Tripredacus

I get this a lot too. My question is, do your computers have access to the time server, or the internet? Mine do not. Of course mine are always about an hour off the BIOS time in most cases. I never knew why that was but I never get any complaints about the time once those computers have access to the time server. If they don't (or you don't know) you will see W32time errors in Event Viewer.

... You'd rather click and open up - and then have to close - an entire new window, instead of just clicking the submenus to make them appear (like most people do with menus anyway)? Hell, I never wait for the menus to come up under the cursor. I click once to make them appear, double click to open a new window when necessary. I'd say that over 90% of the time, I get to what I want much quicker using the menus than having to open a new window and double-click my way through navigation... Access Denied: Using Search for everything is hardly a solution. If the Search box were to be so useful, it should search just the programs list, instead of wasting time pouring all over my goddamn hard drive looking for files I'm not even close to looking for. Hell, the box in the Vista start menu isn't even close to a replacement for Win+R... it doesn't autocomplete paths! If they want to make it useful, it should be more customizable, and have path autocomplete. Simple as that. Besides, I'm not going to be using the search box to start a program I already know the location of anyway... My bad experience only comes from setting the Control Panel to a "fly-out menu." I think the actual term is "Display as a Menu". This was very slow for me. I use XP at home and Server 2003 at work. I have not used the reghack to speed that process up either. I don't mind how Vista or 7 displays programs in the start menu. It takes a little getting used to but us IT guys need to adapt in order to make it in this world, so I can live with that. I also agree that the search is not (for me) a replacement for run. Not everyone knows how to open the run box with the keyboard, even though it is an old command. I use it in Vista, but in Vista I turn off indexing also so the search box is pretty much useless to me. I also miss the advanced search options, but this may be something I do not know how to use. I still use the dos prompt for searches in Vista. But as far as any Vista and Windows 7 differences from 9x, 2k and XP, basically if you have to support it you have to get used to it or if you don't like it then don't even bother.

I am to think, you can use a script that returns the drive letter for a specific volume name. Where a volume named "WinPE_CD" is on drive d: for example. My best bet would be that you could do this with AutoIT. It could be a combination of the following functions: DriveGetDrive() So if you use a CD, you would use DriveGetDrive("cdrom") which would return the drive letters for each of the CD Drives. If a case where there are multiple CD Drives, the next option would come in handy: DriveGetLabel() This lets you check by drive letter. You can check each drive letter returned in the previous function for the specific label that your PE media is using. This will allow you to get the drive letter you are searching for. You may additionally wish to use @ScriptDir macro for any script sitting on that drive that is not in the PE media. Visit: http://www.autoitscript.com/

Oops I forgot about this thread. I had settled on MediaWiki instead of a CMS. After all that work I still don't even update my site anyways. The motivation for me doing it has left me.

I know all about being busy! And about running multiple projects at one time too I bet. Welcome to the MSFN And just so you know in case it ever comes up, your signature images must be within 300x100. This is outlined in rule 5 of the forum rules, which you can find a link to them at the top of the page or in my signature.

Well the decision was made not to use Flash, so I am experimenting with the HTA route. Here is my current setup order: [diskpart] sel disk 0 clean create part pri size=62220 active assign letter=c format fs=ntfs quick create part pri sel part 2 assign letter=d format fs=ntfs quick imagex /apply z:\image.wim 1 c: (the OS partition) imagex /apply z:\image.wim 3 d: (the recovery partition) [diskpart] sel disk 0 sel part 2 att vol set nodefault drive letter mbr 0 /install selm 5 11 "Press F11 for Recovery" 0xC 0x1C mbr 0 1 /h The OS works fine, but again the F11 does not work. I am using the same process as my last attempt so I'm not sure what is so different...

If they are ever made default, I'd change them anyways. I do not like how slow the fly out menu is, and would rather just click on it. Seems to be faster in my experience.

