Ubcd4win

[geekhelp4u]

Since in another post we used this to delete a stubborn file, I thought I would keep it going over here... Lets discuss what apps we have added to our UBCD4WIN CDs and discuss how we have personalized our UBCD4WIN Disks.

I start with the boot up screen and change it to flash my company logo instead of UBCD4WIN, i then follow up by changing the boot options to use my company name, instead of ubc4win, and then change the now loading screen to say COMPANY NAME instead of ubcd4win. I finish it off by having it load to the operating system with a background of my company logo, or cool picture with my company name on it! This makes things look a lot more professional when working on a clients machine in front of him/her!

Anyone else have any other great branding ideas that they do? What additional software do you guys add to your disks that is not already part of the package?

I also usually password protect the disk in case i accidentally leave the disk behind, and update it once every two weeks!

What other ideas are out there on customizing your disks?

[mh348]

Do you have a link to a guide on how to change these options? I would like to also brand my own cd because the orignal has the ubc4win logo & url and I don't like clients knowing how I repair the system.

[geekhelp4u]

Do you have a link to a guide on how to change these options? I would like to also brand my own cd because the orignal has the ubc4win logo & url and I don't like clients knowing how I repair the system.

To tell you the truth, i just played around with it till I got it the way I wanted it. Anyone out there have a good tutorial on this? I am heading to a concert tonight (Blue October) so I don't have time to write one out! If no one posts one by the morning, I will create a tutorial on branding your own UBCD4WIN Disk!

[gadz00ks1]

You should definitely check their forums since I cant post the link. Im trying to add Hirens Boot CD to the boot options. I also want to add two commercial AV/AS apps as well. Its still in process.

[focuz]

Didn't think about branding it until now, but I have added appz a while back

check out http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/customize.html

[mh348]

That link is for UltimateBootCD, I was looking to customize UBCD4WIN.

[geekhelp4u]

Branding your UBCD4WIN disk

After test driving Geek Squad's MRI disk, and creating my own repair disk using UBCD4WIN, I realized that I really needed to brand my disk for a more professional look when working in front of clients. Below is my guide to branding the UBCD4WIN disk. This is just the basics, so if you have better techniques, or greater ideas please send comments so I can apply them to both my disk and this article to better help those in the IT Repair Profession or Hobby.

To start, download UBCD4WIN and install it to C:\UBCD4Win
http://www.ubcd4win.com/downloads.htm

Change the Wallpaper when operating system boots:

There are many ways to do this, but I found this to be the easiest. Browse to C:\UBCD4Win\plugin\!Critical\UserSettings\Wallpape r

Open UBCD4WIN.jpg and edit it to your preference.
For editing images quickly and free, I recommend Paint.Net http://www.getpaint.net/

My current wallpaper looks like this:
http://www.geekhelp4u.com/ubcd4win/UBCD4WIN.jpg

Change the flash logo:

When UBCD4WIN boots, it quickly flashes the UBCD4WIN logo. I changed this by browsing to C:\UBCD4Win\plugin\Multiboot-003\bcdw\files
and editing the logo.gif file the same way I did the Wallpaper above. My current logo flash looks like this:
http://www.geekhelp4u.com/ubcd4win/logo.gif

Change the Boot Options:
While you are in the C:\UBCD4Win\plugin\Multiboot-003\bcdw\files folder, you can edit and change the boot options by opening bcdw_base.ini.
You will notice that they have made it easy to customize. I left the color setting default, so if you find a great way of changing this, add comments.
I also did not add any boot options to the menu, so if you have some great ideas here, let us know in comments below!
The main changes I made were:

TopText to ------------YOUR COMPANY NAME---------------

BottomText to -------------ABOUT YOUR COMPANY----------------

AboutText to --------see h*tp://www.yourcompany.com for services and pricing---------

\i386\setupldr.bin ; Launch YOURCOMPANYNAME Repair

[lward1]

How did you get a Geek Squad MRI disk? What do they include/use? I tried a Google for it but cant seem to find anything useful. I have the UBCD4WIN and various other CDs and flash drives etc.

[Maddiebeagle]

I've added Ghost and Acronis True Image to my UBCD4W disc. Also added JK Defrag. A few portable apps that don't need formally installed, etc.

[syst3merror]

so is ubcd4w ONLY a boot disc? I mean, does it do anything when windows is already running? I really want to make a disc like geeksquad for when I am working on a customers computer in front of them. not a boot one, but one that operates just like the geeksquad one but with my logos, name, etc.

I've been told to try autoplay media studio, but I can't make heads or tails of that thing. I can figure out how to make a box with some button links, but that is cheesy to me and doesn't look as good as the geeksquad stuff. :(

[MHCG]

It's an XP boot disc that has a ton of freeware utilities and you can add your own licensed software to it. Personally, I don't really like it because it seems to take forever to boot.

[geekhelp4u]

It's an XP boot disc that has a ton of freeware utilities and you can add your own licensed software to it. Personally, I don't really like it because it seems to take forever to boot.

Well, to me the point is that it does boot, when the computer I am working on does not! If it did boot, I would just use my usb drive with PStart running all the same stuff the UBCD4WIN disk has to offer, plus more!

