How to get bootlog when booting from USB drive?

[mm]

How to get bootlog when booting from USB drive?

After years of making XP backups, I'm finally trying to test if the
backups will boot!

Backup file on WD MyBook USB harddrive.

Successfully modified boot.ini on host computer to find the right
partition on USB drive.

Didn't work, so I checked and indeed that partition was marked Active.
Probably my XP cloning software, XXCLONE, marked it Active.

Tried Safe Mode with Networking.

Gave about a page of one line messages, maybe 40 of them, flashing by,
but then it stopped and began to do a warm reboot. When I started the
host computer normally, the bootlog was nowhere to be found. Neither
in the XP partition of the USB drive, or the C: partition of the Host
computer. (the only available one, the others being Dell utilities and
restore)

Should I have checked other primary partitions on the USB drive? I
didn't think of this until just now.

I Didn't think of that, but I still have questions.

Tried F8, then click Boot Logging, but I also wanted to log into safe
mode. So after I clicked on Boot Logging, I chose the same OS and
pressed F8 and clicked on Safe Mode. Does this cancel the prior
request, for boot logging? What happens if I had done it in the
other order? Would I get boot loggging but not safe mode?

Regardless, no boot log.

Modified boot.ini to put /bootlog as one of the switches on the line
for the USB partition.

No bootlog.

Found a program called bootlogXP. Installed 30-day trial version.
Ran it as directed. No boot log. It says its value is that it
makes a bootlog even when the system hung on booting, but doesn't XP
also do that if boot log is requested? I've always looked at the
bootlog by booting via another partition.


Thanks.

 

[Paul]

How to get bootlog when booting from USB drive?

After years of making XP backups, I'm finally trying to test if the
backups will boot!

Backup file on WD MyBook USB harddrive.

Successfully modified boot.ini on host computer to find the right
partition on USB drive.

Didn't work, so I checked and indeed that partition was marked Active.
Probably my XP cloning software, XXCLONE, marked it Active.

Tried Safe Mode with Networking.

Gave about a page of one line messages, maybe 40 of them, flashing by,
but then it stopped and began to do a warm reboot. When I started the
host computer normally, the bootlog was nowhere to be found. Neither
in the XP partition of the USB drive, or the C: partition of the Host
computer. (the only available one, the others being Dell utilities and
restore)

Should I have checked other primary partitions on the USB drive? I
didn't think of this until just now.

I Didn't think of that, but I still have questions.

Tried F8, then click Boot Logging, but I also wanted to log into safe
mode. So after I clicked on Boot Logging, I chose the same OS and
pressed F8 and clicked on Safe Mode. Does this cancel the prior
request, for boot logging? What happens if I had done it in the
other order? Would I get boot loggging but not safe mode?

Regardless, no boot log.

Modified boot.ini to put /bootlog as one of the switches on the line
for the USB partition.

No bootlog.

Found a program called bootlogXP. Installed 30-day trial version.
Ran it as directed. No boot log. It says its value is that it
makes a bootlog even when the system hung on booting, but doesn't XP
also do that if boot log is requested? I've always looked at the
bootlog by booting via another partition.


Thanks.

You cannot boot WinXP from a USB drive, because somewhere during the
boot sequence, WinXP will attempt to initialize the USB bus, and
knock out the connection to the USB drive. So an unmodified WinXP
would get stuck at some point half way through the boot up.

It is possible to modify the installation, and the search term
is "Boot bus extender". By adding USB as a boot bus extender, it
changes the status of USB. And the changes result in the USB bus
being handled differently, such that the OS stays in contact with
the USB drive during the boot sequence.

This isn't a recipe to fix your particular problem, but illustrates
the amount of trouble you have to go to. You can find similar pages
that do stuff like this.

http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic116114.html

[BootBusExtenders]

LoadOrderGroup = Boot Bus Extender

Just because you modify WinXP to finish the boot sequence, doesn't
mean you are out of the woods. There is potentially a product
activation issue, depending on what computer you boot that drive from.

http://aumha.org/win5/a/wpa.htm

HTH,
Paul