[Guide] Win server 2008

[aviv00]

The /m option seems to muck things up on R2 but if you don't use it you can't remove anything so it's kind of pointless. I'm going to try removing stuff from the installed system with dism.

Is there any point to removing packages from R2? Even if I remove a bunch of packages, my installation is about the same size as before. The WAIK tools don't really remove anything. The smallest I ever got my installation DVD was ~1.75GB. I tried to use peimg.exe /prep but that failed with an error. The best you can probably do is enable stuff that can be removed with Vlite like QWAVE, InkSupport/Handwritingrecognition, etc.

same packages could be remove and save space now [like printers drivers]

but there are same another packages that after reset the installed os the packages will remove and the space will be saved

[Grope For Luna]

Removing stuff with DISM on my live system doesn't appear to remove any files. I removed a bunch and my drive space usage has actually increased by 100MB.

Is there any way to prune old package files from winsxs?

EDIT: Never mind. I forgot I had to wait 20 minutes or so after the reboot for it to finish removing the files. I saved about a GB in disk space. My installation size is now about ~4GB actual disk usage (taking hard links into account.)

Edited January 23, 2009 by Grope For Luna

[Kullenen_Ask]

My opinion there is a difference to remove packages with

1-) start /w pkgmgr.exe /o:%IMGMOUNT%;%IMGMOUNT%\Windows /up:Package

(/up is only uninstall package not removes totaly??)

and

2 start /w pkgmgr.exe /o:%IMGMOUNT%;%IMGMOUNT%\Windows /n:remove.xml

(remove.xml has "remove" and "permanent" options in it)

Is there difference or both does same things??

And i successfully did what i have read in this topic but everytime i uninstall a packet my pending.xml and winsxs folder getting bigger. When i finished winsxs was 2.7GB At setup windows tries to prosess pending.xml and setup takes very longer i think.

Edited January 25, 2009 by Kullenen_Ask

[anarchron]

This has got to be the worst and most poorly written tutorial on the net. Nothing written here makes any sense.

[aviv00]

which .net u have Grope For Luna ?

[shahed26]

ok i add the file

here the bat file i use to run it

copycat it as u want

type Untitled.xml

start /w pkgmgr /o:E:\Work\WimMount;E:\Work\WimMount\Windows /n:Untitled.xml /l:log

echo %ERRORLEVEL%

btw use gimagex to mount the image [install.win] with write access and save it

then u done go to vlite and make ur iso

should be about 800mb and 2.7giga hdd space[use gimagex info to check]

GL

hi aviv00, is this the xml that i can use to install DesktopExperience unattendedly?

I have trying to install DesktopExperience and few other stuffs via xml unattendedly but found no way to do it yet.

Please help..

Basically an trying to preinstall DesktopExperience and few other features unattendedly via xml, but had no luck yet..

if u can please giude me through the right way..

thanks

Edited February 23, 2009 by shahed26

[shahed26]

type Untitled.xml

btw use gimagex to mount the image [install.win] with write access and save it

GL

were shall i save ur Untitled.xml to in install.wim?

edit:

This is my xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<unattend xmlns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:unattend">
	<servicing>
		<package action="configure" permanence="permanent">
			<assemblyIdentity name="Microsoft-Windows-Foundation-Package" version="6.0.6001.18000" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="" />
			<selection name="DesktopExperience" state="true" />
			<selection name="BitLocker" state="true" />
			<selection name="BitLocker-RemoteAdminTool" state="true" />
			<selection name="NetFx3" state="true" />
			<selection name="QWAVE" state="true" />
			<selection name="WirelessNetworking" state="true" />
		</package>
	</servicing>
	<cpi:offlineImage cpi:source="wim:c:/users/shahed%20hussain/desktop/server2008/sources/install.wim#Windows Longhorn SERVERSTANDARD" xmlns:cpi="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:cpi" />
</unattend>

used this xml in vmware, but server still does not install these features...

