WIM file hell

[meh11]

As the title says, I'm in imagex/vmware hell. I've made my custom Vista Ultimate x86 image on a virtual machine (call this the "master computer" if we follow the MS guide), with a few apps + Office installed, and it comes up to 12GB. At least 5GB is taken by that silly bodge job - the WinSxS folder - and it compresses presumeably to 5GB.

A few questions:

A.) How the hell did MS get their full OS image down to 1.1GB (Ultimate Edition WIM on its own)?

B.) Imagex craps out at 87%/4GB, any idea on fixing that? That's IMAGEX, not OSCDIMG (no patronizing intended )

C.) Any way to mount this VMDK without either the VDK driver or from within VMWare itself (all VMWare mount tools say there are "no volumes in this drive")? If I installed to a physical partition (*cringe*), would it be easier? By that, I mean literally copy over all the files in the VMDK to an unmounted physical partition, exit VMWare, mount the partition, run CHKDSK, etc, etc...

D.) How exactly does the WIM format work in terms of NTFS security permissions? Is there any specific file system like FAT or NTFS or does it simply store the files & their access control lists and whatever other rubbish? Does it even need the security descriptors for a clean install (I wish to copy this WIM to a prebuilt setup DVD and reconfigure/reimage that DVD to work)?

Thanks in advance.

Oh, by the way, I did just snag a copy of the SP1 pre-beta, would it be easier to start from there instead of using my RTM image, integrating SP1 standalone and repacking, then installing apps?

Edited October 11, 2007 by meh11

[razormoon]

I have a 'fat-free' install.wim that is very well OVER the 1.1gb you claim to have. I think once you solve that problem the rest will disappear.

The install.wim (and boot.wim for that matter) are solely used for installs initiated from boot (Press any key to boot from CD/DVD...). However, there a few folders and files that are needed such root\boot and root\efi. You may want to follow up on whether you have a genuine vista dvd or not...

Being that SP1 is still beta well...it's still beta.

Edited October 11, 2007 by razormoon

[meh11]

I have a 'fat-free' install.wim that is very well OVER the 1.1gb you claim to have. I think once you solve that problem the rest will disappear.

It's not like that. I guess I should have started from the start.

So -

Aim: To build a fully customized and shrink-wrapped Vista install DVD

Current Method:

1.) Run VMWare - set everything up accordingly, install such that I have a clean VMDK containing one volume with the master installation image - everything is configured after 6 bloody hours

2.) Run VMWare but boot from WinPE and use imagex to dump all 12GB into a WIM file across a virtual network share

3.) Fail at 87% when the compressed WIM file is roughly 4GB large

Ideally, what I would want is a Vista DVD, such that from boot:

1.) It boots. It autoselects all WinPE localisation settings to en-GB.

2.) It presents the "Repair or Install" menu.

3.) If "Install" is selected, it presents a choice of Vista Ultimate Barebones or Vista Ultimate Standard (the names used here are arbitrary - the first is a completely slimmed edition of Vista for perf testing, Standard would be my usable image for system reinstallation)

4.) Auto install the rest of the way, prompting only for the partition setup, and after the 3000 reboots, loading straight into a pre-configured OS with autologin (i.e. I select all the relevant WinPE setup options, then let it do its thing and come back to a logged in Vista OS)

The problem, of course is that the virtual hard disk used is 12GB large, compressing to roughly 5GB - in VMWare, I install SP1 straight off, then MS Office and a few other things like Powerstrip & FRAPS, and preconfigure the users/login settings, such that one (not the local) administrator account logs in automatically, and instantly locks the workstation (switch-user screen). WinSxS bloats to around 5-7GB after that. This is pre-vLite, for obvious reasons. I intend to remove a lot of rubbish from the final prepped WIM with vLite. I do have an autounattend.xml that does quite a lot of the things needed, but it just forces the WinPE & Repair screens to be skipped - I want to choose, in the way that more or less every Linux ISO I've used since 1995 has handled - to be able to install or boot to "WinPE".

I'm giving it a go now with FB1CRE_EN_DVD or whatever, the readymade SP1 ISO, and VMWare to an unmounted physical disk partition. It seems, that to be lazy, one has to put double the original effort in. Conservation of energy, or Sod's law?

Edited October 11, 2007 by meh11

[razormoon]

Conservation of Energy is a term used by power company in bills (the so-called savings part) and politicians (in speeches). So I vote Sod.

If your aim is to build a "customized shrink wrapped vista dvd" then why the net shares and such?

1) Vmware was never a favorite amongst ua testers. It only serves well in a pinch. Such as when you DO have a fully working uaDVD and wonder why a certain silent switch won't work (amongst other things).

2) The SP1 release will offer an option to build a recovery disc.

3) This is not linux.

That being said, I think I'm going to second your post in asking if there is a recovery option after vLite and custom uaDVD.

So. Is there a recovery option if using a vLited disc or otherwise custom uaDVD?

Edited October 11, 2007 by razormoon