Clone XP embedded with EWF enabled

[Dietmar]

Hey

I look for a Solution to clone a XP embedded Image with
EWF enabled!1:1 Copy from the Harddisk!

My Steps are:

- I build a Runtime Image with the Target designer
- I copy the Files to the Target System
- I start my Target System at FBA start
- I wait until the Messagebox "Maschine resealed!Click OK
to reboot" and then I clone my Image with Northon Ghost!
- Now I can clone this Image on every Target System with
the same Hardware!
- But I must install all my other Software after this
Process
- What I want is a Image with my hole Installation that I
can clone on ever Target System and the Image shoud be so
small as possible I mean without the EWF Partition because
Ghost can´t compressing the EWF Partition and after the
cloning I have no access to the EWF Partition!
I checked and the EWF partition is there. When I
run "ewfmgr c:" I still
get: Failed getting protected volume configuration with
error 1.



Is it posible to build the EWF partition after I install
my other Software because if I make a Image of my hole
Harddisk with EWF Partition is enabled it is very large
and it doesn t work!

mfg
Dietmar

 

[Heidi Linda]

This is what I do, though it may not be suitable for what
you want.
I run the first part of FBA on a hard drive, and then copy
these files off onto our network.
I then copy this onto however many CF cards I need it on.
When they are booted, they reseal themselves, reboot, then
on first booting as finished systems, a RUN key launches a
batch file which deals with all the configuration the
boxes require, including enabling the EWF and then removes
itself from the registry before rebooting. You then have a
collection of unique, configured boxes which you didn't
need to do anything to. You can set them up to have, say,
unique IP addresses, simply by changing the batch file on
each one - or you can leave them all the same.

 

[Doug Hoeffel]

Dietmar:

First off, I use XPe SP1 with RAM-based EWF deploying to HD's so I can't
speak for CF. I'll leave that to others... ;-)

I have done this with Ghost but it wasn't a off-the-shelf retail version of
Ghost. To make a VERY long story short, search old posts about this since I
know some time back I explained how I do this. The key with Ghost is the
switches SZEE and FDSP. From what I recall, these switches did not work in
Ghost V6.5 or V7.5 but I haven't tried it in a while. Maybe some one can
correct me on this. For example, I create a ghost image of my master disk
that has had fba run, all my other 3rd party s/w applications loaded, and
the EWF partition. Then when I deploy, I use the following bat file:

ghost -clone,mode=load,src=cae2_v4,dst=1,szee -fdsp -batch

The key after ghosting when having cloned the EWF partition is that the EWF
will be enabled. You need to do a -commitanddisable and reboot. This will
disable the EWF so that you can tweak further.

Also, look into the PowerQuest products since I think that this s/w can also
clone the EWF partition.

I know that people say that RAM-based EWF still works with no EWF partition
but there are caveats. I like to disable, enable, and commit whenever I
want, and my deployment process allows this.

HTH... Doug
Hey

I look for a Solution to clone a XP embedded Image with
EWF enabled!1:1 Copy from the Harddisk!

My Steps are:

- I build a Runtime Image with the Target designer
- I copy the Files to the Target System
- I start my Target System at FBA start
- I wait until the Messagebox "Maschine resealed!Click OK
to reboot" and then I clone my Image with Northon Ghost!
- Now I can clone this Image on every Target System with
the same Hardware!
- But I must install all my other Software after this
Process
- What I want is a Image with my hole Installation that I
can clone on ever Target System and the Image shoud be so
small as possible I mean without the EWF Partition because
Ghost can´t compressing the EWF Partition and after the
cloning I have no access to the EWF Partition!
I checked and the EWF partition is there. When I
run "ewfmgr c:" I still
get: Failed getting protected volume configuration with
error 1.



Is it posible to build the EWF partition after I install
my other Software because if I make a Image of my hole
Harddisk with EWF Partition is enabled it is very large
and it doesn t work!

mfg
Dietmar

 

[Slobodan Brcin]

Hi Doug,

I know that people say that RAM-based EWF still works with no EWF partition
but there are caveats. I like to disable, enable, and commit whenever I
want, and my deployment process allows this.

