MAKING AN EMERGENCY BOOT CD
That also includes lots of utility software.

The professional version includes:
1. “Volkov Commander 4.0” = “A Perfect Shell”
2. Command Prompt = DOS 7.10
3. Microsoft Scandisk = Disk error fixing tool
4. “Recover MBR”
5. Norton Unformat = Data Rescue Tool
6. Norton Unerase = Recover Deleted Files
7. FDisk = HDD Partition Manager
8. Norton DiskEdit = Professional tool
9. Image = Partition Image Manager
10. Norton WipeInfo = Unrecoverable File Removal Utility
11. Boot WinNT/2000/XP = Create Emergency Floppy to boot these O/S’s

There is also a “Lite” version.

INSTRUCTIONS
1. Go to www.bootdisk.com, find “iso’s for Bootable CD’s [BETA]” [7th in the list] and click on the “EBCD” link adjacent. This should take you to http://www.ebcd.i-am.ru/ where you should click on the “Download” link in the left-hand list [“English” should be highlighted above the list].
2. You should now be taken to the download page and at the bottom of the page should be listed two zip files in a small table. These are “ebcdlite.zip” & “ebcdpro.zip”. You can download either or both of these in succession. I downloaded them to a suitable location in a folder system on a CD-RW disk using “packet writing” software. I keep this disk solely for downloaded software. You could put them anywhere [on the HDD perhaps] you find convenient.
3. What I did then was to make a temporary folder in the root folder of the C: drive named “00temp”. That is “C:\00temp”. [The double zero before “temp” makes sure the file is positioned at the top of the folder system and so is easily noticed] and inside this I made another named “ebcdpro” [address = C:\000temp\ebcdpro”]. If you were going to use the “Lite” version you could make “C:\00temp\ebcdlite”.
4. Copy and paste the zip file of either the “Lite” version or the “Pro” version [I used the Pro version to the “C:\00temp\ebcdpro”] to a suitable folder.
5. Make a folder inside this named “Extracted” and unzip the files to this folder [in my case C:\00temp\ebcdpro\Extracted].
6. If all went well there should be included a file named “makeebcd.bat”. Right-click on this and click open and a file will [slowly] be created named “ebcd-050203-pro.iso” [or “ebcd-050203-lite.iso” if you chose to make the “lite” version]. This is an “Image” file that you must write to a CD-R or CD-RW using an appropriate software application. You can use “Packet Writing” software to make a CD-R disk in ISO9660 format [in this format it MUST be a CD-R disk that is used]. I used “Easy CD Creator”>File>”Create CD from Disk Image” and a CD-RW disk.
7. In my case a “Select Image file” window appeared and I used this to navigate to the “iso” file [created in 6 above] and clicked ok. Then I just followed the normal the normal disk making steps. The CD was made quite quickly.
8. To test it I restarted my PC, [during the early stages I put the CD-RW disk into my master CD-Drive]. Entered the “BIOS Setup>BIOS Features Setup>Boot Sequence” and changed the sequence to make “CD-ROM” the first in the boot sequence [then C then A], then “Save & Exit Setup”, changed the “N” to a “Y” and pressed “Enter”.
9. The disk started to boot quite nicely and I pressed “1” & [Enter] (I could have just pressed [Enter]) to boot the CD software [with no LFS/NTFS (long filename support/new technology filename support I think)]. But it took an age [about 20 minutes I think] to load the image into memory. As a result I left it alone to load and missed the next stage which is the selection of English rather than Russian as the language used. Anyway, you are next presented with a nice colourful menu of utility programmes [as listed above].

Apparently there are also a large number of DOS commands included as follows:

extract.exe, chkdsk.exe, edit.com, scandisk.exe, scandisk.ini,
sys.com, xdel.exe, attrib.exe, format.com, msfdisk.exe
debug.exe, mode.com, expand.exe, choice.com, keyb.com,
diskcomp.com, diskcopy.com, doskey.com, exezbin.exe, fc.exe,
find.exe, mem.exe, more.com, recover.exe, sort.exe,
subst.exe, tree.com, deltree.exe, xcopy.exe, xcopy32.exe,
label.exe, cvt.exe

The making of an “Emergency Boot CD” was included in a magazine article in the latest copy [Issue 136 of 1–14 May 2003] of “Computer Active” magazine entitled “Farewell to floppies”.
They were trying to convince the readers that the days of the floppy drive are few and its end is in sight.
This CD certainly includes a lot more than a floppy ever could but [on my PC at least] it takes SOOOOoooo long to load.

