Well, the original thread is VERY long now. So here's a new topic.

OK. First, the base:
micrope_base.7z
This creates a VERY basic BartPE build. It, ummm, boots. From IDE/ATAPI cdrom drives (only). And cmd.exe is the shell. And hard drives work. You CAN change the resolution though (through the VgaSave registry keys). Default resolution is 640x480. Limited to PS2 input devices ONLY: no USB or serial mice. Updated! (Hopefully) fixed a show-stopping bug when building from Server 2003. final ISO size: ~32 MiB.
Updated again 25.04.06 - should play along better on real, non-emulated hardware now. Many thanks to mr. Bundt, who found the bug, and the fix.
micrope_base_compressed.7z New! as of 07.04.06
the same as micrope_base, except that some files (38 so far) are either UPXed or MAKECABed. Results in a ~20MB iso. Much credit to zitu for finding out which files could be UPXd, and cdob for a list of files to MAKECAB. UPDATE: apparently, one or more DLL was UPXd that shouldn't be. This script will cause Small CD Writer to not work. A fix is on my TODO list 25.04.06: updated. testers needed though - don't know if Small CD Writer works yet.

Second: Drivers:
micrope_driver_ramdisk.7z
Adds the RAMDISK.SYS ScsiClass driver to the micrope, allowing it to boot into RAM. Thus, the CD can be removed after boot. Useful for backing up to/restoring from CDs/DVDs. Further discussion here.
micrope_driver_usbhid.7z
Adds USB input device support to MicroPE. BETA! I hope it works - please test and give feedback!
micrope_driver_net-tcpip.7z
New!Adds TCP/IP and DHCP networking support to MicroPE. Note: You still have to include drivers for your hardware! .inf files in \i386\inf and .sys files in \i386\system32\drivers. (25.04.06)
micrope_driver_net-msclient.7z
New!Adds Client for Microsoft networks to MicroPE. (25.04.06)
micrope_driver_net-msserver.7z
New!Adds Client for Microsoft networks to MicroPE. Many thanks to mr. Bundt! (25.04.06)

coming up: micrope_driver_floppy, micrope_driver_usbstor, micrope_driver_ramdrive

Third: Shells
micrope_shell_a43.7z
Adds B.G Miller's A43 filemanager, and sets it as the shell. Allows you to copy files around and stuff. ~40 MiB ISO.
Updated! should now work when building from Windows 2003 (5.04.06)
micrope_shell_bblean.7z
Updated! Added a menu bar and restructured the menu (25.04.06) Later, 25.04.06, updated again. fixed the menu generation.
stripped-down version of bbLean, customized by me. This will be the shell I base further application add-on scripts on. Run by itself, ~35 MiB ISO.
micrope_shell_scdwriter.7z
Updated! should now work when building from Windows 2003 (5.04.06)
I made this script for hoovahh. Basically, a BartPE that can burn CDs, and not much else. ~35 MiB ISO.

Fourth: Apps
micrope_app_a43.7z
Adds A43 to MicroPE.
micrope_app_regedit.7z
Adds the windows registry editor to MicroPE.
micrope_app_scdwriter.7z
Adds Small CD Writer to MicroPE.

base, shell_bblean and the above results in a ~43 MiB ISO.

All the app scripts are updated (5.04.06) should now work when building from Windows 2003

All micrope_app_$PROGRAM scripts copy over the files they require, get put in \system32 or %PROGRAMFILES%\$PROGRAM depending, and writes an entry in the bblean menu if applicable.

So, how to get in on the MicroPE goodness?
First, go get Batcher here or here. The last site is updated first.

then, unpack (any good multiarchiver can handle .7z. i reccomend 7-zip) and copy to \Batcher\Scripts micrope_base. also unpack any micrope_driver_* scripts you need here. Select a shell. If you want to add more than one program, use bblean. Extract this in \batcher\scripts too. Then, add any apps you want in the same place.

I also recommend getting at least mkisofs.zip from batcher's homepage.

Fire up batcher. The scripts should all have nice yellow checkmarks. Press the [paths] button. Select a Bart's Pebuilder output folder as the source directory. I strongly recommend you disable all plugins when building BartPE for MicroPE! Select any directory you like for the target dir - but be warned! micrope_base WILL DELETE THE CONTENTS OF THE TARGET DIRECTORY! Also, find a place for the ISO file if you got the mkisofs script.

