Help Creating WinPE CD

[rdalling]

What I would like to do is create my WinPE on a DVD but not close off the cd so that I can come back later and add 4x1GB ghost images.

I have tried to add the images and close the CD, but I get an error where the CD won't boot.

Anybody know how to do this? or have any ideas?

Roger

[Longhaul]

Just create the directory structure and then add the images. After you add them use the oscdimg.exe file to create a bootable iso.

you need to change to the PE dir

the one that contains the etfsboot.com file and the oscdimg file and type this

oscdimg.exe -n -betfsboot.com -m "your_dir_structure" "ISO_File_name"

You need the -m so the file can be bigger than the default CD size.

[rdalling]

I already tried that, problem is that with an image that is close to 4.5GB the system will not boot...I figured if I were to save that winpe session at the front of the CD and then add the images afterward I would be ok.

R

[rdalling]

OK, I installed a commercial version of Nero and after a little surfing and lots of trial and error, I can now easily make a bootable WINPE disk.

Steps I used

1. Open Nero- Burning Rom

2. Select DVD-ROM (Boot)

3. Under boot Select Image fie and point to etfsboot.com

4. Enable Expert Settings

5. Set Kind of Emulation to No Emulation

6. Set Load segment of sectors to 0000

7. Set Number of loaded sectors to 4

8. Click New

9. Add your WinPE environment (all the directories) and anything else you want to add

10. Burn the CD

Some of the content was taken from http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=297

Difference is that I used the Microsoft boot image rather than the one he provides...

Roger

EDIT: Still having problems with a 4GB limit on the bootable CD where the disk should be able to host 4.7GB

[Longhaul]

The 4 gig limit is a limit in the bios of the machine. It is not the disks fault. The original install when NT 4.0 came out is that it could not have a boot disk greater than 4 gigs with out a newer bios.

http://www.winnetmag.com/Article/ArticleID/13876/13876.html

Check that link out for information on why. I don't fully understand why this has an effect on CD's but it is similar.

[syrynxx]

{

The 4 gig limit is a limit in the bios of the machine.  It is not the disks fault.  The original install when NT 4.0 came out is that it could not have a boot disk greater than 4 gigs with out a newer bios.

}

That limit was inherent to the FAT16 file system, which had a 16-bit limit for addresses in the file allocation table. 2^16 sectors of 2^16 bytes each = 4G. 65536 sectors of 65536 bytes each. But DOS, which could only address one 64k segment at a time, couldn't handle a 65536 byte data frame, because it wouldn't have any memory left in that page frame for OS instructions. That's why formatting a 4G FAT16 with NT4 gave you a warning that it might be incompatible with DOS. So DOS' formatting ability was capped at 2^16 sectors of 2^15 bytes = 2048M.

NT4 could handle a 64k data frame, but the FAT16 file system couldn't go any higher than 2^16*2^16. The ExtendOEMPartition does a conversion of the 4G FAT16 partition to NTFS, then extends it - FAT16 is capped at 4G regardless of your OS. Prior to the ATAPI.SYS driver in NT4SP3, the next limit for an NT4 boot partition was the 2^10 cylinder addressing limit, which was in BIOS. 2^10 cylinders * 255 heads * 63 sectors/cylinder * 512 bytes/sector = 8.4G limit. Some BIOSes like IBMs cropped this at 7.8G. Then INT13h extensions came around, and there was much rejoicing.

That's just from memory - only slightly peripheral to the topic.

-syrynxx

[Longhaul]

Yes but his problem seems to be linked with the same as the inherit Fat16 limit. Why is this problem on a CD/DVD type filesystem? I could not find any information on it.

[rdalling]

Actually, the problem I was having was a faulty DVD burner. I bought a new one and now regulary produce DVD that ar right at 4.7GB limit.

Roger