can the USB_MultiBoot6.cmd be used to add vista or pe2.0?

Yes
See http://www.msfn.org/board/Install-Vista-USB-t111506.html

After booting with boot.ini menu, one can select GRUB4DOS Menu with the option to
launch VISTA Setup by chainload of bootmgr.
It also possible to boot first with Windows PE 2.0 and then run VISTA Setup from a different partition.

This post has been edited by wimb: Mar 17 2008, 03:47 AM

So conceivably I can partition a 8GB or 16GB stick to contain XP, Vista, Vista x64, is that true? Does that mean a BCD needs to be created on the primary partition of the stick assuming its formatted with NTFS?

I used for this purpose a partitioned USB-Harddisk (see ref) because of its speed and size.

It is not needed to use BCD for Vista.
You can just boot with boot.ini Menu,
select GRUB4DOS Menu and launch VISTA Setup by chainload of bootmgr

XP Setup is launched directly from boot.ini Menu and requires that the USB-drive is a Removable stick with one partition
or a Fixed USB-Harddisk which is during Setup seen as removable device using rdummy.sys
For Removable Devices Windows XP allows only one partition to be visible.

I guess I wasn't clear on the intent. The purpose was to have multiple installs on a single USB stick. Although my understanding is that it is very difficult to partition a USB stick unless it is bit set to be a fixed drive which I believe the Corsair Flash Voyager series can become.

Under the above assumption I would need a Vista bootsector and XP bootsector written to the USB stick and have GRUB boot off the partition depending on the choice of install.

This post has been edited by jaclaz: Mar 21 2008, 02:37 PM

Use Hitachi microdrive filter driver, this will patch the query for removable bit on-the-fly. USB sticks are now seen as basic disks, partitioning is allowed. Google for downloadable links. Or use dummy.sys to achieve the same:
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/system/sovie...ct_hooking.aspx

Use Grub4Dos as boot loader, use it's mapping features to boot from desired partition. Look at read.me for examples.

This post has been edited by ilko_t: Mar 18 2008, 04:32 PM

The Vista BootSector is not needed since GRUB4DOS is able to chainload directly the Bootloader bootmgr for Vista Setup.
So Vista and XP Setup can coexist on a single partition USB-stick having NTLDR (XP) Bootsector and boot.ini menu.
If you want to combine it with Vista x64 on the same USB-stick, then you may need a second partition for Vista x64,
but again a Vista BootSector is not needed.
GRUB4DOS allows you to chainload bootmgr directly on any partition of any harddisk
Very convenient without the need to have a VISTA bootsector.

By the way I just copied 2.8 GB Vista Setup files using XP as OS in 16 minutes
to a normal 8 GB Corsair Flash Voyager USB-stick earlier prepared with USB_MultiBoot6.cmd
and using the MULTI_CONTENT Folder and the Multi_boot.ini
After booting from the stick with boot.ini Menu,
I selected Option 12 of GRUB4DOS Menu to launch Vista Setup from the stick.
Vista Setup took 24 minutes in total, but therefore
it is needed to unplug the USB-Drive just at the First Restart of Vista Install.
Earlier unplugging gives Install Error (cannot be solved).
Without unplugging it took 47 minutes, where in the extra 23 minutes it seemed that nothing
was occurring at the computer harddisk. In this period the USB-light was flashing all the time,
but on later inspection at first sight there seemed to be no changes there. Strange long wait ....


This post has been edited by wimb: Mar 20 2008, 10:49 AM

The Vista Setup Files can also be located in a Separate Folder on your USB-stick
e.g. Copy 32-bits Vista Setup Files to Folder Vista_32 on NTFS USB-stick prepared with USB_MultiBoot6.cmd
Copy to the Root of your USB-stick the contents of the Windows PE 2.0 x86 ISO Folder.
Boot in this case via boot.ini Menu > GRUB4DOS Menu > Select Windows PE 2.0
Then the Windows Boot Manager Menu Appears and one can launch Windows PE 2.0
In Win PE 2.0 Command Window > Select USB-Drive and Folder with Vista Setup > Run Vista Setup
This idea was tested with success for the 32-bits version of Vista.
Booting with Windows PE 2.0 does not take extra time,
since it is otherwise part of Vista Setup.

Similarly one might Install the 64-bits version of Vista from a Vista_64 Folder, but I am not able to test it.
Booting with Windows PE 2.0 x86 and x64 will be different, but this problem can be overcome.
It is possible to edit the BCD Store on the USB-stick such that the Windows Boot Manager Menu
allows to Select either boot32.wim or boot64.wim from the Windows PE 2.0 sources Folder.
For this purpose we use in XP OS the Vista file bcdedit.exe to edit file boot\bcd on the USB-stick.

1. Copy Vista file bcdedit.exe to your XP C:\WINDOWS\system32 folder
2. Open in XP Command Window with path C:\WINDOWS\system32
bcdedit.exe /? and bcdedit.exe /? /set give a lot of help info for using bcdedit.exe

3. The present BCD store entries for Windows PE 2.0 on USB-Drive P: are obtained by running the command

4. Now as a test we are going to Edit the BCD Store to change boot.wim in boot32.wim by using

5. Ater Edit of the BCD Store we check the result with


It turns out that booting with the Windows PE 2.0 Renamed as boot32.wim enables
also to Install 32-bits version of Vista by using
Win PE 2.0 Command Window > Select USB-Drive and Folder with Vista Setup > Run Vista Setup
So the idea of using Separate Folders for 32-bits and 64-bits Vista Setup Files is usefull

It will be possible to add to the WinPE x86 BCD Store a new entry for launching Windows PE 2.0 x64 by

and use then the entries found in the WinPE x64 BCD Store to make in the WinPE x86 BCD Store
with a similar edit as given above the correct entries which are suitable for boot64.wim

More Interesting Info on bcdedit and Vista:
http://www.multibooters.co.uk/cloning.html
http://www.multibooters.co.uk/

I have tried also to edit the BCD store of Root folder boot\bcd such that Vista_32\SOURCES\BOOT.WIM
was launched directly from the Windows Boot Manager Menu.
Booting was OK, but when arriving at the point of Install Now there were complaints about missing drivers
and Install.wim could not continue. So this approach was not successfull.

This post has been edited by wimb: Mar 20 2008, 02:58 PM

Greate information Wimb. It might just be easier to just to create multiple partitions lol. On that note, EasyBCD can also be used to edit the BCD store using a friendly GUI of course it doesn't help in automating a process to create a useable USB stick.

I'll try to use the folder method of installing x64 Vista and will give you guys feedback.



EDIT: by jaclaz: Please refrain from quoting entire longish posts, they only make the thread less readable.

This post has been edited by jaclaz: Mar 21 2008, 02:36 PM