# Run windows from a CD?



## gotrootdude (Feb 19, 2003)

Take your windows desktop with you, run it from a CD. http://www.heise.de/ct/english/99/11/206/


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## brendandonhu (Jul 8, 2002)

Very cool, bookmarked. Will try it out when I get bored (probably by this weekend) and have a few hours on my hands.


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## Stoner (Oct 26, 2002)

Hi gotrootdude:

Nice!

also check out this Linux boot from CD :

http://www.knopper.net/knoppix/index-en.html

Jack


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## codexaenir (Aug 27, 2002)

When I looked at that win98 on cd tutorial.. I left immediately. Not only is this quite complicated... but the translation is confusing.. and bound to trouble. Get knoppix.


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## brendandonhu (Jul 8, 2002)

And a tip i have posted before. Make sure you download the English version of Knoppix, I found out I am not the only person that has made that mistake!

And yes this is complicated but I still want to try it.


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## Stoner (Oct 26, 2002)

Another Linux boot CD is at:

http://www.dc.fit.qut.edu.au/adios/adios-bootcd.html

It's called Adios, boots alittle slower than Knoppix,and the apps seem to load from the CD a little slower. I haven't had a lot of time to play with it. It does look like a nice distro. The wallpaper is a lot nicer than the mostly black Knoppix wallpaper. 
I think it's worth a download!

Jack Stone


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## Stoner (Oct 26, 2002)

> _Originally posted by brendandonhu:_
> *And a tip i have posted before. Make sure you download the English version of Knoppix, I found out I am not the only person that has made that mistake!
> 
> And yes this is complicated but I still want to try it. *


The windows boot CD.
Give us a report when you get it up and going. I started into it, but it was more involved than the time I could put into it. 
Also, I heard a comment about hardware changes being a problem?? Supposedly the Windows boot CD is particular to the hardware it was built on. Know anything about that?

Jack Stone


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## brendandonhu (Jul 8, 2002)

Thats probably because of drivers, the drivers for your hardware must be on the cd.

One big use of this would be troublesooting. If someons windows goes kaput, you could use this as a tool for fixing it. Thats how I use knoppix.
BTW right now I am downloading the brand new version of knoppix, its 28% done and for being so popular I am getting good speeds (50-140 KB/s).

I will report back when I get to it, I would like to do it this weekend but obviously it will take some time.


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## rivincarn (Feb 19, 2003)

Hi

Does this apply to Windows me?


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## gotrootdude (Feb 19, 2003)

I really don't see why it wouldn't..


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## brendandonhu (Jul 8, 2002)

> _Originally posted by rivincarn:_
> *Hi
> 
> Does this apply to Windows me? *


Nope, its for 95B, 95C and 98/98SE. You can do it on Windows ME if you know what your doing probably, the files (especiall the DOS realated ones) are a bit different though.


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## brendandonhu (Jul 8, 2002)

I can't do it, I don't have a full windows CD only restore disks


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## brendandonhu (Jul 8, 2002)

Oops.
I got a full win98 cd and tried to do this. I got through a few of the steps, then it said rename all win.com files. I was a bit confused, so made backups and did as it said. Reboot, and of course DOS mode and a pile of errors. Then I couldnt find my win.com.bak file to restore it! grrr
So I went to dads house, found Knoppix CD, made bootdisk. Used knoppix cd to get online, find out how to fix it. Searched the hd for win.com.old and discovered the reason it wasnt in dos was because i named it win.old.com. So copied that to a floppy, went to DOS, xcopy to C:\Windows, and did set path= blah blah blah.

That was hell  
Surely there is an ISO or bin/cue of this bootable cd somewhere?


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## gotrootdude (Feb 19, 2003)

I don't have any systems running win 98 otherwise I'd do it. Maybe it's time to build another.


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## brendandonhu (Jul 8, 2002)

I errrm have a ISO of 98 if you want it and send me the ISO if you get this thing working.
I mean you have to use your own CD Key/Serial on the 98 because it would be illegal if you didn't. (ReadM Me if you dont have).

Just kiddin.


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## kitsaros (Jun 16, 2003)

i need that iso. someone made it ? its rather difficult to do :S


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## bhtooefr (Jun 18, 2003)

Why doesn't someone tweak the registry a bit, use a Windows ISO boot image (try Windows 98 setup discs), and load a floppy with the stuff needed?

Anyway, I like the idea of the people at http://www.embeddingwindows.com/index.html, but not the implementation - that is, the NDA, all the way style.


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## JohnWill (Oct 19, 2002)

How about Windows PE, it's a bootable CD for fixing up Windows systems, talks to NTFS filesystems, etc.?


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## kitsaros (Jun 16, 2003)

Windows PE ???? i dont know it !!!!! what is it ?


