3.1
Windows 9X can run wholly in ram. For this to be achieved, one has to suitably prepare a system image of Windows 9X that matches the boot-up environment; i.e. whether it is booted up through network or from a standalone computer and how and where the system image of Windows 9X is stored. And the boot-up environment has also to be rightly configured to enable the system image of Windows 9X to successfully run wholly in ram.
How Windows 9X is taken to run wholly in ram with DISKLESS ANGEL in a standalone computer is discussed first. This paves the way for better understanding of how Windows 9X can be taken to run wholly in ram through network booting. Methods of network booting using specific network booting protocols, such as PXE, ETHERBOOT, RPL and in particular PXEGRUB as well as NBGRUB will be addressed in other chapters.
3.2
DISKLESS ANGEL takes a DISKLESS ANGEL Client, a system image of Windows 9X , to run wholly in ram through the use of WDDOS.EXE under Real DOS-Mode. On a standalone computer, for entering into Protected-Mode Windows 9X , Real DOS-Mode is booted first normally from a fixed internal hard disk. Booting from a CDROM or a removable hard disk is also possible. For network booting, a specific networking booting protocol mentioned above has to be used to first draw a system booting image from the network file server to the network computer client for booting up DOS and then Windows 9X .
WinME, a special variant of the Windows 9X family, is a bit special; it can be booted through first booting into Real DOS-Mode, by using the WinME Real DOS-Mode patch that is mentioned in the Quick Start and available at http://www.geocities.com/mfd4life_2000. Or it can be booted directly into Protected-Mode Windows. Only GRUB together with MEMDISK is able to boot up WinME directly in ram without going through booting into Real DOS-Mode first. The special case for booting WinME to run as a ramdisk-based operating system is to be discussed in a separate chapter.
3.3
The Real DOS-Mode environment is configured through the settings within MSDOS.SYS, CONFIG.SYS and AUTOEXEC.BAT. These DOS configuration files are read by Real Mode DOS for setting the environment for the running of other DOS applications or for running into Protected Mode Windows 9X .
For Win95 and Win98, another DOS configuration file – DBLSPACE.INI – is also read by Real Mode DOS to set the environment for using DBLSPACE/DRVSPACE compression driver for mounting compression drive. DISKLESS ANGEL Client, the system image of Win95 or Win98, can also be stored in such compression drive(s), represented by image file(s) of DRVSPACE.XXX, where XXX is the numbering for such drives such as 000, 001 and so on.
WDDOS.EXE is used under Real DOS-Mode to load up a DISKLESS ANGEL Client either locally or through network to a ramdisk with the use of WDDRV stored in the first WDDIR directory found by scanning through DOS drives from the first DOS boot-up drive A: or C: to the last DOS drive available. It reads its configuration file, WDDOS.WDC, from the root directory of the first DOS boot-up drive to find out how and where to load up the DISKLESS ANGEL Client and the creation of ramdisk(s).
WDDOS.EXE will also run WDDOS_1.BAT, WDDOS_2.BAT and WDDOS_3.BAT and import a user-customized REG file into the Windows 9X Registry if these files are available. WDDOS_1.BAT, WDDOS_2.BAT and REG file have to be placed in the root directory of the first DOS boot-up drive and WDDOS_3.BAT in the root directory of the DISKLESS ANGEL Client, the system image of Windows 9X .
To avoid possible errors, it is recommended the above configuration files, including MSDOS.SYS, CONFIG.SYS, DBLSPACE.INI, AUTOEXEC.BAT, WDDOS.WDC, WDDOS_1.BAT, WDDOS_2.BAT, WDDOS_3.BAT and REG file, together with other system files and executable files listed at 3.4 below are best to be identical and available in the first DOS boot-up drive and in the root directory of the DISKLESS ANGEL Client, the system image of Windows 9X .
