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SBernheart

Nov 5 2010, 04:40 AM

I am SO totally confused now after reading SO much about how to use PE Builder that I don't even know WHERE to start from here and I figured it was time I asked the dumb questions. Am I to understand that I must have an installation CD in order to use PE Builder? My problem is that I don't HAVE a CD and I can't start Win XP from a HD enclosure. My old computer ran XP and when I bought my new one, I purchased the enclosure so I wouldn't lose ten years worth of 'stuff'. It's not that I can't boot it from BIOS per say -- I get the black screen with the XP logo on it, but then it goes to a blue screen for about two seconds (not even long enough to pause the screen) and then it 'cuts out' and reverts to loading my new computer's Win 7.
I thought the idea behind this was to get a bootable XP to work from, but it seems every time I try to point PE to my Win XP files it tells me that the source file is the 'wrong version'. Is there a specific source it wants from me? Specific folders or files maybe? When XP was still running, it had SP3 and all the updates until I replaced it with my new computer earlier this year. The only reason I'm trying so hard to do this in the first place is because I promised to keep all the 'old' stuff separate from the new and thought the external enclosure was the way to keep EVERYbody happy. My plan was to purchase a new internal HD for the enclosure and start over with a clean XP install, transfer the old folders/files on to it and erase the old internal HD completely to use as a slave internally to store backups on. I was also planning to use the fresh HD in the enclosure to store backups from my new computer (Windows 7) as well as partition it so I can play around with some Linux stuff I've been working on recently.
If this is no longer possible, does anyone know how else I can get a copy of XP? I have my original product key -- I'm not trying to rip off Microsoft or anything, it's just that I didn't know how to make OS disks back then even though I bugged and bugged the store I bought it from to supply me with a set. They must have thought I was crazy as I now know how simple it is to not only make a set of Win 7, but a fresh HP factory set as well. Unfortunately, it's too late to do either for XP, so where do I go from here? I went to the Microsoft website to consider purchasing a replacement set, but I can't even find that unless they mean for me to pay an outrageous amount of money as if I was buying an OS for the first time. Everything was about Win 7, nothing about XP except to upgrade from it. So, is this futile or what? I am that lost at this point, so I can only hope for a better answer. Surely there MUST be a way to extract the files needed to make a CD copy of XP because, after all, if I had a CD copy, I'd use that, right? Or is THAT the dumbest question I've asked?
Thank you, in advance, for any help you can provide and please accept my apology for making you read this very long post to begin with. I truly do appreciate it when I get ANY answer, let alone the one I really want to know. BTW, this is my first time in the forum, so be kind, won't you?

SBernheart

jaclaz

Nov 5 2010, 05:06 AM

Yes, you NEED a XP install CD.

Mind you that above means that you NEED an install CD or DVD (or however install sources) of ANY operating system you are running or intend to run, you were EXTREMELY lucky you did not run into problems in all the time you ran your XP on your old PC.

Point is that with A LOT of work, you can probably re-build one from the files you have on your old hard disk

, supplementing them with files from service packs, freely downloadable.

There is another possibility, as well needing a LOT of work and however NOT recommended WITHOUT having an XP CD, i.e. "adapting" the already installed XP on external USB to be able to boot from it, but I wouldn't advise you trying it without an XP CD handy (catch 22).

The approach is sketched here:
http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?sho...c=16381&hl=

There are reports of success using this approach:
http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=120423
http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=91907

We can help you allright with doing it, but depending on your familiarity with the jargon and tools used, it may well be beyond your current computer abilities, and you may need to additionally learn some "advanced" basics.

jaclaz

SBernheart

Nov 5 2010, 06:07 AM

Somehow I just knew I wasn't going to get the answer I really wanted! LOL

QUOTE

....you were EXTREMELY lucky you did not run into problems in all the time you ran your XP on your old PC.

This is so true, you have no idea! That's why I bugged the store -- whenever I needed a CD, I had no idea why it wanted one when the store kept telling me I didn't need one anymore. I'm no longer such a newbie that I can't make them now, but ten years ago I had no clue.
As far as that thread you pointed to, I understood enough to get me in trouble maybe, but I stopped reading when I finally figured out that a CD was needed in the first place. I'll review all the replies there later tonight. I'm finally off to sleep after too much reading as it is. As far as knowledge enough to continue from there goes, I lack most of the DOS stuff, although I can follow directions, if given, with a DOS prompt. Thing is, I can see everything contained in my folders from XP -- I just can't boot up -- so if directed to move this here or that there, I should be OK. The only thing I'm sure about is that I can only work with one CD at a time -- I have a mini HP now and it has only one -- but I can possibly make use of a flash drive, again if need be, when I get to the point of making the CD.
Hopefully, seeing that thread again with fresh eyes will make more sense. Hey -- just thought of another dumb question. If I can boot to that XP logo I mentioned, can I get to XP's recovery via F11 (or whatever 'F' it needs) before that screen 'blues out' on me? Will it think I mean to recover Win 7 by mistake? OK, that's two questions, but the late hour is making me even goofier than I was three nights ago when I started all this! LOL No need to reply if it's not possible, jaclaz, but I do thank you for your prompt response to my original post. I was thinking out loud again was all. I'm afraid of screwing around where it might hurt my new system. I'm not that comfortable using the enclosure just yet. I've booted from a CD and from flash drives with Linux, but I haven't had reason to date to try fixing something I'm booting from like my old XP. I'll have to get back to you if I get stuck, OK? Again, thanks for the reply. Until next time then....

SBernheart

jaclaz

Nov 5 2010, 06:31 AM

QUOTE (SBernheart @ Nov 5 2010, 12:07 PM)

Hey -- just thought of another dumb question. If I can boot to that XP logo I mentioned, can I get to XP's recovery via F11 (or whatever 'F' it needs) before that screen 'blues out' on me? Will it think I mean to recover Win 7 by mistake?

NO.

If you want you can edit the offline XP registry to avoid the re-booting:
http://www.theeldergeek.com/auto_reboot_on_system_crash.htm
or (quickly when booting) press F8

and choose "Disable automatic restart on system failure"
The blue screen should "hang" and you should be able to see the actual STOP ERROR (99.9999% of probabilities that it is a 0x0000007b - Inaccessible boot device).

If it is a 0x0000007b, as expected, it means that your current Windows XP install on the USB connected drive misses the needed services and drivers to actually access at boot time the USB bus, and thus starts "panicking".

As said, theoretically it is possible to enable the missing drivers/services, but it is highly error prone, and though there relates guides/howto for it, while it might be a fun experiment to try, it is NOT recommended if you don't have an XP source, as it is possible that while attempting doing it you "ruin" XP beyond any possible repair.

Still, if you want to take the risk, no prob, you should start (AFTER having slept

) reading this thread:
http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=14181
and the "tutorials" in Detmar's signature to have an idea of the problem and solution.

It is also possible that an automated method, such as this one:
http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?sho...c=23553&hl=
may work for you, as is or with some tweaks/changes, but it is difficult to say.

Ideally you should have ANOTHER external HD to which you could place a "dd" or "forensic-like" image of the old XP disk, so that if any of the attempts fail you have a way-back.
If you have enough space on your "new" HD (the internal one with Windows 7 installed to it) that would also do nicely

.

jaclaz

Ed_P

Nov 5 2010, 09:00 AM

If the store where you bought the XP computer kept insisting you didn't need an XP CD it's possible they said that because they had copied the CD's folders to the hard drive, either on the C: drive or on a hidden partition. Does the XP system's hd have an I386 folder?

SBernheart

Nov 6 2010, 05:44 AM

Oh, jaclaz, at first I thought it wasn't going to work as I booted XP and didn't see the same choices on my black screen as yours had -- I even did it twice -- but then I realized I needed to use F8 to get to that particular screen and the third time's the charm. Nothing you didn't already expect happened, but at least I was able to see the blue screen for the stop error 0x0000007b. I get these brainy ideas only half as often as dumb ones, but I thought about the drives Win Explorer gives external devices and wondered if the letters it assigned to the enclosure, specifically 'F' for Recovery and 'G' for everything else, is what's causing the startup problems. Like most Windows systems, it usually assigns 'C' for everything (and 'D' for Recovery on mine), but maybe the drive letters need to be changed back to 'C' and 'D'? After all, Win 7 (internal HD) already used 'C' and 'D', so how could it use the same for the enclosure, right? I mean, could it really be that simple as not changing the drive letters so WinXP could load like it used to? You let me know which idea type it is this time 'round -- brainy or dumb?

QUOTE

Does the XP system's hd have an I386 folder?

Ed, as far as the I386 folder goes, the short answer is 'Yes'. The longer answer is it is located in the main folder list as I first click on what used to be 'C' but at the moment is 'G' as well as in a couple of other places further in the tree (upon reviewing them, it seems they are copies of the original I386 folder). At the very least, I should be able to find an image of the original XP and at the worst, I'd have to learn enough about rebuilding XP's files for missing drivers and such. As stated in the first post, I still have my paperwork, product keys, etc and I have all the folders/files on an external HD (NOT the enclosure, but one I use for backups and pictures I'm saving). I doubt I'd miss much else and would be happy to simply get XP back and working again. Is there an App for that? (I'll just go ahead and put that query in the 'dumb' column for those of you keeping score.) BTW, Ed, I found out much too late about the store and backup CDs. By the time I got my first desktop (2001 maybe or 2002), WinXP had a "built-in" Recovery via the Recovery Console and stored it in it's own partition ('D' on mine) and they said Microsoft (and HP I guess) decided the CDs were redundant. Says who? Can't very well access Recovery if, like me then, one didn't know how to boot a computer that wasn't booting on it's own. I was sooo very green back then and could not have made a set of backup CDs to save my life, much less to save my computer! I learn the hard way though, but I do learn. The first thing I did was make the 'one time only' HP discs for my new computer and shortly after that I made my first ones for Windows 7. Oddly enough, it was because of my interest in Linux before I got this computer that insisted I do no harm until steps were taken to save backups so I learned and all the thanks for help go to forums and the people in them like you guys. I'm not afraid to ask for help when I really need it, but I can spend way too many hours, WAY TOO MANY HOURS, researching about this or that and I've found that it's ALWAYS the forums that give people like myself the answers, even if they're not the answers we're looking for, even if it's not "the one I really want to know". ;}
Well I'm afraid I typed myself right past my bedtime yet again, but I'll sleep on what I did do this morning and maybe a few more of the brainier ideas will work their way to the top. If you guys think I should have a BIN image in one of the folders that I could copy to disc in case all else fails, please let me know. I never make changes to ANYthing without a copy of it somewhere else, so I'm not afraid to move things around. Now that I'm thinking about the drive letters, the folders still use 'C', if I'm not mistaken -- went to look, but now I'm too tired to concentrate and all it's showing me is the letters 'G' and 'F' and I don't know how I can test the letter theory other than to click on 'Properties'. I checked a few files via Properties and the drive letter they were all pointing to was 'G'. I hope that bit lets you know what I mean about changing them, but what would Win 7 do with that? I don't have multi-booting or anything, if that matters, so the only reason I can think of for Win 7 to rename these drives are because they can't be the same as the parent system, right? Am I back to brainy or just stuck in dumb? Have a good morning guys.....

