dexter.inside

You need to do a sysprep -reseal of that machine

Quite reasonable, unless you are capturing directly on a network share. Or mount the partition to be imaged as a drive on a physical machine (like V:) and capture it this way, it does work.

Did someone use environment variables in sysprep.inf ? I didn't. That's the point of keeping sysprep in C:\sysprep, unlike Vista/Server 2008 that keeps it in C:\Windows\system32\sysprep

1) it does progress, but for some reason on non-PE 2.0 it stays that way for almost 2 minutes, not sure why. and 2) vmount2 has some flaws, you'd be better of with vmware-vmount 5.5.0. AFAIK the VMware beta team could not solve it during v6 testing. I had the same problem while coding around the vmplayer 6 SDK, and the best option is 5.5.0 build 18463. Get it from my wdesign SVN: vmware-mount.exe, libeay32.dll, ssleay32.dll Fortunately, it's compatible with both Workstation 6 and ESX 3.

Yes, largely the same case as doing the same for Norton Ghost 12 recovery CD... the problem with using the PE from WinFLP is driver support; I doubt many of the new drivers are included there.

I think I may have found a bug, but I haven't been able to figure out how to reproduce it yet: I've used vLite 1.0 Final on 64-bit Vista Business N to make a 700 Mb OEM-personalized installation for a HP Pavilion dv6000 and when booting from it, the SYSTEMROOT was wrong - complained about Windows instead of $WINDOWS.~BT. Does vLite follow the same procedure as peimg when adding/removing stuff from boot.wim ? Did this happen to anyone else?

what I wanted to say was that this particular feature is a special case, and it normally can't be removed.

I hoped for a good BDD 2007 sequel, but Microsoft left us all out in the cold At some point either me or somebody else will code something to solve the problem. I also had clients complaining about backing up activation.

Remote Differential Compression is considered mission-critical in the new Beta 3, thus it should not be removed. As you may have noticed, it is installed by default with Server 2008, and not through the Features. If you do remove it, you'd probably end up with Terminal Services not working at all. So IMO this is not a vLite-related problem. Unless it is added together with Remote Desktop for removal in a future version of vLite i'd advise against toying with it. Also, it's a good candidate for Vista SP1, because I've heard it will be included in it. Just another one of those things they never finished when Vista went RTM.

I think you must also update the boot code, like BOOTSECT /NT52 C: Of course, as a long term goal, I must add to my app a wrapper for a windows setup of my own, so that I can install both XP/2003 and Vista/2008 using the same method.

1) I am OEM Partner, thus I am aware and have used WinFLP 2) I have beta tested it What about it?

1) a much shorter guide to describe just the preinstallation of Office 2007 on XP 2) a minimal sysprep reseal scenario, no extra drivers on setup information 3) adding the WIM containing it to Norton Ghost 12 recovery CD and launching the setup routine from Symantec SRESHELL, which is the fastest install scenario I've made yet.

Total Commander 7. Been using the Norton Commander type of explorer since '93

The WinPE 2.0 itself loads in 384 Mb of RAM properly, I've tested with Norton Ghost 12 which is based on it. Set MinimumMemory = 0 in DOSNET.INF in the SDK. The WIM beta 1 (as well as Longhorn 4xxx) installed with 256 Mb minimum memory, not 512. Use in VMware: Edit -> Preferences -> Memory - Allow most virtual machine memory to be swapped and in your VM: Options -> Advanced -> Disable memory page trimming This cuts down some 33% out of performance, but will do the job for you

Try with Windows PE 2.0, it already has most stuff you need

Are you sure you got the .NET 2.0 working properly inside the PE ? There might be files with different versions and there are missing exports due to this reason... or... Have you ran the SETUP.EXE locally (from a write-enabled folder) to see if it works properly? If you still can't figure it out, get a evaluation for Norton Ghost 12 Recovery and add the stuff in your \SOURCES folder in their ISO. If it works there, the cause is your PE. I've also noticed that WinPE 2.0 boosts significantly the speed of the Panther SDK. I've also had trouble with WinPE 1.x, and each time some missing export was to blame. AFAIK, the Panther run-time code requires a RAM drive, for temp folder and .NET 2.0 Hope to get Part 5 soon, I'm gathering screenshots in the mean time If you discover anything else that I've forgot and should be in Part 4, let me know.

Probably because the Panther Setup engine uses ramdrive internally and the ramdrive.sys in XP is no good. If there are missing dependencies, the setup routine just closes silently. Have a look at Norton Ghost 12 rescue CD, it already has all the dependencies needed for this. I am currently writing an alternate scenario for Windows XP, in which the setup is launched from Symantec SRESHELL. I've added the Panther SDKs on my project's download page You will have to provide PIDGEN.DLL, SETUPP.INI and EULA.TXT for the OS you are installing.

nLite has no problem reading \Out-of-box Drivers as a Multiple Driver Folder. You've probably used the other option. MCE adds some stuff to startup, like cheching for extenders. I had no driver issues whatsoever on it.

If SP1 will have offline-servicing capabilities (and I believe it does, see for example Server 2008 which actually has Vista SP1 beta) vLite will not require any modifications to support it, except maybe to remove some extra files added in the process.

