EDIT by jaclaz.
Post splitted from here:
http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=10806
Removed needless lengthy quote of original Bart's post.




Pardon me, but I am a new member to this forum and a bit confused with all the options available.
Specifically, I am using PEBuilder to make a bootable USB with XP; however the command line
method shown here puts a .iso image on the stick, creates a "B:" drive which is read-only (and hence
cannot be used by Firefox or Firefox Portable -- I get a "read-only" error when I launch). An alternative
seems to be PEToUSB GUI which copies files instead, but gives me the BSOD STOP-7B message when
I attempt to use that.

Any help here? -- I'd be happy with the .iso if I could get the browser to run....previous postings haven't
thoroughly explained the difference in implementation between the .cmd and GUI approaches.

Thank you,
Doug

Sure, that's pretty much "normal" for new users.

The methods detailed in the thread where you originally posted are a bit "dated", though still valid.

There are if not "better", "newer" ways.


Well, NO.
It should be quite obvious that through an app called PEbuilder you won't build a bootable USB with XP, but rather a bootable USB with a PE , i.e. a Pre-installation Environment based on XP.


There are several different solutions that are possible.
First one that may be suitable would be to use the same RAMDISK method you used for the .iso (using Server 2003 SP1 or R2 boot files) but using a HD image instead.
Do read these threads by aec:
http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?sho...c=10482&hl=
http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?sho...c=19333&hl=
to get the idea, then we'll talk about the details.

Another possibility is to troubleshoot the 0x0000007b STOP ERROR you are getting, for which you may want to read these:
http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=20408
http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?sho...her&st=1986

You might also want to read this:
http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=17504
which greatly simplifies possible problems with hardcoded paths in "old" or "not-fully-portable" plugins.

If you use a Server 2003 SETUPLDR.BIN, read this too:
http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=58410


Just post your question/doubts once you have had a look at the given links.

jaclaz

jaclaz,

....I read the first 2 aec links....
#1 link - how does the revised .iso help my situation in wanting
to make the RAMDISK writable? ...in the thread, it seems like his objective was
more geared toward CDs.

#2 link - filedisk is not available in the hyperlink shown....note this one below...will
this be an adequate substitute?

http://www.jeffothy.com/weblog/filedisk-iso-mounter/

.....As to the BSOD solution links you provide:
#1 link - Dietmar's modified NTDETECT.COM is from WinXP SP1 which is no
longer available from Microsoft. My research tells me that NTDETECT
from Win2000 can't be a substitute.

#2 link - To a Microsoft page that can no longer be found.....any idea what it said?


......Last 2 links:
#1 link -- will try the "renaming" method to see if that helps
#2 link -- I am not trying to provide multi-boot capabilities, so please advise
on how modifying setupldr.bin would be applicable.

Thanks (and with apologies for ignorance and poor semantics),

- Doug
(...A Cisco Guy, not a PC Guy)

If I may , you didn't read the given threads, you quickly skimmed through the FIRST POST ONLY of them.

First thread by aec IS the same method on the original Bart's intiated thread, the one you actually originally referenced to:
http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=10806
only a bit expanded and IS about mounting .iso images only, but provides some additional info.
Second thread by aec continues giving alternate ways and drivers to build a disk or drive image, including the usage of fsz, vdk, imdisk and what not.
The link to filedisk was:
http://www.acc.umu.se/~bosse/filedisk.zip

However, try going here :
http://www.acc.umu.se/~bosse/

search on the page for "filedisk" and you will see how the new version is:
http://www.acc.umu.se/~bosse/filedisk-15.zip

(i'll fix the link, just in case , thanks for the report)

BSOD solution:
Link#1 tells a story of success by manually creating a modified NTDETECT.COM, and this specific post links to the HOWTO:
http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?sho...=20408&st=8
Link#2 directly links to a post that says:


What is the problem?

Last links:
Link#1 OK.
Link#2: if you use a SETUPLDR.BIN that has a built-in checksum AND modify it as per Link#1 above, it will fail, multibooting has nothing to do with it, hex-editing/modifying a "checked" SETUPLDR.BIN will fail unless the checksum mechanism is disabled.

I had gathered from your post that the question was more like "I want to learn how to ..." than "I need to run Firefox in a PE ...", for the latter there may be easier solutions:
http://www.ubcd4win.com
http://www.ubcd4win.com/contents.htm

There is a newish .script for Winbuilder Project "LiveXP" for Firefox 3.5.1:
http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?...ic=8363&hl=
Start from here:
http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=4111
to get the hang of Winbuilder/LiveXP


jaclaz

....I've tried aec suggestion #1 and keep getting a TXTSETUP.SIF file not found or corrupted error. I have undertaken
numerous suggestions in the thread (using 8.3 .iso names, making sure the I386\SETUPLDR.BIN and the PE build
SETUPLDR.BIN match, etc. and still the same error. Suggestions?

....aec isn't explicit as to what files should go on a USB for this to work...later posts suggest that the PE iso is
part of the _inram.iso, but aec's post doesn't confirm this.

....I will try the 2nd aec suggestion (using filedisk next), but, if you don't mind, let's handle each of your
suggestions "one at a time".

....You were right....my initial "newbie" settings were for "outline" mode, when I switched to "standard"
all of your links took me DIRECTLY to the applicable posts (vs my having to search intensively) -- hence
the misunderstanding between us.

Cheers and thanks for the help.

- Doug

There may be several reasons for this.

How big is the built .iso image?

Are you getting an error Status 18?
http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=18548

Are you getting an error Status 14?
http://www.911cd.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=11808

Or what error?