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## bhtooefr (Jun 18, 2003)

Windows PE is the Windows Pre-Installation Environment. I believe it's used in Longhorn (the leaked version of Windows) and possibly Server 2003 (the new server that just came out). Basically, what I recommended was a modification for this project based on the Win98/ME predecessor to WinPE.


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## kitsaros (Jun 16, 2003)

i did a winPE iso using pe builder: http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/
but its pretty limited , command line support etc ... 
Also its 150 mb iso ...

Try to look at : 
http://www.litepc.com/
9 mb win98 with graphic interface ... :S


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## PEPEMUGUERZA (Jun 18, 2003)

Hello, i'm having a problem with my cd-boot. What happend? When i turn on my machine, my pc boot's from the cd, but when the cd copy the files to the hard disk (in DOS), it does it in 8.3 format. 

Now, when i started my pc from the hard disk, and read the cdrom from windows, everything seems to be normal, i read all the files with the original long names, not 8.3 format

What i Want? Please, if anybody could tell me what i'm doing wrong, or if anybody knows about a way to copy the files from my cd-rom to my cd (in DOS) with the original long names.

Sorry for my english, but i'm doing what i can, and thanks.


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## brendandonhu (Jul 8, 2002)

DOS does not have support for long filenames. You will need a 3rd party app for this.


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## bhtooefr (Jun 18, 2003)

There are LFN copy, rename, and directory tools for nearly every version and variant of DOS.


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## bhtooefr (Jun 18, 2003)

Yeah, that litepc.com link is pretty neat. Now I want to find a box that can take 98 just so I can rip it apart and try to get to 7MB (it only says 9MB on litepc. the link to embeddingwindows says 8MB)...


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## PEPEMUGUERZA (Jun 18, 2003)

You will need a 3rd party app for this.?
What 's that ...Can u explain me pls???


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## brendandonhu (Jul 8, 2002)

Someone else probably knows of a good program for long filenames in DOS.


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## PEPEMUGUERZA (Jun 18, 2003)

I can do it!!!
I copied long named files with LFN tool (it's great) under DOS...Everything is OK. But, a little error show me when I try to read a CD in my CDROM or my Windows on CD. All names are 8.3 format...
Therefore somes configurations are wrong in my Windows 98...
What can i do?

Thanks!!


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## brendandonhu (Jul 8, 2002)

You need to start your own thread, that has nothing to do with running windows on a cd.


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## semios (Jul 2, 2003)

I spent like 120 hours last month making a good *Working* windows cd. I just finished the tutorial today and I thought it might be helpful to you guys - it mentions some stuff that even that C'T site didn't, but that is extremely necessary.

here's the link:
http://www.lachiesadicristo.it/w98cd/default.htm

Happy Hacking,

Semios


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## brendandonhu (Jul 8, 2002)

Cool thanks, maybe I'll try again. But please-can you make an ISO of the CD so we can just download it?


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## brendandonhu (Jul 8, 2002)

Wait a second-why would we need an antivirus, instant messenger, winamp, and partition magic to run windows on a CD?


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## Stoner (Oct 26, 2002)

> _Originally posted by semios:_
> *I spent like 120 hours last month making a good Working windows cd. I just finished the tutorial today and I thought it might be helpful to you guys - it mentions some stuff that even that C'T site didn't, but that is extremely necessary.
> 
> here's the link:
> ...


_______________

Welcome to TSG semios!
I've been following your project on another board.
Good to see you got the tutorial posted! 
In time, I'll give it a try.
Thank you

Jack


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## semios (Jul 2, 2003)

Thanks for the "welcome aboard". Can't say I'll post much, but I'll try to drop in from time to time in case there's any questions around here. So, on to a question or two. . .

It is possible and even easier to make a windows cd without all the tools and such, but then, what would you do with an OS with no programs installed? I pretty much put the most tools I could get to work, with 2 requirements:

1) A CD that can be cut to credit card size, just like KNOPIX [sp.]and Damn Small Linux.
2) Runnable on a 128 MB system.

I also wanted something similar to those Linux distros, but not near as ugly as the 8 pt. Linux fonts on Blackbox. If you don't know what I mean, don't worry about it. I just wanted a windows cd with the necessary tools to fix my friends computers, my computer and mess around a little bit. Page three (or is it two?) of the tutorial explains some more why's.

I could post a link to the ISO of my latest variant on this windows on cd system. But here's why I don't, and won't:

1) It seems that it would violate the EULA agreement. Microsoft doesn't like unallowed distribution of its code, and my main concern is that people like us can have access to the info in the tutorial. I Don't want Microsoft bringing it down because I am in violation of federal and international laws.

2) If you downloaded my ISO, you would have to do the stupid hardware detection scheme at every boot, which is a pain. If You make it yourself, you get a system how YOU like it and suited to YOUR box. If you do it yourself, you get lots more freedom of choice, you can rip all everything you don't need and not depend on the choices of some guy who can't remember his native language.

