[Gremo]

I'd like to make a WinRE environment to install a custom wim that does not fit on my DVD. I'm following this tutorial from microsoft:

http://64.4.11.252/en-us/library/dd744280(WS.10).aspx

(sorry for the code box but it seems it cannot parse the link correctly)

The problem is recovery option is not shown when booting pressing F8. And I can't undestart the purpose of /bootkey switch in Reagentc.exe.

1) Booted from WinRE and created partition layout using diskpart:

select disk 0
clean

create partition primary size=4096 id=27
format quick fs=ntfs label="Recovery"
assign letter="R"

create partition primary
format quick fs=ntfs label="Windows"
assign letter="C"
active

exit

2) Applied install.wim to C:\ and copied the system files:

X:\windows\system32\imagex.exe /apply D:\sources\install.wim 1 C:\
C:\Windows\System32\bcdboot.exe C:\Windows /l it-IT /s R:

3) Copied WInRE to recovery partition:

copy  D:\sources\boot.wim R:\Recovery\WindowsRE\WinRE.wim

4) The used Reagentc.exe to set WinRE and install.wim:

C:\Windows\System32\Reagentc.exe /setreimage /path R:\Recovery\WindowsRE /target C:\Windows
C:\Windows\System32\Reagentc.exe /setosimage /path R:\ /target C:\Windows
 

So, what should I do now? Thanks for helping

[Tripredacus]

The F8 option is available only on Windows. That meaning you use the Windows BCD to boot into WinRE. So if you do not want to have Windows, you need another option to be able to selectively launch the WinRE partition. Also, the first thing WinRE does is look for an OS installed elsewhere. If there is no OS, I'm not sure what would happen. It reads from that OS to find out the user accounts and you have to log in to WinRE using an account username and password from the OS.

You may want to just use a modified WinPE to do this install rather than WinRE, as RECENV may cause you more trouble than you need.

[jaclaz]

Gremo, on 16 March 2011 - 01:56 AM, said:

So, what should I do now? Thanks for helping

What do you mean?

You can try adding to that partition (when it is visible and with a letter assigned) a BOOTMGR and a \boot\BCD.
Then use BCDEDIT to add a suitable BCD entry.
Then you can try using grub4dos (loaded one way or the other) to chainload the BOOTMGR on the 0x27 type partition, but cannot say if it will work

Check the links given here:
http://www.msfn.org/...on-and-windows/

jaclaz

[Gremo]

jaclaz, on 16 March 2011 - 10:47 AM, said:

[...]

I mean I'm trying to this: http://64.4.11.252/e.../dd744280(WS.10).aspx that is a recovery hidden partition with WindowsRE and an install.wim inside it. However after following all the steps I cannot boot into recovery pressing F8. In fact F8 doesn't show the option "Recover my computer" as stated in that link. Have you ever tried this method?

edit: working link

http://64.4.11.252/en-us/library/dd744280(WS.10).aspx

See my first post edit...

This post has been edited by Gremo: 16 March 2011 - 11:02 AM

[jaclaz]

Review this:
http://www.msfn.org/...via-f8-startup/
you are probably missing some of the needed steps, as per SetAutoFailover.cmd, since you miss the option when booting, it should mean that you are missing the BCD entry, or maybe you used it NOT with the "alternate" (and working ) syntax found by Schiiwa:
http://www.msfn.org/...up/page__st__31

jaclaz

[Gremo]

jaclaz, on 16 March 2011 - 11:07 AM, said:

Review this:
http://www.msfn.org/...via-f8-startup/
you are probably missing some of the needed steps, as per SetAutoFailover.cmd, since you miss the option when booting, it should mean that you are missing the BCD entry, or maybe you used it NOT with the "alternate" (and working ) syntax found by Schiiwa:
http://www.msfn.org/...up/page__st__31

jaclaz

Well i prefer following the microsoft link and not use WAIT/SetAutoFailover.cmd. I've modified the first post...

EDIT: threads you are linking are actually messed up a lot. It's quite impossible to get some useful information reading them.

This post has been edited by Gremo: 16 March 2011 - 12:36 PM

[jaclaz]

Gremo, on 16 March 2011 - 11:10 AM, said:

Well i prefer following the microsoft link and not use WAIT/SetAutoFailover.cmd. I've modified the first post...

EDIT: threads you are linking are actually messed up a lot. It's quite impossible to get some useful information reading them.

Sorry if the provided info is not up to your standards or do not respect your preferences , this is ALL I have to offer .

