Build install disk from WIMs

[Domenick]

I bought a notebook with Vista HP pre-installed. The notebook has given me
quite a bit of trouble. The company repaired the hardware issues, but there
are some pre-installed apps that the company puts on there that are still
giving me problems. I would like to perform a CLEAN install of Vista WITHOUT
any of the proprietary JUNK that came with the notebook. Unfortunately, I did
not receive a Windows DVD with my notebook - just a RECOVEY Disk. This disk
is bootable, but when it launches, it only gives me the option to RESTORE to
Factory Settings. This installs Windows with all of the aforementioned JUNK
that is not desired.

I know that this disk contains my licensed copy of Vista. I can see all of
the image files in a sub-directory on the DVD. In a folder called PRELOAD, I
can see a bunch of .WIM files and a few .CRC, .DAT, .I32 and .ITR files.
There are also two .TXT files and a file called CD0 with no extension.
Additionally, there is a BOOT.WIM file in another directory which I assume
contains a WinPE image for starting the install process.

So how can I use ImageX to extract the necessary files for a Vista
installation from the Recovery DVD, copy them to my HD and then burn a new,
bootable Vista Set-up DVD to perform the CLEAN install on my notebook?

Any assistance you could provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[Darrell Gorter[MSFT]]

Hello,
I doubt that would be a clean system.
The .wim files are an image of a system.
So the OEM probably installed the applications into Windows, then created
an image(wim file) with the apps already installed or least some of the
apps. They could have added some app later in scripts as well. These could
be a different locations as well as inside the registry already.
You can use the Windows AIK to mount a WIM files and there are directions
in there to build deployment solutions.
But what you will be looking is folder structure that is currently on your
drive. So you would probably have apps with files scattered under \program
files and under \windows\system32 installed. So there would be registry
entries inside there as well. It would be easier to do this with the
installed OS than to attempt to do this by modifying the WIM file.
There is not easy way to tear this apart and rebuild it clean I suspect.
Download location of the Windows AIK if you want to investigate further.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=c7d4bc6d-15f3-4284-
9123-679830d629f2&DisplayLang=en
Thanks,
Darrell Gorter[MSFT]

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights
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|> Thread-Topic: Build install disk from WIMs
|> thread-index: AchfkRHk7vV8rM5BTcqCW4MVnVD6fg==
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|> From: =?Utf-8?B?RG9tZW5pY2s=?= <[email protected]>
|> Subject: Build install disk from WIMs
|> Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2008 12:30:05 -0800
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|>
|> I bought a notebook with Vista HP pre-installed. The notebook has given
me
|> quite a bit of trouble. The company repaired the hardware issues, but
there
|> are some pre-installed apps that the company puts on there that are
still
|> giving me problems. I would like to perform a CLEAN install of Vista
WITHOUT
|> any of the proprietary JUNK that came with the notebook. Unfortunately,
I did
|> not receive a Windows DVD with my notebook - just a RECOVEY Disk. This
disk
|> is bootable, but when it launches, it only gives me the option to
RESTORE to
|> Factory Settings. This installs Windows with all of the aforementioned
JUNK
|> that is not desired.
|>
|> I know that this disk contains my licensed copy of Vista. I can see all
of
|> the image files in a sub-directory on the DVD. In a folder called
PRELOAD, I
|> can see a bunch of .WIM files and a few .CRC, .DAT, .I32 and .ITR files.
|> There are also two .TXT files and a file called CD0 with no extension.
|> Additionally, there is a BOOT.WIM file in another directory which I
assume
|> contains a WinPE image for starting the install process.
|>
|> So how can I use ImageX to extract the necessary files for a Vista
|> installation from the Recovery DVD, copy them to my HD and then burn a
new,
|> bootable Vista Set-up DVD to perform the CLEAN install on my notebook?
|>
|> Any assistance you could provide would be greatly appreciated.
|>
|> Thank you.
|>

 

[Joe Morris]

I bought a notebook with Vista HP pre-installed. The notebook has given me
quite a bit of trouble. The company repaired the hardware issues, but
there
are some pre-installed apps that the company puts on there that are still
giving me problems. I would like to perform a CLEAN install of Vista
WITHOUT
any of the proprietary JUNK that came with the notebook. Unfortunately, I
did
not receive a Windows DVD with my notebook - just a RECOVEY Disk.

[how to do this?]

You might want to see what options you are offered when you go through the
recovery process provided by the vendor.

A couple of months ago I obtained a Lenovo X61T (tablet) for evaluation to
see if my POE should provide support for it for our worldwide operations.
There are a lot of things that I detest about Lenovo's software support, but
one pleasant surprise was that the recovery procedure allows the user to
deselect just about all of the so-called "craplets" that vendors seem to
think make their products more attractive to the end user.

As a practical matter this doesn't affect my shop since we build our own
images from raw Microsoft media, but it's nice to know that at least two
vendors (Lenovo, who lets you deselect craplets, and Dell, which brags that
its Vostro line of computers doesn't include them at all) understand the
irritation value of unwanted software.

It doesn't sound like you have a Vostro machine, but depending on the brand
of computer you're using the restore process might already offer the ability
to skip over the craplets.

Joe Morris