SITE MENU close

SEARCH

Custom Search

NAVIGATION

Home
Download
Grub4dos Guide
Grub4dos Guide
Grub4dos Internal variables, memory areas, advanced features and function calls
grub4dos utilities
Win8 Dual Boot
Win8 Dual Boot
Win8.1ToGo (Removable drive - VHD)
Hirens
Boot from USB in Virtual Box
More
SiteMap
132 - Automate Windows 7/8/8.1 installs using an AutoUnattend.xml file
Fake Flash Test
Easy2Boot
Videos
Win8ToGo
Windows restore partition
GetWAIKTools
Get Windows ISOs
Donate
Win7ToGo
WinXPToGo
Remove Viruses
Blog
RMPrepUSB - Home Page
Contact Me
Read and Sign my Guest Book
Latest Site News
Latest Site News
Hot Tips - good value/performance USB Flash memory pens
Useful External Links (inc. Windows 7/8/8.1 ISOs)
Downloads
Downloads
 Latest RMPrepUSB versions + downloads
Sitemap
Tutorials, How To's and Guides
Tutorials, How To's and Guides
01 - How to image a Windows system using a bootable WinPE USB drive and
ImageX
02 - How to create a USB drive that will install one of many choices of Windows
OS's (Vista/Win7/Server 2008/XP)
03 - How to install Windows XP from a bootable USB drive
04 - How to boot directly from a USB drive using an Emulator or VM under
Windows
05 - CHROMIUMOS - a browser OS on a USB Stick
06 - YouTube Video Tutorials
07 - All about 'Fake' SD cards and USB Flash drives
08 - Make a bootable USB drive for the Norton Ghost Symantec Recovery
Disk/Tool
09 - How to make a bootable BACKTRACK 4/5 (linux) USB drive
10 - Boot BITDEFENDER Rescue CD from USB as an ISO file
11 - Make a free bootable image recovery USB flash drive using FINNIX
12 - Reset a Windows User password
13 - How to find Windows User passwords using OPHCRACK 3.4
14 - Crack or clear your BIOS password with PC CMOS CLEANER (uses Parted
Magic)
15 - How to emulate USB booting using Qemu Manager
16 - How to boot to different WinPE versions using a single boot.wim that
contains multiple images
17 - StartOS - a 'Windows-like' version of linux on a stick
18 - ISO Files - Burn, Extract, Mount or Edit ISO files
19 - Create your own RMPrepUSB package using Nullsoft Scriptable Installer
(NSI)
20 - Add MEMTEST86+ memory test program to your grub4dos menu.lst file
21 - GRUB4DOS GUIDE (with videos) - how to make a multi-boot drive
(+examples)
21 - GRUB4DOS GUIDE (with videos) - how to make a multi-boot drive
(+examples)
Sample grub4dos menus
Grub4dos Command Primer
Grub4dos Example Menus
Fonts and graphics
22 - How to boot PCLINUX (and most other 'difficult' linux versions) without
using a 'flat-file' structure
23 - How to fix a 'corrupt' USB drive that causes Windows or RMPrepUSB to
stop responding
24 - Boot the Ultimate Boot CD for Windows (UBCD4WIN/XP) or BartPE from a
USB drive (includes ISO boot)
25 - Securely ERASE (wipe) your hard disk of ALL data (before disposing of it)
26 - Send and sniff commands to/from your USB device (and see what your
BIOS would see!)
27 - Diagnose how your BIOS boots USB drives
28 - Recover files and photos from a corrupt SD card or any drive (free!)
29 - Boot Hirens Boot CD as an ISO file from a USB drive (version 15.2)
30 - How to install XP onto a Hard Disk from an XP ISO on a bootable USB drive
31 - Boot and install Windows 7 or Vista or Server 2008 (both 32 and 64 bit)
from ISO files from a single bootable USB install d
32 - Create a USB drive with multiple Vista/Win7/Server2008 install ISO files in
3 simple steps!
33 - How to create bootable 1.44MB and 2.88MB (or larger) floppy disk images
