Corporate Modboot
...all the tools you need on one Bootable CD-Rom...
...or from a network share...
...single point of maintenance...
...cleanboot and scan or clean ntfs volumes for virus...
...burn it from any workstation...
...and more...
Version 1.4
Last updated: Mar 11, 2004
...this page is dedicated to my wife Sylvia. I thank her for
everything she does for me. You should try to imagine living with
someone like me, a weird guy, who has trouble communicating and think
"normally", because too much computer stuff is floating around in my brain...
1 Introduction
Are you new to this page?
I suggest you print this page and read first before you try to build it.
Also I must
warn you! Make sure you have some spare time, because when you start playing
with Corporate Modboot you will not stop!!!
Corporate Modboot is a framework that will allow you to boot and run the
applications you need within your corporation in a very flexible
way. The boot disks are based on
Bart's modular boot disks.
Nowadays end users don't run much Dos applications anymore. But system operators and
PC technicians still use Dos applications to manage PC's. You could say that
they use it as their tools.
So for these people it is important to have the tools they need available on
all PC's in the company. Corporate modboot is perfect for that.
Features:
- Boot and run the dos applications you need from any workstation, with
floppy and CD-Rom drive or floppy and network adapter.
- Choose to boot from bootable CD-Rom or Floppy disk.
- Choose to run dos applications from CD-Rom or Network.
- Boot ERD Commander 2002 (from CD only) for recovery or virus scan.
- Run Disk Commander v1.1 (from CD only) for data recovery.
- The bootable CD-Rom is built and burned 100% automatic no other recording
software needed. When storing the files on a server you can build/burn a
bootable CD-Rom from any NT workstation with a burner.
- All floppy images are built 100% automatically, no need to insert a physical
floppy disk, no need for a disk imaging tool like winimage or so. You can also
build a physical floppy disk.
- Single point of maintenance. Even for the floppy bootdisk images. There is a special
option to "rebuild" all floppy bootdisk images used on all your bootable
CD's.
The idea started about two years ago and I've been building and collecting the
right software and information ever since. I'm very pleased that it is ready
and working now.
As you know (or may not know) most of Bart's solutions you can find on the
nu2.nu website are based on putting the right (freeware) tools together in the
right way. When the tools don't fit or when something is missing, Bart fixes
it by creating the missing part or by changing existing tools, so the wanted
solution will work like it should. And as you can see, Bart can code just about
anything.
The basic items used for corporate modboot are:
These are the main items, each one contains numerous tools created by Bart and
others. Follow the links in the list above to find more information about them.
To see what software is supported by default, look at the installation section
below.
2 Why would you need Corporate Modboot?
Let's assume your job is to maintain all the PC's in your company. From time
to time your need to run some dos applications, for maintenance or
troubleshooting and more. You can put together a large amount of boot disks
that will do the job. But this doesn't really work, you'll lose them, you've
got limited space and they're not easy to maintain.
You could also build a bootable CD-Rom (CDR) that holds all your needed dos
applications that you want. This is almost right, not so limited space
(>650MB), quite fast.
But... you cannot write to it (like when creating hard disk images for your
workstations), you cannot do daily updates (virus signature files). Also some
systems do not have a CD-Rom drive and the old PC's do not support booting
from it.
OK, this page will show you that with
one bootable CD-Rom and 2 boot
disks you can rule the worl... eh... your network. All maintenance
will be done on one single place.
3 Overview
You will install bcd, bfd and corpmodboot packages on your server.
You will create a share on the
cds\corpmb\files\ directory.
You must store all dos applications you need in the
cds\corpmb\files\
directory (single point of maintenance).
A bootable CD-Rom can easily be created from this share, from any workstations
with a CD-writer, and by any user, using
Bart's Build CD package.
The corporate modboot CD-Rom has 2 boot images:
- Bart's CD-Rom boot disk, to access files on the CD.
- Bart's Network boot disk, to access files on the network share.
The CD-Rom Boot Disk is used to boot Dos and auto load CD-Rom drivers. This
gives you read only access to all the Dos applications on the CD.
