed them at installation time pressing F6 when you are asked or find a way to add them to your build in nlite, cannot remember which is the option, but there is one.

jaclaz

[Beorn]

Well, the message comes before the F6 prompt should come, so I guess something else must be wrong.

-Beorn

This post has been edited by Beorn: 24 September 2006 - 09:20 AM

[jaclaz]

beorn said:

Well, the message comes before the F6 prompt should come, so I guess something else must be wrong.

That's quite strange, if I recall correctly the "Press F6" is the second or third screen.

Can you describe exactly the screens you get one by one when invoking WINNT.EXE

Another possibility would be trying an "unattended" setup, by using the /U: answer_file syntax of WINNT.EXE
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechn...t.mspx?mfr=true

Browse the unattended section here at MSFN for reference:
http://www.msfn.org/...hp?showforum=70

Also, can you describe your hard disk partitions/capacity?
It is possible that you hit some kind of "hard disk size barrier", either a FAT32 > 32 Gb or a disk > 137 Gb, or some other, see this also:
http://www.msfn.org/...showtopic=69456
I would try with a "normally sized" FAT32 partition of, say, 5 Gb.


jaclaz

[Beorn]

Hi,

I figured out the problem (but I got a hint from you...). I had all my partitions as NTFS. When I reformatted a partition with FAT32 it worked.
I still have one problem, though. When the installation was finished copying files, it said to remove floopy disk and restart. I restarted and removed the USB drive, and then just regular Windows booted instead of the installation. I'll see if I can make it work now.

-Beorn

[jaclaz]

Beorn said:

I had all my partitions as NTFS. When I reformatted a partition with FAT32 it worked.

Yep, that's why on the referenced post:
http://www.911cd.net...showtopic=16713
is written:

Quote

The above is done assuming that:
1) You are ok with a System partition FAT32
2) You do not want to use third party tools (except the said FREEDOS FDISK)

Beorn said:

I still have one problem, though. When the installation was finished copying files, it said to remove floopy disk and restart. I restarted and removed the USB drive, and then just regular Windows booted instead of the installation.

You should check that the install files have been copied to the hard disk and that the BOOT.INI on hard disk was modified, the method here:
http://www.911cd.net...showtopic=16713
is based on the assumption that you take the USB stick out BEFORE running winnt.exe, that is run from the HD, from what you wrote, it seems like you started winnt.exe from the stick, this will most probably (read certainly) change drive letters, unless you are installing to a partition which is NOT First Active Partition of First Hard Disk.

However you can manually add an entry to boot.ini, to boot the second part of the install, the entry should be something like:

C:\$WIN_NT$.~BT\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows XP Professional Setup"

jaclaz

This post has been edited by jaclaz: 25 September 2006 - 04:19 AM

[Beorn]

jaclaz, on Sep 25 2006, 11:15 AM, said:

You should check that the install files have been copied to the hard disk and that the BOOT.INI on hard disk was modified, the method here:
http://www.911cd.net...showtopic=16713
is based on the assumption that you take the USB stick out BEFORE running winnt.exe, that is run from the HD, from what you wrote, it seems like you started winnt.exe from the stick, this will most probably (read certainly) change drive letters, unless you are installing to a partition which is NOT First Active Partition of First Hard Disk.

However you can manually add an entry to boot.ini, to boot the second part of the install, the entry should be something like:

C:\$WIN_NT$.~BT\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows XP Professional Setup"

jaclaz

Yes, I started winnt.exe from the stick. The folder $WIN_NT$.~LS was created on the HD, while the folder $WIN_NT$.~BT and a boot.ini file was created on the stick. The entry in boot. ini was

C:\$WIN_NT$.~BT\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows XP Professional Setup"

Is there a way of making Setup create $WIN_NT$.~BT on HD instead, and change boot.ini entry accordingly? Or is the easiest solution to copy the entire I386 folder over to the HD using xcopy?

[jaclaz]

Quote

Is there a way of making Setup create $WIN_NT$.~BT on HD instead, and change boot.ini entry accordingly?

