Jump to content

Confused and Overwhelmed with info Newbie Question


wsoeldner

Recommended Posts

Please bear with me. I'm sure the info is in this forum, however, I think I have become overwhelmed with info. I seem to follow link after link and get all sorts of info, but end up back at the beginning with a ton of shortcuts on my desktop.

I have been bitten by the WinPE bug. I have been using Ghost with BartPE to create images of a variety of systems we use at work, as with my intermeditate knowledge, I always get called to fix any issues, and recovery is fairly fast with Ghost.

I use three to four different systems that need to be imaged after every trip we take. Since discovering WinPE, I have been making images of every system, with all the software on it we use (as well as updates).

I want to create a recovery partition on each laptop that holds that image, so my guys can just press F8 (I think it is) and either repair an installation or wipe and apply the image in the partition.

I have WinRE, and all the software Product ID's and Keys for each system, as well as a wim file for each system. I would like it to be automated. Additionally, I don't want to have to carry a DVD with me to get the job done. Just a hidden recovery partition.

Can someone please let me know if this is possible without any other software other than WinPE/RE. I am in the military so purchasing other software is not an easy option (we have to save tax dollars somewhere :rolleyes:-) ).

Thanks, and I have to tell you, MSFN has got to be the best repository of information available. I could spend days surfing and going off on tangents.

Thanks

Warren

Link to comment
Share on other sites


OK, I think I have a more precise idea of the answers I'm looking for:

1. I have taken the boot.wim from my Vista Ultimate DVD and created winre.wim on my hard drive.

2. I have followed the steps in the post "What happened to the SRT Package?, anyone else see it?" up until the last step where I commit the image. This is where it gets confusing, as I want to put it on a CD/DVD, not a UFD.

3. I'm confused as to which wim files need to be where on the CD. here's what I'm trying to accomplish:

a. I want to put a custom installation on the DVD. From what I've read it's supposed to be "install.wim".

b. I want to boot with the DVD and go into the Recovery environment. From what I understand that is the "WinRE.wim"

c. Once in the recovery environment, I want to be able to:

(1) either repair the installation by copying the custom installation from the CD onto the OS partition.

(2) restore the system by deleting the partition(s), then creating an OS partition and a hidden restore partition, followed by copying the custom installation to the restore partition, and then restoring the OS partition from either the CD or the recovery partition

(3) modify the system by replacing the custom installation on the recovery and OS partitions with a new one from an external drive.

As I understand it, all the above is done through the answer file.

4. Finally, when everything is on the system, I want to be able to press F8 during boot to either repair or restore the OS partition from the recovery partition.

Can someone explain the differences in the boot (from Vista), the install and the winre wim's? I can muddle through answer file to get the config right, but I need some help on what each of the wims does, so that I understand how it works.

Thanks in advance

warren

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...