The Network Boot Disk is used to boot Dos, auto load the microsoft network
client and map a drive to the application share (
corpmb. This should
give you read access to all the Dos applications in the share.
Also a drive is mapped to a
filedump share with read/write access for
storing files.
You should also create 2 physical 1.44MB boot disks. They're 100% identical to the
ones on the CD so you can always create the boot disks when you only have the
bootable CD.
Use the network boot disk (either from CD or floppy) to access the
corpmb share if you need up-to-date files (like a virus scanner) or
when you have to store files or images from the workstation.
When this is not an issue, you can just use the CD-Rom boot disk (either from
CD or floppy) to access the files on the CD-Rom.
4 Installation
Hardware requirements:
The very minimal is a Windows NT4.0, 2000 or XP workstation with a
CD-writer (home-user). You cannot creat corporate modboot on a Windows 9x/ME workstation!
But to use the maximum power of corporate modboot a Windows
NT4/2000/XP or Linux/Samba server is also required (company-user).
Installation instructions:
In the instructions below we will be using the directory
d:\bcd to
install the software, but you can use any other location you like.
When using a linux/samba server you should use something like
/bcd instead of
d:\bcd.
BCD installation instructions:
Download
BCD full package v1.1.1 (523KB).
Or update from previous version:
BCD update package (v1.1.0-v1.1.1) (5KB).
When updating from previous versions, just extract the package over the
previous version, overwrite any existing files. The
bcd.cfg file will
not get overwritten!
Unpack the BCD package to some folder for example
d:\bcd.
If you want to be able to run it from a server you should unpack
it to a share from where your workstations can run it. You will need to
map a drive letter to that share and run bcd using that drive letter.
Make sure you also unpack the subdirectories!
Download
wnaspi32.dll and copy it into BCD's
d:\bcd\bin directory.
I have asked Ahead Software AG if I could distribute their
aspi manager with my BCD package but they said:
"
...due to our licence agreement you
could only let your users download it freely from our web site...".
BFD installation instructions:
Please download:
BFD full package v1.0.7 (1.45MB).
Or update from previous versions:
BFD update package (v1.0.x-v1.0.7) (410KB).
When updating from previous versions, just extract the package over the
previous version, overwrite any existing files. The
bfd.cfg file will
not get overwritten!
Unpack BFD in the same directory as BCD, for example
d:\bcd.
If you have already unpacked BCD, then some files from BFD will overlap with
files from BCD, like the
nu2lic.txt and the
bchoice.exe.
This is no problem, just skip or overwrite them.
Make sure you also unpack the subdirectories!
Corporate Modboot package:
Download
Corporate Modboot package v1.4 (corpmb14.zip) (292KB).
Unpack it into the BCD directory,
d:\bcd.
Make sure you also unpack the subdirectories!
View change log file for Corporate Modboot package.
Setting up the bcd share
Create a share on the
d:\bcd folder, in this document we
will use the share name
bcd.
I always open a command prompt to create a share:
net share bcd=d:\bcd.
But you can create it like you want to.
You should also set the security permissions on the
d:\bcd\ folder to everyone "read" and
yourself "full control".
I always open a command prompt to set security:
cacls d:\bcd /T /G everyone:R bart:F
Replace "bart" with your name (or group).
Setting up the corpmb share
Create a share on the
d:\bcd\cds\corpmb\files folder, in this document we
will use the share name
corpmb.
I always open a command prompt to create a share:
net share corpmb=d:\bcd\cds\corpmb\files.
But you can create it like you want to.
Setting up the dumpfile share
Create a directory where people can dump their files in this page we will be using
d:\filedump.
Open a command prompt:
mkdir d:\filedump.
Now let's create the share
filedump.
Open a command prompt to create the share:
net share filedump=d:\filedump.
Set the security permissions on the
d:\filedump\ folder to everyone "full control".
Open a command prompt to set security:
cacls d:\filedump /T /G everyone:F
You can check the share(s) with
net share and the security
with
cacls d:\bcd and
cacls d:\filedump.
