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Xboxhdm2.2 (USB Edition) - Final Release - Updated 24-10-2011

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This is Xboxhdm2.2 with a bugfix on the bootloader. It reverts back to grub4dos. FreeDOS also fixed.
Xboxhdm2.2 is designed to help you rebuild your XBOX HDD using a USB flash drive. It can also help you un/lock your XBOX HDD.

Main architect: ldotsfan
Dual boot/testing: scullc
Script developments: fwz

Download here - 156mb

Xboxhdm2.2 is primarily designed to boot from USB flash drives.
The tool is designed for advanced users as it assumes you are already familiar with xboxhdm.
It may not work at all and may thrash your drive. Ensure you already have an eeprom.bin and can recover with the original xboxhdm.
HDD start up times will be greatly extended if you have a locked HDD attached, although this is markedly reduced when un/locking using FreeDOS/ATAPWD or if IDE detection is turned off in your BIOS.

Additional features over old version:
Boots from USB.
Integrated dual-booting allows for Linux & DOS tools to co-exist to get your HDD un/locked.
Any of the 4 IDE connections may be used now to connect Xbox HDD. CD-ROM drive not needed (if you can boot from USB).
No reboots between HDD rebuilds and locking.
Linux ISO building no longer required.

Quick use/set-up:
Extract xboxhdm2.2 to the root of your USB flash drive.
Populate the /hdm/C folder with the M$ Dashboard files.
Populate the /hdm/E folder with any chosen files (games saves etc) that you require installed.
Place your "eeprom.bin" file in the eeprom folder located on the root of the flash drive if you intend to un/lock.
To install the multiboot, download grub4dos Installer (ver 1.1) & follow the install instructions from Section 1.
That's it! Reboot using the USB drive and if all gone well, you should see the boot screen.

Notes:
Xboxhdm2.2 was developed from XboxHDM2 (USB Edition) & covers much of its features.
If you intend on using the stable Xboxhdm2.1 then here are some quick install instructions.
Some help files located in a “help” folder on the root of the USB stick. This may assist with you advanced un/locking techniques & basic use of xboxhdm2.2.
To access FreeDOS/ATAPWD un/locking tools - select FreeDOS in the boot menu & press enter twice. Navigate to the FreeDOS folder using DOS commands (cd freedos).
This is a final personal build & is unsupported as the tool is no longer being developed. But it works

Have fun with it.
scullc

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EDIT: 13 Mar 2012

Mirror of 2.2 download at sourceforge

amazing & good to hear
out of curiosity - where did you see that Spanish effort?

The first Google result with "xboxhdm2.1" for Spanish language results.

Mine stops loading vmlinuz part

I changed my usb port to primary and now stops at initdr something like that lol

can you provide more detail? i am not sure what you mean.
generally this tool is meant for advanced users & it assumes you are already familiar with xboxhdm (the original).
please also ensure you are reading the build instructions to the letter as i have never seen this error before.

Well, I'm trying this in a old computer with only 256mb ram and two USB ports, both ports are low speed (But I think it doesn't matter cause I boot damn small linux usb live with that same usb and the same low speed port)
I downloaded the light version formated my 2 gb usb with Fat32, did everything in the tutorial, BUT I didn't put my linux iso I was just testing the app, so yeah everything OK, I put my eprom, C and E folder and then I maked bootable the usb with bootinst.bat
The computer start and then after a short time the usb start with the green splash menu, but stopped at vmlinuz, then I changed the usb to another port (the first port) and now stays at initgr or something like that.
I'm gonna try this again and see what happens.
Edit in a few moments...

Ops I can't edit, well I tried again and yes... it was my fault lol
I was doing something worng and now everything loads fine BUT I still have a big problem, when I press 1 in the option 2 to enter hdmaker it says : Could not allocate physical memory and that's it, maybe I need more ram or something.

I agree.
I suspect you haven't got enough memory in that machine but i am a little surprised tbh.
generally the tool hasn't been rigorously tested in less than 512mb and your experience seems to bear that out.
see here for other minimum testing experience.
that machine got a CD-ROM?
you could always try the original HDM method

any chance this will give the ability to configure how large each partition will be?
this is probably a very n00bish question, but I want a direct response from the people I know I can get a decent answer from, instead of getting out of date posts, or whatever else..
I want to be able to install a new hard drive in my xbox, and bam, start out with custom sized C, E, and F partitions, perhaps even G.
and if that's not possible, how would I go about resizing those partitions, and would it be recommended against for any particular reason?