JFYI, the combined effect of the stoopid board software and the stoopid MS guys that use brackets in URLs result in a parsing error if you just post the link "as is".
If you use the actual "link" button (the one that looks like a small chain with an utterly unrelated green ball on one end of it ):

you can have this:
http://64.4.11.252/e...280(WS.10).aspx
Or this:
My link on Technet

Or maybe this (more accurate as it will tell you that you are on technet:
http://technet.micro...280(WS.10).aspx

jaclaz

[Gremo]

jaclaz, on 16 March 2011 - 01:06 PM, said:

[...]

jaclaz, Please answer to this:

1) yes your links do not meet any "standard": they are confused and quite unreadable (even missing code tag). Aren't they?

2) SetAutoFailover.cmd is abandoned (you can't find it in the latest release of WAIK for Windows 7!!!). Can you prove it's not?

3) SetAutoFailover.cmd requires a running windows machine, while technet method requires only diskpart and an install.wim file.

waiting...

This post has been edited by Tripredacus: 17 March 2011 - 09:36 AM

[allen2]

As i understood the technet article, you mixed the automated recovery with the "custom" winRE. I 'd try to replace the step:

C:\Windows\System32\Reagentc.exe /setreimage /path R:\Recovery\WindowsRE /target C:\Windows
C:\Windows\System32\Reagentc.exe /setosimage /path R:\ /target C:\Windows

with

C:\Windows\System32\Reagentc.exe /setreimage /path R:\Recovery\WindowsRE /target C:\Windows /bootkey 3b00
C:\Windows\System32\Reagentc.exe /setosimage /customtool /target C:\Windows

The F8 seem to be restricted to the standard recovery process and if you want it to work you need (with the command you supplied) to copy the install.wim (an image of your 7 C:\ customized if needed) to R:\.
With the command provided pressing on F1 should allow you to boot to the winRE.

This post has been edited by allen2: 16 March 2011 - 03:36 PM

[Gremo]

allen2, on 16 March 2011 - 03:35 PM, said:

C:\Windows\System32\Reagentc.exe /setreimage /path R:\Recovery\WindowsRE /target C:\Windows /bootkey 3b00
C:\Windows\System32\Reagentc.exe /setosimage /customtool /target C:\Windows

The F8 seem to be restricted to the standard recovery process and if you want it to work you need (with the command you supplied) to copy the install.wim (an image of your 7 C:\ customized if needed) to R:\.
With the command provided pressing on F1 should allow you to boot to the winRE.

Thank you so much, I'm going to try it right now.

[Gremo]

Well it's working now, however the only working solution in the re environment is "reinstall windows" preserving windows.old directory. When I choose "comprete pc restore" it says it cannot find any windows image and ask for a net share or a driver install...

Where I'm wrong? There is no way of a "clean" install using install.wim and WinRE?

This post has been edited by Gremo: 17 March 2011 - 03:15 AM

[Tripredacus]

The article you linked to is to do a recovery with an existing OS partition, not for a clean install.

Quote

When I choose "comprete pc restore" it says it cannot find any windows image and ask for a net share or a driver install

As noted in my post above, RECENV will look for an existing OS install. WinRE is meant to do recoveries, not an install. You should be using WinPE instead of WinRE (which is just WinPE with the recovery program in it) to do installs.

Also, you can ignore the methods for using SetAutoFailover.cmd as this is for Windows Vista recovery. Windows 7 does not use the same process. The problem of offering this type of information comes from the fact your original post (before you edited it) did not specify which version of Windows you were dealing with. I recognized it with the mention of Reagentc, which Vista did not use, but sometimes posting in non-specifics can lead to being offered incorrect or incomplete responses.

This post has been edited by Tripredacus: 17 March 2011 - 09:40 AM

[Gremo]

Tripredacus, on 17 March 2011 - 09:23 AM, said:

The article you linked to is to do a recovery with an existing OS partition, not for a clean install.

Quote

When I choose "comprete pc restore" it says it cannot find any windows image and ask for a net share or a driver install

As noted in my post above, RECENV will look for an existing OS install. WinRE is meant to do recoveries, not an install. You should be using WinPE instead of WinRE (which is just WinPE with the recovery program in it) to do installs.

Also, you can ignore the methods for using SetAutoFailover.cmd as this is for Windows Vista recovery. Windows 7 does not use the same process. The problem of offering this type of information comes from the fact your original post (before you edited it) did not specify which version of Windows you were dealing with. I recognized it with the mention of Reagentc, which Vista did not use, but sometimes posting in non-specifics can lead to being offered incorrect or incomplete responses.

