tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13777170.post726880482052625007..comments2024-03-11T02:35:50.848-05:00Comments on grand stream dreams: Custom Win PE Boot Disk Building: Step Four – Pulling it all together.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13777170.post-50816163567492135692010-02-04T18:21:28.591-06:002010-02-04T18:21:28.591-06:00@ Anonymous - Good work!
That's it exactly.
...@ Anonymous - Good work!<br /><br />That's it exactly.<br /><br />CE expects there to be the "desktop" folder as you noted:<br /><br />X:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile\Desktop<br /><br />I'm still planning a slightly more detailed blog post writeup on this but you have the root cause in hand.<br /><br />I suspect that adding this folder may help additional applications work better as well under PE. Couple that with some bumps in scratch-space 256-512 MB (if system RAM is available) and you can seem to get much better performance and operations from your "portable" Windows apps under the PE environment.<br /><br />Glad you feel I gave you enough clues to track it down and independently verify the solution.<br /><br />Cheers!<br /><br />--Claus V.Claushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11692921474310162470noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13777170.post-26978818950389008482010-02-04T09:37:41.189-06:002010-02-04T09:37:41.189-06:00You were right, Claus. It's laughably stupid.
...You were right, Claus. It's laughably stupid.<br /><br />All I had to do was create the directory X:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile\Desktop, within my WinPE structure.<br /><br />Apparently, CubicExplorer depends on this directory's existence; if the directory does not exist, CubicExplorer will crash on launch.<br /><br />Clicking the log dump button on the crash message dialog "fixes" the problem because when the "Save" dialog is launched, CubicExplorer creates the "Desktop" directory. That's why clicking "Cancel" on the save dialog has the same effect as actually saving the log. Launching the Save dialog, in which the default save location is the Desktop, is what fixes the problem.<br /><br />Go in peace, CubicExplorer users, for your WinPE woes are no longer.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13777170.post-60624644283184288492010-02-04T08:40:52.820-06:002010-02-04T08:40:52.820-06:00I'm on the verge of finding a solution for thi...I'm on the verge of finding a solution for this problem, thanks to your hint, Claus.<br /><br />I never thought to try saving a log dump. When I tried that, and then restarted CubicExplorer, it seemed to work fine. And it continues to work fine until the computer is rebooted and the changes to the RAM disk are discarded. Further, I noticed that even if one cancels the crash log dump (while at the Save dialog), CE still functions as expected upon reloading the application. Pretty bizarre. The fact that CE functions until a reboot indicates that something on the filesystem is changing as a result of clicking that log dump button, even when the Save operation is canceled.<br /><br />I also noticed that the hash of CubicExplorer.exe changes when the log dump button is clicked. I'm not sure what to make of that.<br /><br />The bottom line is that once CE is working through this "trick", it is possible to copy/paste the entire "working" WinPE contents into a new WinPE WIM, and then CubicExplorer functions as expected on every boot.<br /><br />I've taken to using ProcessMonitor and ProcessExplorer (from sysinternals) in an effort to determine what changes are being made to the filesystem/registry that allow CE to work properly. I hope to make this determination sometime to day and will report back.<br /><br />Maybe Claus will be me to it... =). Thanks again for all your help, Claus.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13777170.post-35379957810309085932010-02-01T22:54:15.545-06:002010-02-01T22:54:15.545-06:00@ Ryan and Anonymous - 99.99% sure I've traced...@ Ryan and Anonymous - 99.99% sure I've traced down the cause of CubicExplorer working on my home tests and can explain all the failures to execute on all your varied PE builds and (finally) on a PE build I recently did as well.<br /><br />Equally nice are the solutions. In fact, if I am right, you should probably be able to take any of your "failed" ISO builds and get CubicExplorer working perfectly, almost instantly. I'll be eager to hear if you also are able to meet with success.<br /><br />Unfortunately for you both (and possibly more than a few lurkers as well), I still have both a shortage of time on my hands during the work-week as well as a great whodunit mystery and reveal I can't help but want to do a full blog-post on!<br /><br />I want to test the solution on another home system of mine just to be sure I can replicate the issue as well as the solution and make sure it wasn't a fluke of the one I was working with (doubt it but I know a lot of folks are beating their heads against a wall with this issue). I don't want to post a solution too quickly and find out that really wasn't it.