LAST EDITED ON Apr-15-03 AT 09:27 AM (EDT)
 
Many people create booters with utilities...
To avoid pitfalls, you may need some too.

so, LET'S START LOOKING AT SOME THIRD PARTY TOOLS
You might as well consider getting yourself some useful tools like;

delpart (from Microsoft's NT 3.51 )
http://russelltexas.com/delpart.htm

and wipeout
http://lurkhere.com/~nicefiles/index.html
Wipeout is a fast tool that simply deletes all partition info off a drive.
It has a little peculiarity.
the hard disk fdisk /status reports as drive 1 is called C: by wipeout. (no matter what letter it actually contains)
the hard disk fdisk /status reports as drive 2 is called D: by wipeout. (no matter what letter it actually contains)

gdisk.exe for DOS comes with GHOST software from NORTON.
You can still easily find the version that was once a free symantec download.)
I used gdisk.exe -symantec in a google search
http://www.wcug.wwu.edu/~steve/tools/
http://www.zinkwazi.com/tools/

and, MBRWORK
http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/utilities.html

the advantages of delpart, gdisk and mbrwork are that they CAN SAVE partitioning INFO...
that can come in VERY handy.
I can advise you do so before you wipe the table, so to speak.

Actually, one can copy lots of utils to several floppies, and boot off just one.
I recommend you writeprotect floppies to avoid infection.
But, remember that some utils need disk access to save info.
When you run these, you can first copy them to hard disk, or run diskcopy to create a copy of your floppy. (The copy will have to stay with the machine anyway.)

(And IF you made a bootable util CDR, you still have drive B: to copy to...)

Another handy tool I recently discovered was xclone.
http://members.cox.net/dos/fileuti2.htm
http://www.activedwg.com/Download_Links.htm

xclone can be used to copy folders only, but when you do that in REAL MODE DOS, it does not preserve long names.
(When it is used to clone an entire partition, long names are found intact.)

So, naturally, I remembered that I once looked for one that did preserve them when you want to copy folders.
http://www.odi.ch/prog/lfn/index.php
GO read that readme... but here is a QUICK TIP...
for wildcards, use a SINGLE BULLET * and do use /v

There's not a great many Users with an NTFS for DOS floppy on hand...
here is a freeware version http://www.ntfs.com/products.htm

While we are on the subject of third party utilities, let me mention the EBD made directly from a windows 98 cdrom has most of the files that are hidden in ebd.cab.
(A "start disk" or "setup disk" extracts ebd.cab into ramdrive where they are called diagnostic tools.)
In the EDB one sees that chkdsk.exe is missing, and this is a useful tool. (chkdsk can be used to determine if there is a discrepancy in memory size, which can tell you about the presence of a boot virus. The normal memory size is 655.360 Bytes. http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q82/9/23.ASP

AFTER THIS EBD WAS CREATED, there is still space left for small tools.
I strongly suggest one copies >
C:\windows\smartdrv.exe
C:\windows\scanreg.ini
C:\windows\command\scanreg.exe
C:\windows\command\chkdsk.exe and
C:\windows\command\diskcopy.com
C:\windows\command\scandisk.ini
< to that floppy.
- (scandisk.ini is missing in EBD, and useful for scandisk /CUSTOM) -

some of the examples below will use smartdrv, which the EBD don't normally has.

You may remember this old post, which described a method for creating a booter with most of the native DOS utilities.

FORMAT AND COPY SYSTEM TO FLOPPY
Then you copy the following files to it;
attrib.exe
chkdsk.exe
deltree.exe
diskcopy.com
edit.com
edit.hlp
emm386.exe
fdisk.exe
find.exe
format.com
himem.sys
label.exe
move.exe
scandisk.exe
scandisk.ini
smartdrv.exe
sys.com
xcopy.exe
xcopy32.MOD (= FAT32 support for xcopy in win98)

then you open notepad (or edit in DOS) and create the file
A:\autoexec.bat
all it needs is (in notepad, this is easy, paste the following into it )

