cluberti

Because some people aren't comfortable at the command line. Also, ei.cfg simply removes the check for which version to install or determines which version to install *automatically* - it won't help him put x86 and x64 images on the same disc in the same WIM, and in fact editing ei.cfg will automatically install the version it's set to in the cfg, and that is not what the OP is trying to do. So again, I reiterate - to do this, copy Win7 Ultimate x86 and x64 out of their respective WIM files into a new install.wim, and copy that into the \sources folder of an x86 source (again, so that both x86 and x64 images will be seen). That can then be made into an ISO or used on a USB device for installation in the way the OP wants.

The default driver can do 1024 x 768, although WinPE defaults to 800x600 on the default VGA driver. It would help if we could find out what the OP has done in his vLiting the OS, as it seems this worked before from his statements, but not this time around with these changes. Moving to vLite seciton for further discussion.

Those line numbers don't match up to the HTA posted at all (line 71 is an end of script statement, </script>, and line 77 is an input element in the body. You might want to re-download the .7z again.

That's not a problem, but if you have WDS, you should use it (along with MDT, if you have further needs than simple sysprep deployment) as it's much faster and more flexible than RIS. It's fairly easy to create a capture image as well once you have a Vista (or better, Windows 7) boot.wim imported. WDS is described in pretty good detail on Technet here, but ask back in a new thread for WDS if you need help with it. I would *strongly* recommend it over RIS, even for XP.

Yes, if you use Microsoft's products, you should be paying for them. If you don't like the costs, use Linux.

You *can* put a paging file on an external device if you mark it as non-removable and format it NTFS, but in general assuming you have enough RAM, simply setting the paging file as small as possible (or remove it entirely) and using the device as a ReadyBoost device will provide better performance.

Netsh is the only interface WinPE would have, and I don't know how much of netsh wlan is even in WinPE after this hotfix. Someone would have to test, or write a GUI utility if they wanted a GUI.

Easiest and best way would be to export the x86 and x64 versions of Win7 Ultimate to a new .WIM file containing just those two versions (you could use something like gimagex for this). Once you have the new WIM file with just those two versions, rename that WIM file to install.wim, overwrite the install.wim from an x86 Win7 source (make sure to delete any ei.cfg file from \sources), and create an ISO of that source (don't use an x64 source, as the x64 source can't "see" x86 WIM images, but the x86 source can see x64 images). The resulting installation image will list both Win7 Ultimate x86 and x64 only.

The problem with hyper-v synthetic drivers is that they require a "core" SMBus driver to be installed and working, otherwise the other drivers may be installed but won't work (and likely the SMBus driver isn't getting finished installing until your first *real* boot into the OS). I've never been able to solve this, either, and as I've migrated away from XP I never really dug into the why either. I simply built a capture image in WDS, captured a WIM of an XP image that had been sysprep'ed after installing the Hyper-V R2 bits, and I deploy that from WDS anytime I need an XP image. I've also got a copy of the VHD after I sysprep'ed it in .vhd format, as sometimes copying that from the source to the VM server is faster than using WDS, depending on network segment (or if it's for testing on a non-network connected segment, etc).

Incorrect - 7 was the first to allow multiple installs (and even then, it was just 3 keys purchased under one bar code/sku, it wasn't really "multiple use"). Older Office versions allowed this sort of thing with certain volume licensing agreements under home-use programs, but it was never retail either.

That one's easy - Technet. And no, you don't need it as this is not a WebBrowser Control application, thus the value would do nothing (this is for bypassing IE restrictions in a WBC app). Why not save all events from procmon into it's PML file format, zip that up, and upload it somewhere we can have a look at it?

The .tib file is the name of an acronis disk archive, the PE image is indeed called "XP Live", and it is in Russian. It's a Windows XP PE image (can't tell if it's BartPE or actual XP PE, but it has a shell), but it's crash-a-riffic. Also, I can't say it's warez or not, but you'd have to have your own XP to build a BartPE (which this is probably), and an XP PE wasn't available to anyone but system builders, OEMs, and premier/VL licensing customers, so redist wouldn't be available. Again, I can't say if this is warez or not, but it's definitely not something we're going to help you with - BartPE should be built from YOUR Windows XP source, not downloaded full. That is borderline warez, so I'm shutting this thread down on those grounds alone.

You can either use startnet.cmd as a cmd file and edit it to run your commands, or use winpeshl.ini to run things on wpeinit: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library...156(WS.10).aspx Also, it would probably be better, long term, if you used the WAIK from Win7. It doesn't require Win7 to actually use, and the PE images and tools are better. There's also a technet article on creating said PE image with the Win7 WAIK.

