[Pro]Adding drivers to CD

Hi

Nowadays a good many people find themselves in a specific situation:

The machine needs F6 (ergo, a floppy) because otherwise the harddrives would be invisible.

(since the needed drivers are not included in the CD)

I wanted a Windows XP bootable install CD that contained drivers for my RAID chipset driven SATA drives, and it was not to be one that launched setup on its own..

Most explanations I saw provide a solution for doing this, but the result is a CD that launches setup with an answerfile. In other words, there is no way you get to the command prompt in repair console.

I found another link with instructions that deviated from this, and gave it a whirl too.

NOTE; because my systems run PRO, I first used a OEM PRO sp2 for source CD.

Meanwhile, I have already done a succesful build for a HOME...

Now, if your sourse CD is sp1 or older, you could first slipstream it to SP2.

Instructions can be found at Microsoft and elsewhere on the internet.

A fine tool to slipstream is autostreamer.

http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=223562



steps



1: Copy the entire content of the Windows XP CD to a Working Directory.

because the driverpack program defaults to this, you could use C:\UWXPCD

(choosing an existing folder with a copy of the source is also quite easy. This could be your slipstreamed folder. I was in that situation since it sat on another drive, and I just had to look at options to browse to the location. You cannot use an optical drive with your CDrom as source. The copy must be on a hard drive, for you will change content...)

(note; I am so used to xcopy that I did not use robocopy.)



2: for the drivers, you Obtain the BTS DriverPack Base & Mass Storage DriverPack

There are various BTS DriverPacks, provided by http://www.driverpacks.net/DriverPacks.

I was interested in the MassStorage DriverPack and chipsets driverpacks.

After all, I needed the drivers so setup would see my RAID arrays. (These arrays were set up in the BIOS.)



You need the DriverPack Base as it helps you apply the DriverPacks.

http://www.driverpacks.net/DriverPac...Pack.php?pag=b

The DriverPack Base download itself selfextracts.

Using the defaults is easiest.

Extract the DriverPack Base to c:\BTS_DriverPacks, then place the MassStorage and chipset DriverPack downloads in the c:\BTS_DriverPacks\DriverPacks folder.

(if they are not there but elsewhere, it don't work...)

running C:\BTS_DriverPacks\DPS_BASE unpacks and slipstreams the drivers for you when you run it.

(if one wants to unpack these to just look at the content, one needs 7z442.msi or 7z442.exe to install the 7-zip tool)



3: run DPS_base to Apply the BTS DriverPacks to your Windows XP Install Binaries.



4: Obtain A Boot sector File

When you create a bootable CD, you need to specify a boot file.

In the article Creating bootable Windows 2000/XP/2003 Disc (with Easy CD Creator 5), step 2 has a link to a file "bootfiles.zip". Download and extract it's content somewhere on your disk.

http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=298

I put the boot sector image up on personal space in case above article should become unavailable.

http://users.telenet.be/jtdoom/bootfiles.zip

NOTE; I did another testbuild with the microsoft boot image file one can get off the XP CD when one uses isobuster, and it worked. (the tests were done with 32bit windows XP versions. Not many users run X64, but I do have a machine running it and I will see wether I can make this work in a pure x64 bit OS.)


5: run your burning suite, and build the Bootable Slipstreamed Windows XP Disk.

I use NERO

you choose to make a bootable CD

it will ask for the bootfile source

that is boot.ima you got out of bootfiles.zip.

then select the content of C:\UWXPCD

With nero, one sees hidden files as a matter of fact.

that is a good thing, because you can now easily add three more XP bootfiles.

These three files (boot.ini, NTLDR, and Ntdetect.com) are all in the root of your boot drive (usually c:\).

By default Windows is set up so you can't see these files.

But NERO does, so you can select them and drag them to your project

before you start to burn, you set nero boot options to use NO emulation

(an XP boot CD does not use el torito floppy emulation)

and you also set sectors to 4

an example of this menu you can see here

http://www.msfn.org/articles.php?act...ge=1&pagenum=2

burn away, and test this CD in the machine that stumped you with asking for a floppy you could not put in...

