Preparing and Booting a Microsoft Windows
NT Embedded 4.0 System
Microsoft Corporation
September 2000
Applies to:
Microsoft Windows NT Embedded 4.0
Summary: This article discusses how Target Designer is used to create
Microsoft Windows NT Embedded 4.0 operating system images. (6 printed pages)
Contents
Introduction
Hard
Drive
CD-ROM (read-only)
Flash Disk
DiskOnChip
Additional
Information
Introduction
Target Designer is used to create Microsoft Windows NT Embedded 4.0 operating
system (OS) images. Using Target Designer, you configure your operating system
image by selecting various components for the OS image. This image is then
loaded onto a hardware configuration, creating an embedded system.
Windows NT Embedded 4.0 can be installed and run from the following types of
media.
- Hard drive. Windows NT Embedded 4.0 can be installed on and run from both
IDE and SCSI hared drives.
- CD-ROM. Windows NT Embedded 4.0 can be run from a read-only CD-ROM.
- Flash disk. An embedded image can be installed on and booted from a flash
disk, and data written to a flash disk is saved when the embedded system is
turned off. DiskOnChip is a type of flash disk device.
To prep and boot an embedded image for all types of media
- Create and build the image in Target Designer, taking care to select the
proper component combinations for the type of hardware you plan to run your
image on.
- Create a bootable Windows NT partition on your target media.
- Download the OS image on your target media. You can install directly to the
target system, to a temporary location on your hard disk, or on media to
transfer to your embedded system later.
The following components can be included in OS images for several types of
media:
- Write Filter Using the Write Filter component on your target system
gives read-only media read/write properties. If you use the Write Filter
component on read/write media, changes made at run time are not saved. During a
write operation to a disk, this component filters data that has been changed and
puts it in memory instead of writing it to the disk. During a read operation
from a disk, the write filter reads the data from where it is stored in memory,
not from the disk. When you shut down the target system, the data written to
memory is lost. The target system always boots from the original data. If you
plan to install your system on a bootable CD-ROM, use the Write Filter and El
Torito CD as Disk components together. If you plan to install your system on
media other than CD-ROM, you can use the Write Filter component without the El
Torito CD as Disk component.
Using the Write Filter with flash disk media will prevent data from being
written to the media, thus ensuring a longer flash disk life. Multiple write
operations can degrade the integrity of the media.
- System Cloning The System Cloning component is a utility you can use
to create multiple copies from the compact disc for your embedded system. Each
copy has a unique system identification (SID). The system cloning utility
assigns the system identification when the user boots the target system, and
then it restarts the system to use the assigned identification.
The system cloning utility is included on your Windows NT Embedded CD. If the
user will install your system from read-only media, you must indicate that you
want to clone the target system when you install it to the target media.
- Creating A Headless System To create a headless system, with no
support for a monitor, keyboard or mouse, you will need to include the following
components in your configuration:
- NullVGA
- Null Keyboard Driver
- Null Mouse
To verify that a headless target system is alive, you can include the Serial
Console Administration component in your target system, and try connecting to it
via serial connection.
The following sections detail how to prepare and boot an embedded OS on
several types of media.
Hard Drive
Windows NT Embedded 4.0 can be installed and run on embedded systems from
both IDE and SCSI hard drives. This section details how to install an embedded
OS image on a system with hard drive support.
Creating and Preparing your Image
In order to use a hard disk on your embedded system, the Hard Drive component
must be included in your OS image. This component is located in the All Nodes
pane under System\Devices\Storage\Fixed Disk. If a SCSI hard disk is to be used
instead of the default IDE hard disk, select the SCSI component instead.
Creating a Bootable Partition
To make either a FAT or an NTFS partition bootable, you must copy a Windows
NT boot sector to the partition boot sector. You can use the contents of the
MungeBoot folder on the Windows NT Embedded 4.0 CD-ROM 1 to create an NT Boot
Partition Utility Disk. To create this disk on your development machine, place a
blank floppy disk into the A: drive and, with CD 1 in the D: drive, execute the
following commands:
C:\> D:
D:\> CD MungeBoot
D:\MungeBoot\> webimgnt munge622.144
The last command will start the Web Image NT application. Click the A:
Drive button to create the utility disk. When the operation is complete,
remove the floppy disk from the A: drive and label it, "NT Boot Partition
Utility Disk."
After the utility disk has been created, do the following.
To create a bootable Windows NT Embedded 4.0 partition on an embedded
system with an attached floppy disk drive
- Format the first disk partition on your target device with FAT or NTFS
- Using Disk Administrator or another formatting tool, format the first
partition on the primary disk with FAT or NTFS.
- Insert the NT Boot Partition Utility Disk detailed above into the target
machine's floppy drive, and execute the following command:
A:\> NTBOOT
This command replaces the boot sector of the hard drive or DiskOnChip
partition on the target device with the correct Windows NT boot sector.
Now the partition is configured to boot a Windows NT Embedded 4.0 target
image. The next section details how to copy an OS image to a target device.
Transfer the Image to the Target Device
After the bootable partition has been created, the OS image must be copied to
the target device before the embedded system can run. A common method for
copying the OS image to the target device is to install the target device's hard
drive into the development machine and copy the OS image to that hard drive.
When the copy is complete, the target device's hard drive is reinstalled into
the target device. When the target device is started, the target device will
boot from the OS image on the hard drive.