Press [Start]. Voila! You now have an ISO file with a teensy weensy BartPE on it (or atleast, a output folder thats so small it's sexy ).

finally, some screenshots:

1: MicroPE (meant to call it miniPE, but that's taken) with bbLean as the shell - and not much else.
2: bbLean with the above mentioned app scripts. showing off the menu.

PS: Dates are in european format (dd.mm.yy) in case anyone got confused

Good stuff! Thanks for creating a new thread.

How about a future script for Network support.
I like the new name of the new scripts that create "MicroPE"

Looking forward to the future scripts.

in my 49MB script ISO with the Xoblite shell im getting a do you want to search for an update for xoblite because it has been 30 plus days since it checked for and update. Will your version do that also.
This is what i mean:

Slap me silly your using bblean as a shell and not xoblite. lol! Ill post this on the other thread.

Can you add version numbers to your scripts just in case you update in the future.

The micrope_drivers_ramdisk.7z link is not working.

The micrope_app_regedit.7z link points to A43 file.
The micrope_app_scdwriter.7z link points to A43 file also.

Does Batcher recognize 7zip compressed scripts?
Edit: Forget this question just reread your post.

EDIT: I forgot something and the ISO was an old one I had. A new one was not being created. Forgot to add the following script. lol!



Reran the same scripts and adding the mkisofs.script and im getting the following error:
List index out of bounds (4)



I used my old batch file to create the ISO and Everthing is working. Something is wrong with mkisofs.script.
Can you make a MicroPE_mkisofs.script

Here is a pic of the result.


Very clean!

Any script to add your own wallpaper. If it can be a PNG Or JPG wallpaper that would be great.

Does bblean have something like the following script to display this type of info.


Hopefully Ill get a chance to test the Run From RAM script.

I have this old shutdown com program. Can you add it to the right click menu.

shutdown option only works on ATX systems with Advanced Power Management

ShutDown v1.2 written by BlackLight 2001
http://www.mytempdir.com/550103

Its real small. 1KB

fixed the link for ramdisk. also updated mkisofs.script to work with batcher 1.16. also fixed the *app* script links... it was late, i was tired

as for adding bbsysinfo - i'm thinkin of adding tinyresmeter instead

a wallpaper .script is definitively possible- will look into it

EDIT: minipe_driver_ramdisk was broken - fixed now.

New script: micrope_driver_usbhid. See first post for details.

Great work draugen!

I really liked your screenshot..

I think it may be possible to speed up the booting process, txtsetup.sif has been reduced to the minimum, but I guess the registry is being loaded before txtsetup, and this is still uncovered ground..



@TheHive - I've considered using 7zip as the default compression algorithm I really like the results of it, but haven't managed to find a way to sucessfully integrate 7zip32.dll into the main application..

adding tinyresmeter would be ok.
Thanks for the new links.

updated mkisofs.script - Can you add a link to where it cab be downloaded.

neue good luck in addin 7zip support.
From their FAQ
THis might be help im not sure

How can I add support for 7z archives to my application?
One way is to use the 7za.dll (available from sf.net for download). The 7za.dll works via COM interfaces. It, however, doesn't use standard COM interfaces for creating objects. You can find a small example in the source code. A full example is 7-Zip itself, since 7-Zip works via this dll also. There are other applications that use 7za.dll such as WinRAR, PowerArchiver and others.

The other way is to call the command line version: 7za.exe.

the d/l link for mkisofs is where is should be -> at batcher's homepage.

Can you make your Mention of it clickable. It will bring it more attention and people wont miss it. Like I did the first time. And I have been testing this thing for awhile. lol!

Can you add more info tou your RAmDIsk Info.



Is the above still true?


Can you make it to where we can just copy those two files to the Programs Ramdisk Folder. Is this possible or do they need to be in the System32 folder.

Do we also need these 2 files SETUPLDR.BIN, RAMDISK.SYS in the System32 folder. Or do we just need RAMDISK.sys.

If Ramdisk is Added it should be recommended not to run the MakeISO script. It should be run after you add the files to the system32 or wherever they belong in order for it to work.

Once you add those files to the Output of Batcher then a person should run the Make ISO script. And if they are using Qemu then they can run both scripts.

Testing.

MkISOfs.zip. Doesnt work. Im still getting the same error.
Downloaded from http://batcher.pt.vu/

Getting these messages. I renamed the RAMDISK.SY_ to RAMDISK.SYS and SETUPLDR.BIN and copied to the system32. But the image is still being run from the CD not RAM.