Only command that does not work is disable, but instead you could use
commitanddisable it is similar to disable but it will also commit current
changes.
So if you don't need to disable protection and then reset device then
commitanddisable will do the job.

You can configure EWF from TD so EWF partition is never created. RAM EWF
will work perfectly without it, but it can protect only one partition (this
should not be a problem in most cases).

Best regards,
Slobodan

 

[Slobodan Brcin]

I must admit that I don't understand what you are trying to accomplish with
all steps you mentioned. You design could be good or bad I don't know, and I
wont talk you out of it.

Is it posible to build the EWF partition after I install
my other Software because if I make a Image of my hole
Harddisk with EWF Partition is enabled it is very large
and it doesn t work!

Like Heidi said to me: "I was not in any way suggesting that anyone else set
their system up exactly as I have mine, I assume they have the intelligence
to adjust what I have done to fit their own needs."
Very good sentence, since I'll give you complete opposite solution from
solution that I use if you are using disk based overlay.

1. You can keep disk overlay disabled by default, until you finish with
installations.
2. Then in registry change FBAWasHere to zero.
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\WindowsEmbedded\FBA\4293918
722]
"FBAWasHere"=dword:00000000
If number 4293918722 changes search for ConfigureEwf so you will find reg
entry.
3. Copy image to other device.
4. Start fba.exe.

This should use FBA to restart EWF partition creation process.
Probably all this could be replaced by calling dll function ConfigureEwf,
but this is not an issue.

So most likely this can be done, I have not tried this, but it should work.

I prefer RAM EWF, you probably have good reason why you want to use Disk
EWF. So you have choices, better more than one instead of none.

Just to mention that all of this can be avoided if you componentized
everything that you will use.

Best regards,
Slobodan

 

[Heidi]

Hi Doug,


Only command that does not work is disable, but instead you could use
commitanddisable it is similar to disable but it will also commit current
changes.
So if you don't need to disable protection and then reset device then
commitanddisable will do the job.

Thing is that in my application - and I assume I'm not unique in this -
committing is something which we very definitely don't want. Not only
does committing result in unwanted data written permanently to the
drive, but it causes problems for some applications which are started
automatically. If the image is committed, the working state of these
applications is saved, which in some cases means they cannot restart on
a reboot.

 

[dietmar]

Hi Heidi

Thank you for this Tip.
It help me a little bit.
Is it possible that you send me a example of this batch
File witch with you set the Settings after the clone
Prozess!

mfg
Dietmar

-----Original Message-----
This is what I do, though it may not be suitable for what
you want.
I run the first part of FBA on a hard drive, and then copy
these files off onto our network.
I then copy this onto however many CF cards I need it on.
When they are booted, they reseal themselves, reboot, then
on first booting as finished systems, a RUN key launches

a

batch file which deals with all the configuration the
boxes require, including enabling the EWF and then removes
itself from the registry before rebooting. You then have

a

 

[dietmar]

Thank you Slobodan

This is a Solution that should solve my Problem!

mfg
dietmar

-----Original Message-----
I must admit that I don't understand what you are trying to accomplish with
all steps you mentioned. You design could be good or bad I don't know, and I
wont talk you out of it.

Is it posible to build the EWF partition after I install
my other Software because if I make a Image of my hole
Harddisk with EWF Partition is enabled it is very large
and it doesn t work!

Like Heidi said to me: "I was not in any way suggesting that anyone else set
their system up exactly as I have mine, I assume they have the intelligence
to adjust what I have done to fit their own needs."
Very good sentence, since I'll give you complete opposite solution from
solution that I use if you are using disk based overlay.

