Ultimate Boot CD
Ultimate Boot CD
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Table of Content
Overview
News
Download the UBCD
CDR Labels
Make a Donation
Linking to UBCD
Getting a Physical Copy
Frequently Asked Questions
Customizing UBCD
About INSERT
User Feedback
Mailing Lists
Version History
Known Bugs
Unsolved Problems
Rejected Software
You Can Help!
How it all started
Acknowledgements
Contacts
Useful Links

Frequently Asked Questions

Question:  Which operating system does Ultimate Boot CD run on?

Ultimate Boot CD runs independently of any operating system. It will boot from any Intel-compatible machine, regardless of whether DOS/Windows/Linux/BeOS is installed on the machine. However, you do need an operating system and a ISO-capable CD writer software to create the Ultimate Boot CD from the downloaded ISO image file.

Question:  What is an ISO image file?

An ISO image file is a platform-independent way to describe the contents of a CD. There are tools on every operating system to recreate a CD from a given ISO image file. Hence it is a good way to distribute CDs over the Internet without having to snail mail the physical disc.

Question:  How do I create the Ultimate Boot CD from the ISO image file?

Here is some software you can use to burn ISO image files under Windows:

Using Burnatonce - Free for non-commercial use burning software (Contributed by Michael Ireland)

  1. Load burnatonce software.
  2. Let it associate to all ISO files.
  3. Open desktop icon.
  4. Click on "File" >> "Load New Image ..."
  5. Search for the ISO image and select.
  6. Click on the "Write" button.
  7. From memory, it takes about 20 minutes to do a full copy (of Ultimate Boot CD).

This list is by no means exhaustive, and there are similar tools available on other platforms to burn an ISO image file.

Question:  I inserted Ultimate Boot CD into my CDROM drive and rebooted the computer. The reboot was as usual and no text-based menu was displayed. Have I done anything wrong?

Chances are, your BIOS is configured to boot from the harddisk first instead of the CDROM drive. Since your HDD is bootable, it will boot into your usual OS. Change your BIOS settings to boot from the CDROM drive first before the harddisk.

[Contributed by Claus Kofoed Nielsen] Once battling with a Toshiba laptop, I was browsing the Toshiba tech-support website, where i found a note about problems with DVD/CD-R combi drives. On these drives there has been reported problems with reading CD's burned at high speed. Toshiba suggested not to burn CD's at higher speed than 8x to make sure they will read on their combi drives. I have followed the advice when burning CD's for general use, that I'll try to make sure will read on most systems, and have to say it's worth the prolonged time to burn the CD. For some of the problems with not reading the CD I suspect this could be a solution - particular in cases where commercial CD's will boot (where the production is different from home burned CD's). Personally, I burn the UBCD at 4x - even when using 52x capable CD-R disks, and have since then not had the problem.

For CD-drives that won't boot any bootable CD, though the BIOS enables it, is worth checking if they are installed as slave instead of master on the IDE.

[Contributed by Charles Appel] Check your BIOS settings for the following:

  • CDROM is set to bootable
  • CDROM is set to boot before your first disk

If both these are set, then perhaps you have a bad burn of UBCD. Try the following:

  • Burn at a slower speed
  • Burn to a CDR instead of a CDRW
  • Make sure you are burning the ISO correctly.

Question:  The Ultimate Boot CD just refuses to boot from the CDROM drive, despite the fact that I have double, no, triple checked my BIOS settings. What else could be wrong?

Geez, I wish I know. But here are a couple of random things that you might want to check out. Firstly, are you using a CDRW disc? I have personally encountered some machines that refuse to boot up from certain CDRW discs (eg. 2x works, but 10x doesn't). Secondly, are you sure the disc is in the right drive? One user had two drives, one DVDROM and one CDROM drive. He didn't know the DVDROM drive was set to the master drive, so he was desperately trying to boot from the CDROM drive. When he discovered the problem, he simply move the disc from the CDROM drive to the DVDROM drive, and it worked without problems.