Ran my old BAtch to create ISO and I get this.

follow the link in my first post. yes, you only need 2K3 RAMDISK.SYS in the system32/drivers folder.

you DO, however, need to create a second ISO, containing:

- the first ISO
- SETUPLDR.BIN from w2k3
- a special WINNT.SIF (details on contents in the previously mentioned thread)

windows server 2003 SP1 can be downloaded here.

no Windows Genuine Annoyance even!

I ll test your script for RAM a bit later. Its not very clear to the steps on what to do.

Can you give more info on what this is. What I should be looking for that it is working.
micrope_driver_usbhid.7z
Adds USB input device support to MicroPE.

During my previous testing I ran into a problem. When you minimize a43 there is no way to maximize it.

thehive:

my ramdisk driver only PREPARES Micrope to boot into RAM. You still need to read and follow the instructions i've linked to in the first post.

as for testing the driver_usbhid script, boot into real hardware with usb mouse and/or keyboard and see if it works.. (I recommend CD-RW disks)

to get a minimized app back in my slimmed down bbLean, middle-click the desktop. From here you can also change workspaces.

Can you rename all your scripts with Micrope at the beginning. It would make them all stand out from the other scripts. MiniPE Base to Micrope MiniBase and Micrope MkISOfs.

Can you base your micrope_driver_ramdisk on the one included with neue script. That seems to work out.
Can i use scripts that are not created by you on your version of Micrope.

So far I havent been able to get past the ISO creation without an error coming up when using the MkISOfs script.
I tried following the link you posted but Sorry I havent had success following it. I had success with neues script way of doing it.

Should the source be BartPE or the WIndows 2003 Server CD. At this time im doing it like earlier pointing to the BartPE output.

Can you please create your own version as Micrope MkISOfs and Micrope run ISO in Qemu. Thanks!

Should I use WIndows XP Source. Im getting this message when Use the Windows 2003 as the source and output.
Trying it without running RAM script. Got some errors when trying to create the ouput. And I then I use my batch file to create ISO. When I run it reports the following.



Cant seem to use Windows 2003 server to create a working Live CD. Let me test it again on Windows XP.

It creates a working output with Windows XP sp2 and using the Windows XP BArPE as the source. I have to use my batch file to create the ISO. If I use the MkISOfs it still gives me the 4 error I reported earlier. Im not running the RAM script. This seem to work out and the the live CD runs.

Ill test the micrope_driver_usbhid on a CDRW soon. Need to find a CDRW. Why cant it be tested on a virtual machine. VMware supports USB stuff.

@thehive: weird about mkisofs not working.. it works for me

and the scripts have proper names as far as i'm concerned - i don't really understand what you're asking for here. all scripts start with micrope_, and there is a separate project called minipe.

as for creating separate micrope_mkisofs and qemu_ scripts: why? no need in reinventing the wheel, figuratively speaking. Neue's scrits work just fine.

yes, the source has to be a bartpe directory at the moment - built from server 2003. it is possible to use a bartpe built from XP sp2 as well, but then you would need to manually replace RAMDISK.SYS with the one from server 2003 before building the ISO.

Im still getting this when I use BARPE XP as the source.






Ill make sure to try USB mouse and keyboard when trying to test on real hardware. Might be tomorrow or next day.

Middle click. I see. Is that Alpha Beta thing virtual work spaces. At first i was wondering what that was about. Thats very cool.

ok!

I double checked the inside of the [paths] for my ISo maker. It seems I had too files with the same name on different folder for Scripts. Let me see if it works now.


Isnt that a bleep. That was the problem with not being able to create and ISO and runing Qemu.

Still getting the




I Just press the yes to all. You have any idea whats creating that.

those messages are because i use dircopy to save typing. all app scripts are designed to work independently, and some programs need the same files from the i386/WinSxS directory. Neue uses the win32 copy API i believe, and that one croaks if files in the directory being copied have the same name.

I could work around these by using filecopy commands instead, but that's messier. plus a lot of work. and i'm lazy

in short, it's a feature, not a bug

@neue, if you read this, is i possible to add a "force" option to copy/move commands, so these messages don't pop up?



ok, I did not know vmware supported USB in that case, vmware testing _should_ be enough (to get a general idea at least). what ireally need is a wide range of testers with varying HW - need to know if i got all the controller drivers sorted out (EHCI/OHCI/UHCi)

qemu actually has LIMITED usb support as well, but only in Linux :/

You think batcher can use both the BARPE and the WIndows 2003 as sources at the same time to make creating your version of the RAM ISO easier. Or those that feature need to be added to Batcher.

