WinPE Auto Reboot

[mbabineau]

Im getting a automatic reboot everytime i get into WINPE. Is there any debugging that can be turned on? Thanks.

[twalk482]

Not sure about an actual debugger ...

Maybe post your WINBOM.INI here <as code> and/or your STARTNET.CMD

[mbabineau]

my startnet.cmd is really simple, i dont know if i should have other stuff in it

factory -winpe

and my winbom.ini is this

[Factory]

WinBOMType=WinPE

Reseal=No

[WinPE]

Restart=No

[OEMRunOnce]

Reboot=No

[PnPDriverUpdate]

[PnPDrivers]

[NetCards]

[updateInis]

[FactoryRunOnce]

[branding]

[AppPreInstall]

[gadget]

did you copy winbom.ini to the root of your pe image?

[mbabineau]

Yes i did. Its been in there the whole time. I think it has to do with startrom.cmd. Ill keep reading whatever i find.

[hazard_abio]

my startnet.cmd is really simple, i dont know if i should have other stuff in it

factory -winpe

maybe you should add something like

CMD.EXE to the end of your startnet.cmd

that seemed to work for me a while back.

[mbabineau]

Could someone post their startnet.cmd file here, I cant seem to find a good example of one. Thanks. I tried that CMD.exe suggestion hazard, and it didnt seem to work. I think the problem is that there is something going on right when i get into windows that says reboot. And ive thought it was some of the options in the winbom.ini file, but nothing seems to have worked in that either. Thats why i feel that it might be the startnet.cmd. Thanks for the suggestion though.

[jungle_warrior]

more detail, when exactly does the computer reboot? have you seen the initial black-white progress bar? have you seen the desktop background?

[mbabineau]

Ive seen the desktop background, it stays on the screen for around 4 seconds. Im thinking now that it might be a driver issue. But im still not sure at what point the proccess is at, whether its loaded the SS or its already running winpeshl? Thanks

[jungle_warrior]

winpeshl, check winpeshl.ini.

[mbabineau]

I figured it out. I worked on it for a while and i found that i was missing a few files inside the i386 folder. There are 3 files inside the root of the iso, named

"WIN51" "WIN51IS" "WIN51IS.SP1" If you take these files and place them into the i386 folder, then it boots properly. Although im getting some errors now but thats another matter. Thanks for the help everyone, you pushed me in the right direction. Peace

[mbabineau]

I also forgot to mension another correction that I had made. I have been using nero to make my iso's (its just easier). Well they have 3 options for isos, one of which i was using is a ISO 9660 + Joliet. I switched to ISO 9660 only, but i did this along with moving the above files, so im not sure which was the deciding factor. Hope this gets someone else through some fustrations.

[twalk482]

Sounds like your on your way but as to a question you raised I did find some debugging options in PE 2005 help files

Debugging Windows PE Applications

You can perform user-mode and kernel-mode debugging of applications running on Windows PE, with some restrictions.

For kernel-mode debugging, Windows PE supports kd.exe, the command-line debugging tool. with Kd.exe, you can analyze memory dump files, debug kernel-mode programs and drivers, or monitor the behavior of the operating system itself. Kd.exe also supports multiprocessor debugging.

For user-mode debugging, Windows PE includes Ntsd.exe, the Microsoft NT Symbolic Debugger, located in \windowspe_dir\system32. With Ntsd.exe, you can obtain a stack trace or display invalid parameters for an application that has failed. You can display and execute program code, set breakpoints, and examine and change values in memory.

Windows PE debugging has the following restrictions:

Editing Boot.ini to load the kernel debugger is not supported.

Remote debugging with Ntsd is only supported when piped through the kernel debugger.

Windbg.exe, the graphical user- and kernel- mode debugger, is not supported for user mode debugging inside Windows PE.

While Ntsd.exe can not be run remotely, you can pipe its output to another computer using the -d option, as follows:

ntsd -d myapp.exe

This requires that you have a kernel debugger attached to the Windows PE computer.

For more information about Ntsd.exe, Kd.exe, and Windows debugging, see Microsoft Debugging Tools at MSDN.

Symbols for Windows PE Kernel-mode Debugging

The symbols file Ntoskrnl.pdb must be renamed Ntkrnlmp.pdb in order to do kernel-mode debugging in Windows PE. To download symbol files and documentation, see Microsoft Debugging Tools at MSDN.

Configuring Windows PE for Kernel-mode Debugging

To configure Windows PE for kernel-mode debugging, edit the OsLoadOptions line in the [setupData]section of Txtsetup.sif. When Windows PE reboots with the new settings, you can make a serial connection to a computer running a debugger.

Open \windowspe_dir\Txtsetup.sif. (Or, if booting from a RIS server, open \windowspe_dir\templates\Ristndrd.sif.)

In the OSLoadOptions line, replace /nodebug if present with /debug.

OSLoadOptions = /debug

If needed, add options for COM ports and baud rates:

OSLoadOptions = /debug /debugport=com1 /baudrate=115200

Save and close Txtsetup.sif.

OSLoadOptions Debugging Options

There are three options used with OSLoadOptions for Windows PE debugging.

Option Description

/debug Loads the kernel debugger during boot and keeps it in memory at all times. This means that you can break into the debugger even when the system is not suspended at a kernel STOP screen.

/debugport Specifies the serial port to be used by the kernel debugger. If no serial port is specified, the debugger will default to COM2 on Intel X86-based computers and to COM1 on RISC computers.

/baudrate Sets the speed that the kernel debugger will use in bits per second. The default rate is 19200 bps.

Important

DiskPart and some other applications experience problems if you try to run them too quickly while Windows PE is starting. The solution is to add a sleep step to your scripts. For example: add "sleep15" to your DiskPart script. You can add the following example to your Startnet.cmd file:

if not defined Debug echo off

set i=0

:Loop

ipconfig.exe /all | findstr "Lease Obtained" > NUL & goto :Found

set /A i=%i%+1

echo DHCP address not found. Wait for 10 seconds and try again. [%i%/6]

sleep 10

if not "%i%"=="6" goto :Loop

:NotFound

@echo The DHCP address was not acquired.

@echo Please ensure that you have a netcard with a valid driver.

netcfg -v -s a

pause

goto :EOF

:Found

@echo Found!