I recently tried to customize Ultimate Boot CD to my needs using syslinux config files.
I know about Easy2boot but they seem mostly oriented to Grub4Dos, but I started to do everything Syslinux way.
In ideal world I would just copy iso files to a folder and add new config lines to custom.cfg and then use Ultimate Boot CD tools to build my final ISO, which I can then burn to a DVD or to a USB flash using Rufus or something similar (I'm more a Windows guy). I can accept the fact that I might need to load each ISO into RAM - nowadays RAM is cheap.
Intuitively I expected to have better luck with Linux based ISOs because syslinux itself is closer to the Linux world than Windows world. Especially reading that syslinux MEMDISK Wiki page says:
Windows NT/2000/XP/2003/Vista/2008/7 (NT based)
These Windows versions use INT 13h access only in the start of the booting process (loading only the necessary drivers). Once the protected mode drivers are functional to access the disks, Windows can't see the memory mapped drives created by MEMDISK (CD/DVD, hard disk and floppy disk images) and it will fail to complete the boot process.
After some experiments I was really surprised to find out that it works if I add Windows XP, 7 and 8 based PE ISOs (including Paragon Suite) with simple config like
LABEL -
MENU LABEL Paragon Suite
TEXT HELP
Paragon Suite (Windows 7 PE based)
ENDTEXT
LINUX /boot/syslinux/memdisk
INITRD /ubcd/custom/rm_07_11_2015.iso
APPEND iso raw
but the same approach completely fails with Ubuntu Live CD, Kaspersky Rescue CD, Bitdefender Rescue CD.
For Ubuntu Live CD I found that I can make it work by extracting a bunch of files out of the ISO and polluting my final ISO image with some folders. At the end my config entry looked like this:
MENU LABEL Ubuntu Live 14.04
TEXT HELP
Ubuntu Live 14.04
ENDTEXT
LINUX /ubuntu/vmlinuz.efi
INITRD /ubuntu/initrd.lz
APPEND file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed boot=casper iso-scan/filename=/ubcd/custom/ubuntu-14.04.3-desktop-amd64.iso quiet splash --
Is this really my best option? Why can't Ubuntu loader just find the necessary files in ISO file in memdisk? Is it the INT 13h issue mentioned in the memdisk Wiki or is there something else going on?
With Kaspersky Rescue CD I have seen various workarounds and some of them were outdated but some others involved using Grub4Dos and not Syslinux. Does it mean that Grub4Dos is more powerful and can do more stuff than Syslinux?
After failing to boot Kaspersky Rescue CD out-of-the-box (I'm not yet ready to mess with its internal files) I decided to try Bitdefender Rescue CD. The naive Memdisk approach failed, I got a message
Invalid loop location: /rescue/livecd.squashfs
Please export LOOP with a valid location
Now I'm not sure why it does not work - is it because I'm trying it in a virtual machine (VMware Player) or because the instructions are wrong or outdated.
Anyway, I have seen some other boot ISOs using the same map and partnew approach. How do I port such configs to syslinux and will it work? If not, then why?
I have read Easy2Boot articles and I see they are sometimes recommending imgPTN (partition image) format instead of ISOs. I'm wondering, how can it be that it is easier to boot from such an image when original ISO was meant to be bootable from a CD and not a partition?
And why it does not work with DVDs - why can't we convert all our ISOs to imgPTN files and then create an ISO or imgPTN image which can be booted from both USB and DVD?
Also, I have read some warnings (in Easy2Boot articles, most probably) that some ISOs in some configurations might actually damage data on the PC which is booted using that ISO! That is scary. Can it be avoided? Is imgPTN safer approach then?
Is Easy2Boot with their Grub4Dos+imgPTN -> USB flash the most fool-proof solution today? Can Syslinux replace Grub4Dos and help with creating not only multiboot UFD but also DVD? If not then why?
I'm sorry for so many "why" questions in my first post here, but "why" question is the most important because you can learn so much from answers to "why", but it's somewhat harder to learn from step-by-step instructions without any explanations because then you just copy the code blindly and then get frustrated because you have no idea "why" does it not work the way it should...
La micro sd sandisk da 16gb è in formato raw e protetta da scrittura, non riesco a formattarla ne da linux (hdpam, mkfs, dd zero e etc) ne da windows, sempre protetta da scrittura impossibile formattare neanche dando il comando da prompt per gli attributi. Non voglio recuperare dati da essa.