OK! so its not a bug that it wants to copy over another file. Hopefully those popups can be made to go away in a future build of batcher, since they dont really create an error in the final ISO.

@TheHive - As draugen guessed correctly, I'm using only windows api functions, this is usefull to handle errors such as disk full, or when a removable drive is not valid. It is only used to handle those common errors, earlier batcher versions didn't used api, and there were always problems appearing due to hardware issues - and api is the right way to handle them..

You can use any build you wish, and you can even mix them.. but the available .script files at the moment are only prepared to use one of them (preferably win2003..)




@Draugen - Everything is possible, only imagination limits our horizonts..

Probably there is a way to bypass all dialog boxes, but is it really a priority at the moment?
Don't worry I'll google around to see I find out how to do it as soon as some other issues are solved (like regwritebinary... )

see the post i made some time ago in batcher's main thread - this is possible, but to make it easier, i want another global variable - %pebldrdir% or something.

well, it's reatively easy to automate the ram boot thingy in batcher. i could even make a script including the neccesary files (making it moot what version of windows is source). but then there are murky legal waters....

That would be best way to do it. You can just add dummy files in the script, which we can replace our selfs using batcher.

Testing on CDRW - Test failed. Running using Windows XP as the base. I cant get a good ISO with WIn2003.


I kept getting this error when I restarted the computer and windows PE seem to try to load.
A problem had been detected and windows has been shutdown to prevent damage to your computer.


The live CD started fine. It went to the Searching For HArdware screen. I got the error when WIndows XP PE
was trying to load. I got the above message with more error text all in a blue screen.

I tried different methods of building the ISO. With USB script and without it. Same thing. I tried using A43 as the shell and the same error.


I tried using the script from neue and other authors and it booted fine and worked. This ISO was based on Windows 2003. Not running from RAM.

i need the complete error mesage to be able to debug
stop code, to be exact.

A couple things I noticed from this post.

First, the Ramdisk.sys and setupldr.bin have to be from Server2003 ****SP1**** for ramdisk booting to work. Regular Server 2003 doesn't have the newer files.

Secondly, you need to expand (not rename) ramdisk.sy_ for this to work. From the command line:
expand ramdisk.sy_ ramdisk.sys then copy them to the correct locations. They need to be both "inside" and "outside" your base ISO.

I will try to right down the whole Error down.


Its never stated how to expand the file. Your explanation is better. Thanks!

umm, thehive, did you even _read_ the thread i linked to next to micrope_driver_ramdisk? its all there

hello ,all

@draugen

with IE6 or FIREFOX 1.5.0.1 , I do not have access to the " Batcher site" : http://batcher.pt.vu/
I cannot telecharger scripts, every day .
A someone else you it it problem ?



sorry , my english is bad, I use a google translator !!!

humm.. weird. the link works fine for me... but direct link: http://batcher.catch-free.com

re,

@draugen

with http://batcher.catch-free.com/ it's idem

IE6 = "Impossible to post the page"
Firefox =error of loading of the page , re-initialized Connection

I do not have a problem for acceder with the site :http://scripts.pt.vu/

it's very strange !!

You should try to enter it using windows explorer - maybe it works this way..

I've tested the link and it works fine for me too..

I can access both links using Netscape.

Check your antispyware / antivirus / firewall logs.

Here is the error im getting when I boot on a real PC.

A problem has been detected and windows has been shutdown to prevent damage to your computer.

If this is the first time you've seen this stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:

Check for viruses on your computer. Remove any newly installed hard drives or hard drive controllers. Check your had drive to make sure it is properly configured and terminated. Run Chkdsk /F to check for hard drive corruption, and then restart your computer.

Technical Information:
*** STOP: 0x0000007B (0xF7C4D528, 0xC0000034,0x00000000, 0x00000000)


Yes, I read the first post. It Didnt make much sence to me. Sorry!

well, stop 0x07b means invalid/inaccesible boot device. Which is exeedingly strange, since all relevant CDROM drivers should be present.

I'm afraid i need more information yet again

what type of PC are you booting from? HW interfaces? ACPI support? IDE controller?

@all: zitu pointed out a glaring bug when building from server 2k3 as source. stupid stupid me. stay tuned for an update in the next hours. (at least that bug is simple to fix )

EDIT:typo... i am horrible with names!

micrope_base updated. should now work with server 2k3 as well.