LH smartdrv
set DIRCMD=/w /o /p /a
rem
echo type DIR to see the tools on this disk
echo for help, type <commandname> /?
echo for help on scandisk, type scandisk /?
rem
echo IF C: drive got locked by previous unsuccessful
echo scandisk, type unlock C:

save it (all file types)
(to make sure the extention is BAT)
otherwise, in notepad, it becomes autoexec.bat.TXT

again open notepad (or edit in DOS) create
A:\config.sys
this one needs;

lastdrive=Z
device=himem.sys
DEVICE=EMM386.EXE NOEMS
files=10
buffers=10
dos=high,umb
stacks=9,256

save it (all file types)
you make sure the extention is SYS
otherwise, in notepad, it becomes config.sys.TXT

BTW, the line with lastdrive=Z is quite important.

=========

LET'S NOT FORGET a truly basic boot floppy for other DOS utils
[start button] [run] command (opens a dosbox)
format A: /s <enter>
This makes a bootable floppy (without CDROM support) you can use it to copy selected utilities onto.

del A:drvspace.bin <enter>
(You do not need it if you do not have to use the floppy to systemise the hard drive, and if you want a little more space for utils, you can delete drvspace.bin...)

One can build an essential toolbox.
for instance, I make disks with the norton utilities for DOS, Norton's GHOST, and a virus scanner/virus remover kit for DOS.

Some utilities want plenty low memory space,
This requires a memory manager, which gets loaded when himem.sys and emm386.exe are configured to be loaded from within config.sys and autoexec.bat (see above)

= = =

Did you know that you can boot off a floppy to retrieve productkey from a messed up PC?
edit C:\windows\system.dat
hit ALT and use search
go look for productkey
you will also see the windows version (which can save you some trouble)

Well, er, for this to work, chances are you need change a line in config.sys
DEVICE=EMM386.EXE AUTO
Hmmm, I know it works with AUTO.
The reason for NOEMS in above utilities booter is that NOEMS gets you more base memory. But, NOEMS also means NO expanded memory, and the registry can be several megabyte, so you may need AUTO. I know I did it with AUTO and it worked. SO, if you stick to NOEMS and it works, that's OKAY
But, if it tells you it runs out of memory, edit A:\config.sys and change it to AUTO.
Reboot to have the change take effect, and try again...

anyway...
Yet another method to create a boot floppy you can use to boot another persons infected machine with....
(hey, or your own...)

assuming cdrom is a full copy of windows 98
(not an upgrade/not a "restore" disk)
well, then you can boot from it.
select to boot from it in BIOS,
boot from it
if you need access to the files on CD, accept cdrom support.
but, you want to get to the dosprompt only...
Oh, IF setup starts, you do NOT accept licence.
(that gets you back to DOSprompt... some CD's behave different than retail.)

anyway, Once you have the dosprompt, put an empty floppy in floppy drive.
type the following
format B: /s /u <enter>
copy *.* B:\ <enter>
remove the floppy, and slide the write protect tab to write protect it.
sidenote >
Even when you can read the CDROM this way, FAT32EBD.EXE CANNOT CREATE the EBD booter.
It's one of those things that won't allow you to use B:

For your own "boot off hard disk" "boot off CDROM" booter, you can use xclone.
[driveletter xclone is on]:[path xclone is in] \xclone A: B:

The boot disk you can make by above xclone method lacks edit.com, and the ebd.cab file in there is not used, since the windows 98 CD (when you boot off it) does not create a ramdrive nor extracts it.
(At least, the ones I have seen, don't... )
But boy, This one is a great one to make bootable CD's with your own menus from...
(This one checks for win98\setup.exe to determine CD-drive letter)
sidenote; Remember there CAN be an overlay on the hard disk, and that when you boot off a CDROM, you have bypassed the overlay...
(one you make yourself can be made to load DDO, if you create a floppy wich loads DDO first, and then make your bootable CD with the DDO floppy in the A: drive.)

findcd.exe can be hex-edited to make it look for another file.
GOING THAT ROUTE, you can, for instance make a copy
fndghost.exe
findghpe.exe
and make your own restore discs...
I guess you boys and gals get the drift...
You can make your own preconfigured win98 CD this way...
(The windows CD has a tool to create your own msbatch.inf and there is a method where you use the msbatch.inf you made for a real fast clean//overinstall setup.)