Boot Drive Options
Setting Up Environment for Running Windows 9X in RAM with DISKLESS ANGEL
14.1
This chapter is a continuation of Chapter 3 about setting up the Real-DOS booting environment with the controls available in the lower panel, Boot Drive Options, of the DISKLESS ANGEL Configuration main form of the DISKLESS ANGEL Client Configurator for successfully running Windows 9X in ram.
14.2
The above “Boot Drive Options” panel on the lower part of the DISKLESS ANGEL Configuration main form enables one to edit the Real-Mode DOS system boot-up files and configuration files used by WDDOS.EXE for setting up an appropriate environment before Windows 9X starts into protected mode.
14.2.1
System
This edit box is for inputting the windows directory, i.e. the WinDir directory to be found within MSDOS.SYS, of the Windows 9X system. Usually by default, it is installed into "C:\WINDOWS".
14.2.2
Source
Drive containing the installed Windows 9X system. This is not necessary the same drive as the drive of the windows directory of the running operating system. For instance, there may be two Windows systems, Windows 9X and Windows 2000, installed on two separate partitions of the hard disk of a computer. When one boots using the Windows 9X partition, that partition becomes C, and the windows directory is at C:\WINDOWS. If one however boots using the Windows 2000 partition, the Windows 2000 partition also appears as drive C:. And the Windows 9X partition and the Windows 9X system image must be located somewhere else, such as D. In this case, the windows directory of the running operating system is still C:\WINDOWS, but the source drive letter for Windows 9X becomes D: and Windows 9X installation should be found at a directory as specified in the System edit box, such as \WINDOWS.
14.2.3
Target
Target drive to build. All the operations ("Explore", "Build", "Config", "Save") will be applied to this drive.
14.2.4
Mount
Create a new or select an existing virtual disk drive as the target drive for use.
14.2.5
Sys
Transfer DOS system files to the target drive; it is similar to using the DOS sys command.
14.2.6
Save
Save the target drive to a partition image file.
14.2.7
Unmount
Deallocate the target drive if it is a virtual disk drive.
14.2.8
List box
Shows the startup configuration files. One can double click the filename to edit its content.
14.2.9
Profiles
Load external profiles that contain pre-configured startup configuration files. One can use it as a starting point to write one’s own configuration. Two profiles are special. “Source” means load startup configuration files from the source drive; “Target” means load them from the target drive. “BLANK” is another pre-defined profile. It contains only a minimal set of startup configuration files [actually, it only defines MSDOS.SYS], so that one can write them from scratch.
14.2.9.1
Load
Load an external profile. Profiles are stored in text files that have a WDP extension. Its format is described as follows. First line of the file is the system file name, enclosed by #, followed by the content of the files. If there is more than one file to specify, just repeat the above procedure. Here is an example:
#MSDOS.SYS#
[Paths]
WinDir=%sysdir%
WinBootDir=%sysdir%
HostWinBootDrv=C
#CONFIG.SYS#
dos=high
device=himem.sys
device=ifshlp.sys
device=dblbuff.sys
#AUTOEXEC.BAT#
WDDOS.EXE
Notice %sysdir% ; this represents the Windows 9X windows directory. They would be replaced by the actual value when the profile is loaded.
14.2.9.2
Manage
Start the profile manager.
14.2.9.2.1
Changed Items
Select all startup configuration files that have been changed.
14.2.9.2.2
Select All
Select all startup configuration files
14.2.9.2.3
Select None
Select nothing
14.2.9.2.4
Invert Selection
Do opposite selection.
14.2.9.2.5
Target File
Target profile file to save to.
14.2.9.2.6
Save
Save selected startup configuration files to the target profile file.
14.2.9.2.7
Merge
The selected startup configuration files would be merged into the target profile file.
14.2.9.2.8
Delete
Delete the target profile file
14.2.9.2.9
Close
Close this Window Dialog
14.2.9.3
Config
Window Dialog to assist with configuration.
14.2.9.3.1
General Settings
This panel configures the following three settings:
14.2.9.3.1.1
Load DISKLESS ANGEL dos driver
Modify AUTOEXEC.BAT to load real mode driver WDDOS.EXE
14.2.9.3.1.2
Load DOS system files explicitly
Include HIMEM.SYS, IFSHLP.SYS and DBLBUFF.SYS in CONFIG.SYS.
If HIMEM.SYS, IFSHLP.SYS and DBLBUFF.SYS are available in the default WinDir directory as specified in MSDOS.SYS, this box could be un-checked as Windows 9X DOS would load these system files automatically from the default WinDir directory. For WinME, only IFSHLP.SYS is necessary.
One can however include these system files explicitly in CONFIG.SYS and remove the drive letter before these files within CONFIG.SYS to allow explicitly loading these system files from the boot-up drive, which may be different from the drive where Windows 9X system image is found.
