Creating Windows XP live CD's smaller than 100Mb

I'm here to present a site where discussions are mostly based on creating the smallest and most effective boot disks based on windows XP/2003.

At first we were based as many other projects on bartPE, now the development has grown a lot and we need more user feedback to help us improve and add more features.

The main tool to create these bootable discs is called WinBuilder and it will run projects that use scripts wich add features, programs, optimizations, etc.



At the moment we've reached winbuilder release 052 and it includes two excellent projects developed by our community on boot-land.net.


The standard project will create a boot disc packed with explorer and many other features sizing between 31Mb~80Mb depending on selected scripts.

PicoXP is a fun project that is designed to create the smallest know PE environment based on windows XP, creating a live image of XP sized in 14Mb.



Our discussions, developments and tools are completely free and I think that this is true majorgeeks material because we're really pushing XP to the geek limits..

And better than many words are perhaps a few screenshots and quick guide to know this program a bit better, they're available here:
http://www.boot-land.net/forums/WinBuilder-t5.html


It would be great to see WinBuilder also featured on majorgeeks one day..

Thanks!!

 

Welcome to Major Geeks, Nuno.
Thanks for the link. A great concept.
To all MG folks reading this, it is well worth checking out.
Bazza

 

bigbazza, thanks for checking our works!


Major Attitude:

It is legal - both projects are based on the PE environment first introduced by bartPE therefore an install CD is required to copy the needed microsoft files.

http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=9518

This way the EULA from MS is respected. We've discussed some time ago how it would be much simpler to just copy those files from the host OS..

WinBuilder.exe itself is agnostic - it is meant to create boot disks for alternative OS's as freedos or ReactOS - but these projects still need time to become more stable.

 

You're welcome.

M.A, is on the case, so you are in expert hands. Bazza

===

 

I use bartPE on a regular basis, it's a wonderful tool for bringing virus-filled computers back from the dead. I'm going to check out your links.

 

Hi again!

We've just released yesterday WinBuilder 068!

Now it is possible to build boot disks from several OS's and it is the first builder for Vista boot disks, just look here: http://vistape.boot-land.net

ReactOS has also a customized liveCD project and the LiveXP project will also create you the fastest boot disks based on XP ever, with automated scripts to allow booting and running from RAM using SDI technology.

A lot of changes and improvements have been done, users no longer need to download a bulky package, there is a download center where you can browse available projects and updated scripts - really easy to use.


Really think this is true majorgeeks stuff - completely free, with all projects being freely developed by our community and documenting all our progress to allow others to improve our results with time, it would be too bad not to see it listed on majorgeeks..

You can download the executable (no installation required for anything) just run the program and grab the projects to see and test yourself. (you will need to use a Windows XP Install CD)

Check the first link on the initial post to get the executable..

Thank!

 

Hi Nuno. Just visiting your XP link (in #1) again.

I get this error message at the top of the page.

IPB WARNING [2] krsort() expects parameter 1 to be array, null given (Line: 58 of /sources/d22mods/mvtt.php)
IPB WARNING [2] reset() [function.reset]: Passed variable is not an array or object (Line: 59 of /sources/d22mods/mvtt.php)

Thought you may like to know. Bazza

PS: Got into your link. 78 megs download, guess I'll have to ask someone on Broadband to download it for me. A bit too big for dialup.

Baz

 

Hi Baz!

You don't need to download the whole 78Mb from the vistape project, you can uncheck the apps folder and the rest of the project is sized around 6Mb, enough for tests.. (I'm a dial up user myself..)

Inside apps, you can manually select only what you wish to add like firefox for example.

Good luck testing!

 

Thanks for that. I'm going to have to investigate further. Bazza

PS: Did the errors crop up for you? Baz

===

 

You mean the errors outputed by the forum software?

They result from a forum modification added some time ago - strange enough that firefox won't output anything at all. It will be fixed on the next forum software upgrade..


btw: if you wish, I can compile a custom wb edition for majorgeeks. Just provide a small logo and it will be included on the main window with a direct link back to majorgeeks.com

We have a lot of good ideas to put in practise, just need more people to help and give user feedback to speed up our project testings, would be really great if majorgeeks could help us with this.

 

Nuno, maybe release 2-3 versions for Major Geeks to include in their downloads (if they approve, of course).

Lite version around 4-8 megs, to show basic functions ( and we on dialup can try it :major )
Medium version around 20 megs and
Full version, all 70+ megs.

Just a suggestion. Bazza

===

 

Yes, your concept is wise. A lite version can be included without apps if you wish - the download size will increase mostly because of apps like firefox, opera and others.

But it is preferable to not create any packages of scripts included with wb at this time since scripts and projects often grow/change on a very speedy rate by the community.

That's the reason why the download center is used to ensure that everyone uses only the latest script releases..

Over the next version it should be possible to organize scripts by profiles, so that even dial up users can try out projects and only download bulky scripts whenever desired..

More details about this idea here:
http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?s=&showtopic=1104&view=findpost&p=11772

 

I've fixed the errors on the main - all it was needed to do was a correcting a small typo on the main skin.

Also took the time to use another skin and add a few more edits.

btw: Majorgeeks custom version is ready, please let me know in wich category it will be added, thanks!

 

I will be very interested in seeing your range of options when MG load them. Bazza

===

 

We're already making some good advances since this last published edition..

Our latest challenge at the moment is solving Vista's User Account Control, wich won't allow anyone loading registry hives under the HKLM key - not even reg.exe is allowed.

This is a major part of windows based boot disks since they all run based on a registry system. The only workaround seemed to be turning off UAC to complete the projects.

To solve this menace, we're developing tools to manipulate registry hives ourselves without using any of windows API - already done the hive reading part, and the write hive code is almost complete, there were a lot of things on regedit that are still undocumented properly.

Take a quick look here for details on UAC:
http://www.boot-land.net/forums/Running-regexe-or-WB-under-Vista-to-load-hives-t1703.html

And here for our works:
http://www.boot-land.net/forums/How-to-write-Registry-Hives-t1839.html

Been some really fun weeks..

 

Maybe you should have Vista and non-Vista versions? Bazza

 

It's not just Vista - MS already announced the progressive end of support for the registry structure itself for the next OS releases after Vista.

Look here: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa965884.aspx

I'm guessing that they'll be moving to a similar method already by *nix and mac users a long time ago, going back to the time when each application would define files where each could store their own information without fixed bindings to the installed windows.

This is not an issue specific to wb - it will affect every application trying to load registry hives, we're just thinking ahead to "survive" Vista.. :major

I'm keeping a record of the progress on our community blog: http://blog.boot-land.net

 

A new version is available which will let you use download profiles.

All projects are also growing, so it should also be easier to just download the scripts with the apps you like. All sort of freeware tools are being included.

Hope you like it.

You can download version 070 from here:
http://www.boot-land.net/index.php?ind=downloads&op=section_view&idev=1

 

New version 072 has also been published! :cool

It was extremely enhanced - making it easier to download all sort of projects from the dedicated web servers and always get freshly updated scripts.

The results are quite good, producing the most complete filesize vs features boot disks freely (and legally) available on the web world with little to no work at all..

There's also a new dedicated webpage for downloads, you can get the latest versions there..

http://boot-land.net/winbuilder

:major