FiraDisk, File/RAM Disk driver for Windows. External links Rating Options

[karyonix]

FiraDisk
File/RAM Disk driver for Windows.
From discussion in Shao's topic GRUB4DOS RAM Disk Recognized by RAMDISK.SYS, I try making a Windows driver to read GRUB4DOS' drive map table and use GRUB4DOS RAM drives in Windows. This driver is the result. It emulates SCSI adapter and disk. It can use RAM disk loaded by GRUB4DOS in Windows.
Shao's driver WinVBlock can also use GRUB4DOS's RAM drives. You can visit his thread for more detail.

This driver is not suitable for people who are not familiar with making and manipulating disk image or don't know how to use GRUB4DOS.
It may take a long time to study about them depending on each person.

What is this driver for ?
When your Windows has problem running or is infected with viruses, it is difficult or sometimes impossible to fix it from within windows itself.
Options to fix it or recover data from it would be
- Boot DOS. You can get data from FAT partition. With some add-on you may be able to access data in NTFS partition.
- Use Linux or other OS to access your data with some limitation in its NTFS features.
- Windows PE run from CD or USB drive
- Remove harddisk from the computer and put it in another computer with Windows installed. You can access NTFS partition, scan virus, modify registry, create partition, delete partition, format, install new Windows in existing NTFS partition without formatting.
I think working in Windows is the most convenient way of modifying another Windows partition.

If you have a "backup" Windows that can boot on your computer you may be able to fix the main Windows or recover data from it without moving harddisk to another computer.
If the backup Windows is in disk image file and its size is small enough, it can be loaded into RAM and run your tools from it.

GRUB4DOS has ability to load disk image to RAM and create RAM drive for use in DOS, Windows 98. You can boot DOS, Windows 98 in RAM.
Newer Windows based on Windows NT cannot use GRUB4DOS RAM drive unless you have driver for it.
With FiraDisk driver you can use GRUB4DOS RAM drive in Windows XP. It can be used to boot Windows.
When you run Windows from RAM. You can use your recovery tools, antivirus, partition managers to modify your harddisk. You can also delete/rename some folders (Document and Settings, Program Files, Windows) and reinstall Windows in old NTFS partition without deleting your data files and don't get old and new files mixed.

Windows PEs created from Winbuilder are useful for data recovery and manipulation of harddisk partition.
They are normally run from CD-ROM. If you don't want to burn CD, or the computer you want to run it on don't have CD-ROM drive, another option is run from USB drive.
If you have FiraDisk integrated in PE ISO. It is possible to use GRUB4DOS to load PE from ISO file into RAM and run PE from RAM.
You can store multiple ISO files on the same drive and choose it in GRUB4DOS at boot time.

Platform:
Can run in
- Windows XP 32-bit
- Windows Server 2003 32-bit
- Windows 7 RC 32-bit : virtual harddisks work. virtual CDs not tested.
- Windows 7 RC 64-bit (Test Mode) : virtual harddisks work. virtual CDs not work.

Status:
v0.0.1.16
- Fix: Slow transfer speed of RAM drive.
- Bug: Cannot boot Windows XP setup from RAM CD-ROM.
v0.0.1.12
- Fix: Windows Server 2003 compatibility.
- Fix: Can read hexadecimal number (0x12345678) in boot option parameters.
v0.0.1.10
- Virtual floppy disk drive.
- New "physicalmemory" boot option keyword.
- Bug: Cannot read hexadecimal number in boot option parameters.
v0.0.1.8
- File-based drives can be created using /firadisk boot.ini option.
- Fix: Detection of GRUB4DOS' RAM CD-ROM.
v0.0.1.6
- Bug: Incorrect detection of size and address of GRUB4DOS' RAM CD-ROM.
v0.0.1.4
- Support multiple virtual drive.
- Support CD-ROM ISO loaded with GRUB4DOS.
- No floppy drive emulation. Floppy disk image mapped to (fdx) will appear to be removable disk.
v0.0.1.0
- Support 1 virtual hard drive that has been loaded with GRUB4DOS's map --mem command.
- Windows XP can run from virtual hard drive in RAM.

Planned features in future versions:
- Add/remove RAM drive from command line or GUI.

