running windows from a cd?

[blackboot]

I have been attempting for the last few days to create a bootable copy of windows on a cd. Not a boot disc, mind you, but an actual running copy of windows 98 that does not require the HD whatsoever. I got this idea from here:

http://www.heise.de/ct/Service/English.htm/99/11/206/

and im down to the last few adjustments to get this crazy thing to work...has anyone attempted to do this before? is anyone who's really good at config.sys and autoexec files, and DOS-based cdrom driver files interested in trying? im planning to install slackware(linux) on my laptop, but want to keep windows around too - but there's simply not enough room on a 2gb hard drive.


also, im interested in making another tutorial on this topic, as the one that i am learning from is a little over my head (and im hoping others too..) =) - supplying more hardware-specific instructions and such.

..namaste..

 

[cyberdyne]

Hi ! I went throught the article you have given link.
Sounds interesting. Would like to research further.
How far you have been into this Idea ?

reply

Apoorva

 

[Marcs41]

Blackfoot, there are already several posts on this issue, check the forum,
Another easy option is to use Ghost or DriveImage.

Or.. buy another disk, at the prices today ... even on eBay or so you can do a real good bargain. The solution is out there.

 

[blackboot]

apoorva -
well, actually i got all the way to the point of booting the cd, and after 3-4 coasters i decided to go with booting it from a diskette and having that point to the cd, and hopefully eventually just combine the two. after a good solid ten hours or so of working on this, some sleep and re-evaluation, i decided to look into the slackware mem. requirements and found that i _could_ partition the 2gb out and actually leave myself with a decent amount of room, and so ive been fiddling with linux the last few days and had forgotten about this project.

now, marcs41 talks of driveimage...i think the problem with this, is all of your registry files, autoexec and config files would all point to the wrong drive, unless...maybe you had a boot menu set up to
attrib D:\w\ C:
or something to that effect, so you could choose to boot from your cd and have DOS attrib the D: drive to C:. also, im not sure how driveimage works, but many commercial backup programs don't make a working copy of your HD - they do all sorts of compression, rendering it useless. secondly, you would either have to have a HD smaller than a CD, or partition it down to size, since these progs simply take a snapshot of your entire drive regardless of whether it is all used or not.
unfortunately, ill be away from the computer for a while now, probably until after the new year, but cyberdyne if you are still interested and around, mail me at entheogen5 at yahoo dot com and we could pick it up in a few weeks?

 

[cdogg]

blackboot,
Many have explored this in the past and have usually reached the same conclusions. Win9x/ME all heavily rely on an active "swap file" and "registry". It needs to have write access to both. Now, there are tricks to get Windows to use the swap file very little or not at all, but Windows would absolutely crawl - especially since you're running from a CDROM vs. HD which averages to be 50-100 times slower depending on the speed of the CDROM. Plus, I don't think there is a way around Windows needing write access to the registry.

In either case, even if you got it to work, would it actually be worth it? I doubt you could boot in less than 20 minutes, let alone run programs normally. CDROM seek times are far less advanced than a HD...


~cdogg

"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources."
- A. Einstein

 

[hotfusion]

I suppose it would be possible to simulate a CD-ROM environment on your HDD by disabling virtual memory and setting the attributes for system files - notably system.dat - to read-only, and seeing if the system was still usable.
I'll watch this thread with interest: Although as said by cdogg the system would be very slow to respond, it could have uses in years to come for running a 'legacy' Win98 system for those 'old' apps you still occasionally need to use!
Good luck with the project. My suggestions are what I would try myself. If incorrect, I welcome corrections to my rather limited knowledge. Andy.

 

[Enkrypted]

Blackboot,

I think the easiest thing to do in your situation is to pick up a ghosting program. All you would need to do is to load up one OS and all the drivers and stuff, make a ghost of that drive to a CD. Then you can do the same exact thing with the other OS. Just load the OS and all necessary drivers and make a ghost of it. This way you could switch operating systems easily and it wouldn't be a time consuming process. As mentioned by Cdogg, trying to run an operating system off of a CD is going to be more frustration than helpful. Enkrypted
A+

 

[blackboot]

it seems as though creating a partition and limiting windows to the very basic necessities was a much better idea, since it can run on a 400 mb partition.(possibly even smaller) that's what ive done, and do not intend to work on the cd-bootable version any longer.