Bootable Win2k CD with multi OS\'s

[The_Flames]

to get nt4 to auto insert it\'s serial i thinik it\'s controlled by a winnt.sif file like xp, but i\'ll have to chech it out if I can find my NT4 cd\'s

[Twinkie]

Yeah I can work on a kit rar or zip file.  Due to space, I am going to list it as two CD\'s.  One All 2K flavors.  The other will be 95, 98 and NT 4.0 Workstation.  I am not fond of ME.
I will try the winn.sif in NT4 Wkst and let everyone know unless Flames posts first.  Anyone have a preference about what kind of burn software to include in the manual?  I am testing to see if I can get it to work with Roxio EZ CDCreater 5.  Any other titles?

[MuffinAss]

Yeh, I\'m very ticked off about WinME, that was total garbage. It got bundled with a PC that I bought last year, total waste, just Windows 98 with much bloatware.

[Sic1Nine]

In regards to what buning software I would recommend either Nero or CdrWin.  I\'ve used both and they are pretty straight forward in creating those disks.  Besids Nero will allow you to overburn, which you\'ll need if you want to create a 5in1 disk that woulld contain most of the files from the various versions of OS\'s.  

In regards to the NT4, I would not use the winnt.sif method bot recommend using the setupp.ini method that is referenced on thetechguide.com site.  I\'ve tried with the winnt.sif and it appears to blow up when doing an install with a BSOD.  I guess that\'s because the image must be coded in someway to look for this file strictly from a floppy.  As soon as I removed the winnt.sif file from the i386 directory I was able to resume an installation.  The value that I found that works is pretty much the same as for win2k.. with the following exception.
What you\'ll most likely see when you open the file is a format similar to this:

 [Pid]
Pid = \"50036\"

All you would need to do is add \'270\" to the value so that it looks like this

[Pid]
Pid = \"50036270\"

Then when you run the installation routine you won\'t be asked for a key.

[Tyee]

Greetings
  This is a very interesting thread. I am just about ready to try and make a WinXP/2k iso, but I have a couple of questions I haven\'t been able to find the answers to here -

1. Just what has been edited in the \'setupldr.bin\', txtsetup.sif, and the *sect.dat files?

I believe I know the answer to one of these questions. I think the *sect.dat files have to point to the boot floppy directories - right? This is done right at the end of the string \'setupldr.binbootfix.binXXXX\' where XXXX is the said directory off the \'root\'. Are the other files also modified to point to the required directories?

2. In WinXP, the \'txtsetup.sif\' file, after extracting it from the 4 images off the boot floppies, is compressed (txtsetup.si_).
Does this throw a problem into this procedure? What should I do.

Thanks everyone and keep up the good posts!

Tyee

[Sic1Nine]

Space.. I wasn\'t sure what you meant by, \"has anybody got win9x to work with this as is it is on your orginal win9x cd???i got it to work...thanks ;P...but still wondering if it can be done as is.. \".  so I went back to retry from the disk that I made.. I was successful in installing this disk using the 9x image that I created as a fresh instsall.. The only problem I seem to have was trying the same installation on a system that had a pre-existing OS.  There I found that the system had a problem identifying the disk as a 9x disk while trying to reformat the drive in preparation for the new install.  I\'m currently looking into this to see if I need to add an additional file to the root of the disk to identify the 9x section.  Not sure if this is what you meant but will let you know what I find out if this is true.

[Sic1Nine]

Actually the only files that I recall needed to be edited were the setupldr.bin and txtsetup.sif which would point to the directories you mentioned.. the *.dat files were only used to help the loader file know where to drop the menu option that was selected.  As far as I can recall those werent touched..

In regards to the WnXP solution.. I couldn\'t help you on that but would be interested in finding out and will prolly research that to find out if it is this or another file that was edited.  


Anyone else have any ideas?

PS.. I\'m not sure if you\'ll be able to make that disk with win2k/XP unless you drop off all but the i386 directory of either one.. I was thinking of doing the same but the xp is alot more bloated than the 2k images were.. you might tryit but I had no success with that so far.

[The_Flames]

I think you will find xp has 6 Boot floppys, at least in the pro ver, which ver are you using?

[Sic1Nine]

For XP I\'m using the Pro version.  And Flames you are correct that takes 6 boot floppies.

[Twinkie]

Alright, there a couple of things that need to be addressed and hopefully someone out there can provide the rest of the answer for me.  The three files that need to be edited are:

setupldr.bin: Have yet to determine the edit necessary for this file.  Anyone?

txtsetup.sif: Change SetupSourcePath = \"UENGLISHPRO\" (from the PRO edit).  You must edit this to the location of the i386 folder for NT installs.  It’s roughly in the middle of the file.

