PE 3.0

Yeah I have the correct directory structure placed at the root of C:\ just like they recommended with the ReflectPE directory and and the script within. I don't know why it happened but it is fixed now so its not a problem anymore I don't guess.

Good deal glad it is working good. I am going to keep mine on the CD for now because I already have the boot option from C:\ with the regular Reflect WinPE, and I am going to integrate all of my boot CD's into this one with Grub4DOS and redefine the Ultimate Boot CD 4 Windows LOL. I really like Win 7 now but it took me a little bit to get focused on it and I am still picking up stuff here and there.

I have already loaded drivers in and my wireless driver installed fine, and it may work I really didn't try it much and I just had the iso mounted on an empty VHD in Virtualbox so I am hoping and thinking that it will work right in its regular state because I don't think i took the time to configure my Virtual network in virtualbox.

Thanks Sully

 

Nice. I would be interested in swapping infos on g4d cds. I made a great one for XP, but haven't yet started on 7. I am about to though, as I always have a dvd to install fresh from if all else fails, and I want everything I need in one place.

I finally made the switch to 7 because I picked it up over the holiday (32 and 64bit). I don't think I will be going back to XP now (hard to believe I am saying that too).

Sul.

 

I know exactly what you mean, I still have a desktop with XP on it myself. I was thinking about installing 7 on it. I still haven't went to x64 yet, but I am ready to do it now.

I have been trying to see if it is possible to have one Grub4DOS menu with all of my Win 7 stuff on it and then just one entry that will lead to a second menu with all of my XP material because I still have a lot of clients that use XP and a few who are still on 2000. Mostly though I just don't seem to be satisfied with anything in its default state, I've got to screw around with it until it is unique. I am new to Grub4DOS for sure though, I have configured multiboot OS's and done a few different boot CD's with it but I had XP for so long I was happy with what I had and had not fooled with it until now. But Winbuilder has got me motivated again so who knows what will happen. Do you think its possible? Now that I have Macrium working good I am going to start putting all of it together so as soon as I get done, hopefully sometime this weekend, I will let you know. If I don't get side tracked that is

 

I am very much the same way, maybe a fanatic about changing the default state.

I got into g4d a few years back. I realized with some of Barts tools and g4d, I need never carry a floppy disk again for things like memtest86 or other tools I used to use off floppy. I started my UACD project just wanting to have a menu for some tools on floppy, which led me down a twisted path.

It seems somewhere along the way I started making my own tweaked 9x floppy boot disks, for every hardware I could think of, for every situation I could think of. Then I started heavily modifying the setup sequence in XP, creating lots of little scripts or .cmd files to do things at different states. I automated every installation I had. I built tools to finish the installation, tools to conveniently interface to the user just before installation was complete.

I had my g4d menu.lst point to many other .lst files. I had bartPE booting off the dvd, xp professional corp and retail, xp home too. I had multiple answer files you could choose from, each would load the OS with different settings. I had layers of RyanVms plugins that could be installed depending on what computer I was installing on. I even went so far as to create multiple ways in the dvd and the os to boot with any of the HALS as well as methods to repair ntldr and ntdetect.com. So many tweaks and hacks. I used a hex editor pretty much all the time back then.

It worked very well. I could go to a persons house, fire up bartPE, use a key recover program to get thier windows serial if they did not have a sticker on their box, and then reinstall default or heavily tweaked or anywhere inbetween.

It was by far, and I mean really far, the best thing I could have done at that time, as it allowed me to not only learn a lot about the setup process and boot cds in general, but I made enough money on the side to buy myself an expensive rig as well as some software I would not otherwise have purchased.

However, Vista/7 has changed things dramatically. I have no problem creating multiple menus in g4d, chainloading this or that, but the differences in Vista/7 and booting are causing a delay in how fast I do something like that again.

I looked at WAIK last night, and was thinking on making an unattended dvd for 7, but I don't know that I have the time anymore to devote to that. Between wanting to learn as much as I can about 7 and creating tools/tweaks/methods to make it more docile, and the needs of the ever growing children I have, it seems the days of such projects are in the past. It seems easier to use a Vlite type replacement for basic installations and create a desktop tool to finish up.