<br /><br />I will say this, the CubicExplorer crash issue in PE builds has nothing to do with security rights or the amount of scratch space the PE build is configured with. It has nothing to do with the version of the PE (2.0 or 3.0, RC or not), nor the PE source files (WAIK versus OPK). Finally it has nothing to do with the version of CubicExplorer either. You all have confirmed that by your own efforts and now I understand why.<br /><br />Nope. I'm 99.99% certain it is a completely different thing...and I almost had to laugh at myself once I was staring at it. <br /><br />It is a real issue and has several real solutions. Plus, in the process I'll even toss in a clever "bonus" enhancement as well.<br /><br />I promise it will all make perfect sense shortly as well as highlight the challenges PE builders and modders face.<br /><br />Thanks for putting me on this challenge.<br /><br />I hope you will be pleased with the solution when the "big reveal" comes...hopefully no later than Saturday.<br /><br />Stay tuned!<br /><br />--Claus V.Claushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11692921474310162470noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13777170.post-55006030731333385532010-01-28T21:32:21.285-06:002010-01-28T21:32:21.285-06:00@ Ryan and Anonymous -- Woot! I've been able ...@ Ryan and Anonymous -- Woot! I've been able to finally generate a successful failure!<br /><br />I got a base WAIK PE3.0 to fail finally with CubicExplorer.<br /><br />I also got some great ProcessMonitor log captures of the events.<br /><br />While I didn't catch anyone shooting JR just yet, I've got some suspicions. Now that I've got a ISO baked that fails, good logs, and ISO's that work fine I think I can diff things out.<br /><br />What was even strange (and I don't recall if either of you had this happen), when CubicExplorer crashed it gave the the option sets window. I saved the bug file then for kicks selected the option to relaunch application and it seemed to work just fine. Did that happen for you as well or did it continue to stay crashed?<br /><br />Unfortunately this weekend is a wash so I don't expect to be able to really spend the needed time working it out until next weekend or so. I won't be able to check my blog comments either until Sunday afternoon so don't worry if things go dark here for a few days.<br /><br />Hang in there! I'm determined to solve this mystery for you all!<br /><br />Cheers!<br /><br />--Claus V.Claushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11692921474310162470noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13777170.post-45424589808860506562010-01-27T21:38:13.809-06:002010-01-27T21:38:13.809-06:00I forgot to say that I have tried both the WAIK an...I forgot to say that I have tried both the WAIK and OPK.Ryan Carverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09347456345822671110noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13777170.post-68230299500083110742010-01-27T21:29:26.009-06:002010-01-27T21:29:26.009-06:00@ Anonymous - Wow. That is really strange.
No. I...@ Anonymous - Wow. That is really strange.<br /><br />No. I am not using the WinPE boot.wim from the <a href="http://oem.microsoft.com/script/contentpage.aspx?pageid=565676" rel="nofollow">Windows 7 OEM Preinstallation Kit (OPK)</a>.<br /><br />I'm using the <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=696dd665-9f76-4177-a811-39c26d3b3b34&displaylang=en" rel="nofollow">Windows Automated Installation Kit (AIK) for Windows 7</a>. I could be off but I think this is the final release version.<br /><br />I can't honestly say what differences there might be in the stock boot.wim files between the two.<br /><br />I've not had any issues using it with scratch-space set down from the default 32 MB to the top end 512 MB.<br /><br />I nearing a loss to explain the crazy behavior that Ryan and you have reported. Might be time to toss on Process Monitor to find the fail point.<br /><br />I do my building on NTFS partitions, and I seem to recall I set the security permissions on the building folders to "everyone" in the past due to that being a need back from the VistaPE project building work I did.<br /><br />I can't imagine that it would be a security permissions issue causing the issues. I've not had any issues with it being built/run on my XP Pro, XP Home, or even my Vista Home or Windows 7 Home systems. Those are all final releases. It also worked on my Windows 7 RC build I used for a while.<br /><br />This weekend will be a wash but maybe next weekend I can look at things again. Been a while since I have and the break might help.<br /><br />Will post an update soon.<br /><br />If you get any more clues please leave an update.<br /><br />--Claus V.Claushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11692921474310162470noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13777170.post-22726978643481272612010-01-27T21:28:52.948-06:002010-01-27T21:28:52.948-06:00I too never overcame this obstacle.I too never overcame this obstacle.Ryan Carverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17730592917518985307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13777170.post-76372351701336383682010-01-27T11:03:53.899-06:002010-01-27T11:03:53.899-06:00@Claus