Firadisk driver installation instruction for Windows XP
method 1. Use "Add Hardware Wizard"
1 Double-click "Add Hardware" icon in Control Panel.
2 Next
3 Yes, already connected ... Next
4 Scroll down and select lowest item "Add a new hardware device". Next
5 Install ... manually select ... (Advance) Next
6 SCSI and RAID controllers Next
7 Have Disk...
8 Type the path or Browse to directory that contains FiraDisk driver OK
9 select FiraDisk Virtual Disk Enumerator Next
10 Next, (Continue), Finished

method 2. Use devcon utility if you have devcon.exe.
devcon install firadisk.inf root\firadisk

method 3. (v0.0.1.6) Right click firadisk.inf, select Install. FiraDisk will start at next boot time. When Windows prompt you to install driver for the new firadisk device, just follow the instruction on screen.

After installation you can see ONE "Firadisk Virtual Disk Enumerator" device node in Device Manager.
If you install multiple times and have more than one "Firadisk Virtual Disk Enumerator" device, right-click and select Uninstall.

Test FiraDisk with GRUB4DOS mem drive (non-boot drive)

1. Install FiraDisk driver in Windows.
2. Install GRUB4DOS in a hard disk or whatever.
3. Make a hard disk image and place it in root directory
4. boot into GRUB4DOS
5. create map --mem drive and load bootsector or NTLDR
   Example menu.lst
   
   CODE
   timeout 3
   default 0
   
   title (hd0,0)
   rootnoverify (hd0,0)
   chainloader +1
   
   title (hd0,0) (hd1)=hdd1.img
   root (hd0,0)
   map --mem (hd0,0)/hdd1.img (hd1)
   chainloader +1
   
   title (hd0,0) (hd1)=hdd1.img s63 h255
   map --heads=255 --sectors-per-track=63 --mem (hd0,0)/hdd1.img (hd1)
   chainloader +1
   
   title (hd0,0) (hd32)=guest.iso
   root (hd0,0)
   map --mem (hd0,0)/guest.iso (hd32)
   chainloader +1
   
   title (hd0,0) (fd1)=flop.img
   root (hd0,0)
   map --mem (hd0,0)/flop.img (fd1)
   chainloader +1
   
   title (hd0,0) (hd32)=guest.iso (hd1)=hdd1.img (fd1)=flop.img
   root (hd0,0)
   map --mem (hd0,0)/guest.iso (hd32)
   map --mem (hd0,0)/hdd1.img (hd1)
   map --mem (hd0,0)/flop.img (fd1)
   chainloader +1
   
   title commandline
   commandline

Test FiraDisk with GRUB4DOS mem drive as boot drive

Brief instruction
1. Install FiraDisk in Windows before making image or cloning Windows
2. Use another Windows installation (or other OS) to clone Windows to image file
   If you use NTFS compression, make sure ntldr in image file is not compressed
3. If image file have different MBR signature or offset to partition, adjust registry in image file.
   load hive \Windows\system32\config\system,
   goto key MountedDevices, value \DosDevices\C:
   change the data to match MBR signature and byte-offset to partition of disk image
   unload hive
4. Boot from GRUB4DOS
   Example menu.lst
   
   CODE
   timeout 3
   default 0
   
   title hdd.img
   map --mem (hd0,0)/hdd.img (hd0)
   map --hook
   root (hd0,0)
   chainloader /ntldr
   
   title commandline
   commandline

How to create/mount raw disk image with FiraDisk 0.0.1.12 (updated 2009-09-30)
Not very convenient though.

1. Create/Mount image with firadisk 0.0.1.12
   1.1 Set FiraDisk StartOptions
   In registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FiraDisk,
   create value StartOptions type REG_SZ
   data "disk,vmem=image-file-path,size=size-in-bytes" for creating new image file, or openning existing image file
   or "disk,vmem=image-file-path" for openning existing image file
   
   CODE
   reg add HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FiraDisk /v StartOptions /t REG_SZ /d "disk,vmem=H:\image1.img,size=1052835840"
   1.2 Disable and re-enable FiraDisk Virtual Disk Enumerator device in Device Manager or devcon.
   
   CODE
   devcon disable root\firadisk
   devcon enable root\firadisk
   1.3 Delete value StartOptions from key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FiraDisk
   to prevent FiraDisk from auto-mount image file after restart.
   
   CODE
   reg delete HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\FiraDisk /v StartOptions
2. For new disk image
   Open Disk Management, Initialize disk, Create partition, format, mark as active.
3. Do whatever you want with the image.
   Clone Windows to image, add or repalce files, modify registry hive.
4. When you finished your work in image, disable FiraDisk Virtual Disk Enumerator in Device Manager or devcon.
   
