***EDIT***

Please look HERE for a complete, detailed, and updated guide to make a "combo" CD.

***END***


i hope this is not too technical but i have a method for combining both BartPE and UBCD (16-bit version) my last build date is Dec 5 2003, i will try this method on current versions and update if needed

steps i took to combine the cd's are:
1. create a directory to create the combined CD eg c:\mycd\
2. Obtain the windows xp boot sector (the one from the cd) you can also find it on various websites relating to slipstreeming windows xp sp1/2
3. build the pebuilder cd (but don't create the ISO) so that you have all the files ready for burning your combined cd...also i recomend not including the Boot CD Fix.
4. copy the xp bootloader into c:\mycd\
5. copy the contents of the UBCD (16 bit versdion) to c:\mycd\ note the autorun.inf files need to be combined by merging them into 1 file
6. edit the menu of UBCD (16-bit version) to include an entry to chain to the XP bootloader in the root of the cd
7. burn the cd using your favorite cd burning app, the boot loader to use to boot the cd is now the one used in the UBCD (16 bit version)

you should now have a combined cd that boots up to UBCD and lets you select BartPE from the menu

Nice

Will try this when I get chance.

Oh when you burn the CD you need to follow the instructions on boot options just as if u were burning the UBCD (16-bit) as that is what is actually booted

Very good, I will hopefully get a chance to try this myself. I've had people request this but haven't had the time to figure out how to do it. If this works we really need to add these instructions to the FAQ.

i am downloading the current versions now to see if this method still works

I will also test this at work once I get a chance. Sounds like it should still work.

tested and works fine...here is what i did:

Note: I am building with a Win XP SP2 slipstreemed cd

I have noticed there is a file missing (removed from the windows cd by the slipstream process) with regard to ADO or a related plugin (some database plugin) as well as the common files plugin so if u include those plugins you will have to modify the inf's acordingly.

1. Build the CD using PeBuilder as per standard instructions but don't create the ISO as that is not used. put the files from PeBuilder into d:\mycd\

2. copy PRO1.DAT (this is the winxp bootloader, if u are building with win2003 use the win2003 bootloader instead) to d:\mycd\

3. copy the files from UBCD (16-Bit) to d:\mycd\ ...overwtiting files when prompted

4. i know this is not an ideal sollution but untill an alternative is sugested, edit autorun.inf so it looks as follows:
---start autorun.inf--------
[autorun]
open=Programs\nu2menu\nu2menu.exe
ShellExecute=docs\https://www.ubcd4win.com/l
icon=ubcd.ico
---end autorun.inf--------

5. edit d:\mycd\boot\cdshell.ini adding a refrence for Windows UBCD eg
.
.
.
print " [F8] Windows Ultimate Boot CD "
if ($lastKey == key[f8]); then chain /pro1.dat
.
.
.
I put this in the Others section for testing but it might be better to re-arange the menu slightly to have it on the 1st page, in my old build i had it as option 1 on the 1st page for easy access.

6. burn the CD (or cdreate an ISO) using the following settings (i use nero):
Bootloader...
Image File = d:\mycd\boot\loader.bin
no emulation
load segment = 07C0
Number of loaded segments = 4
boot message is optional, i used Ultimate Boot CD

ISO Settings....
Filename length: (iso level 2)
Format: Mode 2 / XA
Character set: ISO 9660
enable juliet
relax restrictions:
allow path depth >8 directories
allow > 255 characters in path
do not add ':1' ISO file version extension
allow more than 64 characters for juliet names

LABEL......
Volume Label: Ultimate Boot CD

You should now have a CD (or ISO) containing a combined UBCD and WindowsUBCD. Enjoy

for future testing:
it may turn out easier to include the UBCD (16-Bit Version) files in the custom directory so that PE Builder automatically includes them and then edit the following line in pebuilder.inf to point to the UBCD (16-bit version) bootloader to more fully automate the process but i have not tested this.

exec="mkisofs.exe -iso-level 4 -volid ""WindowsUBCD"" -A PEBUILDER/MKISOFS -sysid ""Win32"" -b bootsect.bin -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -hide bootsect.bin -hide boot.catalog -o ""@IsoFile@"" ""@OutDir@"""

That is awesome, I hope I have time to make one tomorrow. Thanks for the details, etc. as soon as a few of us can confirm that this works....it will be added to the FAQ!!

i feel this would go best on the main page of UBCD (16-Bit) which function key would u recomend?
i would make it F1 and move the others daown one.....would this work?

