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OS/2 Warp 4 Bootable CD Image?

Started by the1mastermind, 2009.10.01, 17:15:14

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the1mastermind

Hello guys ,

does any one have a working OS/2 Warp 4 bootable cd.

If yes, could you give the link to the boot image of the cd

or post it here.

If anyone has a OS/2 Warp 4 bootable cd then please reply,

i can also tell about how to extract the boot image if needed.

Please help its urgent.

ivan

Look for UPDCD http://www.updcd.tk and use your existing Warp 4 CD to make an updated bootable CD. 

There is also quite a good explanation  of \ boot floppy bootable CD in Roman Stangl's cdboot2v200.zip on hobbes.

If after you have tried those and still want information or have problems post again.

the1mastermind

I have tried updcd and also CDBoot but was not successful.

Please if you have tried it successfully and have a working bootable cd

then tell me, i just want the boot image of the cd.

ivan

Sorry they didn't work for you.  e-mail me at ivanjt(at)free.fr so I can send you a 2.8 MB bootable ISO that should allow you to see how it  works.

the1mastermind

Hello ivan,

I have send you an email as you told, please reply as soon as possible and also send the bootable iso you were talking about.

Thanks.

the1mastermind

Hi Ivan ,

thanks for the ISO.

I applied the boot iso to the warp 4 cd,

and it boots from the cd but after the OS/2 Warp 4 boot image

it comes to something like this :


OS/2 Command Interpreter version 4.5

[Z:\]


what should i do next to continue the setup.

Please help.

Radek

The z:\ is okay, it's your CD where you have booted from. Your HD is c:\, d:\ and so in.
Please, be more specific. What do you need to do? Do you have OS/2 installed on your HD and do you need to solve problems with it? Do you need to install from a CD because you have a machine without floppies?

the1mastermind

Radek,

I do not have OS2 installed.

The problem is i have the OS/2 Warp 4 CD-ROM which is not bootable,and my machine does not have a floppy drive. So i just want to know how do i create a bootable cd of my Warp 4 CD-ROM.

I tried updcd and CDBoot on my friends eComStation.But i wasnt successful.

Radek

I see. Well, I've never installed W4 without having floppies so that I do not have experience with making a bootable installation CD for it. But, perhaps, someone around can be more experienced. The task is: Make a bootable ISO, which can be used for installing W4 from scratch - not a maintenance CD but an installation CD.

In the meantime, you can use a more complicated way for smuggling W4 on your machine. You will need:

(1) Another comp, where you can install W4 temporarily.
(2) Download PING from http://ping.windowsdream.com/ PING is a Linux partition backup/restore which knows HPFS so that you will be able to port an image of a W4 installation from "another comp" to your machine. One of the PING files is a bootable ISO of PING. PING is a freeware. Prepare a CD.
(3) Download DFsee from http://www.dfsee.com/ DFsee is a HD editor, FDISK, etc. DFsee is paid but it has an enough long free evaluation period. Download DFsee bootable ISO, do not burn right now :) wait until you'll be ready.
(4) Have a transport media (USB stick, CD, 250 MB Zip, etc.) which can hold ca 230 MB data ready.

(5) Install "bare bones of W4" on the "another comp". Do not install anything that you can install later from the installed system. Install with generic VGA, patch HD driver with Daniela's one.
(6) Boot from PING CD and backup the partition. The backup will be ca 230 MB, PING stores only used sectors and bzips them.
(7) Make a partition on your comp without floppies using DFsee. The partition should be of the same size as the partition where you have installed W4.
(8) Boot your comp with PING CD and copy the partition with W4 to your comp.
(9) Boot your comp with DFsee and "accomodate" the copied partition on your HD. Note that "another comp" had anoher HD with another sectors/track, etc.
(10) Boot from your HD. W4 should start. Finish the installation.
(11) PING once more: backup the final installation from your comp and save the image for later use. You can study PING deeper now :) It allows you, among others, to create a bootable ISO which will contain the partition image and which will install it after booting. The ISO can also create the partition when needed. I have no experience with it but it should be possible.

Uffff ... A bit complicated but it works. I have installed eCS this way until eCS was able to boot from a USB CD. I wasn't able to install, either, and this was the only way of installing.

the1mastermind

Hey Radek,

Please can you suggest an easy way - like extracting the boot image from a working Warp 4 CD.

Or can you tell me what should i do when i see something like this :

OS/2 Command Interpreter version 4.5

[Z:\]


What should i do continue the setup.

do i have to type some commands or else.

Please help.
Thanks.

Radek

I am sorry, I cannot help efficiently right now. The z:\ refers to the CD you have booted from. Because it is "z:" and not "s:", you are still running in "legacy mode" - before switching on OS/2 CD driver(s).

The prompt seems to be a promt from an "OS/2 window". You should be able to issue any OS/2 command, as if you had opened an OS/2 prompt from an installed system. Naturally, CD is read only so that any kind of writing will fail.

What is the prompt exactly, depends on the nature of the ISO having been sent to you by Ivan. It can be a "maintenance CD" which is not supposed for installing but for solving problems with hanging OS/2. It gives you access to an (installed) operating system and allows you making fixes before you try to boot again. Such CD won't help you. It can be really a bootable installation, which does not understand your computer and which - after the installer having crashed - has ended on a prompt. Ivan could say you more.

W4 CD was not bootable. In fact, the CD contained images of installation floppies and the installer installed the the system from the images. In the other words, nothing else than installation from diskettes, only the installer has been a little patched so that it read the images from the CD instead of wanting diskettes. There is no boot image on the W4 CD, the CD is pure data. The whole things is started from a diskette, which in turn starts the installer on the CD. The installer then does the rest. For example, that's why you need to return to "Diskette 1" after FDISK and Ctrl-Alt-Del.

Making a bootable CD for W4 means making some botable CD and passing the boot loader the contents of the first two installation diskettes along with the data from the CD and (maybe) a bit patched installation script. A bootable CD for W4 is an artifact, not a "natural thing". I've never needed it because I had floppies in my "W4 times".

the1mastermind

Hey Radek,

I know that Warp 4 was originally on non-bootable CD with boot floppies.

But with UpdCD and CDBoot we can update OS/2 Warp 4 and also make it bootable.

But i am unable to do it.

Please If you can help regarding a link to a bootable Warp 4 CD.

Thanks.