SBernheart

Ed_P

Nov 6 2010, 08:57 AM

The I386 folder should be able to be used as your input to PEBuilder and allow you to create a BartPE system.

I must admit with all your words I'm still not sure what you're trying to do. I believe you have a new pc, it has Windows 7 and you have your old XP pc's hd in a USB enclosure connected to the new pc and you're trying to boot the XP hd?? Why??

jaclaz

Nov 6 2010, 02:36 PM

QUOTE (SBernheart @ Nov 6 2010, 11:44 AM)

Nothing you didn't already expect happened, but at least I was able to see the blue screen for the stop error 0x0000007b. I get these brainy ideas only half as often as dumb ones, but I thought about the drives Win Explorer gives external devices and wondered if the letters it assigned to the enclosure, specifically 'F' for Recovery and 'G' for everything else, is what's causing the startup problems. Like most Windows systems, it usually assigns 'C' for everything (and 'D' for Recovery on mine), but maybe the drive letters need to be changed back to 'C' and 'D'? After all, Win 7 (internal HD) already used 'C' and 'D', so how could it use the same for the enclosure, right? I mean, could it really be that simple as not changing the drive letters so WinXP could load like it used to? You let me know which idea type it is this time 'round -- brainy or dumb?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104952/quotes

QUOTE

Vinny Gambini: I object to this witness being called at this time. We've been given no prior notice he would testify. No discovery of any tests he's conducted or reports he's prepared. And as the court is aware, the defense is entitled to advance notice of all witness who will testify, particularly those who will give scientific evidence, so that we can properly prepare for cross-examination, as well as give the defense an opportunity to have his reports reviewed by a defense expert, who might then be in a position to contradict the veracity of his conclusions.
Judge Chamberlain Haller: Mr. Gambini?
Vinny Gambini: Yes, sir?
Judge Chamberlain Haller: That is a lucid, intelligent, well thought-out objection.
Vinny Gambini: Thank you, sir.
Judge Chamberlain Haller: Overruled.

Nor brainy nor dumb, it's a nice example of "lateral thinking".

"lateral thinking" may work in a number of fields including the market and sociological studies, but it generally won't work with computers and Operating Systems.

I'll try again:

QUOTE (jaclaz @ Nov 5 2010, 12:31 PM)

If it is a 0x0000007b, as expected, it means that your current Windows XP install on the USB connected drive misses the needed services and drivers to actually access at boot time the USB bus, and thus starts "panicking".

Or, seen from another perspective

, do you really think that if it was just a drive letter assignment problem, I wouldn't have ALREADY given you a simple solution for that (not applying to your case) simple problem?

I may be grumpy

, but not that mean

jaclaz

SBernheart

Nov 8 2010, 06:18 AM

Sorry I took so long before replying.

QUOTE

I'm still not sure what you're trying to do. I believe you have a new pc, it has Windows 7 and you have your old XP pc's hd in a USB enclosure connected to the new pc and you're trying to boot the XP hd?? Why??

Ed:

QUOTE

When XP was still running, it had SP3 and all the updates until I replaced it with my new computer earlier this year. The only reason I'm trying so hard to do this in the first place is because I promised to keep all the 'old' stuff separate from the new and thought the external enclosure was the way to keep EVERYbody happy. My plan was to purchase a new internal HD for the enclosure and start over with a clean XP install, transfer the old folders/files on to it and erase the old internal HD completely to use as a slave internally to store backups on. I was also planning to use the fresh HD in the enclosure to store backups from my new computer (Windows 7) as well as partition it so I can play around with some Linux stuff I've been working on recently.

A few other reasons:

I'm probably going to have to drag out the old tower and put the HD back in it along with the RAM I took out of it just to satisfy my need to know that it still works and if it does, maybe I could make a backup from there. I do recall that the backup I used with the old machine would NOT backup the entire system, so I guess I'll have to figure out if I want to perform a recovery to restore the system to it's original state. Well now I'm simply thinking out loud again because I'm still not sure how to transfer the HD back to the enclosure if I already know it isn't going to work from there. Hopefully I'll be allowed to use PE Builder before I remove the HD from the old tower a second time so I could at least have that but I'll still have to count on being able to make a CD first in order to do that, right? Rhetorical question. I'm afraid I'm nearing the point of giving up on the whole idea, but I'll be pissed that I was talked into buying stuff I didn't need AND talked out of having someone do the work for me. So, that said, off I go to retrieve the pieces and parts I need to reconnect my old computer. I don't know if there is an easier way to go about all this, but they misled me at the store -- just like the other store did with my last purchase -- so why would I have expected better results this time around, right? Again, rhetorical. Double Duh......

QUOTE

I may be grumpy, but not that mean!

I hope I didn't give anyone THAT impression, but I do know that teaching someone else to do something you know very well yourself is sometimes easier said than done. I don't know how many times I've been on either side of the teaching/learning end of the equation and had a simple thing like what I mentioned to you become the difference between success and/or failure. Upon further inspection after writing that, I discovered that all the folders/files listed under the 'G' drive letter were listed as having 'G' properties. I remembered trying to open a program from there and while a few opened correctly and worked correctly, others did not, claiming that items it needed to work were no longer where it expected them to be (like in a 'C' folder/file). I guess that's why I thought about that. I did find the I386 folder and tried pointing PE to THAT and got back the error message "(cannot find file: F:\I386\i386\setupldr.bin)" even though doing a search found four setupldr BIN images in the 'F' or Recovery section, so go figure. I can't possibly begin to understand how they can show something there if it's not (and nothing's 'hidden'). Now you know why I get sooo frustrated when I try learning on my own. Nothing's ever as simple as one might imagine! I loved "My Cousin Vinny", BTW, jaclaz. 'Till next time.....

SBernheart

jaclaz

Nov 8 2010, 06:42 AM

QUOTE (SBernheart @ Nov 8 2010, 12:18 PM)

Now you know why I get sooo frustrated when I try learning on my own. Nothing's ever as simple as one might imagine!

Sure.

Life is tough.

But you are not "learning on your own", you have a couple of (at least one of them

) grumpy "teachers" that may help you

.

The problem is similar to what happens to mathematics once you exit high school and go to the University (in a technical field, like engineering, mathematics or physics), first year is used mostly to make students understand that what they were thought up to high school was either "wrong", "incorrect" or "NOT exhaustive".

It is normal that to illustrate a concept to a kid you need to simplify (or omit) a number of things, but when you go at a "higher" level, it is difficult to make people leave all the ASSUMPTIONS they made (or were induced to make) before because they are (mostly) moot.

Ed_P suggested you a "shortcut", shortcuts are like that, if you are lucky you get to your destination faster

, but if they don't

you may find yourself lost in the woods.

The "main" (long and winding) road is to rebuild a "proper" source, as I hinted you at first, that WILL work, though it will take time and tests, and failures before having success.

Another possible path, as said, would be to make your XP work from the USB enclosure/HD, but as said, it is even longer and error prone than the "main" road.

A few questions (which answers may come useful should you decide to take the "alternate" road):

How big is your INTERNAL hard disk?
How much EMPTY space have you got on it?
How big is your EXTERNAL (USB connected) old hard disk?

If you on the other hand wish to take the "main" road that has been suggested to you, you need to leave any and all of your ASSUMPTIONS on how XP (or PE or Windows 7 ) work (or should work) and simply follow the path that has been shown you, in other words, I will be happy, once you have decided which path to choose (NO shortcuts in my maps) to help you following it, but you need to try following it, WITHOUT introducing ANY change or "lateral thinking".

It's not difficult, but you need to concentrate on it, leaving all the rest (temporarily) aside.

jaclaz

SBernheart

Nov 8 2010, 08:42 AM

Thanks for the heads up, jaclaz.

QUOTE

...all the thanks for help go to forums and the people in them like you guys. I'm not afraid to ask for help when I really need it, but I can spend way too many hours, WAY TOO MANY HOURS, researching about this or that and I've found that it's ALWAYS the forums that (are willing to) give people like myself the answers...

I didn't mean to say that I was learning on my own, but rather that I try to learn on my own first. It is only after spending sooo much time trying on my own and still not 'getting it' that I get frustrated and only then will I even ask for help. I drive people *crazy* ( and myself, if I'm honest) because I don't ask for help sooner. It's not that I don't want to, but simply that I like to figure out stuff on my own. I do and will always appreciate the help I receive and have passed the favors forward where I could and did so with a smile on my face. Now I know you said not to assume, but I have a feeling it's why you are willing to help as well.

By "Ed_P suggested" did you mean:

QUOTE

If so, I got this when I tried from 'F' drive:

QUOTE

I did find the I386 folder and tried pointing PE to THAT and got back the error message "(cannot find file: F:\I386\i386\setupldr.bin)" even though doing a search found four setupldr BIN images in the 'F' or Recovery section.

From the 'G' drive I got the same error message "(cannot find file: G:\I386\i386\setupldr.bin)" even though I see it from Win Explorer and searching 'G' for it gave me one result (G:\I386) rather than the four it gave me from 'F'. Could be that the folder in Recovery IS hidden, just not in the way I'm used to (like the hidden folders/files you can choose to make available in Internet Options).

