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Unattended image restore (Read 97390 times)
Brian
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NSW, Australia
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Re: Unattended image restore
Reply #30 -
Feb 27
th
, 2008 at 10:56pm
I've just read Nigel's last post. It may be relevant that BING has code in the first 8 sectors. Sectors beyond LBA-0 are called an EMBR. Extended MBR.
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NightOwl
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Posts: 5826
Olympia, WA--Puget Sound--USA
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Re: Unattended image restore
Reply #31 -
Feb 27
th
, 2008 at 11:13pm
Brain
So, it's actually the *BING* MBR that is present--when you install BING, it replaces the MBR that was previously there--and you did not uninstall BING--just added the WinXP restored images? And that made BING work...huh--interesting!
And, TeraByte's FAQ says BING doesn't work past the 8 GB barrier! Well, PartitionMagic's User Guide has similar statements saying you can't boot a DOS partition--but, then they copied and pasted a table that says an updated Win98se is capable of booting beyond the 8 GB barrier--gotta love technical writing and proofing--should be called *spoofing*!!!!
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Brian
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Re: Unattended image restore
Reply #32 -
Feb 27
th
, 2008 at 11:17pm
I was using BING as a boot manager and also for its partition cloning ability. It does a heap of other things as well.
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Nigel Bree
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Re: Unattended image restore
Reply #33 -
Feb 27
th
, 2008 at 11:59pm
It may well be that BING itself isn't really doing the heavy lifting; I couldn't say for certain since I don't have (and I'm not going to get) the tool, but once it does whatever things it does as a "front end", it could well be that once it gets to the point of actually booting a partition,it loads in one of the standard MBRs into memory, sets it up with the partition table it wants it to see, and then lets it go as if it had been loaded from the BIOS instead of by a front-end wrapper.
[ That may not be how it works, but that'd be my first instinct if I was to write such a thing, since it would be the most compatible with whatever was already on a system in the first place and custom MBRs are becoming quite common again. ]
If that were the case, then it would share whatever features or limitations existed in the MBR it was wrapping around. A known-bad MBR like the Win9X one would be unable to boot LBA, a known-good one like the WinXP one would be able to.
A tool that worked by delegating the final boot like that could be following absolutely any rule one could imagine to choose which MBR to actually use once you'd chosen a partition in the front end.
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Brian
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Re: Unattended image restore
Reply #34 -
Feb 28
th
, 2008 at 5:18pm
NightOwl, I contacted TeraByte about the web page on booting DOS with BING. Apparently it doesn't apply to Win9x versions of DOS that support over 8GB.
My DOS knowledge is lacking and although I had no trouble running a batch file from DOS 6.22, I can't do it from the FAT32 version (Win98 SE). Whenever I put my command line into autoexec.bat, DOS boots to a Win98 splash screen. Help!
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NightOwl
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Re: Unattended image restore
Reply #35 -
Feb 28
th
, 2008 at 6:28pm
Brian
:) Welcome to DOS!!!!!
Quote:
I contacted TeraByte about the web page on booting DOS with BING. Apparently it doesn't apply to Win9x versions of DOS that support over 8GB.
I kinda suspected that.
Quote:
Whenever I put my command line into autoexec.bat, DOS boots to a Win98 splash screen.
I forgot about that--haven't done it recently!!!--so didn't remember to warn you--if you use the system files on the Win98se boot disk--on a floppy there is no splash screen--but if you put it on a HDD--some other flag must be set--and somewhere in there that Win98 splash screen is coded and it pops up!!! I don't remember--does the system just stop there--or do you eventually get to the A:\ prompt--sounds like it stops based on your post!!!
But, fairly easy to fix! It's the *msdos.sys* file! It probably is *read only*, so you will have to remove the hidden, system, and read only attributes to edit. Open it with a *pure* text editor like *NotePad* (i.e. no text formatting abilities).
Here's the changes--I left out the bottom half of the file just leave those x's alone!:
Quote:
[Paths]
;WinDir=C:\WINDOWS
;WinBootDir=C:\WINDOWS
;HostWinBootDrv=C
[Options]
Logo=0
BootMulti=0
BootGUI=0
DblSpace=0
DrvSpace=0
LoadTop=1
;DoubleBuffer=1
AutoScan=0
;WinVer=4.10.2222
;
;The following lines are required for compatibility with other programs.
;Do not remove them (MSDOS.SYS needs to be >1024 bytes).
It's the *Logo* one that's critical--the others are optional but I have made those changes. If those options do not exist--just add them with their respective parameters. The options with a *;* in front are *Rem'd* out (i.e. ignored)--they should not be needed for a DOS utility boot partition.
Change the attributes back to read only, hidden, and system.
Here's a reference talking about some of the edits:
http://forums.pcworld.co.nz/archive/index.php/t-40142.html
Did that solve the problem?
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Nigel Bree
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Re: Unattended image restore
Reply #36 -
Feb 28
th
, 2008 at 6:43pm
You can turn off the Win9x splash screens in those versions of DOS by editing MSDOS.SYS (which in older versions of DOS contained code, but in those newer versions contain settings).
In this case, the setting is "Logo=0" in the [Options] section to turn off the splash screen; see
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/118579/EN-US/
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Brian
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NSW, Australia
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Re: Unattended image restore
Reply #37 -
Feb 28
th
, 2008 at 7:07pm
Thanks guys.
NightOwl asked about the Win98 splash screen. It persisted for about 5 minutes and I then saw a C:\ prompt. I did your msdos.sys edits and the unattended restore is running now. Many thanks.