NOTE, I had let it do all of the driverpack, and I noticed that when the CD started, the loading of all these extra drivers took some more time than usual... but, all my drives were seen.

in the other machine, which has a PATA and SATA array, I could see BOTH raid arrays from the repair console...



---------

thanks go to Andrew Connell, MVP

it was his blog that mentioned something which deviated from all these instructions on other sites (Most notably the use of NTLDR etc), and it worked for me.

The links I found in his blog were mostly defunct, but I had already seen some of these sites when I looked for a solution.

here is his september 2005 blog

http://andrewconnell.com/blog/archiv...9/02/1983.aspx

Thank you very much Jaak. Duly recorded and tucked safely away for future use... :)

Hi

when I did these things with driverbase, AVG-free never squeeled at me.
It got a few updates since then, and it will now find a 32HideWindows"tool"

when you have AVG, it will make driverbase unusable.
in Avast, one can still use driverbase, by ignoring.
The makers are aware of this development in AV software.
a thread was started about this...
http://forum.driverpacks.net/viewtop...pid=1376#p1376

hi

I rewrote this after I found out there were a few things one does not need to do.
there is no longer an issue with antivirus either
the driver pack streamer uses something else.

here goes, the rewritten.

Hi
Nowadays a good many people find themselves in a specific situation:
The machine needs F6 (ergo, a floppy) because otherwise the harddrives would be invisible.
(since the needed drivers are not included in the CD)
I wanted a Windows XP bootable install CD that contained drivers for my RAID chips driven SATA drives, and it was not to be one that launched setup on its own..
Most explanations I saw provide a solution for doing this, but the result was a CD that launches setup with an answerfile.
I was wary of this, because in my experience, when an aswerfile like winnt.sif is used, there was no way you get to the command prompt in repair console.
I found another link with instructions that deviated from this, and gave it a whirl.

Well, I got a CD that allowed me to get to the recovery console...

NOTE; because my systems run PRO, I first used a OEM PRO sp2 for source CD.
I have also done a succesful build for a HOME...

Now, if your sourse CD is sp1 or older, you could first slipstream it to SP2.
Instructions can be found at Microsoft and elsewhere on the internet.
A fine tool to slipstream is autostreamer.
http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=223562

these are simple steps

1: Copy the entire content of the Windows XP CD to a new Working Directory.
You could use C:\XPCD
The copy must be on a hard drive, for you will change content...
(note; I am so used to xcopy that I did not use robocopy. Drag and drop also works...)

2: for the drivers, you Obtain the BTS DriverPack Base & Mass Storage DriverPack
There are various BTS DriverPacks, provided by http://www.driverpacks.net/DriverPacks.
I was interested in the MassStorage DriverPack and chipsets driverpacks.
After all, I only needed the drivers so setup would see my RAID arrays.
(These arrays were set up in the BIOS.)

You need the DriverPack Base as it helps you apply the DriverPacks.
http://www.driverpacks.net/DriverPac...Pack.php?pag=b
The DriverPack Base download itself selfextracts.

Extract the DriverPack Base download to C:\BTS, then copy the MassStorage and chipset DriverPack downloads to the c:\BTS\DriverPacks folder.
(if they are not in there, it doesn't work...)

3: run C:\BTS\DPS_base to Apply the BTS DriverPacks to your Windows XP Install Binaries.
The defaults do quite well...
Use the browse button to point it to your XPCD source folder.

4: Obtain A Boot sector File
When you create a bootable CD, you need to specify a boot file.
In the article Creating bootable Windows 2000/XP/2003 Disc (with Easy CD Creator 5), step 2 has a link to a file "bootfiles.zip". Download and extract it's content somewhere on your disk.
http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=298

I put the boot sector image up on personal space in case above article should become unavailable.
http://users.telenet.be/jtdoom/bootfiles.zip

NOTE; I did another testbuild with the microsoft boot image file one can get off the XP CD when one uses isobuster, and it worked.
(the tests were done with 32bit windows XP versions. The driverpacks on main page are not designed for X64.)