34 - The ZALMAN ZM VE200 SATA hard disk caddy with DVD/HDD/FDD
emulation
35 - How to make a bootable antivirus AVG RESCUE USB drive
36 - Boot to Hiren's Boot CD from a USB drive (v13/v14/v15.1/15.1DLC)
37 - Create a DOS Bootable USB drive (using grub4dos) suitable for BIOS
flashing
38 - Create an iGel Universal Desktop Converter (UDC) installer USB Flash pen
39 - How to repair your USB Flash drive
40 - REDO, a Bare Metal Backup and Recovery solution
41 - Microsoft Standalone System Sweeper (MSSS) ANTIVIRUS Beta Tool
42 - Make a mini Windows 7 bootable USB pen (using MAKE_PE3)
43 - Install Windows 8, Server 2012, Win 7, 2K8 & Vista from multiple ISO files
on the same Flash drive
44 - USB Boot Kaspersky 10 & 2012 Rescue Disk (AV)
45 - How to PXE boot grub4dos or WinPE (from a Windows 7 PC) using tftpd
46 - Ubuntu 12.04/11.04/11.10 - boot from ISO
47 - How to install Windows Vista/7/SVR2K8 onto a USB drive (or any partition)
48 - Is your BIOS lying to you about it's RAM memory size?
49 - Control your Notebook/Media Centre PC from your main PC with Synergy
50 - Prepare a bootable USB drive using linux commands
51 - How to edit or make your own Language.INI file for RMPrepUSB
52 - Install Windows 8 as a VHD (no need to re-partition!)
53 - Windows 8/8.1 To Go (boot Windows 8 from a USB drive!)
54 - How to Fix Write-Protected Read-Only Drives and SD Cards
55 - Boot Slax from a USB drive
56 - Forgotten Windows password? No problem with Kon-Boot!
57 - Automatic grub4dos menus, using hotkeys, hiding the menu and silent
startup
58 - Trinity Rescue Kit - boot from USB
59 - Save or list all your current passwords
60 - Add Plop to your grub4dos menu
61 - Run the OCZ SSD Firmware update ISO from a bootable USB Flash drive
62 - Chainload syslinux from grub4dos/grub and vice versa
63 - Install XP and Win7 onto a computer from one USB flash drive containing
ISO files!
64 - Boot Abstradrome HDD Regenerator from an image on a USB drive
65 - Make a grub4dos bootable ISO
66 - Boot WifiWay/WiFiSlax wireless security OS from a USB drive (persistent)
67 - Boot Fedora 16/17/18 with persistence from a USB drive using grub4dos
68 - WEE (wee63) and WEEsetup.exe - an alternative bootloader
69 - Boot over the internet with iPXE
70 - FbInst and other popular USB utilities
71 - Grubutils - menuset, wenv, bios, grub4dos utilities and batch files
72 - Easy2Boot - a grub4dos multiboot USB drive that is easy to maintain!
72 - Easy2Boot - a grub4dos multiboot USB drive that is easy to maintain!
72a - Easy2Boot, a new All-in-One MultiBoot USB solution!
72b - DPMS2 - XP 32-bit SRS/AHCI driver auto-detection for E2B
72c - Installing Windows from ISOs using Easy2Boot
73 - Try Porteus with persistence booting from an ISO using Easy2Boot
74 - Boot Winternals ERD Commander from ISO or flat file structure
75 - Test your memory (RAM/DIMMs)
76 - Quickly setup PXE booting to install any Windows OS or PXE boot linux,
etc. with SERVA!
77 - Create a multiple partition, multi-boot USB Flash drive under Windows
78 - Run live XBMCbuntu from a multiboot USB drive
79 - Make an RM Connect CC3 Multi-Station Build USB Flash drive
80 - How to retrieve files from a computer without booting it to an OS (via
PXE)!
81 - Make your own automatic Windows restore partition (ImageX-based)
82 - Install XP to hard disk from ISOs using WinPE v3
83 - Download ImageX, BCDBoot and other WAIK tools
