How Can I Burn A Bootable CD From Multiple Floppies

N

njb

New member
Hi,
I am trying to create a bootable CD using Nero from my 2 Ghost boot floppies. Iam new at this so please be patient. I found some nice simple instructions on w*w.bootdisk.com by Chris Coombes and I was able to burn from my first floppy but was then lost. I tried going back in after loading my second flooppy to copy Ghost.exe but could not find the Ghost subfolder on the newly burned CD. What settings do I have to put in when using Nero so I can burn a bootable cd from multiple floppies?

Here is the link to the directions that I used:

h**p://www.bootdisk.com/nero.htm

Thanks in advance:)
njb :confused:
 
Duracell

Duracell

1
there is no way to add files after burning the bootable CD;
what you can do is deleting unneeded files at the first floppy to get free space; then copying ghost.exe from floppy 2 to floppy 1;
now burning a new bootable CD by using your new "all in one" floppy;

there is a readme in your ghost installation where is explained which files are strongly needed and which you can delete;


Greetings from
Duracell
 
N

njb

New member
Thanks for such a quick reply Duracell.

The problem that I have is that I had to cutomize this Ghost boot floppy to work with my laptop so I cannot delete any of the files from floppy number one. Please see my post:
http://www.dvdrbase.com/showthread.php?t=36848

Is there a way to copy all of both floppies' files to my hard drive instead and then make a bootable CD?
njb
 
S

scarecrow

1
For some sort of multiple floppies it doesn't work... eg Win2000/XP. But for Ghost it does work (I've actualy done it!). Image your first floppy with Winimage- then change the floppy emulation type from 1.44M to 2.88M, and now use Winimage again to throw in the contents of the second floppy. Now, save to .img.
When burning your bootable CD, choose floppy emulation and point to your custom made .img file- it should work like a charm.
For W2K/XP it does not work because they need a "no emulation" boot image to startup your system.
 
B

bionic

1
njb said:
Is there a way to copy all of both floppies' files to my hard drive instead and then make a bootable CD?
njb
Click to expand...
What ive done is use a small ms program called findcd.exe(must change some of the hex values). It searches for a given file and gives a drive letter to where it finds the given file. This again allows for loading of files outside of the boot floppy image on the cd.
Its very convenient when more space than 2.88 is needed.
Heres a how2
:)
 
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N

njb

New member
Thanks for your replies.

It appears as if Winimage may be the simplest solution since I do not want to get too involved. I run XP but the floppies are DOS since Ghost is booting through DOS to work on my Laptop. I am assuming that the .img file, that I will be creating, will be residing somewhere on my hard drive and that when I am using Nero, as per h**p://www.bootdisk.com/nero.htm directions, I will go through all of the steps but somehow have to get to that newly created .img file on my hard drive to burn it onto the cd. Does that sound correct?
njb
 
N

njb

New member
I think that I am 95% there. I'm sure it is something simple, but I am new at this.
Everything loads perfectly, but it all stops when I get the following message:

"Insert Ghost boot disk 2 (containing Ghost.exe)
Press any key to continue..."

No matter if I just wait until it finds Ghost.exe or hit enter or any other key, I am left with a blinking cursor and nothing else happens (after awhile of hitting keys, I start to get beeps whenver I hit the keys).

Here are the steps that I took and maybe you can see my error:
1. I created an image file from my first floppy and named it Ghost.ima (in my winimage directory). I went to Image->change format->and checked off 2.88, then saved the image file.
2. I then inserted floppy 2, opened a file manager to see the contents, and opened Ghost.ima in winimage.
3. I dragged and dropped the a:\ghost folder from the file manager to the winimage window and was able to copy it into the image file and that worked ok. I also confirmed that Ghost.exe was indeed inside of the folder also in the image file.
4. I opened Nero and selected CDROM (boot). Where it asked for Bootable logical drive I checked "image file" instead and located my ghost.ima image file, changed emulation to 2.88, and successfully burned.

If you see a mistake please let me know. For further info, you can also reference my post:
http://www.dvdrbase.com/showthread.php?t=36848

Here is the contents of the autoexec.bat file:
@echo off
SET TZ=GHO+05:00
MOUSE.COM
echo Loading...
cls

if %config% == FROMFLPY goto FLPYBOOT
if %config% == FROMCD goto CDBOOT

goto FAILED

:FLPYBOOT
echo Insert Ghost boot disk 2 (containing Ghost.exe)
pause
if exist a:\ghost\ghost.exe goto GHOSTFND
goto FLPYBOOT

:CDBOOT
echo Insert Ghost boot disk 2 (containing Ghost.exe)
pause
if not exist b:\ghost\ghost.exe goto CDBOOT
b:
goto GHOSTFND

:GHOSTFND
cd \ghost
echo Loading...
GHOST.EXE
goto END

:FAILED
echo Unknown boot menu selection
goto END

:END



Thanks,
njb
 
Last edited:
N

njb

New member
Thanks Duracell. It is appears to be very complicated and I would rather not buy new version(s) of software just to make a CD.

Scarecrow, you are familiar with the Ghost boot floppies, did you have this problem? Do you see a mistake in the steps that I listed?
 
C

cobo

1
I think that if you change the following lines of the autoexec.bat file:

if %config% == FROMFLPY goto FLPYBOOT
if %config% == FROMCD goto CDBOOT

to:

if %config% == FROMFLPY goto GHOSTFND
if %config% == FROMCD goto GHOSTFND

it would work whether it thinks it's booting from a floppy or a CD.
 
