Running Windows 2008 (runtime) off a USB Drive Without VHD

This post describes installing MS-Windows 2008 on a USB Drive without the help of a Virtual Hard Drive (VHD). In an earlier post I described how to do this WITH a VHD.

Installing windows onto a USB device requires quite some steps. In what situations this is possible I cannot say, but it obviously works in some.

Below is a description of a Windows 7 installation setting up a new USB HardDisk with "Hyper-V Windows Server 2008 R2".
Let's take every single step into account.

(Intermezzo's are used to show errors you would get when skipping steps. One of them is important.)

Assumptions
Your USB HDD drive letter is going to be "U:".
Your DVDDrive has drive letter "V:".
You have administrator rights.

Tools needed
Your Windows Installation Disk.
BootSect.exe (can be found in the "Boot" directory of your windows install disk).
Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) (Needed for ImageX).

Steps
1 - You will need access to the BIOS setup.
Make sure that your BIOS supports booting into a USB device.

2 - If you've got a brand new drive, you will need to initialize it. You can do this in Window's Disk Management tool, which is available in all windows versions.

Make sure you choose for NTFS. Give it a drive letter (we need it later). For the rest of this tutorial, I will assume drive letter "U:".

INTERMEZZO:
Trying to boot from the USB Drive will now give the following error.

Non-System disk or disk error.
Replace and strike any key when ready.

3 - Make sure the partition on the USB HDD that you wish to install in is Active. You can do this in de Windows Disk Management.
(This step got me going for a while……)
Note that the option to mark the partition as active will be greyed out if the partition is active by default.

4. Install WAIK. You should now have three "ImageX" executables (one for AMD64, one for Intel64, and one for 32 bits.) These can be found in C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools.

NOTE: For me the only one working was the AMD version, although I have an Intel T5500 processor !!?!??!?!

5 - Open an elevated command prompt.
Go to the correct WAIK directory for your machine.
Type the following command (DO NOT FORGET THE DRIVELETTER:)

BootSect /nt60 U:

Note the colon.
(Bootsect.exe updates the master boot code for hard disk partitions to switch between BOOTMGR and NTLDR.)

Leave the CMD open. We'll need it again later.

IMPORTANT
We need to make sure that your machine can actually boot into the USB Drive before we continue. Make sure the USB Drive is the first to boot so that a automatic restart will go back to the USB Drive.

Try it now, and make sure you get the following error when rebooting your machine. After that, boot back into windows so you can continue with this tutorial.


INTERMEZZO:
Trying to boot from the USB Drive will now give the following error.

BOOTMGR is missing.
Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart.


INTERMEZZO:
If you were now trying to install Windows onto the USB Drive, you would receive the following error:

6 - In de Elevated CMD run the following:

imagex /info V:\sources\install.wim

This will show you all the entries (or versions) available in the WIM-file; Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 has only one entry; it will have "index 1". No changes have been made yet.

Remember that V: was assumed to be the drive letter of your DVD Drive (where the Windows Install disk lives).

With the previously found index number, run the following:

imagex /apply /check /verify V:\sources\install.wim 1 U:

This step takes a while, and will place a complete image of the Windows version you want to install onto the USB drive.

7 - Boot files
Let's copy the necessary boot file to the USB Drive (use the elevated DOS prompt again):

bcdboot U:\Windows /s U: /v

(Note: if this fails it may help to disconnect and reconnect the USB Drive.)

8 - Clean up
You can now close the CMD where you ran BcdBoot.

Remove your Windows Install disk from the drive. It is no longer needed.

Reboot the machine, and make sure the FIRST boot device is the USB Drive. Windows may want to reboot a few times, and it would be annoying if it would boot into the wrong version.

Boot into the USB Drive and see the magic happen.

---

Running Windows 7 / 2008 (runtime) off a USB Drive using a VHD

This post describes installing MS-Windows 7 or MS-Windows 2008 on a USB Drive with help of a Virtual Hard Drive (VHD). In a later post I describe how to do this WITHOUT a VHD (which is easier for Windows 2008 but more complex for Windows 7).

Installing MS-Windows 7 or MS-Windows 2008 onto a USB device requires quite some steps. In what situations this is possible I cannot say, but it obviously works in some.

