Increase Hardware Compatibility for Windows XP WIM

[meofcourse]

Hi I have been testing the Windows Deployment Services that ships with Windows Server 2008 and have successfully create both Uni and Multi processor WIM images for Windows XP. However the issue I am having is when I build the image on a system with a Asus P5P800-VM and deploy it on to a Asus P4SP-MX (or vice versa) the imaging goes fine, but on the first boot I receive a mup.sys error and the tower continually reboots. Since it is a mup.sys error, I suspect it is a driver issue as deploying the image onto the same motherboard model it was created on works well. So the question becomes how do I increase the hardware compatibility for each Windows XP image I create? I would like to avoid making multiple images (this was one of the selling points of WDS as far as I can recall)

Thanks in advance for you help

[Jazkal]

Your WinXp images don't need to be uni and multi, you can have one that will work on both.

The WinXP image limitation is based on the HAL, and there is no easy way around it.

The benefits of only having a single image isn't a function of WDS, it is a 'feature' of Vista\Win2k8.

[bj-kaiser]

Your WinXp images don't need to be uni and multi, you can have one that will work on both.

The WinXP image limitation is based on the HAL, and there is no easy way around it.

The benefits of only having a single image isn't a function of WDS, it is a 'feature' of Vista\Win2k8.

I concur, there are easy ways around the HAL limitation. They are just not supported by MS.

In the end unpacking and renaming the right files actually works like a charm for me.(well, I dont have so much systems to test that on, I have like a hand full of different hardware types at work, ranging from ACPI-PIC to ACPI-APIC MP)

[meofcourse]

Your WinXp images don't need to be uni and multi, you can have one that will work on both.

I suppose that could be possible. I have tried a multi image onto a uni box, but not a uni image on a multibox. I will give it a try.

The WinXP image limitation is based on the HAL, and there is no easy way around it.

Thats to bad.

The benefits of only having a single image isn't a function of WDS, it is a 'feature' of Vista\Win2k8.

Thanks for the clarification.

[meofcourse]

Your WinXp images don't need to be uni and multi, you can have one that will work on both.

The WinXP image limitation is based on the HAL, and there is no easy way around it.

The benefits of only having a single image isn't a function of WDS, it is a 'feature' of Vista\Win2k8.

I concur, there are easy ways around the HAL limitation. They are just not supported by MS.

In the end unpacking and renaming the right files actually works like a charm for me.(well, I dont have so much systems to test that on, I have like a hand full of different hardware types at work, ranging from ACPI-PIC to ACPI-APIC MP)

So what are these unsupported easy ways around the HAL limitations?

[Jazkal]

Your WinXp images don't need to be uni and multi, you can have one that will work on both.

I suppose that could be possible. I have tried a multi image onto a uni box, but not a uni image on a multibox. I will give it a try.

You create your image on a multi, and in your sysprep.inf file, there are settings that allow sysprep to switch between uni and multi as long as the box is the same HAL.

[bj-kaiser]

Your WinXp images don't need to be uni and multi, you can have one that will work on both.

The WinXP image limitation is based on the HAL, and there is no easy way around it.

The benefits of only having a single image isn't a function of WDS, it is a 'feature' of Vista\Win2k8.

I concur, there are easy ways around the HAL limitation. They are just not supported by MS.

In the end unpacking and renaming the right files actually works like a charm for me.(well, I dont have so much systems to test that on, I have like a hand full of different hardware types at work, ranging from ACPI-PIC to ACPI-APIC MP)

So what are these unsupported easy ways around the HAL limitations?

The unsupported way is to replace the HAL depending files with copies for the right HAL, youll find those files inside driver.cab or SPX.cab.

my take on that one: http://code.google.com/p/unixp/source/brow...unk/lib/hal.au3

and since I know that's hardly comprehensibel (even if you know AutoIt, I know my coding "style"), here the simpler version with comments:

left filename is source (driver.cab or SPX.cab), right filename is the target filename in SYSTEM32.

HAL "ACPIPIC_UP"
halacpi.dll -> hal.dll
ntkrnlpa.exe
ntoskrnl.exe

HAL "ACPIAPIC_UP"
halaacpi.dll -> hal.dll
ntkrnlpa.exe
ntoskrnl.exe

HAL "ACPIAPIC_MP"
halmacpi.dll -> hal.dll
ntkrpamp.exe -> ntkrnlpa.exe
ntkrnlmp.exe -> ntoskrnl.exe

If you need to support other HALs, just have a look at %WINDIR%\Inf\Hal.inf.

some helpful links:

http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=19397

http://www.myitforum.com/articles/15/view.asp?id=8997

Edited May 30, 2008 by bj-kaiser

[mats]

I prefer to let sysprep do the switch by setting updatehal or updateuphal values depeninding on wether it's a multi or singleprocessorbox.

If you are using MDT or SCCM this can be integrated into the task sequence rather easy

[TheReasonIFail]

I use the script from the second link supplied by bj-kaiser.

That's allowed me to use one WIM image on every machine I've encountered yet. I've used the same image on the several different types of machine models and the only problem I've had was when using the image on the AMD platform, but that's easily resolved by disabling a service or two and you're good to go!

[bj-kaiser]

I use the script from the second link supplied by bj-kaiser.

That's allowed me to use one WIM image on every machine I've encountered yet. I've used the same image on the several different types of machine models and the only problem I've had was when using the image on the AMD platform, but that's easily resolved by disabling a service or two and you're good to go!

That'd be the one that gave HP the blame

intelppm. I had that problem too. and I had my own ideas about it, after I finally found out what was the reason for the reboots.

my take on that one:

http://code.google.com/p/unixp/source/brow.../workaround.au3

[meofcourse]

Thanks guys,

I ran out of time to try these, but I will in the future

[secotton]

I've decided to change the HAL type once in the OS using a VBScript. It's not quite as nice, but it works for me very well. It changes the HAL by modifying the boot.ini to include /kernel=ntkrnlmp.exe /hal=halmacpi.dll.

Basically, it gets the processor name, and compares it against a list of processors that I put in at the top of the VBScript in an array. I only really enable the MP HAL if the computer is a dual core computer, otherwise, ACPI works for pretty much everything else just fine. I've done some speed tests, and haven't found any issue in running with the ACPI HAL versus the ACPI Uni HAL.

[bj-kaiser]

didnt know Windows XP had boot options for that.

well, should have searched the knowledge base, I guess.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms791480.aspx

[MadMonkeyBoy]

One thing I have found is that the image creation is better done on an AMD platform. This uses the processr.sys CPU driver, which is compatible with all CPUs, whereas an Intel CPU defaults to intelppm.sys - I believe this is the one that gave HP the headache. Plug 'n' pray will install the Intel driver on first boot anyway. Or on an AMD system, you can add amdk8.sys to the image.

[Kingskawn]

I use the script from the second link supplied by bj-kaiser.

That's allowed me to use one WIM image on every machine I've encountered yet. I've used the same image on the several different types of machine models and the only problem I've had was when using the image on the AMD platform, but that's easily resolved by disabling a service or two and you're good to go!

Did you used it with SCCM or with MDT? And at what stage does it change the HAL type?