   CODE
   devcon disable root\firadisk

How to clone Windows XP by copying files to different disk (or image)

(I learned about using xcopy like this from Dietmar's USB boot tutorial)
1. Use another Windows installation or another machine. Don't boot from source partition.
2. Prepare clonexp.bat
   In this example source Windows partition is S:, destination Windows partition in image is T:
   
   CODE
   @echo off
   setlocal
   rem Source drive, Destination drive
   set src=S:
   set dst=T:
   
   echo List of files to be copied
   xcopy %src%\ %dst%\ /exclude:%~dp0\cloneexclude.txt /e /c /i /h /k /x /y /l
   echo Copy files from %src% to %dst%
   xcopy %src%\ %dst%\ /exclude:%~dp0\cloneexclude.txt /e /c /i /h /k /x /y /w
   
   echo Make sure boot files are not compressed.
   compact /u %dst%\bootmgr %dst%\ntldr %dst%\grldr.* %dst%\menu.lst
   
   echo Adjust \DosDevices\C: value
   set dstsignature=
   for /f "skip=2 tokens=1,2,*" %%I in ('reg query HKLM\SYSTEM\MountedDevices /v \DosDevices\%dst%') do (
   set dstsignature=%%K
   )
   reg load HKLM\systemdst %dst%\Windows\system32\config\system
   reg add HKLM\systemdst\MountedDevices /v \DosDevices\C: /t REG_BINARY /d %dstsignature% /f
   reg query HKLM\systemdst\MountedDevices /v \DosDevices\C:
   reg unload HKLM\systemdst
   
   endlocal
3. Write names of unwanted files and directories in cloneexclude.txt in same directory
   
   CODE
   :\RECYCLER
   :\$Recycle.Bin
   :\bootstat.dat
   :\hiberfil.sys
   :\pagefile.sys
   :\PerfLogs
   :\System Volume Information
   \Temp\
   \Temporary Internet Files\
4. Run clonexp.bat

Old versions
v0.0.1.0 MF v0.0.1.4 MF v0.0.1.6 MF v0.0.1.8 MF v0.0.1.10 MF v0.0.1.12 MF v0.0.1.16 MF v0.0.1.18 MF

Test-signed 64-bit driver is included. If you want to use (test) it in Windows Vista or Windows 7 64-bit, you must enable TESTSIGNING Boot Configuration Option before you install DiskMod driver.
If you don't want to be warned about unknown publisher, you may install my self-signed test-signing root certificate before you install DiskMod driver. TestSignRootCA.reg ( 4.78K )

Download Latest version 0.0.1.18
Driver files  firadisk_driver_0.0.1.18.zip ( 29.57K ) Number of downloads: 307
Source code  firadisk_src_0.0.1.18.7z ( 22.92K ) Number of downloads: 75

[joakim]

Wow, very impressive.



Just booted xp from a ramdisk image at 2,3Gb, completely diskless!!

Next thing is to figure out how to make PE boot from it. Do you know what is required entries in txtsetup.sif?

Joakim

[joakim]

Even better, it now also works in PE-mode.

I just booted moa from a 550 Mb image. I'll be back with the details when sorted out.

Joakim

[joakim]

PE-mode requires adding this to txtsetup.sif;

CODE

[SCSI.Load]
firadisk=firadisk.sys,4

and applying this registry patch to setupreg.hiv;