Using Linux?
When using a Linux/Samba server, add this to your
/etc/samba/smb.conf file:
[bcd]
comment = Build CD-Rom
path = /bcd
public = yes
writable = yes
create mask = 0774
[corpmb]
comment = Corporate Modboot
path = /bcd/cds/corpmb/files
public = yes
writable = yes
create mask = 0774
[filedump]
comment = Temporary file space
path = /filedump
public = yes
writable = yes
create mask = 0774
|
Don't forget to restart samba.
Let us look at the batch file
d:\bcd\cds\corpmb\files\autorun.bat,
it looks like this:
@echo off
set path=%path%;%cddrv%\bin;%cddrv%\
%cddrv%\bin\menu.bat
|
The
autorun.bat is executed by the CD-Rom boot disk (
cdautrun.cab)
and by the Network boot disk (
%srcdrv%\etc\autoexec.net).
It first add's the
\bin directory and the root of the CD-Rom to your path.
After that is starts the menu by running
menu.bat.
The network boot disk uses a file called
autoexec.net. This file will
be run after you have logged on to the network.
It looks like this:
@echo off
rem --------------------------------------------------------
rem AUTOEXEC.NET, Copyright (c) 2002 Bart Lagerweij
rem This program is free software, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY!
rem See http://www.nu2.nu/license/ for more details.
rem --------------------------------------------------------
echo AUTOEXEC.NET: Starting...
rem (mis)using cddrv to hold our driveletter
rem you can change it if you want
set cddrv=r:
rem Set the drive letter to use for storing files
set dmpdrv=z:
rem Set your file server name
set srv=yourserver
echo AUTOEXEC.NET: Mapping drive %cddrv% to \\%srv%\corpmb
net use %cddrv% \\%srv%\corpmb
if errorlevel 1 goto _nuerr
echo AUTOEXEC.NET: Mapping drive %dmpdrv% to \\%srv%\filedump
echo AUTOEXEC.NET: Use drive %dmpdrv% for storing/loading images and files!
net use %dmpdrv% \\%srv%\filedump
if errorlevel 1 goto _nuerr
if not exist %cddrv%\autorun.bat goto _nauto
rem start autorun.bat
%cddrv%
cd \
echo.
echo About to launch "%cddrv%\autorun.bat"
set srv=
pause
autorun.bat
:_nuerr
echo AUTOEXEC.NET: Cannot connect to server "%srv%".
echo AUTOEXEC.NET: Run "msnet -c" and hit "map" to map to some other server....
goto _end
:_nauto
echo AUTOEXEC.NET: %cddrv%\autorun.bat not found.
rem flow into _end
:_end
set cddrv=
set srv=
|
You must
edit this file (
d:\bcd\cds\corpmb\autoexec.net) and change
the line
set srv=yourserver. Replace yourserver into the real (SMB)
name of your server (don't use the IP address!).
Customize the network drivers
You should put the network driver plug-ins (
.cab files) your company
uses into the
d:\bcd\cabs\drivers\ndis folder, you can remove the
drivers you don't need. Do not put in
all drivers that will not fit on a
regular 1.44MB boot floppy (image). Just put in the drivers that you think you
will need. You can find a big list of ready to use driver plug-ins
here. Do not extract the
.cab files, just copy them. By default the floppy builder (bfd) will
add all the drivers located in the
d:\bcd\cabs\drivers\ndis folder to
the network boot disk.
For the main menu
DougMenu Menuing Software Version 1.77 (freeware) is used. Dougmenu is created by Douglas Bell. The Netware 3.x
sysop's will probably remember it. Latest Dougmenu homepage I could find is
here. See
dougmenu.txt for more information.
Let us look at the batch file
d:\bcd\cds\corpmb\files\bin\menu.bat,
it looks like this:
@echo off
set t=%tmp%\dougtmp.bat
:loop
%cddrv%\bin\dougmenu.exe %cddrv%\bin\mainmenu.txt
if errorlevel==2 %t%
if errorlevel==1 goto quit
call %t%
goto loop
:quit
set t=
|
It is the standard menu.bat from the Dougmenu archive file. Only customized to
suite our needs.
