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A set of noob questions

Gouki

By Gouki
in Windows PE

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Gouki

Gouki

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Posted

Hi everyone. I have been in the MSFN forums for a while, however, this is problably my first time entering these forums.

I thought of making a Live CD, and this is problably the best place to ask all my stupid questions.

Ok, lets go...

I am planning on using BartPE, but, I want to know if its possible to nLite a source, and just make a BartPE out of that cut down source. Is it?

Appz. Is it possible to add some applications to the BartPE Live CD and run them once the OS is up?

I was thinking on 2 appz. Firefox and Tor.

Drivers ... If I remove all of them with nLite, can I add some using BTS pack? I was planning of adding WLAN and LAN.

Shell ... I noticed some of the BartPE CDs are using a different Shell. I bet thats not as easy as doing it for a UA install, right?

And I think thats about it.

Thanks everyone.

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Scubar

Scubar

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Posted (edited)

i wouldnt advise using an nlited source for making a BartPE CD if you have removed components from it. i tried that the first time i used BartPE thinking it would make my PE cd smaller. in the end it caused BartPE to just spit out hundreds of errors saying id removed this that n the other. if u have simply just added things like patches and ryanvms update pack then it should be fine to use.

yes it is very possible to add apps to ur BartPE Cd. there are many plugins available on the bartpe site with full instructions on what u need todo in order to add them to ur cd.

with regard to drivers. im not entirely sure about this subject. i do know that you can add BTS driver pack very easily as ive seen many PE cds with them included so that they will allow large disk support.

with regard to shells. it is very possible to add other shells. the default one used is nu2Menu. i personally chose to remove alot of crap from the XPE plugin and have explorer as my shell so that it feels more like windows, and yes all of it is a pain in the a** and alot of hardwork as well as extensive testing. Best make sure u have VMware or VirtualPC as im sure ull run into numerous problems along the way.

ive only made a couple of PE cds and i can tell u. They do take up alot of time and youll find most of it will be trial and error to start off with.

the best place to get help for making a BartPE CD is over on The CD Forum

hope this has helped.

Edited by ScubaSteve
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Gouki

Gouki

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Hi. Thank you very much for your reply! :)

Im kinda sad about the nLite part! :D I was planning on doing a anonym.os kinda CD but in Windows, nLite would be a big part of the project.

I will start reading the forums you advised, thanks for that.

As for the trial and error, Im kinda used to that. I had the most weird errors with nLite in a last few years, so, that wont be a problem.

Again, thanks for the information.

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Daemonforce

Daemonforce

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I stay as far away from nLite as I possibly can. Mainly because nLite is a tool that focuses on deployment. If you remove some critical stuff, Windows will gripe at you. If you remove some things that other programs look for, you're screwed. If you try to change the layout yourself, you're screwed. You see where I'm going with this? :rolleyes:

If you're going to remove stuff, I suggest you do it yourself. That's what I do.

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Daemonforce

Daemonforce

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Thats an idea. But does BartPE require that many files?

Yes. Rumor has it that you can make a BartPE from the nLite'd MiniXP floating around the Internet. Absolutely no addons but it could get through the Preinstallation stage fairly quickly. I've seen it before and it acts like a Win2K clone(errors and all). I'll say it here...If you have the files that allow Windows XP/LH to get through the MiniNT stage, it can be made. I stay away from BartPE for commercial purposes and I build Windows PE with little to no help. The first time I built it was with Longhorn. Since then I've had a general idea on what to piece together.

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Gouki

Gouki

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Hi. Thanks for the reply.

Honestly, I dont know the differences from Windows PE and BartPE.

Like I said, I have been in MSFN forums for a while, and never, never, visited this forum. (Stupidity)

Like I already told, my idea was to create a anonym.os kinda Operating System, but not with Linux, with Windows.

I wanted to remove the most part of Windows, cause I would not need it, and then just add 2 simples plugins.

Firefox (with flash) and Tor.