I will be interested to see what you develop.

Sul.

 

Sounds like you had it all figured out, I keep hoping someone would make something as great as BartPE but also as easy, thats what was so great with BartPE. So it is possible to create new menus and such, like I said I am fairly new to G4D but I will get it figured out, I counted this morning and I think I got 12 CD's to add.

Set up a restore this morning on the Win7RescuePE and Macrium worked did great no glitches, of course I don't think I have ever had a bug with Macrium.

 

Well, I had much of it figured out for what I needed lol.

Here is something I had from an early project.

menu.lst

Code:

#splashimage=/PICS/tsmtch.xpm.gz
# Set text color to RRGGBB
#foreground 0000ff
# Set shadows and selected highlight to RRGGBB
#background ff0000
#color black/cyan yellow/cyan
timeout 60
default /default

title 1. XP CD Boot Menu
configfile /XP.lst

title 2. Hard Drive Boot Menu
configfile /HDD.lst

title 3. Floppy Image Boot Menu
configfile /FDD.lst

title 4. Back to DOS
fallback 1
quit

title 5. Boot from physical Floppy
fallback 1
chainloader (fd0)+1
rootnoverify (fd0)

title 6. Commandline
commandline

title 7. Reboot
reboot

title 8. Shutdown computer
halt

XP.lst

Code:

#splashimage=/PICS/crap.xpm.gz
# Set text color to RRGGBB
#foreground 0000ff
# Set shadows and selected highlight to RRGGBB
#background ff0000
#color black/cyan yellow/cyan
default /default

title 1. Normal XP CD Install
fallback 6
chainloader /I386/SETUPLDR.BIN

title 2. Full Unattended XP CD Install
fallback 6
chainloader /I386/SETUPLD2.BIN

title 3. Provide Defaults for XP CD Install
fallback 6
chainloader /I386/SETUPLD3.BIN

title 4. Full Unattend LAN PARTY settings
fallback 6
chainloader /I386/SETUPLD4.BIN

# special options (batch files etc for Pre-Gui setup)
title 5. Boot to DOS Special Options (Fat32 installs)
fallback 6
kernel /FIMG/memdisk.gz
initrd /FIMG/XPOPT.IMZ

title 6. Main Menu
configfile /menu2.lst

title 7. Hard Drive Boot Menu
configfile /HDD.lst

title 8. Floppy Image Boot Menu
configfile /FDD.lst

HDD.lst

Code:

#splashimage=/PICS/file.xpm.gz
# Set text color to RRGGBB
#foreground 0000ff
# Set shadows and selected highlight to RRGGBB
#background ff0000
#color black/cyan yellow/cyan
##timeout 30
default /default

title 1. Find & Boot NT/2K/XP
fallback 7
find --set-root /ntldr
chainloader /ntldr

title 2. Boot First HDD NT/2K/XP
fallback 7
chainloader (hd0,0)/ntldr

title 3. Boot Second HDD NT/2K/XP
fallback 7
chainloader (hd1,0)/ntldr

title 4. Find & Boot 9x/ME
fallback 7
find --set-root /io.sys
chainloader /io.sys

title 5. Boot First HDD 9x/ME
fallback 7
chainloader (hd0,0)/io.sys

title 6. Boot Second HDD 9x/ME
fallback 7
chainloader (hd1,0)/io.sys

title 7. Main Menu
configfile /menu2.lst

title 8. XP CD Boot Menu
configfile /XP.lst

title 9. Floppy Image Boot Menu
configfile /FDD.lst

FDD.lst

Code:

#splashimage=/PICS/smile.xpm.gz
# Set text color to RRGGBB
#foreground 0000ff
# Set shadows and selected highlight to RRGGBB
#background ff0000
default /default

title 1. Boot Win98SE FLOPPY
map --mem /FIMG/9XSE.IMG (fd0) 
map --hook 
chainloader (fd0)+1 
rootnoverify (fd0)

title 2. Boot zipped DOS Floppy using MemDisk
kernel /FIMG/memdisk.gz
initrd /FIMG/DAVEORG.IMZ
Boot

title 3. Boot Ghost 2003 MS-DOS
kernel /FIMG/memdisk.gz
initrd /FIMG/GHSTMSD.IMZ
Boot

title 4. Boot Ghost 2003 PC-DOS
kernel /FIMG/memdisk.gz
initrd /FIMG/GHSTPCD.IMZ
Boot

title 5. Main Menu
configfile /menu2.lst

title 6. XP CD Boot Menu
configfile /XP.lst

title 7. Hard Drive Boot Menu
configfile /HDD.lst

menu2.lst

Code:

