jaclaz Posted March 3, 2016 Share Posted March 3, 2016 Generally speaking, .wim booting consumes a lot more ram than a "flat" boot, see this (JFYI, not necessarily a solution to your issue, which as said would probably be a simple PE 1.x):http://mistype.reboot.pro/documents/WinPE.RAM/winpe.ram.usage.htm jaclaz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
submix8c Posted March 3, 2016 Share Posted March 3, 2016 Hmmm...I was hoping to use the romed NIC to implement PXE booting.As jaclaz said (re InRAM) a lot gets taken. However, the In-RAM PE1.x (using WinBuilder) can boot and run in 512mb RAM, which is why you've been suggested to go that route. You can create a PE1.x (any way you like), include the NIC drivers (all for each target machine), and use a script (or set-of) to apply to the Target the WIM from a fixed Server Folder (one WIM per unique machine?). Prep the images with 1.x (there is/was an OPK Extender GUI Tool to help), Capture a/the WIM(s), and PXE-apply it/them. Of course I could be totally missing the boat (I'm late to a lot of meetings that way) and am sure I'll be corrected if way off base. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STZ128 Posted March 10, 2016 Author Share Posted March 10, 2016 Submix8cJaclazWimb Thank you for all your comments, they are very much appreciated! Currently I have: PXE server running on my XP workstation (I do not miss burning CD after CD!)I have PE3.0 and PE3.1 running on my target machine, but still not enough free ram to allow the app to run.I have successfully taken my boot.wim from 144Mb down to 70 Mb.I am still confused my both versions leave me with <32Mb of free virtual x drive? I am wondering if BCD is allocating too much ram for the virtual drive?I tried to use Visual BCD to check the BCD on my PE3 image, but it does not run. I moved it to my Win 8 machine, it runsbut only like to look at the Win 8 boot.wim. Perhaps I can trim out the unused drivers next.After that I will take another look at the PE1.0/1.1 OS. I appreciate all of your comments! Steve PS:Yes, Submix8c, your last post is exactly what I am trying to do in the long run....eventually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tripredacus Posted March 10, 2016 Share Posted March 10, 2016 I am wondering if BCD is allocating too much ram for the virtual drive? I tried to use Visual BCD to check the BCD on my PE3 image, but it does not run. I moved it to my Win 8 machine, it runs but only like to look at the Win 8 boot.wim. If you are booting off PXE, the boot entries files are kept on the server. For example, if you were using WDS on Server 2008 or newer, you can change the BCD on the server to change settings relating to the WinPE. See if setting scratch-space on image helps. See here: https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd799261%28v=ws.10%29.aspx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STZ128 Posted March 15, 2016 Author Share Posted March 15, 2016 Tripredacus, Thank for my latest hint! This link provides just the information I have been searching for desperately. I suspect the one of the ram disks are adjusting their size to leave ~30Mb of remaining memory .... killing my app! I will check it out immediately! Thank you very much. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STZ128 Posted April 13, 2016 Author Share Posted April 13, 2016 Hello! I have finally gotten back to my project after several computer crashes! I have my winpe 3.1 back online again. Current status: I can now burn an ISO file, Make an hard disk boot able image. So things are better now. However now: I would like to employ a ramdisk at run time. My idea is, after booting, install the ramdisk to hold my running application. After the boot, I install the imdisk setup. It installs perfectly ( and appears to function.) I shutdown the the pe (wpeutil shutdown) and then attempt to reboot. Rebooting seems to remove the ramdisk that was installed. The registry does not show the effects of loading the imdisk setup. The only results maintained are the new files on the hard drive. Apparently the active drivers are not maintained, nor the registry saved. Help needed here: The files that are required for imdisk are: imdisk.inf imdisk.sys imdisk.cpl (control appalet), imdisk.exe, imdsksvc.exe (service task) and awealloc.sys What I think I have to do is, duplicate the operation on the installer to activate the ramdisk. Anyone have ideas how to do this? Thanks in adv! Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaclaz Posted April 13, 2016 Share Posted April 13, 2016 Sure, that is a basic feature of a PE (by design), it is a volatile environment, every time it reboots it is a brand new day for it . You are now using a "plain" WinPE, right? Check here: http://diddy.boot-land.net/firadisk/files/winpe.htm jaclaz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STZ128 Posted April 14, 2016 Author Share Posted April 14, 2016 (edited) Jaclaz, Right after posting the message, I discovered that website. Yes it is excellant reference. Thanks for referring it to me... Yesterday and this morning I was working on implementing it. I hate to type, so I clipped the two reg files and put them into reg files. And import them with reg.exe. reg load HKLM\_WinPE_SYSTEM %PEDIR%\mount\windows\system32\config\system reg load HKLM\_WinPE_software %PEDIR%\mount\windows\system32\config\software reg import %PEDIR%\mount\windows\system32\config\imdisk.system reg import %PEDIR%\mount\windows\system32\config\imdisk.software reg unload HKLM\_WinPE_SYSTEM reg unload HKLM\_WinPE_SOFTWARE (Superficial change, but minimizes chance of error!) It works beautifully! Yes, just a plain WinPE3.1. No desktop app, just a command window. Now on to other fish to fry! Thanks again for your help, steve Edited April 14, 2016 by STZ128 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tripredacus Posted April 15, 2016 Share Posted April 15, 2016 This topic needs a new title. Please make one, or post what it should be and we can rename it for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaclaz Posted April 16, 2016 Share Posted April 16, 2016 Steve, if you want something that while still minimal/simple has something more than CLI only, have a look at Quick PE: http://reboot.pro/files/file/340-quickpe/ and (JFYI), loading a Registry hive is a bit "old fashioned", there are ways to edit the Offline Registry:http://reboot.pro/topic/11312-offline-registry/ which may be integrated/scripted in a batch based builder as the above. jaclaz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
STZ128 Posted April 17, 2016 Author Share Posted April 17, 2016 Thanks Jaclaz, I am more familiar with using .reg files. The ramdisk is built in the image phase of construction. I am now having a problem utilizing Proxy server. Tripredacus has suggested I create a new topic. Thanks for your help on getting the PE setup! steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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