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This would be nice...


Daemonforce

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I look at the serious bloat that I've been giving to several PE builds and noticed that adding certain files break functions more than work them. It's time to change that.

Lets make a list for everything we will eventually need past explorer. Whether they're a system need or just cosmetic fixes, post them! :w00t:

Drive Formatter/Copier:

\system32\diskcopy.dll

?????

Net Drive Mapping/Net Places:

\system32\netplwiz.dll

Netsetup Wizard

\system32\hnetwiz.dll

Wireless Config:

\system32\wzcdlg.dll

Network adapter:

\system32\PENetCfg.exe (Just use it ;))

\system32\PENetCfg.ini (Open Startnet.cmd and add a line)

Remove "Installation Failed." prompt:

\INF\ie.inf

Lets keep this going. :)

Can anyone help me make the desktop properties tabs bigger?

Edited by Daemonforce
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If only for three days.....=/

Blah. X_x'

As far as I know, this dependency list is noble to WinPE built from VRMPVOL_EN. I am not using files from the OPK to get things done.

I detest BartPE and the design of it but that doesn't mean PENetCfg is a bad tool. I use it because it works.

I would be **** lucky to get a copy of XP Embedded right now so I'm not going to push for it right now. Besides that I hear of people having problems when adding Internet Explorer to their builds.

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I have already stated several times that I do not have access to Windows XP Embedded right now and I have no method of obtaining it anytime soon. I have access to everything else at the moment though. When I say everything else, I mean it. =/

The way I look at it, my standpoint in the matter of PE is quite a complicated one. I don't want to use something that does everything for me with little effort(BartPE) and I don't intend to go the easy route(XP Embedded) because it will quickly become an invalid option in the long run. This clearly makes BartPE comparable to a bit of futile trash(which is why it needs to be focused elsewhere).

I am at a point with PE where even NT Embedded would have been a good solution if it weren't for the fact that Win2K was released to get through the Y2K issues and file system problems of NT. There was a file system "jump" at the time and it became a real mess. When I look at another jump from NT5 to NT6, I look back and expect a similar set of problems to arise. With that in mind, I want to create a PE that not only does what it is intended to, but more than the average end user can expect from it. I'm all about finding the absolute limits of WinPE in terms of what WinPE is capable of doing now and(with the proper licensing and guidance) what it can be.

That functioning limit appears much much closer with each consecutive PE manufactured:

|--------------v-------v---------------v-----------------------v----------|

Compat...03PE...XPPE............2KPE.......................LHPE...Limit

That is what I see right now. In the near future that scale is likely to mirror and XP will look as horrible as 2K does now. I'm going to ride the XPPE bus until the compatibility focus shifts into Longhorn(Read: NOT Vista). You may be wondering why this is and I'll be honest that I've even stepped back a few times to reevaluate why I'm even touching beta builds.

XPPE looks, acts and functions very much the same way "Whistler" did in prerelease stages and continues to amaze me in terms of going straight into a 32-bit color mode and installing without critical problems. Anyone that remembers installing Win9x and goes straight into the preinstall environment knows that it's very limited in terms of hardware detection and appearance. Anyone that has ever installed a Windows OS released prior to this millenium knows that the 16 color GUI is a very ugly place with bare minimum hardware detection and frequent problems. That started to change with the release of NT-based operating systems and became so refined that XPPE looks and feels flawless. For those of you that don't follow: XPPE = good. ;)

LHPE appears to function in a very strange manner compared to XPPE. It's almost as if we've taken two steps forward and five steps back. Where does a preinstall environment need a ramdisk?

I see a write filter capability...Is it being used? Why does it have a write filter? Are these native to LHPE? Would they have served better in XPPE? Why do I boot a new VGA driver and find myself back in that ugly 16 color mode? Can this be changed?

I have several questions and I'm finding my answers one step at a time. After several weeks of evaluation and testing, LHPE does appear to be worth messing with. The files are newer than anything I've documented and we're finally using a method that doesn't use the Blue Screen of Installation! It just flies straight into an 800x600 GUI! Weeeeeeeee! :w00t: If I can fix the minor issues present in LHPE and get it to my working advantage, we might be able to drop several problems on our end as well as half the issues posted in this subforum. It's quite a step up and an impressive one. I guess what I'm saying by posting this is that XP Embedded is outdated and not worth messing with when I have a newer possible alternative. Even though I'm justifying a beta over a full package product that I've never touched, I still won't have any idea what can go wrong with XP Embedded until I try it. More than likely the quirks I've found in LHPE will not be something that can be found in XP Embedded. It isn't likely the other way around either. Moving forward is good, but nothing can change the fact that XP Embedded is something that I need as a base and structure guidance to fall back to in case of a complicated scenario that LHPE isn't able to conquer as is.

At this point it would be interesting to know how to add a write filter to XPPE without aid of XP Embedded since I have newer files to work with. :)

Edited by Daemonforce
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