Tripredacus

Well with MDT (or even WDS) you create a Distribution Share where images end up going. Those programs will set it up for you but you can share a folder to the network manually too. You don't even need to put them on a network, you could store them on a USB drive or an external HDD if you wanted.

Sure you don't need a "server" at all. But you would need a file share where an image is located. Then you boot off a CD or USB to a WinPE boot image, custom or stock and use an answer file. I presume this is what you mean, otherwise you can just make a custom DVD and not use a network at all. EDIT: I'm removing that useless tag.

Believe it or not, this is actually an OLD technique. Before such repositories as SFS or security company lists, even ISPs used some archaic methods that I would have hoped would no longer be used. Think back to the turn of the century. Email spam was the thing back then and an ISP would subscribe to some service that would provide information on how to block them so that their users would not get spam. But there was usually another mechanism. When enough spam/junk complaints would come in for a certain email host for a period of time (say 24 hours) the ISP would block that email host, then contact it to inform them they have a spammer there. The problem would be then that the ISP would tell the host that it would keep blocking them until they cleaned up their servers. If this happened, they would do a trial run and if the spam was under some number or percentage, the block would be lifted. Well in 2002 or so, the ISP I worked for blocked AOL.com. At that time, AOL was still one of the top email providers so you can imagine the uproar this caused.

If the BlackPhone works with a cellular network, then it isn't any more secure than any other phone. Did they forget this? http://www.osnews.com/story/27416/The_second_operating_system_hiding_in_every_mobile_phone

Nslookup opens and will use the client's primary DNS server as its source of information. You can change it to other servers if you want. All Nslookup is is a utility to ask the selected DNS server to resolve IPs or network names. The DNS server has no "knowledge" of how many interfaces are on a target system. So if you feel the information being returned in an Nslookup is incorrect or outdated, you should focus on the DNS Server to solve the issue.

Not for me. Does your image have a custom Environment Variable for %AppsRoot% ? It seems not a default setting at least in Windows 7.

To update, I have now encountered the error in these situations: - Legacy installation on physical hardware (repro near 100%) - UEFI installation on physical hardware (repro around say... 10%) - Installation on Gen 1 Hyper-V VM (repro near 100%) However, not able to repro on Gen 2 Hyper-V VM, but to be honest I haven't put the time into it. Nothing more boring than constantly restarting a PC. Also, testing in VMs is out of scope for my since I primarily work in the physical environment. It is enough work on it for now tho, the case has been escalated and I will relay any information (as allowed) when it becomes available.

As Andre says. Basically if you want to use the Store and those fancy apps, then you need to log on with a Microsoft Account. I'm with you tho, if I had to use Windows 8 I would just use a local account as well. I doubt there is anything worthwhile in that Store that I can't find as a conventional program somewhere else.

We aren't WSIM... Is there something not working with your file?

I chatted with him about it last week. He said for me to check if any hibernation rules were set, but none of them were. I also had also reported this as a bug to Microsoft but have not heard back anything yet.

Windows Gadgets? What version of Windows?

There are other things to check if your computer does not beep on startup. - You can attempt a blind entering of the BIOS. If the computer does POST but not boot, you should still be able to enter the BIOS. Or if you fear making some accidental change, you could try the boot menu key. Either way, indicator keys on your keyboard will work if the computer is not locked up and has gone past post. Keys include Caps, Scroll and Num Lock. - Change your boot order to boot off your DVD drive. Then recreate the process so that the reboot would fail as you had seen before. Put a bootable CD into the drive. You should be able to more easily see if the computer is actually booting due to extended disc activity seen when booting off a CD. If you wanted to test your video card for potential errors, see if it works with OCCT. Its kinda like Memtest but for video cards. If there is a problem, it should detect errors fairly quickly. http://www.ocbase.com/index.php/download

You should be able to boot into Windows 7 by simply fixing the boot information. Where are you viewing the disk information from? Linux? You'll need a method to boot WinPE and have access to its command prompt.

