Computer Installation Guide - Dragon Clan Series/CD2.iso/CDR/BOOTCD/README.TXT

Text File | 1997-06-05 | 8.0 KB | 194 lines

BOOTISO by Jason Livingston ([e-mail]) - Version 0.91 BETA

Legal Information
 BOOTISO, this document, and all included files are (C) Copyright 1997 Jason
 Livingston. You may not modify or distribute these files without express
 written permission from the author. By using BOOTISO, you agree that you
 understand and acknowledge the terms of this agreement. Jason Livingston WILL
 NOT be held responsible for any losses or damage due to use of this software
 or the instructions contained in it.

 At this time, BOOTISO may not be used in the creation or modification of
 commercially made CDs, CDs sold for profit, CDs used in a public exhibition
 or demostration, or CDs to be mass duplicated or distributed.

PLEASE READ ALL INSTRUCTIONS BEFORE ATTEMPTING THESE PROCEDURES!

BOOTISO now has a web page at http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Way/2996/
It will be updated more frequently than this file, and it contains an HTML
version of README with formatting and graphics to help you.

Overview of Bootable CD Creation
 1. Create a bootable floppy disk or partition
 2. Make an image file
 3. Make an ISO file containing the image and a boot catalog
 4. Patch the ISO file with BOOTISO
 5. Burn the ISO file on the first track of a CD
 6. Burn any other files to additional tracks on the CD

Requirements
 CD Recorder
 Blank CD-R Disk
 Floppy disk or bootable partition <650MB
 CD Writer software capable of creating ISO files
 System BIOS that supports El Torito Specification
 EIDE or SCSI CD-ROM supported by BIOS

Included Files
 BOOTISO.EXE  - Patches ISO file to be bootable
 BOOTCAT.BIN  - Boot Catalog to be included in ISO file
 README.TXT   - This file

 DISKIMG.ZIP  - Contains utility to create an image file from a floppy
                or hard disk partition
                I DID NOT MAKE THIS FILE, AND I DO NOT SUPPORT IT!

Detailed Instructions

STEP 1 - Create a bootable floppy disk or partition

If you already have a bootable floppy disk or hard disk partition that you'd
like to use, you can skip this step. However, you may want to read it just
in case.

Start by formating the disk or partition with FORMAT /S. This will put the
operating system on the disk. Then, copy any useful files or utilities to
this disk. The most important files are FORMAT.COM, FDISK.EXE, and SYS.COM.
Here is a list of what's on my boot floppy:

MOUSE.INI
CONFIG.SYS
CONFIG.W40
AUTOEXEC.BAT
HELP.COM
AUTOEXEC.W40
MSD.COM
MSDOS.W40
MORE.COM
DOSKEY.COM
PKZIPFIX.EXE
TEAC_CDI.SYS
ATTRIB.EXE
CHKDSK.EXE
SYS.COM
DEBUG.EXE
FORMAT.COM
MODE.COM
MSCDEX.EXE
UNDELETE.EXE
FDISK.EXE
PKUNZIP.EXE
MEM.EXE
HIMEM.SYS
PKZIP.EXE
COMMAND.COM
ZAPIT.EXE
MOUSE.COM
EDIT.COM
COMMAND.W40
MEMMAKER.EXE
EMM386.EXE
SCANDISK.EXE
WINBOOT.SYS

Now, you probably don't need all these files, so use your judgement and put
anything useful or important that will fit. Next, run ATTRIB +R *.* so that
all of the files on disk are read-only, then write protect the floppy and
boot from it. If at any time you get an error message (especially a Write
Protected error), you need to resolve this before making the image. The CD
WILL NOT boot at all if the system tries to write to it! Make sure that you
can access the CD's drive letter and any other important system resources.