I think I’ll be using my trusty floppy in preference to this unless I need the programmes included and can only get them there.

Just keeping this alive a little longer.

Glad you did - I missed it the first time.

Here's some of the things this disk is able to do.
If anyone knows how to get it to do them please explain, it's a mystery to me.

"CORRECTED" QUOTE
EBCD is a bootable CD, intended for system recovery in the case of software or hardware faults. It is able to create backup copies of normally working system and restore system to saved state. It contains the best system software ever created, properly compiled and configured for the maximum efficient use.

EBCD will be very useful when you need to:
1. Copy/move files (with long names, not necessary in CP437 encoding) from/to the disk when the OS (windows, linux...) cannot boot. In particular, you may create a backup copy of normally installed and configured Windows and later restore Windows from such backup copy. So, in the case of fault, the OS itself and all software and its settings can be restored in 5-10 minutes.
2. Perform emergency boot of Windows NT / 2000 / XP. When the loader of this OS on the hard disk is damaged or misconfigured, you are able to load OS using another standalone loader from this CD.
3. Recover master boot record of HDD. This allows you to boot the OS after incorrect uninstallation of custom loader (LILO, for example), which made all OS's on your PC not bootable.
4. Delete, move, copy to file (image) and re-create partition from file. Image transfer over network is also supported: so you may configure one PC and then make contents of harddisks of other PCs same as contents of the harddisk of the first one.
5. Change password of any user, including administator of Windows NT/2000/XP OS. You do not need to know the old password.
6. Recover deleted files, even files re-deleted from Windows Recycle Bin, and, in contrast, wipe single file or a whole disk so that it will be impossible to recover it in any way.
7. Recover data from accidently formatted disk. Sometimes it helps to recover data from a disk, damaged by a virus.
8. Recover data from a floppy disk, which is not readable by OS. Fromat 3.5" disk for 1.7 Mb size

Also the disk includes full set of external DOS commands, console versions of the most popular archivers/compressors.
Moreover, emergency boot CD includes minimal Linux distribution (Rescue Linux distribution) which may be very useful to a professional user.
END OF QUOTE

EBCD - Emergency Boot CD
can now be got here http://www.t4k.org/~ebcd/

I haven't tried it.
If you do could you report back on the experience?

Got it last week but havent played with it that much. Downloaded, Unzipped, Ran the exe, Burnt the default iso using Nero. All that was very easy.

It was then quite straightforward to boot to the CD and then one gets a number of boot options. There are then prompts to enable a mouse, CDROM, etc. Thereafter its a matter of which apps you want to run. There are a lot of apps on it including some very powerful ones such as hex editors and so on. It also has an image maker/restorer - though cant remember which one. The DOS version was 7.x (7.2 I think) and there was also FreeFDisk, which is much more versatile than FDisk.

I burned to a CDRW because I will add such things as an antivirus and possibly partition magic and drive image and so on at a later stage.

Looks like it could be a life-saver at some point. One to definitely have in the first aid bag - particularly if no Floppy drive!!

:p Nice, wel explained !!

This is a really cool and useful utility. :cool: It took one or two attempts to customise an iso the way I wanted it. One must be spot on with the xml references (a couple of which are wrong in the download I had been using). A bit of trial and error and careful re-reading of the setup information has enabled me to have a boot cd with all the default stuff PLUS Drive Image PLUS Partition Magic PLUS AVG Antivirus PLUS An Installation of Win98 (just for the hell of it).

