Duplicate Folders?

[Eagle710]

When I boot into the WIM file I have created there appears to be duplicate folders. Such as :

X:\ProgramData x2

X:\Program Files x2

X:\Windows x2

X:\Users x2

Even if I made a directory such as X:\Temp Files this is duplicated as well.

Any ideas as to why this is happening?

[Tripredacus]

I have not seen this before. How did you make this one?

[Eagle710]

I have not seen this before. How did you make this one?

I mounted the base wim file and simply customized the winpeshl file as per my issue with the resolution.... which is now resolved. When simply mounting the wim to work on only one of each appears but when booting into it I get duplicates.

[Tripredacus]

It is possible to corrupt a WIM. I've certainly done it before. Try to use imagex to export a the WIM out, it may fix some of these problems. Have you tried say, deleting a file in one of those places, then look to see if the file still exists in the "duplicate" location?

[Eagle710]

Actually in my testing so far it appears that these duplicates appear when booting the wim on a system that has Bit Locker disabled. When I enable it on those systems only a single instance appears as it should. I will try a few more test to make sure but isnt that strange?

[Tripredacus]

Actually in my testing so far it appears that these duplicates appear when booting the wim on a system that has Bit Locker disabled. When I enable it on those systems only a single instance appears as it should. I will try a few more test to make sure but isnt that strange?

I've never used BitLocker yet, but still haven't seen multiples like that. I'd be interested to know if you find out more about it.

[Eagle710]

I would like to have the EFS service started automatically on boot up in WinPE.... any idea how to do this? I have tried changing the Registry to have startup of 2(Automatic) but this doesnt work. Any ideas?

Any hints to get any service started automatically would be great.

Edited March 25, 2010 by Eagle710

[Eagle710]

So here is the issue I got. Its actually not Bit Locker causing it.

When I boot a WIM file from a USB on a system that has an internal drive everything works fine. When I Unlocked the Bit Lockered drive a service starts that service being EFS. This is due to the fact that this unlocked drive presents EFS encrypted data.

Want to test this yourself on a system?

Copy C:\Windows\System32\sc.exe and C:\Windows\System32\en-US\sc.exe.mui to the corresponding mounted folders so that they would be in X:\Windows\System32 and the en-US.

Once booted into the WIM file open up command prompt and run the following command to start the EFS service.

sc.exe start efs

Check to make sure the service started using:

sc.exe query efs

It should stay started or running and now check the root of you X:\ drive and you should see doubles.

What I have tried is:

Changing service startup to 2(automatic) instead of 3(manual) --> Service did not start

Including the start service command in WinPEshl.ini file --> Same issue of duplicates.

Tripredacus you wanted information now I got you some. Any ideas?

Edited March 25, 2010 by Eagle710

[Eagle710]

I have also tried adding this service as an allowed startup through the registry and it still creates duplicates.

If I add a test file/folder in one of the Windows directories it appears in the other one as well.

So it seems that the service starting causes this issue any ideas? I no longer need to know how to start it unless it will load it silenty without making changes to the system.

[Tripredacus]

Perhaps there are additional files needed in the PE to run that service? I don't know why you are running it in the first place.

[Eagle710]

The thing is that the service does start but when it starts it creates these duplicate main folders.

[Tripredacus]

Well I'm not really sure how BitLocker works, that is the details of what it does. I also cannot find any detailed information about that process without looking up how to crack it. I talked to a couple people and the best idea that came up is that perhaps these duplicates are the locked copies? I am also still thinking that WinPE is likely missing something to make it work properly

[Eagle710]

Well I'm not really sure how BitLocker works, that is the details of what it does. I also cannot find any detailed information about that process without looking up how to crack it. I talked to a couple people and the best idea that came up is that perhaps these duplicates are the locked copies? I am also still thinking that WinPE is likely missing something to make it work properly

It actually doesn't appear directly related to BitLocker. Even if you remove the internal HDD and start that EFS (encrypting file system) service these duplicates appear. And you can modify both the original Windows and the new duplicate copy without any issues. It just appears to be something with EFS.