Let us look at the menu file
d:\bcd\cds\corpmb\files\bin\mainmenu.txt,
it looks like this:
; Corporate Modboot Main Menu
; Created by Bart Lagerweij
; You should change this menu file and add any applications you want.
#header message=Corporate Modboot v1.0
#display ,,20
"Copyright (c) 2002 Bart Lagerweij, http://www.nu2.nu/corpmodboot"
#f1=Help
show %cddrv%\readme.txt
#f10=Exit
echo Type "menu" to start the menu again...
#exit
#if_exist %cddrv%\bin\restart.com
#if_exist %cddrv%\bin\atxoff.com
#f8=ShutDown
#ask choice,Shut down... ,,,1
"Power Off computer?" = 1
"Restart computer?" = 2
#if "%choice%" == "1"
%cddrv%\bin\atxoff.com
echo Did "%cddrv%\bin\atxoff.com" fail?
pause
#endif
#if "%choice%" == "2"
%cddrv%\bin\restart.com
echo Did "%cddrv%\bin\restart.com" fail?
pause
#endif
#endif
#endif
%Corporate Menu,,4
#if_exist %cddrv%\ghost\ghost.exe
Symantec Ghost
if "%dmpdrv%" == "" goto _ghost
%dmpdrv%
cd \
echo.
echo You can store your ghost images on drive %dmpdrv%...
echo.
:_ghost
echo Copying Ghost to ramdisk...
echo.
copy %cddrv%\ghost\ghost.exe %tmp%\ghost.exe
%tmp%\ghost.exe -afile=%tmp%\ghost.err
del %tmp%\ghost.exe
if errorlevel 1 pause
#endif
#if_exist %cddrv%\pqmagic\pqmagic.exe
PowerQuest PartitionMagic
if exist %tmp%\pqmagic\pqmagic.exe goto _pqm
mkdir %tmp%\pqmagic
echo Copying PQMagic to ramdisk...
echo.
copy %cddrv%\pqmagic\*.* %tmp%\pqmagic
:_pqm
%tmp%\pqmagic\pqmagic.exe
if errorlevel 1 pause
#endif
#if_exist %cddrv%\pqmagic\ptedit.exe
PowerQuest Partition Table Editor
rem Don't remove this remark
%cddrv%\pqmagic\ptedit.exe
if errorlevel 1 pause
#endif
#if_exist %cddrv%\pqmagic\partinfo.exe
PowerQuest Partition Information Program
rem Don't remove this remark
%cddrv%\pqmagic\partinfo.exe > %tmp%\partinfo.txt
%cddrv%\bin\show.com %tmp%\partinfo.txt
del %tmp%\partinfo.txt
#endif
VirusScan
call %cddrv%\bin\virus.bat
echo.
echo Return to Dougmenu...
pause
#if_exist %cddrv%\vc\vc.com
Volkov Commander
rem Don't remove this remark
%cddrv%
cd \
%cddrv%\vc\vc.com
#endif
#if_exist %cddrv%\vc\vc.com
#if_exist %cddrv%\ntfspro\ntfspro.exe
Access NTFS volumes (NTFS Pro/VC)
rem Don't remove this remark
call %cddrv%\bin\whatnt.bat
if "%wbat%" == "" goto _end
%cddrv%
cd \ntfspro
ntfspro.exe /P%cddrv%\ntfspro\%wbat% /S%cddrv%\vc\vc.com
rem Change CWD to root of ramdrive
%ramdrv%
cd \
echo Return to Dougmenu...
pause
:_end
#endif
#endif
#if_exist %cddrv%\pci\pci.exe
PCI diagnostic
rem Don't remove this remark
%cddrv%
cd \pci
pci.exe > %tmp%\pci.txt
%cddrv%\bin\show.com %tmp%\pci.txt
#endif
#if_exist %cddrv%\bin\disktool.exe
Bart's Disktool
rem Don't remove this remark
%cddrv%\bin\disktool.exe
#endif
#if_exist %cddrv%\bin\detect.com
Detect BIOS/Chipset
rem Don't remove this remark
%cddrv%\bin\detect.com %tmp%\bios
%cddrv%\bin\show.com %tmp%\bios.txt
#endif
#if_exist %cddrv%\pwrmax\powermax.exe
Maxtor Power Diagnostic Utility
rem Don't remove this remark
%cddrv%
cd \pwrmax
powermax.exe
#endif
Exit
echo.
echo Type "menu" to start the menu again...
