stuffman

Well, yes and no. You can capture an XP image as a .wim file using the imagex command in WinPE. I know that the model for installing from the media is completely different, but it definitely can be done if delivered via WDS. Are you saying that this can't be done on bootable media such as a DVD or USB flash drive? I've never found anything that says it can't but now that I think of it, I've never found anything saying that you can either. If you could clarify I'd appreciate it. Thanks!

Hi all, I'm trying to make my WDS-based imaging setup portable. I currently have WDS serving up three captured images, one for XP desktops, one for XP Tablet edition laptops, and one for Win7 desktops and laptops. When I boot my custom boot.wim file (in WDS) it prompts me for network credentials, then I'm presented with those three choices. After selecting one of them, I'm taken to the partitioning screen where I make my changes (if any), and the actual copying of data commences. In trying to make this whole process portable I've done the following: Copied directory structure of Win7 media to 250GB USB HDD. Copied boot.wim from WDS to the \sources directory of 250GB USB HDD, overwriting the default boot.wim from the win7 install media. Used EasyBCD to make HDD bootable, and selected the boot.wim file in the previous step as default. Merged my three install.wim files into one big 10GB install.wim file using the following command: imagex /export f:\sources\winxp.wim 1 f:\sources\install.wim "XP Install Image" (I repeated this process for each .wim file I had. Now /info shows 3 images in the master install.wim file and everything looks right.) With all of the wim files merged into one mega-wim file, I moved the final install.wim into the \sources folder of the hard drive. Booted to the hard drive, which launched Win7 installation process. This all worked according to plan, except for the part where the installation presents me with 3 images and asks which one to apply. I can't seem to figure out how to make this happen. Anyone know what I'm doing wrong? Shawn Edit--I've applied the image using the bootable media, and it appears as though the Windows 7 image is the one that is chosen by default. If I'm barking up the wrong tree trying to use the Windows 7 installation to apply WinXP images please let me know. I'll look into other ways of applying these images in the meantime. Thanks!

For anyone who is having this problem, I figured it out. I was mounting and manipulating index 1 on the boot.wim file, when I should have been adding drivers to index 2. Here's what the functional commands ended up being: dism /mount-wim /wimfile:c:\boot.wim /index:2 /mountdir:C:\mount dism /image:"C:\mount" /add-driver /driver:"C:\vostro230\b44win.inf dism /image:"C:\mount" /add-driver /driver:"C:\vostro230\b57win32.inf dism /image:"C:\mount" /add-driver /driver:"C:\vostro230\k57nd60a.inf dism /image:"C:\mount" /add-driver /driver:"C:\vostro230\k57nd60x.inf dism /image:"C:\mount" /add-driver /driver:"C:\vostro230\k57win32.inf dism /unmount-wim /mountdir:c:\mount /commit Now my boot.wim graphical environment includes the drivers that I need to get Windows 7 or XP on hardware new and old alike. Hope this helps someone!

Hi Everyone, I'm having a heckuva time getting some drivers into the default boot.wim file found on the Win7 DVD. What I've been doing is copying the boot.wim file from the sources directory on the default media, clearing the read-only attribute, and using the following commands to mount the .wim file, inject the drivers then dismount/commit the changes. dism /mount-wim /wimfile:c:\boot.wim /index:1 /mountdir:C:\mount dism /image:"C:\mount" /add-driver /driver:"C:\vostro230\b44win.inf dism /image:"C:\mount" /add-driver /driver:"C:\vostro230\b57win32.inf dism /image:"C:\mount" /add-driver /driver:"C:\vostro230\k57nd60a.inf dism /image:"C:\mount" /add-driver /driver:"C:\vostro230\k57nd60x.inf dism /image:"C:\mount" /add-driver /driver:"C:\vostro230\k57win32.inf dism /unmount-wim /mountdir:c:\mount /commit It all goes well, the file ends up being 5MB bigger after I've put my drivers in and dismounted, and I am able to import the .wim file into Windows 2003 Server R2 WDS. The final size of the boot image as reported by WDS is 840MB, while the .wim file is only 145MB. I imagine that this is normal. When I go to the client machine and try to boot to PXE, the boot image I've just added is nowhere to be found. I've repeated this process over and over again and it always yields the same results. I've tried building it on different machines, tried different drivers, and tried different .wim files from OEM copies, Vol. License copies and even one from a Dell CD thinking it may already have the drivers integrated, which it did not. I also tried adding a boot image that worked, then renaming the files (the ol' switcheroo) to trick WDS into serving my file instead. When I did that it told me something about the boot image being corrupt. Has anyone every successfully gotten one of these things built? Thanks in advance, I'm going nuts here. Shawn

Another way to tackle this one is to use a NIC that's more ubiquitous than the latest Realtek that came with your dell. If you can find one, put an old Intel Pro 100/M in the PC and use that. This is just for the purpose of converting a disk image to a .wim file if I'm not mistaken, (at least that's what I came here to figure out) and you'll only need to have the old NIC in the machine as long as it takes to get your image to a remote server.

