[aninambi]

Hai wimb,

Thanks for ur wonderful share.

I have created winpe3_x86.iso using make-pe3.exe and tested in USB drive. The OS was booted successfully. I have changed the network from dynamic to static in the OS and then I rebooted the OS. When the OS loads again, the changes I have done was not present. and only the original settings was present. I realized it was because, the OS loads from RAM so the settings are not saved in registry. I want to save the changes that made in the OS after reboot. Can you tell please how this can be achieved?

[wimb]

=
*** Update of Make_PE3 package to Create Portable Windows 7 PE ***

• Added - amd64 Media version with Windows Media Player, NetCenter, Wireless Connect, PPPoE
  
• Added - x86 version has .NET Framework support as selectable option
  
• Changed - Adobe Flash Player is selectable option
  
• Changed - Media version instead of IE8 version and having Optimized filelist to reduce size
  
• Changed - Program Version - latest version is now 3.5

Thanks to nu852 for making .NET Framework plugin, now being replaced and build-in in Make_PE3
http://www.boot-land...ic=11852&st=500
See posts #516 and #524

- Download - Make-PE3
It is required to extract Make_PE3.exe to the root of your drive, needed because of .NET Framework support

- Download ATI Video Driver from http://driverpacks.n...verpacks/latest
Add your nt6 video driver folder to Make_PE3\PE3_mod\WIN7_drivers\x86
DriverPack Vista (x86) Graphics A - folder G_A\ATI\4 is used by me as Win 7 PE x86 video driver

For nvidia video driver read here especially post #353 of hemmes for Nvidia Geforce 8400M GS
http://www.boot-land...ic=11852&st=340

- Download VLC Media Player for PStart menu from
http://portableapps....eo/vlc_portable
Run VLCPortable_1.1.4.paf.exe
Browse to your \Make_PE3\MULTI\PStart\Progs folder
Install in your \Make_PE3\MULTI\PStart\Progs\VLCPortable folder

Copy PStart folder and wallpaper.jpg as normal from Make_PE3\MULTI to root of HDD or USB boot drive.

[TimFred007]

Hi, i have been following your progress for quite some time now, since nearly the beginning of your project. i have used your finished WIM files as the base for my own personal projects, making significant progress of my own, tho often redundant to your own.

only now i wish to add my knowledge and findings to yours so that many people can benefit.

attached you will see 6 files, the first being a screen shot detailing how i make my custom registry. next a few registry changes adding pre-populated run dialog items, one that hides the library (useless in winpe) and one that hides the homegroup (also useless in winpe) and finally a custom BCD file that i will address later.



now for some constructive criticizing

your latest pe builds automatically install ALL drivers, this takes too much time and ram. the goal of win pe is to use it for diagnostics and repair. for the purpose of repair, driver installation is not necessary. for the purpose of diagnostics driver installation should be optional after loading (as it was before)

next, the automatic loading of themes takes more ram yet, and is semi dependent on driver installation, again not necessary for repair adding more time to each boot. this should also be optional after boot.

last, an increased ram drive to 256, is too big. this pushes the system requirements too high. i use a 76mb ram drive, decreasing the system requirements. although 128mb is a happy medium, (plenty of room for temporary installs, and Internet browsing while giving more ram to my programs (or a CHKDSK))

some of my findings in the registry, are that winpe ignores "ntuser.dat" in the user profile, and uses "DEFAULT" in the system32\config folder instead. (i have deleted ntuser.dat offline saving space). there is a way to save the registry in winpe and apply it permanently offline (this is probably the biggest find as it negates the need for your reg files and regsvr32 dll calls.. actually most all calls to anything)



i work on winpe after the wim image is applied to a virtual harddrive in windows 7 (you will need to mark the VHD (or real HDD) as active, add to it its own "bootmgr" file and "boot" folder (you can copy these from your 7CD/7PEcd/7install) but add my BCD file (get rid of the txt extension) unless you feel like makeing your own)

i can boot the drive for testing in microsoft virtual pc, or the computer itself can boot the VHD (use easybcd to set this up, and manually add the "winpe yes" switch to the VHD entry) next i install my software of choice (there is no ram drive since it booted from HDD, and thus no space limit) since it is not in ram, changes are saved (files, but NOT the registry) use a reg cleaner if you wish (i use ccleaner) export the two important registry files (in my screenshot) reboot and copy over the originals with winpe offline.