Not that I know of, besides the suggested solution, but you can try the /T: tempdrive switch, in the already referenced WINNT.EXE syntax page:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechn...t.mspx?mfr=true

Beorn said:

Or is the easiest solution to copy the entire I386 folder over to the HD using xcopy?

YES, it is, and you see, having the install \I386 files on HD, saves you a lot of trouble when, before or later, you need for any reason another file and Windows prompts you to "insert the Setup CD".... and in the meantime you have re-used the stick for another project deleting files in it

Beorn said:

Yes, I started winnt.exe from the stick.

WHY?

The whole point of a tutorial is that it should be followed EXACTLY , at least until you understand fully each step and consequences of a change in it.

People that can make changes to it, usually don't need tutorials. CATCH 22

You see, if you boot from the stick, the stick itself will get letter C: and the first partition of the hard disk will get letter D:, but when you boot again without the stick, the same partition will get letter C:.

This can cause to "mix" letters and potentially lead to an unbootable (in the sense of no way to log in) system.

There are ways to change letters, but they are not easy/straightforward.

jaclaz

This post has been edited by jaclaz: 25 September 2006 - 12:22 PM

[Beorn]

Quote

You see, if you boot from the stick, the stick itself will get letter C: and the first partition of the hard disk will get letter D:, but when you boot again without the stick, the same partition will get letter C:.

Well, I don't mind if the drive letter for Windows is changed .

I have 5 partitions on two harddrives. Windows on the C: partition of one HD, and the partition I want to install to is H: (which is on the other drive). I want it to be adual-boot system, because I don't want to mess up my system trying something new.

I'll tell you what I've done so far:

I've got an USB with dos boot files and the folder I386 on it. Autoexec.bat tells to xcopy I386 to drive D:.
If I now start the installation (typing D:\I386\winnt.exe) it will start copying files. It puts the folder $WIN_NT$.~LS on the D: drive, while the rest of the files (ntldr, boot.ini and so on) and the folder $WIN_NT$.~BT is placed on the stick.
When the computer reboots (with the stick still in) the installation contunues loading files until a STOP 0X0000007B comes up. I guess this is because the USB drivers is reset or something?

Quote

WHY? woot.gif

Well, I like experimenting a bit .

[jaclaz]

Beorn said:

I guess this is because the USB drivers is reset or something?

Until a few months ago I would have answered yes, but since the findings by Dietmar, it appears that there is NO reset on the USB bus, simply the Windows XP 32-bit HAL driver does not start/it is not properly configured.

Beorn said:

Well, I don't mind if the drive letter for Windows is changed

Yep, I understand that , the problem is that Windows might mind about this, and it will probably NOT log you in when booted.
This has to do with paths in the Registry, some are "dynamic", i.e. generated at boot-time, some are "static", i.e. something like C:\Windows\System\[directory]\[file].
This can happen also if you install Windows (like it should IMHO) in a logical volume inside extended partition, as all letters are shifted by one.
http://support.micro...kb/249321/en-us
http://support.micro...kb/223188/en-us
(this actually happened to me, when Win2k came out, that's why I'm so sensitive on the matter)

However, if you insist in not taking the stick out when told to , you can do the following:
1) Use bootpart (or any other method) to make sure that your C: drive (the "real" hard disk drive) has a NT/2K/XP/2003 bootsector that invokes NTLDR/BOOT.INI
2) From the stick, manually or through autoexec.bat, run this .bat:

Attrib -h -s -r D:\BOOT.INI
Echo C:\$WIN_NT$.~BT\BOOTSECT.DAT="Microsoft Windows XP Professional Setup">>D:\BOOT.INI
Attrib +h +s +r D:\BOOT.INI

(double check the attrib syntax, I am recalling from memory, that is not anymore that good )
3) xcopy the C:\$WIN_NT$.~BT\ (on the stick) folder to D:\$WIN_NT$.~BT\ (the hard disk)
4) TAKE THE STICK OUT AND REBOOT!
5) Choose the "Microsoft Windows XP Professional Setup" entry in boot.ini
6) It won't work, I joked , even if it may.
7) Before step 4) you must find a way to "correct" BOOTSECT.DAT that in that moment has the geometry info of the USB stick to reflect the geometry of the hard disk, this can be done from DOS with the DEBUG utility or some other scriptable hex/diskeditor, right now I have no links handy, if you cannot find a method, ask for it and I'll search and give you some.