It should be the same process as enabling it in XP Pro. Right-click my computer-->Properties, remote tab, "Allow users to connect remotely to this computer". Also, make sure your user account is among those allowed to connect. With my MCE PC, I have enabled the concurrent RDP connections hack so that I can remote in from my MAC while the girlfriend is watching TV without disturbing her viewing. This is huge if you use MCE as a PVR. As always, test internally and before you go on vacation make sure port 3389 is forwarded to the MCE box on your router appliance. Good luck, Go here for instructions on how to configure concurrent sessions (up to 3 simultaneously): Concurrent Sessions One more thing - Media Center will close on you if you try to remote in with the same account as you're using while logged in interactively. If you're trying to remote in to schedule things to record, use the MSN remote record service instead. There is no way (that I know of, short of manually editing the EPG database) to schedule a recording over a remote desktop session. Go Here to get MSN RR service. Passport account required. http://tv.msn.com/help/tv/rrfaq

That's a good point, what I've ended up doing is making a ghost image, placing on the laptop and sharing the folder containing it. Then I boot to a network bootdisk which automatically maps the drive to the share on the laptop, and runs ghost. Thanks for all the help, this is ideal since it will still point to the original RIS server that the image was created from. Thanks again, Stuff

In this howto, I will show how to use Microsoft RIS (and a few other programs) to take any bootable diskette you may have and make it deliverable through pxe. This will prove valuable to anyone who has had a critical bootdisk fail after a drive out to a branch office. I use this method for maintenance of our computers, partitioning our hard drives before imaging with RIS, and troubleshooting problems with hardware. This is especially useful now that PC manufacturers have stopped including floppy drives with some of their new systems. Step One: Install / Configure RIS- Sure, this is easier said than done, but the complete config of RIS under 2000 server or Server 2003 is beyond the scope of this howto. If you haven't done so already, you owe it to yourself (and your poor, overworked CD-ROM drives) to install RIS on at least one server. I suppose that if you weren't at least interested in RIS, you wouldn't even be perusing this forum. Step Two: Convert Floppies- There are a couple of methods you can use to create images of your floppies. Using WinImage, or using the 'dd' command in Linux (I'm sure there are others, but these two work for me). The WinImage process is pretty self-explanatory, just capture an image of the 3.5" floppy disk and save as an image file. The file extension should be .ima, which you can change to .img or .bin if you like, just don't use .imz, that is a compressed image file and it wont work. Using DD under Linux, use the command: dd if=/dev/fd0 of=filename.img. Using either method, you'll end up with a file that's 1,440KB in windows explorer. Create this path on your RIS server: \\RISServer\REMINST\Setup\English\Tools\risme. Copy the newly created floppy image files to the risme folder you just created. Step Three: Get RISME- Get RIS Menu Editor here then add a menu item from the "Maintenance and Troubleshooting" tab. Choose "Single Menu and Image File", click next. Type in a friendly name and help text for the menu item and click next. Point Risme to the floppy image you just created and put in the \\RISServer\REMINST\Setup\English\Tools\risme folder and click finish. Step Four: Take it for a spin- Stop and restart the BINL service on the RIS server. Go to any PXE-capable client and try booting to the Client Installation Wizard. After entering your credentials, go to the "Maintenance and Troubleshooting" menu item and hit enter. You should see your friendly description there, and after hitting enter, should be booting to your floppy image (but much, MUCH quicker than an actual floppy). That's it, hopefully this helps some folks out, and isn't already old news. Peace out. Stuff

Br4tt3, whoa! Thanks for the throrough reply. I had no idea you could have that many RIS servers in a domain. I'm going to keep your suggestions in mind, I think that the RIS method would be the best route, since we have no standard hardware, and Ghost/Sysprep seem to be very picky about what hardware they'll work with. I don't want to carry a set of CDs for every type of machine out there. Thanks again, I'll post back if I run into problems. ~stuff