you can now capture a new WIM image from this, one that is customized, much faster and far more efficient.


my plans, tips, and ideas for the future are as follows:

i use lots of variables. i have attached my custom startnet.bat that finds the offline windows installation (ex. c:\windows) and sets it to the variable "target_root" i did this for erd commander (peshell.exe does the same, but it resets my variable and his is hardcoded to drive C)

i work on computers for a living, and i need a way to quickly tell computers apart, i plan to us bginfo.exe in conjunction with my above variable to display the name of the computer, or the users on it in winpe.

i use eject.exe to automatically eject the disk when winpe is loaded, this prevents me from leaving the disc in, and also forces the less talented to realize winpe is in ram, and that the disc is not needed after boot (i may switch eject to shutdown)

i want to move, the driverstore in 7pe, to CD/DVD and NOT in wim file. i am working on junction points as i cant find a location in the registry, but apparently they use device or volume IDs so i cant create and use a variable.

i am also adding filetype icons for as many filetypes as i can find. (ex. word files have a W, i am achieving this without word installed)

add a very short delay to the boot menu, to make it easier to get to memtest.exe (bastard ram sticks), might replace memtest.exe with memtest+

with the new addition of the dot net framework, i want to move it to CD DVD to decrease size (may give up, computers have lots of ram)


other observations:
you cant move, delete, or defrag an open file or program. windows itself is a collection of files and programs, if it is offline, you can achieve COMPLETE defragmentation. you are also the SYSTEM account with all the powers that come with it, so there are no NTFS restrictions. (vista 7 bug some files wont delete from system volume information they are usually 1-6 gig files too .. ) also in vista and 7, there is a bug where some files do not have permission for the system account, and thus cant be defraged (i cant give an example)

usmt (UserStateMigrationUtility) from microsoft has its uses in win pe with its offline switch

delete devices from devmgmt.msc specifically network cards before capturing a wim file (interferes with PEnetwork when looking for network cards)


i would also like to point out, that only free software, COMPLETELY FREE including free for corp. business use. should be used. ( we seem to be on track so far )
and THNKYOU FANTASTIC WORK!!!!!!

Attached File(s)

•  pe reg.png (203.9K)
  Number of downloads: 64
•  RunMRU.reg (398bytes)
  Number of downloads: 27
•  hidelibrary.reg (448bytes)
  Number of downloads: 22
•  hidehomegroup.reg (520bytes)
  Number of downloads: 19
•  BCD.txt (12K)
  Number of downloads: 33
•  startnet.cmd (482bytes)
  Number of downloads: 29

[TimFred007]

attempt #2 at picture

http://img192.images.../7112/pereg.png

http://i52.tinypic.com/2luri2f.png

[wimb]

TimFred007, on 09 December 2010 - 03:22 PM, said:

there is a way to save the registry in winpe and apply it permanently offline (this is probably the biggest find ....

Thanks for your interesting work with feedback info.

Saving the SOFTWARE and DEFAULT registry hives can be used to Update the boot.wim file
In this way we can keep the changes related to Install of Programs and change of User Settings.

It would be interesting if we also can keep the changes due to install of device drivers,
but I think that saving SYSTEM registry hive does not work for this purpose.
What do you think about it ?

