spinjector

Thanks, guys. dd.exe seems to be exactly what I need - if only I could get it to work. I'm trying to track the problem down now. There seems to be something missing from my build of WinPE 2.0 that's needed by dd.exe. When I run 'dd --list' nothing happens. I've confirmed this is a problem by trying on another machine. If I try my WinPE it doesn't work, however if I try Hiren's Boot CD 10, it works fine. Hopefully this is simply something I left out of my build, because if it's a shortcoming of WinPE 2.0 and/or an incompatibility with dd.exe for Windows, I'm about ready to toss this system out the window and laugh evilly as it smashes on the street... =-) I'll start a new post for this latest woe. Thanks for pointing me to dd.exe. If that doesn't work, I'll try dsfok. It looked way above my head when I first checked it out, but now that I have my head wrapped around dd.exe, maybe it'll make more sense now.

They appear to be 16-bit programs. They won't run on WinPE 2.0 (which is based on Vista); it only supports 32-bit programs. >EDIT... Sorry I read that too fast. Actually I've been quite successful working with DISKPART. However, I'm working with both a custom MBR and custom boot sector/os, in addition to an NTFS partition that I would also like to be able to save/write since I'll already be doing the other two anyways.

Hi, I have the Vista version of WinPE from the free/downloadable Windows AIK... I think it's version 2.1..? I need a 32-bit command-line utility that I can use to back & restore both the MBR and the boot sector of a partition. But here's the catch - its has to have command-line options so I can script it with batch files. Ideally, I'd like a single EXE that can do everything that DISKPART does, plus the backup/restore of the MBR and partition boot sectors. BUT if I have to use separate programs, I'll make it happen... Thanks.

Hi all, I'm using WinPE to do some partition work, and DISKPART.EXE isn't enough. I could use DISKPART, MBRWIZ, & Bart's MKBT, but I'd rather just have an all-in-one program. DISKMAN4 fits the bill excellently, but very complicated, and no help file? *Does anyone happen to have the DISKMAN4 Help File (hopefully with examples)...? Thanks

I'm finally getting around to dealing with WIM files, and frankly, using Imagex.exe is absolutely retarded. Leave it to MS to make it as difficult as possible. Are there any GUI programs for working with WIM files? Do any of the common archiver programs like WinImage, WinRar, or WinAce work with them?

Ok I guess I have some more reading to do. Any suggestions for online documents? The two white-papers I've read so far didn't cover this.

cluberti - I was reading something elsewhere last week about swap file optimization when the system partition is a RAID volume. It said that about the best you can do is to put the swap file on RAID-0 if you can, since it's non-critical and doesn't need redundancy. This is good because the first system I'm doing this on is RAID-10. But... Without completely understanding what you're saying, I think I see where it's leading. And in fact I already had an idea for this, which I might be able to modify: add another partition just for the swap file. The plan was to keep the swap file by itself to keep it from getting fragmented with Windows & program files; I do this on my own PC at home. But, I was originally going to make it 64k clusters like the rest. What if I make it the NTFS default 4k...? Would this lessen the paged-pool depletion you spoke of in your previous post?

Sorry to pop your balloon. =-) But srsly - what's the paged-pool thing? It sounds like a VM issue. We have all Dell-gear here and I was going to do it to the other servers too, because they all need work. I've been pimping them out with more ram, disks, & cpu's, and I was going to do this cluster-alignment thing on our file-servers, too...

Ok, explain this paged-pool restraint. They didn't mention anything about that in the whitepaper.