3) If I give it to you, I'm going to have to give it to everyone else for coherence sake. I would love to do that, but I would never want to distribute something worldwide.

4)Bandwidth. how about a nice hypothetical case here. Let's say Fred Langa, who has been in touch about this project, puts me on the "they loaded the code" part of his newsletter, which goes out to over 100,000 people. There's not too many who wouldn't download a 47 MB iso. 47MB*100,000 is 4.7 Terrabytes. I doubt any of us can actually fathom what that menas. I dont' know about your web hosts, but I know mine could not stand up to that kind of load, even if distributed over several weeks. Now I could put it on my in house server, but a 128KB outgoing DSL wouldn't last long on that. Can you say "Denial of Service"? Neither of these solutions would be good for you guys either, since I'm in Europe and you would all be cursing me cause you couldn't get the ISO.

5) Web Space. I'm hosting this tutorial on the web site of the church where I preach (I also run the web site. go figure). We only have 100 MB of space there and using up half of it wouldn't leave much for things more important than OSes.

6)Which ISO would I post? I've got 4 of them, and they all do different things. We've got a minimal Micro 98 install, that doesn't have any visual basic support and runs opera. THere's an improved version of that one too. Then there's the ISO which accesses the system files and some other things on the cd (little note: don't try it at home! it is S-L-O-W slow!) ANd then there's the newest ISO, which had IE6.0 and runs visual basic stuff really well. I couldn't post all of them, no matter where there would be space.

I do apologize that I can't put up the ISO . . .but you'll be much happier with it and feel a little more accomplished if you do it yourself. Thanks for your interest and post in case you have questions.

semios


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## brendandonhu (Jul 8, 2002)

Yea I know what you mean about bandwidth and hardware detection and everything. I was hoping maybe someone could drop it in their shared folder or something. Maybe I will try creating one again. But last time it was baad when I deleted a system file because the instructions got me messed up.


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## semios (Jul 2, 2003)

> Maybe I will try creating one again. But last time it was baad when I deleted a system file because the instructions got me messed up.


Trick (?) #1, don't delete directly. First rename files, then delete them later. If you are trying to prune down system files, have a look at my windows.zip file list - but remember this is for a micro install - it means that I did the shell swap, this creates a different dependencies in the system files. So as long as you do a micro install (with win98 lite) you can use my list as a guide and it should help you out considerably.

lates,
Semios


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## Guest (Jul 8, 2003)

Having an ISO that's downloadable would be illegal. People could just burn it to there drive and wala! have free Windows.

HexStar


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## brendandonhu (Jul 8, 2002)

Yea I suppose so, but in theory you could do the ISO, and leave out one system file that would prove the person owns the OS.


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## Guest (Jul 8, 2003)

That's impossible, cuz the registry entry that says who registered it and what the registration code is is so like webbed into the system that removing it would cause windows to fail. Nice try though. Another, problem is where would you put that ISO, most web hosts don;t allow it or don't allocate enough space to have it or there's just not enough bandwidth, either way I don;t think it would work out. Sorry, to burst your bubble.

Sorry,

HexStar


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## brendandonhu (Jul 8, 2002)

No you can change your Windows key by modifying the registry entry, and well no free web hosts wouldn't allow it, but any decent paid host should allow an ISO file (mine does), and the extra space would cost about $25/year (or it could be offered on IRC or P2P networks or FTP or whatever).
Anyway, no bubbles bursted as Semios already explained why its better to create the CD yourself.


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## Guest (Jul 8, 2003)

OK.

HexStar


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## semios (Jul 2, 2003)

The registry key for your license code is in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SOFTARE/Microsoft/Windows/Currentversion/ProductId . its easy to change and have no trouble on windows 98 - on Xp it is more related to WPA, but even there changing the key won't necessarily kick you into registration mode.

laters,
semios


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## Guest (Jul 10, 2003)

OK guys, if you'd like to upload a ROM file, just e-mail me at:[email protected], and I'll give you my username and password for a website I have that has unlimited web space.

P.S., scratch that theory that it won't work. Oh and it also has unlimited bandwidth.


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## kitsaros (Jun 16, 2003)

pls can we put that iso ?


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## semios (Jul 2, 2003)

I already elaborated the reasons for which I won't post an iso. I mean, I already told you guys how to do everything, and its not really difficult at all. So what are you waiting for? Why don't you just start? you'll finish it on your own decades before I would post an iso.

Semios


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## brendandonhu (Jul 8, 2002)

I will do it when im not busy


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## Guest (Jul 12, 2003)

Kewl! Brendandonhu, feel free to e-mail me for the info so you can host it on my account. My treat!


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