3.4
A typical DOS boot-up drive A: will contain the following files or directories under the root directory:
a. Real Mode DOS & WDDOS.EXE Configuration Files
\MSDOS.SYS
\CONFIG.SYS
\DBLSPACE.INI
\AUTOEXEC.BAT
\WDDOS.WDC
\WDDOS_1.BAT
\WDDOS_2.BAT
\WDDOS_3.BAT
b. Real Mode DOS System Files & WDDOS.EXE
\IO.SYS
\COMMAND.COM
\DBLSPACE.BIN
\DRVSPACE.BIN
\ SCANDISK.EXE
\REGEDIT.EXE
\WDDOS.EXE
c. WDDIR directory
\WDDIR
\WDDIR\WDDRV
d. Windows System Directory
\WINDOWS
\WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS
\WINDOWS\IFSHLP.SYS
\WINDOWS\DBLBUFF.SYS
\WINDOWS\COMMAND\DRVSPACE.SYS
As the DOS boot-up drive A: is relatively small in size, either 1.44Mb or 2.88Mb standard floppy image size, it cannot contain any DISKLESS ANGEL Client image files to be loaded up. The DISKLESS ANGEL Client has to stored or loaded up from a network file server.
If a standalone computer with local hard disk is to be booted up from a DOS boot-up drive A: floppy and the DISKLESS ANGEL Client image files are to be found on the local hard disk, the \WDDIR should not be found on the DOS boot-up floppy but instead be found on the local hard disk drive, such as C:\WDDIR or D:\WDDIR, where WDDRV and DISKLESS ANGEL Client image files to be loaded up are found. Likewise, the Windows System Directory \WINDOWS, and the related files \WINDOWS\HIMEM.SYS, \WINDOWS\IFSHLP.SYS, \WINDOWS\DBLBUFF.SYS and \WINDOWS\COMMAND\DRVSPACE.SYS can also be found on the Windows System Directory on the local hard disk drive where the Windows 9X system is installed. The location of these files however have to be correctly specified in CONFIG.SYS so that HIMEM.SYS, IFSHLP.SYS and optionally
DBLBUFF.SYS [if double buffering is used] and DRVSPACE.SYS [if DBLSPACE.BIN/DRVSPACE.BIN compression driver is used] are to be loaded by Real Mode DOS for successful running up Windows 9X . SCANDISK.EXE is used for mounting compression drive(s).DISKLESS ANGEL is so designed that a ramdisk-based Windows 9X can be run up from a local hard disk of a standalone computer without interfering the Windows 9X system installed on the local hard disk. So users can select to boot up the Windows 9X system installed on the local hard disk or boot up a ramdisk-based Windows 9X system. If so selected, after booting up a ramdisk-based Windows 9X system with DISKLESS ANGEL from a standalone computer, the user can also remove the locally attached fixed internal hard disk(s) to make it a diskless computer as described in another chapter.
If a standalone computer is booted up from local hard disk drive C:, then the above listed files are to be found on the boot-up drive C: instead of drive A:.
The above listed content of DOS boot-up drive A: floppy image is a typical example for network booting through using specific network booting protocols such as PXE or ETHERBOOT. PXE or ETHERBOOT usually boots up and draws a DOS floppy booting image from the network file server for booting up Real Mode DOS in the network client computer as DOS ramdisk drive A:.
For RPL network booting, the boot-up drive however is mapped on the network file server. Such content has therefore to be found on the mapped drive.
PXEGRUB and NBGRUB are a variant of PXE and ETHERBOOT protocols respectively. The booting process of PXEGRUB or NBGRUB, instead of booting directly an operating system image, uses PXE or ETHERBOOT to boot GRUB image from the network file server first; and then the GRUB image takes up the responsibility of booting the operating system image.
PXEGRUB or NBGRUB, besides being capable of booting up a Real Mode DOS operating system, preparing for the next step of starting up the Protected Mode Win95, Windows 9X and WinME, can also boot up the Protected Mode WinME system directly through the use of MEMDISK. So both a boot-up drive A: or C: can be booted up for starting Windows 9X using PXEGRUB or NBGRUB.
Another separate chapter will discuss in detail how GRUB can be used for booting either from local hard disk or through PXE or ETHERBOOT on a network with or without using MEMDISK and DISKLESS ANGEL. DISKLESS ANGEL is compatible with and adds advantage to GRUB plus MEMDISK booting either from a local hard disk or through network booting with PXE or ETHERBOOT. The Virtual Disk Driver offered by DISKLESS ANGEL provides a virtual disk for storing Windows Swap File, adding stability to the Windows 9X system that is required for running many Windows applications lest Windows will hang. DISKLESS ANGEL also offers a Partition Image File Creator and Disk Image Builder for conveniently building disk image files usable by MEMDISK.