[Contributed by Jimmy Obomsawin] Another possibility that I have run into in many computers (particularly homebrew systems) is that the system searches for a boot device before the CD is read if the BIOS is faster than the CD-ROM. Since it doesn't appear to have a CD (yet), the BIOS will go to the hard drive. To get around this, many BIOSes have an option like "Power on Delay" or "Boot Delay" that lets you delay the system bootup a few seconds, giving the CD-ROM drive time to catch up.

[Contributed by Alain Vanden-Eede] I have another tip to boot properly when you can't change this delay: you switch the power on and you press the Pause key of the keyboard before or during the detection of IDE devices (in fact before the boot process), you wait a few seconds and then you press the Space bar so the detection of the boot CD is OK. I found this tip when my old computer was to slow to detect and boot on a CD.

Question:  How does one move around in this CD? If I choose to run AIDA16 and afterwards want to go back to the "Screenshot" that you show on your web page, how do I do this?

You don't "move around" the CD because these are separate floppy boot disk images, not one single program. To activate another boot disk image, you'll need to reboot your machine.

Question:  Does the Ultimate Boot CD include FDISK?

Nope. I was afraid if I did that Micro$oft might send their secret police after me! :-) But you can use Ranish Partition Manager, which is a very nice and capable substitute for FDISK. Or you could boot the FreeDOS image, which includes the FreeDOS version of FDISK.

Question:  I have created the Ultimate Boot CD v.1.4 as per your instructions. When I run it, the selection screen appears as expected but I have no way of selecting the options. Neither my keyboard nor my mouse are operative on the screen. Can you advise me?

You could be using a USB keyboard/mouse which is not natively supported by your BIOS.

[Contributed by Kofoed Nielsen] A first hint would be to look if there's a feature in the BIOS of enabling USB Legacy support and the same for PS/2 mouse/keyboard.

Question:  Is it possible to fill up the rest of the CD with other software?

Yes, just create your own customized CD (Hint: You are not restricted to adding .img files only!)

Question:  My computer does not have the option of booting from CD in the BIOS. How can I use the Ultimate Boot CD?

[Contributed by Jim Goodman] Download Smart Boot Manager from http://btmgr.sourceforge.net/ and install it on a floppy disk. Set your bios to boot from floppy. After the floppy boots you will be able to boot from any drive that is connected to the computer, including the CD.

Question:  I have a new Opteron system and it seems to have problems with your Ultimate Boot CD. I can boot the Windows XP setup CD, and the UBCD CD I made boots in a Pentium box, but it won't boot in my new Opteron box. Is there any way to debug what is going wrong?

[Contributed by Darrell Wiebesick] I have experience similar problems (not with the UBCD) with other systems that would boot certain CDs and not others. It has always been the CDROM drive. I suspect that the laser cannot properly focus on the CD. I would temporarily replace the CDROM drive to confirm that it is not some other hardware issue.

Question:  What are the restrictions on using long filenames on the CD?

[Contributed by Scott D. Wares] The following switches enable long filenames in the final ISO image generated by mkisofs:

  • -J Joliet (Adding this extension should make the long filenames compatible with earlier versions of Windows)
  • -r Rockridge (This is one of the most common long filename formats)

However, BootScriptor itself only supports 8.3 short filenames. So you can use long filenames on the CD but you cannot use them with the boot system or the image names.

Question:  I am customizing my version of UBCD, and as I was editing the cdshell.ini file I noticed that on the part where you add keystroke information for your img file, what should I use: memdisk or diskemu?

I usually try memdisk first because it is faster (the entire image is stored and accessed from memory). However, if that fails, use diskemu (the image is accessed from CD instead). bcdw is great for booting images larger than 2.88MB.

Question:  I have F-Prot (DOS) always with latest definitions on my PC. Now do I create an image of this, to be included on my UBCD?

Follow the customization instructions and copy the latest virus definition files to \ubcd\dosapps\fprot. Then create the customized UBCD ISO file.