#exit
|
The menu already contains some standaard items. But
you will need to add
program files for some of the items!
If you want to change the menu yourself, check the
dougmenu.txt
file.
4.1 Software already included
This paragraph lists the software that is already included with
the Corporate Modboot package.
A short description is provided below.
4.1.1 Disktool
Is a generic harddisk testing tool. It works on ALL disks (ATAPI/SCSI/RAID)
that are controlled by the BIOS. It accesses the drive by INT13 and INT13
extensions. It supports up to 2TB. It can also be used to do a full drive
erase.
4.1.2 Volkov Commander
The
Volkov Commander is a simple dos file manager. It looks just like the good old Norton
Commander. The stable version 4 is shareware ($20), but the Beta 5 (version
4.99.xx) can be used for free.
4.1.3 MemTest v3.0
Memtest86 is a stand alone
memory test for x86 architecture computers.
Memtest is already included with the Corporate Modboot package, you don't need
to add it yourself.
Just select it from the Isolinux menu when you boot from the Corporate Modboot CD-Rom.
Memtest by Chris Brady is
GNU-GPL.
Since I'm distributing it, I must provide the source. Here it is:
memtest86-3.0.tar.gz (103KB).
4.2 Software not included
This paragraph lists the software that is
not included,
but Corporate Modboot is somehow prepared for it.
Just follow the instructions.
4.2.1 Adding Symantec Ghost
Symantec Ghost is a tool
for PC deployment, recovery, cloning, and migration. It is not free, buy it from
Symantec. With corporate modboot you can easily run ghost from CD (using the
cd-rom boot disk) to clone disk-to-disk, or connect to the network (using the
network boot disk) and dump/load an image to/from the server.
When you have installed Symantec Ghost (not sure if personal edition works), you only need to copy the file
ghost.exe (normally found at
\Program
Files\Symantec\Ghost\ghost.exe) to
the
d:\bcd\cds\corpmb\files\ghost directory.
4.2.2 Adding PowerQuest PartitionMagic
PartitionMagic is a tool for
managing your harddisk paritions. It is not free, buy it from PowerQuest. With
corporate modboot you can easily run PartitionMagic from the CD (using the cd-rom
boot disk).
When you have installed PartitionMagic, copy the Dos files from the second
bootdisk or from the
Dos directory to the
d:\bcd\cds\corpmb\files\pqmagic directory.
I use v8.0 and I have the following files:
pmhelp.dat,
pqboot.exe,
pqbootx.exe,
pqdata.002,
pqmagic.exe,
pqmagic.ovl,
pqmagic.pif,
pqmagic.pqg,
pqpb.rtc and
zabout.pqg.
While you're at it, also copy the file
ptedit.exe and
partinfo.exe.
4.2.3 Adding McAfee VirusScan
Download the latest superdat (
sdat*.exe)
from
ftp://ftp.nai.com/pub/antivirus/superdat/intel/ (~4.4MB).
Copy the downloaded
sdat????.exe file, into the
d:\bcd\cds\corpmb\files\mcafee folder. Now you
must unpack it
using the "/e" parameter. From the
mcafee folder, run
sdat????.exe /e (where ???? is the version number).
When unpacking you don't see anything happen for about 20 seconds, just wait for it.
There is no need to remove the
sdat????.exe file, you can use it to
update the virus files on other workstations if necessary.
This command line virus scanner can be used to scan in dos, win9x, nt4, w2k and
wxp. Scanning in dos will be launched using dougmenu. For scanning in windows a
few batch files are located in the \mcafee folder.
