[Run cmdlines.txt in WinPE 2.0?]

Just add it to startnet.cmd if you want it to run on every boot.

That what you're after?

[WinPE 2.1 and unknown size increase]

Hi,

I have an weird issue with Windows PE 2.1. Absolutely every time I mount my PE image using imagex and then unmount it even without making ANY changes, my image size always increases about megabyte.

What might cause this, some log or temporary files will be created and included?

I forget where this space is taken up, but this is standard though.

The best way is to script the PE build and after you've decided what changes you want to make, run the build again which will keep the size to a minimum.

[Resolved: Sysprep Problem - Updating HAL]

Try using the attached script for doing it fully automated in PE.

It works fine for me, if you are still having problems then let us know

Just rename to a .VBS

ZTIHalDetect.txt

[Unattended install questions (Beginner)]

Use diskpart to create a C and a D before you kick off the Windows build.

[Using WDS to deploy Windows XP sysprep images]

A couple of ways to add the drivers...

The way I do it is to have a scripted PE builder, so I can just click "create" and it makes it for me with whatever drivers I want. This would allow you to add them offline and re-create PE whenever you need.

Or you could take your created image, mount the WIM, add the driver files, add Drvload to startnet and install the drivers when PE boots.

User interface, take a look on these forums for the ImageX GUI, never used it myself but it does look like a very nice tool.

And something else that will speed up your deployment, I notice you copy the WIM down to the PC before applying it. I just apply straight from the mapped drive, effectively halving the time...

I've noticed that SCCM seems to copy the WIM then apply it too so there might be a good reason for doing this, however I've never had a problem yet applying an XP image straight from a mapped drive.

Hope that helps, even a little

[How to include RAdmin in WinPE 2.0 Boot CD]

Hi,

When the WIM is mounted (before or after adding WMI or HTA etc) open up regedit (start > run > regedit)

Click HKEY_Local_machine

Click File > Load hive

Point it to c:\winpe_x86\mount\windows\system32\config\systemprofile\ntuser.dat

Name it something useful

make the changes to the key you have created then when you're done just unload the hive.

Interesting you mention installing apps there, after my previous post I did some experimenting and installed the MS RDP Client into PE. I was surprised when the installation went through fine to be honest. Any app installs would have to be done within PE I imagine unless you capture all the registry settings associated with it and do it offline. No reason why you couldnt run a silent install as a part of the PE boot process. All takes time but it would work.

Having said all that, installing the RDP client still wouldn't let me connect from my PC to PE. As you know, going from PE to a session works fine and I've use that at the moment. In theory the client is meant to be installed on Win 98 and allow XP to remote to it so it must contain all the TS components somewhere

The next thing I'm going to experiment with is a chat app and see if I can get talk going over the network to try and work out where the whole incoming vs outgoing connections. Might not lead anywhere but it has to be worth trying.

Quite agree with you about it being an interesting way of working so lets hope that someone get it working

[Different RegisteredName and UserName for each PC?]

The RegisteredName field just stamps the registry.

There's no reason that you couldn't make an app/script that runs at CMD lines stage

It prompts the user to select from the dropdown list which in turn modifies the registry. Also at this stage you could modify the registry settings for the auto logon.

I've never tried to do this before but it's how I'd go about getting it to work though, just saying there's no guarentee's

[How to include RAdmin in WinPE 2.0 Boot CD]

Sorry I cant be of help to your main problem but I thought I'd join in regarding updating the registry.

When offline and you have the WIM mounted you should be able to load the reg hive Windows\system32\config\systemprofile\ntuser.dat and make changes.

What I do for my PE though to give me flexibility, is to just create a .reg file and add a "reg import" to my startnet.cmd

I've added the remote desktop client to my PE but have only experimented with outgoing connections...you have me interested now though

I'll see if I can work out anything and will be keeping an eye on this topic. Unfortunately for us though, Jazkal seems to know his stuff which means that incoming connections will be very hard or impossible.

[How to check if a file is locked in a cmd ?]

I'd be tempted to use goto's rather than error levels.