STEP 2 - Make an image file

Unzip the package DISKIMG.ZIP. Now, you could be a good boy and read all the
documentation, experiment around, and ruin a couple of CD blanks. Luckily,
the work has been done for you. Just execute the command:
                   SAVEDSKF A: C:\OSBOOT.IMG /D /A
This will create an image of the floppy in A: and save it to a file called
OSBOOT.IMG in the root directory of your HD. To make an image of a HD
partition, replace A: with the drive's letter. Remember, the image will take
up sligtly more space than the entire capacity of the drive you are imaging,
so take that into account when choosing the directory to save to. If you used
a 1.44 MB floppy, this image should be exactly 1,474,560 bytes.


STEP 3 - Make an ISO file containing the image and a boot catalog

To do this, I used Easy CD-Pro 2.0. However, you can use any program you want
that saves and burns raw ISO files. Make sure that BOOTCAT.BIN, included with
this file, is the first file to be saved into the ISO, and that OSBOOT.IMG,
your image file, is the second and last file in the ISO image. If you're
using Easy CD-Pro, make SURE that these two files end up in the root directory
of the ISO, NOT in some sub-directory. That definately won't work. The ISO
file should be CD-ROM MODE 1, Multisession, with ISO-9660 compliant file
names. You shouldn't use Joliet or anything else wierd in this file.

** NOTE: The operation of BOOTISO is dependant on the correct naming and
placement of the files BOOTCAT.BIN and OSBOOT.IMG. Do not rename or misplace
these files, or else BOOTISO will not run correctly.

Once you've placed BOOTCAT.BIN and OSBOOT.IMG into the file, go ahead and
write the ISO file to disk. Call it something like BOOTCD.ISO. If you used
a 1.44MB floppy disk as your image, this ISO file should be exactly 1,835,008
bytes long. If not, you did something wrong.


STEP 4 - Patch the ISO file with BOOTISO

This step is easy, thanks to my program. Just run the program like this:
                           BOOTISO BOOT.ISO
That is, assuming that you called the ISO file from step 3 BOOT.ISO. The
program will first ask you what type of image file you used in the ISO. Just
press the corresponding number. After that, things should proceed fairly
quickly. If you get the message "ISO Patch Successful", then you're done. If
you get an error message or the program seems to take forever, there may be
something wrong with the ISO file from step 3. If you are SURE that you made
the ISO file correctly, and ONLY IF YOU ARE SURE, e-mail me the error message
and data you got.


STEP 5 - Burn the ISO file on the first track of a CD

For this step, you should use the same program that you used to create the ISO
file in step 3. This is because some programs may have slightly different
ISO formats that are incompatible with another's. When you burn the ISO file,
make sure you do NOT close the disk or write in "Disk-At-Once" mode, or else
you won't be able to add more data to the disk. Again, make sure you burn
the ISO as CD-ROM Mode 1, Multisession, with ISO-9660 8+3 file names. When
the CD has finished burning, put it in your first CD drive and reboot your
computer. Check your BIOS to make sure your system will boot from CD-ROM
before the floppy or HD. Then just let it boot. If it works, you'll end up
in whatever OS the floppy booted to. When you access the A drive, you'll see
a duplicate of the boot floppy you made, even though no floppy is present! If
you access the CD drive containing the boot CD, you'll see only two files,
BOOTCAT.BIN and OSBOOT.IMG.


STEP 6 - Burn any other files to additional tracks on the CD

The way to do this depends on your software and is outside the scope of these
instructions. Just MAKE SURE that any additional sessions you add are linked
to the previous, or else all older sessions will disappear! You'll also lose
about 13MB of space for each additional session you add.

** NOTE: I have received problem reports from some users trying to add a
session containing Windows 95 or Windows NT files. The CD boots correctly
before the additional session is added, but will not boot afterwards. I am
looking into this. For now, if you want to risk it, let me know your results.


Revision History
 Unnumbered - A few people received a very early version of BOOTISO with no
 4/18/97      version number and missing some important information. You
              should NOT be using this version!

 0.9 BETA   - Additional error handling and information. New BETA instructions
 5/5/97       and requirements. Interface improvements. Better README.TXT.

 0.91 BETA  - Better error reporting. Minor changes in README.TXT to correct
 6/5/97       most of the problems users have been reporting.

That's all, folks!