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

Discussion in 'Windows XP / Older OS' started by George King, Jan 8, 2021.

  1. George King

    George King MDL Expert

    Aug 5, 2009
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    #3121 George King, Aug 26, 2024
    Last edited: Aug 26, 2024
    (OP)
    That not needed partition is mounted and usable from CMD, Explorer++ or Total Commander for example. I will release updated ListDisk soon. I need to touch this partition only using CMD right now.
     
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  2. Gelip

    Gelip MDL Senior Member

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    #3122 Gelip, Aug 26, 2024
    Last edited: Aug 26, 2024
    Exactly - I have been using it for a long time in my WinXP 64-bit modern installer. It works in:
    • WinXP
    • WinPE 3.1
    • WinPE 5.1
    The tool automatically finds hidden partitions and assigns them letters, including the ESP (EFI System Partition) partition. The partition appears in my computer but to unmount it, you need to use the:
    Code:
    mountvol assigned_letter: /d
    Partitions that have letters are only refreshed:
    • WinXP 64-bit where all partitions have letters in legacy MBR:
      all_have_letters_legacy.png
    • WinXP 64-bit in pure UEFI where is ESP on GPT with no letter assigned:
      ESP_GPT.png
    • WinPE 5.1 pure UEFI, same disk with ESP:
      winpe_esp.png
     
  3. Gelip

    Gelip MDL Senior Member

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    But this is accessible from CMD:
    accessible_CMD.png
     
  4. George King

    George King MDL Expert

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    @Gelip In new ListDisk you can assing letter to hidden partition without any issues, it will just not show in Windows Explorer (if it's any kind of hidden flag), thats all. I don't need to browse it's files using Windows Explorer. CMD, Explorer++ or Total Commander see them too. Thats just limitation of Windows Explorer to do not show for example partitions with 0x17 - NTFS Hidden flag.
    I have tried to force add it, but I was only able to tell MountManager to show that mountPoint in Disk Management, but not Windows Explorer. I have tested these scenarios on XP, 7 and 10. To get this work we need probably patch something in system to include any partitions and thats really not in scope. Even you can always change it's flag to 0x07 - NTFS and then mount it. Then Explorer accepts it.
     
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  5. UsefulAGKHelper

    UsefulAGKHelper MDL Senior Member

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    #3125 UsefulAGKHelper, Aug 27, 2024
    Last edited: Aug 27, 2024
    What I think that people are saying is that they want to use this tool with explorer.exe, especially if the respective WinPE has a working windows explorer.
    But personally I think that would take too much time.
     
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  6. George King

    George King MDL Expert

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    In currently released ListDisk was not possible to mount that hidden partition - Hidden using flags. Now it's possible and I can mount and touch it's files without any issues. That issue is really in Windows Explorer itself. Their APIs ignore them. I don't care about them now. If you want to see that partition in Windows Explorer then just change flag, then mount it, it should be fine. Unmount and change flag again. It's simple :)

    Of course it would be great to show flags in list too, but currently I'm not going to develop it. I have ideas how to improve ListDisk output, but this will be done in future. For now was most important to fix /mount and /unmount feature. This means now I can really support many setup scenarios. But still needs to be tested. I think I will polish current ListDisk in day or two and then I can continue with my deploying adventure :) This was really crucial for my setup.cmd or first boot in XP to swap boot.ini or install additional bootloaders.
     
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  7. George King

    George King MDL Expert

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    Seems like I finally fixed all known issues with ListDisk. Probably everything was touched in code. I have performed various tests in VirtualBox with Windows 7. Now I'm going to test it under Windows XP on real machine. If everything goes well, it will be released. This means, I can now finally improve Auto-Sysprep Launch.cmd and of course deployment in setup.cmd. I think I can now touch boot partition (partition with bootloaders) in any case! It also unlocks door for future live deployment - For example when you already have installed Windows and have prepared another partition for operating system, it will be possible to deploy it without needs to boot into WinPE :) New POWIS runs fine in installed systems (better than in WinPE). But I'm not going to develop live method now. I really need to kick POWIS deployment forward as I currently dont see any blocks - ListDisk and ResolutionChanger was developed for these purposes :)
     
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  8. pm67310

    pm67310 MDL Guru

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  9. George King

    George King MDL Expert

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  10. George King

    George King MDL Expert

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  11. Gelip

    Gelip MDL Senior Member

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    So maybe I will like this tool :)
    In WinXP explorer.exe not see but Internet Explorer 6 see and fortunately Bootice also:
    IE6_list_disk.png
     
  12. George King

    George King MDL Expert

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    I think It can be done probably, but I have only found how to make mounted letter visible for Mount Manager and then it was available in DiskManagement.

    When I do needed job on setup.cmd and POWIS to make whole XP2ESD releasable I have another plans - add /create and /delete commands to get rid of diskpart. But that will be another game. Of cource bugfixing first :)
     
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  13. George King

    George King MDL Expert

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    News:

    I have added few modifycations to setup.cmd. Boot partition handlings seems fine. I have just tested Windows 11, 10, 8.0, 7 and Vista deploying using my POWIS method. Vista needs some touch - this will be done by update+sysprep in future in XP2ESD in same way as we have for 5.1 and 5.2. It hangs on VBSScript error - something is not configured correctly in original SP2 ISO.. Everything else was smooth. Of course Windows 11 needs some touch too to enable Local account creation in OOBE.

