jaclaz

As said, the PE based .iso is likely to use an approach for EFI similar to the "standard" Windows 8/8.1 .iso's (which is a "1.44 Mb floppy image" even if the "type" is "No-emulation"). The posted batch was "targeted" to a "large" image only my bad. Find attached a modified version 0.02 of the batch that takes into account "small" images . More technically it attempts to parse the "Large sectors" of the FAT image and if they are 0 it parses the "Small sectors". If it is like that, i.e. there is a floppy image that contains a bootia32.efi or a bootx64.efi or a bootia64.efi in folder \efi\boot\, probably that is the file to be chainloaded On a "normal" Windows 8 install .iso, these files are also in the "normal" part of the CD/DVD, I believe that there are different kinds (how surprising ) of EFI/UEFI implementations, one, if you want more "strict", that looks for the "EF" image, and one that parses the UDF filesystem and finds the files in the "normal" part of the CD/DVD and these CD/DVD's are made in the attempt to cover all possibilties. Also, the mentioned "dual mode" switches for OSCDIMG use a somewhat third approach, linking to the efisys.bin file "directly" (i.e. the \efi\microsoft\boot\efisys.bin is a "whole" image, a FAT 1.44 Mb floppy one, that contains the \efi\boot\*.efi and that can thus be chainloaded by GRUB2 as if it was the EFI image). BUT I wouldn't be so sure that the GRUB2 loopback approach does actually work chainloading a .efi file, see: http://reboot.pro/topic/18313-grub2-iso-booting/ cdob surely will be able to comment more appropriately on this. jaclaz AcroCD_002.zip

Well, actually we were particularly critical on the tablet/touch oriented switch of the GUI of the newish stupid OS, but the difference between a laptop and a tablet has been always clear enough, at least according to the good guys @Lenovo: http://www.lenovo.com/us/en/faqs/laptop-vs-tablet/ (bolding is mine ) So, we were not the only ones to predict that the idea of completely replacing laptops with tablets was deemed to failure. jaclaz

My bad , I mistakenly read the price in Euro, which is € 23.75 (+22% taxes), corresponding to US$ 29.95 (+22% taxes). jaclaz

Well, the real issue with "electronic download" (as opposed to a good ol' box containing the install media and the manual) is that you cannot print on it (in large, unfriendly letters ) a message like RTFM!. Personally I like "aggressive" interfaces , even without going all the way to : http://xkcd.com/293/ one could add to the "nag" message a line like: But clearly, a registered user will input the key and never notice it. On the other hand, if I had US$ 1 for each user that posted on the 7200.11 thread without reading the Read-me-first, nor the FGA's and the specific thread "don't even think to make a PCB swap", all stickies here: http://www.msfn.org/board/forum/169-hard-drive-and-removable-media-issues/ asking about PCB swap's, I wouldn't be rich, but I could have had some more beer , so I guess that there is no possible solution making everyone happy. jaclaz

This is the part that "sounds" very different from previous experience. At first sight, it seems like *something* *somehow* changed the drive map, putting a "Cap" on it. You can *try* (of course with NO guarantees whatsoever) to reset the drive to deafult values with a F,,22 , but really cannot say if it can be of any use. Read around here: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/128807-the-solution-for-seagate-720011-hdds/?p=985252 AND given link: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/128807-the-solution-for-seagate-720011-hdds/page-19#entry832570 @Mrich0908 Nice to know , but of course *anything* that can send/receive TTL (at the right "low" TLL level) would do, usually people "playing" with Arduino's also have one or more suitable USB to TTL or Serial to TTL converters, and - more than that - they usually know how to interface things successfully, so I am not surprised that it wasn't mentioned before as posters on this thread - usually - post here looking for help/support as they are not familiar with the matter, while most people knowing where their towel is will simply run the commands an unbrick the drive, without ever posting about their experience. Thanks for sharing it . jaclaz

I found and checked the 2012 version. I kinda expected that Isoinfo would have listed only the first boot image, but I was surprised that it doesn't list properly the "normal" contents of the CD. I suspect that the good Acronis guys are making .iso's which are not fully-fully conforming to the standard. However, I am putting together one of my usual half-@§§ed batches to interpret directly the structure, and it seems to me that there won't be problems. @cdob The method of assuming that the extent of the image is "up to the next LBA" (while working ) is not entirely "foolproof", since the EF image needs to be FAT, I am instead parsing the bootsector of the image, counting the sectors in the BPB. @zamarac In Isobuster, go to: Options->File systems Settings->El Torito (boot) Check "Check boot-image(s) for FAT and list files and folders if present" you will see a new item in the left hand window "tree" which will be the FAT image (and it's contents) . BTW, once one has the "right" offset in 512 bytes sectors, the FAT image can be mounted in IMDISK fine . jaclaz P.S.: Attached the small batch, it may be more "verbose" than really needed, but anyone can remove the ECHO's that may be considered superfluous. It needs dumphex http://rbach.priv.at/DumpHex/ Have fun. AcroCD_001.zip