CODE

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00


[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Class\{4D36E97B-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\0001]
"DriverDate"="7-12-2009"
"DriverDateData"=hex(03):00,40,f7,b2,83,02,ca,01
"DriverDesc"="FiraDisk Virtual Disk Enumerator"
"DriverVersion"="0.0.0.1"
"InfPath"="oem7.inf"
"InfSection"="FiraDiskDevice"
"InfSectionExt"=".NTx86"
"MatchingDeviceId"="root\\firadisk"
"ProviderName"="Karyonix"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\root#firadisk]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E97B-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Service"="firadisk"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\GroupOrderList]
"SCSI Miniport"=hex(03):41,00,00,00,00,01,00,00,01,01,00,00,19,00,00,00,01,\
  00,00,00,02,00,00,00,03,00,00,00,04,00,00,00,05,00,00,00,06,00,00,00,07,00,\
  00,00,08,00,00,00,09,00,00,00,0a,00,00,00,0b,00,00,00,0c,00,00,00,0d,00,00,\
  00,0e,00,00,00,0f,00,00,00,10,00,00,00,11,00,00,00,12,00,00,00,13,00,00,00,\
  14,00,00,00,15,00,00,00,16,00,00,00,17,00,00,00,1a,00,00,00,18,00,00,00,1b,\
  00,00,00,1c,00,00,00,1d,00,00,00,1e,00,00,00,1f,00,00,00,20,00,00,00,23,00,\
  00,00,24,00,00,00,25,00,00,00,26,00,00,00,27,00,00,00,28,00,00,00,29,00,00,\
  00,2a,00,00,00,2b,00,00,00,2c,00,00,00,2d,00,00,00,2e,00,00,00,2f,00,00,00,\
  30,00,00,00,31,00,00,00,32,00,00,00,33,00,00,00,34,00,00,00,35,00,00,00,36,\
  00,00,00,37,00,00,00,38,00,00,00,39,00,00,00,3a,00,00,00,3b,00,00,00,3c,00,\
  00,00,3d,00,00,00,3e,00,00,00,3f,00,00,00,21,00,00,00,22,00,00,00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Enum\Root\LEGACY_FASTFAT\0000\Control]
"ActiveService"="Fastfat"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Enum\Root\SCSIADAPTER\0000]
"Capabilities"=dword:00000000
"Class"="SCSIAdapter"
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E97B-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"ConfigFlags"=dword:00000004
"DeviceDesc"="FiraDisk Virtual Disk Enumerator"
"Driver"="{4D36E97B-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\\0001"
"HardwareID"=hex(07):72,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,5c,00,66,00,69,00,72,00,61,00,\
  64,00,69,00,73,00,6b,00,00,00,00,00
"Mfg"="Karyonix"
"Service"="firadisk"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Enum\Root\SCSIADAPTER\0000\Control]
"ActiveService"="firadisk"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Enum\Root\SCSIADAPTER\0000\LogConf]
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\firadisk]
"DisplayName"="FiraDisk Virtual Disk Driver"
"ErrorControl"=dword:00000001
"Group"="SCSI miniport"
"ImagePath"="\\??\\X:\\I386\\SYSTEM32\\DRIVERS\\firadisk.sys"
"Start"=dword:00000000
"Tag"=dword:00000022
"Type"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\firadisk\Enum]
"0"="ROOT\\SCSIADAPTER\\0000"
"Count"=dword:00000001
"NextInstance"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\firadisk\Security]
"Security"=hex(03):01,00,14,80,90,00,00,00,9c,00,00,00,14,00,00,00,30,00,00,\
  00,02,00,1c,00,01,00,00,00,02,80,14,00,ff,01,0f,00,01,01,00,00,00,00,00,01,\
  00,00,00,00,02,00,60,00,04,00,00,00,00,00,14,00,fd,01,02,00,01,01,00,00,00,\
  00,00,05,12,00,00,00,00,00,18,00,ff,01,0f,00,01,02,00,00,00,00,00,05,20,00,\
  00,00,20,02,00,00,00,00,14,00,8d,01,02,00,01,01,00,00,00,00,00,05,0b,00,00,\
  00,00,00,18,00,fd,01,02,00,01,02,00,00,00,00,00,05,20,00,00,00,23,02,00,00,\
  01,01,00,00,00,00,00,05,12,00,00,00,01,01,00,00,00,00,00,05,12,00,00,00

Joakim

[joakim]

Seriously, I believe one company just lost their business...

Joakim

[bilou_gateux]

Seriously, I believe one company just lost their business...

Joakim

I Think the Same Thought as You.
Nethertheless, i used a nice tool to create my initial raw disk:
Raw disk image creation using instructions posted in sanbarrow forum by joakim
Extreme ramloading over 600 Mb

- Make a raw disk image with makedsk.exe (makedsk.exe 640.dsk 649797120).

Joakim, what tool do you use now for initial creation of raw disk image?

I would like to say thank you to karyonix for spending time and effort to write the driver, starting the thread & taking the time to write a good How to and make driver available for free.

Please can Joakim or karyonix confirm image file must be contigous?

Before wiping my system partition and recreate a new contig image file (solved the issue), i had error:
Grub loads from boot.ini on c: drive (which is ntfs), but then fails to load hdd.img.
Error 15, File not found.