Referencing this thread: http://www.passmark.com/forum/showthread.p...ht=mathematical This error happens when an internal check of the hardware values fails, which in most cases means (as far as RAM or CPU) that the values are modified via overclocking. In my case, this happens during the volume portion. The computer I am testing in (listed as SIXSHOT) has an XP drive in it right now. I copied the files onto that drive (instead of the PE) and it also errors out at the same spot. I will now do a fresh install onto that computer (instead of the dir copy) to see how well that fares. As I had guessed it, the fresh install worked perfectly and did not throw an error. Now I will run a ProcMon on the working and non-working BIT installs and find out what is happening differently. Still stuck... After installing the software, the "copied" version also worked. In the Winpe.wim I moved the BurnInTest folder from x:\windows and into x:\program files. Then made x:\documents and settings\all users\application data\ and copied the PassMark folder (from the XP drive) into there. Rebuild and reboot into the PE for results: Still getting the same error, but now under video card section. I collected the PMLs for the working and non-working versions now and will compare them. By looking at a working one, it appears that BIT goes and tries to read everything from the registry concerning installed devices. This obviously fails in PE since none of the hardware is enumerated in the registry.

You can also take a look at this thread: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=109264 I also remember there being a custom app that connects to Windows Update and gets everything, but you had to go to another website to get a reference file. I can't remember what that was now.

You can change the options in the Explorer window, . Uncheck hide protected system files. If you do this properly, you will know it because you will then see c:\ProgramData and the Recycler folders. In the cmd, you can use dir /a:sh to view only system+hidden files.

And learn you shall!

Welcome to the MSFN!

I really loved how HL2 looked when I got it. I was certainly surprised. It ran pretty well for me also. I'm sure you'll like it. I didn't like CS too much, too many kids shooting toilets at you. Oh, wait...

Well, since your graphics supports DirectX 9, I'd say upgrade your RAM. If your performance lags, check to see in the BIOS if you can change the memory allocation for the video. And I was going to recommend a Voodoo 3 card... silly me.

In addition, a very similar thread here and my response: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=132390

I want to comment on a few things. 1. The Boot Sector contains the MBR and other stuff. 2. The above is the reason I believe simply reapplying the MBR.INI with MBRINST (or MBR.DLL) is not enough to make the partition work. There is additional information in the sectors that need to be applied as well. In my experience, simply applying the MBR.INI that the SoftThinks software has in the recovery partition is not enough to activate the function key process. Of course my experience with this is different than yours, as I tried to make this work when using Imagex (file based imaging, as opposed to Ghost, which I use for images with these partitions, which is sector based) to image drives with recovery partitions. 3. My use of Terrabyte's MBR.EXE was not tested on a SoftThinks recovery partition. As noted in my thread, I used it to create my own custom recovery partition what used Win PE 2.1 and Imagex to do a recovery. I had created this because my company does not seem interested in upgrading our licensing agreement to support recovery options for Vista. Plus, if I can streamline this solution, we can dump them altogether. Because we have to pay for SoftThinks but we wouldn't have to pay for our own thing. 4. Concerning point 3, the MBR commands posted in my thread are based upon how I set up the custom recovery partition. Using this on a SoftThinks partition may be totally different. This is because my custom partition is still a hidden ID 7 volume, while SoftThinks is a hidden ID 12 partition. So if you want to test out this program, some different testing of the partition ID to set to may be in order. So this is saying that going from 0xC to 0x1C may not work for a SoftThinks partition 5. Don't get us wrong, we are glad you were able to make your recovery media. Helping out other users is our number 1 priority (other than keeping out the spam lol). The point that Jaclaz was trying to make earlier (I agree as well) is that while you have somewhat solved your problem, you used a workaround and not a real fix. So our initial issue, how to properly resolve a broken recovery partition is still unsolved. The main reason is that you are fortunate to know someone else with a similar computer to you. Many people are not so fortunate, so we still wish to know the true answer, so that we may help others who do not have access to the same model computer. 6. THE MOST IMPORTANT. Before attempting ANYTHING in this thread, make sure to back up your data. Also your MBR if at all possible. Using other MBRs, these programs and boot sectors, etc, may cause your computer not to boot. ahmad2080 had taken the proper precautions prior to doing any fiddling, and (correct me if I am wrong) was willing to accept the fact that this process could render his computer unusable without purchasing the recovery media from HP. So if you are looking for a quick fix to your problem here, be warned that this is all very technological stuff. I'm not trying to downgrade anyone here, but if you are unsure of what you are doing, then you best not do anything until you understand what is possible. As I noted in point 5, we have no clear cut solution at this time to this issue. 7. The F11 problem is caused by the fact that the MBR.INI does not have the code in it that tells it what to do with the partitions. This may be something that is added into the Boot Sector at the time of recovery partition creation. If you look in my custom Recovery Partition thread, you will see the code I use with MBR.EXE. It basically says that when you press (function key) change the boot drive to hidden, and change the hidden drive to bootable. After my recovery partition loads, I had to add another command that resets these values back to normal so that you can boot to Windows again after running the recovery. If you look at the MBR.INI, this type of information is not present. There is no such place where it shows options that change the partition ID at all. I would say that I would like to try testing out this process using the MBR.EXE program next week, but I have about 15 projects I have to work on besides my regular job. I don't think I'll get around to it. I will put it on my list, but it might be a while before I get around to it. Hopefully this will be solved by then, if not, I'll bring this thread back up.