For instance, for diskless client computer remotely booting from the network server using Etherboot protocol, usually a DOS boot-up drive A: floppy image is drawn from the network server to the client computer. After booting up this A: drive, WDDOS.EXE is run which loads up a packet driver specific to the network card used as specified in WDDOS_1.BAT and draws the DISKLESS ANGEL Client from DISKLESS ANGEL Server to the client computer as ramdisk drive C:. So in MSDOS.SYS, the relevant settings, for instance, should be:
[Paths]
WinDir=C:\WINDOWS
WinBootDir=C:\WINDOWS
HostWinBootDrv=C
UninstallDir=C:\
This is so because the DISKLESS ANGEL Client, the system image of Windows 9X , is found in ramdisk drive C:. However, if one boots up from floppy image drive A:, one has to load up HIMEM.SYS, IFSHLP.SYS and DBLBUFF.SYS from drive A: because at that time ramdisk drive C: has not be created. One can therefore include the following entries in CONFIG.SYS:
DEVICE=\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS
DEVICEHIGH=\WINDOWS\IFSHLP.SYS
DEVICEHIGH=\WINDOWS\DBLBUFF.SYS
These files have to be put in the directory of the boot-up drive A: with a name as specified in WinDir entry of MSDOS.SYS. Please note that for the above entries in CONFIG.SYS, one should avoid to add drive letter A:; otherwise, it should not work correctly as A:\WINDOWS in CONFIG.SYS would contradict C:\WINDOWS in MSDOS.SYS and Windows 9X would be confused and would stop to work. So one should remember to remove the drive letter before \WINDOWS in CONFIG.SYS under this situation. This is also the recommended setting as this would work under all circumstances.
14.2.9.3.1.3
Load HIMEM.SYS explicitly
Include only HIMEM.SYS in CONFIG.SYS; this is for running DOS programmes using HIMEM.SYS. If one wants to run Windows 9X into Protected-Mode Windows, one has to check the Load DOS system files explicitly box described above.
14.2.9.3.2
DBSpace Settings
This panel configures the settings for using DBLSPACE compression volumes.
14.2.9.3.2.1
Modify DBLSPACE.INI
Determine whether or not to change DBLSPACE.INI
If the above box is checked, one can configure the following two settins:
14.2.9.3.2.1.1
First Drive
First drive letter reserved for using DBLSPACE.
14.2.9.3.2.1.2
Drive Number
The number of drives reserved for using DBLSPACE
14.2.9.3.2
Pktdrv Settings
This panel configures Packet Driver settings. WDDOS.EXE uses Packet Driver for TCP/IP connection within LAN.
14.2.9.3.2.1
Load packet driver
Determine whether or not to load packet driver.
14.2.9.3.2.2
Network Card
Select the type of the network card used. This setting is used to decide the name and usage for the corresponding packet driver. At present, only a 3COM network card is defined. One can use the Custom selection and modify the following two settings for other network cards accordingly.
14.2.9.3.2.3
Start
The command to start the packet driver to be included in WDDOS_1.BAT
14.2.9.3.2.4
Stop
The command to stop the packet driver to be included in WDDOS_2.BAT
Packet driver loading and unloading is done in WDDOS_1.BAT and WDDOS_2.BAT respectively.
14.2.9.4
Reload
Reload startup configuration files from the profile.
14.2.9.5
Modify
Edit the selected startup configuration file manually; one has first to select a startup configuration file in the list box to the left and then to click this button..
14.2.9.6
Apply
The modification or configuration that one has made to the startup configuration file(s) is temporarily stored in memory. To write them to the target drive, one should use this button after modification or configuration.
14.3
The above section 14.2 describes the tools available for configuring the startup configuration files used by DOS and WDDOS.EXE for setting the boot-up environment for running DISKLESS ANGEL Client, the system image of Windows 9X , in ram. After configuring the startup configuration files, one can also use the Mount, Sys, Save and Unmount buttons to prepare a DOS boot-up floppy image or boot-up hard disk drive image into an image file for use.
For instance, the DOS boot-up floppy image can be booted directly through network booting protocols for diskless client computers. The DOS boot-up hard disk drive image in the form of partition image file can be turned into a bootable disk image file as well and such bootable disk image file can be loaded by network booting protocols for remote diskless booting or can be loaded up from a local hard disk by bootloaders such as GRUB.
One can build up a partition image file containing a DISKLESS ANGEL Client and use the tools available in the Boot Drive Options panel described here to add the DOS system files and startup configuration files onto the partition image file so that the partition image file contains the necessary DOS boot-up files as the system image of Windows 9X for starting the DISKLESS ANGEL Client to run all the way from DOS boot-up into Protected-Mode Windows in ram. One can then use the Disk Image Builder to turn this bootable partition image file into a disk image file and use the MBR/BS Manager to add valid MBR codes to it to make it into a bootable disk image file.
Such a bootable disk image file can be loaded remotely through network by using, for instances, PXELinux, PXEGRUB or NBGRUB. It can also be loaded locally by bootloaders such as GRUB or SysLinux. It can also be run under emulators such as QEMU.
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