...and updated again. thx for input, zitu

TheHive posted this error here:

Technical Information:
*** STOP: 0x0000007B (0xF7C4D528, 0xC0000034,0x00000000, 0x00000000)

I believe the cause being a combination of Cd material, Cd burner and ...
Had the same error when testing my brandnew MicroBartPE at one PC and two laptops. As it is a dual boot CD I had 6 images to test. With one image (MicroBartPE from CD) I got the same error with a Samsung Q10 (exteral 1384 CDRW drive) as TheHive. The MicroBartPE from RAM booted ok.

Going to buy other CD's tomorrow.

philon

media does matter, yes.

also, i believe a point should be (re)emphazised: MicroPE currently only supports (internal) ATAPI/IDE CDROM drives (_if_ micrope_driver_ramdisk is not included - if driver_ramdisk is run aswell, Micrope supports /rdexportascd booting). I updated the first post to reflect this more clearly

adding support for external drives should not be hard though. will see if i get around to it tomorrow.

--martin

base updated again. using server 2003 as the base now works properly. the ISO has increased to just shy of 32 MB, as i had to include sxs.dll to make cmd.exe work when building from server 2003. This i don't mind, as pretty much every other program needs sxs.dll anway

working fine now. Glad my suggestions made it

now, another problem: how to make more progies work inside this ?

for cprocess (I followed the progress of neue), SHLWAPI.DLL is also needed.

now I'm stuck with other progies from the same website (nirsoft.net).
For example, driverview refuses to run. I may be due to lack of ramdrive, but
I'm not sure yet.

If any guru can help on this one, I'd appreciate.

Next logical step would be to have qemu and why not kqemu service running
on micrope. Like this, minimal memory is required to boot, maximal memory
plus partial virtualization would be available to qemu

Zitu

for pointers to making more apps work, look at the micrope_shell_* and micrope_app_* scripts. basically copying neccessary files over, creating folders and menu entries where appropriate.

to check which dlls a given program is using, i use sysinternal's ListDlls.

thanks for the pointers. I usually use procexp

I can't make regedit work with this procedure with 2003 sp1 trial.
Do you have a fix ? I'm sure I'm missing something big and obvious...

Zitu

try changing all references of:

in micrope_app_ms-regedit to:


I'm working on the same

EDIT: well, that's not enough. apparently, it needs something else. will report back if i figure out what.

Have you tried to include these dll's also?

\I386\ULIB.DLL
\I386\ACLUI.DLL
\I386\CLB.DLL


I had to include them to make regedit work under the BartPein49Mb.script..




edit: I've understood now that draugen made a similar .script, I guess daugen has already included these files in his .script..

yeah, those files are in my script.

and now it would seem i've struck a wall. I booted up bartpe (built off of server 2003), started regedit, and took a listdlls snapshot of regedit.

i now have a micrope build _with all_ neccesary dlls for regedit (according to listdlls anyway) and then some. but regedit refuses to start .

really really weird.

now you know what I meant by "hitting the wall"

I'm feeling like bashing my head against the wall right now

took filemon for a spin (in default bartpe), and got no more answers there.

will try Nuno Brito's reducer script, but that one is tailored for XP, not server 2003 (editing needed nuno! ). cya later

I may have found a fix. Now regedit runs...
Will post tomorrow once stabilized. It does increase the size quite a bit though

zitu

Well I dont think its the CDRW media that I have. When I burn an ISO created with neue and other authors scripts my PC boot fine into the Live CD. Whe I burn the one Created with your scripts then I get the error I mention. The CDRW boots fine within VMware. It doesnt give the same error when I boot from the CDRW on my Real PC.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Processor Description
Intel® Pentium® 4 CPU 2.00GHz, 2019MHz
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ACPI Uniprocessor PC
Description ACPI Uniprocessor PC
Manufacturer (Standard computers)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers

Intel® 82801DB Ultra ATA Storage Controller - 24CB
Item Value
Device Type IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers
Device Name
Description Intel® 82801DB Ultra ATA Storage Controller - 24CB
Manufacturer Intel
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Baseboard

Manufacturer Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
Product 8IEXP

If we run the scripts and then use the Create ISO. It should create a regular ISO right. So in that thinking. Cant you make A script that boots from Ram that requires we change the source directory to our Windows 2003 instead of BartPE folder. Where it will get the files from Windows 2003 and then create the ISO within the ISO you mention to boot from RAM.

that I can do