How to create a bootable TCP/IP CD-ROM

Warning :

I removed all links to boot images and network drivers because my provider ask me to.

The information here may still be valuable to you as a tutorial, However, Bart's page on network boot disks on http://www.nu2.nu/bootdisk is the best shop in town for all this.

Do not send emails about netutils.zip or other Microsoft patented material, I will not send any of those.

You may however ask me to send you some of the freeware tools referenced in this page

How to create a bootable TCP/IP CD-ROM

a \NET and a \DOS directory on the CD
a boot disk with a boot menu to choose the NIC (it sets a variable)
This boot disk creates a ramdisk (on a specified letter), I used xmsdisk from
The AUTOEXEC.BAT script copies (or unzip ) the \net directory onto the RAM DISK depending on wether it is a bootable floppy , CD or HDD.
The NETCFG.BAT script modifies protocol.ini and system.ini depending on the chosen NIC and on questions it asks you (DHCP or NOT, Domain Name...).
NETSTART.BAT loads all the drivers

Check those files :

N.B. the boot menu must have CD-ROM driver loaded and enough memory to load network drivers which can be really big

here is the \NET subdirectory to put at the root of your CD and the boot DISK (uses winimage http://www.winimage.com ) to give to your burning software, you have to write it to a diskette first !

Note: the NETSTART.BAT script loads a special IP stack (dis_pkt.dos) which comes with GHOST and DriveImage. This enables you to use the IP features (multicast...) of both products

Here are the tools I used to make this boot disk

INI.EXE which writes lines in section of an INI file (written in France by Quan Lee)
Choice.COM for asking questions to the end user.
GET.EXE to let the user enter IP addresses and other information
XMSDISK.EXE which creates a RAM drive to the indicated drive letter.
TR.EXE replaces a character with an other (old unix utility).
EDITENV to load environment variable from a file (written in 1989 by Fred Robinson)
Devload and dd.com to load a device driver from the command line.
PCISCAN to detect PCI boards (written by Bart Lagerweij http://www.nu2.nu/utils )

Create a Boot FLOPPY with NET capabilities

In order to create a boot floppy we have to pack both DOS files and Network drivers on a single Floppy. These files are packed into two ZIP files. Only necessary files are present uncompressed on the floppy disk

For a floppy-based network boot disk includes the following files:

IO.SYS
NETUTILS.ZIP (includes minimal set of tools for loading cd-rom drivers, and configuring network )
IFSHLP.SYS
EMM386.EXE
MSDOS.SYS
XMSDSK.EXE, the Ramdrive we will use to expand other files
CONFIG.SYS
AUTOEXEC.BAT
COMMAND.COM
NET.ZIP, (all network-related files)

Content of the Netutils.ZIP file :

ASPICD.SYS, generic ASPI CD-ROM driver
CHOICE.COM, to ask a question to the user
DDLOADER.COM, to load a driver from command-line
GET.EXE to ask imput from user and load an environment var with it
INI.EXE, to Edit an INI file from command-line
NIC.MAP, parameter file for PCISCAN and NIC
PCISCAN.EXE, to detect PCI cards
scsi.map, parameter file for PCISCAN and SCSI boards
SSCDROM.SYS, Universal CD-ROM driver
TR.EXE to replace dots with spaces
MSCDEX.EXE
EDITENV.EXE, to load env variables with a text file
FW2ASPI.SYS Compaq SCSI driver
aspi\ASPI8DOS.SYS for adaptec 29xx boards
aspi\ASPI4DOS.SYS for adaptec 19xx boards
ASPICD.SYS for ASPI CD-ROM drives

Content of the NET.ZIP file :

Lanman DOS client files :

CONNECT.DAT
DRIVERS.DOS
EMSBFR.EXE

LMHOSTS
MDGND.DOS
NDISHLP.SYS
NEMM.DOS
NET.EXE
NET.MSG
NETWORKS
NMTSR.EXE
PROTMAN.DOS
PROTMAN.EXE
PROTOCOL
SETUP.INF
TCPDRV.DOS
TCPTSR.EXE
TCPUTILS.INI
TINYRFC.EXE
UMB.COM
WCSETUP.INF
WFWSYS.CFG

DIS_PKT.DOS, packet driver for ghost and drive Image

configuration files:

PROTOCOL.INI

SYSTEM.INI

batch files:

NETCFG.BAT

NETSTART.BAT

NIC drivers :

XCEMNDIS.EXE

NE2000.DOS

OCE20ND2.DOS
OCE4XND2.DOS
OCTENABL.DOS, enabler for Olicom PCMCIA boards
OLITOK16.DOS
CBENDIS.EXE
E100B.DOS
EL59X.DOS
EL90X.DOS
ELNK3.DOS
NETFLX3.DOS
PCIND.DOS , PCi ne2000

How do you add a NIC ?

To add a NIC you need 2 things :

the NIC NDIS driver (ie .DOS or .EXE)
the NIC description character chain (something$)

Add the NIC file to the NET directory

Add two lines to the NETCFG.BAT file (the file is self-explaining)

Add a submenu item and a section under the same name to CONFIG.SYS

If this is a PCI board, edit NIC.MAP file to return the id string as in CONFIG.SYS and NETCFG.BAT, this will enable PCISCAN to detect it.