Windows 7: creating a 2 OS thumb drive

woebetide · 19 Jan 2010

Guys, do you mean something like this:

SIW2 · 19 Jan 2010

I think Johnathan wants a multiboot flash drive - similar to a multiboot cd.

That's pretty neat - tho.

What have you done there?

I have added .iso's and winpe to my boot menu - but that's from the HD - I think J wants something portable and external.

Good idea, as it may be impossible to access the options from windows boot menu if something goes wrong with the windows boot process.

In fact it is often precisely because the windows boot process is damaged that people need to repair/restore an image.

Jonathan_King · 19 Jan 2010

How does the Repair Disc handle the BCD?

How would this work: Open BCDEDIT and delete all the entries. Then add entries for the Windows installation files and repair files. Export the bcd, and then replace the BCD on the thumb drive with the newly generated file.

See any flaws in this?

woebetide · 20 Jan 2010

The above menu is from my USB flashdrive!

I copied the Win 7 dvd content to a HD folder
Copied the Dart, Acronis and Paragon iso's (renamed as *.wim) to the source folder.
Than just edit the BCD to add the entries to the menu.

In my case, the files are in k:\7test
start cmd in dir k:\7test\boot

bcdedit /store bcd /enum
bcdedit /store bcd /copy {default} /d "MsDart x64"
bcdedit /store bcd /set {a4e7aa72-cfce-11de-a773-00248c40c635} OSDEVICE ramdisk=[boot]\sources\erd6564.wim,{7619dcc8-fafe-11d9-b411-000476eba25f}

etc..... like you would edit the normal bcd

The point is you can run the bcdedit in a folder with bcdedit /store bcd /.........

Finally copy the complete folder to a Bootable USB flash drive OR create an ISO with Osdimage

My BCD looks like this:

Quote:

Windows Boot Manager
--------------------
identifier {bootmgr}
description Windows Boot Manager
locale en-US
inherit {globalsettings}
default {default}
displayorder {default}
{a4e7aa72-cfce-11de-a773-00248c40c635}
{ae19286c-cfcf-11de-a773-00248c40c635}
{f3deae7a-d043-11de-8193-00248c40c635}
{768a2a8e-e313-11de-8536-00248c40c635}
{c7365542-052f-11df-884e-00248c40c635}
toolsdisplayorder {memdiag}
timeout 10

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {default}
device ramdisk=[boot]\sources\boot.wim,{7619dcc8-fafe-11d9-b411-000476eba25f}
path \windows\system32\boot\winload.exe
description Windows Setup
locale en-US
inherit {bootloadersettings}
osdevice ramdisk=[boot]\sources\boot.wim,{7619dcc8-fafe-11d9-b411-000476eba25f}
systemroot \windows
detecthal Yes
winpe Yes
ems Yes

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {a4e7aa72-cfce-11de-a773-00248c40c635}
device ramdisk=[boot]\sources\erd6564.wim,{7619dcc8-fafe-11d9-b411-000476eba25f}
path \windows\system32\boot\winload.exe
description MsDart x64
locale en-US
inherit {bootloadersettings}
osdevice ramdisk=[boot]\sources\erd6564.wim,{7619dcc8-fafe-11d9-b411-000476eba25f}
systemroot \windows
detecthal Yes
winpe Yes
ems Yes

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {ae19286c-cfcf-11de-a773-00248c40c635}
device ramdisk=[boot]\sources\erd6532.wim,{7619dcc8-fafe-11d9-b411-000476eba25f}
path \windows\system32\boot\winload.exe
description MsDart x86
locale en-US
inherit {bootloadersettings}
osdevice ramdisk=[boot]\sources\erd6532.wim,{7619dcc8-fafe-11d9-b411-000476eba25f}
systemroot \windows
detecthal Yes
winpe Yes
ems Yes

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {f3deae7a-d043-11de-8193-00248c40c635}
device ramdisk=[boot]\sources\acronis.wim,{7619dcc8-fafe-11d9-b411-000476eba25f}
path \windows\system32\boot\winload.exe
description Acronis 2010
locale en-US
inherit {bootloadersettings}
osdevice ramdisk=[boot]\sources\acronis.wim,{7619dcc8-fafe-11d9-b411-000476eba25f}
systemroot \windows
detecthal Yes
winpe Yes
ems Yes

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {768a2a8e-e313-11de-8536-00248c40c635}
device ramdisk=[boot]\sources\paragon.wim,{7619dcc8-fafe-11d9-b411-000476eba25f}
path \windows\system32\boot\winload.exe
description Paragon DriveBackup Server
locale en-US
inherit {bootloadersettings}
osdevice ramdisk=[boot]\sources\paragon.wim,{7619dcc8-fafe-11d9-b411-000476eba25f}
systemroot \windows
detecthal Yes
winpe Yes
ems Yes

Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {c7365542-052f-11df-884e-00248c40c635}
device ramdisk=[boot]\sources\paragonpm.wim,{7619dcc8-fafe-11d9-b411-000476eba25f}
path \windows\system32\boot\winload.exe
description Paragon Partition Manager
locale en-US
inherit {bootloadersettings}
osdevice ramdisk=[boot]\sources\paragonpm.wim,{7619dcc8-fafe-11d9-b411-000476eba25f}
systemroot \windows
detecthal Yes
winpe Yes
ems Yes

K:\7test\boot>

SIW2 · 20 Jan 2010

Can you do similar on cd /dvd?

woebetide · 20 Jan 2010

Quote: Originally Posted by SIW2

Can you do similar on cd /dvd?

Yes, just create a dvd from the folder, like this

oscdimg -bk:\7test\boot\etfsboot.com -n -m -lMultiboot k:\7test k:\multiboot.iso

SIW2 · 20 Jan 2010

Hi,

Sorry my post was not clear. The issue is not booting .wims, or creating .iso's - both of which are very well known.

I would be interested in creating a dvd - from which you could select to boot winpe/re and/or Linux recovery environments.

I tried it using grub - which worked fine off the HD - but not after burning the multiboot .iso to cd/dvd.

I think what you suggested would probably be fine for what Johnathan was asking ( now I have looked back thru the thread).

Any ideas?

Jonathan_King · 20 Jan 2010

Would anyone be willing to walk me through the steps of adding the entries to the BCD as outlined by woebetide? I am lost already when it comes to BCDEDIT, and when I get the error messages, it totally messes me up.

woebetide · 20 Jan 2010

I can only help with PE, no GRUB or Linux.
@Jonathan_King
If you can tell me which iso's you want to add to the bcd, I can maybe explain here step by step howto.
It would also help if you can send me the bcd file from the boot dir, so we can build on that.

iseeuu · 20 Jan 2010

Quote: Originally Posted by woebetide

I can only help with PE, no GRUB or Linux.
@Jonathan_King
If you can tell me which iso's you want to add to the bcd, I can maybe explain here step by step howto.
It would also help if you can send me the bcd file from the boot dir, so we can build on that.

woebetide;

I would like to have the two, 32 & 64 bit, "System Repair" iso's on one CD. I have the iso's and can use bcdedit, can you get me started?

Thanks!
Robert

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