84 - Switch XP to AHCI mode
85 - Add the O&O DiskImage Professional ISO to your USB multiboot drive
86 - Dynamically change the disk volume label using grub4dos
87 - Install the Ultimate Boot CD onto a USB drive
88 - Boot Avira Rescue from USB
89 - Automated Windows partition backup estore boot menu using CloneZilla
90 - Install Windows 8 to a VHD file on a USB drive!
91 - Replace Windows XP/Vista/Win7 with Windows 8 without a DVD or USB
drive
92 - BITS - Intel BIOS Implementation Test Suite
93 - Boot almost ANY linux ISO from a grub4dos USB drive (e.g. Tails,
BackTrack or even Ophcrack)!
94 - Boot BackBox from your USB grub4dos multiboot drive
 95 - Make a bootable Windows Recovery USB Flash drive from a Windows 7
system
96 - Add an automatic linux ISO file menu to your grub4dos multiboot USB
drive
97 - Write-protect or make a CD/DVD partition on a Flash Drive using
SMI_UFDiskUtilities
98 - Add Linux Mint 14 ISO files to your grub4dos multiboot USB drive
99 - Boot Xiaopan with grub4dos
100 - Make and boot from a Win8PE_SE ISO file
101 - Patch a file using grub4dos
102 - Speed up WinToFlash XP installs (+fix 'NTLDR is missing' error)
103 - Fix or Repair XP if it is not booting (using the XP Recovery Console)
104 - Boot pclinux from ISO with persistence
105 - Clone your Windows XP Pro system to a USB drive (using USBoot)
106 - Boot any Linux LiveCD ISO from your Hard Disk
107 - Quick way to make a WinPE v3 and Backup/Restore ISO (using Macrium
Reflect)
108 - XP Install using Rufus and add it to your grub4dso multiboot USB drive
109 - USB Rubber Ducky Hack Device (Hak5)
110 - Run full Windows XP to Go! from a USB drive
111 - How to semi-automate Windows driver installation
112 - Virus/RootKit/Ransomware Removal and CleanUp
113 - How to use Easy2Boot with FlashBoot (for that odd system that won't boot
properly)
114 - How to make an Easy2Boot (grub4dos) USB Flash drive using linux
115 - Convert a WinPE 'Flat-File' ISO to a ramdisk (boot.wim) ISO
116 - Add Hirens 9.5 to your grub4dos USB Multiboot drive
117 - Install Windows 98SE from an ISO file on an Easy2Boot USB drive
118 - Make bootable Clonezilla backup/restore USB Hard Disk
119 - Boot HitManPro KickStart from a grub4dos multiboot USB Flash drive
120 - How to add RedHat Install ISOs to Easy2Boot
122 - Boot directly to UEFI mode using Clover
123 - Re-Install linux to your Asus EeePC 701/90x/1000/S101 from a USB drive
124 - Cold Boot Attack! - dump a computer's memory to a USB drive
125 - Create a dual-partition USB boot drive using YUMI
126 - Boot CentOS or Fedora from an ISO file using grub4dos
127 - How to make Dual-boot 32 & 64-bit MBR & UEFI WinPE USB drive
128 - Boot the Parted Magic ISO file (Live) using grub4dos from a USB drive
129 - Windows 8.1 To Go on Fixed or Removable-type USB drives (VHD)
130 - 'True Hide' partitions using grub4dos
131 - Boot to a TrueCrypted Win 8.1 hard disk via USB
Useful Articles
Useful Articles
Advanced Format (4K sector) hard disks
 Fix USB 3.0 'This device can perform faster' System Tray message!
Download a whole website and view it offline using wget!
Getting started with the Raspberry Pi (RPi)
Raspberry Pi + Motorola Atrix 4G lapdock
Boot from CD/USB/Floppy to access an NTFS partition
Recording videos with Camstudio+Movie Maker for YouTube
XP Setup CD/ISO Clean Installation Reference
XP Setup CD/ISO Clean Installation Reference
Run registry entries
Reboot.pro Tutorials