Below is a description of a Windows 7 installation setting up a new USB HardDisk with "Hyper-V Windows Server 2008 R2".
Let's take every single step into account.

(Intermezzo's are used to show errors you would get when skipping steps. One of them is important.)

Assumptions
Your USB HDD drive letter is going to be "U:".
Your DVDDrive has drive letter "V:".
You have administrator rights.

Tools needed
Your Windows Installation Disk.
BootSect.exe (can be found in the "Boot" directory of your windows install disk).
Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) (Needed for ImageX).

Steps
1 - You will need access to the BIOS setup.
Make sure that your BIOS supports booting into a USB device.

2 - If you've got a brand new drive, you will need to initialize it. You can do this in Window's Disk Management tool, which is available in all windows versions.

Make sure you choose for NTFS. Give it a drive letter (we need it later). For the rest of this tutorial, I will assume drive letter "U:".

INTERMEZZO:
Trying to boot from the USB Drive will now give the following error.

Non-System disk or disk error.
Replace and strike any key when ready.

3 - Make sure the partition on the USB HDD that you wish to install in is Active. You can do this in de Windows Disk Management.
(This step got me going for a while……)
Note that the option to mark the partition as active will be greyed out if the partition is active by default.

4. Install WAIK. You should now have three "ImageX" executables (one for AMD64, one for Intel64, and one for 32 bits.) These can be found in C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools.

NOTE: For me the only one working was the AMD version, although I have an Intel T5500 processor !!?!??!?!

5 - Open an elevated command prompt.
Go to the correct WAIK directory for your machine.
Type the following command (DO NOT FORGET THE DRIVELETTER:)

BootSect /nt60 U:

Note the colon.
(Bootsect.exe updates the master boot code for hard disk partitions to switch between BOOTMGR and NTLDR.)

Leave the CMD open. We'll need it again later.

IMPORTANT
We need to make sure that your machine can actually boot into the USB Drive before we continue. Make sure the USB Drive is the first to boot so that a automatic restart will go back to the USB Drive.

Try it now, and make sure you get the following error when rebooting your machine. After that, boot back into windows so you can continue with this tutorial.


INTERMEZZO:
Trying to boot from the USB Drive will now give the following error.

BOOTMGR is missing.
Press Ctrl+Alt+Del to restart.


INTERMEZZO:
If you were now trying to install Windows onto the USB Drive, you would receive the following error:

6 - Now things get complicated.
First we are going to create a VHD in which we can place an Image of the Windows version we want to install. In this tutorial I will call this Image.VHD. Note that this VHD is also the one that will eventually be used for new Windows Install. Make sure it's big enough, or make its size dynamic. (I've used fixed for my test, but I intend to change that). For permanent use I would recommend a name like "Win2K8R2_Image.VHD".

In the CMD we still have open:

Diskpart
(Starts the disk management CMD-utility)

create vdisk file=U:\Image.vhd maximum=14500 type=fixed
(This creates a VHD on the USB Drive with the size 14500 MB. As this file will later hold the actual Windows Version, it should be placed on the USB device, where it can be found by the boot manager. (This step will take a few minutes.)

select vdisk file=U:\Image.vhd
(Selects the created disk)

attach vdisk
(Attaches it so Windows can see it)

list disk
(Shows you all the disks in the system, note the number of your newly created VHD)

select disk disknumber
(Selects the newly created VHD)

create partition primary
(Creates a primary partition)

select partition 1
(Selects the primary partition)

active
(Sets it to active)

format fs=ntfs quick
(Format it with NTFS and do it quick)

assign
(Assigns a driveletter)

list volume
(Note the driveletter the new drive got!)

Leave DiskPart open and start a new CMD with administrative rights.
Please take note of the DriveLetter assigned. This will be referred to as "vhddrive:" from now on.

7 - In de Elevated CMD run the following:

imagex /info V:\sources\install.wim

This will show you all the entries (or versions) available in the WIM-file; Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 has only one entry; it will have "index 1". No changes have been made yet.

Remember that V: was assumed to be the drive letter of your DVD Drive (where the Windows Install disk lives).

With the previously found index number, run the following:

imagex /apply V:\sources\install.wim 1 vhddrive:

This step takes a while, and will place a complete image of the Windows version you want to install into the VHD.