No, xboxhdm doesn't do that. While it is possible to resize C and E (and presumably X, Y and Z) it is not recommended - there are loads of posts from people who have tried this with mixed results.

Your real choice is how you divide the remaining space between F and G, and xboxhdm doesn't do that either. You set up the stock partitions with xboxhdm, then use XBPartitioner 1.1 to set up F and G.

If you want to experiment, you can use XBPartitioner 1.1 to adjust the stock partition sizes, but doing so will erase the data on those partitions, and for a softmodded Xbox you will then need to run xboxhdm again to populate the resized partitions - although I'm not entirely sure that would work properly.....

Well I think this is a qemu issue I tried adding more swap and nothing, algo tried ulimit -d unlimited and nothing, the only way to fix this is adding more ram so this doesn't work with less than 384mb.

seems a heavy amount of RAM needed & without any other means of testing/feedback we're probably nearer getting the required minimum to run the (lite) tool.
i recall ldotsfan had similar issues in real world testing & with qemu see here
however this doesn't help you - what are you trying to achieve?
there are other ways to rebuild that HDD (hdm original CD method/stick it in chipped box...etc)

Well I was trying to make a hd for my xbox cause I have the retail 10gb and is not enough.
The problem is that I don't have a dvd rom drive or any kind of disc reader/writer device and my xbox only has a softmod, I guess I'm gonna have to buy a cd writer just to do this.

know what you mean. i run a 160gb HDD in my main XBOX and i am down to my last 20gb.
I don't know where you are based but here in the UK i managed to get a free PC off a recycle scheme (its called Freecycle). Before it gave up the ghost i was able to rebuild my 160gb HDD with the original xboxhdm CD.
Alternatively you could get a mod-chip for the XBOX, install it & rebuild through Slayers Evox or AID 4.5. Or get a loan of a modern(ish) PC somewhere - anything to get you access to IDE ports & bootable USB. Just make sure you keep that eeprom safe somewhere as its importance cannot be understated.
Anyway good luck with what you do.

Will updated instructions for using NDURE 3.1 along with Xbochdm 2.1 be posted?
BTW, is there a easier way to make a drive bootable? I was unfortunatly unsuccessful in my attempt :/ I'm running Windows 7 Professional on top edge hardware, so i'm a little surprised.
Thank you all for making Softmod possible. I'm amazed by it's many oppertunities

I have no experience of Ndure3.1 but had a quick look anyway. This response seems to give a broad answer but just to let you know - xboxhdm2 CAN lock/unlock your drive (using the eeprom). Maybe you fancy compiling some instructions if you are successful in the above thread? I may be even interested myself

xboxhdm2 will create an xbox HDD for you and if you do things right it will be bootable. The only other 'easy' way i can think is a mod-chip but that is another technical feat. At least you don't need to lock the drive. If you are prepared to put the time/research in - it will become much easier...believe me.

xboxhdm2 was not tested in Windows 7 - only XP/Vista. Can you try a rebuild in one of those and feedback?

Has this release fixed the issues using Intel processors? I have 3 separate Pentium 4 procs and last I knew it only worked for AMD.

that's news to me...where's that documented?
personally, i tried this out on a Core2 Duo & AMD chips - with no issues at all.
IIRC i also tested the CD-kicker method on an old Pentium system which worked fine too.
Why not test it out & report your efforts here.

The original xboxhdm would not lock HDDs in Pentium 3/4 machines due to the IDE controllers freezing the drive. No matter what you select in the bios (I go one option at a time, till all controllers are turned completely off) it's going to give you the "Hard Drive Frozen". Like I said earlier, I tested 3 separate P4s, and one P3 and all gave the same output. Your release is no different on these machines. I've tested it in a virtual environment using VMWare Workstation and live with the same results. I'm also not sure what the "CD-kicker" method is. Are you talking about just using a live cd?

The only time I was able to work it was on an AMD Athlon XP and an old Pentium II board. I've accomplished my HDD swap using your tool to transfer the files and a thankfully partially usable old HDD, booting into Chimp and locking it right there (using a 1.0 box)

1. Locking will never work from a virtual environment.
2. The hard drive frozen issue is with the Bios and not the CPU. The Bios implemented the ATA Security feature.
3. The CD-kicker method is to get around usb booting and use the CD to boot first and transfer control to the usb drive.