Hint: you could use wget to update the superdat file once a week or so.
Hint2: if you have ERD Commander 2002 you also want to use McAfee VirusScan (see
below).
4.2.4 Adding F-Prot Antivirus for DOS
Download the (free for personal use) F-Prot Antivirus for DOS from
the F-Prot download page.
You will need the program (
fp-312b.zip) and the latest virus
signature files (
fp-def.zip and
macrdef2.zip).
Unzip all
three of them into the
d:\bcd\cds\corpmb\files\fprot\ folder.
4.2.5 Adding NTFSDOS Professional 4.03
If you need to access NTFS drives from MS-DOS,
NTFSDOS Professional 4.03 is the solution.
NTFSDOS Professional is not free, but there is
a demo version available
that can be downloaded after registering. Limitation of this version is that
it is a "readonly" version, you cannot write to disk. Corporate
modboot supports virusscanning NTFS volumes by using ntfsdos pro 4.03.
Note! you cannot use the 3.x version!
Either download the demo version or buy the real version and copy the files
ntfspro.exe and
license.bin into the
d:\bcd\cds\corpmb\files\ntfspro\ folder.
Now you also have to copy some Windows NT files.
From a Windows NT4.0 workstation copy the files
%windir%\system32\drivers\ntfs.sys and
%windir%\system32\ntoskrnl.exe into the
d:\bcd\cds\corpmb\files\ntfspro\nt4\ folder. These files can also be
found in the Windows NT4.0 Service Pack 6a.
From a Windows 2000/XP workstation copy the files
%windir%\system32\drivers\ntfs.sys and
%windir%\system32\ntoskrnl.exe into the
d:\bcd\cds\corpmb\files\ntfspro\nt5\ folder. These files can also be
found (packed!) in the Windows 2000 Service Pack 3.
Update from v4.00 to v4.03 available from
http://www.winternals.com/prod_updates/NTFSPro403update.exe.
Quote from Winternals: "This update addresses a bug and allows users to run
certain virus scanners. This applies to NTFSPro versions 4.0, 4.01 and
4.02."
4.2.6 Adding PCI diagnostic software
The corporate modboot uses Craig's
PCI diagnostic software.
Download
pci.zip and unpack it to the
d:\bcd\cds\corpmb\files\pci\ folder.
Also download the latest
pcidevs.txt file and copy it to the
d:\bcd\cds\corpmb\files\pci\ folder.
Hint: you could use wget to update the pcidevs.txt file once a week or so.
4.2.7 Adding BIOS detect software
Download
detect.com and copy it to the
d:\bcd\cds\corpmb\files\bin\ folder.
4.2.8 Adding ERD Commander 2002
ERD Commander 2002 by Winternals LP is
not free and there is also no demo or trail version that can be downloaded you simply have to buy it!
But... it's simply great, key features:
- Boots dead systems directly from CD
- Easy, familiar Windows-like GUI interface
- Includes the Locksmith utility to reset lost Administrator passwords
- Built-in network access to safely copy data to/from dead systems
- Repair tools include Service and Driver Manager, Registry Editor, Explorer,
and Command Prompt
- Diagnostic tools include the Event Log Viewer, System Information, TCP/IP
Configuration, and Logical volumes utilities
- Compatible with Windows XP, 2000, and NT4(sp4+)*
| * |
Although you can use ERD Commander 2002 on systems that do not have
Service Pack (SP) 4 or higher, ERD Commander 2002 updates NTFS volumes to a
version that requires the NTFS driver from SP 4 or higher. ERD Commander 2002
prompts you before updating NTFS volumes on pre-SP 4 systems |
For more information please read the
detailed product info page.