CTRL key? http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/170850-aero-glass-for-win81-125/?p=1067581 jaclaz

Actually it was more about automating the generation of the right offsets (and of the actual GRUB2 entry) avoiding the risks about mistyping the offsets read on a GUI tool. I have NO idea how the .iso's are actually made (and no I won't download a - ahem - of doubtable origin .iso just to check how it is made). I do have *somewhere* an old version, possibly 2011 or 2012,, if I recall correctly, IF I find it, I may have a look at it (provided that uses the same approach) and put together a quick batch. And as said, I presume that the WinPE version will be completely different, and will need a completely different grub.cfg entry, presumably similar to those of a "normal" Windows PE bootable CD/DVD. About the Linux based image, try dropping to the GRUB2 command line and try the commands: Then, issue command: you should get a directory listing of the files in the loopback device (and among them there should be a dat8.dat and a dat9.dat files, otherwise the following commands. would give you an error. jaclaz

Well, how did you derive these two values?: ElTorito (loop)582684+304124 Bootimage.img LBA (as seen in IsoBuster) 145671 *4 = 582684 (here you are simply transforming the address expressed in 2048 bytes/sectors - standard for .iso and CD/DVD media - into 512/bytes sectors - used in floppy and hard disk like devices) Lowest next LBA is 221702, hence 221702-145671= 76031 and 76031*4=304124 If the isoinfo tool works on that image, it is pretty easy to parse it's output to get those numbers, do th esimple calculations and output a "custom made" GRUB2 grub.cfg entry. Can you try getting isoinfo (part of the CDR tools): http://www.student.tugraz.at/thomas.plank/ and run the command isoinfo -d -i isoimage.iso An example output would be something like: The 37 above is the LBA address of the (only) Boot image in my .iso, if the isoinfo works on your image you might have two entries, one pointing to LBA 29 and one pointing to LBA 145671 (corresponding to your first isobuster screenshot) As well, if you run: isoinfo -l -i isoimage.iso you will have an output *like*: corresponding to your second isobuster screenshot, from which it will be easy to get the smallest LBA bigger than 145671 jaclaz

Good. Then it is the Linux based version. Possibly you can use a method similar to the one used in the mentioned thread: http://reboot.pro/topic/12406-editing-iso-files/ making use of isoinfo to automatically (by batch) find which LBA extents that need to be hooked specifically to the (ElTorito) device (or reading these data directly from the bootcatalog). I have never used it, but there is (for Linux) a "dumpet" tool: http://dev.man-online.org/man1/dumpet/ that may be useful jaclaz

Good question. You will need AFAIK to register the <<spam>> tool for US$ 23.75, JFYI: http://reboot.pro/topic/19715-windows-image-file-boot-wimboot/page-2#entry186856 http://reboot.pro/topic/19715-windows-image-file-boot-wimboot/?p=186871 jaclaz

zamarac, in the original post by cdob: http://reboot.pro/topic/20004-boot-a-acronis-true-image-2014-iso-image-with-grub2-at-uefi/ there is NO "extraction" of anything, a loopback device is "hooked" to a sectors extent. The extent is determined by the LBA addresses in the .iso that Isobuster should show. Maybe the .iso you have has different location (or extents). And of course, if your version is Windows PE based it will be completely different. You normally don't want to actually "know" what is inside (or access) the bootcatalog, but if you really-really want to, this (seemingly unrelated) thread might be of interest to you: http://reboot.pro/topic/12406-editing-iso-files/ usually (but not always) the bootcatalog is on LBA 32, just before the boot image, you can dump it and have a look at it's contents with a hex editor/viewer easily: http://will.tip.dhappy.org/projects/unsorted/xp_cds/eltorito_extraction.html http://wiki.osdev.org/El-Torito If it is WinPE based, it is possible that it has been "burned" with just the "bios" provisions and not with the "UEFI" ones, see this (also seemingly unrelated) thread: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/172122-got-tips-on-how-to-make-a-bootable-cd-from-bootable-usb/ Can you post the output of a DIR /S command listing the contents of the .iso? jaclaz

Good news . (The new job : , not the fact that you won't be around much ). jaclaz

Maybe it would be easier to address the actual issues? Like (just ideas): http://www.atrandom.iansharpe.com/setres.php http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/wireless_key.html But you can of course save the Registry and restore it, simply it is not - as wimb said - the "right choice" as is it easy (as you just experienced) when merging registries to create unbootable systems. What are you using to build the PE? I mean "standard" WAIK/AIK/ADK or some Winbuilder projects (or something else)? jaclaz