I wouldn't want the possibility of offending the people of the original UBCD by moving things around. I think we should create a new menu item and would only support that. Don't get me wrong I appreciate the time you have spent on this but you have to understand the respect I hold for the original project (to certain degrees). I think it would also confuse people. So this is what I suggest....use the "1" key for the WinUBCD and even list it above everything else so that it is noticed. It should also be noted elsewhere on the main screen page when booting. Yes this is more work but I think it would be the right thing to do. Take a look at the main screen of the UBCD:



Look at the top two lines, I would suggest the two lines be replaced with a three line heading reading something like:

THE Ultimate Boot CD (notice the capitalization)
http://www.ultimatebootcd.com VERSION 2.4
http://www.ubcd4win.com VERSION 2.01

Let me know what you think and I look forward to seeing how this works out!!!

other success stories?

I built one at work yesterday and it seemed to work great. I just took 3 lines of the empy space above the F1 option and added something like
"THE Ultimate Boot CD including the UBCD and WinUBCD All in One!"
"The Windows Ultimate Boot CD is v. 2.01 --- http://www.ubcd4win.com/"

"[1] Ultimate Boot CD for Windows"

Something like that anyway. The UBCD booted fine and ran great and so did the WinUBCD. I'll do more testing next week.

Surely the Ultimate BootCD is no longer the ultimate bootcd if this works, we now have the ultimate bootcd we both ubcd and wubcd on one cd

Yup time for Victor to change the name of his project....."Ultimate DOS boot CD"

Although he holds a few linux tricks on the disk so I don't think he can or should really call it "DOS", anyways...that will never happen would confuse too many people. I will post instructions on the website on how to build it. I just wish I would have had the chance to build one yesterday Spent time with one of my boys instead so really that was better, I can build "The Ultimate Boot CD" anyday but who knows about my son......he could piss me off really bad next week and I'd disown him, at least I have the nice memories of playing MK (and letting him win), going to staples, and to the computer store with him.

:edit
btw....he's only 5

i think of the 2 projects as 16-bit and 32-bit...
i have another problem now tho, combined, my build is sitting at 705MB (this is as of the new network driver update)....i have an Office CD (not DVD) which has 1.4GB on it..... that's when u copy the contents of the cd to the HDD or do a select all and view properties rather than do a properties on just the cd drive, wish i knew how that was done

My combined build is under 350 or 400MB so I'm thinking you did something very wrong or an accident happened along they way. Please try it again with a fresh start and let us know how it goes. As for the Office CD, the only way it could hold over 703MB would be compression (which they do) and then they are just uncompressed on your HD (which usually happens) so that's why you're probably seeing that. Otherwise, it's a DVD that looks like a CD.

Actually, it has nothing to do with compression - it is done with cdimage (cdimage.exe), an in-house MS product that, when constructing an ISO, will only copy duplicate files once, and use pointers to direct calls to the lone copy on the CD. This is how so-called AIO CDs are made, containing numerous OSs (or applications) onto one CD... since many of the files are shared (indentical) from one version to the next, cdimage merely copies the files once, and adjusts the pointers.

UltraISO has a similar function - I use both all the time to decrease the size of my final ISOs (assuming they'll have many duplicate files). There is NO compression involved. For example, my SuperWinPE disc is ~700MB, but contains the equivalent of over 2.8GB of data... no compression.

Do a Google search for cdimage... you'll find plenty of resources for both the file and the syntax for usage... but please keep in mind, it DOES NOT magically fit GBs of data onto a CD - ONLY if there are many duplicate files will it be of use. CDIMAGE is a console app that uses command-lines... there is a GUI version called CDImage GUI beta3 by Cyberian.

Hope this clears up any confusion...

DW

Eh, I still consider that compression, or at least an algorithm that is being used to help lower space usage. If no algorithm or pointers or anything are used, then there is no compression and thus is a 1:1 thing. If it's not a 1:1 thing, there's compression. Anything, that's my thought. I understand how that works, it's the same kind of thing with compression in images (by colors and pixels), but in my books, doing it that way, or having actual compression are more or less the same thing since you are reducing the amount of data in some sense. Anyway, I'm done babbling....

can this file pointer thing be done with mkisofs? how does it determ if the files are the same?