1. You can keep disk overlay disabled by default, until you finish with
installations.
2. Then in registry change FBAWasHere to zero.
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001 \Control\WindowsEmbedded\FBA\4293918
722]
"FBAWasHere"=dword:00000000
If number 4293918722 changes search for ConfigureEwf so you will find reg
entry.
3. Copy image to other device.
4. Start fba.exe.

This should use FBA to restart EWF partition creation process.
Probably all this could be replaced by calling dll function ConfigureEwf,
but this is not an issue.

So most likely this can be done, I have not tried this, but it should work.

I prefer RAM EWF, you probably have good reason why you want to use Disk
EWF. So you have choices, better more than one instead of none.

Just to mention that all of this can be avoided if you componentized
everything that you will use.

Best regards,
Slobodan


.

 

[Heidi Linda]

Well ours is pretty specific to what we're doing, but if
you tell me what you want to do - the email is valid - I
can send you a custom one. Ours relies on a couple of
custom components, which you may or may not need.

 

[Slobodan Brcin]

You can try this also on target machine, but i don't know
if it will work.

rundll32 ewfdll.dll,ConfigureEwf

Slobodan

-----Original Message-----
Thank you Slobodan

This is a Solution that should solve my Problem!

mfg
dietmar

-----Original Message-----
I must admit that I don't understand what you are

trying
to accomplish with

all steps you mentioned. You design could be good or

bad
I don't know, and I

wont talk you out of it.


Like Heidi said to me: "I was not in any way suggesting that anyone else set
their system up exactly as I have mine, I assume they have the intelligence
to adjust what I have done to fit their own needs."
Very good sentence, since I'll give you complete

opposite
solution from

solution that I use if you are using disk based overlay.

1. You can keep disk overlay disabled by default, until you finish with
installations.
2. Then in registry change FBAWasHere to zero.
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001 \Control\WindowsEmbedded\FBA\4293918
722]
"FBAWasHere"=dword:00000000
If number 4293918722 changes search for ConfigureEwf so you will find reg
entry.
3. Copy image to other device.
4. Start fba.exe.

This should use FBA to restart EWF partition creation process.
Probably all this could be replaced by calling dll function ConfigureEwf,
but this is not an issue.

So most likely this can be done, I have not tried this, but it should work.

I prefer RAM EWF, you probably have good reason why you want to use Disk
EWF. So you have choices, better more than one instead

of

none.

Just to mention that all of this can be avoided if you componentized
everything that you will use.

Best regards,
Slobodan


.

.

 

[Doug Hoeffel]

Sobodan:

Previously I also tried the reg tweak of setting FBAWasHere to 0 for
ConfigureEWF so I wouldn't have to ghost the EWF partition. The problem I
ran into was that when I would deploy and fba would run again the EWF
partition would not always get recreated. I've got old posts that discuss
this. Since this method was not stable and reliable, I now Ghost the EWF
partition and do the commitanddisable. This works all time ;-)

HTH... Doug

I must admit that I don't understand what you are trying to accomplish with
all steps you mentioned. You design could be good or bad I don't know, and I
wont talk you out of it.

Is it posible to build the EWF partition after I install
my other Software because if I make a Image of my hole
Harddisk with EWF Partition is enabled it is very large
and it doesn t work!

Like Heidi said to me: "I was not in any way suggesting that anyone else set
their system up exactly as I have mine, I assume they have the intelligence
to adjust what I have done to fit their own needs."
Very good sentence, since I'll give you complete opposite solution from
solution that I use if you are using disk based overlay.

1. You can keep disk overlay disabled by default, until you finish with
installations.
2. Then in registry change FBAWasHere to zero.
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\WindowsEmbedded\FBA\4293918
722]
"FBAWasHere"=dword:00000000
If number 4293918722 changes search for ConfigureEwf so you will find reg
entry.
3. Copy image to other device.
4. Start fba.exe.

This should use FBA to restart EWF partition creation process.
Probably all this could be replaced by calling dll function ConfigureEwf,
but this is not an issue.

So most likely this can be done, I have not tried this, but it should work.