Answers to the following for the 'alternate' road:

1.How big is your INTERNAL hard disk? 500+GB w/4GB RAM
2.How much EMPTY space have you got on it? 500GB
3.How big is your EXTERNAL (USB connected) old hard disk? only 7.5GB free of 32+GB (w/750MB RAM if I connect the old tower instead of using enclosure)
4.Separate External HD USB device -- around 100GBs free of 500GB

I am most definitely not afraid of the trials and errors -- after all, what's the worst that can happen? It already isn't working, right? You said I could "place a "dd" or "forensic-like" image of the old XP disk" beforehand, right? So which image would I use and from which folder? I386? All of them are 232KB in size, are around the same dates in August of 2001 and include these BINs:

Later today, I'll review Detmar's tutorials, but I have to add that, while I recognize most of the coding there, I really never worked with anything like that before. I'm OK with learning how to. I'll let you know if it's over my head, OK? Thanks for your honesty and I'll try to be a blank slate, if you will, and not make any assumptions. I do have one question for you though. Would it be easier to work on XP if it's back in the old tower? Short of reconnecting my monitor/keyboard/mouse it's ready to run again or isn't it worth the trouble of running XP where I at least know it was working? Wherever it's best to work from is fine by me and anything needed changing within the folders can certainly be copied first and sent somewhere else in case the 'trials' don't work right away, OK?
Thanks and good day......

SBernheart

Ed_P

Nov 8 2010, 09:01 AM

QUOTE (SBernheart @ Nov 8 2010, 07:18 AM)

Rather than pointing PEBuilder to F:\I386 try pointing it to just F:.

Is there a setupldr.bin in F:\I386?

QUOTE (SBernheart @ Nov 5 2010, 05:40 AM)

I purchased the enclosure so I wouldn't lose ten years worth of 'stuff'.

If all you're trying to do is access your old files you don't need to boot XP to access them, your Windows 7 should be able to see them on the enclosured hd.

jaclaz

Nov 8 2010, 09:21 AM

QUOTE (SBernheart @ Nov 8 2010, 02:42 PM)

Would it be easier to work on XP if it's back in the old tower?

NO, it is not needed.

(and actually, though doable, would probably make things more complex), BUT it may open (ONCE created the needed XP CD, a third way).

What you need is a hard disk (to be exact a partition formatted as NTFS) accessible on the same PC at the same time as your old hard disk and with enough free space to contain your whole hard disk.

Theory of operation (if deciding to try the "complex" method):

make an EXACT, "WHOLE" copy of your "old" disk
try things on your "old" disk
IF anything goes wrong, restore from the copy and start again from scratch, looping to #2 above

This is only a preventive measure (or escape plan) if anything goes wrong beyond possible repair.

Back to the "main" road.

Open a command prompt in your working system, provided that your "old" disk, now USB connected gets letters F: and G:, run these commands in it:

CODE

DIR /S F:\>C:\myF_Drive.dir

[ENTER]

CODE

DIR /S /A:H F:\>C:\myF_Drive_hidden.dir

[ENTER]

CODE

DIR /S G:\>C:\myG_Drive.dir

[ENTER]

CODE

DIR /S /A:H G:\>C:\myG_Drive_hidden.dir

[ENTER]

The above will produce 4 files in your C:\ drive, just compress them all in a .zip archive and attach the .zip to your next post (or upload it to a free hosting site and post a link to the file).

This way we can have an idea of what files you actually have on your old HD, to be compared to the ones you need for a "working" CD or \I386 folder, listed here:
http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=102
http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=104

Besides, we also need to know what EXACT hardware you are running (your new Windows 7 machine).
Particularly we need to know:

If laptop/desktop.
Exact make/model.
If it uses (likely) SATA or IDE/ATA/ATAPI hard disk.
If it has (if SATA) a setting in BIOS for "IDE compatibility mode" vs. "SATA" or "AHCI".
Which video card it uses.
If you are able to find XP drivers for that particular machine.

Since you have still the old machine, provided that the drive once re-connected to it will boot normally (and in any case an attempt that can be taken ONLY AFTER having an image of the disk, for the preventive reasons said) we have the third way, "transform" the installed XP in a USB connected one working on that machine and later attempt to make it "universal" (or at least working also on the new machine while still USB connected), by using this:
http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?sho...c=23553&hl=
"as-is" or with some tweaks on it.

Still, I would suggesting doing things in this order:

create an XP source (from which you may later be able to create a PE)
image the old hard disk (better be safe than sorry) <- this is VITAL
explore the "third way"
if for any reason #3 doesn't work, try manually (using some info from the Dietmar's originated threads/methods)

jaclaz

SBernheart

Nov 9 2010, 05:40 AM

QUOTE

What you need is a hard disk (to be exact a partition formatted as NTFS) accessible on the same PC at the same time as your old hard disk and with enough free space to contain your whole hard disk.

I barely scratched the surface on partitioning, but if it's not a problem on my new computer, I can do that here. I also have about a 100GBs free on a separate external HD I use for backups and my pics so adding a partition there would be OK too, but when I tried looking in the manual for instructions on creating a partition, however, it stated "SimpleDrive is preformatted as an NTFS volume....you can create a second larger NTFS partition for Windows XP. For instructions on formatting disk drives, refer to your Windows operating system documentation." I will look up "How to create a new partition or a new logical drive." to see if I can do so without harm to files already saved there because I can't backup IT anywhere else.

Do you have a DOS command for administrative privileges? When I tried the first bit of code, it gave me the following: "C:\Users\SBernheart>DIR /S F:\>C:\myF_Drive.dir Access is denied." and returned to "C:\Users\SBernheart>". To my knowledge, I am the only user and as 'Administrator', but there were a few times when, like with PE Builder for ex., I had to right-click and choose 'Run as Administrator', so maybe it wants that here as well.

QUOTE

....we also need to know what EXACT hardware you are running....

Desktop

HP Pavilion Slimline s5310y

Interface: SATA

Do you mean 'NVIDIA GeForce 6150SE' nForce 430?

G: > 'hp' folder > 'drivers' folder > 14 more folders from there

"Finding Driver Information"

Also, if needed:

64-bit

AMD Athlon II x2 250 Processor 3.0 GHz

3.75GB usable memory

HP Pavilion Slimline s5310y Desktop PC

In the meantime, I'll be working on the "IMG_XP.exe package", but I may need to know exactly where "the Root of your Workstation Harddisk" it's referring to. I haven't finished reading it, so don't give up on me just yet. I was working on the code in DOS, but when I hiccuped on being 'denied' I decided to move on to the next task. I can't think of anything else off the top of my head, so if that'll do you for now then I'll be back, OK? Thanks, jaclaz.

Sara

PS: In case this is important as well, my new 'C:' vs. my old 'G:' are both NTFS, but while my new Recovery 'D:' is NTFS, the old Recovery 'F:' is FAT32. Maybe it's not obvious as people's machines may be different, but I don't know why the old recovery is FAT32. Also, Win XP used to use 'C:' and 'D:' just as Win7 does now, but the letters it was assigned to the enclosure are flip-flopped. The new 'Recovery' partition is 'D:' and the old one is 'F:', just to avoid confusion.

Thx

jaclaz

Nov 9 2010, 06:26 AM

QUOTE (SBernheart @ Nov 9 2010, 11:40 AM)

Do you have a DOS command for administrative privileges? When I tried the first bit of code, it gave me the following: "C:\Users\SBernheart>DIR /S F:\>C:\myF_Drive.dir Access is denied." and returned to "C:\Users\SBernheart>". To my knowledge, I am the only user and as 'Administrator', but there were a few times when, like with PE Builder for ex., I had to right-click and choose 'Run as Administrator', so maybe it wants that here as well.

This:
http://www.spadixbd.com/freetools/jdirprint.htm
or this:
http://www.bestfreewaredownload.com/freewa...e-nzccfjbg.html
or this:
http://users.adam.com.au/paulwh/DirPrint.html

should work under WIndows 7 allright, what you report is strange, but yes, probably you need to open the command prompt as Admin, or simply try without giving the ROOT path (IF the problem is accessing the C:\ root to write):

QUOTE

C:\Users\SBernheart>DIR /S F:\> myF_Drive.dir

the files should be created in the C:\Users\SBernheart\ directory.

QUOTE (SBernheart @ Nov 9 2010, 11:40 AM)

Well, NO.
The idea is of a SEQUENCE, you don't go to #3 UNLESS you have #1 and #2 BEFORE (of course you can go there and read

but PLEASE DO NOT attempt using the tool before having cleared the previous points).

jaclaz

SBernheart

Nov 9 2010, 08:28 AM

QUOTE

I am the only user and as 'Administrator', but there were a few times when, like with PE Builder for ex., I had to right-click and choose 'Run as Administrator', so maybe it wants that here as well.

Right answer, but..... Don't know what made me think of this after the fact, but I thought -- why not? I opened another DOS window, but this time I tried right-clicking on it as I need to do with some things and "Run as Administrator" was there and it worked. I don't think I EVER had to do that in the past -- I didn't even know I COULD do that with a DOS window. So I learned something today, huh? I wanted to see about updating the user accounts in case something I did was causing the admin thing, but I tried this instead.

Don't worry, I promise I won't do anything out of turn -- not on purpose anyway. I zipped three of the four items you wanted --- SKIP TO 'PS' BELOW --- but I'm afraid we'll have to split the other one via DOS or some other way. It's 1.35MB on that one alone! Guess I have some spring cleaning to do if we get this thing to work!! Not that a MB is sooo big, but it's too big for this forum. I'll sleep on it and try again a little later. I must have somewhere I can send it to....

SBernheart

PS: I've uploaded the fourth and last of the files you requested on "This is your new file: myG_Drive.zip". If you need anything else, feel free......Thx

SBernheart

Nov 11 2010, 04:10 AM

It had been a while since I worked on my website 'stuff' and it took me a minute to figure it out, but I hope you were able to access all four files as needed. I edited my reply to reflect the addition of the fourth file and where to find it.

QUOTE

....we can have an idea of what files you actually have on your old HD, to be compared to the ones you need for a "working" CD or \I386 folder, listed here.