For those who were wondering, here's the modified cdshell.ini menu section that I made and I think it fits just right:



I still haven't seen any problems though I'll do even more testing when I can.

I usually like to research my responses a bit to assure accuracy, but I'll bend my own rules a little on this one and let you take what I have, and do the research yourself - my schedule doesn't permit a better answer for now...

There are a number of versions of mkisofs around...

mkisofs 2.01a32 supports a -duplicates-once switch.

Bart's "patched" version of mkisofs is necessary because I believe it a requirement that the I386 folder and its contents must be CAPITALIZED. Seems to me there were a few others files, perhaps in system32 which also has this requirement. Whatever the case (pun intended), there are some capitalization requirements that the "plain vanilla" mkisofs does not provide. Bart's patched version (included with PE Builder) just capitalizes everything to assure compatibility with BartPE. It does not, however, support the -duplicates-once switch.

I know people have been successful at using the -duplicates-once switch in the version of mkisofs that supports it, but I've just stuck with cdimage... and for that matter, I don't even really use that any longer, now that UtraISO supports essentially the same thing with it's optimize function.

That ought to be enough for you to do some Googling and get a more complete answer...

DW

I'm also trying to add a Novell ZENworks Imaging boot CD to this combo CD (basically a Linux boot CD). I've had no luck from what I've tried thus far. Any suggestions for the Linux-savy out there? Thanks.

my build is so large due to the plugins i have included for PE Builder as well as additional bootdisks added to UBCD (16-bit) using CDImage i cut it down to 693MB tho i have not tested it

I thought I'd post a note with my experience with this. First off, THANK YOU for this wonderful idea and instructions! I've customzied the UBCD with some of my own bootdisks and it will be great to combine this with WUBCD and only have 1 CD for both!

I have a question for first though. How do I create the PRO1.DAT file mentioned? I searched the internet and found this file, but is it possible to create my own so I can be certain it is the right version of file to use? (Is this file located somewhere on my XP System CD?) I ran UltraISO and extracted the boot info, but it wants to create a .BIF file, so I'm confused how the PRO1.DAT is created or where it comes from, short of downloading it from an unfamiliar site on the internet.

I didn't have my Nero software installed at work and when I tried to burn the compilation using Roxio v6 Platinum, it complained about the folder names in the \i386\WinSxS folder as being too long and it would not include them unless I renamed these to shorter names. Thus, I figured it wouldn't work and then attempted to use your suggestion of using the PE Builder process and just 'include' the UBCD folder. I believe it worked! (Well, I "think" it did.)

Here is what I did:

I copied my entire UBCD and BartsPE folder containing my WUBCD plugins into their own seperate folders so during my testing I wouldn't mess up my original setup for these and could alter things.

I edited the UBCD CDSHELL.INI file to be the way I wanted it to look and to include the command to "chain" the PRO1.DAT file for WUBCD. I copied the PRO1.DAT file into the top level folder of the UBCD. I then edited the PEBUILDER.INF file and changed the "bootsect.bin" to "boot/loader.bin" and ran PE Builder to make the .iso file and told it to include my UBCD folder. The end result was it FAILED with a message that "boot.catalog" could not be found. This was confusing since that file appeared to be there. Thus, I edited the PEBUILDER.INF file again and removed "-hide boot.catalog" from the line. I ran PE Builder again to make the .iso file and this time it worked! However, it did give me a message that it was "using boot000.catalog...." This didn't make sense to me since the resulting .iso file created includes both "boot.catalog" and "boot000.catalog". (I don't understand many of the parameters of the mkisofs program, so it could be my own ignorance!)

Anyway, the line I used in pebuilder.inf is:

exec="mkisofs.exe -iso-level 4 -volid ""WindowsUBCD"" -A PEBUILDER/MKISOFS -sysid ""Win32"" -b boot/loader.bin -no-emul-boot -boot-load-size 4 -hide boot/loader.bin -o ""@IsoFile@"" ""@OutDir@"""

I don't honestly know if this is right or if there's a better way or if there's a way to avoid the error about boot.catalog. (I hope the "-hide boot.catalog" statement isn't needed since I removed it!)

Anyway, the resulting CD I burned is working great so far! I haven't tested everything, but it boots up to the UBCD menu and I have booted some of my DOS bootdisks from the UBCD and I have also booted into WUBCD by selecting that item from the menu and it seems to be working fine too!

