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Run DOS after WinPE Shuts down


llaub01

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If anyone has any ideas on this, please let me know...

I'm running a series of update scripts and system configuration scripts in Winpe 3.0 in a WDS / PXE environment. I need to run Dell Diagnostics after WinPE closes. Dell's 32-Bit diagnostics runs from DOS and launches into a series of RAM and System tests. There is no way to run this from within WinPE because there is no WOW support. If anyone has any ideas how I can attain this goal, please let me know. Otherwise, I'll need to look into investing into Windows based diagnostic software, which I don't want to do.

Thanks in advance!!

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Dell actually provides a custom WinRE when you get a Server 2008 / 2008 R2 install, which has quite a few tools that sound like what you're discussing. It might be worth contacting Dell to see what your options are, because if they're running the same sorts of tools in WinPE (which is all WinRE is) on systems with Server installed, they might be able to help you get what you need for client.

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Dell actually provides a custom WinRE when you get a Server 2008 / 2008 R2 install, which has quite a few tools that sound like what you're discussing. It might be worth contacting Dell to see what your options are, because if they're running the same sorts of tools in WinPE (which is all WinRE is) on systems with Server installed, they might be able to help you get what you need for client.

I'm actually looking for a solution on Dell's server platform. Is the Dell WinRE you're talking about a recovery partition or a utility disk? I'll look into it and see how they've got it setup. Thanks for the info!!!

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Last I looked, it was the same as the tools on the DVD, which was basically DSET. It should be sufficient, so I'd contact Dell - they already have these tools in WinPE and you should be able to get them.

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Looks like I may end up being interested in this answer as well. The answer might end up NOT being something particularly related to WinPE, but more along the lines of making a change to the MBR of the HDD or some other change that can effect a boot sequence to the system.

For example, have WinPE copy a file to the local HDD, then write to the MBR (we know this is possible) so that it boots up in a DOS shell and executes a program. This could even be kept in the System Reserved partition.... However the complications of the matter would be to be able to remove the System Reserved partition's boot ability AND make sure it doesn't get a drive letter when Windows boots after imaging. And of course dealing with booting DOS from an NTFS partition could also be an issue. Creating an additional partition at the end of the drive that is FAT for a true DOS environment could be possible. Then script Windows setup to delete that partition and extend the OS partition. :wacko:

Of course this could all be solved for me if there was a program that can write to DMI that can run from either WinPE or Windows itself.

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Here is the link for client computers and this one should work for servers (you need to extract DTK3.2.1-WINPE-22.exe from the package and syscfg is the tool to edit asset tag and bios options). Edited by allen2
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