Welcome to the MSFN! Here are a list of possible solutions. The site does not link them individually, but you can search the terms to find their websites. They are not likely free, however but you never know. http://www.cd-writer.com/cd_dvd_copy_protection.html

In the future, I would recommend saving all your downloaded driver updates.

I believe that if you don't unload the hive, it just doesn't save the changes.

If the above does not work, you may have a large number of spyware. I recently ran into such a system. The following should get you access to Windows, but only if you have a newer keyboard. After which, you should back up your data (if possible) and reinstall or run a recovery (if you have that option). 1. Press (Windows key) + U. This will bring up the Utility Manager. 2. Exit the Narrator. 3. on the Utility Manager window, click Help. A Utility Manager help screen will open. 4. Right click in the right pane somewhere and choose 'View Source'. This should open Notepad. 5. In Notepad, click File, Open, Change "Files of Type" to "all files *.* 6. This will give you access to all the files and programs on your computer. You will also be looking at the system32 folder. 7. Do a folder up (its a button with a folder with an up arrow on it) to get to the Windows folder. 8. Find the explorer.exe and right-click and choose open. If this does not work, find cmd.exe (its back in the system32 folder, so use the back button, green arrow pointing left) and right-click and choose open. If you can open the command prompt, you can run anything, including explorer.exe. A friend of mine used this method to backup his severely infected PC before running a recovery on it. He had a CD burner and a USB drive to save files to. Hope this helps.

Hmmm.... I have to accomplish a similar task. My thread about this (disk performance) is here: http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=131023

If you can wait until Monday, I can look into it. It may be possible as long as your PC keeps the updates after running them. In the mean time, if you are curious, turn on the viewing of hidden and protected system files, then look in the Windows folder. You should have a bunch of folders at the top with long names/numbers. I don't keep these folders on my computer at home, so I can't tell you what is in them.

Ah did they decrease their size? I remember them being very large, but if memory serves me right, they were mostly ads. There are a lot less print adders than there used to be. Grow with the times I guess.

Tony Bacala - Decepticon War Theme some of his tracks are available here: TFW2005

I am thinking that your best option would be to pre-qualify the clients into WDS/Active Directory. Then create a deployment exception (rule) that makes those said computers use a different boot rom than the default. wdsutil.exe /set-device /Device:SERVER01 /BootProgram:Boot\x86\pxeboot.n12 See: http://blogs.artinsoft.net/jose_aguilar_bl...05/16/1442.aspx So, create a rule for your pre-qualified clients to receive the x86 boot file, and only use 1 x86 Boot Image. Then set your default boot image to x64, and only use 1 x64 boot image. The x64 could be used by developers and should be able to deploy x86 images. However, if you have more clients than developers, you may want to pre-qualify the dev computers instead. If you are running any asset management environments (such as Altiris Notification Server) you could probably script it to pre-qualify them automatically, presuming you can set up the appropriate container. Otherwise you'd have to enter this information manually. If this seems confusing, let me know exactly how your WDS is laid out. Myself, for example, have 2 Boot Images and 7 Install Images. You have an additional option as well, if there is only 1 client "system image", aka a captured and sysprepped image, you could pre-qualify your client machines to boot into a standard WinPE, and then script it appropriately to deploy the image. That way the client would not have any option to do a selection. As far as "no authentication" this is incorrect. Although, this does depend on where you are getting these boot images from. A standard Win PE does not, this is correct, but the boot.wim from a Vista disc does. Let me know your thoughts about this.