You should also add the McAfee VirusScan (see above) this way you can clean boot from CD using ERD Commander 2002
and run the virusscanner to scan/clean for viruses. See the
erd2002.txt file.
| erd2002.txt |
|---|
Mcafee VirusScanning using ERD Commander 2002
Click on [Start] -> [Console]
Goto <x>:\mcafee (where <x> is the drive letter of you CD-Rom)
<x>:
cd \mcafee
Just scan (all drives, default file extension only):
scan /adl
Just scan (all drives, all files):
scan /adl /all
Scan and clean (all drives, default file extension only):
scan /clean /adl
Scan and clean (all drives, all files):
scan /clean /adl /all
** Do not eject CD while scanning **
|
After you have installed ERD Commander 2002, start the "ERD Commander 2002 Boot CD-Rom Wizard".
Follow the screens for license agreement/information, password protection,
preparing files, additional drivers and additional files until you get to the
screen called "Write CD-ROM Image file". Enter a filename for the
ISO image, for example
d:\temp\erd.iso and create the image.
Extract all the files from the ISO image, using software like
IsoBuster (you can use other software).
Make sure you
extract the files from the Joliet filesystem (not the ISO9660)!
If you don't you will be missing all long filenames.
You should extract all files and folders from the erd.iso file into
d:\bcd\cds\corpmb\files\.
So when using isobuster open the erd.iso image file and right-click on the
">>>" icon and select extract. Then browse to
d:\bcd\cds\corpmb\files folder.
Now check if the extract went OK, there should now be a file
d:\bcd\cds\corpmb\files\bootsect.bin and also
d:\bcd\cds\corpmb\files\i386\setupldr.bin
You must
take the files from the ISO image since the ERD Wizard
writes the registration info only when it is creating the ISO file!
To burn ERD Commander 2002 you must at least have BCD v1.1.0!
Read below how to burn it...
4.2.9 Adding Disk Commander v1.1
Disk Commander by Winternals LP is
not free! There is a
demo version.
Key features:
- Can recover data from unbootable systems
- Scans entire disk for lost or corrupt volumes, even on reformatted
disks
- Allows recovered files to be copied to a working drive
- Replaces the MBR
- Is compatible with Windows XP/2000/Me/NT4/9x and with Remote Recover
- Runs from Win32, a DOS boot diskette, Windows XP/2000/NT4 setup-style
diskettes, or from a bootable CD-ROM
For more information please read the
detailed product info page.
After you have installed Disk Commander v1.1, start the "Disk Commander Setup".
Follow the screens, and select "The Win32 version" and "Copy to floppy".
After the floppy has been created, copy all (4) files from the floppy disk to
the
d:\bcd\cds\corpmb\files\diskcmd\ folder.
When your PC does not boot:
You can use the Corporate Modboot CD-Rom to boot ERD Commander 2002, use
the ERD explorer, goto the
diskcmd folder and start
launch.exe.
This will start Disk Commander v1.1.
There will be message saying "Not part of the ERD Commander 2002 environment, are you sure?" just say
"yes".
When your PC still boots OK:
You can insert the Corporate Modboot CD-Rom, goto the
diskcmd folder
and start
launch.exe.
Note! The Disk Commander takes a few seconds to load, just wait for it...
4.2.10 Adding Total Commander (Windows Commander)
Total Commander (by Christian Ghisler), is a file manager for Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP, and Windows 3.1.
It is
not free!
But there is a fully functional
shareware version.
Features in Total Commander include:
- Two file windows side by side
- Multiple language support
- Enhanced search function
- Compare files / synchronize directories
- Quick View panel with bitmap display
- ZIP, ARJ, LZH, RAR, UC2, TAR, GZ, CAB, ACE archive handling + plugins
- Built-in FTP client with FXP (server to server) and HTTP proxy support
- Parallel port link, multi-rename tool
- File descriptions, RTF viewer, file system plugins
- And many more!
For more information please read the
feature page.
Total Commander is so great! It's handy to have it on a CD-Rom so you can run
it on any workstation in your company. No need to install it and no registry
changes are done or required.
Just install Total Commander on your PC, follow the installation instructions,
make sure put the INI files in the program directory.
After you have installed it, change the configuration.