Viewing files via Win Explorer, I compared files from TACKtech's list to those in my 'G' drive's 'I386' folder and I did not find the following 6 items:

In case there's an important difference, you should note that I wasn't using my own zip files to work from and also that I did a Win Explorer search after the fact in both drives 'F' and 'G' and did not find the above files, BUT I thought I saw more than one 'I386' folder located on the enclosure so I looked there too (even though I doubted the outcome would be any different). I just wanted all my i's dotted and t's crossed, you know? I hope this helps and, in the meantime, if there's anything else I could do to help please let me know, OK? Thank you....

SBernheart

EDIT: I forgot to mention that I was working from the 'Differences between Windows XP Professional vs. Home Versions' list when I glanced at the 'Professional only' list and noticed a file I had seen before -- .\win51ip -- that is located in the 'F' drive's list from the enclosure. I'm afraid to admit that I then found a third list, 'The following files are only on the Home version', that I did NOT compare. I apologize for my error. I will look through these files as well and add any additional files that may be missing to the files listed above. Sorry....

UPDATE: In addition to the six files above, the following three files were not found in my 'G' drive's 'I386' folder:

Also, as stated in the first edit, I do have 'win51ip' (said only in 'PRO' version) AND 'win51ic' (said only in 'HOME' version). BOTH were found in the Recovery drive or 'F' drive. Again, I apologize for any confusion. Thx

jaclaz

Nov 11 2010, 02:57 PM

Well, I missed an update, (I downloaded the "3 files version").
I will check anyway the new attachment.

However what you post are actually GOOD news.

You don't actually *need* ANY of the listed "missing" items.

The "F:\" drive is a HP recovery partition, and should not be used at all, (if not to find - if missing on the "G:\" drive - some file); files like WIN51IP/WIN51IC are not a problem as they can be recreated from scratch, most probably the "recovery" nature of the partition has both for some obscure reason (maybe the HP guys made a "same" recovery partition for systems that ran ANY of the two versions) that is however of no relevance to you.

If you remember that you had "Windows XP Professional" (and not "Windows XP Home") installed, you checked the "right" list.

Next step should be (after making sure that you set Windows Explorer to view extensions of files and hidden and system files), to create a new Directory in your "main" Windows 7 disk, C:\, like this:
C:\XP_Source
and in it a new directory like:
C:\XP_Source\Root
Then start re-creating (copying) in C:\XP_Source\Root\ the same directory structure of the original XP disk, like:
C:\XP_Source\Root\DOCS
C:\XP_Source\Root\I386
C:\XP_Source\Root\SUPPORT
C:\XP_Source\Root\VALUEADD
(and of course all files and subdirectories that should be in them according to the tachteck list).

Please note how EVERY FILENAME in the original CD is in CAPITAL LETTERS.

Here you can find some additional info:
http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?sho...16381&st=18

Get a "Arnes boot record" or "Microsoft Corporation.img", here is one:
http://www.infocellar.com/CD/files/Xpboot.zip
(file named xpboot.bin inside the .zip)
and expand it to C:\XP_Source\Root\xpboot.bin

Now you have basically an XP CD structure.
From the dates of the files in your G:\I386\ :
08/18/2001 07:00 AM
it seems like you have the "base" or "vanilla" files. (original release of XP)

What I would do now:

Create a .iso from this source, test it (in a Virtual Machine) and IF successful, burn the CD, test the burned CD in the same VM
IF successful, slipstream SP1a, repeat the testing and burn the SP1a CD
IF successful slipstream SP2, repeat the testing and burn the SP2 CD
IF successful, slipstream SP3, repeat the testing and burn the the SP3 CD

This way you will have 4 valid "original" CD's with different levels of SP applied. (these may become useful if a "repair" is needed)

Can you remember at which SP level was your installed on the "old" machine XP updated to?

As a Virtual Machine to do the testing, I would suggest you the freeware QEmu (+Qemu Manager) which you can get here:
http://www.davereyn.co.uk/download.htm

To create the .iso you already have mkisofs (included in the Bart's PEbuilder), to burn it I suggest you IMGBURN:
http://www.imgburn.com/

Take your time, most probably you haven't ( yet

) done any of the above or used these apps before, once you have created the C:\XP_source setup, please feel free to ask any questions you may have on the listed steps.

Give me a few hours and I'll try checking your G:\I386 DIR list against a similar XP CD listing.

jaclaz

SBernheart

Nov 12 2010, 07:34 AM

QUOTE

Well, I missed an update, (I downloaded the "3 files version").

My fault -- sorry. I thought adding additional replies might be more confusing, but not knowing how the 'edits' work here, I may have actually caused the one thing I was trying NOT to add namely, confusion! I'll be sure not to do that or at least to post a reply referring to the edit, if it means less typing of the edited material.

QUOTE

The "F:\" drive is a HP recovery partition, and should not be used at all.

Perfect! I won't bother with it at all (nor with my NEW recovery drive). I do understand that there are two partitions (or more) on one hard disk drive that people like me 'call' separate drives, but now that we've got that out of the way or until otherwise mentioned specifically, I'll stick with old 'G' and new 'C'.

QUOTE

If you remember that you had "Windows XP Professional" (and not "Windows XP Home") installed, you checked the "right" list.
Can you remember at which SP level was your installed on the "old" machine XP updated to?

I don't know if you misunderstood me or I you or both, for that matter, but my original XP was the Home Edition. Specifically, Windows XP SP3 Home Edition. Last used around Spring of the current year 2010, it included ALL the Service Packs and as many updates until I stopped using the old tower (and installed old drive in the enclosure). I hadn't tried XP for a long while, then recently figured out it wouldn't boot at all.
To be clear whether I compared the correct lists or not, I used:

QUOTE

....create a new Directory in your "main" Windows 7 disk, C:\, like this:
C:\XP_Source
and in it a new directory like:
C:\XP_Source\Root
Then start re-creating (copying) in C:\XP_Source\Root\ the same directory structure of the original XP disk, like:
C:\XP_Source\Root\DOCS
C:\XP_Source\Root\I386
C:\XP_Source\Root\SUPPORT
C:\XP_Source\Root\VALUEADD
(and of course all files and subdirectories that should be in them according to the tachteck list).

Just so I'm not confused at this point, did you mean that literally? I've already created the following:

The reason I'm asking such a question at all is because it obviously matters how each file is copied and I'd hate to get it wrong out of the gate, you know? It should be noted that I listed two of the original six files as 'missing' and they may not be. I guess I mistakenly treated "setup.exe and 61883.in" as belonging to the parent folder 'G:\' rather than 'G:\I386\' and if I'm wrong now and correct earlier, please let me know so I can remove those two files from the 'G:\I386\' folder. Lastly,

QUOTE

Please note how EVERY FILENAME in the original CD is in CAPITAL LETTERS.

I assume, if I'm doing the files correctly to begin with, that you mean to type the latter portion of the folder with the filename in caps as in "C:\XP_Source\Root\I386\SETUP.EXE" or do ALL endings need to be in caps as in "C:\XP_SOURCE" and "C:\XP_Source\ROOT" and "C:\XP_Source\Root\I386" and "C:\XP_Source\Root\I386\SETUP.EX_"? And what about the third character in the file type? Most of mine substitute the last character with an 'underscore'. Is this OK or should I use all three characters (if I know them, like 'BIN', 'EXE' or 'TXT')?
Well, as per the norm, I've typed myself right out of time and besides, I'm sure you'll have enough to review here as it is, so I'll stop now. If I need to update something important (as I know it anyhow), I'll post a new reply rather than an edit, OK? Thanks jaclaz and good day.....

SBernheart

jaclaz

Nov 12 2010, 10:12 AM

I misunderstood the "double reference" to WIN51IP and WIN51IC (I thought you had "Pro" and an unneeded WIN51IC whilst you were saying you had "Home" and an unneeded WIN51IP

).

The original CD's used a "standard" that only allowed CAPITAL LETTERS and 8.3 names.
Filenames on a CDFS are CaSe SeNsItIvE, so everything has to be in UPPER CASE.
The "compare" on the tacktech site is case insensitive and it may create confusion.
DO NOT change the extension underscores, they are fine.

Your directory structure is mainly fine, I am attaching, for your further reference, a complete DIR list of a XP Home that should be similar to your one (but this one is a SP2 one).

The base is however:

QUOTE

Directory of J:\

04/08/2004 01:00 110 AUTORUN.INF
04/08/2004 01:00 <DIR> DOCS
~~04/08/2004 01:00 <DIR> DOTNETFX~~
04/08/2004 01:00 <DIR> I386
04/08/2004 01:00 34.301 README.HTM
04/08/2004 01:00 1.314.816 SETUP.EXE
04/08/2004 01:00 85.792 SETUPXP.HTM
04/08/2004 01:00 <DIR> SUPPORT
04/08/2004 01:00 <DIR> VALUEADD
04/08/2004 01:00 10 WIN51
04/08/2004 01:00 10 WIN51IC
~~04/08/2004 01:00 10 WIN51IC.SP2~~
7 File(s) 1.435.049 bytes

The ~~striken items~~ should be added by the SP.

If your XP Home was updated automatically, it surely was SP3.

So you should be able to avoid a couple of passages.

I.e. once created the structure, you can slipstream to it directly SP2 and then apply to it SP3.

Unfortunately Microsoft in it's wisdom doesn't allow to update directly a "vanilla" to SP3.

A "full" tutorial for SP2 is here, it is for "Pro", but there should be no great differences for "home":
http://mpscorner.com/articles/slbrnsp2.html
http://www.howtohaven.com/system/createwin...setupdisk.shtml
these extend to SP3:
http://www.howtohaven.com/system/slipstrea...ce-pack-3.shtml
http://www.kevintaber.com/2009/06/27/slips...-using-imgburn/

Of the \I386\ in your fourth file, i cannot see anything "obvious" missing, it does look like a "standard" \I386\ so it is very likely that you won't have problems with the CD making or with the slipstreaming.

Don't worry too much about the \DOCS\, \SUPPORT\ and \VALUEADD\ subdirs, they are unneeded for a PE and for a "simple" install, re-install or repair.

jaclaz

SBernheart

Nov 13 2010, 07:35 AM

Oh, GEEZ! Where to start? I do have some questions and please forgive me, in advance, if I've taken these out of context. I was copying/pasting notes from two replies ago of yours, but I assure you that I'm still creating my "C:\XP_Source" folder and I won't do anything out of turn. To begin with:

QUOTE

....create a new Directory in your "main" Windows 7 disk like this:

C:\XP_Sourceand in it a new directory like:

C:\XP_Source\Root....EVERY FILENAME in the original CD

I'm still a bit unsure as I have just a little knowledge with Linux, for ex., so I need to know if by 'root' do you mean that literally or figuratively to represent say, my CD/DVD drive or in my case, 'E:' drive? What I've been reading seems to indicate the latter, but you made me promise NOT to assume.

