WinNTSetup v5.4.1

[JFX]

WimBoot command line switch is actually mentioned in the F1 - Help text.
As MinWin will stay a hidden feature, it is not there to find, but easy to guess:

WinNTSetup_x64.exe NT6 -wimboot -minwin:default

Edited July 27, 2022 by JFX

[TailsXHeeroes]

Sorry, I don't understand.
It's just that once I installed an old version of the program and there, when I tried to install Windows Vista on a VHD, I wrote that it was impossible, but in a newer one it does not write anything.
As I understand it, Windows Vista can now be installed on a VHD? Or no?

P.S: Same about of Windows XP.

Edited July 28, 2022 by TailsXHeeroes

[JFX]

No nothing changed. Maybe you have disabled VHD Checks in the right-click menu of the VHD button.

[alacran]

JFYI

From my post: http://reboot.pro/index.php?showtopic=22621&page=5#entry221498

Quote

Just made a new MinWin build using WinNTSetup 5.2.5

New build made with WinNTSetup 5.2.5 is working fine.  Source ISO used was Win10x64 v2004 es-MX.

......

I only edited SySWoW.txt, adding 112 lines to be able to run LibreOfficePortable  and  lz4_compressor , this way all my 32 bits Portable Apps run fine in MinWin.

For more info please read all the quoted post.

Modded_SySWoW.7z  Password: alacran

 

From my post: http://reboot.pro/index.php?showtopic=22621&page=5#entry221500

Quote

Testing CatRoot trim tool:

Running from MinWin-10x64-WB.vhd, and having mounted MinWin-10x64-LZX.vhd on drive K, from WinNTSetup_v525 folder, I opened an elevated command prompt and ran following command:

WinNTSetup_x64.exe CATTRIM "K:\Windows"

The command ran fine and it was able to delete 20.6 MB on MinWin-10x64-LZX.vhd, please see attached picture.

Rebooted from MinWin-10x64-LZX.vhd, but it didn't boot anymore, so for me CatRoot trim tool didn't work fine. tested Ramboot and Filedisk boot, and both ways it fails to boot.

So CatRoot trim tool didn't work fine on my MinWin LZX VHD build.

alacran

Edited July 30, 2022 by alacran

[JFX]

Interesting, maybe Tools\CATTrim.ini is still missing some important file that needs to be signed.
I'll will take a look at some full windows installations. The current file list is only based on my Win10PE research.

BTW: It should be run against a fully installed Windows,
cause during setup some SysWoW64 files are scanned and needs to be signed.

[alacran]

JFYI

From my post: http://reboot.pro/index.php?showtopic=22621&page=6#entry221504

Quote

I made a new review of my lines added to SySWoW.txt and now they are only 91 lines (all repeated lines and all files in SySWoW folder that don't have a respective file with same name present also in System32 folder were removed).

After removing all files that are not in the list anymore LibreOfficePortable and lz4_compressor are still working fine.

Also (on-line) cleared all Event Viewer Logs just before reboot, (as I now do after filedisk booting a MinWin VHD), and ran again Win_Reduce_Trusted-62, re-capture and re-apply using VHD_WIMBOOT_Trusted-67, and I got a good reduction in sizes, compared to the sizes in post No. 122

MinWin-10x64-LZX.vhd Used size In NTFS partition is now 906 MB was 936 MB  >>>  reduction 30 MB

MinWin-10x64-WB.vhd Used size in NTFS partition is now 57.2 MB was 58.6 MB  >>>  reduction 1.4 MB  (Gain doesn't seem very notorious as almost all reduced files are pointers and not real files).

MinWin-10x64.wim Size is now 812 MB was 840 MB  >>>  reduction 28 MB

 

For readers convenience I attached here following files:

Modded_SySWoW (2022-07-30).7z    Password = alacran

Clear_Event_Viewer_Logs.7z   Password = alacran

NOTE: I recommend to always run Clear_Event_Viewer_Logs.bat as admin just before shout down the MinWin OS when filedisk booting to remove all event logs, not required when Rambooting, or if the OS will be re-captured and re-applied as in WimBootCompress.ini [ExclusionList]  this two lines take care of that:

\Windows\System32\winevt\Logs\*
\Windows\System32\winevt\TraceFormat\*

JFYI - CCleaner has an option to clear all Event Viewer Logs, it still works fine in Win7 but it doesn't work anymore in Win10.

alacran

Modded_SySWoW (2022-07-30).7z   2.75KB       Password = alacran

 Clear_Event_Viewer_Logs.7z   625bytes       Password = alacran

alacran

Edited July 31, 2022 by alacran

[alacran]

5 hours ago, JFX said:

Interesting, maybe Tools\CATTrim.ini is still missing some important file that needs to be signed.
I'll will take a look at some full windows installations. The current file list is only based on my Win10PE research.