This will be wonderful to have both these on a single CD! (Well, I have to watch it as my compilation of UBCD and WUBCD is getting almost too large, but so far so good!)

So at this point it seems to work fine, but I would like to know how to create my own PRO1.DAT file for future reference and I don't know if the "boot.catalog" issue is a problem or if there's a way to get it to work without removing that parameter from the pebuilder.inf file.

I just extracted the boot sector from my XP SP1 CD and renamed it to PRO1.dat and it has worked fine. I still don't understand though how you are getting such a 'full' CD. I have a few extra plugins and DOS boot disks added and it's still around 375MB total. As for the boot.catalog thing, I'm not sure. I made mine with Nero just fine. I'm still trying to figure out how to get a Linux CD on there as well and then I would be VERY happy.

Thanks, I'll give it a try to rename the extracted boot sector file to PRO1.DAT.

I've added 7 bootdisks to the UBCD, which is fairly minimal in size, but the most space taken up is with my WUBCD. The biggest thing I've added to it is Open Office which is around 142MB. I thought it might be handy to have in the event I was working on a computer that couldn't bootup and needed to actually view some documents. May not ever need it, but there's room for it (so far), so I'll leave it on there. I've added a few other things too, like a couple of Telnet clients, Acrobat Reader, FTP client, Xplorer2 Lite, etc.. (I figure you can never have enough tools "just in case"!)

Success!!! I finally got my ZENWorks Imaging boot CD to run on this too, luckily for the link I finally noticed on the main UBCD page! LOL. I was trying to run the command chain /isolinux/isolinux.bin instead of bcdw /isolinux/isolinux.bin So silly how simple that was, and it will work on any Linux boot CD though it says you can only add one. I'm happy anyway. We have all that we need on there now! WHOO!!!!

You can get the version of cdrtools that supports the -duplicate-once switch here: http://cdrtools.bootcd.ru/. It ends up having exactly the same size as if you used cdimage, which is a nono for me as cdimage is in a fuzzy legal area (says for Microsoft internal use only). As an added bonus there are much more options available than cdimage. As DigiWiz mentioned though you need to build the BartPE part using the Bart's version of mkisofs so as to have all the files and folders uppercased. Extract everying from the iso and build it again from another folder using the command line from pebuilder with the added -duplicates-once option.

@Hemo2, If you have a copy of Office 97 lying around you can get that on the CD with minimal fuss. You get PowerPoint, Word and Excel for around 80mb or so. Let me know if you want the plugin.

Cheers

why my build is so large....

i have been asked wht my build is so big (at least i think it was me that was asked....)
anyway here is why...
Directory of P:\UBCD\PE\plugin