[Rover 45]

Hi I am new to this forum. Please can you tell me if it is possible to purchase ubcd4win on a disc as I am having a few problems with the down load and writing it to a disc

Thank you

Rover 45

[abe]

It's an XP boot disc that has a ton of freeware utilities and you can add your own licensed software to it. Personally, I don't really like it because it seems to take forever to boot.

i've also noticed that ubcd4win takes foreever to boot on newer computers, i poped it into an old machine , with 128 or 256ram i thing it was a P3 and it boots real quick, i'm thinking it may be the newer HD that take it longer to boot. i hope they fix it soon.

Abe

[joe3k]

Very useful writeup on how to customise UBCD4w Chris. I prefer not to use it much, as I too find it such a pain waiting for it to load. However where others fail, it can be useful and to customise it makes it dead professional looking.

[ers1121]

Hi I am new to this forum. Please can you tell me if it is possible to purchase ubcd4win on a disc as I am having a few problems with the down load and writing it to a disc

Thank you

Rover 45

http://www.ubcd4win.com/ubcd4win.htm

[Rover 45]

Just to say thank you for your help ers1121 I am very grateful

[LunchBox]

One thing to add.

I have seen techs that download the iso and burn it do disk. I you update all the AV app's virus def files before burning the iso. I dont update all because the ISO becomes too big and wont fit on a CD. I know I can burn into a DVD but there are people still that do not have a DVD player.

[Jory]

Just delete some of the stuff you don't need, and then you can add more files without running out of space. I think the default build only has like 2-5MB of space left so it's packed to the limit already.

[ers1121]

The new version was released yesterday, there were some things added & some removed so it should still fit on a cd.
Ed

[ClickRight]

The new version was released yesterday, there were some things added & some removed so it should still fit on a cd.
Ed

Thanks for the update!

And yea, The only thing I changed in my version was the wallpaper once XP was loaded. I think I'll probably end up changing the boot screen now too that you mention it.

[Andyuk2007]

This has probably been asked before but can it be put on a usb flash drive at all or is it cd based only ?

Perhaps having it on flash drive would make it boot within seconds instead of waiting for 10 minutes. Also A vista and windows 7 version would be good as we need to keep up with the latest operating systems

[jj2000]

http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=21362

you could try this,i don't know how well it would work as i have not tested it myself.

[Jory]

This has probably been asked before but can it be put on a usb flash drive at all or is it cd based only ?

Perhaps having it on flash drive would make it boot within seconds instead of waiting for 10 minutes. Also A vista and windows 7 version would be good as we need to keep up with the latest operating systems

When creating the ISO click on the plugins tab, and there is an option to turn on USB setup.

[ers1121]

This has probably been asked before but can it be put on a usb flash drive at all or is it cd based only ?

Perhaps having it on flash drive would make it boot within seconds instead of waiting for 10 minutes. Also A vista and windows 7 version would be good as we need to keep up with the latest operating systems

Putting it on a flash drive is easy using this: http://www.ezpcfix.net/ubcd4win/UBUSB.exe
How ever don't expect it to boot faster, it actuall take the same if not a bit longer. However it once loaded it works faster than the CD. As for Vista version, I have used this on Vista systems and it worked fine, remember the operating system you are using is the one on the CD. I do mostly virus & spyware removal and it has worked on Vista systems with no problem.
Ed

[joe3k]

Played around with the customization of ubcd4win yesterday. Here's what I changed, am I missing anything else that can be customized?


Change the Wallpaper when operating system boots:
Browse to C:\UBCD4Win\plugin\!Critical\UserSettings\Wallpape r
Open UBCD4WIN.jpg and edit it to your preference.

Change Keyboard Support to your country:
Browse to C:\UBCD4Win\plugin\!Critical\UserSettings\User-Settings.inf

Change the flash logo:
Browse to C:\UBCD4Win\plugin\Multiboot-003\bcdw\files
Edit the logo.gif file

Change the Boot Options:
C:\UBCD4Win\plugin\Multiboot-003\bcdw\files folder
bcdw_base.ini.
TopText to ------------YOUR COMPANY NAME---------------
BottomText to -------------ABOUT YOUR COMPANY----------------
AboutText to --------see h*tp://www.yourcompany.com for services and pricing---------
\i386\setupldr.bin ; Launch YOURCOMPANYNAME Repair


Is it possible to change the pre-shell by Joshua part?
Also the now loading... part?

Finally; how do I add my own programs to the desktop and/or start menu? I've added Acronis, but I have to browse to it on the cd to load it up.

[joe3k]

...this may be part of the latter solution, although i haven't tested yet:
Open the acronis_nu2menu.xml in notepad and change line:
<MENU ID="Storage"> to <MENU ID="Programs">
and save.
Then build as normal and Acronis should show in main menu.
Hmm lets hope it works.

[joe3k]

Hmm just tried miniPE. Boots in half the time. Wonder if it's editable? I've only got the iso image... darn.

[Omnicef]

This has probably been asked before but can it be put on a usb flash drive at all or is it cd based only ?

Perhaps having it on flash drive would make it boot within seconds instead of waiting for 10 minutes. Also A vista and windows 7 version would be good as we need to keep up with the latest operating systems

http://ubcd4win.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=11375 Works like a charm!