3.4.1
A typical example of MSDOS.SYS whether booting from DOS boot-up drive A: or C: is as follows:
For a standalone computer with a local hard disk, it is assumed that Windows 9X has been installed at C:\WINDOWS directory. Windows 9X so installed can still be run normally on the local hard disk if WDDOS.EXE is not loaded. It is shown in the following screenshot for the computer used for demonstration here as described in previous chapters:
It can be seen that the local hard disk is divided into 4 partitions here. The first partition is drive C:. Drive C: here is installed with a Windows 9X as indicated by the MSDOS.SYS above in the C:\WINDOWS directory.
The second partition drive F: following the third partition drive D: and the fourth partition drive E:. This is so because the second partition is an NTFS partition not normally recognized by DOS or Windows 9X .
The second partition is loaded last as drive F: by using a readonly version of NTFS for Windows 9X, an NTFS filesystem driver for Windows 9X , of Winternals Software.
If WDDOS.EXE is loaded up, it will load up a DISKLESS ANGEL Client, a Windows 9X system image, onto a ramdisk created with \WDDIR\WDDRV found on the first DOS drive having the \WDDIR directory. By scanning through the first boot-up drive A: or C: to the last DOS drive available, WDDOS.EXE uses the first DOS DRIVE so found with \WDDIR directory as the default \WDDIR for loading up WDDRV as well as DISKLESS ANGEL Client image files.
For the computer used for demonstration here, the default \WDDIR is located in the fourth partition, drive E: as seen by the following screenshot taken when Windows 9X is run normally on a local hard disk.
So DISKLESS ANGEL Client, Windows 9X system image, if put in the form of an image file, has to be put in the default \WDDIR for it to be loaded up by WDDOS.EXE onto the ramdisk created with \WDDIR\WDDRV. DISKLESS ANGEL Client, however, can be put in the form of a normal hard disk FAT16/32 partition or a DISKLESS ANGEL VFS partition. The DISKLESS ANGEL Client can also be stored as an image file on a network file server to be drawn to the network computer client through network booting.
For a standalone computer, if a DISKLESS ANGEL Client is found on the local hard disk, be it in the form of an image file within the default \WDDIR directory or as a normal FAT16/32 hard disk partition or as a DISKLESS ANGEL VFS partition, the original Windows 9X installation can be erased or deleted so that only a ramdisk-based Windows 9X is run. The files listed at 3.4 above however have to remain in the DOS boot-up drive and/or in specified DOS drive and directory specified in MSDOS.SYS. In the above example of MSDOS.SYS, the files listed at 3.4 have to be available at drive C: if the computer is booted up from local hard disk drive C: and also available at drive A: if the computer is booted up with a floppy image at drive A:.
The ramdisk drive created with WDDRV and loaded up with DISKLESS ANGEL Client by WDDOS.EXE will take up a drive letter C: and the original drive C: will be given another drive letter for successfully booting the ramdisk-based Windows 9X . Because WDDOS.EXE does such drive swapping when bootwin=yes is set within WDDOS.WDC, it is able to start booting Windows 9X from a ramdisk without interfering the existing Windows 9X installation on the local hard disk. If this Windows 9X installation on the local hard disk is not erased or deleted, the user can select whether booting the normal Windows 9X installation or booting the DISKLESS ANGEL Client stored on the hard disk whether in the form of image file stored at the default \WDDIR directory or as normal FAT16/32 partition or as DISKLESS ANGEL VFS partition. This can now be seen in the following screenshot, which shows DISKLESS ANGEL Client, a LITESTEP.IMG, running on a ramdisk:
Drive C: now is a ramdisk loaded with DISKLESS ANGEL Client, LITESTEP.IMG found in the fourth partition drive E:\WDDIR again. Since drive C: is actually a compressed DRVSPACE.000 drive, the original ramdisk hosting this DRVSPACE.000 is swapped to be drive F: by DOS. WDDOS.EXE assigns the original first booting partition a new drive letter, drive I:
For more detailed explanation of the settings of MSDOS.SYS, one can refer to any Windows 9X and DOS configuration secrets or guides found on the internet or computer books. A good reference on the internet is AXCEL216’s Windows 95/98/ME Complete MSDOS.SYS Reference at http://www.mdgx.com/msdos.htm.
The following is a brief related description of the entries found in the above example of MSDOS.SYS at 3.4:
[Paths]
WinDir=C:\WINDOWS
WinBootDir=C:\WINDOWS
HostWinBootDrv=C
UninstallDir=C:\
Under the [Paths] section are entries for specifying the location of the Windows 9X installation.