Im having a small problem
When i type xboxhd2 in slax i get a this message
I went into the help folder and copyed the string in the xbox.txt file, and just added my mount points, my usb was on /mnt/sda and the hdd was on hdb1 but then says error with /dev/hdb1 or similar, should have write it down but didnt think at the time, so when i went back into slax i opened media and my hdd is recognised but is not mounted, but when i double click on it it says unable to mount /hdb1.
the hdd isnt locked for sure as i was using it in an old xp rig

ha ha managed to get it going
thanks so much, after upgrading my rig, the old cd hdm wouldnt boot, and to be able to use this is a saviour
thanks

Pardon my ignorance on the issue. I guess I just have bad luck with attaining old computers!

Again thank you and scullc for your work, with a combination of methods I am able to get everything back up and kicking!

@Magimog - well done. glad you got it sorted!
@Jimz360 - glad you figured it out - seemed like a 'build' issue to me.

good to hear people are having success with the tool

Neither xboxhdm 1.9 nor 2.1 worked for me. I'm attempting a soft mod on a virgin xbox. My main desktop is a one year-old quadcore with only one pata connection on the motherboard.

My first step is to backup my eeprom.bin. Using xboxhdm 1.9, I could load the OS from cd via my sata dvd-rw drive or a pata dvd-rw drive with jumper set to slave. Upon attempting to use the ndure script, it would give me the "Linux cd not found!" error. I worked with this for over an hour last night and several hours tonight, including reading previous threads on the error and solutions.

The best solution I've found is to use a computer that has two pata connections on the motherboard. Alas, my previous tower (which has two pata connections on the motherboard...) is dead. The tower before that does not support booting from cd-rom drive, let alone usb drive.

I then attempted to use xboxhdm 2.1. Amazing work, by the way. I'm truly awed at the skill and cooperation that went into this. I got everything working on my sandisk cruzer 2gb flash drive. PC booted perfectly into slax and I could run xboxhd2 via konsole. After loading in qemu, I came to the exact same result upon loading xbrowser (to backup and retrieve my eeprom.bin).

If anything, this has made me more determined to get it working, so I'm off to the store to buy a copy of Splinter Cell tomorrow. I'll splice a USB connection into a breakaway cable to use my memory stick, as buying a new cable is cheaper than buying a used memory card and will provide another route to load data onto my xbox in the future.

I'll post an update on my progress as it occurs.

Am I missing something here? Virgin xbox with eeprom.bin? You have to softmod the xbox first to get an eeprom backup.

Anyway apart from xboxhdm2.1, there are many ways to get to Rome

No, I misunderstood the eeprom backup process. I now have copies of Splinter Cell & Mech Assault ($2/ea at the used games store). I'll try the process from your linked thread tomorrow, hopefully.

thought I knew a fair about the scene - but i missed that one. excellent.
I think my xbox hacking days are behind me now (too busy) but its great to see developments like this.
I used to do the 'hotswap method' - then stick on my game save from the xboxhdm CD to the XBOX HDD (but that changed with xboxhdm2 and run the soft mod that way.
anyway good luck welandB

I have had some difficulty with a specific hard drive while upgrading. After becoming frustrated with the process and taking a break from that hd, I opted to upgrade to a 120gb WD hd using xboxhdm2.1.

It is amazing how smooth this went. Thank you so much, ldots and scullc. You guys really made a kickass tool. Without a computer that has two PATA connectors, I'd have been hosed without this.

I'll run through my specific process for anyone who finds himself in my hardware situation in the future:

• PC has one PATA (traditionally called IDE) connector on the motherboard that is NOT the primary IDE and 6(?) SATA connectors that aren't involved with the softmodding process
• PC that can boot to USB flash drive
• A flash drive <- My working size for this softmod/hd upgrade was 611MB. As I have a 2GB flash drive, I wasn't concerned with paring this down. These steps don't involve the paring-down, though you can by postponing transfer of the E drive.
• Router/switch connecting PC and xbox <- not exactly necessary, look for the note
• No memory card or xbox-USB connector <- I made the connector, but my xbox refused to format my flash drive, so I went a route that doesn't require either of these
• Original Splinter Cell for xbox for game save exploits (the actual softmodding is done through these)

Process (repeat at your own risk!):