In future we will have program WIM_Update.exe to update the 7 PE ISO Boot Image.
It will be something like my existing IMX_XP_Update.exe

The auto install of device drivers can be easily switched off in startnet.cmd by placing leading :: in the rule with driver_fix.cmd
In the next version I will make changes such that the smallest version BS won't have auto install of drivers.
That will be the quick booting PE version for PC Repair purposes.
The Explorer version will then have auto install of Network, Audio and Video driver, handy for general purpose.
The Media version will have auto install of all Hardware drivers required for having DVD support.

[wimb]

=
*** Update of Make_PE3 package to Create Portable Windows 7 PE ***

• Added - Fonts with Fontviewer and Autoplay function of Control Panel are working
  
• Changed - Auto Install of drivers depends on version - No for BS version - All for Media version
  
• Changed - User Pinned Start Menu registry moved from PE3_CUSTOM.reg to PE3-USER.reg
  In this way it will not overrule user defined registry in plugins folder
  
• Changed - Program Version - latest version is now 3.6

BS = Booting in 30 sec and No auto install of drivers, but user can decide to start Services with Driver Fix
EXP = Booting in 1.5 min including Install of most important drivers (Network + Audio + Video)
Media = Booting in 1.5 min followed by 3 min for Install of All Hardware, required for DVD menu support

The BS Explorer version is booting fast and is meant for PC repair purpose (Device and Disk Management available)
The Explorer version has Internet Explorer 8 and Themes and is meant for general purpose
The Media version has Windows Media Player and DirectX and is meant for MultiMedia purpose


- Download - Make-PE3
It is required to extract Make_PE3.exe to the root of your drive, needed because of .NET Framework support

- Download ATI Video Driver from http://driverpacks.n...verpacks/latest
Add your nt6 video driver folder to Make_PE3\PE3_mod\WIN7_drivers\x86
DriverPack Vista (x86) Graphics A - folder G_A\ATI\4 is used by me as Win 7 PE x86 video driver
NEW: There is now Make_PE3_drivers_ATI.exe plugin package available for download

For nvidia video driver read here especially post #353 of hemmes for Nvidia Geforce 8400M GS
http://www.boot-land...ic=11852&st=340

- Download VLC Media Player for PStart menu from
http://portableapps....eo/vlc_portable
Run VLCPortable_1.1.4.paf.exe
Browse to your \Make_PE3\MULTI\PStart\Progs folder
Install in your \Make_PE3\MULTI\PStart\Progs\VLCPortable folder

Copy PStart folder and wallpaper.jpg as normal from Make_PE3\MULTI to root of HDD or USB boot drive.

[TimFred007]

i know it is easy to disable auto driver installation (for me) i was thinking more for everybody else. also some things i forgot to say were that i use peshell to simultaneously call everything that the batch files had originally called before.

for drivers, doubledriver is an excellent tool for backing up and restoreing drivers (also useful for saving the drivers of an offline system, useful for repair)
some of the other tools i use are "vhd attach" and many things from sysinternals and nirsoft. i also enable compression on my pe drive.

i would also like to point out that after the windows logo goes away, i see the desktop and can work less than 1 second afterwards, and my minimum requirements are 400 mb of ram.

i also have the drivers installed for the batteries (when i use a laptop) so i can see the power status (otherwise the laptop will die with no warning when the battery is depleted) i am trying to get the istat gadget working since gadgets now work.

i am also experimenting with other shells: Aston, SHARPenviro, cairo

the SYSTEM registry file can be used if you delete quite a few entires and only keep what you want. to get an idea of what you want to delete and keep, you can take two copies of the SYSTEM hive (one completely unmodified, never booted, taken directly from the WIM image) and compare it to the one exported from a booted winpe with drivers installed.

the best way to go about adding/removing changes is to export a small branch of the (live) SYSTEM hive as a reg file, and apply it offline (making sure to adjust location to match the destination hive)

or you can do this (easier, but hard to explain):
http://img98.imagesh...879/noticex.png (live VS. not)
when you load a hive and give it a name, the name does not matter. we can export another live SYSTEM and load it too (so we now have two, but we can name the 2nd one:)) for a total of two.

export what you want as a reg file.
unload the hive.
load the OFFLINE hive (give it the same name as you gave the 2nd LIVE hive)
import the reg file
unload the offline hive (this saves changes)
copy new offline hive over original, and test.

add a little more each time untill it bluescreens

i know it can be done because i did it before, with ac97 sound drivers by accident

i dont know the side effects of having all the drivers for everything, every piece of hardware installed at the same time.