Easy - think of something you don't want an end-user doing on the system, and then try to achieve it. I'm sure you can think of some creative things to try .

Here's a suggestion - try downloading WAIK 3.0 (for Windows 7) and creating a stock WinPE from that, or use a Windows 7 boot.wim image, and try to use one of those as your boot image on your WDS server rather than the Vista one. You might have more luck with the newer PXE standard.

Are you installing on a Dell server with a PERC RAID controller, perhaps? Perc2.sys is the inbox Dell PercII driver, so if you've removed it and are installing on a machine with a PERC controller, that would be the error I would expect.

It is included on all Windows 7 versions, from starter on up. Microsoft doesn't sell many copies of Windows in retail when compared to OEM sales with a PC or corporate / VL licensing. However, they spend literally billions in R&D, and so in all markets they sell retail they charge a price that they think the market can bear for cost recoup, just like any other company selling products in retail. I understand for a lot of people, software can be expensive at retail (regardless of who made it), just like any other retail purchase. If you've already got a copy of XP or Vista, you can use that without further cash outlay, or you can use a free OS like Linux. If you can't afford Windows 7, please don't pirate it - it makes software cost *more*, not less. You wouldn't steal a car from a seller if you couldn't afford one (I hope), so don't steal software. It just makes companies want to add *more* licensing restrictions and cost, not less. You can make Win7 go to the desktop, just like the others. Also, Windows 7 has quite a few very nice power saving features and is pretty good at working with a UPS - I have my own personal HTPC running Win7 and it sleeps when not in use, and during a recent power outage shut down properly when directed to by the UPS, and I had no issues with draining the UPS, etc. It sounds like you've got lots of experience with 2K and XP as HTPC boxes, and are comparing Win7 to those - don't, they're not even remotely similar (other than the app is still called Windows Media Center). It doesn't go to the desktop to update data (that's done as a scheduled task in a separate session you never see), for starters. I'm not advocating piracy, but if you were to install Windows 7 Ultimate or Home Premium from a disc you borrowed from a colleague, you'd have 30 days to decide whether you wanted to pay for a copy, or not. A fully functional 30 day trial, basically, is probably the best option if you want to try it out.

Unfortunately, no - but I have a suggestion, use Partition Wizard. The Home and Business versions are free, and the latest version runs just fine in a PE environment. If you need to do more than partition manipulation and / or format/clean operations, obviously you'd need something more complete like diskman. However, it's been dead for awhile, and the site hosting it seems down. You might be out of luck.

It worked here - I made sure to install it on my machine first, and then run it once, and then copy the program files folder to the PE image (if you put it in the PE itself, it's X:\<path>, as it's running from the RAMdrive). As to what drive to install to, it simply starts at drive 0/partition0 and looks for a volume large enough to hold the files, and installs on the first one it finds, and it does this in one of the WSF files that runs at that point to bootstrap the installer.

Correct - you can't switch an x86-64 processor running in Long mode (the native 64bit mode) into Legacy mode (where protected mode 16bit apps in DOS or Windows must run) - it's not possible, it's a hardware limitation (and a good one, at that, I'd wager).

Honestly, in a dual-core configuration you probably wouldn't notice a huge difference in anything but multimedia. If you're not using it as a media workstation (and it sounds like you're not), you'll get better bang for your buck with a (quality) SSD rather than a more expensive processor.

The download for Partition Wizard is self contained once installed on a test machine (or extracted from it's inno setup package - see innounp if you want to just extract it). Add the app to the \Scripts folder in the DeploymentShare or mount the PE WIM and add it to \Program Files there and unmount/commit, and then in the task sequence call a .cmd that runs "start /w <path to exe>" (you'll have to create this in the \Scripts folder of the deployment share - if you call the .exe directly, the task sequence won't pause and once the .exe launches, it'll continue and fail) as a task in the same location as the New Computer partition task (disable the partition/format task itself). Rebuild your WIMs, and try again - instead of automatic formatting at that point in the task sequence, you should get a Partition Wizard GUI popping up which will allow you to partition/format the drive.

It basically allows the NTVDM to run as the LOCALSYSTEM user, it has nothing to do with the CPU execution ring. It's a user privilege level escalation from a user (still lacking some power, even as admin) to the SYSTEM account, which can do literally anything, anywhere.

I was able to get this to work by using Partition Wizard, for what it's worth.

I'm not sure I'd laugh at NT when running an OS with a flat memory model, but yeah, it's a pretty annoying privilege escalation vulnerability. It wouldn't be a remote code execution vuln, and would require local access to the machine, but it's still not good to have a hole.