#splashimage=/PICS/tsmtch.xpm.gz
# Set text color to RRGGBB
#foreground 0000ff
# Set shadows and selected highlight to RRGGBB
#background ff0000
#color black/cyan yellow/cyan
##timeout 30
default /default

title 1. XP CD Boot Menu
configfile /XP.lst

title 2. Hard Drive Boot Menu
configfile /HDD.lst

title 3. Floppy Image Boot Menu
configfile /FDD.lst

title 4. Back to DOS
fallback 1
quit

title 5. Boot from physical Floppy
fallback 1
chainloader (fd0)+1
rootnoverify (fd0)

title 6. Commandline
commandline

title 7. Reboot
reboot

title 8. Shutdown computer
halt

You can see how the menus connect to each other. Remember that this is all case sensitive.

I had to do a lot of hex editing files such as setupldr.bin, and renaming them, such as setupld3.bin and being sure everything pointed to the correct file/directory.

Here are some ones that are starting to resemble the end project.

XP.lst

Code:

#splashimage=/PICS/crap.xpm.gz
# Set text color to RRGGBB
#foreground 0000ff
# Set shadows and selected highlight to RRGGBB
#background ff0000
#color black/cyan yellow/cyan
default /default

title 1. Normal XP Volume Install
fallback 10
chainloader /I386/SETUPLDR.BIN

title 2. Full Unattended XP Volume Install
fallback 10
chainloader /I386/SETUPLD2.BIN

title 3. Provide Defaults for XP Volume Install
fallback 10
chainloader /I386/SETUPLD3.BIN

title 4. Full Unattend LAN PARTY settings (VLK)
fallback 10
chainloader /I386/SETUPLD4.BIN

title 5. XP Volume Profiles - Assorted
configfile /GEN_CD.LST

title 6. Normal XP Retail Install
fallback 10
chainloader /I386/SETUPLD7.BIN

title 7. Full Unattended XP Retail Install
fallback 10
chainloader /I386/SETUPLD8.BIN

title 8. Provide Defaults for XP Retail Install
fallback 10
chainloader /I386/SETUPLD9.BIN

# special options (batch files etc for Pre-Gui setup)
title 9. Boot to DOS Special Options (Fat32 installs)
fallback 10
kernel /FIMG/MEMDISK.GZ
initrd /FIMG/XPOPT.IMZ

title 10. Main Menu
configfile /MENU2.LST

title 11. Hard Drive Boot Menu
configfile /HDD.LST

title 12. Floppy Image Boot Menu
configfile /FDD.LST

tools.lst

Code:

#splashimage=/PICS/smile.xpm.gz
# Set text color to RRGGBB
#foreground 0000ff
# Set shadows and selected highlight to RRGGBB
#background ff0000
default /default

title 1. Boot Ghost 2003 MS-DOS
kernel /FIMG/MEMDISK.GZ
initrd /FIMG/GHSTMSD.IMZ
Boot

title 2. Boot Ghost 2003 PC-DOS
kernel /FIMG/MEMDISK.GZ
initrd /FIMG/GHSTPCD.IMZ
Boot

title 3. Memtest86 v3.3 (auto test)
kernel /FIMG/MEMDISK.GZ
initrd /FIMG/MEMTST86.IMZ
Boot

title 4. DocMemory
kernel /FIMG/MEMDISK.GZ
initrd /FIMG/DOCMEM.IMZ
Boot

title 5. SpinRite Hdd Test
kernel /FIMG/MEMDISK.GZ
initrd /FIMG/SPINRITE.IMZ
Boot