Well thanks for the clarification. I'm now stuck with a working recovery solution (which is fine) but i'd like to apply my install.wim (with a pre-format) without doing it manually (diskpart + imagex). Can you point me in the right direction (maybe a .bat, HTA, gui frontend)?

[Tripredacus]

If you have a PXE server or want to change to a CD boot, you can see the HTA in my signature. Or you can just run Setup with an answer file... example:

- Make a WinPE that runs setup /unattend:path_to_xml
- Put your image on another drive, like an external usb hdd or anywhere, even a network share would work
- In your answer file, specify where the image is located.

For some reference, here is a post I made where you can use WinRE to apply an answer file to reinstall Windows. However, it was not done the way you are trying. Even still you might figure something out anyways even if it isn't supported.

http://www.msfn.org/...385#entry918385

[Gremo]

Tripredacus, on 17 March 2011 - 12:01 PM, said:

[..]

That's exactly what I want. I managed to add a new custom entry in the recovery environment. I this picture you can see the (red) added entry. I named it (resource hacked) "Install Windows":



This is WinREConfig.xml:

<Recovery>
    <RecoveryTools>
         <RelativeFilePath>..\..\Setup.exe /unattend:X:\unattend.xml</RelativeFilePath>
    </RecoveryTools>
</Recovery>

Remember that WinRE is actually installed to an hidden partition using the precedure in #1 post. I've just a few last questions:

1) Because i resource hacked setup.exe.mui, can windows blame about it?

2) (most important one) What happens if the user (following the setup process) wants to destroy all partitions (e.g. deletes the hidden recovery partition?) I think I should write an unattend.xml that skips the partition process and just formats C:, but i don't know how to do this. Is C: partition always the second one of the first disk 0, right?
Should be quite clean what I mean, isn't it? Again, thanks for helping.

This post has been edited by Gremo: 17 March 2011 - 03:56 PM

[Gremo]

I'm booting into WinRE from and hidden partition. WinRE gets letter "X" assigned to it, and I'm trying to call windows setup in order to perform an unattended windows install, but I have to specify install.wim location (and possibly Unattend.xml location). I know I can put Unattend.xml into WinRE.wim and then use the switch /unatted:X:\Unattend.xml. However the problem is that install.wim should reside in the recovery partition.

X:\sources\setup.exe /installfrom:??

The big problem is that I don't know which letter is assigned to the recovery partition when WinRE boots. Any ideas? Is there anyway to specify install.wim location without dealing with letters or in a more dynamical way? This is the partition layout (and relevant files):

Partition 1 label=Recovery, id=27, active
                |_ install.wim
                |_ Unattend.xml
                |_ Recovery
                   |_ WindowsRE
                     |_ WinRE.wim
Partition 2 label=Windows

Thank you very much for helping.

This post has been edited by Tripredacus: 18 March 2011 - 08:58 AM

[Tripredacus]

Gremo, on 17 March 2011 - 02:37 PM, said:

1) Because i resource hacked setup.exe.mui, can windows blame about it?

2) (most important one) What happens if the user (following the setup process) wants to destroy all partitions (e.g. deletes the hidden recovery partition?) I think I should write an unattend.xml that skips the partition process and just formats C:, but i don't know how to do this. Is C: partition always the second one of the first disk 0, right?
Should be quite clean what I mean, isn't it? Again, thanks for helping.

1) I do not know why you needed to do a reshack on the file. See now you have two options there....

2) In a supported environment, running recovery (ah then again I haven't tested custom WinRE.... maybe I will do that today) won't touch other partitions. As far as how your recovery process works, you get an out by saying if the customer runs the program in any fashion not covered in your instructions, the loss of data may occur and the system's warranty will not be covered. However, if you are a System Builder, you are required to provide the edge-to-edge media anyways, so they can still reinstall Windows with that. If you are an OEM, you should follow the direction of your Partner rep.

Threads merged. No need to make a new one.

You can add a file to the "Recovery Partition" and search for it first, like the Vista recovery does. But just put your install.wim in Sources. Setup already knows where that is.

Update - I tested the WinRE with custom partitions however there was a problem. Since the XML is inside of the Ramdisk, it is hardcoded to know where the INSTALL.WIM is, and hardcoded to what partition to install it on. Since I created a second partition in Windows, it mixed up the drive letters in WinRE. That being said, the Data partition got letter D, the OS vol got letter E and the recovery partition got letter F. Normally, the recovery partition should get letter E, and my XML has the InstallFrom to look on E. Since E is not the recovery partition, WinRE gives an error because it can't find INSTALL.WIM. Here-in lies the problem...