I'm having the same issue as Ryan, wit...@Claus<br /><br />I'm having the same issue as Ryan, with the latest version of CubicExplorer not working in WinPE 3 (acquired as part of the Windows 7 OPK).<br /><br />I receive the same error message that Ryan does. I've tried increasing the scratch space to 512MB and it doesn't make any difference.<br /><br />I'm using a "stock" boot.wim that is an exact copy of the winpe.wim that is included in the OPK. The only changes I'm making are adding CubicExplorer.exe (0.90.0.1131) and increasing the amount of scratch space. I've tried including the various .xml files, as well as "Locale" and "Skins" directories in the PE image, alongside the CE executable, but CE still crashes.<br /><br />I'm surprised that it works on your PE 3 build. Are you using the boot.wim that's included with the latest version of the Windows 7 OPK?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13777170.post-6871362029720345772009-11-07T20:51:24.055-06:002009-11-07T20:51:24.055-06:00@ Ryan -- I could be wrong here but after the star...@ Ryan -- I could be wrong here but after the starts and stops doing some research on your building technique and looking at your PE DISM bat file, I wonder if maybe you answered your own problem...<br /><br />processors : 2x Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU N270 @ 1.60GHz<br />physical memory : 1704/2038 MB (free/total)<br />free disk space : (X:) 31.06 MB (C:) 11.23 GB<br />exception class : EAccessViolation<br />exception message : Access violation at address 00626175 in module 'CubicExplorer.exe'. Read of address 00000004.<br /><br />Your info shows a fairly beefy system with good CPU and System RAM.<br /><br />I did see that the ramdisk is just 31.06 MB. Not very big. Couple that with the exception message seeming to be memory access related.<br /><br />You mentioned "Thought... Not enough scratch space?"<br /><br />I don't build with DSIM so I was trying to sort out all the modules you were loading via the DSIM bat file.<br /><br />Found them described here in this technet info page: <a href="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd799244(WS.10).aspx" rel="nofollow">Building a Windows PE Image</a><br /><br />So, it appears you are loading all of these (and I assume you actually need all these features in your PE disk...).<br /><br />I just take the raw WAIK x86 Winpe.wim file and change it to boot.wim and then inject the specific VistaPE components mentioned in the post. I'm not adding any the optional packages you are. So that appears to be the biggest difference.<br /><br />I also found reference to the WMI package soaking up Ramdisk space in some cases <a href="http://winpe2.blogspot.com/2008/06/wmi-tracing.html" rel="nofollow">WMI Tracing</a>.<br /><br />So I am leaning to your own diagnosis of not having enough scratch space.<br /><br />So how to fix?<br /><br />Turns out (I learned this today) that by default, a Win PE 3.0 (I think 2.0 also) sets the scratch space (RAM disk) at 32 MB. That is close to what you captured.<br /><br />In Win PE 2.0 you could use the PEImg tool to modify the scratch-space when building...<a href="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc749161(WS.10).aspx" rel="nofollow">PEImg Command-Line Options</a>.<br /><br />However that tool has been removed from the Win 7 WAIK PE kit.<br /><br />Luckilly, DISM now takes that role and the method is very easily found in the very-same TechNet reference I first linked: <a href="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd799244(WS.10).aspx" rel="nofollow">Building a Windows PE Image</a> at the very bottom.<br /><br />Quoting:<br /><br />"If your Windows PE environment becomes unresponsive when running an application, you may have run out of memory. By default, Windows PE allocates 32 megabytes (MB) of writeable memory, known as scratch space. You can increase the scratch space up to 512 MB by typing the following at a command prompt: <br /><br />dism /image:<i>mounted-image-path</i>/Set-ScratchSpace:<i>size</i><br /><br />Where size can be any one of the following values: 32, 64, 128, 256 and 512."<br /><br />End Quote.<br /><br />So I would recommend trying to add the following line above to your DISM PE bat file and increase maybe to 64 or 128 and see if that helps.<br /><br />If not, then try to build your PE image again via your PE bat file, but each time, just leave out one of the optional packages you are adding. Again, I'm not using them and my PE works great for CubicExplorer. Possibly between increasing the Scratch Space value and/or pulling out a package that is causing an application conflict you can resolve the issue.<br /><br />I can't wait to try my own hand now at some DISM based building of PE packages as well as trying to see the benefit (if any) of increasing the scratch space on my own ones. This might improve the performance of my own custom PE builds as well.<br /><br />Please let me know if you have any thoughts on this as well as any successes (or failures) this line of exploration brings.<br /><br />If it is successful, I'd like to blog about it. I've got quite a few more great links out of this learning you've led me through!<br /><br />Cheers!<br /><br />--Claus V.Claushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11692921474310162470noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13777170.post-90680537513294025592009-11-07T11:41:06.327-06:002009-11-07T11:41:06.327-06:00@ Ryan -- OK. Good info.