BTW: It should be run against a fully installed Windows,
cause during setup some SysWoW64 files are scanned and needs to be signed.

 

Yes it was run against a fully tested VHD, having SvBus driver Version=04/28/2020,1.2.0.0, (signed by a chinese guy) using EVRootCA.reg, that was installed manually, (not by SVBus_INST_Trusted-20), and all its BCD entries have LoadOptionsString = DISABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKS present, and the VHD was filedisk booting and Rambooting very fine before ran CatRoot trim tool.

alacran

Edited July 31, 2022 by alacran

[JFX]

Yeah, I guess this is the problem. You change the system disk to be a RAMDisk,
Windows reacts like this is a full hardware change and will need same SysWoW64 files to be signed.

You can edit Tools\CATTrim.ini and add the lines:

..\SysWOW64\basesrv.dll
..\SysWOW64\bcryptprimitives.dll
..\SysWOW64\csrsrv.dll
..\SysWOW64\ntdll.dll
..\SysWOW64\kernel32.dll
..\SysWOW64\kernelbase.dll
..\SysWOW64\gdi32.dll
..\SysWOW64\gdi32full.dll
..\SysWOW64\ucrtbase.dll
..\SysWOW64\winsrv.dll
..\SysWOW64\win32u.dll
..\SysWOW64\normaliz.dll
..\SysWOW64\advapi32.dll
..\SysWOW64\bcryptprimitives.dll
..\SysWOW64\cfgmgr32.dll
..\SysWOW64\clbcatq.dll
..\SysWOW64\combase.dll
..\SysWOW64\comctl32.dll
..\SysWOW64\coml2.dll
..\SysWOW64\crypt32.dll
..\SysWOW64\cryptbase.dll

BTW: there is a newer SVBUS available.

[devdevadev]

Hi....JFX

MBR-BIOS             >> - /mbr         - Creates 1 active primary NTFS partition in MBR drive layout
GPT-UEFI               >> - /gpt          - Creates 1 NTFS and 1 hidden ESP partition  in GPT drive layout
MBR-BIOS/UEFI     >> - /mbresp   - Creates 1 NTFS and 1 hidden ESP partition  in MBR drive layout

WinNTSetup_x64.exe VHD-CREATE -file:C:\WIMBOOT.vhd -size:2GB -type:fixedfast -label:VHD_WIMBOOT -mbresp -fat32:100

What switch I should use for MBR -BIOS/UEFI option so it will Creates 1 NTFS and 1 hidden ESP partition  in MBR drive layout ?

 

[vhd]
# set the size of the hidden boot partition in MB
# size limit is 50 MB minimum, 1000 maximum
bootpartsize=320

 - /fat32:{size}    - sepcify the FAT32 boot partition size (50 - 1000 MB)

Create boot files
Select as boot Drive
Assign drive letter

Currently only FAT32 Part size setting/switch is available.
How I can define remaining three settings using command prompt / .ini settings ?

WinNTSetup_x64.exe NT6 -source:%source% -tempDrive:Z: -sysPart:    HDD-1:2 -  ESP (FAT32, 94.0 MB)

This command does not work. What switch I should use to select ESP FAT32 Part of VHD as boot drive ?
If VHD Drive Z: is Installation drive, then why not it auto select ESP FAT32 Part as boot drive ?
Will WinNTSetup create boot files within ESP FAT32 Part if installing Windows into VHD using command promt ?
Do you use any variables for ESP Partitions ?

Please help...

Thanks & Regards....

 

 

 

[alacran]

7 hours ago, JFX said:

Yeah, I guess this is the problem. You change the system disk to be a RAMDisk,
Windows reacts like this is a full hardware change and will need same SysWoW64 files to be signed.

You can edit Tools\CATTrim.ini and add the lines:

..\SysWOW64\basesrv.dll
..\SysWOW64\bcryptprimitives.dll
..\SysWOW64\csrsrv.dll
..\SysWOW64\ntdll.dll
..\SysWOW64\kernel32.dll
..\SysWOW64\kernelbase.dll
..\SysWOW64\gdi32.dll
..\SysWOW64\gdi32full.dll
..\SysWOW64\ucrtbase.dll
..\SysWOW64\winsrv.dll
..\SysWOW64\win32u.dll
..\SysWOW64\normaliz.dll
..\SysWOW64\advapi32.dll
..\SysWOW64\bcryptprimitives.dll
..\SysWOW64\cfgmgr32.dll
..\SysWOW64\clbcatq.dll
..\SysWOW64\combase.dll
..\SysWOW64\comctl32.dll
..\SysWOW64\coml2.dll
..\SysWOW64\crypt32.dll
..\SysWOW64\cryptbase.dll

BTW: there is a newer SVBUS available.