Was particularly interested to get AVG working this way and for anyone that's interested:-
I first used the "Make Rescue" disks for AVG - but instead of copying to A (the default) copied to a HDD folder referenced by a new xml file and a new line in the settings.xml file - in my case this was:-
<External Name="AVG Antivirus" Include="Y" SourcePath="D:<BS>EBCD<BS>!EXTERN<BS>AVGR" />
I used the path and folder in the line above to contain the AVG floppy diskette files but obviously this could be anywhere on your HDD.

The new xml file for AVG was placed in the BOOTRD1-PRO folder and called 54-AVG.xml and contained the following code (I designated all the files as required even if not striclty true):-

<EBCDML ExternalComponent="AVG Antivirus">
<RequiredFile Name="AVG6.AVI" Target="<BS>" />
<RequiredFile Name="AVG.EXE" Target="<BS>" />
<RequiredFile Name="AVG.LNG" Target="<BS>" />
<RequiredFile Name="AVG.OVL" Target="<BS>" />
<RequiredFile Name="AVG.SNU" Target="<BS>" />
<RequiredFile Name="avghelp.dat" Target="<BS>" />
<RequiredFile Name="index" Target="<BS>" />
<RequiredFile Name="MICROAVI.AVG" Target="<BS>" />
<RequiredFile Name="MINIAVI.000" Target="<BS>" />
<RequiredFile Name="MINIAVI.001" Target="<BS>" />
<RequiredFile Name="SYSTAB.RST" Target="<BS>" />
<RequiredFile Name="version.avg" Target="<BS>" />
<Menu_Alt Name="AVG&YRescue" Category="6.0">
<Description Codepage="CP437" Value="Antivirus Scanner" />
<Description Codepage="CP866" Value="Óíèâå" />
<Line>if exist A:<BS>BIN<BS>DOS<BS>SMARTDRV.EXE A:<BS>BIN<BS>DOS<BS>SMARTDRV.EXE /C</Line>
<Line>A:<BS>AVG.EXE</Line>
</Menu_Alt>
</EBCDML>


Note that the Target chosen for the files is the root. And, once running, the root of the boot CD is the A: drive (so in this respect it truly emulates a boot floppy!). The relevance with AVG is that its files seem only to work from the root and need to look for (they are actually non-existent) floppies #2 and #3; just press enter when these prompts appear and the scanner should proceed to work flawlessly.

Also note that the name of the "ExternalComponent" must be absolutely identical to the "External Name" used in the reference line at the start.

Other points: The ampersand in AVG&YRescue is necessary to create a "hotlink" and I chose Y because no duplicates are allowed.

I had problems when compiling isos if there were large numbers of files in total and I don't yet know if this was just me or whether there is an actual limitation.

This all turned out to scan much faster than from floppy diskettes and much more easily and is probably related to the smartdrv.exe references as well as the simplicity of a single boot CD.

All in all - Well worth the effort!! ;)

PS There should be a back-slash (reverse solidus)

where the <BS> combo appears in the php above

I couldn't get it to be visible using the backslash itself or the & # 92; encoding for \.

:D Nightmare getting this to format right so post any queries of things are not clear.

Only one problem with AVG in DOS is that one can't scan NTFS partitions. Does anyone know a workaround for this maybe. Anyone used NTFSDOS for example - or another antivirus package?

not quite clear on where the / should appear? in which
<BS> ?
Any chance you could attach the corrected code in a text file that can be downloaded?

Paul,

Yes NTFSDOS works very well, but the free version just gives read support, so AVG would not be able to "heal" anything found.

I'm not sure of any other free AV that would actually work from DOS any better...

pave The attached text is a copy of the xml file I have found to work - it would obviously need to be edited appropriately.

Another "workaround" (as far as AVG is concerned) is to copy the complete contents of the Grisoft/AVG6 folder into a CDROM-PRO\75-MyComponent\AVGfiles folder and create and edit a CDROM-PRO\75-MyComponent.xml file appropriately (that is containing the single line tag enclosing just:- EBCDML / )

This folder, along with any others you add as subfolders of the 75-MyComponent folder, get copied to the CD in a straightforward manner. It is then possible to navigate to this folder on the CD and run AVG.exe from there; and it works perfectly. Just as perfectly as navigating to one's own AVG6 folder and running AVG.exe from within DOS. In time I will learn which are the necessary and unnecessary files to copy over.

