kai4785

Ok, so my theory is garbage. I think the problem is with the viostor.sys, which means this is a Driver issue I would guess. It doesn't matter if I apply the driver to the winpe.wim or not, the viostor.sys driver is missing post-install. I'll see if I can apply the driver to the install.wim. -Kai Meyer

I'm looking for confirmation on a theory. I am trying to run Windows Server 2008 R2 in a virtual machine, which is to say that the Disk and Network drivers are not included in the standard Win2k8R2 dvd. I intend to do full unattended installations inside the KVM Guests using the Virtio device drivers from RedHat. The problem is that if I PXE boot WinPE, the Network card does not have an appropriate driver. If I install the drivers into the winpe.wim file ( with the instructions here http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd744355%28WS.10%29.aspx ), the WinPE environment has drivers, but after the install, the OS is missing the drivers. If I use a different virtual NIC (say e1000 from Intel), WinPE has the NIC driver, but not the disk driver. If I use the unattended XML file to point to the 'Out-of-Box Drivers' from WSIM, <component name="Microsoft-Windows-PnpCustomizationsWinPE" processorArchitecture="amd64" publicKeyToken="31bf3856ad364e35" language="neutral" versionScope="nonSxS" xmlns:wcm="http://schemas.microsoft.com/WMIConfig/2002/State" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance"> <DriverPaths> <PathAndCredentials wcm:keyValue="ff025ef0" wcm:action="add"> <Path>Y:\images\win2k8r2_distribution_share\Out-of-Box Drivers</Path> </PathAndCredentials> </DriverPaths> </component> The Disk driver is not only used in WinPE, but it's also installed to the OS. I would like to be able to add both drivers during the unattended process. Do I need to use DSIM to install the drivers into both winpe.wim and install.wim? Or is there another way to force the installer to make sure it installs drivers from the network share if the OS install image does not have them?

I think this is exactly what I'll need. If I can get this integrated the way that I think I want it to, you've just made me a very happy camper. Leave it to me to complain for weeks about how certain things can't be done, and then walk away for a month only minutes before a solution is presented. Curse my luck!

So it looks like I need a 64bit version of wget, since syswow64 is missing from WinPE, and I need 64bit WinPE to do 64bit Installs. I can't find any on google. Do I need to go compile my own?

Ok, got it, here's my new ultravnc.ini file: [Permissions] [admin] AuthRequired=0 HTTPConnect=0 [ultravnc] [poll] TurboMode=1 PollUnderCursor=0 PollForeground=1 PollFullScreen=0 OnlyPollConsole=0 OnlyPollOnEvent=1 MaxCpu=40 EnableDriver=0 EnableHook=1 EnableVirtual=0 SingleWindow=0 SingleWindowName=

Ya, that was my sad conclusion. However, I wasn't satisfied. I knew there were other VNC Servers to use, and I knew that UltraVNC was the first to support Vista/7 machines, which is why I still use UltraVNC on my machines at home. So here's how I was able to get UltraVNC to work properly in WinPE. Download the .zip file with binaries: X64 bins 1.0.8.2 Full Extract to your favorite location. The only files you need from the zip are: vnchooks.dll winvnc.exe Then you need a new file called 'ultravnc.ini' [Permissions] [admin] [ultravnc] passwd=142EBA5011866EF243 passwd2=142EBA5011866EF243 [poll] TurboMode=1 PollUnderCursor=0 PollForeground=1 PollFullScreen=0 OnlyPollConsole=0 OnlyPollOnEvent=1 MaxCpu=40 EnableDriver=0 EnableHook=1 EnableVirtual=0 SingleWindow=0 SingleWindowName= Unfortunately I don't have a good way to tell you how to generate the password. I'm also looking into a password-less setup. I'll post an update when I do. I generated this password when I installed the VNCServer on my machine, to steal the ultravnc.ini file. Put all 3 in any folder you want, and execute '<path>\winvnc.exe -install' . I've had success running from a network share (ie: Y:\Boot\custom_winpe_files\winvnc.exe -install) as well. You can pack these into your winpe.wim file if you care: imagex /mountrw C:\winpe_amd64\winpe.wim 1 C:\winpe_amd64\mount copy /Y C:\Boot\custom_WinPE_files\uvnc\* c:\winpe_amd64\mount\Windows\System32\ Imagex /unmount /commit c:\winpe_amd64\mount There's lots of stuff you can put into your ultravnc.ini. Here's a link to their documentation: ultravnc.ini