Screenshot of system after deployment and setting up the secondary partition:


Diskpart results from after receiving the error in WinRE about the WIM:

DISKPART> list vol

  Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
  ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
  Volume 0     C   System       NTFS   Partition    500 MB  Healthy
  Volume 1     E   LocalDisk    NTFS   Partition    110 GB  Healthy
  Volume 2     D   Storage      NTFS   Partition    117 GB  Healthy
  Volume 3     F   Recovery     NTFS   Partition   6000 MB  Healthy    Hidden

Update2 - Adding a second hard disk also caused problems with drive letter assignment.

This post has been edited by Tripredacus: 18 March 2011 - 01:28 PM

[Schiiwa]

Hi Jayclaz, Tripredacus and Friends

I´m now bussy with my Windows-7 RE-Partition, because i had a look at this page:
http://technet.micro...28WS.10%29.aspx

I saw this line and thought, toooo easy:
C:\Windows\System32\Reagentc.exe /setosimage /path R:\ /target C:\Windows


It worked well, but just for a new Installation with an INSTALL.WIM from the Install-disc
I already copied the C:\Recovery directory to the partition (HarddiskVolume4)
And the BCD is modified well, too.

So i have to use a costum tool with this line:
C:\Windows\System32\Reagentc.exe /setosimage /customtool /target C:\Windows

Here it says:
http://technet.micro...28WS.10%29.aspx

<Recovery>
<FactoryRecoveryTool>
<RelativeFilePath>path_to_exe</RelativeFilePath>
<CommandLineParam>parameter_1 parameter_2</CommandLineParam>
<AdminOnly>access_level</AdminOnly>
</FactoryRecoveryTool>
</Recovery>

P.S.:
But as I read Gremo´s solution with the Auto-Unattended:
<Recovery>
<RecoveryTools>
<RelativeFilePath>..\..\Setup.exe /unattend:X:\unattend.xml</RelativeFilePath>
</RecoveryTools>
</Recovery>

I ASKED MYSELF, IF THIS MAYBE WOULD BE POSSIBLE:
<Recovery>
<RecoveryTools>
<RelativeFilePath>IMAGEX.exe /apply F:\System.wim 1 C:\ </RelativeFilePath>
</RecoveryTools>
</Recovery>

OR

<Recovery>
<RecoveryTools>
<RelativeFilePath>IMAGEX.exe</RelativeFilePath>
<CommandLineParam>/apply F:\System.wim 1 C:\</CommandLineParam>
</RecoveryTools>
</Recovery>

I know, this solution is not the best , because if the Windows-Partition isn´t present any more, it would be applyed on another C-Drive Maybe I´ll try today, but would appreciate a more bonnie solution

P.P.S:
I had a look at this:
http://www.msfn.org/...dos-7-recovery/
But there are 3 problems:
1. What is inside Clean_part.txt
Maybe:
SELECT DISK 0
SELECT PARTITION 2
DELETE PARTITION
CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY
FORMAT FS=NTFS OVERRIDE

2. What is ISA.EXE; Can it replaced with IMAGEX.EXE ?
3. What costum-tool-exec is used? Can i call it with MSHTA.EXE?


P.P.P.S.: Still not my own PC


Cheers.... Schiiwa

EDIT:
Another example here:
http://reboot.pro/8729/
But user says, doesn´t work. And whats not clear for me, what executeable "tblo" uses in WinREConfig.xml

This post has been edited by Schiiwa: 12 October 2011 - 07:31 PM

[Tripredacus]

Schiiwa, on 12 October 2011 - 05:49 PM, said:

But as I read Gremo´s solution with the Auto-Unattended:
<Recovery>
<RecoveryTools>
<RelativeFilePath>..\..\Setup.exe /unattend:X:\unattend.xml</RelativeFilePath>
</RecoveryTools>
</Recovery>

I ASKED MYSELF, IF THIS MAYBE WOULD BE POSSIBLE:
<Recovery>
<RecoveryTools>
<RelativeFilePath>IMAGEX.exe /apply F:\System.wim 1 C:\ </RelativeFilePath>
</RecoveryTools>
</Recovery>

Imagex would be faster for sure, but Setup can install a captured WIM as well. That is how I use it. The answer file is likely optional, but even if you have captured an image after using sysprep /unattend switch, Setup ignores that answer file. For example, even if your XML only specified the Locale settings (to hide the language select page of OOBE), after Setup applies the image, you'd still see that page. So if you didn't have any special settings, you don't even need to specify a custom tool or have the answer file. Just overwrite the install.wim with your custom WIM, but it still needs to be called install.wim.