title 6. MHDD Hdd Test
kernel /FIMG/MEMDISK.GZ
initrd /FIMG/MHDD.IMZ
Boot

title 7. Boot Ini Tool
kernel /FIMG/MEMDISK.GZ
initrd /FIMG/BOOTINI.IMZ
Boot

title 8. Read NTFS Pro
kernel /FIMG/MEMDISK.GZ
initrd /FIMG/NTFS_PRO.IMZ
Boot

title 9. Partition Magic 7
kernel /FIMG/MEMDISK.GZ
initrd /FIMG/BOOT_PM7.IMZ
Boot

title 10. BartPE from disk
chainloader /BART/SETUPLDR.BIN

title 11. Main Menu
configfile /MENU2.LST

title 12. XP CD Boot Menu
configfile /XP.LST

title 12. Hard Drive Boot Menu
configfile /HDD.LST

HDD.lst

Code:

#splashimage=/PICS/file.xpm.gz
# Set text color to RRGGBB
#foreground 0000ff
# Set shadows and selected highlight to RRGGBB
#background ff0000
#color black/cyan yellow/cyan
##timeout 30
default /default

title 1. Find & Boot NT/2K/XP
fallback 7
find --set-root /ntldr
chainloader /ntldr

title 2. Boot First HDD NT/2K/XP
fallback 7
chainloader (hd0,0)/ntldr

title 3. Boot Second HDD NT/2K/XP
fallback 7
chainloader (hd1,0)/ntldr

title 4. Find & Boot 9x/ME
fallback 7
find --set-root /io.sys
chainloader /io.sys

title 5. Boot First HDD 9x/ME
fallback 7
chainloader (hd0,0)/io.sys

title 6. Boot Second HDD 9x/ME
fallback 7
chainloader (hd1,0)/io.sys

title 7. Main Menu
configfile /MENU2.LST

title 8. XP CD Boot Menu
configfile /XP.LST

title 9. Floppy Image Boot Menu
configfile /FDD.LST

title 10. Emergency Boot with options - root:\oldr.ini
chainloader (hd0,0)/otldr

title 11. Emergency Boot Multi HAL - root:\mldr.ini
chainloader (hd0,0)/mtldr

title 12. Emergency Boot - root:\A_BOOT\boot.ini
chainloader (hd0,0)/A_BOOT/ntldr

title 13. Emergency Boot with options - root:\A_BOOT\oldr.ini
chainloader (hd0,0)/A_BOOT/otldr

title 14. Emergency Boot Multi HAL - root:\A_BOOT\mldr.ini
chainloader (hd0,0)/A_BOOT/mtldr

Lots and lots of options. I always use mkisofs to create the iso files, the usually mount them in vmWare to see what happens.

Sul.

 

Wow I say you had it set up right. Man this will make it go a lot faster for me because the only decent guide I have found on G4D was at Boot Land. Anyways I am fixing to get started, I just have a couple of scripts to finish up. I am already greedy, I am working on a script for MBAM and one for PicPick. Thanks

 

If you want even more, I started this trip in earnest in 2006. Here is a link from some of the first stuff I started asking about. Lots of good infos, erm, maybe too much lol. I got carried away with hexxing stuff and creating floppy images.

Perhaps you can use some of it.

http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=18838&hl=

Sul.

 

Well I am finding good info but honestly it is all leding me in the same direction, and it is one that is frustrating. Seems like everyone says that it is not possible to boot all different types of iso's with G4D eg Syslinux, Isolinux, etc/ But I find this difficult to believe for some reason, seems like even if you cant boot them or attach certain iso files then you could unpack each one to its own directory and then edit menu.1st accordingly, of course I am sure there will be some that will be problematic this way but I have seen this technique a couple of times. I am going to try it, I definitely think this way would work from a USB but i will know for sure soon. I think doing this with MagicISO or easyboot would be easier but then I would lose the winbuilder projects and money. Thanks for the links, I definitely need to learn more about G4D so I can figre this out because I know there has to be a way.

 

My advice would be to head to
911cd
msfn
boot-land

and seek the help of Jaclaz (he is on all of them). He is truly a wizard at anything that boots. Wimb is pretty good as well. I have had help from others, but Jaclaz truly amazes me and is a very generous person with his help (not to dis-credit anyone else).

Sul.

