External USB Drive Support

[JuMz]

Does WinPE support external USB drives? I am currently trying to Ghost my HD to this drive but WinPE does not pick it up (therefore, niether does ghost).

Any suggestions? Do I need a driver? (I thought WinPE was PNP?)

Thanks

[Albuquerque]

You need to make sure that, when you build your PE image, you specified /PNP in the Mkimg command line.

Also, you need to make sure your USB device was plugged in before factory.exe runs -- it cannot "hot detect" devices like a normal Windows operating system would.

I know that PE detects external USB-connected and Firewire-connected drives because several of my scripts interact with them. I also know Ghost32 works to and from the same devices, so you shouldn't have any problems.

I'm using PE OPK 1.6 and Server 2003 SP1 as my base.

[JuMz]

You need to make sure that, when you build your PE image, you specified /PNP in the Mkimg command line.

Also, you need to make sure your USB device was plugged in before factory.exe runs -- it cannot "hot detect" devices like a normal Windows operating system would.

I know that PE detects external USB-connected and Firewire-connected drives because several of my scripts interact with them. I also know Ghost32 works to and from the same devices, so you shouldn't have any problems.

I'm using PE OPK 1.6 and Server 2003 SP1 as my base.

Thats what I read in the Winpe / OPK.chm files and I did that! And I of course have it in the usb slot before WinPE loads, but still no luck (AND I know the PNP part works cuz my display and mass storage drivers load successfully). Really weird...I have a weird idea I'm going to try out...(going to inject ALL the drivers from my XP SP2 CD and see if it works then...)

I'll post back soon!

Edited June 7, 2006 by JuMz

[Albuquerque]

Something I didn't mention that might be pertinent: I injected the Intel chipset INF file for 815/845/865/875/915/945/955/975 chipsets. This has some newer USB drivers that fully support the USB 2.0 interface on certain models.

I had problems in some early testing with PE where certain USB ports on our Dell Optiplex 260/270/280 would stop functioning after PE loaded -- but not all of them. We found this when using USB keyboards plugged into certain USB ports on the back panel... You could use the keyboard to select the ISOLinux option for booting PE just fine, but once PE loaded, it would completely stop working.

I fixed this by loading the Intel chipset INF associated drivers files. At the same time, I may have fixed USB-attached storage working too as I hadn't gotten that far in testing yet.

Maybe worth a shot?

Edited June 7, 2006 by Albuquerque

[JuMz]

Something I didn't mention that might be pertinent: I injected the Intel chipset INF file for 815/845/865/875/915/945/955/975 chipsets. This has some newer USB drivers that fully support the USB 2.0 interface on certain models.

I had problems in some early testing with PE where certain USB ports on our Dell Optiplex 260/270/280 would stop functioning after PE loaded -- but not all of them. We found this when using USB keyboards plugged into certain USB ports on the back panel... You could use the keyboard to select the ISOLinux option for booting PE just fine, but once PE loaded, it would completely stop working.

I fixed this by loading the Intel chipset INF associated drivers files. At the same time, I may have fixed USB-attached storage working too as I hadn't gotten that far in testing yet.

Maybe worth a shot?

Wow. I feel dumb. Apparently, my USB enclosure has some serious issues. Basically what's happening is that my enclosure has some usb polling problems. If it is plugged in, and the computer is rebooted while still in, the computer doesn't pick up the drive, even if I take it out and re-insert it. I actually have to disconnect the power adapter from the enclosure and re-plug it in. I used a USB flash disk to verify and the flash disk works flawlessly! No need to add any driverts ETC. Works as you said! Awesome. Thanks for your patience and help!

Edited June 7, 2006 by JuMz