To mount the raw image and successfull creation of the partition and disk signature, i used
virtual storage driver, from Microsoft
e.g.,

vstorcontrol install -inf .\virtualstorage.inf
vstorcontrol create fixeddisk -image <PATH>\640.dsk
format <volume>: /FS:NTFS /V:SYSTEM /C /Q /A:512 /Y
vstorcontrol remove \\.\PhysicalDriveX

No need to use the tool from one company.

Firadisk driver installation instruction for Windows XP

Copied firadisk.inf to <path_to_offline_Windows_systemroot>\inf
Copied firadisk.sys to <path_to_offline_Windows_systemroot>\system32\drivers
Injected driver to my offline Windows install loaded SYSTEM hive as SYSTEM.SAV, e.g.,

CODE

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM.SAV\ControlSet001\Control\CriticalDeviceDatabase\root#firadisk]
"Service"="firadisk"
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E97B-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM.SAV\ControlSet001\Control\Class\{4D36E97B-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\0001]
"InfPath"="firadisk.inf"
"InfSection"="FiraDiskDevice"
"InfSectionExt"=".NTx86"
"ProviderName"="Karyonix"
"DriverDateData"=hex:00,40,f7,b2,83,02,ca,01
"DriverDate"="7-12-2009"
"DriverVersion"="0.0.0.1"
"MatchingDeviceId"="root\\firadisk"
"DriverDesc"="FiraDisk Virtual Disk Enumerator"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM.SAV\ControlSet001\Control\GroupOrderList]
"SCSI Class"=hex:04,00,00,00,01,00,00,00,02,00,00,00,03,00,00,00,04,00,00,00

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM.SAV\ControlSet001\Enum\Root\SCSIADAPTER\0001]
"ClassGUID"="{4D36E97B-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}"
"Class"="SCSIAdapter"
"HardwareID"=hex(7):72,00,6f,00,6f,00,74,00,5c,00,66,00,69,00,72,00,61,00,64,\
  00,69,00,73,00,6b,00,00,00,00,00
"Driver"="{4D36E97B-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\\0001"
"Mfg"="Karyonix"
"Service"="firadisk"
"DeviceDesc"="FiraDisk Virtual Disk Enumerator"
"ConfigFlags"=dword:00000000
"Capabilities"=dword:00000000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM.SAV\ControlSet001\Enum\Root\SCSIADAPTER\0001\LogConf]

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM.SAV\ControlSet001\Enum\Root\SCSIADAPTER\0001\Control]
"ActiveService"="firadisk"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM.SAV\ControlSet001\Services\firadisk]
"Type"=dword:00000001
"Start"=dword:00000000
"ErrorControl"=dword:00000001
"Tag"=dword:00000022
"ImagePath"=hex(2):73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,00,44,00,\
  52,00,49,00,56,00,45,00,52,00,53,00,5c,00,66,00,69,00,72,00,61,00,64,00,69,\
  00,73,00,6b,00,2e,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,00,00
"DisplayName"="FiraDisk Virtual Disk Driver"
"Group"="SCSI miniport"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM.SAV\ControlSet001\Services\firadisk\Security]
"Security"=hex:01,00,14,80,90,00,00,00,9c,00,00,00,14,00,00,00,30,00,00,00,02,\
  00,1c,00,01,00,00,00,02,80,14,00,ff,01,0f,00,01,01,00,00,00,00,00,01,00,00,\
  00,00,02,00,60,00,04,00,00,00,00,00,14,00,fd,01,02,00,01,01,00,00,00,00,00,\
  05,12,00,00,00,00,00,18,00,ff,01,0f,00,01,02,00,00,00,00,00,05,20,00,00,00,\
  20,02,00,00,00,00,14,00,8d,01,02,00,01,01,00,00,00,00,00,05,0b,00,00,00,00,\
  00,18,00,fd,01,02,00,01,02,00,00,00,00,00,05,20,00,00,00,23,02,00,00,01,01,\
  00,00,00,00,00,05,12,00,00,00,01,01,00,00,00,00,00,05,12,00,00,00

may not work for anybody. Please notice i have an other SCSI device:
Microsoft iSCSI Initiator
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM.SAV\ControlSet001\Enum\Root\SCSIADAPTER\0000
FiraDisk Virtual Disk Enumerator
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM.SAV\ControlSet001\Enum\Root\SCSIADAPTER\0001

[joakim]

Joakim, what tool do you use now for initial creation of raw disk image?