The only real issue with missing drivers is that if you don't have the proper SATA drivers you won't be able to install windows (either Windows PE will not detect the hard drive at all, or Windows will BSoD with UNMOUNTABLE_BOOT_VOLUME at first boot). If you use the Universal ATA driver you may overcome that problem, though. The default user data is in \Documents and Settings\Default User. If you already have the template user account, copy it over the Default User folder, overwriting files there. This is done after you've applied sysprep, and you are preparing to image it. Alternatively, there's the TweakUI Powertoy, that can do mostly the same thing. It's best to use TweakUI just before running sysprep. If you want the administrator account disabled, you should run a script at first boot to disable it.

crop it to 16:9

use your nLited CD as source in BartPE, discard the errors and make the ISO manually. It does work.

1.4. The Process Flow Here is a rough list of steps needed by my application + user interation to create a installation disc: 1) the user chooses what OS is to be deployed, by selecting an "OS minimal package". For XP this might be the equivalent of a ~100 Mb nLited disc, or a minimal XP Embedded for Point of Service. For 2003 this might be a nLited disc or a Windows Server 2003 Embedded, Appliance Edition. For Vista, this might be a ~700 Mb vLited disc, Vista Home Basic, or Embedded. For Server 2008, this might be the "Core" editions, vLited or even Windows PE 2.0. The package itself is a XML file, downloadable on demand. 2) the user chooses extra functionality by adding extra packages to the OS minimal package, like windows components (previously removed by nLite/vLite or optional, like IIS6), drivers and 3rd party apps, or author new components and submit them to be made available for others. Typical scenarios can be: restoring removed functionality by nLite on a running OS, making a generalized image to deploy a server farm with SharePoint Server 2007 preinstalled, adding Media Center to Server 2003, deploying Server 2008 with preconfigured roles, adding a web server or Tablet PC to a embedded gaming kiosk, or adding Aero to a gaming machine made from Server 2008. 3) Using the info in selected packages, Designer Studio runs "Acquisition Mode", thus acquiring files described in the package from any source, like an existing windows installation, a portable repository package, a network share or another setup disc. The process repeats until all the needed files are stored in the app's repository, a large WIM file. 4) User is prompted to fill in user data, like serial keys for windows and apps, personalization and whatever user options each package may have. A typical scenario would be preinstalling Diskeeper, with the option of providing a license or using it as evaluation, or Office 2007 components. 5) Designer Studio builds a VMDK disk with the project and runs the free VMware Player virtualization environment so that the user can test the designed OS and make changes in packages, when necessary. Diff instruments can be used to compare the running virtualized OS with that in your project, so that you can see what registry changes are to be made and packages to be added/removed. VKEY Explorer would handle the burden of diffing for you. 6) When designing completes, Designer Studio can build a WIM, "install.wim", or a physical partition for dual booting. A typical scenario would be to add/remove stuff from Vista while preserving the activation, and rebuilding it on a secondary partition. 7) A Windows PE instance is generated, "boot.wim", with drivers included in the project, just like in BDD 2007. 8A) A setup solution is built from a Setup SDK package, like Microsoft Panther or Vista Setup, or, 8B) Windows Designer copies itself to the Windows PE so that it can generate a physical bootable partition instead of a VMDK disk. This is similar to the way the OSD Feature Pack for SMS 2003 operates. 9) The entire project gets in a bootable ISO image, in case you haven't already applied it to a physical partition. This method is applicable on: - setup disks, including those made by nLite/vLite, to change functionality and/or add your apps - windows installations, to modify your running OS directly or from a preinstallation environment - sysprepped windows installations, to make OEM or hardware independent images ready for deployment - embedded devices, to change their footprint / functionality and/or to duplicate them easily - PEs / live disks / memory sticks with windows, including those made by BartPE, to add/remove drivers and functionality - WIMs, for offline servicing, before using Windows Deployment Services. New Project Wizard, build 42 Project Source Advantages of doing it this way: - MSIEXEC is bypassed, thus no MSIs stored in your installation, no temp files and no file or registry garbage. Since somebody has already defined the files and registry data for an app (in it's XML file), no custom scripts, quiet installers or other actions are involved (as clean as slipstreaming windows updates with nLite). - "Add/Remove Windows Components" is bypassed, thus a large quantity of INFs and registry crap can be removed safely. Furthermore, you can make your own WIndows Components from Microsoft's installers, like ASP.NET AJAX, and add/remove them several times faster. - "Programs and Features" is bypassed, so that you can efficiently install Server 2008 roles and features on Vista or install Vista components on Server 2008. The codebase is the same, and I have already done this manually. - "Offline Servicing" is bypassed, so you can backup your licensed Vista / Server 2008 just like with Ghost, but for free. Even more, you can modify it later and add programs in it or remove components. - text-mode Setup is dropped, so there's no need for text-mode SATA drivers. PnP drivers for Mass Storage can be used just like in Vista when installing from WinPE - No more complicated methods for installing server stuff. From the user's point of view, installing/removing a pre-made AJAX website with ASP.NET 2.0 and IIS6, installing/removing SQL Server and installing/removing WinRAR is the same thing: add or remove a package or a collection of packages. - install a 4 Gb ISO (~15 Gb worth of data on C:\ ) in just the time needed to decompress the WIM to your hard drive (~25 minutes on SATA) and have Office, Visual Studio, or multimedia authoring software ready at next boot, already configured just the way you want them.

If you can handle my guide, that's the answer for your problem. This is exactely why I wrote it.