Beorn said:

Well, I like experimenting a bit

Yep, I thought as much, as Mr de la Palice:
http://en.wikipedia....es_de_la_Palice

Quote

A quarter hour before his death,
he was still quite alive.

death must found one alive!

jaclaz

This post has been edited by jaclaz: 26 September 2006 - 08:00 AM

[coucou]

Beorn, on Sep 17 2006, 07:12 PM, said:

Hi

Is it possible to put an nLited windows install on an usb flash disk? It would be handy not having to burn a bunch of cd's (and because I don't have a cd-burner ).

What I meant was I want to install windows from the flash drive and onto my hard drive.

-Beorn

Hi Beorn, that exactly i'm looking for since while.
Did you get success building that bootable usb flash disk??? If so, tnx for sahring yr knowledge.

In fact, i'm trying since while... without success.

Regards
coucou

[snowden]

I use a 1GB USB stick for windows installation all the time. I am currently trying to find a stable nlited version of windows server 2003 datacenter sp2 (and I have, with just a few autoplay problems which are being worked on by the nlite team afaik), so i find it invaluable to use a usb installation over burning cdroms all day.

all i do is

1)format the usb key as dos-bootable using the HP Drive Key Utility
2)copy on some extra tools such as xcopy, smartdrv, etc
3)copy on the i386 folder
4)use BootIt NG to make a small fat-16 partition no larger than 2048MB (you will install windows to this and resize and convert it during the process), and MAKE IT ACTIVE. If you don't make it active you might end up with your system drive named as D:\ or G:\ or something. Setting it active makes sure this doesn't happen, and also makes sure the installer doesn't interfere with any other OSes you have installed.
5)boot to dos from the usb key
6)run "winnt /u:winnt.sif /s:c:\i386 /t:<driveletter you made with Bootit NG>:" from within the i386 folder. btw your usb drive's dos prompt is usually c:\ - it is for me anyway. this does not mean that windows won't turn out on a C:\ drive when installed, so don't worry! (the winnt.sif file is the one edited by nlite here.)
7)the installer will copy bootfiles to your usb stick and the main installation files to your drive you specified
8)boot from the usb stick again, and now it runs the setup part that normally happens first when you boot from cd-rom, and remember to select your drive to be converted to ntfs
9)boot up bootitng and edit the partition's boot.ini file and change rdisk(1) to rdisk(0) in (there are 2 of these to change)
10)now let the pc boot from the dos partition, and windows converts it to ntfs
11)now boot up bootitng again, and resize the 2048MB partition (which now appears as NTFS formatted) to whatever size you want
12)finally, allow the partition to boot normally and windows installs.

hope this helps! :)

[jaclaz]

@snowden,
FYI, another method that needs not WINNT.EXE support (and thus more "compatible" with nlited installs) can be found here:
http://www.msfn.org/...topic=61384&hl=

Final (for the moment) howto here:
http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...1384&st=128

Please note that this method, like the one linked to on the 911CD forum:
http://www.911cd.net...showtopic=16713
which is substantially the same as yours, does not require ANY Commercial app, everything is done through built-on tools and/or Freeware / Open Source software.

If I may, you could "shave off" a couple of passages in your way of installing, the convert.exe program can convert BOTH FAT16 and FAT32 filesystems to NTFS:
http://support.micro...kb/307881/en-us

So, if you are using DOS 7.x/8.0, which supports FAT32, you don't need to make a small partition and later resize it, you can directly make an adequately sized FAT32 one and convert it.

With the resizing of the partition made not needed, there is also no need for a Commercial app, you can do the first part with Freedos FDISK.

Though the convert.exe does not appear to have ever caused problems, I find, at least theoretically, safer the newish "direct" method as the volume is natively formatted as NTFS by Windows setup, as in a "normal" install.

jaclaz