What is "strange" is that referencing the complete contents of the Grisoft files folder by compiling it into the ISO rather than just copying it to the CD using the second method, has always either failed to generate the ISO or has failed to function at all when called from one of the various boot options on the EBCD.

The bottom line is that both methods can be made to work - but it is just messy to have to navigate to the CDROM, particularly on a system with loads of partitions and drives on it, when a boot menu item could work so simply.

BTW, the F-PROT DOS Antivirus works very well in EBCD and is a free download from F-Prot. What I like about using AVG is that since I already use it on my system, its .avi is up-to-date, and so I don't have to bother with any new downloads to create an up-to-date DOS version, make the new ISO and burn to CDRW.

There is a bit of fiddling around getting this baby to do what one wants but this is one of THE MOST USEFUL utilities I have come across. My own ISO now has PM, DI, AVG, F-Prot, WipeOut and Win98 Setup files on it in addition to the utilities that come bundled with it.

:cool: :cool: :cool:

paveSeems like the file didn't upload - and the site has been hard to get onto - so trying it again now.

mjc It would be nice to be able to have the read/write version of NTFSDOS - but not worth the money in my case.

The EBCD does have a nice LFN/NTFS file manager on it and one can also manipulate NTFS files from within FAT using Partition Magic's "Browse" facililty. Of course neither of these allow one to run a DOS application on NTFS from within FAT.

The potential problem that would be nice to be capable of solving is someone with WinXP on NTFS on say a Laptop with no floppy drive that has been screwed by a virus and for whom it is important to get access and avoid a clean install if possible; and to avoid long-winded methods of getting important data off the pc - also if possible.

In the absence of an NTFSDOS scenario, the only way I can see of doing this would be to setup a parallel install of Win2K or XP, then install an uptodate antivirus and then run it from there or by attaching another bootable hdd etc. Any other ideas of how to run (and not via a network) an antivirus on an NTFS partition that one cant get into?

Now I understand!:rolleyes:

Thanks!

Finally found out to format it to display correctly ;) So (just for the hell of it):-

&lt;EBCDML ExternalComponent="AVG Antivirus" &gt;
&lt;RequiredFile Name="AVG6.AVI" Target="\" /&gt;
&lt;RequiredFile Name="AVG.EXE" Target="\" /&gt;
&lt;RequiredFile Name="AVG.LNG" Target="\" /&gt;
&lt;RequiredFile Name="AVG.OVL" Target="\" /&gt;
&lt;RequiredFile Name="AVG.SNU" Target="\" /&gt;
&lt;RequiredFile Name="avghelp.dat" Target="\" /&gt;
&lt;RequiredFile Name="MICROAVI.AVG" Target="\" /&gt;
&lt;RequiredFile Name="MINIAVI.AVG" Target="\" /&gt;
&lt;RequiredFile Name="version.avg" Target="\" /&gt;

&lt;Menu_Alt Name="AVG&amp;YRescue" Category="6.0" &gt;
&lt;Description Codepage="CP437" Value="Antivirus Scanner" /&gt;
&lt;Description Codepage="CP866" Value="“_¨¢¥" /&gt;
&lt;Line&gt;if exist A:\BIN\DOS\SMARTDRV.EXE A:\BIN\DOS\SMARTDRV.EXE /C&lt;/Line&gt;
&lt;Line&gt;A:\AVG.EXE&lt;/Line&gt;
&lt;/Menu_Alt&gt;
&lt;/EBCDML&gt;

I cant seem to reach http://www.t4k.org/~ebcd/ anymore !!

Can anyone else get to the page ??

No, I can't either, and I cannot find another site where it's available!

No, can't be reached or pinged! Lets hope the server is down.

www.t4k.org are functioning just not the www.t4k.org~ebdc pages - which looks like they were taken down.

I'm OK in that I've got the 17MB download safe. If anyone's desperate I could upload it - but I'm a bit strapped for webspace just now. Don't think there's any problem distributing it under its GNU licencing.