I do it manually with the dsfok tools and vdk with the help of a spreadsheet; http://www.mediafire.com/file/yzgt41cgzxt/..._calculator.xls
But the best tool is probably jaclaz's mbrbatch tool. I have a collection of 5 ready disk images that was uploaded earlier; http://www.mediafire.com/file/agnmmydcygm/Ready_images.zip

Please can Joakim or karyonix confirm image file must be contigous?

I does not have to be contigous if used with "map --mem".

To mount the raw image and successfull creation of the partition and disk signature, i used
virtual storage driver, from Microsoft
e.g.,
No need to use the tool from one company.

Well, good to hear about other tools to use too. It's really just about being comfortable with a way that works.

Note, gzipping the images is recommended for several reasons.

may not work for anybody. Please notice i have an other SCSI device:
Microsoft iSCSI Initiator

I don't use such, so I have no idea. Someone else must supply working instructions for use with such setups. Did it work for you or not?

Joakim

[bilou_gateux]

Joakim

I do it manually with the dsfok tools and vdk with the help of a spreadsheet; http://www.mediafire.com/file/yzgt41cgzxt/..._calculator.xls
But the best tool is probably jaclaz's mbrbatch tool. I have a collection of 5 ready disk images that was uploaded earlier; http://www.mediafire.com/file/agnmmydcygm/Ready_images.zip

Nice, i will download Ready_images.zip

I does not have to be contigous if used with "map --mem".

OK, issue i had was may be something else (typo error?)

Well, good to hear about other tools to use too. It's really just about being comfortable with a way that works.

No GUI but very convenient for me.

Note, gzipping the images is recommended for several reasons.

Will try to GZip my hdd.img, now that you answered my question about contigous file.

I don't use such, so I have no idea. Someone else must supply working instructions for use with such setups. Did it work for you or not?

It was not a question but an alternative to both methods suggested by karyonix.
If someone try to past my reg file and inject it to offline SYSTEM hive, he won't get the attended result because i have Microsoft iSCSI Initiator installed on my Windows XP. Some edit to the reg would be necessary (replace all 0001 by 0000)


grub4dos question: the sample menu.lst listed below is from one company and i changed the titles to be more explicit. i have not tested it and would like to have some advices from advanced users.
hdd.img Partition 1 is a copy of Partition1 Windows XP install on internal drive (4 primary partitions).
Can i use this settings in menu.lst to hide Partition1 on the internal drive (disk signature CEF9D879) when i boot the Partition1 from hdd.img (disk signature 1D01D3CE)

CODE

title 1 -- reboot from Hard disk CEF9D879 ntldr
find --set-root /ntldr
unhide
chainloader /ntldr

title 2 -- boot Partition1 hdd.img 1D01D3CE to ram & hide Partition1 on hard disk CEF9D879
find --set-root /ntldr
hide
map --mem +1 (hd0)
map --hook
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
unhide
chainloader /ntldr

title 3 -- boot Partition1 hdd.img 1D01D3CE to ram & unhide Partition1 on hard disk CEF9D879
find --set-root /ntldr
unhide
map --mem +1 (hd0)
map --hook
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
unhide
chainloader /ntldr

Joakim, i want to achieve something similar as the tool you have written for VMware users: rawdisk_cmd

[joakim]

My menu.lst looks like this;

CODE

map --mem (cd)/2400.gz (hd0)
map --hook
root (hd0,0)
chainloader (hd0,0)/ntldr

The 2400.gz is a 2,2 Gb (2 393 556 480 byte) large disk image which is gzipped to 696 Mb and placed inside iso. It was running fine for almost 2 hours until I shut it down.

Note, running it in PE-mode will not require disk signature to be present in registry.

Joakim

[karyonix]

v0.0.1.4
- Support multiple virtual drive.
- Support CD-ROM ISO loaded with GRUB4DOS.
- No floppy drive emulation. Floppy disk image mapped to (fdx) will appear to be removable disk.

example menu.lst entry

CODE

title (hd0,0) (hd32)=guest.iso (hd1)=hdd1.img (fd1)=flop.img
root (hd0,0)
map --mem (hd0,0)/guest.iso (hd32)
map --mem (hd0,0)/hdd1.img (hd1)
map --mem (hd0,0)/flop.img (fd1)
chainloader +1