Ok that's good news... I read the big Microsoft SQL Best-Practices document at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd758814.aspx which describes how to perform disk-cluster alignment. They use a Dell PE2850 as the example in the document, and that's exactly the hardware I want to do this on, as well as a PE1950 that will probably end up as a domain controller. I did the math and according to the document, the chosen disk configuration on the PE1950 is the worst-case scenario. With RAID-10 on four drives, and both read & write cache enabled, I'm looking at 33% degradation in disk controller efficiency, because every disk access uses 3 cache elements instead of 2. So...I decided to set the Windows partition and the storage partition both to 64K, and align both to the 64k stripe element size of the PERC5 controller. But I've been stuck between a rock and two hard places, because I need WinPE with both the PERC5 drivers, and the Recovery Console. It's a been a bass-ad bear of a time flipping CD's back & forth, but I finally have what I need. I tried finding some 3rd-party utilities to do what I need, but no partition manager software that I found allowed the granularity of partition starting offset needed to do this. I was able to boot the WinPE with the injected RAID drivers, arrange the partitions with DISKPART, but then when I installed Windows 2003, it couldn't find the boot loader on the first reboot. I assumed I hosed the MBR along the way, so I tried FIXMBR, but that didn't quite work. Also, the Dell Utility Partition probably got mixed in & messed up along the way, as that wouldn't boot up either. Tonight I decided to drop it and come back tomorrow with a fresh head and look at it all more carefully. I'm prolly just going to have to play switch-a-roo and experiment until I get it right. If I can make this work on the PE2850 SQL Server that our whole business runs on, it would be pretty darn sweet. Especially if I can demonstrate to the CTO that our overall array efficiency has increased by double-digit percentage points.

Is it possible for Windows 2003 to boot from a C: drive formatted as NTFS with 64K clusters (the max size)?

wØØt! Thanks, dude. =-)

Why do some Microsoft Updates leave GUID-named folders behind on the C: drive? Is this a design. or a byproduct? For example: C:\56ec6c94dc7adab4bbc4fb8313863f. This is for "Microsoft system driver files for XPSDrv print drivers", according to the INF file.

Hi all, I need a Windows Server 2003 boot CD that I can add network & RAID drivers to, and install a partition management utility such as Easeus Partition Manager. I'm not sure which would be the best/easiest/fastest - WinPE, BartPE, or WinBuilder..? Or other..? Does anyone have some quick suggestions? Thanks.

I just used nLite to create a custom Windows 2003 install CD for our Dell PowerEdge servers. We have about 6 different kinds: 17--, 19--, 26--, & 28--. All of them are INSANE to get the drivers installed when you reinstall Windows, and infuriatingly difficult if it's a model with no native floppy drive. And if the drivers don't install correctly, in exactly a certain order, NOTHING will fix it except to reinstall Windows again. This nLite added all my drivers to the CD. Windows installed perfectly the first time. All the hardware was properly detected the first time. All the drivers were properly installed the first time. I know, I know.... nLite is SUPPOSED to do this. But, WOW..!! I was blown away... LOL So much work saved... =-) Thanks a million to Nuhi & crew!

Thank you, Bphlpt. That's a much better worded question. It's exactly what I was thinking, but I didn't ask it well. My thought's on the matter are as follows: 1) At the most basic, do what Windows Update/Microsoft Update wants, with a couple exceptions like WGA. 2) But that leads to overlap, such that one or more updates get completely overwritten by a later one, like a stack of pancakes. So all the earlier ones aren't needed. These are difficult for the laymen to weed out. 3) And there are optional items that one would see on WU/MU. 4) And more optional items that you only find in KB articles. To me, 1 & 2 are the most important, and 3 & 4 would be based on personal preference and/or needs. And regarding #1 - that's actually how I did my first HFSLIP. I did a gold-install of XP, then SP3, and actually took notes of every single item that WU/MU wanted to install, downloaded them all, fed them to HFSLIP, and then repeated the process until WU/MU said I didn't need any more updates. This was all before I found the update lists. A long way to do it, but hey it worked. =-)

Then what do you call this? http://www.vorck.com/windows/hotfixes_xp.html

Ok, I started reading the Hotfixes thread and... . . . stopped. There was so much information that I wrote a Word VBA script to pull it down into a DOC file so I could print it, read it, tag some stuff with a highlighter, and maybe learn something. It came out to 92 pages. The lists themselves look mostly the same, but at first glance there are about a dozen differences. So... Which list is correct(er)?

Ahh thanks... But that probably wouldn't be the case during slipstreaming though, or would it..?