Stay tuned. On call th...@ Ryan -- OK. Good info.<br /><br />Stay tuned. On call this weekend and running in/out of the house for wife/daughter errands on top of that!<br /><br />Promise to have some more tips to try for you...<br /><br />;-)<br /><br />Claus V.Claushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11692921474310162470noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13777170.post-85461044653310118372009-11-07T10:38:13.261-06:002009-11-07T10:38:13.261-06:00@ Claus
I have tried it both ways to no avail.
I...@ Claus<br /><br />I have tried it both ways to no avail.<br /><br />I downloaded the Win7 OPK (legally) to try this out on as well. Maybe one of my FPs is misbehaving from the AIK?<br /><br />Ryan-Ryan Carverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17730592917518985307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13777170.post-17425259616534902582009-11-07T10:18:28.315-06:002009-11-07T10:18:28.315-06:00@ Ryan -- Busy weekend but I've had a chance ...@ Ryan -- Busy weekend but I've had a chance to take look at the bat file as well as review the prior information.<br /><br />Question. Are you dropping the CE program into the WIM itself, then unmounting/committing it? Or is the CE application outside of the WIM but included as part of the folder structure that gets made into the ISO file?<br /><br />I'm really having fun researching this! I hope we can figure it out.<br /><br />I'm hoping to get a chance to respond either later this afternoon or by Sunday with some thoughts I am being led to..<br /><br />Cheers!<br />Claus V.Claushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11692921474310162470noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13777170.post-59981037364280123192009-11-05T20:50:15.767-06:002009-11-05T20:50:15.767-06:00@ Ryan -- Thanks for the extra info!
1) Will do.
...@ Ryan -- Thanks for the extra info!<br /><br />1) Will do.<br /><br />2 & 3) Definitely seems like something in the building is the cause. My PE 3.0 is handling the old and new CE builds just fine.<br /><br />4) I fully understand! Today I PE booted, zeroed out, diskparted, formatted and re-imagex'd over 35 systems from the CLI in about 5 hours. My supporting techs just couldn't keep up with my CLI work and kept getting lost keeping track of the drive letter assignments, etc.... <br /><br />5) I'll take a close look at it this weekend. I downloaded the batch file right now. Looking forward to playing with it! <br /><br />6) Found it. <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=3bd8561f-77ac-4400-a0c1-fe871c461a89&displaylang=en" rel="nofollow">Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2010</a> Will be checking it out as well. I think the statement regarding the size was technically accurate but from reading the download page, other components may be needed as well (like the WAIK) so those would dramatically increase the effective size if selected. This page seemed to have some additional documentation helps: <a href="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/solutionaccelerators/dd407791.aspx" rel="nofollow">Now Available! Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010</a> I'm only deploying XP Pro systems at work but I'm also intrigued by tools that make the PE building process easier so I'll have to explore this as well based on your tip.<br /><br />Stay tuned!<br /><br />Cheers!<br />--Claus V.Claushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11692921474310162470noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13777170.post-91374456591877449172009-11-05T10:10:52.429-06:002009-11-05T10:10:52.429-06:00@ Claus