 

Yeah I have seen him around, and he is the one who wrote the Boot Land Grub4DOS guide which was great, but he is also the person who said that it probably could not be done with G4D. I am on MSFN as I am typing this, strangely ut was the least known to me but has been the most help so far. One thing is for sure my friend, I will get it done somehow may not be just exactly as I wished it to be but I will do it and that is my goal. I have been doing some thinking and some researching and I might have found a good workaround in case G4D can nor handle all that I want it too handle but more on that later. Thanks Sul

 

Quick question for the informed (that would be me). I'm still on XP and haven't made the plunge to Win7 yet.

Did Microsoft change NTFS? Is there a logical difference between the underlying file system on XP vs Vista or 7? Because if not.... why not just throw all your utilities on a BartPE boot disk made from XP? Wouldn't that be easier?

 

Well it would be a lot easier and if you would read the thread you would have realized that BartPE is not compatible with 7, and it has absolutely nothing to do with the boot program. Even so if I wanted to do this with BartPE I would be doing the exact same thing that I am doing now, because what I am doing is not related to BartPE, or WinPE, or UBCD4WIN it is specific to Grub4DOS so read the thread.

 

Dude, chill out. I did read the thead. It's about PE 3.0, not grub4dos. grub4dos wasn't mentioned until halfway down the first page. I'm just asking questions....not to mention I said anything about replying to you directly.

 

I wasn't meaning to be rude man, but I have been up all night trying to get this done and I have just concluded that it can't be done with G4D. Yes the thread was about Winbuilder and PE 3.0 but what I was trying to do was to integrate all of my Boot CDs via Grub4DOS, but it cannot be done as easy as I thought. Sorry man.

 

NTFS is not changed, so that bartPE (an XP PE of any kind) can still navigate the NTFS drives, which is the reason I use bartPE!

The changes to the underlying file system are only changed, that I know of, it respect to that if you have a raw drive and you create partitions (not just format, but delete/create) then Vista/7 created drives/partitions don't do something.. I can't remember if XP and older can't see them or access them correctly.. I read something that you should create drives/partitions with 3rd party tools or use XP to do this.. sorry, can't remember exactly. That is all I know of that has changed.

Yes, bartPE is easy to get working, you can add many utilities to it. It is however not going to play well with win7 tools, such as installing from a WIM. I can put my bartPE cd/dvd in, boot to bart, modify the win7 disk. But in this case, you cannot "easily" use bartPE from the hdd to boot from .iso.

The purpose of this thread, as you know, is how to transistion from PE1.0 (xp) to PE3.0 (7). PE3.0 brings many changes to the table. The talk of g4d is included because with Vista/7, the boot.ini is no longer there, and things are just different, and g4d offers work-arounds.

I wish bartPE and boot.ini were still in use for 7. PE3.0 is ok, and does bring some nice features that bartPE did not have, but I would rather the older than the newer

Sul.

 

OK, cool. That's what I needed to know. Thanks.

 

Again I am sorry Valnar, I was in a foul mood this morning it was not my intention to be rude, however I was and I am sorry for that.

from what I understand about G4D, it will handle DOS based boot CD's with ease and linux types that only require kernel and initrd files to run. Unfortunately, it is not cooperating with some of the files I want it to handle so I guess I am going to look for an alternative method.

 

Hey, no problem man. We all get road rage on the Internet now and then. I guess it's just too easy.

I'm not familiar with grub4dos, but use grub on Linux since many distros come with it (of course). This may not help you, and may have nothing to do with bootable media, but the only boot manager I use on hard drives is BootIt NG. I have PC's with DOS all the way to XP, and some Linux (with grub) in the middle. Maybe it will help in your quest.

 

well I am looking in to BCDW right now because it can boot Grub4DOS fairly easy, so in theory whatever one can't handle, maybe the other one can. But I have yet to find this out and BCDW was last updated in 2008 so I dont know for sure that it is compatible with Win 7 but most things that work on Vista will work on 7. I was mad this morning because I was posting on different forums, MSFN, Boot Land, 911 and when I ask a question about BCDW and multiboot I got the same answer over and over; go get an iso editor. But anyway it seems to me like there is a serious lack of information on all bootable CD related stuff. I will check this out valnar. Thanks.

