Make a bootable USB program installer - windows

I'm trying to make an installer for a program and for that program to work I need to alter a few important windows files
I'm trying to make it like this:
plug in the usb
boot from the usb
wait for the installer to finish
boot windows and taaada program installed
I used all kinds of variations of Ms-Dos to do this but all of them don't copy my program's files or fail at something else
Any idea how to make something similar ?

You could try NTFSDOS if you want to keep being in DOS, or you could use some Linux distribution and mount the harddrives partition that way.

Related

Autorun USB Windows 7

I would like to create a USB stick with a simple HTML file in it which opens when the stick gets plugged in. It is meant to be some kind of merchandise thing. Thing is that I read that Microsoft disabled Autorun on Windows 7 for security reasons. But despite that I have such a USB stick lying around which does the exactly the thing I'm looking for. Unfortunately it is not displayed as a removable drive, therefore I can not take a look into it.
Can anyone recommend a method, which works on as many devices (with different OS, different Settings) as possible?
i think you are searching for the autorun.inf http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki.Autorun.inf
you can write your own autorun.inf and copy it on the stick (if it does not show up as removable disk format it, maybe run a data rescue tool first) if this will work depends on the os settings of the specific computer you plug in the stick. if autorun is disabled in the os it will not work...

cancelling acpi compatibility check at winpe boot

My task is to load a program i built separately from the OS (it performs a set of actions on the system files so it must be done before the OS boots) on an embedded system. yea i know...
I chose to place it in a clean winpe.wim (got it from Windows AIK). everything works fine on modern bios computers, but when i try it on the embedded system i get stuck at the ACPI boot check: the bios on this system is non-acpi (standard hal)
restrictions : replacing BIOS / getting other winpe aren't options for now.
can i somehow disable the acpi-compatibility check in the winpe i got? through bcdedit maybe? any advice that will help me with this riddle is very appreciated.
also- the boot is performed form a bootable CD
Figured a workaround, if anyone ever needs this:
shrinked the partition on the embedded system and created a second one
installed another win2000 there and placed my program to run at start up
disabled explorer.exe and all unnecessary components
now this partition serves as PE replacement and can perform actions on the main os files if the user boots into it and runs my program

Run a bootable USB of command prompt compatible with multiboot

I need to know if a program exists ( or if I can create) that runs that computer's command prompt from a USB, without having to log in. I guess I don't really care if it is that computers cmd, but I need all of the modern functions of today's cmd. I also need to make sure that it has full administrative privileges. I know that it is possible, because just about every Linux system uses a similar system when it initially boots up, even when just downloaded to USB.
I guess I really need something that I can use with multiboot (a pure ISO file, not something like Rufus, which requires you to format usb). I don't know, but I don't think an ms dos thingy would have all of today's commands in cmd.
Any help much appreciated. Piece.
Edit: I just need the equvolent of single user mode in a Mac. Administrative access to the terminal without login info.
You can boot windows to safe mode limited command prompt, or you can launch a cmd window via the startup group (but you can't get a full screen after XP and the window can be closed with the latter method).
That is the first issue for you to solve, and then you can consider booting from USB.

copy clipboard of linux into windows clip-board in network

I am writing a small tool, that copies clipboard of linux into windows clip-board. Let me take an example, both linux and windows in network connection. I copy something in linux to clip-board, then when I press some keys in windows lets take CTRL+ALT+v what is copied in linux should print in linux.
What I thought is executing some script in linux from windows through ssh connection. That script shall copy the clip-board into some file in windows, then windows shall put the file content into windows clip-board.
My problem is connection with linux from windows and executing the script. How can I achieve this ?
And please share if you have any better idea to do this.
Thanks a lot :).
There is a free, cross-platform, open-source program called Synergy that does exactly what you are describing (and more), and I have tested it with a Windows/Linux connection. You could take a look at the source code and see how the clipboard functions are implemented, or it might fit your needs already.

Programmatic way to select boot OS?

I'm setting up a test bed where I am testing a device connection across multiple Windows OSs. I can't do it in a VM (cannot virtualize access to device) so I have quite a multi-boot system. I have a script to automate the process, but I want it go ahead and finish, selecting the next OS to boot and run its test.
One problem is that XP/2K3 use boot.ini while Vista and later use BCDEdit. I could manually have two scripts... one for each XP/2K3 to edit boot.ini. And then to BCDEdit for Vista systems. I'd hate having to hardcode each one though, esp if I have to change order and/or toggle off certain OSs depending on the test conditions.
BCDEdit also uses GUID for their entries, meaning setting up on different machines would mean figuring out which GUID to go to next.
Any thoughts or hints? Are there any utilities that help automate this?
I'm assuming your various flavors of Windows are housed on different partitions. Use an Ubuntu LiveCD to install GRUB and write several configuration files, each of which has one OS selected as the default. Make a HD partition for /boot, and store the GRUB configs in the same location.
Each of your Windows partitions will need to install the Ext2 IFS driver, and mount the EXT2 partition you made before as z: or something. Then your test script can do something like:
mountvol z: %bootvolname%
copy /y boot_to_vista_64.lst z:\boot\grub\menu.lst
shutdown -r -f -t 0
%bootvolname% is a bit complicated, and is OS-specific. You'll need to store it with each OS partition, and you can get it by doing mountvol z: /l while that OS is running.

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