[wimb]

@TimFred007

Thanks for all info.
It will require quite some testing before we know how add registry for all installed drivers to the original SYSTEM hive.
I don't know if it will be really possible to boot the PE with all drivers allready installed, but anyway thanks for the tips.

[wimb]

=
*** Update of Make_PE3 package to Create Portable Windows 7 PE ***

• Added - MIN version with Minimal Size = 160 MB but still having Support for Network + Device and Disk Management
  
• Added - choice is offering to skip Driver Fix and Start of Services on demand - Thanks to SEAKZ
  
• Added - dpinst for Install of DriverPacks - auto from folder drv\x86 in root of any drive
  
• Added - pecmd launched by pnp_fix.cmd for auto Install of drivers from Windows 7 Host DriverStore
  or from PE-Tools folder of xuantian in root of any drive
  
• Changed - Program Version - latest version is now 3.7

The MIN and BS Explorer version are booting fast and meant for PC repair purpose (Device and Disk Management available)
The Explorer version has Internet Explorer 8 and Themes and is meant for general purpose
The Media version has Windows Media Player and DirectX and is meant for MultiMedia purpose


- Download - Make-PE3

It is required to extract Make_PE3.exe to the root of your drive, needed because of .NET Framework support

- Download VLC Media Player for PStart menu from
http://portableapps....eo/vlc_portable
Run VLCPortable_1.1.4.paf.exe
Browse to your \Make_PE3\MULTI\PStart\Progs folder
Install in your \Make_PE3\MULTI\PStart\Progs\VLCPortable folder

Copy PStart folder and wallpaper.jpg and drv folder with drivers as normal from Make_PE3\MULTI to root of HDD or USB boot drive.

This post has been edited by wimb: 21 December 2010 - 09:38 AM

[joakim]

I was hoping to test out your tool later today (which was about time). Now what is the current state of dotnet support? And what about bluetooth?

Joakim

This post has been edited by joakim: 02 January 2011 - 09:09 AM

[wimb]

joakim, on 02 January 2011 - 06:32 AM, said:

I was hoping to test out your tool later today (which was about time). Now what is the current state of dotnet support? And what about bluetooth?

Happy New Year !

The 32-bits version has dotnet 2.0 support for only 15 MB extra size of the ISO Boot Image !
The external folder TestNF20 contains also some handy programs to test if .NET Framework is working in 7 PE environment.

I have no experience with bluetooth and probably that will not work yet in my 7 PE
On the other hand it will be possible to add it, since xuantian ISO is having bluetooth support already.

[joakim]

Congratulations with a great builder. Built my first samples and I'm really impressed. Though only on 1 testbuild, but anyways good.

May I suggest something to reduce size further: Remove all log and transaction files (.log* .blf .regtrans-ms) inside the config folder where the registry hives are located. We don't need them and can safely be deleted. In my case I save14,5 MB uncompressed. Then unless you really want the animation, delete bootres.dll (over 2 MB). However, on the other hand, if you want to keep the boot animation, why not improve it. Make your own special one...

Will do more tests, but really looking good!

Joakim

[wimb]

@joakim

Thanks for testing.
In the next version the cleanup of config folder is built-in.

It would be nice if in someway we can keep and use the registry with installed drivers as in normal Windows 7 is the case.
I don't know if it is possible to unlock 7 PE for this purpose. May be not.
Unfortunately the registry in 7 PE is volatile. Otherwise it would be possible to have learning process like in full XP ....

