[Maelstorm]

I've searched though the forums and google, found a few good tutorials, but none of them work. I'm using a WinPE built from a WinXP SP2 source. From what I gather, ram disks don't work with this WinPE build? Judging by the sheer number of posts, someone somewhere must have gotten this thing working. I don't need very much space on the drive, the 32MB is plenty...Heck, 1M is overkill too.

Any ideas?

[sherl0k]

Would a network share suffice?

[Maelstorm]

Unfortunately, no.

[gadget]

You need to use windows 2003 sp1 as the source. or BartPE (can't beleive i said that!)

Why use such an old PE. USe WinPE2.1 or above, much easier...

This post has been edited by gadget: 24 April 2009 - 03:32 AM

[jaclaz]

Doesn't IMDISK work normally on a WinPE 1.x?

http://www.ltr-data.se/opencode.html
http://www.boot-land...hp?showforum=59

http://www.911cd.net...showtopic=20203

jaclaz

[gadget]

As far as I am aware, it will not run on the microsoft's deployable xp winpe. I did mention bartpe.

I did look into this a couple of years ago but just opted for win2003 winpe.

[Maelstorm]

I loaded everything needed to build a WinPE 1.6 (2005) and now I'm getting this weird error when I run mkimg.cmd.

E:\OPK\WinPE\BuildPE16>mkimg e:\Images\Win2K3SESP1 E:\OPK\WinPE\WinPE16 /WMI /PNP
Verifying media ...
Building hives ...

MKIMG failed to build WinPE's registry from the 'config.inf' file.
If you have made modifications to this file, please check them for errors.

This is a clean installation, and I have not modified any files yet, other than to slipstream the Win2k3 SP1 into the Win2k3 directory. There is a text file that says something about an error, but it's empty.

Any ideas?

-- Update 04-24-2009 05:20AM PDT --

I figured out what the problem was. Since the name of the text file is bldhives-err.txt and there is a bldhives.exe file. I ran the exe and got the help for it. As it turns out, there is a missing file in the WinPE 1.6 (2005) distrubution called fonts.inf that is specified in config.inf. I copied the fonts.inf file from the WinPE 1.5 installation that I have and now it all works. Now to try and add in the ramdrive and see if I can get that working.

This post has been edited by Maelstorm: 24 April 2009 - 06:22 AM

[gadget]

I would download the win2k3 including sp1 to be honest. I don't think the correct files that identify the windows build version get updated correctly when slipstreamed.

Sorry

[Maelstorm]

Well, it built correctly, and everything works, except that **** ramdrive. I don't know what to make of it. I found this post that I was using as a guide:

http://www.msfn.org/...showtopic=40331


I've got a couple of other things to try.

[gadget]

add ramdrv.sys to system32/drivers then add this to winpesys.inf just before the language specific section (Recompile with mkimg.cmd). This shuld give a ??mb ramdrive on z:


;######################################################################################
;Ramdrive
;RAMDRV


HKLM,"SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Class\{78A1C341-4539-11D3-B88D-00C04FAD5171},"Class",0000000000,"Sample"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Class\{78A1C341-4539-11D3-B88D-00C04FAD5171},"Icon",0000000000,"-5"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Class\{78A1C341-4539-11D3-B88D-00C04FAD5171}\0000","DriverDate",0000000000,"11-14-1999"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Class\{78A1C341-4539-11D3-B88D-00C04FAD5171}\0000","DriverDesc",0000000000,"Ramdrv Driver"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Class\{78A1C341-4539-11D3-B88D-00C04FAD5171}\0000","DriverVersion",0000000000,"5.0.2183.1"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Class\{78A1C341-4539-11D3-B88D-00C04FAD5171}\0000","InfPath",0000000000,"ramdrv.inf"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Class\{78A1C341-4539-11D3-B88D-00C04FAD5171}\0000","InfSection",0000000000,"DiskInstall"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Class\{78A1C341-4539-11D3-B88D-00C04FAD5171}\0000","InfSectionExt",0000000000,".NT"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Class\{78A1C341-4539-11D3-B88D-00C04FAD5171}\0000","MatchingDeviceId",0000000000,"ramdrv"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\Class\{78A1C341-4539-11D3-B88D-00C04FAD5171}\0000","ProviderName",0000000000,"Microsoft"

HKLM,"SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Enum\Root\SAMPLE",,0x00000010
HKLM,"SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Enum\Root\SAMPLE\0000","Capabilities",0x00010001,0x0
HKLM,"SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Enum\Root\SAMPLE\0000","Class",0000000000,"Sample"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Enum\Root\SAMPLE\0000","ClassGUID",0000000000,"{78A1C341-4539-11D3-B88D-00C04FAD5171}"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Enum\Root\SAMPLE\0000","ConfigFlags",0x00010001,0x4
HKLM,"SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Enum\Root\SAMPLE\0000","DeviceDesc",0000000000,"Ramdrv Driver"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Enum\Root\SAMPLE\0000","Driver",0000000000,"{78A1C341-4539-11D3-B88D-00C04FAD5171}\0000"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Enum\Root\SAMPLE\0000","HardwareID",0x00010000,"ROOT\ramdrv"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Enum\Root\SAMPLE\0000","Mfg",0000000000,"Microsoft"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Enum\Root\SAMPLE\0000","Service",0000000000,"Ramdrv"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Enum\Root\SAMPLE\0000\Control","ActiveService",0000000000,"Ramdrv"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Enum\Root\SAMPLE\0000\LogConf",,0x00000010

