Newcomer's Tutorial

LiveXP with BootSDI!

LiveXP is a stable, highly configurable booting platform; based on Windows XP and uses your
XP SP2 installation CD as source. This tutorial features builds with BootSDI (image run from
RAM) which ensures that LiveXP will out-perform anything else out there! Fast booting, very
quick response time, readily customizable, simple to add/remove programs, drivers etc. Once
you get the feel for it, easy to create your own scripts for programs, additional drivers etc.
Bootable from CD/DVD, UFD, USB or even as multi-boot option from HDD! Fully suited for
'newcomers' and advanced users alike. I personally use these boot disks daily in my work and
at home. I'm hoping this tutorial helps get you started enjoying these great tools and that you
will post your questions and suggestions here in the forum for others to learn from as well.

Before getting started, please, backup your hard drive! - DriveImage XML works fine and is
free! Remove as many program icons from your system tray as possible while running
WinBuilder, these 'background' programs can interfere with the build process. Please follow
the instructions here exactly as given, this will really help us, help you, if you should get
stuck; once you have a successful run or two under your belt, you can get more creative and
start trying different options, adding programs etc.

Note: LiveXP requires a valid Windows XP SP2 (Home or Pro) installation source, it is
recommended to copy the contents of the XP Install CD to a folder on your hard drive first and
use that folder as your source (Windows Server 2003 also works). Simply insert your
installation disk, open/explore to view the contents. Select all files and folders on the CD and
copy these to a folder on your hard drive named 'XPPSP2' (or similar). This will be the
folder you browse to and select as your source in WinBuilder.

Print this tutorial ahead of time to have it as a reference guide for setting up your project,
choose Options - Print this topic from the upper right menu on this page to display a printer
friendly layout (just print the pages you need). Now, there are two methods below that you
will want to consider before starting; the 'Pre-Setup Method', I highly recommend trying
first. This is a special, custom built, LiveXP with BootSDI option which is largely pre-
configured for you. Just choose your Source folder and run! I have pre-tested all the
builds for stability and included additional features not found in the 'live' download version.
Note: do not change any settings or options in these pre configured builds! until you
know what you are doing. Just define your source in the WinBuilder main menu, that's it. If

you have any questions, by all means, ask!

Here's a look at just some of things you can do in LiveXP:

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Have fun and happy booting!

Pre-Setup Method:

Start here and follow along step by step...

Download the pre-packaged project below and save it to your desktop...

lx101408min Basic build for testing and learning - DL 42.5MB (131MB ISO)
 Note: It is highly recommended to run this stable, minimal build first to determine if any
issues exist with your particular hardware setup. If issues are found i.e. NIC (network
interface card) not supported or similar, now is the time to catch it and fix it before moving on
to more advanced projects. Due to the nature of the WinBuilder program, this may involve
changing settings, adding additional drivers etc. and re-running the build process (perhaps
repeatedly - see notes in tutorial on re-running builds). It is much easier and less time
consuming to do this with a minimum build. Good luck and if you do run into trouble, be sure
to post your issue in the forum along with your log.html (zip it first), you find this log in your
base directory (in the same folder as WinBuilder.exe).

Once the archive is downloaded, double click it and extract to your active drive (C:)

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The extracted folder is your base directory (%BaseDir%) and includes WinBuilder.exe:

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Note: Don't change anything in this directory or the build won't work!
 Double-click WinBuilder.exe to open the project interface:

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Click on the Paths tab and choose your source path - This will be either your install CD or
the folder you copied its contents to on your hard drive (recommended). This is the folder that
contains everything you copied from your Windows installation CD (Example: "E:\XPPSP2").
Note: there should be a sub-folder named I386 in this source folder.

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Now, sit back, relax and hit the big blue PLAY button. Build times can vary depending on
your computer (allow at least 10-15 minutes). There are times when the build process seems
to 'stall', especially during DPs_Mass_Storage_Drivers and NET drivers install/setup but this is
normal so don't panic and start hitting buttons, just relax, go have a snack and come back
later, there's nothing you need to do until the build finishes up and you see the virtual boot
screen showing what your project will look like when booted. Good luck and if all goes well,
you should see a desktop like this when your ISO boots up:
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Except, it'll be your wallpaper, not mine

Note: Qemu is extremely slow!! (can take a few minutes for desktop to fully build)! Just
use it to confirm your build boots without errors. When you're done checking in Qemu, close
the window and wait for ImgBurn to prompt for a blank disc, CD or DVD, -R or -RW (I
recommend -RW for testing). If you don't want to burn the disc now, close ImgBurn and wait
for the build to finish; you can burn it later from the ISO, automatically saved for you, in
%BaseDir%/ISO directory.

When the build is done, you can view the final results in the Log window (takes a few seconds
for the results to appear).