Question:  I was getting a bunch of "non-system disk or disk error" messages when I was trying to boot certain DOS floppy images. What's wrong?

For certain machines, you need to enable the floppy drive in the BIOS for memdisk to work properly. For these machines, if you set the floppy drive in the BIOS to "None", you will get the above error message.

Question:  I don't have any floppy drive on my PC to be able to make images of GHOST.EXE and other programs in the support folder which I use a lot at work. Any ideas?

You can use VFD. It's a virtual floppy disk driver, but only works under Win2K and above.

Question:  Where do I get disk images > 2.88MB?

You can try this site.

[Contributed by Gandalf] The newer version of WinImage (6.30.6130) has a new feature in Change format -> Select custom image size. Once you do this, you can change a LOT of params. I dont know what most of them mean, but changing the total numberof sectors does the trick. I simply added another zero to the end and I got ~11megs.

[Contributed by Stefan Gmeiner] Here's how you can create a 2.88MB floppy image with Linux.

  1. Create a empty 2.88 MByte file:

    $ dd if=/dev/zero of=disk.img bs=1024 count=2880

  2. Format the created image file and copy the bootsector from a real floppy disk:

    $ mformat -i disk.img -f 2880 -B /dev/fd0 ::

  3. Copy file to the image:

    $ mcopy -i disk.img a:*.* ::

Question:  How can I add a two-disk utility such as Partition Magic to UBCD?

Follow these simple steps:

  • Step 1: Create an image of the first disk.
  • Step 2: Change the disk format of the image to 2.88MB using WinImage.
  • Step 3: Copy all files from second disk to modified image using WinImage.
  • Step 4: Add modified image to Ultimate Boot CD.

Question:  Is there any way to convert WinImage IMA files to compatible IMG files?

[Contributed by Adrian Stanciu] Both IMA or IMG files are the same thing inside.

Question:  Is there any other software to create an IMG file from 1.44 MBfloppy and then convert it to 2.88MB format, then add more files?

[Contributed by Adrian Stanciu] Yes, use Winimage: "Disk... Read disk...", then "Image... Format disk..." and "Disk... Change format..." to 2.88MB, then add more files and save your disk image. Also, please note that you need a bootable image. Simply making an empty image and inserting files won't do it.

[Contributed by Claus Kofoed Nielsen] To create disk images from scratch I'll like to suggest to look at Total Commander. Total Commander (former Windows Commander) is "the ultimate file manager" for Windows similar to the Windows Explorer. But Total Commander uses a different approach: it has two fixed windows side by side like some well-known file managers for DOS or Linux. (DOS Navigator; Midnight Commander; Norton Commander etc.) For file handling and managing Total Commander is virtually a real Swiss Army knife (Made in Switzerland ;-) - particularly if the different plugins are taken in use.

For working with UBCD, I use the ISO-plugin to browse ISO-images and "unpack" them; and the AZEimg-plugin to work with disk images. (The ISO-plugin can also be used for image-files - but only to browse and unpack) The plugin, called IMaGinator v1.6 Copyright (c) 2003 Andreas Ziemer (AZEimg-plugin) have the following key functions (copied from the readme file):

  • Handle long filenames
  • Create disk images (1.2MB 1.44MB 2.88MB)
  • Create harddisk images (2..32MB) with or without master boot record
  • Copy files from and to IMG
  • Create/delete files/directories within IMG
  • Make image bootable (bootable, when copied back to a physical disk)
  • Requires a bootblock datafile. You can rip the bootblock of a formatted disk in your floppy drive with a supplied utility. To get the bootblock from the disk in A: to a file named BOOTBLK.BIN type GETBOOT A: BOOTBLK.BIN
  • Create a master boot record (MBR) with a single partition containing the files you copy into the image. This option is only available with HDimages. A MBR file is included (FREEDOS under GNU GPL, www.freedos.org)

I've tried a 32MB boot image filled with all kind of DOS utilities (Wonder if I ever really will need an image that huge or bigger ? -- If so, I can use WinImage to make an Image of a Zip100 or ZIP250.) To boot that big an image I used the bcdw option of CDShell - memdisk might also work; I haven't tried yet - but diskemu is limited to floppy disk images <= 2.88 MB. The plugin works with both .img and .ima files; and is compatible with WinImage. (Though I'm not sure with images larger than 32 MB - here I have had problems with the plugin.)