By 'CD' were you referring to my 'C:' directory? In any event, I've attached a screen pic to show you what I have. While I'm on the subject of that pic, it includes the Xboot and I've copied it to 'C:\XP_Source\Root' or should a have expanded it there? I saved the zip in Downloads, so I can do it again if needed.

QUOTE

I would suggest you the freeware QEmu....

I had no problems downloading Qemu Manager 7, but I had a little problem with the actual QEMU Machine Emulator download. It tells me "Windows can't open this file", qemu-0.12.5.tar.gz, and I don't remember seeing this file type, 'tar.gz'. Am I missing something obvious?

I already have 'ImgBurn' and 'IsoBuster' downloaded a while back, along with programs just like them in Windows, so I'll be OK there. You did mention a few other items that may or may not be included in PE, but can be found at mkisofs and CDRecord 2.01 for Windows and I can download them from there if needed as well.

Finally, I wasn't yet sure what the 'XP_Home_SP2.zip' file was for. Do you mean for me to slipstream it once I get myself to the point to do that? Again, I apologize if things are not written in order -- just checking for now. I was trying to remember ALL of my questions, but at this point it may be better to stop here anyhow. I don't want to confuse either one of us. The main thing right now is whether I'm creating (copying) my old files into the new folders correctly or not. If I'm OK there, I'll have enough to work on today. Thanks.....

SBernheart

nuMe

Nov 13 2010, 08:47 AM

QUOTE (SBernheart @ Nov 13 2010, 08:35 AM)

I had no problems downloading Qemu Manager 7, but I had a little problem with the actual QEMU Machine Emulator download.

All the qemu managers I've downloaded include qemu. No need to download it separately.

jaclaz

Nov 13 2010, 09:10 AM

Almost perfect.

The C:\XP_Source\Root\ is just a name (won't a rose by any other name...) it will become "root" of the burned CD, for all it matters, you can use:
C:\XP_Source\myDir\
or
C:\Whatever\here\

You don't need to download ANYTHING but:
http://www.davereyn.co.uk/download.htm
http://www.davereyn.co.uk/qem/setupqemuk70.exe
(and NOTHING else)

.tar.gz is a gzipped tar archive, a format used on Linux/Unix platforms and rarely on Windows.

In one of the links I gave you:
http://mpscorner.com/articles/slbrnsp2.html
there is EXACTLY what you need to do (and NOTHING else):

QUOTE

3. mkisofs.exe for windows. It's part of PEbuilder. Download PEbuilder from
www.nu2.nu/pebuilder . Install it and from the installation folder you can
copy mkisofs.exe to your desktop. If you want , after making a copy of mkisofs you can uninstall
PE builder but this is a great tool, you better learn to use it.

Only thing, instead of copying the mkisofs.exe that comes with Bart's PEbuilder (THAT version and NO OTHER version) to the desktop, I would copy it to your C:\XP_Source

About copying files all you have to do is to open your G:\ drive in Explorer, select the \I386\ folder, right click, copy, then paste it inside your C:\XP_source\Root (the one you posted a screenshot).

Then you need to add the WIN51 and WIN51IC files.

Than you have to open a command prompt, navigate to your C:\XP_source\ and type in it (adapted to your setup from the given link):

CODE

mkisofs.exe -J -T -v -d -b "XPboot.bin" -c "bootcat.bin" -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-load-seg 0x07C0 -l -disable-deep-relocation -joliet-long -omit-version-number -no-iso-translate -o "C:\XP_Source\xpsp0.iso" "C:\XP_source\root"

This will create the "vanilla" .iso.

Which you can then test briefly in Qemu Manager.

If creation is successful and it boots in Qemu Manager, then you go on and do the slipstreaming.

First of SP2 (and you create a . iso and test it), and then of SP3 (and you create a .iso and test it)

If everything works as expected you will have:

a C:\XP_Source\XPSP0.iso (that you won't use anymore)
a C:\XP_Source\XPSP2.iso (that you won't use anymore - but that I would keep - just in case it is useful for making a PE, should the SP3 source give problems with some plug-ins)
a C:\XP_Source\XPSP3.iso (which is the final result, your "original" CD, updated at the same level of the installed XP
a C:\XP_Source\Root directory containing the "single files" of the above, useful as source for building a PE

But, as said, no need to hurry, take your time to have the whole plot clear in your mind and feel free to ask should you have any doubt.

jaclaz

SBernheart

Nov 13 2010, 05:14 PM

Thanks for that, nuMe!

QUOTE

.tar.gz is a gzipped tar archive, a format used on Linux/Unix platforms and rarely on Windows.

Yeah I thought I recognized it from the Linux stuff I've been working with over the summer months.

QUOTE

Only thing, instead of copying the mkisofs.exe that comes with Bart's PEbuilder (THAT version and NO OTHER version) to the desktop, I would copy it to your C:\XP_Source

Will do, jaclaz. That's perfect.

QUOTE

About copying files all you have to do is to open your G:\ drive in Explorer, select the \I386\ folder, right click, copy, then paste it inside your C:\XP_source\Root

I guess I thought TackTech's list I checked file by file was to create only the files to be included for a neater XP. I'm thankful NOT to have to copy/paste files individually! Phew!! I won't forget the WIN51 and WIN51IC files either.

QUOTE

This will create the "vanilla" .iso which you can then test briefly in Qemu Manager.

A while back I had read about virtualization, specifically Windows XP Mode and Windows Virtual PC, but then I discovered that I needed Win7 PRO in order to download them, so I'm happy to be able to utilize an open source version. Thank GOD for open source and the people behind the programs!!!

I'll have an easier time creating the XP_source now, jaclaz, and that's a BIG deal to me as I'm a bit anal when it comes to stuff I'm working on and I can spend HOURS even DAYS on things that others would have spent only a fraction of the time on. I will take my time though and do you proud (I hope). Till next time....

SBenheart

SBernheart

Nov 15 2010, 08:14 AM

QUOTE

In Post #12, Ed_P asked: Is there a setupldr.bin in F:\I386?

There is a SETUPLDR in F:\I386 AS WELL AS one in G:\I386 (from which I've been rebuilding my files for C:\XP_Source folder). I'm wondering if I can burn an image from IT? I've attached a pic to show you. I'm having a hard time with the download of IMG_XP. I thought if I could burn what I already have it could give me the CD I need to use with PE, right? I just can't seem to get IMG_XP to extract correctly and without IT, I'm really lost, right? I want it to extract to 'C:', but I've tried it there as well as the normal folder I download to, my -- wait for it -- 'Download' folder. When I open it up and click on IMG_Create.exe, it comes up with a line error and I don't know what it wants me to do about it. "Line-1: Error: Error in expression."

"cdrtools-2.01a18-bart" didn't treat me much better either, specifically 'mkisofs', as I didn't even know how to execute that program at all. I realize it was originally meant for Linux, but my Linux skills (or the lack there of) are ten times worse than my Windows 'behind the scenes' skills are, so I'm REALLY screwed there, huh? I understand most of what I'm reading and I don't want anyone to just hand it over, but if this much is over my head now, what can I expect from now on?

Final note: I'm not quite sure what to make of the QEMU either. I'm sure I've left something off so it wouldn't work. I need the ISO for that too, right? Hmmm...seems I better get a crackin' on that image file keeping in mind that I only have one CD/DVD drive to burn whichever image I can muster up for it. If it can be placed somewhere else like a flash drive or whatnot, then I could work around that part. Guess I'll worry about QEMU later and work on the CD I need for PE first because without that bit there, I can't do a whole lot with anything else. Sorry if I couldn't even get that much done for you, jaclaz. I went back to square one and started the process all over again -- this time only copying the files specified on TackTech's lists because when I realized how big the folder already was I thought going with the 'slimmer' version sounded better to me. I can always do it again with ALL the files from I386, you never know.

I hope I didn't do something simple (or something stupid) to mess it ALL up. At this point, it could go either way or BOTH for that matter. Maybe when I'm out of bed and have a fresh cup of Joe sitting under my nostrils to clear this pea brain I was working with 'till the wee hours this morning, maybe then something you guys might tell me will give me an eureka moment -- jury's still out on that. Anyway, you guys have a GREAT day, OK? Hope the weather's treating you good wherever you are. Thank you!

SBernheart

Ed_P

Nov 15 2010, 08:33 AM

I haven't been following this thread that closely so I'm not sure where you are in relation to jaclaz's instructions. But from what you have said the G: drive should work as a valid input source.

I have no idea what IMG_XP is, I've never used it.

As for running mkisofs I would copy and paste the code jaclaz posted into a cmd file and run it that way rather than try to enter all the parameters manually in a Command Prompt window. Do note that the mkisofs parms are all on one line so be careful of wrapping.

And QEMU Manager will read the ISO file, you don't need to burn a CD to test your pebuilder.iso file.

SBernheart

Nov 16 2010, 07:25 AM

OK, here's where I'm at:

QUOTE

Previous to the release of SP2, I created a bootable XP CD that included the original "gold" version of XP, Service Pack 1a, and the Security Rollup 1 update, all meshed together into a single install. Now, I've tossed that CD aside for one that includes XP SP2 instead.

Based on the info from Paul Thurrott's site, I chose to go the 'SP2' road, not to skip any steps or anything (although I may regret that move), but because I remembered having a 'real' CD (for a lack of a better term) from Microsoft with SP2 on it. If this makes using PE Builder doable GREAT, if it doesn't just yet, let me know where I've gone wrong.

In Step #1:

QUOTE

First, you need to find your Windows XP CD-ROM and copy the contents of the CD to your hard drive. Create a folder in the root of your C: drive called xp (C:\xp) and use My Computer to simply drag and drop the files between the two locations.