HKLM,"SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\ramdrv","DisplayName",0000000000,"Ramdrv Driver"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\ramdrv","ErrorControl",0x00010001,0x1
HKLM,"SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\ramdrv","ImagePath",0x00020000,"System32\DRIVERS\ramdrv.sys"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\ramdrv","Start",0x00010001,0x0
HKLM,"SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\ramdrv","Type",0x00010001,0x1
HKLM,"SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\ramdrv\Enum","0",0000000000,"ROOT\SAMPLE\0000"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\ramdrv\Enum","Count",0x00010001,0x1
HKLM,"SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\ramdrv\Enum","NextInstance",0x00010001,0x1
HKLM,"SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\ramdrv\Parameters","BreakOnEntry",0x00010001,0x0
HKLM,"SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\ramdrv\Parameters","DebugComp",0x00010001,0xffffffff
HKLM,"SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\ramdrv\Parameters","DebugLevel",0x00010001,0x0
HKLM,"SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\ramdrv\Parameters","DiskSize",0x00010001,0x1000000
HKLM,"SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\ramdrv\Parameters","DriveLetter",0000000000,"Z:"
HKLM,"SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\ramdrv\Parameters","RootDirEntries",0x00010001,0x200
HKLM,"SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\ramdrv\Parameters","SectorsPerCluster",0x00010001,0x2

This post has been edited by gadget: 24 April 2009 - 07:44 AM

[Maelstorm]

You didn't mention it, so where do you get the ramdrv.sys file?

I found something interesting though. http://members.fortunecity.com/ramdisk/Dow...oad_and_001.htm has a download that gives you a run-time installable ramdrive that is installed on the fly from a .bat file. It does work, but since it's evaluation, you get a nag screen, but it does work.

-- Update: 04-24-2009 19:40 PDT --

I finally got around to installing the Windows DDK CD that I bought from Microsoft. It supports Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003. It seems they all use a similar build environment. Using the ramdisk package from Microsoft, and the DDK, I rebuilt the driver.


You can download the DDK here: http://www.microsoft...dk/default.mspx

I'll post back to see how it works.

Oh, if you do run the build, and you get an error about jvc is missing, then you have a space somewhere in your paths. The DDK build tools do not like spaces in any of their path names.

This post has been edited by Maelstorm: 24 April 2009 - 08:42 PM

[jaclaz]

Hmm,
@gadget
I may be wrong , but I don't think that WinPE 1.x is much different from BartPE or a Winbuilder PE.

@Maelstorm
The one you managed to build appears to be the "old" 1999 Windows 2000 sample driver, that AFAIK has a lot of limits, and has at least THREE different "stages" of evolution, the Christian Ghijselinck's/QSoft professional version you found:
http://www.ramdisk.tk/
http://members.fortunecity.com/ramdisk/RAM.../ramdiskent.htm
and the "old" but still better than the MS "sample" freeware version here:
http://www.freeramdisk.com/
http://members.fortunecity.com/ramdisk/RAM...ramdiskfree.htm

And newish "Gavotte RRamdisk.sys":
http://www.boot-land...?showtopic=4064

More resources:
http://www.boot-land...?showtopic=1507

jaclaz

[gadget]

We cant use bartpe here as evrything has to be a genuine MS solution.

ramdrv.sys can be copied from any server 2003 sp1 installation or extracted from the install media. Else i cn 'post' it to you.

[jaclaz]

gadget, on Apr 27 2009, 01:52 PM, said:

We cant use bartpe here as evrything has to be a genuine MS solution.

Yep but maybe Maelstorm does not suffer from such a limitation.



jaclaz

[Jazkal]

You can resize the WinPEv2.0+ ramdisk partition (X:) at build time. Why would this not work for you?

[jaclaz]

Jazkal, on Apr 28 2009, 07:25 PM, said:

You can resize the WinPEv2.0+ ramdisk partition (X:) at build time. Why would this not work for you?

Because OP is using:

Maelstorm, on Apr 24 2009, 04:09 AM, said:

I'm using a WinPE built from a WinXP SP2 source.

a WinPE based on XP SP2, which should mean WinPE 1.x?



jaclaz

[Jazkal]

oops

[Maelstorm]

Sorry about the long wait between posts. My computer blew up on me and I had to fix it. The harddisk for my C: drive went belly up and had to be replaced. The perfect instance of using a Windows AIO install DVD. As for the ram drive, I did get the evaluation version from Christian working, but only as an installable driver....I'm currently working on integrating it into the WinPE build. I'll let you guys know.

Quote

Hmm,
@gadget
I may be wrong unsure.gif, but I don't think that WinPE 1.x is much different from BartPE or a Winbuilder PE.

@Maelstorm
The one you managed to build appears to be the "old" 1999 Windows 2000 sample driver, that AFAIK has a lot of limits, and has at least THREE different "stages" of evolution, the Christian Ghijselinck's/QSoft professional version you found:
http://www.ramdisk.tk/
http://members.fortunecity.com/ramdisk/RAM.../ramdiskent.htm
and the "old" but still better than the MS "sample" freeware version here:
http://www.freeramdisk.com/
http://members.fortu...ramdiskfree.htm

And newish "Gavotte RRamdisk.sys":
http://www.boot-land...?showtopic=4064

More resources:
http://www.boot-land...?showtopic=1507

jaclaz

Ok, then how do you get it to work then? I would perfer to use a MS only solution. I'm using WinPE 1.6 (2005) based on Win2003 SP1.

-- EDIT --

I got it working integrated with Windows PE. Now it boots up with no virtual memory error as well. Thanks to everyone who replied.

This post has been edited by Maelstorm: 04 May 2009 - 10:52 AM