Last edited:
N

njb

New member
Thanks Cobo.

I made the change so now Autoexec.bat looks like this:

@echo off
SET TZ=GHO+05:00
MOUSE.COM
echo Loading...
cls

if %config% == FROMFLPY goto GHOSTFND
if %config% == FROMCD goto GHOSTFND

I opened my file manager so I could drag n drop the new autoexec.bat to Nero (so I could overwrite the exisitng autoexec.bat on the cd), but when I clicked on my re-writable drive from within Nero, nothing shows up in the file browser window. What am I doing wrong? :confused:
 
B

bionic

1
You should not add anything to the cd, all files should be in the floppy image.
1.Add your edited autoexec.bat to your floppy image(config.sys too if edited) and overwrite when prompted > save
2.Make and burn your cd once more(same way), nero will ask if you want to erase it.

Heres a couple of "slight" modifications of the autoexec.bat and config.sys(making ghost "autoload")
The first is for menuitems(configs)
The second just loads drivers and ghost
Both will use driveletter a:

1.
Autoexec.bat
----------------------
@echo off
SET TZ=GHO+05:00
MOUSE.COM
echo Loading...
if %config% == GHOST goto GHOST (this decides what menuitem corresponds to which config)

:GHOST (this is the corresponding config to the menuitem GHOST)
cd \ghost
echo Loading...
GHOST.EXE
goto END

:END
Click to expand...
Config.sys
----------------------
[menu]
menuitem=GHOST, Start Ghost(this is what is displayed on screen)
menudefault=GHOST,0 (0 means wait 0 seconds before executing the default menuitem. If you add other menu items you would need to change this to fex 30 or 15 secs so you will have time to choose menuitem)

[GHOST]
(Here you can add custom drivers\commands)

[COMMON] (you can also add drivers here, these will be loaded independently of the menu choices)
DEVICE = usb\uhci.exe
DEVICE = usb\ohci.exe
DEVICE = aspi2dos.sys
DEVICE = aspi8dos.sys
DEVICE = aspi4dos.sys
DEVICE = aspi8u2.sys
LASTDRIVE = Z
Click to expand...

2.
Autoexec.bat
----------------------
@echo off
SET TZ=GHO+05:00
MOUSE.COM
cd \ghost
echo Loading...
GHOST.EXE
goto END

:END
Click to expand...
Config.sys
----------------------
DEVICE = usb\uhci.exe
DEVICE = usb\ohci.exe
DEVICE = aspi2dos.sys (here you can add drivers\commands)
DEVICE = aspi8dos.sys
DEVICE = aspi4dos.sys
DEVICE = aspi8u2.sys
LASTDRIVE = Z
Click to expand...
If you use one of the above, just copy\paste and make sure to delete my comments.



:)

Btw: heres a list of what should be in the floppy by "default"
aspi2dos.sys
aspi4dos.sys
aspi8dos.sys
aspi8u2.sys
AUTOEXEC.BAT
COMMAND.COM
CONFIG.SYS
IBMBIO.COM
IBMDOS.COM
MOUSE.COM
MOUSE.INI
GHOST:\ghost.exe
USB:\ohci.exe & uhci.exe
 
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N

njb

New member
Thanks bionic. It now makes sense that I first have to revise the image file and reburn again.
I am not crazy about changing my config.sys, because I want to make the least changes possible to what has already worked with the floppies. But here goes:

Config.sys
----------------------

[menu]
menuitem=GHOST, Start Ghost
menudefault=GHOST,0

[GHOST]
ghost.exe

[COMMON]
LASTDRIVE=Z
DEVICE=HIMEM.SYS
FILES=40
BUFFERS=20
STACKS=9,256
DOS=HIGH,UMB
DEVICEHIGH=USBASPI.SYS /v /w /e
DEVICEHIGH=DI1000DD.SYS

Autoexec.bat
----------------------
@echo off
SET TZ=GHO+05:00
MOUSE.COM
echo Loading...
if %config% == GHOST goto GHOST

:GHOST
cd \ghost
echo Loading...
GHOST.EXE
goto END

:END

Does this look correct? Is the "[GHOST]" item in config.sys redundant since it is already loading under autoexec.bat?
 
B

bionic

1
You need to delete the ghost.exe under[GHOST] in the config.sys
Also somehow my external usb hdd case shows up as two drives in ghost(when using your drivers), other than that it works.
And no, as long as you want to use menuitems the corresponding [menuitem] (GHOST)needs to be there. :)

Personally i would rather do this though(to keep it simple) ;)

Config.sys
----------------------
LASTDRIVE=Z
DEVICE=HIMEM.SYS
FILES=40
BUFFERS=20
STACKS=9,256
DOS=HIGH,UMB
DEVICEHIGH=USBASPI.SYS /v /w /e
DEVICEHIGH=DI1000DD.SYS

Autoexec.bat
----------------------
@echo off
SET TZ=GHO+05:00
MOUSE.COM
cd \ghost
echo Loading...
GHOST.EXE
goto END

:END
 
Last edited:
N

njb

New member
Thanks, it works fine now. :D

I know what you mean about seeing 2 drives in Ghost, it is confusing. I look at the Mb column to see which drive is the Iomega and which one is my laptop hard drive.
 
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