 

you might check out stuff by a person named Gosh. I "think" he had some stuff on BCDW, but he is long since gone, But there are some archived pages at msfn. I think also googling flyakite might help, if I remember right there was some BCDW stuff there too.

Sul.

 

I don't know if this helps anyone out or not, but I thought it was pretty neat.

I was searching for some stuff on grldr and grldr.mbr, and I came across some "stuff". It is very interesting. They have taken grldr, and modified it (for other purposes) so that instead of looking for a menu.lst on the hdd, the menu is actually in the grldr.

I decided to take a closer look, and found quite a nice little suprise. By hex editing the modified grldr carfully, I could create my own menu items. I put in my own, including booting Win7RescuePE.iso from hdd.

This is only half of the interesting part. There is a file, called bootinst.exe and I am pretty sure the version I found was modified, but cannot be 100% certain. I am not even sure yet what this file is supposed to do. But I do know what it has done for me.

If I place MY modified version of the modified grldr (version 0.44) in the boot drive (c: in my case) and then run that bootinst.exe like this:

bootinst.exe /nt60 c:

the result is that the grldr is now the boot file. There are no BCD entries, no menu.lst. I can now boot, and it seems like nothing is different. There is no BCD boot menu option at all.

But.. if I need to see that grldr menu, I simply press the ESC key just after bios finishes posting then the menu comes up, just as if it were a menu.lst on the hdd.

I modified the time in the grldr file to be 5 seconds so that I had ample time to press the ESC key.

There is also an option to find and load an "external" menu.lst. You could have a different menu.lst on the hdd, and using this ESC key to bring up the menu, you could then find and load it.

Yes this is somewhat vague, but I am sure those intrepid souls who dig this sort of thing will figure it out.

Happy hexxing.

Sul.

 

That sounds pretty cool indeed. I fnally gave up on G4D for my super CD because no matter what I tried I could not get it to boot everything I wanted, so in stead of a compromise on two "not so super CD's" I got with it and downloaded the new UBCD 5 which is now RC1 and has added Parted Magic and Avira ( a couple of the CD's I was going to multiboot) and also now includes full support for Grub4DOS and the new and incredibly simple Syslinux version. So pretty much problem solved, the only thing that is holding me back from the finish line is a Knoppix based rescue cd, which for some reasons I always have trouble with Knoppix. Anyway I have 8 different options so far and when i am finished it will be 11 provided that it all will fit on the disk. I also have added Win7RescuePE as a boot option because of the versatility, so where can I get this modified grldr from? Thanks for all the help Sully, the link you posted above really got me over the brink and enabled me to think of G4D in a simple way, which it is but it is hard to piece a little info here with a little info their and read a guide that gives just enough info to fool you into thinking you understand. My desktop was covered in sticky notes at one point. There is just not very much good info on the subject, but I am afraid I got it whipped now so whats next?

 

I have hexxed that grldr file into submission!

I now have one grldr file, which contains the following menu options:

Code:

find and boot PE.iso
boot PE.iso from hd0,0

find and boot vista/7 bootmgr
boot vista/7 bootmgr from hd0,0

boot PartedMagic grub iso from hdd

boot bartPE iso from hdd

reboot

halt

load external menu.lst (from hdd or cdrom)

command line

All I have to do is copy this grldr to my boot drive (c: ) and then run this command

bootinst.exe /nt60 c:

Now when I boot, if I press ESC within 5 seconds, my menu comes up. My first choises are there. I think next I will create that external menu.lst with some other images and anything new I might find.

I must say, not having to muck up the bcd is fine by me. I like this booting .iso stuff much better in this fashion.

Next I think is creating the WIM that does what the old $OEM$ directory did. My 7 system is about tweaked. I would like to incorporate some way to put my .iso files and grldr etc onto the drive during install, and some other things.

I have overloaded on my registry tweaks, nibbled at about every setting I can think of off-hand, gotten my macrium from PE method down nicely, so next, I dunno. Might be time to start looking at the security of 7 in earnest.

Sul.

 

NICE. Very nice indeed.

Well if its security then I am for sure a lot more well versed and in my element.