Do you have a favourite autoexec.bat? Without knowing any better I just copied the DOS 6.22 file.
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NightOwl
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Re: Unattended image restore
Reply #38 -
Feb 28
th
, 2008 at 7:09pm
Brian
I think I may be leading you astray!!!
Looked at the *msdos.sys* on the Win98se ERD boot disk and it looks like this:
Quote:
;W98EBD
I think you need to just add this as a minimum underneath the above:
Quote:
;W98EBD
[Options]
Logo=0
My previous reply was using the *msdos.sys* from my Win98se installation--which has more requirements than the ERD boot disk!
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Brian
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Re: Unattended image restore
Reply #39 -
Feb 28
th
, 2008 at 7:35pm
NightOwl,
I like the first msdos.sys better. With the second one, DOS boots to a "Microsoft Windows 98 Startup Menu". "Command Prompt Only" is highlighted. There is a 30 second countdown and then my IFD restore commences. With the first msdos.sys my IFD started immediately.
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Brian
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Re: Unattended image restore
Reply #40 -
Feb 28
th
, 2008 at 9:53pm
One hiccup that I didn't notice. As DOS is loading there is "SMARTDrive cannot be loaded because the XMS driver, HIMEM.SYS is not loaded. Check the CONFIG.SYS file for a device=himem.sys command line".
I then get a C:\ prompt and IFD works.
The first line of config.sys is
DEVICE=HIMEM.SYS /testmem:off
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NightOwl
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"I tought I saw a puddy
tat..."
Posts: 5826
Olympia, WA--Puget Sound--USA
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Re: Unattended image restore
Reply #41 -
Feb 29
th
, 2008 at 9:46am
Brian
*himem.sys* is not a *system* file--so it is not copied over to the HDD as part of the *sys.com* command--you would have to manually copy it from the Win98se ERD disk to the HDD so it's available. Also, *SMARTDrive* is not going to be a file on your HDD either unless you have copied it over to the HDD from the floppy--so expect additional errors when that command is run even if *himem.sys* is present!
Post your [config.sys] and [autoexec.bat]--if it's from DOS 6.22--they probably have commands that are not needed for a simple DOS boot, and can be *Rem'd* or deleted.
I'm tied up for the day, but I will post my *simple* boot file contents later this evening when I have more time!
____________________________________________________________________________________________
No question is stupid ... but, possibly the answers are
!
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Brian
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Posts: 6345
NSW, Australia
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Re: Unattended image restore
Reply #42 -
Feb 29
th
, 2008 at 2:01pm
NightOwl,
After doing sys c: and seeing that DOS did boot from my HD I copied all of the floppy files to a folder called "dos". So they were present but I had config.sys in the folder instead of in the root. When I realized this I moved config.sys but I still got an error. Eventually I found some lines that worked and this is what I'm using now.
DEVICE=C:\DOS\HIMEM.SYS
DOS=HIGH
FILES=30
My autoexec.bat is
C:\DOS\SMARTDRV.EXE /X
@ECHO OFF
PROMPT $p$g
PATH C:\DOS
SET TEMP=C:\DOS
ctmouse
call brian.bat
So all is fine. No errors and I can run a WinXP to WinXP restore with IFD from brian.bat.
Thanks for your help. I'd be interested to see your setup.
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NightOwl
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Olympia, WA--Puget Sound--USA
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Re: Unattended image restore
Reply #43 -
Mar 1
st
, 2008 at 12:28am
Brian
This is from my bootable optical disc that I use for Ghost on my own system. I don't currently boot from a DOS partition on the HDD because I'm using my primary slots for test OSs.
Ghost is in a sub-directory *Ghost* in the data portion of the disc, as are the DOS files for PartitionMagic in a sub-directory *pqmagic*.
Here's my list of files in the boot sector:
AUTOEXEC.BAT
COMMAND.COM
CONFIG.SYS
DI1000DD.SYS
EDIT.COM
HIMEM.SYS
IO.SYS
MEM.EXE
MOUSE.COM
MOUSE.INI
MSCDEX.EXE
msd.exe
MSDOS.SYS
OAKCDROM.SYS
Usbaspi.sys
Here's my [config.sys]:
Quote:
device=himem.sys
device=usbaspi.sys /v
device=di1000dd.sys
device=oakcdrom.sys /d:mscd001
dos=high
lastdrive=z
Here's my [autoexec.bat]:
Quote:
path=a:\;x:\;x:\ghost;x:\pqmagic;c:\
mouse.com
mscdex.exe /d:mscd001 /l:x /m:16 /v
____________________________________________________________________________________________
No question is stupid ... but, possibly the answers are
!
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Brian
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Posts: 6345
NSW, Australia
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Re: Unattended image restore
Reply #44 -
Mar 1
st
, 2008 at 2:35am
NightOwl,
Thanks. That gives me a better understanding of what I've done and what I could do. My current setup works for me so I don't need to change much.
If anyone is interested, this is brian.bat
Quote:
image /r /d:b0@0x2 /base:b1@0x202:\BackupImages\IFW\WinXP /f:b1@0x202:\BackupImages\IFW\brian /rb:0 /mp /v /a /o
bootndos 2
b0@0x2 is the WinXP partition on the first HD
b1@0x202 is the backup partition on the second HD
WinXP is WinXP.tbi, a baseline image
brian is brian.tbi, a differential image. I may have a string of differential images. If I want to restore to a specific differential image, I change the filename to brian.tbi while I'm in Windows, prior to the first shutdown and boot to DOS.
bootndos 2 performs the reboot to the restored WinXP partition
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