1. Download Xplorer360 to PC <- Please note if you use Vista, you must run this as administrator (right-click on program, select "Run As Administrator")
2. Download game save exploit (from the usual places) appropriate to the game you have. I used Splinter Cell.
3. Download xboxhdm2.1 archive to PC and extract (link on first post of this topic)
4. Download Grub4Dos installer to PC and extract (link on first post of this topic) <- please note that despite their tutorial, you only have to download and extract their installer. ldot/scullc graciously configured all of the necessary files and included them in the xboxhdm2.1 download
5. Copy xboxhdm2.1 files to root of flash drive
6. Run Grub4Dos installer on flash drive using their tutorial (tutorial link on first post of this topic) <- again, skip the copying of the other archive's files to the flash drive
7. Hotswap original xbox hd with PC booted in Windows <- I could do this while already booted in Vista. Do at your own risk.
8. Open Xplorer360 and "insert files" from game save exploit archive into appropriate folders on partition 3 <- you can try to "insert folder" but this never worked for me. I had to make a new folder and properly name it and manually select each file to transfer anything TO the hd
9. Copy all contents of partition 1 to a backup folder on your PC. This is your xbox's virgin C drive (system and dashboard files), which I found easier to work with upon upgrading the HD. You can do this after softmodding it via FTP, but using the original, unmodified C drive files was easier for me.
10. Copy all contents of partition 3 to a backup folder on your PC. This is your xbox's E drive (saved games and music(unsure on music as I had none on the hd)) with all of your saved games plus the game save exploit. Backing this up after copying over the exploit just saves a step when upgrading the hd.
11. Select "close drive" in Xplorer360's file menu <- this sometimes caused the program to crash in Vista Business 64bit, though I never saw any problems resulting from it
12. Copy your backup C & E folders to corresponding folders in the "hdm" folder on the root of your flash drive <- the reason you shouldn't copy directly from Xplorer360 to your flash drive is so you have a backup on your PC.
13. Disconnect original hd from PC, replace in xbox, and run the game save exploit <- I never shut down my PC before disconnecting. Do at your own risk.
14. Run through appropriate install, specific to your exploit package
15. Note your xbox's IP address (from system info in UnleashX/EvolutionX dashboard) and FTP into xbox (user: xbox, pass: xbox) from PC and copy over the backup folder on your xbox's E drive (backup folder locations vary from exploit to exploit) to an appropriate backup location on your PC <- if you do not have a network, you can hotswap again and work from partition 3 in Xplorer360
16. Copy the eeprom.bin from this backup folder to the "eeprom" folder on the root of your flash drive.
17. Shut down xbox and PC
18. Connect new hd to PC
19. Boot PC from flash drive <- my BIOS is odd and has two menus for boot priority. Even after I selected to boot from USB device in the first, or selecting it from the one-time boot menu, it would still boot into Windows from my PC's main hd. Only after a half-dozen attempts did I find the second menu, which overrides the first menu AND the one-time boot menu. Go figure.
20. Select to boot into Slax
21. If using the GUI version, open the "System" icon on the desktop and browse to storage media. Hover your mouse over the hard drive you're going to use and note its mounted location (ex- /dev/hda). This will be the last time you can see it in the storage media folder and this path is important to remember.
22. Once Slax is loaded run xboxhd2 (from a console if using the GUI)
23. Select the path you noted from the storage media folder
24. Select option #2 to continue with part 2
25. Once QEMU loads (in another console window if in the GUI), run xboxhdm <- As my hard drive was always at /dev/hda, I do not know if ldot's configuration will change a /dev/hdb (or hdc, hdd) path in Slax to a /dev/hda path in QEMU.
26. Select "create xbox hd from scratch" <- this will run you through self-explanatory prompts, pulling appropriate data from your flash drive's xdm folder.
27. This will prompt you to make an F partition and possibly a G partition. F (and G) will be your "extra space" on the hd for movies or games you want to save. Unless you've upgraded your BIOS to access partitions >137gb, consider making a G partition if your F partition will exceed this and xboxhdm prompts you to do so.
28. Once it finishes configuring the partitions and copying files, it will return you to xboxhdm's menu
29. Select option #6 to check your hd's pass key from eeprom.bin. <- I haven't needed either of these numbers so far, but I've written them down and keep the piece of paper taped underneath the hd in the xbox.
30. Other tutorials (for xboxhdm up to v1.9) will tell you to select option #7. You don't need to as you wrote down the keys and have the lock/unlock tools on your flash drive already. I don't have a floppy drive, but I suppose you could still select this option if you have one and want to make the disk.
31. Select option #8 to quit
32. Type "poweroff" to shutdown the QEMU program. <- Sometimes QEMU would hang after telling me to turn off the computer, so I just closed the window (hit ctrl+alt if you can't see the cursor).
33. Run xboxhd2 (the first console you used should still be there if using a GUI) again
34. Select option #3 to lock your hd <- the first time I did this on my new hd, it changed the "security supported" line from no to yes, but "security enabled" was still no. I ran it again and "security enabled" changed to yes.
35. Shut down your PC
36. Disconnect the new hd from your PC and change its jumper setting to "cable select" if not already
37. Reconnect it to your xbox
38. Power up xbox and run the softmod game save exploit again