Uso un adattatore della trust in cui inserisco sd mmc etc come chip e vendor mi da sempre 058F e 6364 della alcor appunto, ma non so cosa fare neanche usando i vari programmi per alcor
Poi ho un'altra SD che ha le dimensioni errate e non so come sistemarla neanche con testdisk, non salva delle dimensioni ad pcchio per 4gb, anch'essa raw ma non protetta da scrittura, non voglio recuperare dati sopra.
Infine ho una mmc da 64mb che dovrei recuperare i dati oltre alle dimensioni giuste, mi è stata prestata e devo restituirla.
File Name: PicoXP File Submitter: pscEx File Submitted: 20 Aug 2011 File Updated: 23 Mar 2013 File Category: Projects
This is a simple project aimed to reach a very small bootable windows environment. To achieve the minimum sizes all graphical support was removed leaving only cmd.exe as the default shell. Access to CD/DVD drives and NTFS disks is still supported.
PicoXP is one of the very few projects which support the WinBuilder 'Certificate' functionality. That helps the user to proof whether the used scripts are 'from author'.
Estimados durante la actualización de Firmware ocurrió (lamentablemente) lo que NO debía ocurrir: UN CORTE SÚBITO DE ENERGÍA, por lo tanto la actualización NO terminó y mi Router NO vuelve a funcionar: Luz PWR: OK, Luz SYS: APAGADA. ¿Pueden ayudarme. ¿Vale la pena la reparación?, lo puedo solucionar via software..??.
While I was upgrading Firmware, Energy was down, then process not finish. Now PWR Light is ON but SYS Light is OFF and I can not access to my router with 192.168.0.1 and a cable directly connected to my PC. How can I do Firmware Recovery.?
Its frequently required to move data between drives for better organization, which at times involves resizing, deleting and combining partitions. There is an old known problem for which I never managed to find a solution and simply avoided. Its easy to resize (make bigger) a partition to the right, but when trying to resize to the left, any partitioning program I used so far required to move all data to the left as well - to the beginning of the resized partition.
This makes very little sense to me. When you look at any Defragmenter's work, they can move data around the partition in any direction, driven by their optimization algorithm (different for each). Again, looking at disk structure in Degragmenter, the File System data (MFT / MFT Zone) can be at any place around the disk, not nesessarely at its beginning. So why Partitioning tools can't do the same? Leave MFT and all other data where it is (at least on a user demand for non-bootable partitions), or move merely MBR & MFT to the beginning of a resized partition, but leave data (which takes a lot more space than MFT) untouched.
Its hard to comprehend the logic of moving 500Gb around the same partition, putting a hard drive to totally useless severe stress, loosing time, and risking to loose data along the way as the drive heats up. The problem was somewhat addressed in this thread on Gparted Forum, but without any solution, citing no objective reasons for lack of such feature apart from "extra programming required". Given how many people refrain from repartitioning and can't use disk space efficiently due to this very reason - to avoid senselessly moving huge amount of data to the left, the extra effort required appears well justified.
Hence a question: is there any free & non-free partitioning tool that allows to extend a partition to the LEFT without moving its data to the LEFT (except possibly boot or MFT related data)?
For those who remember BadBIOS, it seems that the advertisement and business in general didn't took long to communicate between different devices using ultra-sonic frequencies.
Imagine a web advertisement talking directly from the web browser on your laptop to the smartphone on your pocket and exchange information about whatever they decide. Doesn't this sound fun?
I am nearing completion of my First Win7PE build and I just wanted to know if there already exists a script/app that returns Host OS info like Windows Version, edition, build number, service pack numbers, ect.. in one application? I am currently working on an application that does this by using runscanner to extract the information from the Host registry. But it would save me some work if it already exists. I know some programs display some of the info but I would like one that shows it all.
I have created a WinPE 4.0 with san policy 3. It made all internal and external disks offline. After loading winpe I tried to make an internal disk online using diskpart commands. The command 'online disk' works fine and the selected disk becomes online. But I failed to clear the readonly attributes of the disk using the command 'attributes disk clear readonly '. Is there any alternative ??
(The 'clear readonly' command works while applying on external disk connected through USB )
FiraDisk File/RAM Disk driver for Windows. From discussion in Shao's topic GRUB4DOS RAM Disk Recognized by RAMDISK.SYS, I try making a Windows driver to read GRUB4DOS' drive map table and use GRUB4DOS RAM drives in Windows. This driver is the result. It emulates SCSI adapter and disk. It can use RAM disk loaded by GRUB4DOS in Windows. Shao's driver WinVBlock can also use GRUB4DOS's RAM drives. You can visit his thread for more detail.