Please enumerate the EXACT steps you took, and list the files you have in your image(s), someone may be able to "spot" where the problem might lie.

jaclaz

Per your request, here is what I did:

1) Modified the PE Build so that Win2K3-SP1 ramdisk.sys
would be included (vs XP) in the .iso per aec's recommendation.

2) Also modified the build to ensure that the SETUPLDR.BIN file
was the same as was used for NTLDR on the USB flash drive.
(saw this in a later post)

3) Used the mkofs.cmd as described by aec to generate a bartpe.iso
after ensuring that all of the files were present in the RAMPE folder
and in upper case per the aec "run from RAM" method. One of
the posts mentioned that the .iso needs to be in a 8.3 format.

4) I get the "loading RAMDISK" scrollbar, but then a status 14 message
for the TXTSETUP.SIF not being found.

What am I missing?
- Doug

Post your WINNT.SIF.

Read this (maybe there is in there something you missed):
http://www.boot-land.net/forums/?showtopic=4952

Try using ToUpper:
http://www.paraglidernc.com/utilities/utilities.htm
to uppercase the files.

jaclaz

OK....here may be part of the confusion.
aec's post discusses putting a WINNT.SIF
file in the c:\rampe folder...mine has a different
path, but here it is:

[SetupData]
BootDevice = "ramdisk(0)"
BootPath = "\I386\SYSTEM32\"
OsLoadOptions = "/noguiboot /fastdetect /minint /rdexportascd /rdpath=PEBUILD.ISO"

The PEBUILD.ISO file is in this same "rampe" folder as BOOTSECT.BIN, this
WINNT.SIF, and the I386 subfolder containing NTDETECT.COM and SETUPLDR.BIN.

Now, on the USB stick itself, in order for it to boot, I have NTLDR (the SP1 SETUPLDR.BIN
file renamed), NTDETECT.COM, BARTPE.ISO (created using the mkofs cmd script specified
by aec), and the following WINNT.SIF file for RAMDISK loading:
[SetupData]
BootDevice = "ramdisk(0)"
BootPath = "\I386\SYSTEM32\"
OsLoadOptions = "/noguiboot /fastdetect /minint /rdexportascd /rdpath=BARTPE.ISO"

The way I understand it (and PLEASE correct my errors), BARTPE.ISO contains the PEBUILD.ISO
which is then supposed to load into RAM, but the aec post seems to be oriented more toward
building a CD than a USB boot.

The above results in the status 14 error.

Diagnosis?

- Doug

You seem to me like you were attempting a "matrioschka" kind of booting:
http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=4952
http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?...c=4952&st=8
http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?...=4952&st=11

To sum up aec's referenced thread (which is for CD's):
http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?sho...c=10482&hl=
1) you create a c:\rampe folder with in it:

• BOOTSECT.BIN
• WINNT.SIF
• PEBUILDER.ISO PEBUILD.ISO
• I386\NTDETECT.COM
• I386\SETUPLDR.BIN

2) you create with mkisofs a BARTPE.ISO
3) you burn the BARTPE.ISO to CD and boot from CD
4) end of the method

In the above the "real" device (the CD) boots it's \I386 SETUPLDR.BIN, loads it's own NTDETECT.COM, reads it's own WINNT.SIF, loads the RAMDISK.SYS inside PEBUILD.ISO, loads PEBUIILD.ISO to RAMDISK.

To transfer this method to a USB stick, you copy to it's ROOT:

• SETUPLDR.BIN from C:\rampe\I386\ and rename it to NTLDR
• NTDETECT.COM from C:\rampe\I386\
• WINNT.SIF from C:\rampe\
• PEBUILD.ISO from C:\rampe\

In the above the "real" device (the USB stick) boots it's own SETUPLDR.BIN NTLDR, loads it's own NTDETECT.COM, reads it's own WINNT.SIF, loads the RAMDISK.SYS inside PEBUILD.ISO, loads PEBUIILD.ISO to RAMDISK.

In the setup you described you were trying to ramdisk booting a ramdisk....

Hope the above explains the issue.

jaclaz

....just want to confirm my findings with BartPE on USB
using a disk-like file structure (vs the .iso file):

1) Formatting of USB to FAT16 necessary
2) Use mkbt with pe2usb.bin to prepare boot sector (bootsect.bin for CDs?)
3) Modified NTDETECT.COM in root directory of USB
4) Win2k3-SP1 SETUPLDR.BIN as NTLDR in root directory of USB.

It seems that not just any USB stick will work here, correct?
I have been able to get a SANDisk Cruzer USB @ 4GB with the
U3 partition wiped out to function quite well, but a generic "data only"
"discount" drive doesn't seem capable.

Thoughts?
- Doug

1) No. Useful yes but not required. I have one USB stick formated as NTFS. I believe fuwi's utility supports FAT32 formating also.

2) There are several means available to format and load the USB device. Personally I use PEtoUSB.

And FWIW I have 2 SanDisk U3 drives that boot BartPE and they both still have their U3 partitions.

1) PEtoUSB didn't work for me. Just gave a BSOD with STOP 7B error.

2) Bart's pe2usb.cmd had "the right stuff" to prepare the boot sector,
only I modified it to leave off the .iso build because I wanted the file
structure.

3) The peinst.cmd script loaded the file system for me onto the USB; I just
needed to make sure the NTDETECT.COM was the Dieter-modified one.

Any ideas why PEToUSB Windows GUI app didn't work for me?

- Doug

A 7B at boot time indicates a driver required for booting is missing. If the BartPE system you created with PEBuilder boots from a CD it should work fine when used as input to PEtoUSB.