Jump to content

Installing from a rescue partition


Recommended Posts

I have searched for this here but came up empty handed. I build custom computers in my spare time. When I set them up, I make a Unattend disk, with all the drivers and apps, and include it along with the original XP disk, and a compiled disk of just drivers and apps. What I'm wondering is: can I store the UA files in a small 3 or 4gb fat32 partition, making it a restore partition like on major brand comps, and use a plain old Win9x bootdisk, and from dos go cd C\: then cd XPCD, then setup.exe, and have it reload the O/S? Any experience with this anyone??

I'm going to try it anyway, but I thought I might as well ask first. Just trying to simplify

Link to comment
Share on other sites


I also want to know how to do this...I think that would probably be one of the most useful features a computer could have...I wonder is it also possible to add an option to the boot menu to start the recovery, either by using the ntfs bootloader or even better the BIOS.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Dell added code to the MBR to determine when to boot to the recovery partition. See http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/index.htm for more information.

You cannot provide your customers with the Windows bits on any removable media other than the hologramed CDs (only the big players are allowd to do this) but you are allowed to create a recovery partition.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I start my unattended installs in BartPE and tried to think of a way to add a Dell recovery partition in. I was unable to figure out how to script the partition creation and the correct partition type (I think its D3 for dell...) If someone figures this out, it would be GREAT!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

stone_age,

this can easily be accomplished from within BartPE. The only problem with storing the windows i386 on a second partition is that the path to the $OEM$ folder must be hard coded into the unattend.txt file. This means that you would have to ensure that the partition never lost its drive letter, or the windows installation will fail with an 'unable to find files..ect" error. The needed entry for pointing to the $OEM$ folder in your unattend.txt file is this:

[unattended]

OemFilesPath = z:\cust\8148NORD\wininst\$OEM$

as you can see in the above example, windows setup will search the drive path specified to acquire the $OEM$ folder. I use this technique to install windows from a network share and a USB drive, but it could easily be modified to suit your use in this case.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's exactly the style of installation I have done for about 2 years (not a restore partition, but an "install from scratch" setup from D: to C:).

Do a post search on username "JPamplin" and you'll find some posts I have done on the subject. I would be happy to post some of my script files now that the process is fairly stable and tested.

Good luck,

JP

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Halfwalker,

I suggest you have a look at the following post to get an idea of how this process works. In the post, the author describes the technique I mentioned to install windows from a network share, but the mechanics for installing from a USB drive are identical. Both are based around the OEMFILESPATH functionality in being able to point to the $OEM$ and I386 source files residing in a location other than on a cd. BartPE (or winPE) is also required.

http://www.msfn.org/board/lofiversion/index.php/t13271.html

To actually kick off the windows install from within bart, you only need to call winnt32.exe in the i386 folder with the correct switches. One of my commands to launch the install is as follows:

z:\flat\XP\I386\WINNT32.EXE /syspart:C: /makelocalsource /unattend:z:\cust\STIBMWKS\unattend.txt

the $OEM$ folder location is specified in the OEMFILESPATH, as noted in the thread above.

Hope this helps :)

Edited by brainstane
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...