[.]........................[..].............................[!custom]...............[!profiles]
[a43]....................[adaware]..................[aida32].................[aspi]
[atapi_824146]......[AutoRamResizer].......[autorun]...............[avpersonal]
[bartpe]................[bginfo]......................[bst5]....................[chkdsk]
[cmos]..................[CWShredder].............[dbxtract]..............[deepburner]
[DefragNT]............[dirms].......................[DiskCheck1057]....[diskchkup]
[dospe].................[dsk_cpqcissm]...........[dsk_fasttx2k]........[dsk_hpt3xx]
[Eraser]................[EverestHome100].......[explore2fs]...........[explorerxp]
[filerecovery].........[GeoShellv2]..............[HDTune]...............[insidepro]
[ipscan].................[IZArc]......................[k-meleon]............[keyboard]
[keyfinderpe].........[lexun]......................[mbrwiz]................[mstsc]
[mwav].................[netstumbler].............[nicdrivers]............[nu2menu]
[nwdskpe].............[p95].........................[passwordspro]......[PDFReader]
[pehdinst]..............[PELoader]................[popcorn]...............[ppoe2k3]
[ppoexp]...............[quickbench]..............[ramdisk]...............[regbrws]
[RegEditPE]............[regreswiz]................[renew].................[restoration]
[savepart].............[scribe]......................[sermouse]............[showtraf]
[smallcd]...............[stinger]....................[testdisk]...............[unchk3]
[UnxUtils]...............[usb]........................[VBdlls].................[vncneighborhood]
[vncviewer]............[winaudit].................[wincpuid]..............[windlg]
[wshsupport]...........[WUL]......................[XSP]....................[nic_wpc55ag]
[total.commander]...[snapshot]...............[putty]...................[patch_824146]
[ob1]......................[nic_intelpro]...........[nic_el2k_xp].........[nic_bcm4sbxp]
[nic_b57xp32].........[network]................[Enable_Sound]......[dtidata]
[mozillaembed].......[mcafee].................[irfanview].............[ghost8]
[erd2002]...............[dskcmd]................[bootfix].................[dsk_SilImg]
[regexpander]........[scite].....................[SPFN]...................[spln]
[SSH]....................[sysinternals]...........[tinyhexer].............[Trillian]
[Virtual.CD.Plugin]..[WinAce].................[WinImage.6].........[winpcap]
[winrar].................[winzip]...................[acdsee241]...........[acroread6]
[analyzer]..............[nero.burning.rom]..[CleartypeFonts].....[Common]
[defat]...................[dentfs]...................[Device.Maneger]...[Diskeditor]
[Drivecrypt]...........[DVDdecrypt]...........[erd2003]..............[explorer]
[filedisk]................[fileextsmisc]............[firebird]...............[firebirdflash]
[flashfxp]...............[f-prot]....................[gdb]....................[Alcohol]
[clonecd]...............[clonedvd]................[addFavorites].......[driverview]
[ftpexplorer]..........[netstat]...................[sequoiaview]........[Serviwin]
[WindowsUpdate]...[Norton]....................[vmscsi]...............[explorermod]
[vmvga]................[vmmouse]...............[gdbnt].................[ghost32]
[hdhost]................[java142]..................[loadhive].............[magiciso]
[mapnet]...............[mcafeeram].............[nemo].................[Office97StdSR2]
[pqmagic]..............[pqtools]...................[radmin]...............[RARPC]
168 Directories (that's about 200 plugins)

note:
explorermod (modified by me to register the dll's and apply the settings but not activate the shell)
vmvga (not tested)
vmmouse (made by me but not tested yet)

also not all (tho most) are enabled
duplicate network drivers exist but only 1 of the duplicates are activated.

i hope this clears up that question

Has anyone been using Bootable CD Wizard v1.50z (http://bootcd.narod.ru) an english translation is available on the website. Just about anything you can boot from a cd or floppy can be added. You can require a password to boot the cd in the latest version

Oddly enough I think the command I had to use to load the .bin file for the Linux CD I added to this combo was

bcdw /isolinux.bin

Interesting... coincidence? Maybe...

That's what I've been using for a multiboot CD. It works well and is very easy since it is made as a plugin for BartPE.

I have many old Dos disks and commandline apps now on the CD, some as floppy images, many included in folder(s) bootable from the menu. Some had to be editted before making the images though since certain apps need a writable media to execute from. (Log file creation etc)
I use the xmsdsk ramdrive (loaded from autoexec.bat) to copy files to for execution, since it's a writable media.
Also have Knoppix on the same CD.
and
I changed the autorun to run my own menu of freeware apps when inserted in the Windows enviroment. (instead of nu2menu)

Basically, there's nothing that cannot be added depending on space available.

There is talk of duplicate files and cdimage to keep the CD under 700mb. Another thing to do is get rid of duplicate apps. eg: Why have more than one browser, or file manager etc? (Antivi needs second opinion) Pick the best of each application for your purposes and go with it, and don't include plugins you'll never use.

@feldegast


FIX your link in the first post.
_http://windowsubcd.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=710 is nothing but ADDS (Garbage).
It should be...
http://www.ubcd4win.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=710

EDIT: WOW That was fast!

Well....he doesn't have the capability to edit his post after an hour of posting it. It's been well over a year now!

So I noticed the post(s) and edited them. All of those posts were before the project "name change" thanks to MS! I didn't realize there were so many references to "Windows Ultimate Boot CD"!! Those are not allowed by the agreement I have with MS.

Anyways, I now worry how many more posts in the forum still reference the old project name or have old links?? I don't think I really have to worry about the old references, I'm sure MS won't kick my butt over them. Although the links can be confusing to newbies. If anyone finds any other old or bad links, please report them to a Mod or Admin.....we have the power to edit those old posts.

Do you have an office plugin that's different from Natasha's version. If so, let me know. I think Natasha's as many errors, especially with file associations. You cannot double click a word, excel, or powerpoint document and open files.

Thanks.