mmarable

We just use a simple batch file that uses GDISK to unhide and then activate the WinPE partition. It then issues are reboot and the system boots up into WinPE. While in PE, if you want to reboot back into XP, (we have an HTA front end) we have a script that reverses the process. It hides the WinPE partition, activates the original XP partitoin, and reboots.

No, I don't think so. I can build the machine from scratch and it run just fine. It only has this shutoff issue when using the Ghost image that I use on other machines.

On our systems we hide the PE partition and unless they're admins the users cannot unhide it and boot from it. Not password protected, but effective in our environment.

I'm at a loss with this one. I've been fighting with it for over a week and maybe some fresh minds can help. I've been given the task of creating a new, fresh image for work. Developing it in VMWare 5.5, the single image is supposed to be deployable to desktops, laptops and tablets. And this works, except for the new Motion 1700 tablet. We have been using the Motion 1600 tablet, and my new image works perfectly on it. The same image on the 1700 fails to boot. During boot up, shortly after the "Windows XP" progress animation clears, the 1700 just shuts off. I pulled the event logs from the machine (booting WinPE) but they're emtpy. I built the 1700 from scratch, starting with the XP CD so I could compare things like the HAL and mass storage drivers, but they all match up with what I have built in VMWare. I've tried Safe Mode, but it too will just shut down. Anyone have any ideas? Thanks Mike

How exactly is it failing? What is happening?

I'm using a similar setup at my office. When you're creating you PE 2.0 CD, you have to add both the WinPE-HTA-Package as well as the WinPE-XML-Package for HTAs to work. Everything else on you list of things to include should be pretty straight forward and easily doable.

Very interesting. I have to say that I've been guilty of taking the easy way too often lately. I've been saying for too long, "... next week I'll put the effort into doing this, but for right now this will get the job done..." Well, maybe it's time for me to go back to doing things myself. Thanks for the info, Gosh, and the motivation.

I'm getting a file not found error from your primary mirror.

I've seen this before with older versions of VMWare and WinPE. I think that if you remove support for USB from your VMWare session you'll be fine.

You said it's a valid retail key, correct? Are you source files from a retail, OEM or VLK XP CD? When your unattended install prompts for a key, if you enter the one you have, does it work?

You might want to look into "Junction Points" in Windows, although I'm not sure if they'll work over the network. Junction points redirect file writes destined to D:\Data and redirects them to another location. To the application it writes and reads to/from D:\Data, but the file system is really accessing it from the other location.

Where are you having problems specifically? You'll boot from the WinPE media. Map a drive to your image share. Partition your hard drive. Run Ghost32 with the command line options to pull the image you want. Reboot. Those are the basic, key steps. You can make it far more elaborate, but until the basics works you'd be wasting your time. What area are you having trouble with? If WinPE isn't seeing your hard drive, then you may need to add the Mass Storage Drivers. If you cannot access your share, then you may need to add the NIC drivers.

You cannot just execute the setup and have it run attended that way. You need to treat this as a network install and specify the unattended file as well as other parameters. You will also need to relocate your $OEM$ tree as well. Search for network install or WinPE installs on the forums here. That will turn up several postings that will explain it all in detail and provide step by step instructions to set it all up.

So, women are excluded from testing? That's boring.

I'm looking for a way to block the ability to download files in IE7. This is for a public "Internet Kiosk" type of machine. I can prevent users from saving downloads, but the option to "Run" a download is still available. I'd really like to disable the ability to download files alltogether. I'm open to all suggestions, Reg keys, GPO settings, etc. so if anyone has any ideas please let me know. Thanks Mike

Exactly. If this is your personal laptop, then IT would not be messing with it in the first place. You're using a company provided machine, (paid for by my tax dollars). Don't go messing with it, doing so is grounds for termination at just about any company you may work for. No offense, but grow up, show some maturity and stop treating company property as your own. If you want to play on a computer, buy one and play with it at home.

I'm a bit confused too. - You have a several existing Win2003 servers that boot from internal disk, but have data volumes on the SAN. - You now have to build servers that boot from the SAN - You're concern is that if one of the existing servers is rebuilt using your new build, it will go out and grab the data volumes on the SAN and format/install there? Is that right or am I off base? You can make partitioning the drive a manual step. You could script a check in PE (you mentioned your using WinPE in this) that identifies the volumes as being either on the SAN or local, and if local doesn't load the drivers for the Emulex cards. You could just make a step in the rebuild procedure be to unplug the fiber cables to any server with internal disk or the SAN admins disable the ports on thier switches until after the rebuild/recovery is complete. You could also take inventory of the servers that fall into your risk group and reconfigure the Emulex cards to the proper configuration. Personally, I'd be leaning towards these last two steps. I've worked with SAN attached and SAN boot Windows servers for years and I understand how quickly things can go very bad. If the prefered config for local boot servers is not the way the cards are currently configured, then you really should set them up the way that you feel they need to. You also need to address the procedure for configuring new cards so that if a card is replaced it's set up properly. If the data on the SAN is important (and it's always important) then physically seperating it from the rebuild either by unplugging or shutting off its ports is really the only way to be sure that you're not going to end up with an accident and massive restore on your hands. Just my two cents.

You are not going to be able to create a bootable setup DVD like Vista has, nor will you be able to create a "traditional" install DVD doing this either. What you are going to need to create is a WinPE DVD that sets up your disk partitioning and applies your WIM. You were on the right track it seems, but you replaced boot.wim (WinPE) with your XP image.

You can silently install it with the /S option I believe. I forget what type of installer it uses, but it can easily be installed unattended.

Pretty slick. Nice clean and professional looking GUI. Nice work. Any plans on making it available to the public?

I'm working on my desktop. so that's going to be a problem.

Looks promising. How do I make it work? (I'm having trouble getting a handle on PHP.) I have a basic Index.htm file (it says "Hello world" right now). I'd put a link called something like "Picture Gallery", but what would I link it to? Index.php? How do you call a PHP script/page from a basic HTML file? I've been hunting around, but I keep finding references to .htaccess modifications on Linux web servers.

Okay, I've finally decided to take the jump into web development. Now, to put things into perspective when I say "web development" I'm pretty happy when I manage to create a web page that says "Hello world", so please be patient with me. What has sparked my interest in this is wanting to make a web site gallery of digital pictures and such. I thought that would be an interesting project to tackle and learn something new with. What I'd like to try to accomplish is a simple web page that automatically pupulates itself with images it finds in a given folder. So, I put various graphic files into a folder (and that is all that it has in it) and when the page loads it'll dynamically create a gallery of the images. What kind of options do I have to do this sort of thing? Thanks Mike

When I read your post, the first thing that popped into my head was the product key. With an unattended Vista install if you leave out the product key or use a bogus one you will be prompted to select which image within the WIM to use. Are you using a product key and if so, is it correct in your XML file without typos?

Okay, a couple of questions. When making a WIM, what is the "Output Folder" as compared to the "Destination Folder"? Will there be an option to use a config file for exclusions? Does it have any dependencies (i.e. you have to have the WAIK installed, etc.)?