[TOOL] XP2ESD - Create modern Windows XP installer v1.6.2

Regards

does XP PRO x86 could work/boot with uefi bios or i have to use XP x64?

XP x64 boots with uefi ???

My Best Regards

 

last time I tried, didn't work,
no matter how much I tried

( It did get into UEFI system selection,
but didn't load … )

 

Maybe borrowing as many critical safe-mode drivers from windows 7 as possible may fix the XP UEFI support problem.
@George King Maybe UEFI will never work with XP files on newer hardware because these files still request CSM support.
I think in order to achieve UEFI support on windows XP, you need to borrow and backport all of windows 7's safe-mode files from the Minimal section in registry services, then It may boot (and that includes the safe-mode drivers from windows 7's enum section on regedit including the enum folders themselves).
It may even take a year or more to fully backport all these safe-mode files from win 7 to win xp, but If we want UEFI support for xp, we have to try our best.

 

@George King Btw sorry if I was mentioning you a lot but I also wanted to tell you that I will try to borrow files from XP2ESD to make a setup modal (using my setup.exe setup.ini file from deluxe edition 2010) that allows XP2ESD wim image to install on any drive other than C: while applying XP2ESD's customizations with the scope of allowing dual-boot installation while the host OS is running.

All it needs is to be located in the same directory as _output or ISO installation making calls to settings.ini with the scope of trying to apply XP2ESD's same settings, tweaks, and customizations on the specified drive letter while running from host OS. Just like on XP2ESD setup, it will require XP2ESD's folders to be present.

If I manage to get this work, then XP2ESD may be able to install XP on any other partition (except C:\) without running from boot.wim, only adding extra entries on BCD "Windows XP [XP2ESD]" and "Windows XP Legacy [XP2ESD]" without deleting anything, thus providing dual-boot support. But to avoid conflicts, instead of using setup.cmd, it will use setup-wim.cmd, a duplicate replica of setup.cmd modified to only affect the registry of installed XP and keep boot files intact if they exist. This dual-boot tool won't interfere with XP2ESD's setup.cmd at all to avoid problems.

The reason why I am trying windows deluxe edition 2010's setup.exe + ini is to avoid interfering with POWIS launcher which uses mshta.exe (the dual-boot setup modal will run automatically once the ISO is present because it will be listed on autorun.inf).

POWIS launcher will only run from boot.wim while dual-boot tool will only be used while the host OS is running.

Wish me good luck.

 

To simplify this process, the dual-boot tool does not even need to run setupxp.exe/launcher.exe at all.
It will use imagex to apply XP's wim on any partition (except C:\). If it's install.esd, wimlib imagex will be used to extract install.esd.
Once the extracted image is applied, setup-wim.cmd will try to load installed XP's registry hive with the hopes of re-applying XP2ESD's setup.cmd settings, driverpacks, drivers, programs, msstmake etc hoping that XP will work to boot this way. Obviously, the ISO needs to be present in a USB flash drive or CD/DVD drive in order for the installation to proceed further.
Once everything is done from the host os using the dual-boot tool, when you restart you should see 2 extra entries "Windows XP [XP2ESD]" and "Windows XP Legacy [XP2ESD]". By booting from there, windows should continue setup as if it was installed from boot.wim (myfactory, SDI, runonceex, oobe etc).
This is the theory of how the dual-boot tool should work.

 

On setup-wim.cmd, XP2ESD setup will be commented out in favor of using partition tools, imagex and wimlib imagex to do the dual-boot wim extraction process (making calls to batch files to avoid messing up the lines).
It will use XP2ESD's settings to detect wim/esd file based on file format just like XP2ESD does.

 

So that can answer my question nobody responded to

 

To provide dual-boot support for computers that do not support USB/optical drives, to not rely on grub4dos (SVBUS virtual disk doesn't work well on uefi). Even for a computer with that support, it can allow installation on another partition while running from the host os. Similar to how windows 7 setup allows setup to install windows 7 on another partition while host os is running.
It doesn't even have to upgrade, just clean install on another partition on top of host os.
As of now, the only way to install XP2ESD is through boot.wim setup while windows 7 can install from boot.wim or from setup.exe (autorun.inf).

 

don't forget, drivers have to be integrated to boot.wim: index 1 (this is the winpe section of installing windows from active os) and some patching
anyways we'll have to wait for george king to answer, idk if this is actually possible but maybe

 

Of course drivers needs to be integrated into boot.wim, otherwise the devices won't be detected.
What I am attempting to do is to see if I can manage to install XP2ESD without WinPE (by making the batch file apply the xp wim image on a partition and apply XP2ESD's tweaks) on another partition while running from the host OS. I think it can be done, but XP's registry hives have to be loaded in order to import XP2ESD's settings.
I am trying to see if XP can also be installed using only batch commands and XP2ESD's apps.
If this works, then XP2ESD can install in two ways, from boot.wim (booting from ISO) or on another partition while running on the host OS.

 

For this dual-boot tool to work, an XP2ESD ISO installation (modern installer generated by XP2ESD builder, it's on _output) needs to be present. Because it uses XP2ESD's directories and ini files.

 

For a more accurate bootscreen, we can modify the BCD of installation media so that bootmenupolicy = legacy using bcdedit to get the classic XP/Vista bootscreen, then change the Vista boot screen to look like Windows XP by modifying ntoskrnl.exe, using Resource Hacker, and replacing some blank images with their Windows XP counterparts. Is this possible?

 

The point is that you can also install XP (while running from host os) by extracting wim/esd image (from created XP2ESD setup) to the specified drive (other than C:\) and applying XP2ESD's tweaks using batch files without using WinPE.
This allows XP2ESD to have a second option to install XP without having to run WinPE (even WinNTSetup is capable of doing this with the wim option).
But until then, XP2ESD can only install XP if you boot from ISO.

 

Well, I'm gonna try to do this myself. If this works, then I will use it.
Even if you won't use it, if you become curious later, I can give you the link anytime.
As of now, I have just begun to build the dual-boot tool, it's incomplete but once its custom setup is complete after restart the xp os should boot myfactory as if it was installed from winpe (the iso needs to be mounted obviously). I will test this on VirtualBox, then on real hardware (using an extra partition).