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If you do have any errors or warnings in the log, zip up a copy of the log.html (auto-saved
in your base directory) and include this, along with your question to the forum here.
The information saved in this log will help us to know what went wrong and, hopefully, how to
help you correct it.

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If no errors, you're ready to try a real boot by re-starting the PC with your LiveXP media in the
drive and hitting any key at 'Boot to CD' prompt. (If you don't get the prompt, it probably
means your BIOS isn't setup to boot from your CD drive. Post a question on this and I or
someone will walk you through it.) If you haven't burned the CD yet or need to burn it again
manually from the ISO created, you'll find it in
%BaseDir%\ISO (C:\(folder containing winbuilder.exe)\ISO).

Notes on running projects again if changes are required or for general testing purposes;
save the original (pre-build) project folder (or the SFX archive you downloaded) to use as a
starting point for new builds. Start fresh with this same folder at your root drive (C:) and
make any changes needed before running the project again; in this way changes/updates are
better controlled. Keep notes and backups of everything you do to be able to reproduce
desired results in the future.

Additional Options:

Screen resolution settings, I've set the default to 1024x768; this is the resolution LiveXP
will default to when booted and should be fine for most system setups but if you want to
change this setting, it's easy to do (before the build). To get to these options, expand the tree
 view under 'XP Live CD' on the left side of the WinBuilder interface, go to Basic - Tweaks -
Display Properties and choose a different screen resolution**.
You can confirm if the resolution setting is appropriate for your needs in the Qemu (virtual)
boot before burning to a disc.

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**SetResolution, in the tree view above, also allows for changing defaults in LiveXP and lets
you choose virtual boot resolution settings as well. This is nice but has some side effects which
are being worked out (screen flickers at boot up etc.). Any changes like this must be done
prior to building your project for the options to take effect. Of course, you can also change
resolution after booting (rt-click desktop - Properties - Settings) but this setting change will be
lost at next boot.

Adding additional files to your build, There is an option in BootSDI script to 'Include' user
defined files at the root of your CD/DVD. Just point to a directory on your host machine and all
files, including sub-folders, will be included for easy, portable access from PE! This means
backup image files for use with backup tools (like Acronis, Ghost etc.); DriverPacks and I386
source folders etc. This allows for easy, unattended installs, Universal Restore solutions etc.
The beauty of this option is that it allows you to carry all your files on one disc and doesn't
increase the size of the BootSDI image! i.e. the files that load to RAM and boot your PC are
the same, regardless of how many files you 'include' on your CD/DVD so it doesn't increase
load times or the demand on limited RAM resources. You get to this option by expanding the
tree view on the left, under 'XP Live CD'; browse to Finish - Create Image - BootSDI and
highlight the script to see its options panel (script UI):
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In the Include section above, browse to the directory you've setup on your host machine
containing any files, folders and sub-folders you want to include on your boot disk. Your only
limitation is the size of your media; so, subtract the size of your boot image (usually ~100-
200MB) from the total capacity of your media (CD=~700MB; DVD=~4.7GB; DVD/DL=~8.5GB
etc.) to determine how much space you have available for these files. There's even an option
to add a shortcut to your PE desktop if desired.

Add-Remove Programs, Drivers Etc. You can add your own, favorite program scripts to
any 'base' build and have them included in your boot disk! Obviously, removing ones you don't
want is just as easy and in this way you customize your boot environment the way you want
it. First, get the scripts! You can download scripts from many sources; you're looking for
scripts that purport to be compatible with LiveXP (or nativeEx); here's some to get started:
Boot-Land, LiveXP, Updates, Galapo's, NativeEx, Pedrole, Thunn, Carfan, Edborg, amalux. Of
course, you can also download directly through WinBuilder's interface to get the latest updates
included in any given project and then pick and choose what you need from there. Wherever
you get them, check a couple things before adding them to your build; open the script in
Notepad++ (free) or any good text editor and confirm in the top, [Main] section of the script,
the following values (if different, change them): Level=5 (for Programs); =6 (for Drivers);
=10 (for Tools). These are the most common types of scripts you'll be adding or removing in
your build. You can look at one other item in this same section, Selected=True (this means
it's selected to run in the build); this refers to the check-box of the script in WinBuilder's tree
view; =False means box with NO check (NOT selected to run in build) and =None means NO
BOX at all!, only used for Tools that run independently of the build. The directories where
you'll add-remove these scripts is "%BaseDir%\Projects\LiveXP\Apps", for programs;
"\\LiveXP\Drivers", for drivers and "\\LiveXP\Tools" for tools! (go figure). Under Apps you'll
find sub-folders for each category of program; these folders often contain more than one
program and are used for organizing the different types of scripts rather than as individual
 'Program Folders' (although a single program or program group can have it's own folder).
These folders will also affect how the program is listed in the LiveXP, Start Menu if no 'Start
menu sub-folder' is specified in the script.