The only reason I needed to come up with this was because I needed the image in the recovery partition to deploy and then boot to the desktop. If the image is supposed to boot to OOBE, I don't use the custom tool option.

[Schiiwa]

Tripredacus, on 13 October 2011 - 09:20 AM, said:

Schiiwa, on 12 October 2011 - 05:49 PM, said:

But as I read Gremo´s solution with the Auto-Unattended:
<Recovery>
<RecoveryTools>
<RelativeFilePath>..\..\Setup.exe /unattend:X:\unattend.xml</RelativeFilePath>
</RecoveryTools>
</Recovery>

I ASKED MYSELF, IF THIS MAYBE WOULD BE POSSIBLE:
<Recovery>
<RecoveryTools>
<RelativeFilePath>IMAGEX.exe /apply F:\System.wim 1 C:\ </RelativeFilePath>
</RecoveryTools>
</Recovery>

Imagex would be faster for sure, but Setup can install a captured WIM as well. That is how I use it. The answer file is likely optional, but even if you have captured an image after using sysprep /unattend switch, Setup ignores that answer file. For example, even if your XML only specified the Locale settings (to hide the language select page of OOBE), after Setup applies the image, you'd still see that page. So if you didn't have any special settings, you don't even need to specify a custom tool or have the answer file. Just overwrite the install.wim with your custom WIM, but it still needs to be called install.wim.

The only reason I needed to come up with this was because I needed the image in the recovery partition to deploy and then boot to the desktop. If the image is supposed to boot to OOBE, I don't use the custom tool option.

My experience is another one... I installed Windows 7 without a special ID=27 partition, because i had no time and computer at the moment, to do this job (create a RE-Partition/Image). I should allign my files and folders first, in order to be effective. but as i saw the new command (reagentc.exe), i thought it might be very easy... So after the Installation was complete, i slashed SP1, all later updates and drivers on it. Then i realized, that the WINRE.WIM is already implemented on C:\RECOVERY\d89.......\WINRE.WIM ... so i moved it onto a new partition at the end and adapted the BCD. Also the WIM captured from my ready-installed Windows.

And i was really happy when i saw the new Option when i booted to WINRE at the bottom "Windows neu Installieren/Reinstall Windows" ... but when i klicked on it, there came a window up where i should select the OS i want to install (I think the editions) Unfortunately it was empty except "No Images available" my WIM was already called INSTALL.WIM and in the ROOT... Maybe I´ll try again in \SOURCES folder
EDIT: TRYED and DOND WORK! DOESN´T REALLY MAKE SENSE, BECAUSE THE /SETOSIMAGE-PARAMETER´S PATH WAS SET TO F:\ .... BUT AS U KNOW, WITH MS-SOFT U NEVER KNOW

So i tryed putting the INSTALL.WIM from the DVD to F:\ ... that worked and moved my stuff on "C" into "WINDOWS.OLD" in the first seconds and started copying the setupfiles immediately! But i cut off the power and moved my stuff back after taking ownership, cause i do not want to reinstall....again....

because i think i installed Windows (esspecially 95a/b/c/98/98SE) about 1K-times

So it didn´t work. Maybe when I capture it before OOBE after entering AUDIT (or without), it may work!? *not again..*

Can U tell my, how i can start a HTA
The HTA-Package isn´t available at the WinRE-Image yet..... i´ll add it now and come back later *hope i can still add it. Think to remember a DISM-Option to finish the WIM and then no package can be added anymore, when i created the Vista-PE
EDIT: NOPE, it was the /prep command with peimg.exe

Maybe thats the way, aha, aha, i like it d-_-b
<Recovery>
<RecoveryTools>
<RelativeFilePath>MSHTA.EXE name-of-hta.hta</RelativeFilePath>
</RecoveryTools>
</Recovery>

OR

<Recovery>
<RecoveryTools>
<RelativeFilePath>MSHTA.EXE</RelativeFilePath>
<CommandLineParam>(/)name-of-hta.hta</CommandLineParam>
</RecoveryTools>
</Recovery>

EDIT: BOTH WON´T work ... Did´t expect that to work, because the ICON for the Recovery Options will be extracted for the executeable. After all, MSHTA.EXE has no ICON

Cheers, Schiiwa

This post has been edited by Schiiwa: 15 October 2011 - 12:48 PM