johnhc

I asked a simple question: I solved the Catalyst problem (not injectable via DISM) some time ago with a small script file (roots found on MSFN) and an important hint from a thread on the AMD forum. The hint was that 7-zip (v9.20) would extract the .xx_ files in the Catalyst drivers. My small script used 7-zip to extract all files and makecab to compress them again. Injection works fine and driver works fine. When I processed a new driver, 12.8, I was surprised that my output files when extracted by expand command still had the .xx_ name. Thus my post. I still suspect that XP expand does not need the -r switch and thus my error. Now it seems the latest Catalyst drivers no longer use the strange compression and they inject without my running the script against them - still trying to figure out how to test them. Thanks to all. I learned a lot and this is always good. Enjoy, John.

Thanks again, all. I am not sure what I misunderstood except how the -r switch works on the Expand command. My system (W7 x64) does not have a COMPRESS command. What I was trying to understand was how Windows expands driver files of the form .xx_. I ran into a problem with the Catalyst video driver files using some compression technique that Windows did not understand and I could not inject the driver into W7 install image. Thanks for all the suggestions and references - all good. Enjoy, John.

Thanks, all. All good information. jaclaz, I doubt Google is broken. I found many pages with information and used MS Technet/MSDN. I saw the -r switch but did not understand that it would do what I wanted and do not remember using it in XP. Why does the command description not say "Rename output file to original name"? Also the command description says the -r switch is only valid when the file is compressed with the -r switch. I assumed (erroneously) that it wanted a name (supplied my me) and that was what I was trying to avoid. Most of the pages specifically said to rename the output file in the command line. I assume when Windows expands files (such as drivers) this is the method used. Thanks much and enjoy, John.

I think I used to use the expand command to get the .sys file from the .sy_ file. Today I cannot get it to work without specifying the output file name. So how do I expand an .in_ file? Is it a .inf or a .ini file? I know 7-zip works just fine but how does W7 do it? Thanks and enjoy, John.

MAVERICKS CHOICE, glad you got it sorted. I think MS has a serious problem with corrupted DLs. The W8 RP I DLed was bad most of the many DLs I tried. Enjoy, John.

MAVERICKS CHOICE, did you check the hash codes for the DL? I had many bad DLs for the Release Preview. Good luck and enjoy, John.

Thanks guys. I will not wait for SP2. Enjoy, John.

submix8c, I did not know about the layoffs but was thinking that W8 was putting W7 in the basement. Thanks for your reply. Enjoy, John.

Searching the Internet finds no recent comments of Service Pack 2 for Windows 7. Has MS abandoned SP2? If not, is there any guess when it might be seen? Thanks and enjoy, John.

Tripredacus, thanks, but sorry, my bad. I meant the TechNet downloads MagicAndre1981 show in post #1. I am not interested in the Enterprise version. Enjoy, John

Thanks, but does anyone have an English (USA) link? Enjoy, John.

Thanks, xpclient. I DLed NetTransport ,installed (on a VM), took all defaults and DLed the W8 RP. SHA-1 was correct - first try! The "Max concurrent tasks" was set to 10, but I saw only two connections (TCPView). The DL speed was somewhat less than my ISP speed (25 minutes vs 15 for FDM). I then went over to HW and DLed the file using FDM (20 sections-like threads, I think) and got a correct SHA-1 also. I need to do some more testing, but I am beginning to think it is a server load problem. These two tests were done on Saturday (8-18-2012) between 6:02 AM and 6:59 AM CST USA. In NetTransport I don't see a way to disable Torrents and $30 is a lot for this application, although it looks more sophisticated. Thanks and enjoy, John. EDIT: Just did two more DLs, both with good SHA-1 codes, about 10:30 AM Saturday. On VM NetTransport with 10 threads (ran almost at ISP speed) and FDM on HW. I will try again on Monday. EDIT: Two more DLs on Monday went fine. Whatever the problem was it is no more.

I have an ASRock MB and it contains a Broadcom NIC (in fact, two) - Broadcom NetLink Gigabit Ethernet. Drivers are most recent released by ASRock. Thanks and enjoy, John.

CharlotteTheHarlot, thanks. You missed some of it. I am not using Opera. I have seen failures in IE9, Chrome and Free Download Manager (FDM). I have not kept a record, but I think I have about 10 DLs all total with one success in IE9 and one in FDM. Both of my successes were using the direct link shown above. Thanks and enjoy, John.

