winpe 3.0 & windows 7 x64

[cyberwatchers]

I can finally boot into winpe and get an IP address, map a drive and capture what seems to be only the minint and recovery folders. for some reason while in pe enviornment I change dir to c:\ all I see are both the above folders and that is it. when I use the same x86 winpe usb stick on my x64 VISTA machine I see all.

Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

[allanf]

... while in pe enviornment I change dir to c:\ all I see are both the [minint and recovery folders] and that is it. when I use the same x86 winpe usb stick on my x64 VISTA machine I see all.

Hi cyberwatchers,

Could it be that, in the first case, you are looking at some proprietary recovery partition, which WinPE sees as c:\?

To find out what's what, use:

diskpart
list disk
select disk 0
list part
list vol
exit

Regards

[cyberwatchers]

Yes it is a Dell E6500 which i am trying to image at work. I am trying to get the company I work for to switch imaging methods. I use this at my home lab and it works great. I WAS using AIK PE 2.0 however no matter what .inf drivers I would inject no dice. I asssumed this was because the laptop is running Windows 7? So once I downloaded and installed 3.0 (windows 7) version I was able to get an IP address from our DHCP server.

Yes this is a recovery partition that PE keeps booting into VS the OS partition. Is there a way to stop that? Please forward me ideas because I have found NOTHING searching the net. Thanks. I will not be able to attempt the image capture again until Monday when I am back in work.

[allanf]

OK. I'm a bit lost.

You are booting a WinPE 3.0 UFD plugged into a Windows 7 Laptop. Then connecting on a network to a Dell E6500 at work, and mapping a directory/partition on the Dell E6500 as c:\. The problem is that the wrong partition on the Dell is being mapped as c:\.

Is that the situation?

What is the situation where it works OK? That is, when c:\ shows the right partition and all the right folders and files?

[cyberwatchers]

No I am placing the USB directly to the new company laptop Dell E6500 so that I can run PE Imagex /capture. from that laptop once in PE I NET USE to a shared folder on our file server where I would store the new image. The capture works but it only captures around 300 MB of the recovery partition which it sees as C:\. For some reason I do not see: users, program files etc etc.

It works on my personal laptop running Vista meaning it see's all of the c:\ but not on the E6500.

Very strange. I am sure I am missing something small.

Thank you so much for responding.

Edited December 5, 2009 by cyberwatchers

[MrJinje]

Open Diskmgmt.msc and attach a snapshot of your partitions.

Like Allan alluded to it's possible your Windows C:\ partition is only the C:\ Drive when windows is booted. Since you mention DELL it is likely your actual C:\ drive is renamed to D:\ on this particular machine because most DELLS come with a recovery partition.

I cannot say for sure until I see how your partitions are setup.

[cyberwatchers]

Wow. I remember the recovery being a a different partition. I will take a stab at it on Monday when I am back in the office. I will also try changing directory to D:\ while in PE and see if that works. The C:\ drive while the system is booted is labled OS (c:). I do not have any way of providing a screenshot until Monday. Thanks for your reply.

[allanf]

When you boot WinPE, drive letters are assigned in the "default order". Exactly what this "default order" is, has proven to be a bit of a mystery.

Here's a kb article, "Order in Which MS-DOS and Windows Assign Drive Letters".

Only experience will tell if this is the "default order" used by Windows PE 3.0.

I would say that Dells Recovery Partition is the first Primary Partition on the first HDD, and so Windows PE sees it as c:, unlike on your laptop where Vista is on the first Primary Partition of the first HDD.

It's a different story when creating partitions using diskpart in Windows PE. Drive letters are assigned in the order of creation. But Windows PE has no way of storing this order for the next time it reboots, so defaults to the "default order"

Regards

Edited December 5, 2009 by allanf

[jaclaz]

@allanf

Right idea , wrong link .

This one is for DOS and 9x/Me:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/51978

2K (and presumably later) work slightly differently:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/234048/en-us

At least XP and Vista work like the latter, so I presume that PE 3.0, will as well.

jaclaz

[allanf]

Yeah. I did see that one. However, I assumed that the Dell Recovery Partition was not the active partition, and that there was an active partition somewhere.

The first scan:

Scan all fixed hard disks as they are enumerated, assign drive letters starting with any active primary partitions (if there is one), otherwise, scan the first primary partition on each drive. Assign next available letter starting with C:

Based on my assumptions, the Recovery Partition should not be assigned c:

The MS-DOS/9x/ME "default order" did seem to fit the bill, but I was trying, in a subtle way, to indicate that I have no idea. I'll pay more attention to the matter when next I boot Windows PE.

Edited December 5, 2009 by allanf

[jaclaz]

Based on my assumptions, the Recovery Partition should not be assigned c:

You are right, that won't normally happen, but I am failing to understand the overall description of the setup and of the problem, thus really cannot say waht's going on.

A Recovery partition, and expecially a DELL one is not normally visible as it carries an ID of "DE" or "DB" or "D7" for oldish versions:

http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/

http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/dellmbr.htm

http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/mediadirect.htm

or a "DE" for "Vista" versions:

http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/vista.htm

but it is well possible that newish machines are different.

jaclaz

[Tripredacus]

Indeed, the Recovery partition (for Vista and Windows 7 at least) should be flagged as "hidden" so it shouldn't get a drive letter. For Windows 7, the System partition may end up getting assigned the C drive instead of the OS volume. Also note that certain notebooks that contain Realtek card readers can get that drive (even if no media is present) the C letter. It depends on in what order the system enumerates the volumes so the PE can assign the letters.

As far as partitions of 1 volume go, the SB (Dell) should have marked the recovery partition hidden, and it won't get a letter. Its up in the air whether C will be the System or OS volume. Best to check the total size to be sure.

[allanf]

2K (and presumably later) work slightly differently:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/234048/en-us

At least XP and Vista work like the latter, so I presume that PE 3.0, will as well.

That seems right for Windows PE 2.1. Thanks.

Here's a laptop HDD - repartitioned after it was severely damaged when my wife inserted a

CD into the optical drive.

Disk Management (Win7 RC1):

diskpart (WinPE 2.1):

First the active primary (c:), then the logicals (d: and e:), then the remaining primaries (f: and g:).

Awaiting what cyberwatchers has to offer....

[jaclaz]

Barry Manilow?

I thought that only "Shpongle - Nothing Lasts... But Nothing is Lost" was so <please place here a word that Board wordfilters won't like> pretentious to actually be able to damage a DVD drive....

jaclaz

[cyberwatchers]

I have not been in to work but I will be back in tomorrow and will provide my findings. Thanks for all the help.

I remember seeing one partition, C and the recovery partition. I am assuming that I just have to CD to D:\ maybe. I will provide a snapshot. I will list the volumes once in PE as well. (Diskpart)