This driver is not suitable for people who are not familiar with making and manipulating disk image or don't know how to use GRUB4DOS. It may take a long time to study about them depending on each person.
What is this driver for ? When your Windows has problem running or is infected with viruses, it is difficult or sometimes impossible to fix it from within windows itself. Options to fix it or recover data from it would be - Boot DOS. You can get data from FAT partition. With some add-on you may be able to access data in NTFS partition. - Use Linux or other OS to access your data with some limitation in its NTFS features. - Windows PE run from CD or USB drive - Remove harddisk from the computer and put it in another computer with Windows installed. You can access NTFS partition, scan virus, modify registry, create partition, delete partition, format, install new Windows in existing NTFS partition without formatting.
Windows PEs created from Winbuilder are useful for data recovery and manipulation of harddisk partition. They are normally run from CD-ROM. If you don't want to burn CD, or the computer you want to run it on don't have CD-ROM drive, another option is run from USB drive.
GRUB4DOS has ability to load disk image to RAM and create RAM drive for use in DOS, Windows 98. You can boot DOS, Windows 98 in RAM. Newer Windows based on Windows NT cannot use GRUB4DOS RAM drive unless you have driver for it. With FiraDisk driver you can use GRUB4DOS RAM drive in Windows XP-7. It can be used to boot Windows.
If you have FiraDisk integrated in PE ISO. It is possible to use GRUB4DOS to load PE from ISO file into RAM and run PE from RAM. When you run Windows from RAM. You can use your recovery tools, antivirus, partition managers to modify your harddisk. You can also delete/rename some folders (Document and Settings, Program Files, Windows) and reinstall Windows in old NTFS partition without deleting your data files and don't get old and new files mixed. You can store multiple ISO files on the same drive and choose it in GRUB4DOS at boot time.
Platform: Can run in - Windows XP 32-bit - Windows Server 2003 32-bit - Windows 7 32-bit - Windows 7 64-bit (Test Mode)
Test-signed 64-bit driver is included. If you want to test it in Windows Vista or Windows 7 64-bit, you must enable TESTSIGNING Boot Configuration Option before you install this driver. If you don't want to be warned about unknown publisher, you may install my self-signed test-signing root certificate before you install this driver. TestSignRootCA.reg ( 4.78K )
Status / change log - Sector-mapped virtual drive is not supported. v0.0.1.30 - Added: boot option indicates that the virtual drive is required for booting. v0.0.1.28 - Added: Read options from GRUB4DOS RAM drive. v0.0.1.26 - Fixed: CD-ROM emulation in Windows 7. - Fixed: BSOD when unloaded. - Added: Allow disabling detection of GRUB4DOS and Memdisk by settings in registry. - File-backed virtual drive "cdrom,file=..." does not work in Windows XP-2003 text-mode setup. But "cdrom,vmem=..." works. v0.0.1.24 - Find disk image file without knowing drive letter of backing drive. ( use find:\ instead of <drive letter>:\ ) v0.0.1.22 - It is possible to boot Windows XP in disk image file. v0.0.1.20 - Detect MEMDISK (v3.86) RAM drive. - Test SSE2 memory copy code. v0.0.1.16 - Fix: Slow transfer speed of RAM drive. - Bug: Cannot boot Windows XP setup from RAM CD-ROM. v0.0.1.12 - Fix: Windows Server 2003 compatibility. - Fix: Can read hexadecimal number (0x12345678) in boot option parameters. v0.0.1.10 - Virtual floppy disk drive. - New "physicalmemory" boot option keyword. - Bug: Cannot read hexadecimal number in boot option parameters. v0.0.1.8 - File-based drives can be created using /firadisk boot.ini option. - Fix: Detection of GRUB4DOS' RAM CD-ROM. v0.0.1.6 - Bug: Incorrect detection of size and address of GRUB4DOS' RAM CD-ROM. v0.0.1.4 - Support multiple virtual drive. - Support CD-ROM ISO loaded with GRUB4DOS. - No floppy drive emulation. Floppy disk image mapped to (fdx) will appear to be removable disk. v0.0.1.0 - Support 1 virtual hard drive that has been loaded with GRUB4DOS's map --mem command. - Windows XP can run from virtual hard drive in RAM.
Planned features in future versions: - Add/remove drives from CLI or GUI.
value StartOptions type REG_SZ
data = list of drive description to create separated by semicolon.