I'm running 64bit WinPE so I can install Windows Server 2008 R2 (which only comes in 64bit flavors). When I run winvnc4.exe, I get the error: "The subsystem needed to support the image type is not present." I've looked around for a few minutes, but haven't found anything useful yet. Are you guys getting this to work in 64bit WinPE?

Wow, I'm kinda stuck between being surprised and not surprised. Bitsadmin is another example of a tool that's over kill for my needs. Maybe it is in my best interest to simply shove a wget executable into my WinPE image. Thanks.

Great, I have a use for both of them. Is there a better way to list what components can be run in what Pass? For example, the current component list is alphabetical by component name. Is there a way to list each pass, and valid components for that pass?

I know I'm being picky here, but I would prefer to not have to download/install 'wget' or 'curl' win32 binaries. I'm looking for a tool built into Windows Server 2008 R2. Is there such a thing? Even a 10 line vb script or something would be preferable.

@midiboy Funny, I accidentally did exactly what you want to do. I wanted a fully automated install, including choosing the version of OS to install. Where I got to first was fully unattended, minus choosing the OS, and adding Key. Simply remove The windowsPE->ImageInstall->OSImage->InstallFrom component, and the Product Key from your Unattended XML. In both cases, if they are missing, the installer will prompt for the answers. You can leave the "InstallTo" and the "DiskConfiguration" components.

@arwidmark That's great. That actually answers half of a question I just posted earlier today. Thanks

Do you want to just partition the disk, and still offer the user the ability to select the disk? I think it needs to go into your boot-image (WinPE.wim or install.wim) in startnet.cmd (either a call to a new script, or right in there). I think that's there in the install.wim, but I'm sure it's there in the WinPE.wim. I can't find anything for the unattended xml file that gives you the ability to run custom scripts in the WinPE stage. I am curious what you end up doing.

Perhaps the option to run custom scripts at different stages of the install would be my best option. Do you have any scripts that you know work on a Windows Server 2008 that I could test in WinPE? I would prefer to avoid anything highly custom (like installing wget, or any other non-Microsoft software) and limit myself to the tools available via WAIK. @arwidmark MDT is over kill for my needs. I don't need a management infrastructure. I'm releasing the servers I build into the "wild" so to speak. Once they are installed, I never see them again. A simple OS install will fit my needs. Meaning, I would prefer to use a thumb tack when appropriate, instead of running around with a Nail gun for all my picture hanging needs

In order to do an Unattended Win2k8R2 install via the network from a Linux server, I boot into WinPE with an added batch script to mount the network share where the unpackaged DVD iso is, and run 'setup.exe /Unattend:file.xml' from the network share directory. I would like to be able to track the progress of the install. With Linux, I have a 'pre' and 'post' install section where I can add custom scripts, and in both cases, the program 'wget' is available, so I just use it. I can envision two possible solutions, but I don't know how to implement either of them. 1) Use WinPE to run a script that will simply make a request to a specified URL. I will probably send the mac address of the machine as the unique identifier through a GET variable to make things simpler. The equivalent of wget http://pxe/update.php?mac=12-34-56-78-90-12 2) Enable Remote Logging somehow. If WinPE can use Syslog (which I doubt) I'd love it. Right now what I'm doing is watching DHCP requests, and counting them as they show up. I'm absolutely sure there's a much better way.