Edited February 23, 2009 by shahed26

[aviv00]

type Untitled.xml

btw use gimagex to mount the image [install.win] with write access and save it

GL

were shall i save ur Untitled.xml to in install.wim?

Edited

used this xml in vmware, but server still does not install these features... unsure.gif

u mean online ? online use ocsetup.exe then

hey shahed26

u talking about server 2008 ? not r2 right ?

which Untitled.xml u used ? mine is 32bit maybe ur os is 64bit

better make newer with waik

try use dism.exe its better and i think support win6 too [ then u wont need to use/install waik]

Edited February 23, 2009 by aviv00

[shahed26]

thanks aviv00 for your fast reply, am talking about server 2008, and yes its x64.

All i want is desktop experience and few other features to get installed when installin server 2008. I hate installing features after logon, or using the ServerManagerCmd.exe.

Thanks

edit: i used your untilted.xml from here

untitled.xml

Edited February 23, 2009 by shahed26

[aviv00]

thanks aviv00 for your fast reply, am talking about server 2008, and yes its x64.

All i want is desktop experience and few other features to get installed when installin server 2008. I hate installing features after logon, or using the ServerManagerCmd.exe.

Thanks

np

ur xml look ok which err u get ?

Edited February 23, 2009 by aviv00

[shahed26]

am not getting any errors, just tried using my xml i made now (used WAIK), but my dekstop experience and other stuffs does not get installed. btw i used vmware to test.

[shahed26]

thanks aviv00 for your help, i got it working finally.

Thank you

[dead0]

if anyone is still interested, i will post another guide to vliting your server 2008 sp2 web or standard x86. i have managed to get the iso down to 625mb for web & 680mb for standard with the add features in server manager still intact. after install, hard drive space consumed is about 3gb.

[dead0]

tools required: WAIK 1.1, gimagex (optional), vlite 1.2

all must be installed!

nb. this method has been tested on windows server 2003 & vmware.

Windows Web Server

Stage 1:

1) create 2 folders such as c:\s1 & c:\s2

2) copy the contents of Web disc to s1

3) mount install.wim (image 1) to s2 folder using gimagex or imagex

4) run install_wim_tweak.exe with c:\s2 as the folder selected to take ownership of reg hive, created by & credit to BM wnuku

5) commit changes & unmount

Stage 2:

1) first download this: credit to 7bingo7

2) copy or extract contents to the Tools\Servicing folder of the Windows AIK directory

3) mount install.wim (image 1) to s2 folder using gimagex or imagex

4) run addfeatures.cmd (which has s2 folder already selected). this will add bitlocker, desktop experience, netfx 3 & wireless networking

5) once done, result should show as 0, commit changes & unmount

Stage 3:

1) mount install.wim (image 1) to s2 folder using gimagex or imagex

2) this time run rmpackages.cmd which will remove most packages (see packages.txt for details), again this file is linked to the s2 folder

3) once completed, again make sure the result is 0, commit changes & unmount

as you've probably noticed by now, there is still no use of WSIM to rebuild the catalog...do not do this.

Stage 4:

1) start vlite with the -extreme switch

2) use my last session ini file

3) this step you need to do very quickly while vlite is doing its thing: copy the winsxs.bat file from the server2008web zip file to your vlite temp directory which is normally vstemp19?, go to windows\winsxs\backup folder, paste, run the bat file & then delete; this will nullify some of the large files in the folder

4) once vlite finishes, iso size should be around 625mb & install size less than 3gb or thereabouts, test in vmware.

Windows Server Standard

for server standard, do the same as above but from stage 2 onwards, use the files from here:

for vlite stage use this last session ini:

credit to aviv00 for original concept

Edited May 17, 2009 by dead0

[dead0]

ps. with web server branding package has been removed but you can delete it from the packages.txt file to keep the server branding. also, in the last session ini, remove the driver integration unless u have that driver to integrate?

Edited May 17, 2009 by dead0