1. Downloaded CEb3 - you can kill the dow...@ Claus<br /><br />1. Downloaded CEb3 - you can kill the download.<br /><br />2. CEb3 did the same thing.<br /><br />3. FreeCommander works, but I am more concerned at the underlying reason WHY CE is failing. ...what else might fail?<br /><br />4. I don't want CE for myself, but for other techs that whine that they want explorer. CE was the closest thing I have seen that "looks" like explorer. They only need the ability to copy/paste.<br /><br />5. Can you verify that I am not missing something fundamental in my build script from post 7 - Vanilla PE3 Build. I made it easy if you want to test it... http://www.box.net/shared/or7445js8u It is just a batch file to build the same version I am using. Check it out first just to make sure you know what it is doing. (duh) I don't want to be blamed for formatting your C: drive. ;^)<br /><br />6. I was talking to John Baker (Microsoft IT Pro Evangelist - http://blogs.technet.com/johnbaker ) yesterday about some issues I am having. He said I might want to check out MDT 2010 which RTM'd about 5 weeks ago. He said he thinks it includes an updated version of WinPE 3.0. The download is <10Mb in size, so I find that hard to believe. But, you may want to check it out.<br /><br />Ryan-Ryan Carverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17730592917518985307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13777170.post-86278893866808217052009-11-03T23:10:36.074-06:002009-11-03T23:10:36.074-06:00@ Ryan - as a followup, I downloaded and dropped t...@ Ryan - as a followup, I downloaded and dropped the very latest Cubic Explorer release onto my 16 GB WinPE 3.0 flash drive build.<br /><br />Granted, I didn't "integrate" it into the PE build and shell, but only dumped it off the drive root for testing purposes.<br /><br />I browsed and launched it in the PE 3.0 environment just fine and I didn't have any errors. The older "integrated" version worked fine as well. So I am a bit stumped.<br /><br />I suppose if you don't have much luck (and my free box.net account supports the size), I could pack up all the extra PE files I mention in my custom building and drop them for you to pull and test with your base boot.wim file.<br /><br />I wouldn't include that one, so you would have to do my steps and "integrate" mine into your mounted wim file, but it might be helpful to work with for testing and comparison purposes...<br /><br />Let me know and I can probably try to get things packed up over the weekend and uploaded.<br /><br />If box.net size limits don't work and you are still interested, I'll see about an alternative upload solution.<br /><br />Cheers.<br /><br />Claus V.Claushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11692921474310162470noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13777170.post-36683600517189236442009-11-02T17:18:35.072-06:002009-11-02T17:18:35.072-06:00@ Ryan - No worries! Sorry about the Blogger comm...@ Ryan - No worries! Sorry about the Blogger comment limits. Maybe one day I will port this blog over to a hosted solution...<br /><br />I've uploaded a 7zip file of my own Cubic Explorer build from yore.<br /><br />I've temporarily uploaded it to my box.net account. Use the following link to grab it.<br />http://www.box.net/shared/o59qk2h66p<br /><br />Let me know once you've got it so I can drop if after a few days.<br /><br />See if that one works better.<br /><br />To be honest I've not spent hardly any time with the DISM and script building. I just did my basic VistaPE (WinBuilder) work and then as listed in the walkthrough, stripped out the files/directories and ported them into a standard basic WAIK build of PE 2.0 / 3.0.<br /><br />Maybe I'm just darn lucky...<br /><br />Your memory settings look great so I'll download the latest CubicExplorer and drop it onto my USB bootable stick (PE 3.0 now) and see what happens when I try to run the same one you have been using.<br /><br />Let me know what you find out.<br /><br />Cheers!<br /><br />Claus V.Claushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11692921474310162470noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13777170.post-56809828891439313322009-11-02T16:15:20.365-06:002009-11-02T16:15:20.365-06:00Meaning of Life, Part B...