I always change the following:
- Configuration/Options/Operation;
Mouse selection mode: Left mouse button (Windows standard)
Selection: Also select directories
Quick search: Alt+Letters
- Configuration/Options/Display;
File display: show hidden/system files (for experts only!)
- Configuration/Options/Tabstops;
Show file extensions: directly after filename
These settings are stored in the wincmd.ini file.
Now copy the Total Commander files from your PC into
the
d:\bcd\cds\corpmb\files\totalcmd\ directory.
Make sure you also copy the subdirectories!
There should be a
d:\bcd\cds\corpmb\files\totalcmd\totalcmd.exe file now.
You must start Total Commander from CD-Rom, using
launch.exe (already in totalcmd
directory for you).
Launch.exe will start totalcmd.exe with the
correct parameters, so it will use the
wincmd.ini and
wcx_ftp.ini from the
totalcmd directory and set the path in
the left and right window to the root of the CD-Rom.
4.2.11 Adding PowerMax
Maxtor Power Diagnostic Utility (PowerMax) is designed to perform diagnostic read/write verifications on Maxtor/Quantum
hard drives. These tests will determine hard drive integrity. The Powermax
utility is effective on all ATA (IDE) hard drives with a capacity greater than
or equal to 500 MB. Maxtor recommends the use of this utility for
troubleshooting potential hard drive problems.
When you have created the powermax bootdisk copy the files
20014.TXT, AMSET.EXE, AMSET.TXT, CHIPRead.txt, CHIPSET.DRV, POWERMAX.EXE, PWMXRead.txt, QDPSSCSI.exe
from the bootdisk to the
d:\bcd\cds\corpmb\files\pwrmax directory.
4.3 Add your own software
If you want to add a small Dos program you can put it in the
d:\bcd\cds\corpmb\files\bin folder. This folder is included in the
search path. If the Dos program exist of more than one file you should add
a new folder to
d:\bcd\cds\corpmb\files\ and put it there.
If you want your utility to appear in the menu, you must add it to
d:\bcd\cds\corpmb\files\bin\mainmenu.txt.
If you want to add a Windows program you should be aware of some things like:
- Can the program run from a CD-Rom (read-only) media?
- Does the program need any registry settings? You don't want to touch the
registry of some workstation you're using the Corporate Modboot CD on.
- Does the program write anything to the harddisk?
You don't want that also. Some programs want to write a .ini file to the %windir%.
For some programs you will need
launch.exe, to run a program with a
dynamic path and/or dynamic arguments.
I'm sure there are other handy tools that could be added...
If you think I missed something important
let me know.
4.4 Burn the CD
OK, when you are done adding the software as shown above, you can go and burn
a bootable CD-Rom. Use a NT4/W2K/XP workstation that has a CD writer device.
If you are using a server, map a drive to the BCD share. Open a command
prompt, go to the mapped drive and run
bcd corpmb. This will build
the boot disks, build the ISO image and burn it to your recorder.
When you make changes to some of the boot disk files, you can easily update all
boot disks by running
bcd -bab (build all bootdisks).
When you want to create a 1.44MB network boot floppy disk, you must run
bfd corpnet.
5 Used tools
What tools are used to build corporate modboot?
BCD uses the following tools:
BFD uses the following tools:
- Cabarc.exe by Microsoft.
- Some Windows 98 files, like: io.sys, command.com, fdisk.exe, format.com,
mem.exe, xcopy.exe, himem.sys and emm386.exe.
You need a valid windows 98 license to use these files!
- Bchoice, bfi.exe and
mkbt.exe by Bart Lagerweij
(Nu2 license).
Corporate modboot uses the following tools:
Utils.cab uses the following tools:
- Wbat, Lmod, Tfind and Crc32 written by Horst Schaeffer (freeware), distributed with permission.
- PciScan,
Ettool by Bart Lagerweij (Nu2 license).
- Terse 1.5,
Tiny text editor. Written by by Joseph (Yossi) Gil (freeware).
- Device.com, used to load device drivers. Don't know who wrote it, got it
from Qemm 7. Not sure if freeware, but I see that other people also distribute
it.
List not complete yet...
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