I prefer RAM EWF, you probably have good reason why you want to use Disk
EWF. So you have choices, better more than one instead of none.

Just to mention that all of this can be avoided if you componentized
everything that you will use.

Best regards,
Slobodan

 

[Doug Hoeffel]

Yes, I do the commitanddisable.

How do you use TD to configure the RAM-based EWF without the partition being
created?

.... Doug

 

[Scott Kelly]

Dietmar,

I run a similar situation. Here is what I do:

1- Use target designer to set up OS image. I am using EWF disk based and I
set TD to NOT start EWF. I also set TD to not reseal the system You set the
cmiResealPhase to 0. Many documents on MSDN and newsgroup on how to do
that. Set other cmiXxx values to control what happens on reseal.

2- Check and build the image and copy to hard drive.

3- Put hard drive into target device and let it boot. System will go through
most phases of FBA.

4- With EWF still OFF, I install my application and get the system just
perfect. I then enable EWF.
ewfmgr c: -enable
shutdown -r

5- I test my application as this is how the end user will be using it (EWF
Enabled, etc)

6- Once I am happy with my system, I need to reseal it. But to reseal it,
EWF has to be disabled. So I run this batch file (SYSTEM_SEAL.BAT):
copy d:\XPE_Components\fbreseal.exe d:\MyApp /Y
copy d:\MyApp\SimplyFile.txt d:\MyApp\RunOnce.txt
ewfmgr c: -commit
d:\MyApp\FBReseal

By the way, I copy fbreseal from another scratch directory to insure it
exists because I may have to run it more than once. And when you run
fbreseal.exe - the file gets deleted.

7- Once that runs, fbreseal.exe will display a dialog box saying it is ok to
reboot. I click "Ok" and wait for the BIOS screen. When I see my BIOS
screen - I cut power.

8- Disconnect HDD and take it to another PC that has two IDE controllers. I
connect my master drive to IDE0 and my target/destination drive to IDE1. I
then boot off a floppy disk set to run Norton Ghost 2003. Here is the
command I use to auto-clone. Not that you have to use the "-IR" to assure
that the EWF partition gets cloned correctly.

GHOST.EXE -IR -CLONE,mode=COPY,src=1,dst=2,szeE -SURE

I have also turned off all confirmations.

9- Most important....on startup the systems will go through the last phase
of FBA (assing unique SID, etc). Unless you committ those changes via EWF,
it will do that on every reboot. So I have a startup batch file that looks
for the RunOnce.txt file copied above:

if not exist D:\MyApp\RunOnce.txt goto SkipRunOnce
ewfmgr c: -commit
erase D:\MyApp\RunOnce.txt
shutdown -r -t 0
exit
:SkipRunOnce

10- So when each cloned drive is booted, FBA finishes and the system reboots
one more time and then is ready to go.

As an alternative, I could have had the SYSTEM_SEAL.BAT file go ahead and
disable the EWF and then have the startup batch file re-enable it. 6 of
one - half-dozen of the other. I like having EWF enabled so that it provide
maximum protection.

By the way - since my application doesn't need to update the registry or C:
drive files, After the ":SkipRunOnce" above, I have:
ewfmgr c: -restore
so that on each reboot, things go back the way they were when I ship the
units.

For all EWF systems - put swap file on non-protected volume and make sure
auto-defrag is OFF.

Good luck,
Scott

 

[Doug Hoeffel]

Scott:

Very interesting! You use Ghost 2003 with the IR and SZEE switches. I have
never tried to use this version of Ghost.

One question... when you have finished deploying, if you look at your
partitions in Disk Administrator, does the EWF partition show up the same
size as in your master ghost image?

Thanks... Doug

 

[Doug Hoeffel]

I remember seeing this post some time ago.

Thanks for reminding me ;-)
.... Doug

 

[Scott Kelly]

Good question. I never looked.

I just took a look at them and the master and target disks are identical as
far as disk partitions sizes, etc.

Scott