SOCIAL

Facebook
Twitter
Google+
 

up

Tutorials (oldest first) >

33 - How to create bootable

1.44MB and 2.88MB (or larger)
floppy disk images
Unique hits

Contents
Introduction 1. 1
Introdu
Using WinImage you can create and edit ction
a bootable floppy disk image. Floppy 2. 2
disk image files usually have the
Create
extension .ima or .img and are byte-for-
byte copies of all sectors of the entire and
floppy disk. These floppy disk image Edit a
files are useful for using with grub4dos 1.44MB
and are also used in many of the or
tutorials on this website. I thought I
2.88MB
would just make a few notes here on
how to use WinImage to create and edit DOS
floppy image (.ima) files. You don't need floppy
to use WinImage at all to create or edit disk
bootable floppy disk images though - image
see sections 2-4 for more details.
3. 3
Create
an
image
from a
real
1.44MB
floppy
disk (or
USB
floppy
disk)
4. 4
Using a
USB
Flash
drive
instead
of
editing
in
WinIma
ge
5. 5
Using
mtools
to
create
a
1.4MB
or
2.8MB
raw
floppy
image
6. 6
How to
make a
floppy
disk
image
boot to
MS-
DOS or
FreeDO
S
7. 7
Making
a
FreeDo
s Ghost
boot
floppy
disk
image
for
SATA
CD/DV
 D drive
(S-
ODD)
system
s
8. 8
Create
a large
'floppy'
image

1 Download the enjoyment.

Unlimited fun right here. Download and
stream. play.google.com/store

2 A new way to view China

Watch news anytime Telling China's story
play.google.com/store

3 Download Free Games,

Try Now
Free for 24 hours, then only RM3.99/week
billed by your carrier. Try free now.
jamcityarcade.com

Note: MSDOS is a licensed product and you should not

distribute it or even use it if you do not have a
Windows/DOS licence. FreeDos is freeware and has an
'Open' licence, you can freely use and distribute
FreeDos.

Please note: WinImage is shareware. You may

evaluate it for a trial period of 30 days. After 30 days,
if you wish to continue using WinImage, you need to
register.

The first step is get a bootable floppy disk image. For

an MS-DOS floppy disk boot image, you can simply use
the RMPrepUSB - File - Create MS-DOS 1.44MB
Floppy Boot Image option.
OR you can either use one of the ima images from the
Beta downloads section (for instance PCIID.ima.gz
has a compressed FreeDos bootable 1.44MiB floppy
disk image - see here for FreeDos image downloads)
or obtain a bootable floppy disk image from
www.bootdisk.com perhaps. You can also create your
own images - see sections 2-4 below.

- OR -
you can create a floppy disk image from a real floppy
disk if you already have one (or any 1.44MiB flash pen
which appears as drive A: in Windows Explorer).

See Section 3 below if you want to create a 2.88MB

blank floppy disk image.

Create and Edit a 1.44MB or

2.88MB DOS floppy disk image
1. Download and install ImDisk (from http://www.ltr-
data.se)
2. Download and extract one of the BLANK floppy disk
images - either BLANK_FLOPPY144.IMA (1.44MB MS-
DOS formatted blank) or BLANK_FLOPPY_288.IMA
(2.88MB MS-DOS formatted blank). Note: These blank
images contain the MS-DOS boot loader and so will
look for IO.SYS.
3. Right-click on the downloaded .IMA image file and
select 'Mount as ImDisk Virtual Disk Drive' - set the
drive letter to A: (it does not matter if you already have
a drive A:). - click OK to mount the image as drive A:
4. You can now copy files to your new drive A: as if it
was a real drive. Make sure you change Windows
Explorer to show ALL files including hidden and
system files or you won't copy over essential boot files!
If it is a 1.44MB image, you can even use Windows to
format it as an MS-DOS startup disk.
5. When you have finished editing the files on drive A: -
unmount the image by right-clicking on the A: drive in
Windows Explorer and choosing 'Unmount ImDisk
Virtual Disk'
6. (optional) To remove all old deleted files and reduce
the image size if you want to compress the image, use
WinImage to load the IMA file and select Image -
Defragment Current Image and then click on the Save
option (or the floppy disk icon).

Note that the blank images provided have an MS-DOS

boot sector and so it will try to load a file called IO.SYS
(not provided).