The following procedure details how to download an OS image to a target
device using the network transfer method. In order to use the network transfer
method, you must have a network card installed on your target device.
To download an OS image to a target device using the network transfer
method
- Boot the target machine from the floppy drive, using a Net Boot disk.
- Execute the following command at the DOS prompt, substituting the name of
your development computer as appropriate.
NET USE * //<computername>/embed
This command will map the shared embed folder to a drive on your target
device.
- Execute the following commands at the DOS prompt to format the C: drive on
the target machine and copy the target image.
FORMAT C: /Q
XCOPY D:\*.* . /s/e
The target machine should now boot from the image installed on it when
powered on.
CD-ROM (read-only)
For an embedded system to boot from read-only media, it must run from an El
Torito format CD-ROM. Using the El Torito CD as Disk component, you can boot and
run your system by using a CD-ROM in the El Torito format. If you plan to
install your system on a bootable CD-ROM, use the Write Filter and El Torito CD
as Disk components together. When the El Torito CD as Disk component is
selected, select the FAT file system to reduce interaction with the Write Filter
and increase memory for write operations.
Creating and preparing your Image
Your configuration must include the following components:
- El Torito CD As Disk (located in the All Nodes pane under
System\Devices\Storage\Fixed Disk)
- FAT (File Allocation Table)
- Write Filter (System\Devices\Storage\Storage Filter Drivers)
- No Page File
When creating an embedded system that runs from a CD-ROM, make sure to
consider the following issues. The BIOS for your embedded system must support
the El Torito format CD-ROM. A system that boots from a read-only storage device
cannot use a page file. The target system must recognize the El Torito CD-ROM as
a standard block-mode disk device.
You can use any basic input/output system (BIOS) that boots Windows NT 4.0 to
boot your embedded system. However, if your configuration includes an El Torito
CD-ROM, BIOS recognizes the CD-ROM as the first drive on the system and Windows
NT Embedded supports only the first partition on the CD. Therefore, the Advanced
RISC Computing (ARC) name of the bootable El Torito partition is
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1).
To allow the user to choose whether to boot from an El Torito CD-ROM or a
regular hard disk partition, you must add the appropriate code to the Boot.ini
file. An example of the code follows:
[Boot Loader]
timeout=10
Default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT
[Operating Systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT=''El Torito''
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINNT=''1st HDD, 1st partition''
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(2)\WINNT=''1st HDD, 2nd partition''
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(2)partition(1)\WINNT=''2nd HDD, 1st partition''
Recording Your Target System on an El Torito CD
The following procedure details how to record an embedded OS image onto an El
Torito format CD-ROM.
- In the All Nodes pane, verify that the No Page File component and the El
Torito CD as Disk component are selected:
- Build and verify the target system using Target Designer.
- On the computer that has the CD-ROM read/write device, create an empty FAT
partition.
- Copy the following three files to the partition in the order given:
ntdetect.com, ntldr, boot.ini.
- Copy your entire target system (the WINNT directory) to the root directory
of the partition using the xcopy /e command.
- Create a new project of the type Bootable CD.
- To create the El Torito format, use a utility such as WinOnCD 3.5 from
CeQuadrat.
- Drag the partition that contains the target system to Boot Source.
- In the disk pane, click Close disk.
- Insert the CD in the CD read/write device, and then click Record.
The target machine should now boot from the image installed on it when
powered on with the CD-ROM you created in the CD-ROM drive. When the target
system boots from the CD-ROM, the CD tray is locked until you shut down the
system.
Flash Disk
Creating and preparing your image
Using a flash disk, you can boot your embedded system and perform read/write
operations. Data written to a flash disk is saved when the power is turned
off.
You can include the Write Filter component in your OS image for use with
flash disk media. If you use the Write Filter component on read/write media,
changes made at run time are not saved. During a write operation to a disk, this
component filters data that has been changed and puts it in memory instead of
writing it to the disk. During a read operation from a disk, the write filter
reads the data from where it is stored in memory, not from the disk. When you
shut down the target system, the data written to memory is lost. The target
system always boots from the original data. Using the Write Filter with flash
disk media will prevent data from being written to the media, thus ensuring a
longer flash disk life. Multiple write operations can degrade the integrity of
the media.
PCMCIA drivers are required when flash disk media is used with an embedded
OS. A general PCMCIA component definition file (.kdf) is required. Including
this .kdf file in the build of your OS image will enable your OS to recognize
PCMCIA cards and related drivers.
Transfer the image to the Target Device
If you have a network adapter attached to your target device, you can
download your image to a flash disk using the procedure detailed above. If a
network adapter is not installed, detach the storage device form your target
machine, attach it to the development machine, and copy the target system to the
storage device. When the copy operation is complete, reattach the storage
machine to the target device and boot the embedded system. The target machine
should now boot from the image installed on it when powered on.
DiskOnChip
The DiskOnChip is a flash disk device. In an embedded system the DiskOnChip
simulates an IDE hard drive. To use the DiskOnChip media, you must include
support for IDE and include the driver component for the DiskOnChip in your OS
image. The procedure to boot an embedded OS from the DiskOnChip is identical to
booting an image from an IDE hard drive.
Additional Information
The Microsoft Knowledge Base article, Q249306:
HOWTO: Create a Windows NT-Bootable IDE Partition contains information
relevant to this article.
