Hiren’s BootCD is easily rankings itsself among the best boot cds and system maintainance tools. I have configured it to run both from my USB stick or directly from hard disk. Here is how to boot Hiren’s BootCD from the hard disk using grub for dos (grub4dos).
- The first step is getting grub4dos and release the GRLDR, grub.exe and MENU.lst to the root directory of C:
- Open the ISO file of Hiren’s BootCD using Daemon Tools or Winimage and extract the directory HBCD to the root directory of C:
- Edit MENU.lst and put the following code into it:
- Edit the boot.ini file under C: and put the following line into it. This will make Windows load grub4dos, and then grub4dos will load Hiren’s boot file to boot it.
- You can also boot the mini WinXP in the HBCD directory by adding the following code into the MENU.lst file.
timeout 30
default 0
title Start Hiren's BootCD
find --set-root /HBCD/boot.gz
map --mem /HBCD/boot.gz (fd0)
map --hook
chainloader (fd0)+1
rootnoverify (fd0)
map --floppies=1
boot
C:\GRLDR="Hiren"
title Mini Windows Xp
find --set-root /HBCD/XPLOADER.BIN
chainloader /HBCD/XPLOADER.BIN
After the modificiations, reboot the system to use your Hiren’s BootCD from the hard disk. Becaues the boot.gz under HBCD does does not come with ntfs drivers, this method only works when C: is in FAT32 format.
Not personally fond of warez stuff.
But definitely worth of a look.
I would say this is the best BootCD out there. Now it comes with a license warning and you have to acknowledge it before proceeding to use the proprietary tools. Definitely worth trying and it comes handy when I boot it from my USB stick.
Hello thinkweird, your post about booting Hiren’s from HDD is very interesting, because that’s exactly what I have been trying to do. Could you please give more details? Firstly: I cannot find text4dos or any info about it anywhere on the net. What is it – an alternative DOS shell? Secondly: What version of Hiren’s do you use? Thirdly. When you say edit menu.lst/boot.ini, do you meen overwrite completely? Thank you very much.
1. I think I made a typo. It is not ‘text4dos’, it is grub4dos.
2. I think this method applies to Hiren BootCD from version 9 plus.
3. Don’t overwrite. Just insert the code into those two files.
Tell me if you have luck with this method.
Hello, thank you for your time and the quick reply. I very much appreciate it.
Here’s my situation: I would like to use Hiren’s HDD boot as a sort of a “Service partition” on my HDD.
It’s a Primary partition (250MB) at the beginning of a 320GB HDD.
I formatted it to FAT32, set it active, extracted GRLDR, grub.exe and MENU.lst from grub4dos v0.4.4.
I inserted your code at the end of MENU.lst.
I extracted HBCD folder from the Hiren’s 10.4 ISO to the drive root.
There is no BOOT.INI to edit, so I created an empty file and put your single line to it (here might be the problem I think).
I try to boot the partition, it freezes, black screen, no output.
What do I do wrong?
Thanx, pabloroy
Hi, I am kinda busy now. So this reply is brief, but I will write a longer one.
It appears that you does not have a working mbr (master boot record) to either load boot.ini or menu.lst.
It would be easier if you put HBCD into C:\ drive which already has a boot record, and for XP, the lines in the boot.ini will work.
Or you can install grub boot information into that partition you mentioned and boot from that partition. I believe this link will help you:
http://www.hiren.info/pages/bootcd-on-usb-disk
good luck and write back please.
Hello, that was it! Thank You! I used the SW in your link to make the partition boot GRUB and it works! Well it partly works, anyways. Mini WinXP boots perfectly, DOS BootCD starts as well, but when trying to run any tool from the menu (i.e. Ghost or Partition Magic) it ends up with “HBCD folder not found”. I tried to Google it up and it appears that same thing happens to a lot of people with Hiren USB flashdisk. It probably has something to do with BIOS abilities and setup. My computer is an Acer Timeline notebook so BIOS is not much configurable. Interesting thing is that when I boot the exact configuration from USB flashdisk, the DOS apps work perfectly. Any idea? But even if it’s only Mini WinXP it’s already wonderful! Thanks again.
pabloroy
Can you post your menu.lst in the hard disk partition here? My configuration works perfectly so I guess it is the problem of the default menu.lst.
Here goes my menu.lst (I left out redundant entries and kept only MiniXP, Dos BootCD and Alternative Dos Boot CD).
Thanx, p.
default /default
title Mini Windows Xp\nRun Antivirus and other windows programs
find –set-root /HBCD/XPLOADER.BIN
chainloader /HBCD/XPLOADER.BIN
title Dos BootCD\nRun Dos Programs
find –set-root /HBCD/boot.gz
kernel /HBCD/memdisk
initrd /HBCD/boot.gz
title Start Hiren’s BootCD (Alternative Boot Method)\n Using Grub4Dos map
find –set-root /HBCD/boot.gz
map –mem /HBCD/boot.gz (fd0)
map –hook
chainloader (fd0)+1
rootnoverify (fd0)
map –floppies=1
boot
What is the format of your hard drive partition? My guess is that if it is NTFS, the Hiren will not load correctly because it can’t read from NTFS on initial boot.
I have the same issue, with same entries in menu.lst
Hiren’s boots to the menu fine, but when trying to load any tools that attempt to load “CD” Drivers I get the “HBCD” folder not found error.I get this on multiple computers. (I get the same error on my Cruzer 4.0GB drives and my Lexar 16 GB Drive.
I haven’t tried my Kingston 8GB yet, although some people seem to think it has to do with the actual usb unit itself.
Just REDID my Lexar w/ the same image on the cruzer, and all functions now work. So it may really be the USB Flash device, but I think it’s a combination of certain BIOS/USB device mismatches. (Or it may be if the USB device is larger than 4GB it flags the USB device as an HD in bios, however, every machine I plug the cruzer into shows the cruzer as an HD in the Boot menu, not a floppy, removable device or other such rot…) At any rate, I suggest trying a different brand/size USB stick.
I am almost certain that if the usb disk or the hard drive is NTFS format, the error will occur. Try changing it to Fat32 and see if it works.