I used the folder created from the old drive that we called 'C:\XP_Source\Root' as his 'C:\XP', having in it the folders made there (DOCS, SUPPORT, VALUEADD and I386 with all the files in it from TackTech's list for the Home edition; see Post #18). You can see from the attachment in Post #21 that I also added 'XPboot' there as well.

Next, in Step #2:

QUOTE

....create a new folder called SP2 on the C drive (C:\SP2) and then copy this file (WindowsXP-KB835935-SP2-ENU.exe or xpsp2.exe) to that location.

I assumed he meant my SP2 CD, so I opened it's contents and copied them to a new folder I named the same as his (C:\SP2). I thought I could best follow his instructions that way.

I extracted the SP2 files without incident. In Step #3:

Again, everything went well. Then I went on to Step #4 "Extract a file needed to make your new CD bootable" and got stuck. I even used his IsoBuster to follow along with him (I had used it before anyway), but I couldn't seem to get the file it was looking for up and running on it.

QUOTE

On the left-side tree view, make sure you have selected the node named Bootable CD. You should see a file called Microsoft Corporation.img (or similar; it will be named something.img) in the right side of ISOBuster. This is the file you need to extract. To do so, right-click and choose Extract Microsoft Corporation.img. When ISOBuster prompts you, choose to download it to the root of your C: drive. Now you can close ISOBuster.

I realize that you meant for me to use 'mkisofs' per Post #23 and also the instructions HERE, but I just couldn't wrap my head around the info on that site, while I must admit that after finding a XP2 CD it might have gone smoother. At the point I left off using the steps on Paul's I'm now lost again. Am I making sense? Any sense at all? Because I thought I made it almost to the point where I could start testing with QEMU and/or use PE, now I feel I took two steps BACK rather than the giant LEAP I thought I gained by using the SP2 CD and slipstreaming it with the folders/files described above. BTW, I've attached a pic of Win Explorer so you could see the CD's contents.

QUOTE

About copying files all you have to do is to open your G:\ drive in Explorer, select the \I386\ folder, right click, copy, then paste it inside your C:\XP_source\Root

I ended up going back through TackTeck's list and 'dragging/dropping' the files he/she listed because after I saw how many files were in the 'copy/paste' version, I decided on a 'cleaner' XP (cleaner to ME anyway). After quitting for that day, I felt a bit of accomplishment and thought I'd settle right in today, but sadly I was wrong.

So, where do I go next? Keeping in mind that I'm at the end of my day, I can assure you that I will retrace my steps again later to see if I skipped something or that maybe now I can use the instructions from HERE. So far, I have seemed to keep up with most things, once I saw past the complicated to see the obvious, so I can only hope I'm simply seeing the complicated (is that an oxymoron 'simply complicated' or am I just one, a moron that is - rhetorically speaking). Some days are just better than others.....

SBernheart

jaclaz

Nov 17 2010, 06:16 AM

QUOTE (SBernheart @ Nov 16 2010, 01:25 PM)

You are EXACTLY where you deserve to be.

QUOTE (SBernheart @ Nov 16 2010, 01:25 PM)

Am I making sense? Any sense at all?

Rest assured, you are NOT making any sense, you went astray and lost yourself in the woods.

Look, I don't want to seem more grumpy than what I usually am

, but the idea of asking for instructions is that once they are given, you FOLLOW them (and don't go astray with your thoughts/ideas/assumptions/(mis-)understandings), jumping from here to there as you see fit or convenient.

Things that you were ALREADY told:

LEAVE WHATEVER is cdrtools-2.01a18-bart ALONE:

QUOTE (jaclaz @ Nov 13 2010, 03:10 PM)
In one of the links I gave you:
http://mpscorner.com/articles/slbrnsp2.html
there is EXACTLY what you need to do (and NOTHING else):
QUOTE
3. mkisofs.exe for windows. It's part of PEbuilder. Download PEbuilder from
www.nu2.nu/pebuilder . Install it and from the installation folder you can
copy mkisofs.exe to your desktop. If you want , after making a copy of mkisofs you can uninstall
PE builder but this is a great tool, you better learn to use it.

Only thing, instead of copying the mkisofs.exe that comes with Bart's PEbuilder (THAT version and NO OTHER version) to the desktop, I would copy it to your C:\XP_Source
FORGET ANYTHING ELSE BUT the G:\I386 and files in it, FORGET about F:\I386\SETUPLDR.BIN, FORGET ABOUT the WHOLE F:\ drive.
QUOTE (jaclaz @ Nov 13 2010, 03:10 PM)
About copying files all you have to do is to open your G:\ drive in Explorer, select the \I386\ folder, right click, copy, then paste it inside your C:\XP_source\Root (the one you posted a screenshot).
FORGET ANYTHING ABOUT SP2, and integrating it, you NEED to test a "vanilla" .iso FIRST, so DO EXACTLY what ALREADY told you (AND NOTHING ELSE):
QUOTE (jaclaz @ Nov 13 2010, 03:10 PM)
Then you need to add the WIN51 and WIN51IC files.

Than you have to open a command prompt, navigate to your C:\XP_source\ and type in it (adapted to your setup from the given link):
CODE
mkisofs.exe -J -T -v -d -b "XPboot.bin" -c "bootcat.bin" -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-load-seg 0x07C0 -l -disable-deep-relocation -joliet-long -omit-version-number -no-iso-translate -o "C:\XP_Source\xpsp0.iso" "C:\XP_source\root"

This will create the "vanilla" .iso.

Which you can then test briefly in Qemu Manager.

Please DO EXACTLY what you have been told (AND NOTHING ELSE), feel free to ask if you have doubts or questions, but ONLY on the EXACTS steps you have to follow (AND NOT ON ANYTHING ELSE), report.

I will tell you once again (this being the LAST time I do):

There is a sequence of operation.
You have to carry them in that sequence, following the steps EXACTLY as they are given to you (and WITHOUT DOING ANYTHING ELSE AND WITHOUT WORRYING ABOUT ANYTHING ELSE)
The fact that I listed subsequent steps was to let you understand the whole plot AND NOT to make you jump from item #m to item #q ignoring #n, #o and #p.

Now that i've vented a bit, you say you have a an XP SP2 CD?

And your plan is to integrate to it SP 2?

jaclaz

SBernheart

Nov 17 2010, 08:49 AM

Trust me when I say, jaclaz, the LAST thing I ever want to do is to make my helpers 'more grumpy' than you might usually be -- believe me! Waaaay before I went through my old disks and found the SP2 sent to me by Microsoft, I was just plain stuck no matter who's page I was on, regardless of which set of instructions I was working from. I was compiling my work (and NOT the lack thereof) on that webpage I put the zip file on to show you things as I was going, but now I feel I should share with you whatever I've got, in order or not, just so you can see where my problem started. You can go HERE to review. As stated well before I tried following Paul Thurrott's instructions HERE, almost all of what I was reading led me to believe that I first needed a CD (as with one of the LINKS you gave me) and that includes Paul's too. I just can't get past 'mkisofs' or IsoBuster either for that matter. I even went back to the beginning and copied (dragged) each and every file listed on TackTech's lists one by one and was fine until 'mkisofs' -- why doesn't it work? I need IT to move on and IsoBuster seems to need IT first, too. I saved a pic on the WEBPAGE for your review on 'mkisofs' and the message it gives me in DOS.

I apologize if you think I'm purposely 'skipping' steps, but Posts #25 and #27 reflect what I'm trying to tell you. If I can't get past point 'X' to GET to the next step, I can only post what's happening. I think you (plural) must think I'm goofy for not 'getting' the 'mkisofs' bit, but that's where I'm stuck!

QUOTE

Than you have to open a command prompt, navigate to your C:\XP_source\ and type in it (adapted to your setup from the given link):

CODE

This will create the "vanilla" .iso. Which you can then test briefly in Qemu Manager.

Hopefully, some of what I have on my webpage will be enough to show you the error messages I'm getting. I will go back and from the instructions you want me to follow (although you gave me Paul's too, right? If not you than as a link from one of the links you posted -- not sure which at this point). I've done nothing but this 'project' as my better half is now calling it. That's how much I've invested in seeing this through. I truly thought that ALL the instructions I reviewed either want an installation CD (which is what I don't have and/or I need a CD in one hand and a CD in the other (which I don't have in the HP Slimline). I have flash drives I could substitute possibly, but I also thought I couldn't use a flash for disk images (unless I'm confused about that as well). So, please don't think badly of me rather than think I'm committed because the latter is true. I'm late going to sleep yet again -- that's how much I'm trying. I hope the webpage is OK as I did not have time to check on that at this late hour.

Again, I appreciate all who are helping, but I guess I'm having too hard a time the past few nights. I'll have to sleep on everything in your reply. In the meantime, DON'T BE GRUMPY! I wouldn't want anyone else's threads to suffer the wrath....

SBernheart

Ed_P

Nov 17 2010, 09:41 AM

QUOTE (jaclaz @ Nov 17 2010, 06:16 AM)

Now that i've vented a bit, you say you have a an XP SP2 CD?

And your plan is to integrate to it SP 2?

I believe the SP2 CD that she has is as she states "the SP2 sent to me by Microsoft". It's the SP2 upgrade that one uses to upgrade their original XP CD to XP SP2. ie you need to include steps on how she does the upgrade, if you haven't already.

jaclaz

Nov 17 2010, 01:41 PM

The error

QUOTE

mkisofs.exe is not recognized ...etc.

simply means that you have NOT copied the mkisofs.exe to C:\XP_Source, or, if you prefer, that a file C:\XP_Source\mkisofs.exe does NOT exist.

Which is the step before:

QUOTE (jaclaz @ Nov 13 2010, 03:10 PM)

In one of the links I gave you:
http://mpscorner.com/articles/slbrnsp2.html
there is EXACTLY what you need to do (and NOTHING else):

QUOTE

Only thing, instead of copying the mkisofs.exe that comes with Bart's PEbuilder (THAT version and NO OTHER version) to the desktop, I would copy it to your C:\XP_Source

You know, the part that you commented as

QUOTE (SBernheart @ Nov 13 2010, 11:14 PM)

Will do, jaclaz. That's perfect.

Is there a problem in copying mkisofs.exe from the C:\Pebuilder\mkisofs.exe (usual path where one would install/expand the dowloaded file):
http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/#download
to C:\XP_Source\mkisofs.exe

Is there ANY difficult part in the above that I seem like giving for too easy or implied and needing not any further comment/instructions?