You could try HERE (http://www.t4k.org/modules.php?name=Downloads&d_op=viewdownload&cid=4).

I just tried downloading from there and it worked fine.

Thanks pave - I had tried that page earlier without success but now it includes that download! You would have thought they would have put it up first before taking the other one down. Ah well.

I can’t help but notice something here

A Number of the titles included in the disk are NOT shareware programs

Could this be the reason it was removed from some of the links ?

Some information given:

Legal stuff: The most part of software on this disk is free. Free software is software distributed without license or under GNU GPL. Some software on this disk is proprietary: this means that it is distributed under special licenses, and if you're going to use it not only for testing purposes you must get the licensed copy of this software. Else, you're not authorized to download the software. Software written by author is distributed under GNU General Public License.

For download site go here http://www.t4k.org/ and search for "EBCD".

Which should lead you here http://ebcd.pcministry.com/

If you want it and can't get it send me a PM to let me know.

Thanks for starting this thread and keeping it alive. Im downloading it now and since im floppyless it could prove quite usefull. It took me a few trys to find a link that worked but if you fish around you will find one. I may go back and report the ones that are down as they ask but I really need to go do some schoolwork. It came to my attention while reading over all the post tonight instead of doing my homework (at 2:30am) the night before it is due that I definantly have ADD lol.

thanks again
blake

Consider this http://nu2.nu/pebuilder/ also.

This PE Builder program (pebuilder.exe) runs on Windows 2000/XP/2003.

Bart's PE Builder helps you build a "BartPE" (Bart Preinstalled Environment) bootable Windows CD-Rom or DVD from the original Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 installation/setup CD, very suitable for PC maintenance tasks.

In the last few days I've been experimenting a little with the EBCD and I discovered a couple of interesting problems.

1. My copy of the CD [be it version 0.4 or 0.6.0] takes 31 minutes to boot, whereas my son's identical copy boots in seconds [so he says], and that's on his oldest PC that's only slightly faster than my oldie.

2. The file manager ["Volkov Commander"] fails to see my Primary Master HDD [which is too big for my BIOS to address, so I'm using drive overlay software], and names my Windows D: drive [jumpered as Primary Slave with a single primary partition marked active] as C:

If anyone knows how to use the file manager, perhaps you will give me some tips. I notice it's possible to view 2 drives/partitions side-by-side and so far I've managed to copy a file from the C: drive to the floppy drive [named B: instead of A: which is the name given to the EBCD disk].

I tried "Scandisk", which worked fine.

V. Commander (http://www.egner-online.de/vc/en/commander.shtml)

EBCD uses floppy emulation and runs in DOS. Thus it will enumerate drives just as DOS would - dynamically and according to "the rules for DOS/W9x".

As with CDs using floppy emulation the bootable part will utilise the A drive and bump the floppy drive to B. The files on the bootable part can only be seen from the A drive and not from visualising the files on the CD; the files that are on the CD part of the CD.

Don't know why the master is not seen but is it seen from a "normal" DOS prompt? If it is then perhaps something needs to be done to the config.sys autoexec.bat duo; just guessing about this.

Sorry but I must correct myself.

EBCD does in fact use no emulation, iso-linux and creates a virtual A: drive on a RAMdisk; - though it does promote the regular floppy drive to a B: drive as per a floppy emulation CD.

It might look like floppy emulation but is technically different. I went searching for its autoexec.bat and config.sys files but couldn't find them and then I discoverd why - and I'm none the wiser as to why it wont see your large master.

I'm glad your on the case.
Your help is much appreciated.
Any forward step is better than none.

What you say makes sense to me.
I noticed that the drive & root folder specified as a:\ appeared to show the files on the EBCD.
And I noticed mention of the A: "RAMdisk".
And I noticed that the floppy was named B:
And that contents of the Windows D:\ was displayed as C:\
And my Secondary Master CD-RW was D:\
And Secondary Slave was E:\

Every now and then I'll experiment with it.

On 12th July 2004, I found a WORKING download page for:

EBCD Pro = file ebcd-0_6_0pro.rar

Here http://ftp.sunet.se/pub/simtelnet/handheld/diskback/