[wimb]

=
*** Update of Make_PE3 package to Create Portable Windows 7 PE ***

• Added - support for plugin reg keys with leading - sign
  
• Added - Install Drivers from Win7 Host via Desktop Icon or Hardware Menu
  
• Added - cleanup of System32\config folder by removal of unneeded files *.regtrans-ms and *.TM.blf and *.LOG*
  
• Added - some extra files - INETRES.dll for IE8 support of .mht files
  
• Added - in startnet.cmd apply metrics and font settings with regsvr32 /s /n /i:/UserInstall themeui.dll
  
• Fixed - removed Escape as Hotkey giving unwanted pause in running Make_PE3.exe
  
• Fixed - registry file PE3-SOFTWARE_MAXNET.reg - SOFTWARE and removal of x86 Wow6432Node keys
  
• Changed - using dpinst /q switch for quiet install of drivers instead of <quietInstall/> in dpinst.xml
  
• Changed - Program Version - latest version is now 3.8

Thanks to JFX, SEAKZ, joakim, Aye Htay and VV2006 for helpful support regarding above changes


Download - Make-PE3

It is required to extract Make_PE3.exe to the root of your drive

More Info - See post #1

This post has been edited by wimb: 04 January 2011 - 07:12 AM

[MagicAndre1981]

cool

Btw, is possible to save the customizations (icons(_size), wallpaper) and load them on next boot again?

[wimb]

MagicAndre1981, on 04 January 2011 - 07:06 AM, said:

Btw, is possible to save the customizations (icons(_size), wallpaper) and load them on next boot again?

In folder Make_PE3\PE3_mod\PE3_reg\x86\plugins you find file PE3-SmallIcons_reg.txt
When you change the extension to have file PE3-SmallIcons.reg then small icons will be generated.

Portable 7 PE will search in root of any drive for wallpaper.jpg and PStart folder with portable programs and drv folder with external drivers

Copy PStart folder and wallpaper.jpg and drv folder with drivers as normal from Make_PE3\MULTI to root of HDD or USB boot drive.

[MagicAndre1981]

ok. Can you make a help which explains this a bit more?

[wimb]

MagicAndre1981, on 04 January 2011 - 07:42 AM, said:

ok. Can you make a help which explains this a bit more?

It is as simple as described above. Just have a try.

; Small Icons for Desktop and User Pinned StartMenu shorcuts - Thanks to JFX
; If desired then change filename to \PE3-SmallIcons.reg

In folder Make_PE3\Help_Info you find file Customize_Info.txt for more help

This post has been edited by wimb: 04 January 2011 - 08:37 AM

[joakim]

wimb, on 04 January 2011 - 04:16 AM, said:

Unfortunately the registry in 7 PE is volatile. Otherwise it would be possible to have learning process like in full XP ....

I believe I found some interesting code inside the kernel to possibly activate non-volatile hives in WinPE. To late now, but will try some modfications when time allows.

Joakim

[TimFred007]

@ joakim
http://winpe2.blogsp...01_archive.html
if this is what you are talking about, i have already tried and it dont work.

and bluetooth has been available for quite some time now, if you have the drivers that is. i am trying to get the microsoft stack working (i discovered that by microsoft they mean CSR. CSR IS the microsoft stack) the CSR stack is free but i cant find a download for it or the "microsoft" stack. CSR calls it the "harmony" stack btw. oh, and i am using BlueSoleil.


@whoever
i am working on PXE network booting winPE, i am useing tftp32 (free).
you will need pxeboot.n12 and bootmgr.exe and the boot folder from your CD.

pxeboot.n12
http://www.filefacto...f/n/pxeboot.n12
http://www.filesavr....XQJ2BR5A1W6X3KW

bootmgr.exe
http://www.filefacto...8/n/bootmgr.exe
http://www.filesavr....7RG3BW6KEN3CX7M

i am very close, but stuck. it is very strait forward