Total Commander can be downloaded from http://www.ghisler.com/ - it is shareware so can be tested for free - IMHO is fully worth the 40 Swiss Francs it cost to register. The plugins can be found at the same site. For the AZEimg plugin be sure to get the latest version - I use v1.6, after having problems with version 1.5.

Another thing: With Total Commander - and the plugins - you have a replacement for theVFD - and Total Commander works on ALL Windows versions - there's even a 16 bit version for Win 3.1!

Question:  Question: My software consists of 6 floppy boot disks, which I am trying to add to UBCD. How can I do it?

As far I as I know, you can't do it. However, if you are trying to add some version of Windows, I suggest you take a look at this site.

Question:  Can someone confirm for me that all software included on the ubcd as distributed is freeware/shareware/licensed for use by anyone who owns the relevant hardware? I need something like a licence to cover myself before I download it for use at work.

[Contributed by Charles Appel] As I'm sure you know, UBCD is a collection of freeware, shareware and open license utilities. There are no warez or paid software(s) on the CD. However, licenses will vary from program to program. UBCD has a "docs" directory which should contain the original documentation and for the most part, include license information.

What I would recommend is that you download the ISO, extract it with a program like WinISO or WinImage and review the contents of the docs directory. An example is the aida32 image. It mentions free for personal use but restrictions for commercial use. You will have to interpret the license to see how it effects your organization.

In some cases you may have to visit the website of the program supplied to investigate licensing. Should you feel that any license does not meet with your organization's policy, you can simply delete the image or program. (You'll want to look at the \boot\cdshell.ini file to see where the image/program is located). You'll then need to repackage the ISO before burning to CD.

Despite our good-faith efforts, should you find that a license has not been included in the CD, we'd appreciate you notifying us so that we can correct or at least point to where licensing can be found.

Question:  Would it be possible to create a password or login script before the main menu appears? This would add a bit of security to the Ultimate Boot CD.

[Contributed by Charles Appel] Technically yes, you can require a user to input a password. To do this you'll need to do some studying of the cdshell documentation to modify the cdshell.ini file, then repackage UBCD into an ISO and burn. There is no "password" function, but through the use of an MD5 hash and the input commands you can make it work. The cdshell documentation can be found at http://www.cdshell.org.

However, note that this is almost completely ineffectual. The contents of UBCD are not encrypted, so it's a simple matter for someone to copy your CD, extract the cdshell.ini, remove password authentication, and inject and burn. Furthermore, the entire contents can be copied from any OS that can read the CD. Lastly, an MD5 hash in plain view would not be considered very secure.

If you're trying to protect the contents of (non-bootable image) files that you've added to the CD, check out AxCrypt. I don't know how it will work with read-only media but I think it might work. If you try it, let us know how it works out.

Question:  Do you have a step-by-step guide on how I can create the Ultimate Boot CD?

[Contributed by Adrian Stanciu] Here are the steps to create a CD:

  1. Open your web browser.
  2. Go to the Ultimate Boot CD homepage: http://ubcd.sourceforge.net/.
  3. From the "Table of Content" to the right, choose "Download the UBCD".
  4. If you're using Windows, download "Self-extracting EXE". And after it's finished, run it.
  5. If you're not using Windows, download "Plain old ZIP" and extract the .zip archive.
  6. You'll now have a .ISO file. Burn the .ISO file as a CD image. If you don't know how, see the question "How do I create the Ultimate Boot CD from the ISO image file?" on this page: http://ubcd.sourceforge.net/faq.html
  7. If this still didn't work for you, maybe you should try and buy a phisical CD already made for you. Select "Getting a Physical Copy" from the "Table of Content" on the website.