You should be able to fit everything (and then some) onto a DVD without stripping out unneeded files with NLite. I would recommend doing a dry run of the install, and get a feel for where the setup routine is looking for the files. Put in the first CD, run as far as you can on that one, and see where the installation expects the files to be on CD2. On the DVD recreate this directory structure so that it will look for the files, find them, and not prompt you for their location. Also take note that if you're using the MSDN version of MCE, there are some files that are in the wrong locations. Even on a successful by-the-book install you're going to have to point the setup routine around the CD for individual files. This is because in the MSDN version, CD2 is one half MCE, and one half TabletPC. Someone didn't script the install properly at ms.

Very true RogueSpear, We've looked into the DHCP issues and I think that's going the be the major hurdle, or the first of many... Have you (or anyone else reading this) ever run more than a single RIS server simultaneously? I'm trying to figure out what mechanisms Microsoft has put in place to make the clients "prefer" a RIS server that is on the same subnet, as opposed to one on a remote subnet. Thanks, Stuff

At least in my organization, it all comes down to expense. I've had to McGyver a lot of things to get them to work, but they're 100% reliable now that I've gotten the bugs out.

I use the RunOnceEx method, from cmdlines.txt I reference the runonce.cmd file which adds the following text to the registry: @echo off SET KEY=HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnceEx REG ADD %KEY% /V TITLE /D "Installing Applications" /f REG ADD %KEY%\001 /VE /D "Symantec Client Security" /f REG ADD %KEY%\001 /V 1 /D "msiexec /i \"\\server\shared\Apps\Utilities\SAVclient10\Rollout\AVServer\CLIENTS\WIN32\Symantec Antivirus.msi\" INSTALLDIR=\"E:\Program Files\Symantec Antivirus\" REBOOT=Suppress RUNLIVEUPDATE=0 NETWORKTYPE=1 SERVERNAME=NCBGATEWAY /qb" /f REG ADD %KEY%\002 /VE /D "Adobe Acrobat Reader 7" /f REG ADD %KEY%\002 /V 1 /D "\\server\shared\msi\acrobat6\v70\acrobat7.msi INSTALLDIR=\"e:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat Reader\" /qb" /f REG ADD %KEY%\003 /VE /D "Symantec PC Anywhere" /f REG ADD %KEY%\003 /V 1 /D "\"C:\Apps\PCAnywhere\Symantec pcAnywhere - Full Product.msi\" /qb" /f REG ADD %KEY%\004 /VE /D "Microsoft Office 2000 SR-3" /f REG ADD %KEY%\004 /V 1 /D "\\server\shared\Apps\Productivity\MSOffice\Office2000\admin\setup.exe /qb" /f copy "c:\scripts\PostInstall.lnk" "%AllUsersProfile%\start menu\programs\startup" exit Using this method, along with AutoAdminLogon=1 and count set to 1, it installs SAV, PCAnywhere, Adobe Reader and Office 2000. I had to play with the order quite a bit, as Office 2000 wont wait until it's done, it will continue down the line to the next install before it finishes installing, which can complicate things. After those install, I have another script (using microsoft's scriptit.exe - A great app if you want to go low-tech) that installs our AS400 5250 client. All of this was made necessary by my company's desire to have all applications installed to the e:\ drive. It would have been much easier if they'd have let me install everything to one partition. Please let me know if you're interested in this method, I'll give whatever help I can. thanks, Stuff

Hello, I'm trying to figure out the best way to approach a company-wide reimage that has to take place soon. I was thinking about loading 2000 Server on our MIS dept. Laptop and bringing it with me to the individual branch offices so I can spend the day there reimaging all of their computers, rather than lug each one back to corporate with me, load them, then return at a later time to put it back on the desk (1 reimage=1 visit to site). I'm already using RIS to load machines in my organization, between RIS itself and the countless batchfiles I'm using it's worked out very well for me. Does anyone know how making RIS portable would affect my current setup, or anything I should take into consideration before experimenting with this? Have any of you done something similar? I guess I should also say that the reason I'm loading RIS onto a laptop is to avoid having that information crossing the WAN, which would not be a good option for us, as our links are at best T1. Thanks, Stuff

The correct syntax for this is ProfilesDir = path. That missing "s" is all that's keeping you from success. ~stuff