If you want to boot to FreeDOS, use the

BLANK_FREEDOS_144.IMA and
BLANK_FREEDOS_288.IMA image files.
Tip: Press F3 in RMPrepUSB and use the FreeDOS boot
files in the FREEDOS_USB_BOOT folder if you want a
FreeDOS-bootable volume with basic FreeDOS boot
files.

FREEDOS_288.zip contains basic FreeDos boot files

and loads also himem. It contains checkpci.exe which
displays PCI IDs.
\KERNEL.SYS
\COMFREE.COM
\FDAUTO.bat
\FREEDOS
\CHECKPCI.EXE
\FDCONFIG.SYS
\FREEDOS\ATTRIB.COM
\FREEDOS\COPYING.TXT
\FREEDOS\EDIT.EXE
\FREEDOS\EDIT.HLP
\FREEDOS\FDISK.EXE
\FREEDOS\FDISK.INI
\FREEDOS\FORMAT.EXE
\FREEDOS\PART.EXE
\FREEDOS\SYS.COM
\FREEDOS\XCOPY.EXE
\FREEDOS\himem.exe

For instance, you can add the DOS version of HWInfo

to this image.

Create an image from a real

1.44MB floppy disk (or USB floppy
disk)
To create a real, physical MS-DOS bootable floppy disk,
use Windows to right-click on the A: drive icon and
then choose format. Click on 'Create an MS-DOS
Startup disk' to format the floppy disk as an MS-DOS
bootable disk. Unless you need all the files on this
floppy disk, delete all files EXCEPT IO.SYS,
COMMAND.COM and MSDOS.SYS.
If you want to distribute this disk image, you should
not use the MS-DOS files as these are illegal to
distribute. Instead delete ALL files from the floppy
drive A: and copy over a set of FreeDOS boot files (you
need at least KERNEL.SYS and COMMAND.COM) then
rename KERNEL.SYS to IO.SYS so that it will boot.
If possible, test booting from the new drive (e.g. used a
real system or install QEMU Manager and configure it
to boot from the floppy drive - see below - item 9).

Assuming you now have a real bootable Drive A; which

you wish to now make an image of (and maybe
combine it with another floppy disk or add or delete
files?), here is what to do:

First, you need to download and install WinImage

1. Open WinImage.
2. Insert the first floppy disk into your computer. Go
to Disk -> Read Disk (Ctrl+R) (ensure 'Use Floppy A:'
is ticked)
3. If including a second floppy insert it into your
drive. Go to Image -> Change format... and select
2.88 MB. Next select Image -> Inject... Browse to
your floppy drive, select all of the files, and then
choose Open. It will ask if you want to inject the files,
choose Yes.
4. You can also inject files from a folder in a similar
way.
5. Delete files by right-clicking on them and choosing
'delete'
6. Press the [Insert] key to inject a file
7. Use Image -> Defragment current Image (to
reduce the size of the image if you later compress it)
8. You can use Image -> Information to view how
much remaining space there is and the view the
CRC32 of the files.
9. Now save the file using: File -> Save. Give the
image file a name and save as an IMA file by
selecting "Image file (*.IMA)" in the "Save as type:"
drop-down box .
10. If you are using the file in a grub4dos menu, you
can compress the file using 7Zip to a .gz file by right-
clicking on the file in the 7-Zip GUI, choosing 7-Zip -
Add to archive and selecting GZIp as the archive
format.

To create an ISO image from a CD or DVD-ROM use

Disk - Use CD-ROM x, then Disk - Create CD-ROM ISO
image...