*sect.dat: The dat files contain a pointer at the end to the directory for the floppies I think.  Change the XXXX to a four letter folder name (max 4, could it be less?) where you put the floppies.  Eg NT4W for NT 4 Workstation if you want.  Just put the 3 NT4 floppies into that folder.

If I am right you must use a hexeditor for all these edits.  Don’t use notepad or you will get errors.  Someone suggested Ultraedit earlier in the thread and I have been using a trial version so far without any problems.

For 9X installs I used a edit of the config.sys and autoexec.bat from the 98 boot disk to just point to the setup.exe.

Examples:

Config.sys
files=99
buffers=30,0
dos=high,umb
lastdrive=z
device=oakcdrom.sys /D:oemcd001
device=btdosm.sys
device=flashpt.sys
device=btcdrom.sys /D:oemcd001
device=aspi2dos.sys
device=aspi8dos.sys
device=aspi4dos.sys
device=aspi8u2.sys
device=aspicd.sys /D:oemcd001

AutoExec.bat
@ECHO OFF                        
path=%CDROM%
cls                              
set temp=c:                    
set tmp=c:                      
path=;a:;%CDROM%:;%CDROM%:UENGLISHWIN98SE;                        
copy command.com c:temp > NUL
set comspec=c:tempcommand.com

LH %path%:MSCDEX.EXE /D:oemcd001 /L:E
::If MSCDEX doesn\'t find a drive...
IF ERRORLEVEL 1 SET CDPROB=1
GOTO QUIT
                                                       
cls
echo Now starting the Windows 98 Second Edition Installation Option
echo for this computer.
echo.
echo Please standby.....
path=%CDROM%:UENGLISHWIN98SE
SETUP.EXE /(put any switches you want here)                                        
echo.                                                            
goto QUIT                                                        
                                                                 
:NOCDROM                                                          
echo.                                                            
echo The Windows 98 Setup files were not found.                  
echo.                                                            
                                                                 
:QUIT                                                            
rem clean up environment variables
set CDPROB=
set CDROM=

I put these on a floppy with the necessary files and used dd.exe from Bart\'s site to make an image (dd a: w98.img)

ps. I just edited these.  They are not the ones on the CD that I am using.  I am not currently in front of that computer.  If anyone notices an error with these files please post it.  Thanks.

Again: If anyone is running into a problem over and over or notices a lot of questions in the thread about something and YOU have the answer.  Please let me know for a FAQ in the manual.  Extra Thanks to anyone who emails a screenshot of the answer as well to me.

Thanks to all who help.
“He who asks is a fool for five minutes, he who never asks is a fool forever” –someone smarter than me--

[Twinkie]

Thanks for the reply Sic1Nine

What I really want for the NT4 is a answer file.  I use MSBatch.inf for 95 and 98 to automate the whole install.  I would like to get as close to that as possible with the NT4 install.  

I looked and NT4 does us the setupp.ini and it looks like adding 270 will auto insert it.  Thanks.

As to the burning software.  Has anyone tried Bart\'s CDRPack 12?  Could we use it as well.  Be nice if I could list free software as much as possible in the manual.  I have had trouble using CdrWin.  I think it has to do with I am using ver4 and the fact that I have never used it before.

[Twinkie]

Yeah, Yeah I know.  I promise I will shut up for the day soon.  Anyway about the winnt.sif on NT 4
Take a look at the Microsoft Knowledge base for
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?...b;EN-US;Q123765   and
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?...b;EN-US;Q216258

NT 4 looks at winnt.sif as a floppy pointer to the files using[Data] MsDosInitiated = 1.  While 2000 looks under [Data] for MSDosInitiated=No
Just for kicks I am going to try and use the winn.sif in NT4 install with MSDosInitiated=No
It does not look very promising that it will work but I will try.

Also, does anyone know of a hexeditor that is shareware or even better freeware.  Just wondering.

[Sic1Nine]

\"Setupldr.bin\" has 3 references to the directory \"i386\" for the original Win2k cd for all versions.  You will need to make the correct reference to the folder which contains the extracted boot floppy files directory.. IE: RootASRV or WPRO or WSRV is where the extracted boot floppy files are contained in a multi version os disk (3in1,5in1.. whatever), the original image references the path as i386.. this edited path would now be ASRV or WPRO or WSRV.  I\'m attaching a screenshot of what the directory stucture is for a disk that I made containing 5 versions.  

The *.dat file was never edited in the original instructions that was posted on OZ\'s site that I can recall.. not sure what you\'ve done there but all that I did was include the respective *.dat files as they were from the original cd in the root directory for those OS versions.

