Question on Asus SWM Files

[precursor]

Hey everyone -

I have been searching around in circles for the last hour trying to figure out if there is anything I can do with my Asus Notebook recovery DVD with vlite. I have ASUS.SWM and ASUS2.SWM as well as a BOOT.WIM file. vlite gives me an error when I try to select the DVD for use. Do I need to merge these first? Or is there a way vlite can do it for me (old release notes mentioned this).

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[aviv00]

try to rename it to install.wim and with vlite make an bootable cd and then maybe its will work

[precursor]

Hello, I tried to rename the files to INSTALL.SWM and INSTALL2.SWM as well as renaming them to *.WIM, but I kept getting the same error message (can not find files).

[aviv00]

get gimagex to merge those to one wim and try again

GL

[precursor]

Ok.. I am making some progress here.

I built an image with this command:

imagex /ref install*.swm /check /export install.swm 2 install.wim "Windows Vista Home Premium"

this went through and created install.wim from my two .swm files.

I then point vlite to that directory with the install.wim, and it still gives me the "vlite can not find" error message.

Am I missing something obvious here?

-- I also mounted the install.wim image and tried pointing to the folder where I mounted it. Still no go

Edited December 16, 2007 by precursor

[nuhi]

Yeah your only problem seems that you didn't put the install.wim into the SOURCES folder.

So it's like this for example:

c:\VistaDVD\Sources\Install.wim

and select c:\VistaDVD with vLite. That is the default structure.

[precursor]

That was it. Thank you Nuhi =)

[Crankyhobo]

If you need a copy of 'Imagex'

You can get it as part of the WAIK (windows automated installation kit) which can be downloaded from Microsoft (900mb iso download):

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...;displaylang=en

imagex.exe also comes on some Vista DVDs (Dell oem, probably retail aswell, under the sources folder)

Merging SWM into WIM

1) Paste Imagex.exe into your windows\system32 directory so that it can be accessed in CMD window from any directory.

2) open a command prompt, change dir (cd) to path with the SWM files paste the following (right click + select paste / CTRL+Z shortcut doesn't work)

imagex /ref install*.swm /check /export install.swm 2 install.wim "Windows Vista Home Premium"

obviously replace "install*.swm" and "install.swm" with the name of your files if its different and edit the "Windows Vista Home Premium" part to suit your version

3) Hit ENTER and it should start converting and place the new file in the same directory as INSTALL.WIM

Splitting WIM into SWM

Simlar idea to merging, cmd line is

imagex /split [.SWM file to be split] [.WIM file/path to be saved as] [filesize]

eg. imagex /split asus.swm install.wim 700

Edited December 20, 2007 by Crankyhobo

[precursor]

Hey Cranky -

Let me give you an update on where I got to. I got the install.wim all rebuilt and working, and had no problems doing that.

However, where I ran into the problem was with the boot.wim file on the Asus disk. It seems that the boot.wim that Asus uses runs proprietary application instead of the installer. When I rebooted off the new dvd I made, it ran this application, and tried to re partition my drive (infact it did, and killed my partition table before it failed). I looked into the install.wim file, and it looks like it uses Norton Ghost, and some other stuff to accomplish this. Unfortunately it also looks like the Asus Recovery DVD is lacking the actual Windows setup files (setup.exe, etc).

So, that being said we might be out of luck with the Asus DVD.

Now, I know this is a grey area, but what about using a DVD from another source and then using our CD Keys? The current news post on the front of the n-lite site concerns me though, as if I have to use a DVD from another source, it needs to be able to work with n-lite (or I might as well just use the crappy OEM bloat install).

Any thoughts guys?

Edited December 19, 2007 by precursor

[Crankyhobo]

Using Vlite to merge SWM

I emailed the VLite guy about being able to load SWM straight into VLite and he responded quickly and was helpful. It will try and merge SWM into WIM for you but you have to copy the two ASUS SWM into the sources folder and rename them to INSTALL.SWM and INSTALL2.SWM. For me it comes up with an error message code 138 while its trying to merge saying 'error while aquiring other images' but it appears to keep going and complete the full byte size to be merged. He said hes going to look at making the image loading more flexible so you don't have to move the files around and rename them.

The problem seems to be ...

That asus isn't using a normal windows installer, if you look in the boot.wim file you can see all the ASUS setup files which as precursor said, have a few ASUS made exe files, norton ghost and some scripts. I tried a few times expanding and joining SWM and changing the image to be installed but realised all that was a waste of time because im not even able to burn a version with original files. I tried to copy the original files from the ASUS Recovery DVD and then rebuild the ISO without making any changes and it gives me the sustained system beep when i try and boot from it. I tried doing it with CDImage and OSCDIMG with lots of different parameter configurations from the web and official docs and nothing seems to work which makes me wonder if those proprietary ASUS install files are doing some checks to see if its an original disk/modified.

Seems like the solution is ...

To create a new ASUS OEM disk based off an original Retail Vista DVD. I haven't figured out all the details but in order to accomplish that you would need to extract the "xmr-ms" license files that are embedded into your Asus Recovery Disk and these should match up to your BIOS and OEM Product Key. With that information plugged into the right places on in the vista install you should be able to make a new oem disk that activates.

Theres a thread talking about how to do it here:

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showto...p;p=633551&

Some Links that might be of some use

Another thread talking about making OEM DVDs

http://forums.mydigitallife.info/showthread.php?t=108

MS Guide on Capturing and Deploying Custom Images

http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsVista...3.mspx?mfr=true

GIMAGEX - GUI Version of ImageX

http://www.autoitscript.com/gimagex/

ISO Building Command Lines

oscdimg -bC:\Vista\boot\etfsboot.com -h -u2 -m -lVISTA_EN_DVD C:\Vista\ C:\VistaDVD.iso

cdimage.exe -lVISTA_EN_DVD -m -u2 -bC:\Vista\boot\etfsboot.com C:\Vista\ C:\Vistax86.iso

Edited December 20, 2007 by Crankyhobo

[Crankyhobo]

[i cant find the delete button]

Edited December 20, 2007 by Crankyhobo

[kumar13]

Hi

I have Vista Home on my lap top with an ASUS Recovery dvd. I had followed all the instructions and the only problem i am having is with Vlit.

1. I have created Install.wim and copied in C:\VISTADVD\SOURCE.

2. When i open Vlite i browse through as follows: C:\VISTADVD.

HERE IS THE PROBLEM:-

I get an erorr as follows:- ERROR LOADIN BOOT.WIM ABORTING

If i click OK then i get again a error message as follows:-

UNHANDLED EXCEPTION HAS OCCURRED IN YOU APPLICATION.IF U CLICK CONTINUE THE APPLICATION WILL IGNORE THIS ERROR TO CONTINUE.IF U QUIT THE APPLICATION WILL CLOSE IMMEDIATELY.

Now if click on continue nothing happens.

But my boot.wim in in the Source dir where my Install.wim is

It shall be appricated if someone can help me out

Thanks in advance