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Just add new driver scripts, virtual or hardware, to the appropriate folder (see above, should
be self-explanatory but if confused, just ask); check in the driver script's [Main] section that
Level=6 in all of them and make sure that they're checked in WinBuilder's tree view
(Selected=True) so that they'll be included in the build. With both drivers and programs, you
need to confirm that the scripts are compatible with your project; the tried and true method is
to run the project with a few new scripts and see which ones work. Just because a script says
that it's compatible doesn't mean it's going to work in every build; run it and see is the only
way to know for sure. If you get some errors in your log, try to track down what lines in the
script are causing trouble and if needed, post your log.html and question in the forum for help.
This should be enough to get you started customizing the build the way you want it and allow
for adding or removing scripts as needed.
__

More Advanced Options:

Setting up a UFD boot disk - In addition to the usual CD and DVD boot media; if your
machine allows it, you can also boot from a 'UFD' (USB Flash Drive); these are the little 'Key'
drives that look more like a key chain ornament than a boot disk. They come in different sizes
from a few MB's to 8Gig's or more. For a LiveXP bootable, your going to need at least 256-
512MB, depending on the size of your build. It's nice to have the extra space available for
backup images; drivers etc. You will need PeToUSB tool for this, run it from Windows after
your LiveXP project has completed. You'll need the 'Target' folder created in your base
directory as the source files for this tool to setup your device. Plug in your UFD (don't use an
extension hub) and make sure it's recognized by Windows (you should see it in My Computer).
Note: all data will be lost when you format the drive with PeToUSB, you must format with LBA
(FAT16X) enabled for most computers to boot from this type of disk:
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Setup your options as above, make sure your UFD is listed as Destination; browse to your
%BaseDir%\Target\LiveXP folder as Source and hit Start. After PeToUSB completes, open
your UFD in My Computer and make sure your files look correct:

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One of the files above, ntdetect.com, needs a little 'modification' (easy to do); you'll need a
special hex editor, like TinyHexer (free) and the simple instructions provided here (thanks to
ilko and, of course, Dietmar Stölting!). Just highlight all the text within the code box (on the
web page), rt-click and Save. Now open your ntdetect.com file in TinyHexer by selecting File,
Open and Browse to ntdetect in your UFD device's root directory (not in sub-folder!).
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Rt-click anywhere in the text, choose Select All and hit Backspace to clear all text;
should look like this:

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Now, rt-click in the empty field and choose Paste to enter the new text you saved from the
web-site; choose Save (check the box for 'Hex text' in 'Select data format' pop-up) and exit;
confirm your new file is exactly 47,596 Bytes in rt-click properties (just confirms you
entered the correct text) and you're done. If your PC won't recognize the UFD as a boot
device, it either means your PC doesn't support USB booting or you need to make some
changes in your BIOS settings. Specifically required for this are USB Emulation toggled ON
and HDD Sequence set to USB Device (the fact the option is there means it recognises the
USB drive at least). Remember, the UFD must be plugged in for these options to appear in
BIOS setup!
--

Setting up an external USB HD - This requires a different setup and PeToUSB won't work
here. You need to be using a USB 2.0 hard drive with the first, bootable partition formatted
FAT16 (max 2GB) Primary/Active. Remainder can be NTFS or anything you want. The
following files/folders must be setup on this first partition:

minint = Renamed I386 from NON-BootSDI CD (or ISO)

Program Files = PROGRAM FILES from same CD
Windows = WINDOWS (if exists) from same CD
PROJECTINFO.INI (from same CD)
MODELRAM.EXE (from same CD)
plus:
ntdetect.com = Dietmar's mod from ilko's post here (original ntdetect can be from any source)
NTLDR = Renamed SETUPLDR.BIN (from your XP, I386 source folder)

Remember, the first five items listed must be from a NON-BootSDI, LiveXP CD (or ISO).
These first five go together for any given build, so when you want to update the build on your
USB drive, get all five of these together from your new LiveXP source CD/ISO. The modded
ntdetect.com and NTLDR are interchangeable across projects and can be left from one projecrt
to the next. If you need further instruction on this, see here.
--
For additional options, including booting LiveXP from an internal HDD with multi-boot
setup, please see the excellent tutorial by wimb here. Have fun
__

Advanced Builds:

When you're ready, you can try your hand at some of these more advanced projects

lx101408cxs Lite setup and recovery tool set with no frills - DL 42.5MB (131MB ISO)

lx101408cx Complete recovery build with advanced tools - DL 107MB (247MB ISO)

lx101408mx 'Media Edition' for movies, music and more! - DL 78MB (207MB ISO)

That's it! (for now), please post questions, concerns, suggestions etc. If all went
well as expected, let us know that too! If you're ready to try the very latest updates
and improvements that Boot-Land has to offer (without the training wheels); feel
free to try the 'Live Method' below and best of luck! Keep on booting!