WinDir= specifies the installed system files of Windows 9X . It is also where Real Mode DOS expects to find and load up HIMEM.SYS, IFSHLP.SYS and DBLBUFF.SYS by default for preparing the transition from Real Mode DOS to Protected Mode Windows. The default location of where to find and load up HIMEM.SYS, IFSHLP.SYS and DBLBUFF.SYS however can be changed and overridden by specifying device= or devicehigh= entries in CONFIG.SYS. Such changes are usually necessary for network booting of diskless computers except using PXEGRUB/NBGRUB plus MEMDISK booting Windows 9X under Protected Mode. Other methods of network booting diskless computers usually require drawing up a floppy image and booting it up as DOS drive A: first. During this booting into Real Mode DOS, if Windows 9X is to be loaded later, HIMEM.SYS and IFSHLP.SYS at least have to be loaded. During such time, ramdisk drive C: has not been created, errors may occur and these files will be reported as not found if the locations of these two files are not duly changed through specifying in CONFIG.SYS in the DOS drive A: floppy image.
WinBootDir= specifies where the WIN.COM and a small number of other system files that are necessary for booting up Windows 9X . Usually, WinBootDir should be set as WinDir. However, as Windows 9X can be run in Split Mode, by dividing it into two parts. One part is represented by a System Drive, which contains all the system image of Windows 9X and other useful application files that are seldom changed and can be put into a Read-only or Write-protected drive. The other part is represented by a User Drive, which contains those Windows boot-up system files and user files, which include Windows System Registry, other configuration files, desktop configuration, etc. that are to be changed during daily running. If Windows 9X is configured to run in Split Mode, WinBootDir can be different from WinDir. DISKLESS ANGEL however implements an improved method of running Windows 9X in Split Mode that allows WinBootDir to be the same as WinDir. This therefore does not require changes to MSDOS.SYS and makes the configuration of Windows 9X running in different scenarios easier, including running in Split Mode or Non Split Mode [Integrated Mode] and booting from local hard disk as normal hard-disk-based operating system or ramdisk-based operating system. The running of Windows 9X in Split Mode will be covered in another chapter later.
HostWinBootDrv= therefore should be set to the drive where WinDir and WinBootDir are.
UninstallDir= is not necessary and points to where the user chooses to backup the previous operating system if found during Windows 9X setup.
[Options]
BootKeys=1
BootMulti=1
BootGUI=1
DoubleBuffer=0
AutoScan=0
WinVer=4.10.2222
SystemReg=0
DisableLog=1
Dblspace=1
BootKeys= specifies where users can access Startup Keys during Real Mode DOS boot-up. BootKeys=1 enables user access, otherwise not. Enabling user access to Startup Keys lets user find out, for instance, step by step what is happening when DOS and Windows load up its Startup files and where errors may occur. If a running system image is well tested, disabling user access [BootKeys=0] may speed up and start the system automatically and avoid users messing with the system.
BootMulti= specifies whether users can boot up the older operating system such as DOS. And this entry is not entirely necessary and may be removed.
BootGUI= specifies whether Windows 9X will automatically startup its Windows GUI by automatically issuing WIN command after processing AUTOEXEC.BAT. 1 enables automatic startup, otherwise user has to issue WIN command to go into Protected Mode Windows.
DoubleBuffer= specifies whether double buffering is used by loading DBLBUFF.SYS. 1 enables it and 0 the other way round. User can test which setting is good for use for the computer under concern.
AutoScan= specifies whether the system starts up with automatic scanning of the hard disk(s) after improper shutdown. 1 is autoscan and 0 is not.
WinVer= specifies the Windows version.
SystemReg= should be set to 0 for the purpose of booting Windows 9X as ramdisk-based operating system. If set to 1, Real Mode DOS may scan and determine whether there is a valid System Registry within WinBootDir and if not found, the system refuses to work.
DisableLog= specifies whether Windows 9X writes to a BOOTLOG.TXT for reporting startup operation. Specifying it to 0 enables the writing and to 1 disables it. If the DISKLESS ANGEL Client is booted up using a CDROM, then DisableLog should be set to 1.
Dblspace= specifies where the compression drive feature of Real Mode DOS and Win95/Win98 is used. Specifying it to 1 allows user to mount up compression drive automatically through setting DBLSPACE.INI or through the use of SCANDISK.EXE. Specifying it to 0 disables this feature. And WinME does not offer the feature of mounting up compression drive under Real Mode DOS.
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