This way, I would have a Live Windows CD, just like the anonym.os made from Linux, but with Windows.

Im gonna start messing around on this, I just have to wait for my computer to arrive.

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gadget

gadget

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Posted

Simply, WinPE is a product from microsoft for system builders and oems as a pre-installation interface kind of thing.

BartPE is simular but not recognised by MS. It uses a vastly reduced subset of the operating system simular to the way PE works.

For some people, Barts is a godsend, for others WinPE is a nightmare that they need to use because of the environment they work in.

Either products you need to be suitably licensed for.

Barts is covered better in www.911cd.net forums.

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Scubar

Scubar

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Directly from Barts site

What is the technical difference between BartPE and Windows PE?

Target - Microsoft sees Windows PE as an installation platform. Bart sees Windows PE as the next generation rescue platform.

Start-menu - Bart's builder gives you a simple, dynamic and powerful start-menu (Nu2Menu, see screenshots). Microsoft's builder does not give you a start-menu, it uses a command prompt.

Build from - Bart's builder can also build from Windows XP Home Edition or from a preinstalled Windows XP version (without CD).

Plugins - With PE Builder you can easily add applications, drivers or tools using plugins. This makes PE Builder extremely powerful. The end user can even combine plugins from different software vendors into one CD image.

Network support - PE Builder includes its own network support tools (bartpe/penetcfg) to start TCP/IP and Microsoft Client. The TCP/IP settings like: dynamic/static ip-address, subnet-mask, default gateway, dns-servers computer-name, workgroup can be changed on-the-fly. You can create pre-defined profiles, that you can select. Microsoft Windows PE only supports DHCP or fixed settings using winbom.ini.

Also there is a plugin (NwDskPe) created by Erwin Veermans that loads the Netware Client on BartPE (IP/IPX).

Fileshare - BartPE can start File Sharing support so you can connect to the system through a share.

VNC - Because of the File Sharing support you can also run UltraVNC.

Dos support - Bart's builder has a plugin called "dospe".

License - Microsoft Windows PE is only for Enterprise/OEM customers (see previous), BartPE is for everybody!

64-Bit - Bart's builder does not support Windows 64-bit editions.

Personally i would say BartPE is an improvement over WinPE in that it allows alot more functionality to be added to it, and the abilty to create your own custom plugins is a godsend.

Edited by ScubaSteve
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Daemonforce

Daemonforce

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In that case you'll want to do what I'm doing and go with Windows PE. =/ I came here a few months ago when I finally got a copy of Vista Beta 2. The write filter defeats the purpose of using a RAMdisk, so I've already defeated 4-6 of BartPE's workarounds(with XPE).

I like building it from the ground up so that I have more control over it and can alter it in any way I desire without it being a pain. Sometimes quick changes are just needed. I've never gotten that kind of functionality from BartPE. Although I must say booting from a flash drive is quite impressive.

If you want something done right, you usually have to do it yourself.

Edited by Daemonforce
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Gouki

Gouki

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I understand what your saying, and I could not agree more. The issue here is "doing it yourself".

Quoteing 40 Year Old Virgin: "Do you, like to do it yourself ?!"

Sorry for the off-topic, but it sure was a great movie.

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  • 1 month later...
cancerface

cancerface

Posted
Posted (edited)

@Gouki

I have been using BartPe for quite some time as a rescue/deployment environment. If you don't have any size constrains for your build you may want to try BartPE with XPE ... Basically xpe makes it possible to use explorer as a shell + adds MMC, WMI, etc functionality. There is a simple how-to here and you can grab many plugins for BartPE here. If you want .NET support you can get a plugin from here. If you need more hardware support you can use the UBCD4WIN drivers for mass storage/network and/or a version of BTS's drivepacks.

I hope that this is helpful ... At least it should minimize the "doing it yourself" part ;)

CF

[Edit] Hmmm ... The links to the drivers seem to be down ... Try here instead ...

Edited by cancerface
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