 

Hi JFX

Thanks for the link to svbus_1.3, just downloaded it, but haven't tested it yet.

I can confirm adding this lines to Tools\CATTrim.ini solves the issue.  Now my MinWin with SVBus installed is capable of filedisk boot and Ramboot again if using CATTrim.

But I noticed after apply it, several additional *.log files (that never existed before) are created in catroot2 after off-line apply CATTrim and reboot:

C:\Windows\System32\catroot2\edb00001.log
C:\Windows\System32\catroot2\edb00002.log
C:\Windows\System32\catroot2\edb00003.log
C:\Windows\System32\catroot2\edb00004.log
C:\Windows\System32\catroot2\edb00005.log
C:\Windows\System32\catroot2\edb00006.log
C:\Windows\System32\catroot2\edb.log
C:\Windows\System32\catroot2\edbtmp.log

Each one is 2 MB (total 16 MB on first boot), so if filedisk booting all this garbage accumulates every boot, not when Rambooting as all this garbage is created on Ram every boot.

IMHO and with all due respect to you my friend, CATTrim command works fine, but it's not really useful to reduce the OS size and future growup, on the contrary it induces the accumulation of more garbage.

Of course as always it depends of user preferences to apply CATTrim to his/hers OS or not.

alacran

 

 

Edited July 31, 2022 by alacran

[JFX]

@devdevadev
A /mbresp switch does not exists, as it's the default setting.
There is also no way to select the VHD ESP.
Simply no need as VHD ESP boot files are always created.

@alacran
These log files are just temporary, shutdown of cryptsvc will delete them.

[alacran]

@JFX

Just finished testing all features available in the MinWin version created with WinNTSetup v5.25, all useful things are available and open fine, including Event Viewer, Task Manager, Services Management, MS Config, PowerShell, etc.

And all ornamentary and superfluous things including the (CR)Apps are removed.

Congratulations my friend you did a fantastic work.

Only thing I don't like of MinWin is during first boot after installation it takes a very long time to arrive to the desktop.   And during long periods it doesn't seem to be doing anything as the HD led is not flashing, but if pressing the Caps Lock or Num Lock Keys they work fine, so we can confirm it is not blocked so It is better to be very pacient, but I would like to know what the hell is the PC doing all this time when the HD led is not flashing.

By the way the lines added into Modded_SySWoW (2022-07-30) can be edited by commenting or deleting !\Windows\SysWOW64\mshtml.dll to squeeze a few more MB, (17.2 MB uncompressed, 7.34 MB if Compact LZX compressed).

Without losing the capability to run LibreOfficePortable and lz4_compressor, but doing it we lose the capability to read the HTML (.chm) help files into 32 bits programs.

alacran

Edited August 1, 2022 by alacran

[alacran]

JFYI

From my post: http://reboot.pro/index.php?showtopic=22621&page=6#entry221511

Quote

For readers convenience I attached here:

Modded_SySWoW_2022-08-01.7z   Password = alacran

Where !\Windows\SysWOW64\mshtml.dll line is now commented to save in our MinWin VHD 17.2 MB (uncompressed) or 7.34 MB (if Compact LZX compressed).

If you need to read HTML (*.chm) help files into 32 bits programs, just uncomment the line.

alacran

Modded_SySWoW_2022-08-01.7z   2.89KB

alacran

[alacran]

@JFX

Hi my friend.

I found an issue in v5.25, from my post: http://reboot.pro/index.php?showtopic=22621&page=6#entry221512

Quote

Tried to install into the VHD, (NTFS partition), my MinWin-10x64.wim in Wimboot mode using WinNTSetup, it failed to install several times, and always gave me a message saying that wimlib_extact_image 0xF2: Failed to open a file, please see attached photo (it is pending to find the cause of this failure yet).

Then used wimlib-clc program by Tokener to install MinWin-10x64.wim into the NTFS partition on the VHD in Wimboot mode, all was made perfectly fine.

For the complete info please read the full linked post.

Additional info that can be useful for you:

wimlib-clc has pre-set the parameter --recover-data in apply Tab.

Perhaps you are not using in WinNTSetup the parameter --recover-data in wimlib during apply.

--recover-data parameter emulates the way Dism works during apply.

And as a MinWin VHD had many cuts (per design), it is very possible the main source of the issue, and using the parameter --recover-data could help solve the issue (in case you are not usig it).

alacran

 

Edited August 2, 2022 by alacran

[JFX]

1 hour ago, alacran said:

--recover-data parameter emulates the way Dism works during apply.

No, --recover-data ignores data corruption. That's not something that should be simply ignored.
Wimlib has an error output. Don't know why I have not add this. Will be available in next version.

BTW: DISABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKS is useless in BCD loadoptions.