Alternative set of instructions:

Download this file:
http://www.nu2.nu/download.php?sFile=pebuilder3110a.zip
Open it in 7-zip or similar GUI zip compatible archive utility.
Expand the file "mkisofs.exe" from the archive to the C:\XP_Source\mkisofs.exe
Try running from command prompt, at the C:\XP_Source> prompt:

CODE
mkisofs.exe

(with NO command line parameter)

@Ed_P
Yep

, but I would like to have something to upgrade, first (which is the actual first GOAL: a "vanilla" XP source)

jaclaz

SBernheart

Nov 17 2010, 05:47 PM

Here's my Win Explorer and a screen pic with mkisofs included.

SBernheart

Nov 17 2010, 05:54 PM

Here's the same but I tried from XP_Source\Root too.
Now you can view them both and tell me what's wrong. I even downloaded again and expanded it directly.

QUOTE

http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/#download to C:\XP_Source\mkisofs.exe

This time I simply copied 'mkisofs' to the Root folder in case it needed to be there and again, it didn't work. I'll post more later.....

SBernheart

nuMe

Nov 17 2010, 08:58 PM

QUOTE (SBernheart @ Nov 17 2010, 06:54 PM)

Now you can view them both and tell me what's wrong.

What part of these instructions are you unable to read???

QUOTE (jaclaz @ Nov 13 2010, 10:10 AM)

Than you have to open a command prompt, navigate to your C:\XP_source\ and type in it (adapted to your setup from the given link):

CODE

Count the number of characters you were told to enter, count the number you entered. See a difference??

SBernheart

Nov 17 2010, 09:53 PM

Sorry, here's one I posted previously on this PAGE. I've attached it here as well. Thanks for looking.....

SBernheart

cdob

Nov 18 2010, 02:46 AM

Try it again.
change directory to C:\XP_source\
Feel free to adjust file name case: XPboot.bin is not xpboot.bin. Rename file at hard disk to XPboot.bin
run given full mkisofs command

jaclaz

Nov 18 2010, 02:51 AM

Well, now, that there is a mkisofs.exe in C:\XP_Source\mkisofs.exe (as per post #32), can you delete the one in C:\XP_Source\ROOT\mkisofs.exe (which is NOT needed and that you were NOT told to put there) and:

Re-run mkisofs.exe as before (same result as post #32).
You will get:
QUOTE
mkisofs: Missing pathspec... etc.
Re-run it as follows:
CODE
mkisofs.exe -J -T -v -d -b "XPboot.bin" -c "bootcat.bin" -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-load-seg 0x07C0 -l -disable-deep-relocation -joliet-long -omit-version-number -no-iso-translate -o "C:\XP_Source\xpsp0.iso" "C:\XP_source\root"

What happens?

jaclaz

SBernheart

Nov 18 2010, 06:43 AM

Now with THIS I can create an ISO, right? I've attached a screen pic with the beginnings of it, but I was afraid I'd run out of time so I'm posting with as far as I am. You guys are going to think I'm CRAZY (yeah huh), but I tried mkisofs four different ways (when I couldn't seem to get it to work one way). I tried it from 'C:\XP_Source', 'C:\XP_Source\Root' and with mkisofs placed in either folder, so you do the math (that's probably why you saw it in the wrong place). No matter what I did with attempt #2, 3 and 4, I still couldn't seem to weasel it out of there -- and yes, this was all before I slipstreamed SP2! So, fingers crossed, I'm off to make my first CD. This is also the first time I see "Bootable Disc" (and I'll switch to it). Now I understand what IsoBusters was looking for......

CODE

Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7600]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

C:\Users\SBernheart>CD C:\XP_Source

C:\XP_Source>mkisofs.exe -J -T -v -d -b "XPboot.bin" -c "bootcat.bin" -no-emul-b
oot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-load-seg 0x07C0 -l -disable-deep-relocation -joliet-
long -omit-version-number -no-iso-translate -o "C:\XP_Source\xpsp0.iso" "C:\XP_s
ource\root"
Warning: creating filesystem that does not conform to ISO-9660.
Warning: creating filesystem with (nonstandard) Joliet extensions
         but without (standard) Rock Ridge extensions.
         It is highly recommended to add Rock Ridge
mkisofs 2.01-bootcd.ru (i686-pc-mingw32)
Scanning C:\XP_source\root
Scanning C:\XP_source\root/DOCS
Scanning C:\XP_source\root/I386
Scanning C:\XP_source\root/SUPPORT
Scanning C:\XP_source\root/VALUEADD
Writing:   Initial Padblock                        Start Block 0
Done with: Initial Padblock                        Block(s)    16
Writing:   Primary Volume Descriptor               Start Block 16
Done with: Primary Volume Descriptor               Block(s)    1
Writing:   Eltorito Volume Descriptor              Start Block 17
Size of boot image is 4 sectors -> No emulation
Done with: Eltorito Volume Descriptor              Block(s)    1
Writing:   Joliet Volume Descriptor                Start Block 18
Done with: Joliet Volume Descriptor                Block(s)    1
Writing:   End Volume Descriptor                   Start Block 19
Done with: End Volume Descriptor                   Block(s)    1
Writing:   Version block                           Start Block 20
Done with: Version block                           Block(s)    1
Writing:   Path table                              Start Block 21
Done with: Path table                              Block(s)    4
Writing:   Joliet path table                       Start Block 25
Done with: Joliet path table                       Block(s)    4
Writing:   Directory tree                          Start Block 29
Done with: Directory tree                          Block(s)    11
Writing:   Joliet directory tree                   Start Block 40
Done with: Joliet directory tree                   Block(s)    13
Writing:   Directory tree cleanup                  Start Block 53
Done with: Directory tree cleanup                  Block(s)    0
Writing:   The File(s)                             Start Block 53
40.06% done, estimate finish Thu Nov 18 06:37:38 2010
79.98% done, estimate finish Thu Nov 18 06:37:38 2010
Total translation table size: 73265
Total rockridge attributes bytes: 0
Total directory bytes: 20914
Path table size(bytes): 66
Done with: The File(s)                             Block(s)    12307
Writing:   Ending Padblock                         Start Block 12360
Done with: Ending Padblock                         Block(s)    150
12510 extents written (24 MB)

C:\XP_Source>
C:\XP_Source>

SBernheart

jaclaz

Nov 18 2010, 06:56 AM

I don't know ANY other way to tell you this.

Please:

DO NOT fiddle with Isobuster.
DO NOT slipstream SP2.
DO NOT burn any CD.

TEST the §@ç#ing vanilla .iso in Qemu Manager, first!

jaclaz

SBernheart

Nov 18 2010, 07:12 AM

It should also be noted that I trashed everything and started over -- comPLETEly over and I've attached a pic of the folder. As for the I386 folder, it has 312 files in it. If one were to count from TackTech's list for Home Edition, there should be 321 -- I'm missing 8 of them and one from the list was copied to the XP_Source folder, NOT the I386 folder. That equals 312 and that's how many files are in my "C:\XP_Source\Root\I386". Here's what's missing:

I realize from previous replies that I may not need them to go on, but if only FYI, that's where my XP_Source folder stands to date. I wisely chose to make a copy of this early I386 folder this time so, if I have to start over again, I won't have to drag/drop all over again, too. My punishment for skipping ahead?

SBernheart

Read your reply before posting mine. Don't worry, I'm done for the day, OK? No 'fiddle'ing until AFTER QEMU. I hadn't been able to fiddle with QEMU yet, but now that I have what IT was looking for as well, I'm sure I'll be able to test in VM. Have a good day, jaclaz!

SBernheart

Nov 19 2010, 03:35 AM

The QEMU is more complicated than I anticipated. I never got very far with Windows Virtual PC, as it needed Win 7 Pro to install. Then I tried VirtualBox as the instructions seemed 'user friendly', but this was before I started rebuilding XP. Once I came here to do that, QEMU was suggested, so here's where I am. Unfortunately, the instructions are for DOS commands, correct? If so, mine's a little (a lot) rusty and I don't know what they mean. If not, I REALLY don't understand the instructions or what they mean. I've attached a screen pic of the info QEMU Mgr is showing me.

The whole purpose of getting through the blessed 'mkisofs' was so I'd have an ISO file to 'test' with in a VM, right? How do I tell it where to find it? If I understand this much, a CD/DVD-ROM is as 'virtual' as the VM itself, yet it seems to be telling me that it cannot 'bootup' from the 'xpsp0.iso' file made with mkisofs. I even tried using VirtualBox's instructions to help reset QEMU again, because it's easier read by a newbie, but I hit the same brick wall as the first go around.

This time I'll apologize in advance for looking so 'green', but I've come this far and I'm determined to get to the next level, i.e. WinXP SP2. If you need more info or screen pics of the QEMU Manager please feel free to ask. I still don't know where I went wrong getting mkisofs to work for me -- maybe I missed a character when copying/pasting at prompt -- I surely don't want the same thing to happen here. Thanks..........

SBernheart

SBernheart

Nov 19 2010, 07:13 AM

Once again, my apologies....I found the QEMU 'user-friendly' version of the manual in QEMU's folder.

I managed to load my PuppyLinux (with it's ISO) as seen in the screen pic I've attached. Does this mean that the first (of many firsts) attempt at XP has failed or am I doing something wrong as usual? I don't mind burning a CD if it would make loading XP in QEMU easier -- and by 'easier' I don't mean to hop and skip again. I know my lupu-510 was perfect, MD5 sum and all, so is this any indication that xpsp0 wasn't a good image? I don't mean the actual 'image', but rather the files that made up that image? If so, what's next? If not, what's next? If any one of the files I copied from the old drive wasn't good to begin with, how would one know that? How do you create a new XP without good files? Sleepless in Seattle.....

SBernheart

Bastian

Nov 19 2010, 03:45 PM

QUOTE (SBernheart @ Nov 19 2010, 07:13 AM)

Once again, my apologies....I found the QEMU 'user-friendly' version of the manual in QEMU's folder.

You mean the QEMU MANAGER manual in the QEMU Manager folder? And yes it is friendly.