Using a USB Flash drive instead of

editing in WinImage
If you prefer, you can use a spare USB flash drive to
make a pseudo-floppy disk and edit the files on the
USB drive directly, as follows:

1. Obtain or make a floppy disk image - e.g.

freedos.ima (see below for details)
2. Use RMPrepUSB - File->USB option to copy the
floppy disk image onto any spare USB flash drive you
happen to have
3. If the USB flash drive is not given a letter
automatically in Windows Explorer, then assign a drive
letter to it in Disk Manager - e.g. U:
4. Now edit the USB flash drive files in Windows as you
would any other disk drive.
5. Save the whole FAT partition as an image using
RMPrepUSB USB->File and use 2880SEC as the size
(=1.44MB)

Note - testing the image: If you made a bootable

floppy image, the USB flash drive that you made, may
or may not boot if you actually try it on a computer. It
depends on the BIOS of the computer that you plug it
into. Some BIOSes may boot it correctly as a floppy
disk (A:), others may try to boot it as a hard disk and
so the USB drive will fail to boot. Some BIOSes may
require you to change a USB Boot BIOS option first
before it will boot as a floppy disk. The Asus EeePC
904HA for instance, will successfully boot such an
image on a UFD as drive A:. If the UFD has an MBR,
and a partition table with two partitions however, it will
attempt to boot the UFD as drive C:.

To test a floppy disk image, you can make a bootable

USB flash drive using RMPrepUSB and then install
grub4dos and place the .IMA or .IMA.GZ image file on
the USB drive. Then make a menu.lst as follows:

title Test Floppy Image is bootable

map /FLOPPY.IMA (fd0)
map --hook
root (fd0)
# the line below will test if the floppy disk is fully
bootable
chainloader (fd0)+1
# you can use the line below if you are going to use
grub4dos to boot the image file and chainloader
(fd0)+1 does not work
#chainloader /io.sys || chainloader /kernel.sys

Now use the Test using QEMU button in RMPrepUSB

to see if it boots.

Using mtools to create a 1.4MB or 2.8MB

raw floppy image
You can create a 1.44MiB floppy disk image or a
2.88MiB floppy disk image using the Windows utility
collection mtools (also available in Beta downloads -
Tutorial files page or on reboot.pro here).

Mtools 4.0.17 compiled for Windows

http://ubcdcreator.s...4.0.17-win32.7z

Mtools manual page:

http://www.gnu.org/s...ual/mtools.html

To create a non-bootable raw floppy disk (FAT12)

image from a Windows command shell window, use
the following command:

mformat -f 1440 -v MyDos -C -i c:\testdos.ima ::

or
mformat -f 2880 -v MyDos -C -i c:\testdos.ima ::
Note that MyDos is just the volume label that you want
the disk to have and c:\testdos.ima is the name of the
file you want to create. Also note that the line ends in
two colon characters (i.e. ::) this is the destination
drive letter and it must be :: which means the disk is
inside the image file and not a real disk like A: or B:. i.e.
instead of typing a copy command like 'copy c:\fred
d:\fred' you use 'mcopy -i c:\testdos.ima c:\fred
::\fred'

You can manipulate files like this:

mcopy -i c:\testdos.ima file1.exe file2.txt file3.sys ::

(copy files into drive :: which is the image drive)
mdel -i c:\testdos.ima ::file1.exe (delete file.exe from
inside the image)
minfo -i c:\testdos.ima ::
mdir -i c:\testdos.ima ::
mdir -/ -i c:\testdos.ima :: (same as dir /s in DOS)
mmd -i c:\testdos.ima :: (make a folder inside the
image)
mmove ::file1.exe ::file2.exe -i c:\testdos.ima ::
(renames file1.exe to file2.exe inside the image file)

The full command list is available here.

Note that the image that the mformat command

creates is not a bootable image and it has no boot
code. If you want a bootable image, you will need to
format or sys the image.

More information about mtools can be found on the

reboot,pro forum here.

How to make a floppy disk image

boot to MS-DOS or FreeDOS
The floppy disk image you have created may not be
bootable. The first sector of the image must contain
boot code which will load either KERNEL.SYS (to boot
to FreeDos) or IO.SYS (to boot to MS-DOS). So you
need to SYS the drive image to put on this boot code.
The FreeDos SYS command can put on either of these
boot loaders...