Crap, crap, crappity-c...Meaning of Life, Part B...<br /><br />Crap, crap, crappity-crap crap! Your form is limiting me to 4096 characters but I have more to post. This is the top few lines of the error report that CE kicks. I am running it from the desktop with Everyone/Full Control. You will see I am running v0.90.0.1131 which is the website says is the final. How do I get an old (better?) version to try? Thought... Not enough scratch space?<br /><br />//CE NASTYGRAM<br />date/time : 2009-11-02, 13:27:47, 419ms<br />operating system : Windows NT New build 7600<br />system language : English<br />program up time : 3 seconds<br />processors : 2x Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU N270 @ 1.60GHz<br />physical memory : 1704/2038 MB (free/total)<br />free disk space : (X:) 31.06 MB (C:) 11.23 GB<br />display mode : 800x600, 32 bit<br />process id : $4f8<br />allocated memory : 16.00 MB<br />executable : CubicExplorer.exe<br />exec. date/time : 2009-04-03 17:43<br />version : 0.90.0.1131<br />madExcept version : 3.0i beta 2<br />callstack crc : $950ceb1b, $45f1f642, $cc0df575<br />count : 5<br />exception number : 1<br />exception class : EAccessViolation<br />exception message : Access violation at address 00626175 in module 'CubicExplorer.exe'. Read of address 00000004.Ryan Carverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17730592917518985307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13777170.post-84754761355327589872009-11-02T15:58:58.722-06:002009-11-02T15:58:58.722-06:00POST PART A...
@ Claus - Sorry for my delay, I am...POST PART A...<br /><br />@ Claus - Sorry for my delay, I am Internet impaired (is that a disability?) right now which means I am moving as fast as the Slowskys (Comcast Turtles). For some background, I have been using WinPE for a very long time. I created an imaging solution for WinPE 1.0 w/ a Bluebox shell using a severely hacked (think DIY Dentistry pain!) NetWare Client32 and xcopy with a HTA front end. It was pretty, but it was slow as hell! ...what is it with me and slow today.<br /><br />Let's shift this puppy into a higher gear! To take the focus off of any mods I made to PE3, I built a plain 'ol vanilla one from WAIK 3.0 RTM with this script.<br /><br />//VANILLA PE3 BUILD<br />Dism /Mount-Wim /WimFile:c:\winpe_x86\winpe.wim /index:1 /MountDir:c:\winpe_x86\mount<br />Dism /image:c:\winpe_x86\mount /Add-Package /PackagePath:"C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\x86\WinPE_FPs\winpe-hta.cab"<br />Dism /image:c:\winpe_x86\mount /Add-Package /PackagePath:"C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\x86\WinPE_FPs\en-us\winpe-hta_en-us.cab"<br />Dism /image:c:\winpe_x86\mount /Add-Package /PackagePath:"C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\x86\WinPE_FPs\winpe-legacysetup.cab"<br />Dism /image:c:\winpe_x86\mount /Add-Package /PackagePath:"C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\x86\WinPE_FPs\en-us\winpe-legacysetup_en-us.cab"<br />Dism /image:c:\winpe_x86\mount /Add-Package /PackagePath:"C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\x86\WinPE_FPs\winpe-mdac.cab"<br />Dism /image:c:\winpe_x86\mount /Add-Package /PackagePath:"C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\x86\WinPE_FPs\en-us\winpe-mdac_en-us.cab"<br />Dism /image:c:\winpe_x86\mount /Add-Package /PackagePath:"C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\x86\WinPE_FPs\winpe-pppoe.cab"<br />Dism /image:c:\winpe_x86\mount /Add-Package /PackagePath:"C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\x86\WinPE_FPs\en-us\winpe-PPPOE_en-us.cab"<br />Dism /image:c:\winpe_x86\mount /Add-Package /PackagePath:"C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\x86\WinPE_FPs\winpe-scripting.cab"<br />Dism /image:c:\winpe_x86\mount /Add-Package /PackagePath:"C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\x86\WinPE_FPs\en-us\winpe-scripting_en-us.cab"<br />Dism /image:c:\winpe_x86\mount /Add-Package /PackagePath:"C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\x86\WinPE_FPs\winpe-wmi.cab"<br />Dism /image:c:\winpe_x86\mount /Add-Package /PackagePath:"C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\x86\WinPE_FPs\en-us\winpe-wmi_en-us.cab"Ryan Carverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17730592917518985307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13777170.post-90157830583253747512009-10-31T10:25:56.196-05:002009-10-31T10:25:56.196-05:00@ Ryan -- I've have a few moments to look at m...