I'm thinking about changing my name to ldotsfansfan

I confused the drive letters and corresponding partitions. Drive C is partition 3, Drive E is partition 4.

Ok, this just isn't working for me. I tried the console version, but it gives me a "runtime 4" error, no KDE, etc

So I tried the GUI version. This tells me "hdm directory not found", "eeprom.bin not found", etc. I tried replacing the ltoolz.lzm file with an older one, but then it starts asking me about a linux.iso file. I thought the point of filling the "C" and "E" folders in hdm was that no iso file was needed?! I know the USB drive is mounted as mnt/sda, but how do I know what my xbox drive is?

Is it just me? I used xboxhdm 1.9 without problems on my old PC. Is the ltoolz.lzm file in the final version the correct file?

I'd really appreciate any help, this is driving me mad!!

If memory serves, the older versions (eg 2.0?) required you to create a standard XBoxHDM ISO file and include that one the USB drive. I guess if you want to try the old code, you should be following this.

so i can understand your problem a little better:
1. whats your system specs? you got enough RAM to run the gui version?
2. you have definitely followed the install guide to the letter (populated the HDM folders with appropriate M$ files etc?)
3. eeprom.bin is in the root of the stick in the folder eeprom.

no ISO needed for 2.1 final (all done by populating the folders).
I suspect your stick is not 'built' properly and your files are either missing or not in the right place. have another go & feedback.
IIRC (although its been a while) fwz scripts automatically 'find' your HDD for you. see this post which may help 'getting you started'.

I am ALSO having problems with XboxHDM2 (USB edition)
I have sued the XBOXHDM 1.9 on my Pii 440bx board with NO problems...

New System Specs:
Core2Duo
4 sata ports
1 Pata connector
2gb ram
E2100 CPU (not exactly sure)


I think the problem is with the Grub4Dos Installer. (Preparing the MBR of the USB-STICK)
If I prepare it and copy all the xboxhdm2.1 files to the root of the USB it does NOT boot.

IF I prepare the USB with BartPE and then copy over some of the files it boots....

I cannot get the GUI version running. THe Console lite version boots but than hangs at looking for the livecd.sXX (With the hard drives attached) (Without the drives attached it boots to the "SLAX" login page...)

Am i missing something here. Have about 3 hours invested in making the the USB bootable. I have a USB stick with winxp on it and it runs and boots fine.....

Any help is appreciated!

illtww:

what OS are you trying to run the grub installer on?
it was tested in (mainly) XP and to a less extent Vista. I did not test it all in Win7
small point - i extracted/prepared the USB drive 1st - then ran the installer (as per my instructions)

Dang nice tool! I wish I read this just a few hours ago... Just got done locking a HDD ./
I assume you can recover any xbox basically by using the correct version eeprom for your xbox? Correct region and all that ya know...I've got a couple xboxs that had dead hdds so I'm just now blowin the dust off em and gettin em fixed... Nice to come back into it and see these new apps and tools available now! There's the snazzy xbox eeprom reader & writer I'm plannin on grabbin off eBay and then I'm gonna be givin this new Xboxhdm a try!

Keep up the good work!

Thanks for the replies. In the end I broke the hard drive!

I was using a SATA HD with a SATA-IDE adaptor. I think the problem I had with xboxhdm2 was to do with the way my motherboard recognises drives. It recognises SATA drives as HD1 (primary) master and slave and HD2 (secondary) master and slave. PATA drives are recognised as HD0, so I'm not sure how this is picked up in linux.