The Hex Editor of choice was UltraEdit.. you could download it and use it without registering it to do all of what is needed here.  The url: http://www.ultraedit.com

[Sic1Nine]

Attached screenshot of 5in1 directory structure I used.

[Twinkie]

I also found a freeware hexeditor called hackman.  Just now trying it out.  Thank you for the info on setupldr.bin  The file is so long it was taking me some time to filter out the changes.

I included a screenshot of the edit to the dat files.  This is the wpro file I got from The_Flames site, I think.  Same edit \'XXXX\' goes for any of the NT installs.

[Tyee]

Ok, here\'s a summary of what happens from everything I\'ve read
1. Loader.bin boots the computer and then runs diskem1x.bin.
2. diskem1x.bin looks for diskemu.cmd to put up your menu choices for you to choose what to install.
3. Choosing a menu choice runs that specific *sect.dat. This file must point to the specific boot floppy directory of what system your trying to install. (ie. ASRV, WPRO, WSRV).
4. Setupldr.bin (in that specific boot floppy directory) now runs. It must point to the boot floppy directory that itself is in.
5. Ntdetect now runs in that same directory. Ntdetect reads txtsetup.sif for the required info to start the install.
Now everything should install properly if everything I\'ve read is true.
All the above is compiled from this thread, Oz\'s work, Bart\'s site, the Chinese website with a similar procedure (after I translated it, I think Space also posted a translated version in this thread). Thanks, everyone!! I\'m still trying to understand all this in an orderly fashion.

Please feel free to correct my summary if anyone notices errors. I have one more important question --

Why does this procedure use the floppy bootfiles/directories if the original Win2k CD doesn\'t. Since the original CD has a lot of the files (mentioned above) pointing to the I386 folder, why can\'t we just substitute \"I386\" in those files with our new folders ie.  (UENGLISHPRO or UENGLISHADV_SER or UENGLISHWSRV

Tyee

[The_Flames]

if I read your question corectly the answer is NT based  os\'s needs a i386 folder to setup correctly, inly if ms made it more frendly like nt4 k2 xp etc life would of been easer

[Tyee]

Sorry
 I forgot to add the \"I386\" to those folder names like this --\"...why can\'t we just substitute \"I386\" in those files with our new folders ie. (UENGLISHPROI386 or UENGLISHADV_SERI386 or UENGLISHWSRVI386 ? \"

When installing, Win2k doesn\'t actually use the *.img files in the Bootdisk folder does it ??

Tyee

[Sic1Nine]

I believe that the setupldr.bin file is coded  in someway to only look for a 4 character subdirectory \"i386\" in some way.  That would prolly explain why all the source instructions seem to point to the bootdisk directory WPRO, ASRV or WSRV and not to the fulll path UENGLISHOS Version.  On the original cd the I386 directory is in the root of the disk so the installation process of win2k wouldn\'t need to call the *.img files in the bootdisk folder.  What  we\'ve done in this proceedure is to redirect the installation via the bootdisk files to point it to the new installation point.  Then recompile the disk format so that they would all fit on one disk by creating pointers to the shared files of the different Win2k OS versions that we included on the disk.  At least that is my take on it.

[Space Between]

Ok i made yet another cd of this project...as mentioned before i only have ntfs partitions. I used the new win9x boot.img that i made from the newly edited setup and config.sys files and all is mapped out in the .iso...or so it should work.  Now i go in fdisk and del a ntfs partition...then format the dos bootable partition on partition C:. then i start my .bat file...win98 gets to that part again where it says something like \"Setup is copying files to prepare for setup\"...or something like that. And then the cd stops spinning and setup is nolonger working and i have to reset the pc.  I must be doing something wrong...big time...but i tell you i think it should work the way i have done it.  The new .img should look for the cdrom drive no matter what the drive letter is right??? this is wacked out...again my cdrom thinks that the cd is in A: and that C: is the cdrom...or something. ..i cant figure this out..i can get it to copy files over..but not without type copy win98 C:win98. can someone post a attachment or somethig of there configsys etc. so i can check it out. I wont use it if that bothers ya i just want to see how this looks for the correct way...and not mine.  
I swear i have been putting this off just because i thought it would work no matter what this time...no i went ahead and tried it and ....and...and im just exhausted. I cant take it...im moving to the talibanwatchamakalit.

btw....according to the how to section here...the only way that you can autoinsert the key is if add that file in the WIN9X dir for winme right??? does this mean if i use a dir named winme to put all my files in this autoinsert wont work???I wouldnt of asked but i have yet to make it even close to that part of the install ;-P...im tired and feeling goofy...type you all later