8 - Boot files
Let's copy the necessary boot file from the new VHD to the USB Drive:

bcdboot vhddrive:\Windows /s U: /v

9 - Clean up
You can now close the CMD where you ran BcdBoot.
Go back to the CMD with DiskPart, en run:

detach vdisk

Exit

Close the CMD Window.

Remove your Windows Install disk from the drive. It is no longer needed. The created VHD will be used for installing Windows.

Reboot the machine, and make sure the FIRST boot device is the USB Drive. Windows may want to reboot a few times, and it would be annoying if it would boot into the wrong version.

Boot into the USB Drive and see the magic happen.

---

Credibility

I was more than surprised to see someone disbelieving a rather very interesting post, with quality content, because he ONLY HAD 6 COMMENTS. Unbelievable but true. Credibility is rated by the number of comments on a post. This a particularly awkward for new posts, as by definition new posts have ZERO COMMENTS. Oh dear.... should we start commenting on our own posts in order to attract attention?

Would the content of the comments matter?

Great post!
by Adje

Wonderfully put
by Frank

Experienced the very same thing!
by ScreenMan

Are you kidding me?
by TheDude

Chrome doesn’t stack or tile in Windows 7

Windows 7 has two features called

• Show windows side by side
• Show windows stacked

These can be reached by right-clicking the task-bar.

Personally, I don’t really have a need for it, but as it’s there, I decided to have a go at it.

So I opened some applications. Well, actually a few more than some: 35 to be exact. Unfair on Windows really, but it behaves remarkably well. With so many windows to tile or stack, the frames get of course very small, and they start overlapping. Which is curious, as they have not yet reached their resize limits!??!

Of course, there’s also apps that don’t resize so far down when done manually. Like Yahoo Messenger for example. As is to be expected, they don’t tile or stack well (as they refuse to get that small).

But what about Google Chrome? Manually it can be resized to any level; but when tiles or stacked, it doesn’t play ball. It refuses to budge even by 1 pixel. It simply remains sitting there…..

Now why would that be? Anyone?

Add VHD to Windows 7 boot menu

Nothing new here, and therefor short. It's mainly so I have this stored where I can easily reach it.
(Content stolen from others)

Here's how to add a VHD to Windows 7's boot menu.

• Start BCDEdit as Administrator
• Keep it simple: and copy an existing item (type this literally, but choose a new name)
       bcdedit /copy {current} /d "new name here"
  This will show you the newly created GUID, which we use in the next commands.
• Let the BCD know which files to use (note the square brackets and colon for the drive letter)
       bcdedit /set {new GUID} device vhd=[drive:]\<path to your vhd>\<your vhd>.vhd
       bcdedit /set {new GUID} osdevice vhd=[drive:]\<path to your vhd>\<your vhd>.vhd

Should you want to change the item's description:

• Find the GUID
       bcdedit /enum:
• Change description
       bcdedit /set {GUID} description "new description here"

For more information about the BCDEdit tool, read the article at TechNet

Install Windows 7/2008 on a VHD

Nothing new here, and therefor short. It's mainly so I have this stored where I can easily reach it.
(Content stolen from others)

Here's how to create a bootable VHD.

• Boot from DVD
• When the question for the regional settings appears, press SHIFT-F10. This opens a command prompt.
• Start DISKPART. With this Disk Partition Tool create a VHD file.
• Enter: CREATE VDISK FILE=<path to your vhd>\<your vhd>.vhd TYPE=EXPANDABLE MAXIMUM=20000

This creates a VHD file with a default size of 20Gb ("FIXED" size is possible if you like).

• Enter: SELECT VDISK FILE=<path to your vhd>\<your vhd>.vhd
• Enter: ATTACH VDISK
• Exit DISKPART and exit the Command Prompt.
• Continue the Windows installation and when the screen asks on what partition to install Windows, you can now select the newly created VHD! (Ignore any warnings).

The installation modifies the boot configuration, setting the new one as default.


For more information about the BCDEdit tool, read the article at TechNet

Auto elevating batchfiles

Having moved to Windows7 I found myself confronted with a small application no longer working: adding routes for VPN connection. Application wasn't mine, so recompiling not an option. What to do? Well, there used to be something called Batch files in Windows. They're still there.... As is PowerShell, but I'm not using that right now.