To SYS an existing floppy disk image as either a

FreeDos bootable or MSDOS bootable (loads IO.SYS)
drive, do the following:

1. Download the FreeDOS boot CD ISO file from

http://www.freedos.org/freedos/files/ - named
fdbasecd.iso - copy it to C:\
2. Open up a Windows Command Prompt shell (in
administrator mode) and change to the RMPrepUSB
QEMU folder - e.g. type
cd "C:\Program Files\RMPrepUSB\Qemu"
3. Type the following command to run QEMU -
qemu.exe -boot d -cdrom c:\fdbasecd.iso -fda
c:\test.ima
- this assumes your floppy image is at C:\test.ima.
4. In the new QEMU window type 1 followed by the
Enter key
 5. At the next menu type 2 for FreeDos safe mode.

6. You can now type one of the following commands:

sys B: /BOOTONLY /OEM:MS (for MS-DOS - so it will
try to load IO.SYS when it boots)
or
sys B: (for FreeDos - so it will try to load KERNEL.SYS
when it boots)

7. Quit the QEMU session (click on the Windows X

icon at the top right-hand corner)
8. If you used the SYS B: command in step 6 you now
have a bootable FreeDos image which will contain
KERNEL.SYS and COMMAND.COM.
If you used the first command (/OEM:MS) in step 6,
you will need to add some MS-DOS boot files before
you can boot from the image. You will need to add
IO.SYS and then any other boot files required such as
MSDOS.SYS and COMMAND.COM.
9. To test if your new image actually boots, use the
QEMU command
qemu.exe -boot a -fda c:\test.ima

Good luck!

Making a FreeDos Ghost boot

floppy disk image for SATA
CD/DVD drive (S-ODD) systems
DOS may not detect SATA CD drives under DOS when
booting from a CD/DVD due to the lack of a suitable
DOS SATA driver. If you boot to DOS on an AHCI
system (one that does not have IDE leegacy mode
options in the BIOS for instance), you may not gain
access to any Sata Optical drives even though you
load shcdx86.sys (or mscdex.sys if using MS-DOS).
The FREEDOS_SATA_FOR_GHOST_288.IMA image file
is a 2.88MB FreeDos bootable floppy disk image
containing a DOS AHCI SATA driver (ahci.sys), DOS
CD-ROM driver (shcdx86.com) and a DOS mouse
driver (mouse.com) . The AHCI.sys driver should
detect SATA AHCI Optical Disk Drives and assign them
a drive letter. All you need to do is open up the image
file using WinImage, import your DOS version of
Ghost.exe (not included in the image for copyright
reasons) and save the file. You will then have a
bootable DOS Ghost floppy image which should work
with most SATA systems as well as IDE systems.

If you have a grub4dos bootable CD or DVD, you can

add the following menu.lst entry to boot this image:

iftitle [if exist /freedos_sata_for_Ghost_288.ima]

FreeDOS Ghost with AHCI SATA Optical Disk Drive
support\nLoads AHCI driver and runs Ghost.exe
map /freedos_sata_for_Ghost_288.ima (fd0) || map --
mem /freedos_sata_for_Ghost_288.ima (fd0)
map --hook
root (fd0)
chainloader /kernel.sys || chainloader +1

Create a large 'floppy' image

1. Install Olof's ImDisk onto your Windows system

2. In the Control Panel, run the Imdisk Virtual Disk

Driver and click the Mount new button

3. Fill in the filename and the size and click on OK

3. Now you will have a L: drive volume which will be

formatted and empty. Add your files to it as required.
Tip: Press F3 in RMPrepUSB and use the FreeDOS boot
files in the FREEDOS_USB_BOOT folder if you want a
DOS-bootable volume.

4. When finished, dismount the L: volume using the

Remove button (or right-click on L: and choose
'Unmount ImDisk virtual disk')

To re-edit the image, right-click on it and choose

'Mount with ImDisk' - when finished, right-click and
choose 'Unmount ImDisk virtual disk'

Tip: The image probably won't boot unless you specify

the boot file in a grub4dos menu (.e.g. map /xxx.img
(fd) map --hook rot (fd0) chainloader /io.sys) so don't
use chainloader (fd0)+1 if it hasn't got the correct boot
sector.

keywords: free dos, fdd, floppy boot, command prompt, create, img,
ima, raw image, generate, win image
 steve6375

YouTube 2K

Privacy Policy

back to top