Hi,

I need to create a bootable XP live CD of my C: drive. The XP installation is modified (many settings, etc.) and has a few small programs installed.
I used to have software that does this but the hardware has changed and now it doesnt - this isn't important right now.

I have tried various methods. The most recent has been something along the lines of http://old.bink.nu/xpbootcd/
It fails - recently with the error message "error code 4" (or something along those lines).
I am going crazy here! How can I put my C:\ drive on a CD and make it bootable. I have tried according to the link (copied all of the files from C to the CD, made it bootable and added the bootimage).

Any help would be appreciated!

The tutorial you linked to:
http://old.bink.nu/xpbootcd/

Is NOT a way to have your "C:" drive on CD, it is a tutorial to recreate an install CD from the install directory you may have on your drive.


I never heard of anything similar to a live system from CD taken from a normal install, exception made for two different Commercial apps, both not available anymore, one from Qualystem and one from APCT (that was however for NT and 2K, I think that the XP version was never released):
http://web.archive.org/web/20041010152747/...n/produits.html
http://web.archive.org/web/20060709130909/www.apct.net/en/

AFAIK the only "real XP" capable of booting from CD is the ETBOOT project, here:
http://www.boot-land.net/forums/?showtopic=3890
though it is not designed to "replicate" an existing install, it may possibly be "tweaked" to do what you want to do.


jaclaz

P.S.: You do understand that what you asked in this thread (and to which I replied ) is NOT the same question you asked here:
http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?sho...c=21650&hl=
don't you?

Thanks for the reply.

Yes I believe that I did not phrase my question correctly in the previous post. I kind of abandoned it but now I really need to find a solution :/

Thanks for linking me to ETBoot, I will give it a try as soon as they enable my account.


Nick

This is what I've been playing with of late, I got it to run from ramdisk, but (wrtite protected-complicated) that's essentially the same way the "pe" cd's work, appearantly, the read rate on optical discs is just too slow to support an os. So the entire system drive is first copied from the disc, to ram (need huge ram to try this at home.. oh yeah, and it takes a really long, long time), then it actually boots from ram instead.
I can't think of what this could possibly be of any use for, really, but my real primary objective was just XP..NOT..BartPE...on cd. or even dvd.

I NEED SOME HELP

I can't decide if I've failed or succeeded. Is forcing an entire installation of xp to run read-only, and from a ramdisc like a "pe" does, actually xp, or pe? Is this really xp on cd, or mutant pe? I dunno, somehow all I've done reverse-engineering xp just make it into pe, sort of-somehow, and somehwere in there, I think I might have missed the point, and I cant quite put my finger on it. I hate when that happens. It just seems that instead of making xp-on-cd INSTEAD of "pe", I have made xp INTO "BartPE", instead. And now I just cant decide if that defeats the initial purpose, and looses the challenge, or not. ??????

I must sound utterly insane.

I know this is possibly because I currently use some software (forgot the name - will post it later) that you run on your machine, insert a CD that contains some ELTORITO stuff, reboot and you have an ISO. When this ISO is burned to disk, the whole C drive works (slower than usual but fast enough for my purposes). The reason I have to find another solution is that we moved to near hardware and for some reason it does not work any more.

There exist people they do exactly what you asked for. Look at http://members.lycos.co.uk/cyanplanet. Or try it yourself with the BartPE builder. But I suppose a lot of programs you like to run will not run if you simply start to use the BartPE builder

A link to a site for

helps the OP how?

Maybe this explains it?

Besides, for the relatively small fee of GBP 5.00 the linked site appear to be selling a pre-made boot CD:


Made with BartPE:


And in the FAQ:





So, it is a "normal" BartPE, and it is illegal too.

jaclaz

Well maybe or maybe not.

Very strange business model.