When you set up your XP test in QEMU Manager did you point the CD drive to your XP ISO? Because the screen print you posted doesn't show it.

jaclaz

Nov 19 2010, 04:50 PM

There are 5 (five) tabs in the QEMU Manager interface:

Hardware
Drives
Advanced
Console
Monitor

Post a screenshot of the Drives one, the error you posted seems like you selected not correctly the C:\XP_Source\xpsp0.iso file as CD device.

Or, there is some problem in the way the .iso was made.

Try again, INSTEAD of the one you tried:

CODE

C:\XP_Source>mkisofs.exe -J -T -v -d -b "XPboot.bin" -c "bootcat.bin" -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -boot-load-seg 0x07C0 -l -disable-deep-relocation -joliet-long -omit-version-number -no-iso-translate -o "C:\XP_Source\xpsp0.iso" "C:\XP_source\root"

with THIS one:

CODE

C:\XP_Source>mkisofs.exe -v -iso-level 4 -l -D -d -J -joliet-long -R -volid "WIN_XP" -sysid "Win32" -b XPboot.bin -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -allow-multidot -hide XPboot.bin -hide boot.catalog -o "C:\XP_Source\xpsp0.iso" "C:\XP_source\root"

Please also note how we always talked about XPboot.bin, and from one of the directory views you posted I can see NO file named "XPboot.bin", but a file named "xpboot.bin".

Can you spot the difference?

Cannot remember if mkisofs is CaSe SeNsItIvE, and if it is in the MinGW version that comes with Bart and that you are using, but being a Linux derived utility it is very likely.

Simply rename xpboot.bin to XPBOOT.BIN and change the references to XPboot.bin to XPBOOT.BIN.

When working with these kind of things, you should have Explorer set as "Show file extensions" or "Do not hide extensions", cannot remember right now the exact text of the setting.

A quick way to check if the actual .iso has a boot record is to open the .iso with 7-zip and verify that:

you can see a [BOOT] folder
if you open it you see "XPboot.bin" with size 2048 bytes

Once again, you are NOT using QEMU, you are using QEMU Manager (which in turn uses QEMU

).

jaclaz

Ed_P

Nov 19 2010, 07:24 PM

QUOTE (jaclaz @ Nov 19 2010, 04:50 PM)

Cannot remember if mkisofs is CaSe SeNsItIvE, and if it is in the MinGW version that comes with Bart and that you are using, but being a Linux derived utility it is very likely.

Older versions of PEBuilder use to use the -force-uppercase parameter with mkisofs but the current version does not. I'm not sure there was a change to the PEBuilder mkisofs.exe version or a change to PEBuilder.exe itself that nullified the parameter requirement.

However with or without the -force-uppercase parameter the execution of mkisofs is best done with a cmd script to minimize keying errors entering the long list of parameters and their values because nobody ever runs mkisofs only once.

SBernheart

Nov 20 2010, 06:11 AM

Bastian, yes, I mean the MANAGER manual (I have to quit calling it 'QEMU' already - just shorter is all), but not to confuse anyone, I was talking about the QEMU Emulator. I found it very confusing and I'm not even sure how I got to that webpage, but was happy to find the REAL Manager's Manual in it's folder (where it belonged, but where I did not look). Sorry.

QUOTE

When you set up your XP test in QEMU Manager did you point the CD drive to your XP ISO? Because the screen print you posted doesn't show it.

I'm no longer sure, if I'm honest, and I hate to admit I tried several 'pointers' until I found the one that loaded my Puppy Linux perfectly -- then I did it the same way for XP. I believe I tried pointing 'C:\XP_Source\xpsp0.iso' to BOTH the 'Hard Disk 0' AND the 'CD-ROM', though not at the same time. I'm attaching pics for you guys to see as I know jaclaz was asking as well. I'm posting more pics in my next reply so I'm only posting these here. Hope that's OK and answers the questions you both asked. Be back in a few with reply #2! Thanks.....

SBernheart

SBernheart

Nov 20 2010, 07:10 AM

QUOTE

Post a screenshot of the Drives one, the error you posted seems like you selected not correctly the C:\XP_Source\xpsp0.iso file as CD device.
Please also note how we always talked about XPboot.bin, and from one of the directory views you posted I can see NO file named "XPboot.bin", but a file named "xpboot.bin".

I really try to take as many screen shots as possible so I can review accurately, but sometimes I post the wrong shot as opposed to the correct 'error'. Hope the pics are 'correct' but not necessarily in error. I posted pics in previous reply about QEMU Mgr as I have more pics for you, jaclaz, about the 'mkisofs' and what ISO looks like in 7zip. I've attached them below.

QUOTE

Try again...with THIS one:

CODE

I tried mkisofs first as-is above, then reread "Simply rename xpboot.bin to XPBOOT.BIN and change the references to XPboot.bin to XPBOOT.BIN.", so I went back and changed the case in the 'code' you posted as well as anywhere else it might be referenced, but the pic shows the same answer for both attempts regardless.

QUOTE

Or, there is some problem in the way the .iso was made.

Tried to rename 'XPboot.bin' (in 7zip's 'xpsp0.iso' as suggested) to 'XPBOOT.BIN' but it told me "no such interface supported". Inside '[BOOT]' folder, it has only one item 'Bootable_NoEmulation.img' and is exactly 2048. I did, however, change the name 'XPboot.bin' in 'Root' folder to 'XPBOOT.BIN' (I moved the first 'xpsp0.iso' to a 'Download' folder with other ISOs before running 'mkisofs' again).
As for Explorer's settings, I do have 'Hide extensions' unticked or unhidden. I hope I answered all questions. I type too slow for forum and I almost always have to log back in before posting. If only I could write less, right Ed_P?

I promise to try harder though.

QUOTE

...the execution of mkisofs is best done with a cmd script...

I'm not sure how to execute a program that way. Old XP used a 'run' command box from Start menu, is that what you mean? At DOS prompt I point to source then "run mkisofs.exe" (without quotes)? I'll wait and see what jaclaz's reply is before going off on a tangent -- that's usually what gets me in trouble. I do like the lesson though if my answer's correct. As stated, I'm 'DOS-rusty'. Thank you one and all.....

SBernheart

oscar

Nov 20 2010, 08:31 AM

QUOTE (SBernheart @ Nov 20 2010, 09:10 AM)

Try this only to learn what it is a *.cmd or *.bat
Cretate xxx.txt
Open xxx.txt
Write:
dir
pause
Save xxx.txt
Rename xxx.txt to xxx.cmd or xxx.bat
Run xxx.cmd or xxx.bat

jaclaz

Nov 20 2010, 09:52 AM

Start with a NEW Qemu Manager Virtual machine.
When it asks you which OS you want to Run in it, choose XP.
When it asks about which size virtual disk, choose to have a 2 Gb in size "RAW" one.
When the machine will be created you will ALREADY have a hard disk set in Drive TAB. LEAVE IT ALONE!
Select the CD-ROM device and point it to the C:\XP_Source\xpsp0.iso
Make sure that in boot orde you have CD/DVD drive before anything else, i.e. CD/DVD Drive|Hard disk.
Try booting the VM.

The .iso is an image of a CD-ROM and needs to be "connected" to the CD-ROM device (and NOT to any hard disk device, and NOT toanything else).

More generally, you NEVER connect any file TWICE (i.e. to two different virtual devices).

About mkisofs.exe, you managed to run it successfully before, it is likely that under the stoopid Windows 7 you need to open the command prompt as Admininstrator or whatever.
The screenshot you posted lately shows TWO errors:

access is denied
Not a valid Windows application

First one is most probably due to the said missing credentials, and the second is likely derived by the file beiong "locked" or whatever.

AGAIN, you ALREADY ran mkisofs.exe successfully and created the .iso (successfully as the 7-zip check is OK - it cannot see the filename once written to the bootsector and "names" it as "Bootable_NoEmulation.img" - that's OK).
How come you cannot run mkisofs.exe anymore?

But anyway from your last post it seems you created the .iso allright, but you haven't the faintest idea on how to use Qemu Manager to test it.
Follow EXACTLY the steps listed, and report.

jaclaz

P.S.: Anyway, something is simply NOT as it should be.
From the myG_Drive.dir:

QUOTE

Directory of G:\I386

03/16/2008 08:16 AM <DIR> .
03/16/2008 08:16 AM <DIR> ..
....
5082 File(s) 316,589,322 bytes

(to which you have to add the files in the \I386\ subfolders)

How come in the your last explorer screenshot there are ONLY 24,880,428 bytes in the \I386\?

Go again to your G:\I386\, select it in Explorer and choose "Properties".
Post the screenshot.
Then Copy the G:\I386\ to C:\XP_Source\Root\
Select it in Explorer and choose "Properties".
Post the screenshot.
Are there the same number of files and directories and bytes?
Do the same for the \I386\ of your built .iso.

Ed_P

Nov 20 2010, 10:50 AM

QUOTE (oscar @ Nov 20 2010, 08:31 AM)

Run xxx.cmd or xxx.bat

Just to clarify a bit, to run the file simply dbl click on it in the Explorer window. You do not need to open a DOS command prompt window, although that option would work also.

To relate this to the mkisofs command:

Create the text file in the C:\XP_Source folder where mkisofs.exe is located.

Name the file something easy like RunIt.txt or MakeISO.txt or MakeMyDay.txt . You get the idea.

I use Notepad to create text files but you can use whatever you're comfortable with.

Into your new text file enter all of the characters that you enter when running mkisofs.exe in a Command Prompt window.

On the next line enter PAUSE

Now save the file.

So in your Explorer window in the C:\XP_Source folder you should see mkisofs.exe and MakeMyDay.txt.

Rename the MakeMyDay.txt (or whatever you named it) file to MakeMyDay.cmd.

To run the new cmd file, double click on it.

If you need to make a change to the MakeMyDay.cmd file RIGHT click on it's name then click on Edit.

If your good at copying and pasting you can build your txt file using this code.

CODE

mkisofs.exe -v -iso-level 4 -l -D -d -J -joliet-long -R -volid "WIN_XP" -sysid "Win32" -b XPboot.bin -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -allow-multidot -hide XPboot.bin -hide boot.catalog -o "C:\XP_Source\xpsp0.iso" "C:\XP_source\root"
PAUSE

HTH

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