I had no problems creating the boot usb device, and loaded up slax without a problem.

I think what killed the drive was that I was using chimp 2.6 on the xbox, and started copying drives and locking the drive after already receiving device errors.

Anyway, it was a spare 320gb SATA drive, so I used a spare 160gb PATA drive in the end (with Chimp 2.6) and this worked first time.

XP SP3...

Can you copy and past the USB Prepare section? or link it? (Pretty sure i followed to a t....)

Thanks!

no big secret - its the instructions at the top of this thread. i have been lucky in which 3 different sticks i used for testing always worked.
my 1gb USB Stick is formatted to Fat32 btw.
have you tried the CD Kicker method? Both the GUI/console ISOs have a folder containing a CD-Kicker ISO (this should allow non-bootable sticks/BIOS's that don't allow USB booting to load from USB after you first boot from the CD).
Burn the CK-Kicker ISO, then boot from Cd & see if its loads that way.



***************
This is a good time as any - to say that I am taking an extended break from the scene.
Life has just got busy and I no longer have the time for this project.
Many thanks to all those who I have 'worked' with during the last year.

Cheers
***************

Good luck to you, then. Hope to see you around.

Does this allow hotswap softmod via usb enclosure?

This is intended for booting off an usb drive. Not quite the same thing. But somebody did this with qemu off a Mac so they must have used an usb enclosure? I also wrote this guide some time back. Similiar to the first link but on a PC.

Here's the steps to get the console version working properly:
1) Follow the steps to get the files on the flash drive and write the mbr for grub4dos
1b) Download MHDD and copy the files from the downloaded zip file to /MHDD directory in the root of the flash drive.
2) If using Ndure 3.1, prepare it as you would normally and copy the files to the /hdm/ndure directory on the flash drive
2b) Download and copy ndure2 (modified ndure 3.1 script just for xboxhdm2) to the /hdm/ndure directory on the flash drive.
3) Put the eeprom.bin file in the /eeprom directory from the xbox you want to build a hard drive for.
4) Eject the flash drive properly, insert it into the computer you're going to lock/unlock the hd with while the computer is off.
5) Connect a power molex connector from your computer to the xbox hard drive, do not connect the ide cable just yet.
6) Make sure that no other devices are on the IDE channels and make sure the xbox hd's jumper is set to master.
7) Start up the computer, go into the BIOS by pressing a specific key when the computer brand logo shows up.
8) Disable automatic mode for the primary ide channel, and change the boot order to boot to the flash drive.
9) Save and Exit the BIOS
10) When the computer boots to the lime green boot menu, press the down or up arrow key to cancel the countdown.
11) Connect the IDE cable to the xbox hard drive.
12) Select Slax ... and press Enter
13) Login to slax using username, "root" , and password, "toor"
14) Type xboxhd2 and press Enter.
15) Using the unlock or lock option, allow the system to determine the HDD Key to lock or unlock the hard drive. This key is based on more than these three things: eeprom.bin, Model number, and Serial number. So each hard drive will have a unique key depending on the eeprom file. Keep that in mind and watch what you write down. The HDD Key is a 20 byte key given in hex. Record this hex number.
16) Exit the unlock or lock option by typing "no".
17) Type poweroff and press Enter. If your computer doesn't shutdown completely, press the power button and it will initiate the shutdown sequence.
18) Unhook the IDE cable from the xbox hard drive (Leave the molex power connector connected) when it shuts off.
19) Power the computer back on, press up or down at the menu to cancel the countdown, connect the ide cable to the xbox hard drive.
20) Select FREEDOS and press Enter
21) Type cd MHDD, and then type MHDD and press Enter.
22) MHDD will load. This tool is extremely powerful. It bypasses the BIOS programming and communicates directly with the IDE channel. We are going to use it to lock or unlock the hard drive. Type PORT and press enter
23) Type the number of the xbox drive and press enter.
24) Using another computer google the extended ascii table and use it to convert the hex hd key you wrote down to dec or decimal numbers and write the individual decimal number down.
25) If you are unlocking the xbox hd, type UNLOCK and press enter.
25b) Type 0 and press enter
25c) Now this is the fun part. Grab the decimal numbers you wrote down and type them one by one by holding down the ALT key while you type the number on the Numeric pad. When you finish typing one number release the ALT key and a character will appear on the screen. One character represents a byte in hex, or 8 bits. Continue entering all the decimal numbers in this way. When you finish count the number of characters on the line and verify that there is 20 characters. Press Enter.
25d) If you entered the hex bytes in properly, it will say "Done." in green. Type DISPWD and press enter. Repeat step 25b-25c.
25e) It should say "Done" in green. This means the password is disabled until we choose to reenable it. Verify this is true by typing EID and press enter. Under security it should say high, OFF.
25f) Type Exit, and press enter. Turn off the computer. Unplug the ide cable from the xbox hard drive.
26) Turn on the computer, press up or down once you reach the lime green menu to cancel the countdown. Plug the ide cable into the xbox hard drive.
27) Select Slax ... and press Enter.
28) Type xboxhd2 and press Enter.
29) Type yes and press Enter.
30) Type 2 and press Enter to enter into xboxhdm
31) At this point, QEMU is loaded which mounts the flash drive as type msdos. A type of MSDOS is an issue because we will be copying files that have more than 8 characters in their filenames. We need to unmount the flash drive and remount it as type vfat so that the flash drive's files can be read with more than 8 characters. Assuming that /dev/hdc is your flash drive, type the commands below, pressing Enter after each line:

If this completes successfully, we can see that the file names are now as they should be. This will prevent error 21 from showing up and freezing on the xbox logo at startup.
32) Type xboxhd and press Enter
33) Build the xbox drive by following the options on the screen. You should be familiar with xboxhdm; rtfm. Once you are finished press 8 and enter to Quit xboxhdm.
34) Type xbrowser and press enter to verify the file structure of the xbox hard drive or to launch the modified ndure script for ndure 3.1. You should know how to install ndure; rtfm.
35) Press F10 to Quit xbrowser (Midnight Commander)
36) Type poweroff to initiate the shutdown sequence. If it doesn't shutdown fully, press the power button on the computer to start the shutdown sequence for sure. Wait until the computer is off.
37) Unplug the ide cable to the xbox hdd.
38) Turn on the computer, at the lime green menu hit an up or down key to cancel the countdown. Plug the ide cable into the xbox hard drive.
39) Select FREEDOS and press enter.
40) Type cd MHDD and press enter
41) Type MHDD and press enter
42) In MHDD, type PORT and press enter.
43) Press the number corresponding to the xbox hard drive and press enter.
44) Type PWD, press enter.
45) Type 0, press enter.
46) CAREFULLY type the 20 character hdd code generated for that specific hard drive by using the method in step 25c. DOUBLE CHECK your number. Ensure that there's twenty characters on the line. Press enter to lock the hard drive.
47) Type EID to verify that it's locked.
48) Type EXIT to quit MHDD. Turn off the computer.
49) Moment of Truth... Unplug the xbox hard drive from your computer (molex connector and ide cable) and plug it back into the xbox. It should load up UnleashX perfectly without errors if you used Ndure 3.1. If you used M$ Dash files, it should load up the M$ Dash just fine.
50) DONE!

Good work but why do we need MHDD (and switch to FreeDOS) ? Doesn't lockhd and unlockhd commands work in linux console mode? Typing in password manually is error-prone I also made hdparm available.

Just to satisfy my curiosity, what changes were made to ndure script?

HARD DRIVE ISSUES
With my particular hard drive (Seagate ST9100824A 100GB 2.5"), no other tools (Linux and/or Dos) could lock it properly.
- ATAPWD doesn't allow extended ascii characters so I couldn't enter in decimal numbers past 127.
- LOCKHD said "Device Not Ready" (I made the properly changes to my BIOS and put it on the ide cable at boot menu).
- LOCKHD (linux) said "Done!" but the drive status said the drive wasn't locked and I verified that indeed it wasn't locked.
- I tried all of these on multiple machines... same errors received and the different computers had different chipsets.
- I spent a week of free time trying to lock my hard drive

+ MHDD was the only tool that could lock my hard drive successfully, because it doesn't have to go through the BIOS to access the Hard drive.
+ MHDD supports extended ascii code, which allowed me to enter in the hex numbers to ascii up to decimal 255.
+ I used it to lock my hard drive on a PC with the Intel 875 Express chipset, a chipset that has been reported to have trouble locking hard drives.
+ UNLOCK (linux) was able to unlock my Xbox retail hard drive with the Intel 875 Express chipset PC.