Question:  Your work is being stolen and sold on E-Bay!

Thanks for letting me know. Many kind folks have informed me about this, and the price ranges from $5 to $50! Sometimes, it is even combined with the Windows Ultimate Boot CD. My only comment is: they definitely do a much better job in hyping up the UBCD that I ever could! :-)

In case you didn't notice, I actually added the UBCD website URL to the menus since one of the 2.x releases to alert people to the fact that they can get the CD for free or for a small fee from one of the volunteers. That way, I hope I am doing my bit to increase people's awareness about this issue.

I am not sure what else I can do about this. I don't own the copyright to any of the software (except maybe for the menus, and Adrian owns the rights to Disk Image Writer). In addition, if people would just search for "Ultimate Boot CD" before buying anything, it would be quite obvious that UBCD is free for the download.

If you have any advice on how we can prevent more people from being had, please email me and let me know. Remember, I can't afford a lawyer. Hell, I am not even based in the US! Otherwise, it's caveat emptor!

Question:  Help! Norton Antivirus identifies WIPECMOS.COM as a virus (Hacktool)!

[Contributed by Charles Appel] I can confirm NAV5 reports the file is infected with "HackerTool", both on the CD as well as the link you provided. I have not been able to find out much info on it. Symantec's website is weak and I don't have a good source for real virus information, so I can't verify.

I would guess there is no problem with the file and that is just a coincidence the compiled code in WipeCMOS matches a NAV pattern. Frankly I'm surprised it doesn't happen more often. On the other hand, since WipeCMOS performs some of the same actions some viruses do, it's also not a surprise the OP codes match. FProt doesn't complain.

I ran WipeCMOS through antigen which contains 5 engines (Sophos, CA Vet, CA Etrust, and a couple others), and it came up clean. I'm confident enough to keep in on my UBCD.

Question:  When I boot UBCD V3 and attempt to launch any application, FreeDOS always loads instead of the wanted application, no matter which F-key or numerical key I press. What's wrong?

UBCD V3.0 uses the same FreeDOS image to launch most of the DOS apps on the UBCD that can be launched this way. This helps tremendously in maintenance (because if there are bugs in the FreeDOS boot disk, we can simply fix one image instead of 50), and reduces the size of the ISO image. The downside is that the FreeDOS image comes wi213.th a lot of additional boot options (eg. memory config, USB, CD-ROM, NTFS etc), but you can ignore them and they will just timeout and choose some reasonable settings. So launching the application is a tad slower then under V2.4, but it's all for the better.

Question:  Can I run a different DOS program without rebooting?

All DOS programs which can be run under FreeDOS are located in the DOSAPPS subdirectory on the UBCD. When you launch any of the DOS programs using the FreeDOS boot disk, the drive letter which the UBCD is mounted is given in the environment variable %BCDW_CDROM%. You can easily switch to the DOSAPPS subdirectory on the UBCD and run any applicable DOS programs from the command line.

Question:  Why did you remove Bart's Network Boot Disk in UBCD V3.0?

We were informed that both Bart's CDROM and Network Boot Disks make use of Win98, so we had no choice but to remove them in case M$ decided to send their legion of lawyers after us :-) In UBCD V3.1, we will be introducing MSRRC (contributed by Erwin Veermans), which is basically an improved Bart's Network Boot Disk based on FreeDOS.

Question:  I created a MS-DOS startup disk using Windows XP, but it hang while booting with memdisk. What's wrong?

This behaviour has been verified to be true. You will have to use either diskemu or bcdw instead.

You should also check out the MEMDISK documentation page. There is a new raw option in MEMDISK V2.13 and later that works around this problem.

Question:  Warning to new users of Madboot: It cannot be used on harddisk with multiple operating systems installed.

[Contributed by Larry Smith] MadBoot cannot be used on harddisk with multiple operating systems installed, because the program only sees the harddisk as one partition. I tried it and had to redo everything.