Yep , but usually people that are allergic to command prompt window know how to hide it, as said there are tens of utilities that can have it hidden, but also making a batch and "wrapping it" in a .vbs should do, like: http://serverfault.com/questions/522255/how-to-prevent-schtasks-on-windows-7-from-showing-the-command-prompt-after-execu http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/78097-release-cmdhideexe/ etc. What I personally have on all my systems is nircmd (that can do that and much more): http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/nircmd.html but as said you will have to check if these programs work on your version of windows. jaclaz

Well in "Window" (and no, I did not missed writing the final s ) a botched z-order of windows is of very little importance as you should really (according to the good MS guys) have ONLY one window open, full screen. On the other hand, I would be interested in knowing how many people (excluded obviously the good Russians and the people in business with them ) have really appreciated the possibility of typing directly the new Ruble symbol, particularly through the OSK Virtual Keyboard, and were excited by this brand new feature... http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2970228/en-us jaclaz

Sure , but if the OCD actually causes "fits" when (if) a black window flashes briefly, it sounds as being at a rather preoccupying level. jaclaz

Wouldn't be more important to get cured for the OCD? Can you post the specific command line that produces the "command prompt windows flashing" when added to SCHTASKS? If this is confirmed, you can use any among the various different tools that "hide" that "command prompt window flashing", though I haven't tested any of them on 8/8.1 there are at first sight no reasons for them to not work. jaclaz

No. Meaning that a clone is a "clone". If there are CHKDSK issues, it means that the filesystem (or the new disk ) is not entirely "sound". You should make a (further) clone of the disk as is and then repair thoroughly the filesystem with chkdsk. It is extremely rare (I would say "impossible", but of course eveything is possible ) that a "good" disk, after a few CHKDSK (with the right options) passes is not fully restored to 100% working (unless there is some kind of hardware malfunctioning, let's say a flaky hard disk data cable, a corrupted driver or some "malware" of *some* kind). Since you just changed your old disk drive, it would not be such a bad idea to thoroughly test the "old" hard disk drive on another machine, as it is *possible* that the disk is fine but there is some other hardware malfunctioning on the machine (and this is the reason why the new disk has issues). In any case you can try (still you will need another disk if the "old" one is found to be actually defective and cannot be reused) to make instead of a "clone" a "logical copy", more or less what XXCLONE (don't be fooled by the name) will do: http://www.xxclone.com/ The data (but ONLY indexed/accessible data) will be on a brand new (freshly formatted) filesystem and CHKDSK will have no issues whatever with it. See also here (for an idea about the differences between different forms of cloning/imaging): http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/157634-hard-disk-cloningimaging-from-inside-windows/ jaclaz

It's strange, I thought that DWM was a "core" part of the GUI. Historically the whole idea of the "embedded" was that it is a "componentized" version of the main OS, so it all depended on which components were included at build time, but it seems to me that the good MS guys (how surprising ) have changed the approach and Windows 8/8.1 Embedded is seemingly a "rather normal" Windows 8/8.1 with "lockdowns" and "filters". Possibly re-deploying without the "ISKU-Embedded-Features" http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dn609858(v=winembedded.82).aspx will make the DWM process run normally, but at first sight it doesn't seem like any of the lockdown and filters would stop it. jaclaz

Thanks for deciding to protect the innocents. jaclaz

Yep, it is very possible that your friend, when he installed the "new" windows overwrote the MBR (or the PBR or both) with a "normal" one whilst the Toshiba may use a "special" one, and the same may have happened for the \boot\BCD on the partition that MS calls "system"(and that is actually the "boot" partition) or for other settings in the \boot\BCD. JFYI, see these two thread (one about HP?s and one about Fujitsu Siemens, the former using a special MBR and the latter using the "Windows built-in F8 feature) http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/131620-hp-notebook-the-recovery-partition-could-not-be-found/ http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/128727-cant-access-repair-my-pc-option-via-f8-startup/ The applying of the .wim obviously affected only the partition to which it was applied, whilst re-doing the recovery "from start" (or however re-running the similar recovery before) recreated the "right" "special" MBR (or whatever). I strongly suspect that what the Toshiba uses is the "C:\Recovery\Windows RE\WinRE.wim you mentioned when the F8 is pressed. jaclaz

Well, you open the goflex case and find out if inside it is a 7200.11, If it is, then you can try the "fix". jaclaz

Hmmm. Both dribbel and dribble are behind the green glass door. (together with Kel and Larry but not ROTS) http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/149540-what-is-behind-the-green-glass-door/ jaclaz

Maybe Kel intended it using the same root as edible/edibility : http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/edible http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/edibility jaclaz