So, Batch file it is. Got some code from a colleague to get me started, built on it, and ran it from another application I use: mRemote. Alas, no dice. The Batch file needs elevated permissions to start.

There are several ways of doing that, depending on the context you're in, but it would be nice if it would elevate itself. So here's an example of how to do just that. The batch file checks if it has elevated rights, and when not, creates VBScript on the fly and lauches it. The VBScript calls the very same Batch file again with elevated permissions (you still get the prompt for permissions though).

Now, when I forget to run mRemote in elevated mode, the batch file will elevate itself.

The major problem I was/am facing doing this is the fact that it is rather difficult to pass parameters with spaces in it. Fact: I didn't manage. So I resolved to separate paramters with hashes (#) instead.

Here's the code to do all this (I hope nothing got stripped out when posting this).
The interesting bit from elevation point of view are:

• :testUAC
• :doElevation


@echo off
SetLocal enabledelayedexpansion

rem --- Usage ---
rem parameters must be separated by hash signs
rem e.g.: My VPN#My Name#My Password#1
rem Parameters:
rem VPNNAME e.g. My VPN
rem VPNUSERNAME e.g. erp234
rem VPNPASSWORD e.g. xyz123
rem NOPAUSE 0 / 1 ==> whether or not to pause at the end of the script

rem --- Push directory ---
rem In case we are called from withing other hosts
cd /D "%~dp0"

rem --- Deal with parameters ---
for /f "tokens=1-5 delims=#" %%a in ("%*") do (
set VPNNAME=%%a
set VPNUSERNAME=%%b
set VPNPASSWORD=%%c
set NOPAUSE=%%d
)
:testUAC
rem --- Test uac ---
rem We assume %windir% environment variable exists
rem Redirect error messages to NUL
rem THIS WILL FAIL IF DIRECTORY ALREADY EXISTS.
rem IS THERE A BETTER WAY OF CHECKING IF WE ARE ALREADY ELEVATED
mkdir %windir%\uactest 2>nul
if !ERRORLEVEL! == 1 (
goto :doElevation
) else (
rd %windir%\uactest /s /q
)

rem --- START MAIN section ---

:skipElevation

rem --- Stop the VPN ---
rem echo * Bestaande verbinding verbreken (indien aanwezig) : %VPNNAME%
rem rasdial "%VPNNAME%" /disconnect
rem echo.

:startVPN
rem --- Start the VPN ---
echo * Starting VPN : %VPNNAME%
rasdial "%VPNNAME%" %VPNUSERNAME% %VPNPASSWORD%
echo.
if !ERRORLEVEL! == 1 GOTO couldNotStartVPN

rem Reset VPNIP
set VPNIP=

rem Reset ERRORLEVEL
CD > NUL

echo * Identifying received IP from started connection....

ver | find "2003" > nul
if !ERRORLEVEL! == 0 goto getVPNIP_2003

ver | find "XP" > nul
if !ERRORLEVEL! == 0 goto getVPNIP_XP

ver | find "2000" > nul
if !ERRORLEVEL! == 0 goto getVPNIP_2000

ver | find "NT" > nul
if !ERRORLEVEL! == 0 goto getVPNIP_NT

rem --- Speed ---
rem Reg is way faster than SystemInfo
if exist %SystemRoot%\system32\reg.exe goto doReg
if exist %SystemRoot%\system32\systeminfo.exe goto doSysInfo
goto warnOSThenExit

:doReg
set vers=
for /f "tokens=3*" %%i IN ('reg query "HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion" /v ProductName ^| Find "ProductName"') DO set vers=%%i %%j
echo %vers%
goto continueOS

:doSysInfo
set vers=
for /f "delims=: tokens=2" %%i IN ('systeminfo ^| find "OS Name"') DO set vers=%%i

goto continueOS

:continueOS
echo %vers% | find "Windows 7" > nul
if !ERRORLEVEL! == 0 goto getVPNIP_7

echo %vers% | find "Windows Server 2008" > nul
if !ERRORLEVEL! == 0 goto getVPNIP_2008

echo %vers% | find "Windows Vista" > nul
if !ERRORLEVEL! == 0 goto getVPNIP_VISTA

goto warnOSThenExit

rem Reset ERRORLEVEL
CD > NUL

:getVPNIP_nt
goto warnOSThenExit

:getVPNIP_2000
goto warnOSThenExit

:getVPNIP_XP
rem Windows XP
for /f "skip=3 tokens=3" %%a in ('netsh diag show ip Miniport*') do (
set VPNIP=%%a
GOTO createRoutes
)
GOTO couldNotGetVPNIP