Example: disk,vmem=find:\file1.img;cdrom,vmem=find:\file2.iso;floppy,vmem=c:\file3.img;disk,vmem=c:\file4.img,size=1052835840
There are 3 types of virtual drive : disk, cdrom, floppy
There are 3 main types of media/image :
file=path : File read/write. vmem=path : Memory mapped file. vmem without path : Allocate from virtual memory (RAM+pagefile).
Optional parameters
offset=number size=number heads=number sectors-per-track=number ro : read-only boot : indicate that the virtual drive is required for booting Windows.
If file does not exist and size is specified, new file will be created.
If file exists but is smaller than offset+size, it will be extended.
value DisableDetectGrub4dos type REG_DWORD
value DisableDetectMemdisk type REG_DWORD
value DisableDetectedRAMDrives type REG_DWORD
0=enable 1=disable
value StartOptions same format as above.
You can write to this value at first stage of Windows XP setup by using TXTSETUP.OEM section [Config.FiraDisk].
value PnP type REG_DWORD
0=Create new FiraDisk Enumerator device at startup. 1=Don't create new FiraDisk Enumerator device.
GRUB4DOS RAM drive
Create a small RAM drive with drive number between 0-127 and write FiraDisk options to it.
Begin with [FiraDisk] (case insensitive)
followed by \n
then StartOptions=data\n
and end with \0.
Backslash is escape character in write command.
You can use / instead of \ in data field. When FiraDisk read this data, it will convert / to \ automatically.
Example:
Firadisk driver installation instruction for Windows XP
Spoiler
method 1. Use "Add Hardware Wizard" 1 Double-click "Add Hardware" icon in Control Panel. 2 Next 3 Yes, already connected ... Next 4 Scroll down and select lowest item "Add a new hardware device". Next 5 Install ... manually select ... (Advance) Next 6 SCSI and RAID controllers Next 7 Have Disk... 8 Type the path or Browse to directory that contains FiraDisk driver OK 9 select FiraDisk Virtual Disk Enumerator Next 10 Next, (Continue), Finished
method 2. Use devcon utility if you have devcon.exe. devcon install firadisk.inf root\firadisk
method 3. (v0.0.1.6) Right click firadisk.inf, select Install. FiraDisk will start at next boot time. When Windows prompt you to install driver for the new firadisk device, just follow the instruction on screen.
After installation you can see ONE "Firadisk Virtual Disk Enumerator" device node in Device Manager. If you install multiple times and have more than one "Firadisk Virtual Disk Enumerator" device, right-click and select Uninstall.
Test FiraDisk with GRUB4DOS mem drive (non-boot drive)
Spoiler
Install FiraDisk driver in Windows.
Install GRUB4DOS in a hard disk or whatever.
Make a hard disk image and place it in root directory
boot into GRUB4DOS
create map --mem drive and load bootsector or NTLDR
Example menu.lst
Test FiraDisk with GRUB4DOS mem drive as boot drive
Spoiler
Brief instruction
Install FiraDisk in Windows before making image or cloning Windows
Use another Windows installation (or other OS) to clone Windows to image file
If you use NTFS compression, make sure ntldr in image file is not compressed
If image file have different MBR signature or offset to partition, adjust registry in image file.
load hive \Windows\system32\config\system,
goto key MountedDevices, value \DosDevices\C:
change the data to match MBR signature and byte-offset to partition of disk image
unload hive
Boot from GRUB4DOS
Example menu.lst
timeout 3
default 0
title hdd.img
map --mem (hd0,0)/hdd.img (hd0)
map --hook
root (hd0,0)
chainloader /ntldr
title commandline
commandline
How to create/mount raw disk image with FiraDisk 0.0.1.12 (updated 2009-09-30) Not very convenient though.
Spoiler
Create/Mount image with firadisk 0.0.1.12
1.1 Set FiraDisk StartOptions
In registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FiraDisk,
create value StartOptions type REG_SZ
data "disk,vmem=image-file-path,size=size-in-bytes" for creating new image file, or openning existing image file
or "disk,vmem=image-file-path" for openning existing image file
1.3 Delete value StartOptions from key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FiraDisk
to prevent FiraDisk from auto-mount image file after restart.
I am trying to set up an USB flash drive, based on Grub4dos, with two options to choose from: boot to MS-DOS and boot to WinXP PE.
Now I have my UFD with the Grub4dos menu, MS-DOS booting works properly, I've tried making the ISO of WinXP PE, but it didn't really work, as it gave a bluescreen (used BartPE). Also, I would prefer if it was a clean XP PE, with a possibility of adding my own programs.
I have an original WinXP Home Premium CD, the UFD would be used as a fixing/scanning flash drive.