Something like this might be what you're looking for

if exist D:\Isos\Test.iso goto :exists
goto :notexists

:exists
DEL D:\Isos\Test.iso
goto finish

:notexists
echo File already deleted

:finish

[WinPE 2.0 "STOP 0x0000000A" error]

I haven't tried this myself yet so apologies if I'm wrong but I believe this should work.

Expand your KB929777.msu package to get the cab file in the hotfix

either mount your PE WIM or add the following to your PE creation process

peimg /import=c:\KB929777.cab /image=c:\mount\windows

Make sure that the package is there in PE by typing

peimg /list /image=mount\windows

install it

peimg /install=*Package* mount\windows

That should get the hotfix added to PE for you

[How to make a basic WinPE 2.0 CD]

Try disabling UAC and you should be good to go.

[Diskless Windows XP boot over network]

Assuming you don't mind the 24 hour limit then you could just use PE to boot up and load RDP automatically which would connect to a terminal server?

If you're not going to have a hard drive then you'll either be limited to remote desktops of some description, or having lots of RAM in the boxes.

[MSPaint and notepad2 in WinPE 2.0 (problems?)]

With regards to notepad, if you are having both on your build anyway, why not just leave notepad.exe named that and include Notepad 2 as notepad2.exe?

Not sure about the Paint problem. It's a long shot, but how much free RAM have you got? All I can think of is that there isnt enough free to create a document?

[HTA in PE won't refresh span data without mouse activity(!)]

wscript.sleep(30000)

This might work for you.

[Install Driver Programatically]

We use Devcon to install certain drivers post-sysprep. Mainly things like TPM's, it's pretty easy to do, just need the device ID and away you go

[Download easily all MS updates you need ! Finally!]

And most annoyingly you cant search by date.

It would be great if with a click of a button you could select all August patches, then another click have it narrowed down to August for XP SP2 or August Office 2007.

Still version 1 though...it's a good start but lets hope it gets updated soon

[PE 2.0 Boot Screen]

I may be way off here, but could it be notoskrnl.exe?

I've not had a chance to experiment yet, but I will at some point over the next week hopefully.

[Realtek HD Audio and Direct X]

Install 888111.exe and see if that helps.

If you still have no luck then run the installer with the command "setup.exe -s" to silently install it post sysprep.

That works for us

[Adding Disk partitioning?]

Would it be possible for you to use WinPE to boot, set up using diskpart then run Windows Setup?

Seems like quite a long way around it but you really do need to use diskpart before Setup kicks in at all and PE is one way I can think of to achieve this.

I do something along these lines at the moment, although the difference being we use a WIM image of a sysprepped XP so I just apply the image to the hard drive and reboot rather than have to kick off any setup from within PE.

Hope that helps you.

[Creating XP WIM Image]

If you have any details on creating a Vista WIM then the exact same process applies for making the actual image.

I currently use a PE2.0 disc and imagex to make my XP WIM file, and would be able to help with that, no experience with WDS I'm afraid though.

[Auto Arrange Icons on Desktop]

This topic has some useful info

http://www.msfn.org/board/lofiversion/index.php/t22555.html

I'm no expert with 2003, but I presume a lot of the registry keys are shared with XP so hopefully this would work for you.

[Microsoft Update]

Would it be possible for you to just disable the Automatic Updates service?

That should stop it kicking in by itself and using up the CPU time.

[WinPE 2.0 and Windows XP]

I'd just like to add that I have the same problem applying a syspreped XP WIM file through PE 2.0.

It's a strange one.

[OEM logo n Information Patch]

hmmm good...but any custom edits available? if i want to change logo with mine one?

If you want then you can use Universal Extractor to see what files are in the .exe that Nepali provided, then you can just put in your own .bmp and .reg file with your own company name.

Thanks to Nepali

[Hits Counter]

i have a small personal website, with stuff from my school and things...i have a hits counter on it..i found a custom hits counter on another page...which im goin to use...now is there anyway i can modify the number of hits on it..because it gonna take a long time for it to get to 3000 odd

Where is the data for the counter stored?

Is it in a database? In a .dat file? Where?

Once you know where it is I imagine that it is possible just to load that file up and manually edit it....although isn't that cheating just a bit