NDURE SCRIPT CHANGES
1. Deleted the checks for the xbox hard drive and the cdrom at the top (XboxHDM 2.1 already checks for us).
2. Replaced every instance of the directory "xbox" with "xbox2" so it wouldn't interfere with the Flash drive mount to the "xbox" directory. In other words, I found that it was installing the ndure files to my flash drive because of the "xbox" mount point.
3. Replaced every instance of the directory "CD" with "xboxhdm" so that it would point to the correct mount point.

HARD DRIVE BACKUP
+ Used XboxHDM 2.1 to backup the files from my Hard drive to my Flash Drive (16GB) using Midnight Commander (xbrowser). It froze part of the way through, because there were some errors in copying certain files.
+ Used Xplorer360 in Windows Vista with Administrator Privileges. Froze on the same files that xbrowser did, but worked great otherwise.
+ Instead of using xbrowser, I tried using the linux copy program, "cp" with:

Froze on the same files, but worked nonetheless for the rest of the files.

- dynebolic 1.4.1 (LiveCD) distro didn't work, because it couldn't find the fatx type
- xUbuntu (LiveCD) could've possibly worked, but didn't with my computer setup.

I hope you don't mind, I've uploaded your ndure script to xboxhdm2.1 sourceforge. I'll take it down if you do mind and drop me a PM.

It's obvious you know what you are doing and it's always good for the scene to have an alternative way of locking and unlocking the xbox hdd.

I'm still dreaming of the day the equivalent of Textbook's tutorial of softmodding with hotswapping and xboxhdm2.1 comes along

I'm sure it will. I love xboxhdm 2.1, and you did a great job making it. Floppy discs are not found in new pcs and cd-roms are becoming obsolete. That makes it difficult to use the older version on xboxhdm (v1.9). Also, it's harder to use because of the different kernel versions (with Ndure). You have to reburn the cd for every different kernel version. With xboxhdm 2.1, you don't have to waste cds and you can use a flash drive and just switch out the kernel versions (in Ndure). Thanks for the great work!

You're free to upload my ndure script to sourceforge. I took two semesters worth learning the history of unix/linux and I'm familiar with the basic linux commands. I was somewhat disappointed to find that the linux copy command, "cp," doesn't include the v switch, or verbose switch. In the newer versions of the cp command it's included and it allows you to see the files being transferred on the command line.

+ I'd like to request that the flash drive be properly mounted as "vfat" instead of "msdos" on startup in qemu so that the user doesn't have to unmount and remount everytime. (If you want me to do this, I can).
+ Secondly, a more flexible way to switch from slax, qemu, and FreeDOS for those that wish to use MHDD so that you don't have to restart the computer so much during the process. (One way to do this is to be able to launch any of the tools (Dos or Linux) from slax and be able to exit those to return back to the slax login.
+ Thirdly, a linux program that generates an mhdd script (to lock or unlock) based on the key to lock the hard drive from the eeprom analysis done in "lockhd", to avoid mistyping the lock and unlock keys and also to save time.
+ Fourth, a choice between grub4dos, syslinux, and the modifications to add to a flash drive that has other bootable programs on it with grub4dos or syslinux installed.
+ Finally, a one-click program to automatically generate the bootable flash drive (For Windows and Linux).

I could do these modifications myself if I had access to the algorithm that generates the hdd key based on the eeprom (ie. "lockhd" from linux). I would also like the source code for fatx mount type. Let me know if you're interested.

I didn't do it alone. scullc and fwz came in with critical pieces to solve the puzzle together and we had to rely on many others along the way.


Please feel free to make modifications as you see fit. The development thread documented my thought processes and source code is available on sourceforge. AFAIK ldots never released his modifications to hdtool (I gathered he made changes for the xbox 1.6/1.6b eeprom based on his posts). However the hdtool source is available. I also attempted to modify hdparm source to accept hexadecimal passwords but never completed the modifications as I realized I could simply reuse the hdtool binary from ldots's xboxhdm.

Xbox linux documented the algorithm for the xbox hdd locking mechanism.

At this stage of the xbox life cycle, I think it will be a challenge to find testers for your proposed modifications but nevertheless good luck for your endeavours xboxhdm2.1 actually took more than a year to complete and today I still don't own a rig with the necessary requirements to test it myself but that didn't deter me at all from attempting