@ Ryan -- I've have a few moments to look at my CE build which is working under the various Win PE 3.0 builds I have used (beta/RC/final).<br /><br />It lives in a folder called "CubicExplorer" tucked in the "Program Files" folder which is then added to the PE wim file accordingly.<br /><br />I only found one other reference to it elsewhere in the custom files. That was in the vistape.cfg file taken out of/stored in the Windows\system32 folder as noted in the post. see the end of this one for the contents on my systems.<br /><br />The version that I found we are using is dated 8/8/08 and reports in as file version 0.90.0.1084, product version 0.90 RC 3.<br /><br />Are you trying to use a more recent version of CE? If so this much older version may not be requiring some dependencies that newer ones could be.<br /><br />Hope this helps.<br /><br />--Claus V.<br /><br />Text contents from my vistape.cfg below:<br /><br />[main]<br />screen=1024x768<br />defaultshell=BS Explorer<br /><br />[shortcut]<br />System|DOSShell|%SystemDrive%\Program Files\DOSShell\DOSShell.exe||<br />Security|DiskCryptor|%SystemDrive%\Program Files\DiskCryptor\dcrypt.exe||<br />Office|AngelWriter|%SystemDrive%\Program Files\AngelWriter\AngelWriter.exe||<br />Network|Miranda@HotCoffee|%SystemDrive%\Program Files\Miranda-HotCoffee\HotCoffee.exe||<br />Network|LanSpy|%SystemDrive%\Program Files\LanSpy\LanSpy.exe||<br />Network|IP-Tools|%SystemDrive%\Program Files\IP-Tools\IP_Tools.exe||<br />|Far|%SystemDrive%\Program Files\Far\far.exe||<br />Desktop|CubicExplorer|%SystemDrive%\Program Files\CubicExplorer\CubicExplorer.exe||<br />|CubicExplorer|%SystemDrive%\Program Files\CubicExplorer\CubicExplorer.exe||<br />Disk Tools|Victoria 4.3|%SystemDrive%\Program Files\vcr43\victoria43.exe||<br />System Information|System Info|%SystemDrive%\Program Files\System Info\siw.exe||<br />System Information|Unknown Devices|%SystemDrive%\Program Files\UnknownDevices\UnknownDevices.exe||<br />QuickLaunch|Total Commander|%SystemDrive%\Program Files\totalcmd\totalcmd.exe||<br />Desktop|Total Commander|%SystemDrive%\Program Files\totalcmd\totalcmd.exe||<br />|Total Commander|%SystemDrive%\Program Files\totalcmd\totalcmd.exe||<br />System|Starfield ScreenSaver|%SystemRoot%\System32\Starfield.scr||<br />System|Ruslat|%SystemRoot%\System32\ruslat.exe||<br />Network|Map Network Drive|%SystemDrive%\Program Files\MapDrive\MapNetworkDrive.exe||<br />Disk Tools|Disk Partitioner|%SystemDrive%\Program Files\DiskPartitioner\DiskPartitioner.exe||<br />System|Device Manager|%SystemRoot%\system32\DevMan.exe||<br /><br />[autorun]<br />nowait|Ruslat|%SystemRoot%\System32\ruslat.exe <br /><br />[registry]<br /><br />[association]<br /><br />[shells]<br />Far|Far\far.exe<br />CubicExplorer|CubicExplorer\CubicExplorer.exe<br />Total Commander|totalcmd\totalcmd.exe<br />BS Explorer|BSExplorer\Explorer.exe<br /><br />[postconfig]<br />hidewait|Human Interface Device Access|x:\windows\system32\net.exe start "hidserv"<br />hidewait|Computer Browser|x:\windows\system32\net.exe start "Browser"<br />hidewait|User Profile Service|x:\windows\system32\net.exe start "ProfSvc"<br />hidewait|Server|x:\windows\system32\net.exe start "LanmanServer"<br />hidewait|DNS Client|x:\windows\system32\net.exe start "Dnscache"Claushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11692921474310162470noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13777170.post-46562339453256804812009-10-30T22:15:44.327-05:002009-10-30T22:15:44.327-05:00@ Ryan -- Hmmm. Good question. Yes. The techs co...@ Ryan -- Hmmm. Good question. Yes. The techs continue to use CubicExplorer just fine on my custom PE builds. It worked under the original standard VistaPE project build on Win PE 2.0 (Vista). Then I found it seemed to work just fine under the beta/RC builds of the Win 7 WAIK releases (WinPE 3.0) that I passed out a while back and they continue to use almost daily.<br /><br />Curiously, just last weekend I decided for kicks-n-grins to make a fresh bootable USB stick for my home needs using the steps in this post (sans the PGP WDE shims) and the final release Win7 WAIK with Win PE 3.0. Cubic Explorer continues to work absolutely fine with this final version.