    Otherwise it looks like I'm on right way. Now It's time to write bootloader handling to be able to just add new system into BCD or build it from scratch (Thats how it works now). Goal is also to be able to just append another 5x. system into boot.ini too.
     
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  14. canibeyourwaifu

    canibeyourwaifu MDL Novice

    Feb 27, 2018
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    Hi i tried again to create an iso after trying the one from the youtube tutorial works fine on my system and i can install it with no issues

    the first one i created was without the winxiso option and that said it couldn't load usb drivers / find the isntall wim/esd at boot so i enabled winxiso and made a new one, this one boots into the installer and lets me install to my drive but when i reboot to my ssd it just boots to a black screen. if i force power off i can see the "start windows normally" screen so something is installed but when i boot to that i just get a black screen

    anyone know what the issue could be?
     
  15. simeon88

    simeon88 MDL Novice

    Nov 27, 2023
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    Hey man where is that winxiso option and how to enable it because i am getting the same error setup can not boot because cant find proper mass storage /usb drivers or the wim file is no existent
     
  16. George King

    George King MDL Expert

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    Modify your boot.wim\Windows\system32\Winpeshl.ini to looks like this, this is from new underconstruction POWIS. Of course only WaitForRemovableStorage command is enough in your case.
    Code:
    [LaunchApp]
    AppPath = %SYSTEMDRIVE%\Windows\system32\wpeinit.exe
    
    [LaunchApps]
    %SYSTEMDRIVE%\Windows\system32\wpeutil.exe, DisableFirewall
    %SYSTEMDRIVE%\Windows\system32\wpeutil.exe, WaitForRemovableStorage
    %SYSTEMDRIVE%\Windows\system32\wpeutil.exe, WaitForNetwork
    %SYSTEMDRIVE%\Windows\system32\wpeutil.exe, InitializeNetwork /NoWait
    %SYSTEMDRIVE%\Windows\system32\mshta.exe, "%SYSTEMDRIVE%\sources\launcher.hta"
     
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  17. Gelip

    Gelip MDL Senior Member

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    #3137 Gelip, Sep 8, 2024
    Last edited: Sep 8, 2024
    @George King
    If you need a working network connection in WinPE, all you need is run wpeinit and after a few seconds you have an IP configured and working network:
    wpeinit.log
    Code:
    Info      No unattend file was found; WPEINIT is using default settings to initialize WinPE
    Info      ==== Initializing Display Settings ====
    Info      No display settings specified
    Info      STATUS: SUCCESS (0x00000001)
    Info      ==== Initializing Computer Name ====
    Info      Generating a random computer name
    Info      No computer name specified, generating a random name.
    Info      Renaming computer to MININT-JNDGT0T.
    Info      Acquired profiling mutex
    Info      Service winmgmt disable: 0x00000000
    Info      Service winmgmt stop: 0x00000000
    Info      Service winmgmt enable: 0x00000000
    Info      Released profiling mutex
    Info      STATUS: SUCCESS (0x00000000)
    Info      ==== Initializing Virtual Memory Paging File ====
    Info      No WinPE page file setting specified
    Info      STATUS: SUCCESS (0x00000001)
    Info      ==== Initializing Optional Components ====
    Info      WinPE optional component 'Microsoft-WinPE-WMI' is present
    Info      STATUS: SUCCESS (0x00000000)
    Info      ==== Initializing Network Access and Applying Configuration ====
    Info      No EnableNetwork unattend setting was specified; the default action for this context is to enable networking support.
    Info      Acquired profiling mutex
    Info      Install MS_MSCLIENT: 0x0004a020
    Info      Install MS_NETBIOS: 0x0004a020
    Info      Install MS_SMB: 0x0004a020
    Info      Install MS_TCPIP6: 0x0004a020
    Info      Install MS_TCPIP: 0x0004a020
    Info      Service dhcp start: 0x00000000
    Info      Service lmhosts start: 0x00000000
    Info      Service ikeext start: 0x00000000
    Info      Service mpssvc start: 0x00000000
    Info      Released profiling mutex
    Info      Spent 2668ms installing network components
    Info      Installing device pci\ven_8086&dev_100f X:\windows\INF\nete1g3e.inf succeeded
    Info      Spent 4305ms installing network drivers
    Info      QueryAdapterStatus: found operational adapter with DHCP address assigned.
    Info      Spent 16ms confirming network initialization; status 0x00000000
    Info      STATUS: SUCCESS (0x00000000)
    Info      ==== Applying Firewall Settings ====
    Info      STATUS: SUCCESS (0x00000001)
    Info      ==== Executing Synchronous User-Provided Commands ====
    Info      STATUS: SUCCESS (0x00000001)
    Info      ==== Executing Asynchronous User-Provided Commands ====
    Info      STATUS: SUCCESS (0x00000001)
    Info      ==== Applying Shutdown Settings ====
    Info      No shutdown setting was specified
    Info      STATUS: SUCCESS (0x00000001)
     
  18. Neptuned

    Neptuned MDL Novice

    Aug 12, 2024
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    Hi,
    I don't think I'm blind, but where do you actually download XP2ESD?
    Thanks
     
  19. tcntad

    tcntad MDL Guru

    Oct 26, 2009
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    Link in the first post
     
  20. Alexandros C. Couloumbis

    May 19, 2018
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