:getVPNIP_2003
goto warnOSThenExit

:getVPNIP_VISTA
goto warnOSThenExit

:getVPNIP_7
rem Windows 7
for /f "tokens=3" %%a in ('netsh interface ip show addresses "%VPNNAME%" ^| find "IP Address"') do (
set VPNIP=%%a
GOTO createRoutes
)
GOTO couldNotGetVPNIP

:getVPNIP_2008
goto warnOSThenExit

:couldNotGetVPNIP
echo ! Failed to identify IP address from connection.
GOTO END

:couldNotStartVPN
echo ! Failed to start VPN : %VPNNAME%
GOTO END

:warnOSThenExit
echo ! No implementation for your OS
GOTO END

:createRoutes
echo * Routeringen worden aangelegt voor 'qqq'
route add 'ip1' MASK 255.255.0.0 %VPNIP%
route add 'ip2' MASK 255.255.0.0 %VPNIP%
echo.

:OK
echo * Connection established : %VPNNAME%

:END
if !NOPAUSE! == 1 GOTO ENDNOPAUSE
echo * This window may be closed
pause

:ENDNOPAUSE
set VPNIP=
set VPNNAME=
set VPNUSERNAME=
set VPNPASSWORD=
set NOPAUSE=EndLocal

exit

rem --- elevation routine ---

:doElevation
set str_ElevName="%temp%\elevate.vbs"
echo ' // On the fly created for elevating Batch files > %str_ElevName%
echo ' // (Should also work on other types) >> %str_ElevName%
echo Set objShell = CreateObject("Shell.Application") >> %str_ElevName%
echo Set objWshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell") >> %str_ElevName%
echo Set objWshProcessEnv = objWshShell.Environment("PROCESS") >> %str_ElevName%
echo strDir = "" ^& Wscript.Arguments(0) >> %str_ElevName%
echo strApp = "" ^& Wscript.Arguments(1) >> %str_ElevName%
echo strParam = "" >> %str_ElevName%
echo For i = 3 to Wscript.Arguments.Count >> %str_ElevName%
echo strParam = strParam ^& Wscript.Arguments(i-1) ^& " " >> %str_ElevName%
echo next >> %str_ElevName%
echo objShell.ShellExecute strApp, "" ^& strParam, strDir, "runas" >> %str_ElevName%
start wscript //nologo "%temp%\elevate.vbs" "%cd%" "%~nx0" %*
goto :ENDNOPAUSE

Virtual PC on Windows 7 without hardware virtualization

(Yes, it can be done. It's simple too. Read on.)

... I installed Windows7.... Office 2010 beta.... and some good oldies.....
And then I wanted to use my Virtual Machines that I happened to use A LOT under windows XP. So I searched for Microsoft's Windows Virtual Machine, which offered me to download first XP Mode, and then Windows Virtual PC. Obedient as I am, I did so.

It didn't work. It said I needed Hardware Virtualization. Fine! Opened the BIOS. No dice!
I mean: no virtualization. Flashed the BIOS (one never knows, and one has to try). No dice!

So here I was, stuck with an old T5500 Intel Processor on a HP nx9420 machine, with a nice modern Windows7 that can't run my old VMs.

So, fed up as I was, I went to clean out some hard-disks (I needed the space for VHDs with Server 2008 R2 on it). And one has to pass the time somehow (like 2 kids don't keep me busy enough. Hah!). While browsing through my HardDisks I came across some old version of Virtual PC (64 bit SP1). I figured I'd give it ago (it really sounds like I was bored doesn't it?).

Guess what: runs like a house on fire.

Of course, the web is full of stories that hardware virtualization is needed for the new Microsoft Virtual PC. What the web isn't full of, is the fact that the old Microsoft Virtual PC software still works. I'm happy again.....

If you need the old 2007 version, just respond to my blog (I still have the 32 bit version too).