<br /><br />I'll do some version checks between the CubicExplorer that I am using and what version is on the Net. AFAIK I'm using the same version I snagged in my original VistaPE 2.0 building days so it might be older (and more compatible?) than a newer release (if such a thing exists). I'll also take a look in the custom files that I'm copying over in this walkthough that pertain specicially to Cubic Explorer as best I can find.<br /><br />Maybe something in the version?<br /><br />While it shouldn't have anything to do with rights issues on the files, I had to give my original VistaPE build project folder (and sub-contents by inheritance) "Everyone" rights to build correctly.<br /><br />While I think that PE 3.0 runs with "System" rights, could it be a rights issues on some of the Cubic Explorer files/folders?<br /><br />What kind of error is it throwing? Or is it just not executing at all?<br /><br />Can you not launch it from the desktop?<br /><br />What about if you browse/launch the executable directly from a CMD session? <br /><br />Stay tuned and I'll drop another comment here with what I find out.<br /><br />To be honest, while I prefer myself to generally zip around in the CMD now, there are some things that a GUI file manager just makes so much easier. When I do need one, I just browse to where I stashed the "portable" program folder for <a href="http://www.freecommander.com/fc_u3_en.htm" rel="nofollow">FreeCommander</a> and use it. Both it and <a href="http://alterion.us/a43/" rel="nofollow">A43</a> seem to work just fine for me under PE 3.0 as well. Don't limit yourself just to CubicExplorer as there are many other great alternatives as well. (Actually, I have my home-brew WinPE 3.0 custom build set to kick off <a href="http://www.pegtop.net/start/" rel="nofollow">PStart</a> once it loads all the way up, and then I had configured PStart to link to all my on-board USB "portable" tools and utilities, of which FreeCommander and A43 are among the listed...I guess that's another post needed as well....)<br /><br />I left CubicExplorer on my WinPE builds as an easy carryover from the VistaPE project build I raided to start building my custom ones.<br /><br />As I'm learning more about the "custom" structure in these PE hot-rod builds, I'm finding it a bit easier to tweak with different apps that I like a bit more, personally.<br /><br />Anyway....I'll let you know what I uncover about CubicExplorer specifically.<br /><br />Thanks for asking!<br /><br />--Claus V.Claushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11692921474310162470noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13777170.post-91493936087424868072009-10-30T18:43:20.920-05:002009-10-30T18:43:20.920-05:00Claus-
Didn't know where to post this. I rea...Claus-<br /><br />Didn't know where to post this. I read somewhere in all your posts that your techs use CubicExplorer and you are now building PE images on 3.0. I am having problems making CubicExplorer work even with a simple vanilla PE 3.0 setup. ...any pointers?<br /><br />Ryan-Ryan Carverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17730592917518985307noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13777170.post-22353721873216946962009-06-20T06:56:43.740-05:002009-06-20T06:56:43.740-05:00Very cool - Using VPELDR without the hardware dete...Very cool - Using VPELDR without the hardware detect speeds up the boot by 50%, and still lets you run the BSexplorer.<br /><br />This has helped me tons, Thank you very much.Petenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13777170.post-76087392507262028882009-04-23T18:58:00.000-05:002009-04-23T18:58:00.000-05:00In the Step 3's you may want to fix some of the pa...In the Step 3's you may want to fix some of the paths.<br /><br />{arch}=x86, ia64, amd64 as determined by platform<br /><br />..\{arch}\oscdimg -n -bc:\winpe_x86\etfsboot.com c:\winpe_x86\ISO c:\winpe_x86\winpe_x86.iso <br /><br />I love that you've done all this incredible work.<br /><br />Keep it up!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13777170.post-76218808611419721842009-03-06T19:01:00.000-06:002009-03-06T19:01:00.000-06:00Finally got around to reading this. You're pretty ...Finally got around to reading this. You're pretty determined, Claus. Nice job. Closest thing I've done is build a BartPE USB that just goes in a reboot circle (so useful).Nathanielhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02073334949813152030noreply@blogger.com