I want to create a PC that is unquestionably and undeniably 100% sterile and free from any malware or rootkits, for the purpose of slipstreaming Windows XP with all the usual patches & updates, up to the most current state. Are there any known varieties of malware that are written to infect Windows installation files they find in I386 folders, as well as Hotfixes & Security Updates downloaded from Microsoft, such as those that would be saved for the process of slipstreaming? For instance, EXE & CAB files with "KBxxxxxx" in the name, such as WindowsXP-KB951376-v2-x86-ENU.exe, the patch for the Bluetooth stack vulnerability. We know how devious & pervasive the Conficker worm is. If I was a devious & thoughtful malware author, I would do just what I am trying to prevent - make my malware infect Windows installation files & patches. I'd build in a CAB & Archive decompressor/compressor to inject my code into installation programs and archuives as much as possible. So, I want to avoid the possibility that the very installation & hotfix files I'm using are infected with anything. There are so many sneaky worms and rootkits out there, you just never know what may be sneaking around undetected. Blah, I sound like one of those banner ads for scare-ware. =-/~ I have a PC that I've set up that's not connected anything; no network connection; it's completely standalone. I've meticulously and methodically wiped it clean and set it up as follows: System booted into Recovery Console from original factory-produced MSDN Windows XP SP-"Zero" CD. (I think this is called "XP-Gold"..?) All partitions deleted, then FIXMBR. BIOS flashed from flash utility & ROM on original utility CD from the PC manufacturer. Used option to "Clear settings and set default Values after flash process". PC powered off by yanking the cord to avoid triggering shutdown subroutines, then Windows installed from the MSDN CD using a valid key that I have rights to use. SP3 installed using non-bootable CD burned from original ISO available on the Microsoft web site. Install Norton Ghost v14.0 from original CD and save an image so I don't have to do all this again. Note: The reason I am not simply installing directly from a Windows XP SP3 CD is because the key I am using only works on SP0, SP1, and SP2. So I have to start there and patch it up to SP3. ...and that's where it sits. Next steps are to globally disable Autorun and start transferring files for the slipstreaming. But then the pollution starts, and that's what I want to keep under control. So - how do I verify that all of the Windows Updates & Security Updates that I download from Microsoft are intact and not infected with anything, and get them onto that PC without any bugs tagging along...? Perhaps I should be asking, "Is it *possible* to infect Microsoft update files...?"... If this is possible, do I use MD5 to verify them, and if so, where can the signatures be found...? Or...what...? Etc, etc, etc... Blah, blah blah... LOL Thanks.

I recently read that IE8 will no longer accept a URL in the format "ftp://username:password@ftp.xyz.com"; it ignores the username:password part. It started with IE8 or some hotfix..? I first thought, a) that's stupid, b) microsoft is stupid, and c) even with "a" and "b", it prolly won't affect many people except geeks that can work around it... And of course - now I have a user that's having trouble because of it... And the geek typing these words hasn't found a way to work around it... Does anyone know the scoop on this? Patch? Hack? Registry? Hotfix? Deltree /Y C:\*.*..? And YES I tried searching Google for like the last half hour and got nothing useful. Just try Googling for "internet explorer 8 ftp username@password url"... :-/ Thanks.

What is the possibility/likelihood that viruses, worms, and other malware could/would infect our installation sources..? Seems like a prime target for any creative malware author...

ahhh good point... one of these days Google is going to turn into SkyNet... =-)

I'd like to suggest that the search settings be changed to allow searching for words that are three characters long. Given the nature of this entire web site, not being able to search for filename extensions is a pretty big handicap. And there are plenty of other three-letter words/acronyms other than file extensions that might be searched for, such as "MD5", "NIC", "CDR", etc. Thanks.

I've seen ways of hacking registry entries & DLL resources to make setup programs think they are running on a different version of windows. 1) Can someone point me to a really good web page about this topic? I've Googled it and I get mountains of useless drive-by crap. 2) Does anyone know of any actual system utilities than will do this automatically? Like with a listbox that says, "Make this copy of Windows appear as: 1) Windows 2000, 2) Windows XP, 3) Windows Server 2003". Thanks. FYI - I'm trying to setup up WSUS on a Windows XP machine in a workgroup with no Win2k3 server. Thanks.