Thanks for the info, Andre. Neowin has one interesting bit of speculation about this: If they make it available as an ISO and people don't have to jujmp through hoops to install it without going into the Windows Store , that will represent a real customer-friendly improvement. It better be integratable with existing Windows 8.1 images. The idea of having to recreate images every time they make some little update is ridiculous.

I did that and the folder is empty. These are my reg settings I chose: Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Windows Error Reporting\LocalDumps\Explorer.exe]"DumpFolder"=hex(2):25,00,4c,00,4f,00,43,00,41,00,4c,00,41,00,50,00,50,00,44,\ 00,41,00,54,00,41,00,25,00,5c,00,43,00,72,00,61,00,73,00,68,00,44,00,75,00,\ 6d,00,70,00,73,00,00,00"DumpCount"=dword:0000000a"DumpType"=dword:00000002 I also added it into the Wow6432Node. Afterwards, something interrupted the restart process (the message of an application was still running) however the folder still is empty. I searched the drive for *.dmp and none were found. So it looks like it started to gather the dump, but Windows restarted before it could finish.

Ran into a strange problem on Server 2012 R2 in Audit Mode. I can do this every time on the first restart, but not always on successive restarts. To replicate, deploy Server 2012 R2 to a system in Audit Mode with no additional software installed. There are minimal updates integrated and some drivers. I can get this information if necessary. Open something from the context menu on the right (the Start Button menu) such as Event Viewer. Other programs also work, such as Internet Explorer. Then close it and choose to restart using the same menu on the left. An error appears after the "restarting" background appears: explorer.exe - Application Error The instruction at 0x27b8310 referenced memory at 0x027b8310. The memory could not be written. The memory location specified in the error may be different each time. However, restarting using the charms bar does not cause this to happen. Also restarting using CMD and shutdown /r /t 0 does not cause the error either. So far, using IE as the test application can cause the error every time. So far this has been replicated on 2 server boards, 1 desktop board and a mini-PC. They all have different chipsets, CPUs and amounts of RAM, and also have tested using SSD and spindle disks. I understand the reason the error message is displayed. Explorer is doing something when Windows is shutting down, such as writting to a memory location and that handle is closed during the normal shutdown process. And Windows is showing the error relating to that failure to read or write to the memory location. It isn't a "real" error in my mind, but it still shouldn't be happening. Can anyone else replicate this or know how to solve it? Update: Confirmed this issue on unmodified source. I did a manual install from DVD. For ease of time I entered Audit Mode, opened IE, then restart using the option on the left and got the error.

I'm not sure if Windows Setup is actually that smart to do that by default.

I would understand the actual procedure, however it shouldn't matter. If reseating the RAM were to resolve this issue, it would indicate a potential hardware failure, a potential memory error occuring during deployment in the PE, or maybe it ends up being coincidence and not related to making it work again.

Do you know the make and model of the USB enclosure?

No need to make things too complicated. I would say this is the priority issue to solve. Once the hardware is working normally, you can focus on the software. However, by "screen doesn't come on" what does this mean exactly? Does it mean you have no video but the PC does actually boot/POST? Or does this mean the PC does not POST/boot at all?

I have not heard it would update to Windows 8.1 automatically. That update come from the store and you have to actually click on it. It does not get served up in the normal Windows Updates window or from automatic updates. Other than looking in My PC Properties, you can launch a cmd and run ver to get the version number. Windows 8 is 6.2.9200 Windows 8.1 is 6.3.9600 The Windows Store may not work if the PC is not activated or if you signed into a local account. If Windows is not activated, the Windows version should appear on the desktop.

They recommend a different size for SSDs, but 260MB not 200. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd799232%28v=ws.10%29.aspx

I recommend that some *better* sources be had for the information. I've been using this site for the past couple of years. http://enenews.com/ PS: Make sure to keep politics out of this topic.

Yes you should just be able to match the "bitness" of the PE you are using. Presuming that is a portable application, it should be fine unless it needs a .Net Framework or DirectX file.

The message you get from CPU-Z is because the architecture for the EXE does not match that of the PE you have built. Here is one example of how to get it from AutoIT: $mem = MemGetStats()$pmem = ( Round ($mem[1] / 1024000, 3) & " GB" )MsgBox (4096, "Memory Total", $pmem )