MagicAndre1981, I use Comodo on my HW but none on my VM. I have bad DLs on both. As near as I can tell, the failures are just random. Thanks and enjoy, John. EDIT: I have no evidence of bad DLs on any other file(s).

The problem remains UNRESOLVED. I have DLed the file many times using FDM and it has the wrong SHA-1 most of the time. I am tired of DLing and I am sure the MS server is also, so I give up now that I have a valid copy. Any thoughts would be much appreciated. Thanks and enjoy, John.

I did not wait for the file initialization to complete. Once completed, the DL went just fine under a VM (100% Maximum DL speed). Enjoy, John.

Thanks, MagicAndre1981. Interesting results with FDM. It works great, running at my full DL speed but I also have hash problems. When I click the Download button on the MS page (here), I get a bad hash code. When I drag the Download button into the FDM icon, I get a good hash code. The difference is the URL used. When I click on the Download button, FDM DLs from http://iso.esd.microsoft.com/WRPDL/D29D6C5B1D8AF956B5DA9DF738CFD92DFD4F6C8FB/Windows8-ReleasePreview-64bit-English.iso, but when I drag the button to the FDM icon, it DLs from http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=251532, the direct link I showed above. Again the direct link works (good hash code) and the button link does not (bad hash code). In the FDM log I see this: 6:36:19 PM 8/13/2012 Checking if download is malicious (see options to disable this) 6:36:21 PM 8/13/2012 OK, FDM's users did not report that this download is malicious 6:36:21 PM 8/13/2012 Starting download... 6:36:21 PM 8/13/2012 Redirecting... 6:36:21 PM 8/13/2012 Redirection succeeded. Opening new URL . . . I tried running FDM on my VM (VMware Player running W7 x64) and it barely worked at all (indicating 4-8 hours DL for a 15 minute file). Thanks and enjoy, John

Thanks guys. I do not think it is my AV and I am not Torrent inclined. I tried several times more with different bad SHA-1 codes. I Googled "bad hash W8 release preview" and found lots of people with the same problem and I also found a direct link (here) that worked. I realy believe this is an MS problem - even W8 Comsumer Preview had the same problem. I have DLed FDM (Free Download Manager) and will try it later. Thanks for all the comments. Enjoy, John.

MagicAndre1981, thanks. A friend DLed it and got the correct SHA-1. I DLed it again using IE9 and got a bad and different SHA-1. I DLed it using Chrome and got a bad and another SHA-1. Something is amiss here. I usually do not use a DL manager, but if you have a free one to recommend, I'll give it a try. Thanks and enjoy, John.

Thanks to both. Have either of you DLed it lately? I am using IE9 on W7 x64 with no DL manager and HashTab 4.0.0. File name is Windows8-ReleasePreview-64bit-English.iso. Hard to believe I got two identical bad DLs. More hash codes: CRC32: 4ECB1F5A MD5: 7C304307B56C4670E0877092D4C82EC7 SHA-1: 620133124AF276E4300012148AC81E62557D73A9 Thanks and enjoy, John.

I DLed the W8 Release Preview (x64 English) yesterday and the SHA-1 did not agree with the one posted on the MS DL site. I re-DLed it today and got the same SHA-1 as yesterday. I got 620133124AF276E4300012148AC81E62557D73A9 for the SHA-1. Can anyone confirm this? Thanks and enjoy, John.

Found this here: The question then becomes, how to determine if your BIOS is UEFI 2.3.1 compliant? I suspect most current ones are not since this UEFI specification was released in June 2012. In the WinPE 4.0 files is MakeWinPEMedia.cmd which formats and copies the necesdsary files to the USB stick (/ufd switch). It formats the stick in FAT32 format using DiskPart. Enjoy, John.

Tripredacus, as I stated above, I can boot my WinPE 3.0 in legacy or UEFI BIOS. I just checked again and the USB stick is FAT32. Enjoy, John. EDIT: Bumbastik, In my comments above I am discussing results with 64 bit WinPE 3.0. I also have a 32 bit USB stick and it will not boot in UEFI mode.

Vengada, one too many zeros in second number of "0411:000000411". Please run Windows System Image Manager on your AutoUnattend.xml file before you try an installation. maxXPsoft is an excellent XML advisor - give his a try and let us know the outcome. Enjoy, John.