5: run your burning suite, and build the Bootable Slipstreamed Windows XP Disk.
I use NERO
you choose to make a bootable CD (or bootable DVD)
it will ask for the bootfile source
that is boot.ima you got out of bootfiles.zip.
then select the content of C:\XPCD (or the source you altered)

Before you start to burn, you set nero boot options to use NO emulation
(an XP boot CD does not use el torito floppy emulation)
and you also set sectors to 4
an example of this menu you can see here
http://www.msfn.org/articles.php?action=show&id=22&perpage=1&pagenum=2

Burn away, and test this CD (or DVD) in the machine that stumped you with asking for a floppy you could not put in...
I could see BOTH raid arrays from the repair console...


NOTE, you can use a DVDRW, and adding other packs will quickly make that a MUST.
Method 2 is the default and can handle ALL packs.
With method ONE it is not a good idea to slip ALL driverpacks. (there is a path-length limit for the $OEM$ folder in txtsetup answerfile.)
I noticed that when the DVD started, the loading of all these extra drivers took some more time than usual... Setup will take longer than one is used to, but most drivers will work right away.
The main point is that all my drives were seen.
---------
thanks go to Andrew Connell, MVP
it was his blog that mentioned Driverpacks when I searched for a solution.

SLIPSTREAMED MSDN TESTS WORK.

This post is about MSDN DVD versions (with the subscriber DVD's as source) where I wanted to make the DVD boot WITH RAID SUPPORT.

the DVD has a choice of FIVE operating systems.
XP; XP home sp2, XP pro sp2, Media Center Edition 2005
SERVER; 2003 standard and enterprise.
This is about the 32 bit versions.

I slimmed down the source.
For this DVD, The ISO files are not needed. (so zap, or don't select these folders when you burn your compilation)

for all XP versions; Migration tools folders were not selected (or zapped.)

One needs only ONE support folder, so I moved the NTbackup folder one finds in Home into support, and called it HOME_NTbackup, then moved this support folder out of Home.

I decided to keep one VALUEADD folder.

I now find support and valueadd folders in the folder where the three XP versions are in..

another note, MCE2005, content of disc2 was moved to disc1
(this was done because MCE setup had a glitch while it asked for disc2. It was difficult to browse it to disc2, so I changed that layout. TIP, when you don't do that, and it asks for disc2, just change the 1 to 2 in the line, that works easier than browse.)

if you want unattended, put your WINNT.SIF files in the i386 folders

next came the real work.
-----------------------
1; N-Lite; Nlite out unused languages and keyboards in all five windows versions.

2; RVM; Slipstreamed Hotfixes and addons to MCE2005 and the XP versions. I did NOT DO server.

3; DPs_Base; Slipstreamed all driverpacks to all five versions. (method 2, select all button. In short; I used defaults.)

Then Moved one of the five OEM folder to ROOT of DVD (they all have the same content, but after DPs_Base, the setup process wants the OEM folder in ROOT.)
Deleted the other four unneeded copies of the OEM folders.

The tricky part was to get the textmode drivers work on all five
Root of source has five small folders, what contain "floppy textmode" content

2ENL (enterprise 2003 dutch)
2SNL (standard 2003 dutch)
XHNL (home)
XMNL (MCE2005)
XPNL (pro)

COPY and OVERWRITE the most recently added/modified files from the respective i386 folders to their corresponding "floppy" folder.
Do not copy the driver.CAB.. (this was done while sorted on date in detail view...)

Then COPY and OVERWRITE the *.SY_ files from the i386 folders to the corresponding "floppy" folders. (sorted on TYPE in detail view)
That is done so textmode will work.
Over a hundred additional mass storage devices get added to avoid F6 at boot.

4; prepare for burn,
use isobuster to get the bootfiles off the source DVD
use nero to burn your compilation
use the bootfile from the MSDN DVD, no floppy emulation, sectors set to 4.
no multisession, disc at once. finalise.
and burn.

once you licked it, it sounds sooooo simple...