WinPE not in eval version of XPe?

[Gerry Green]

OK,

Now I'm actually starting the process by going through a test cycle of
generating and deploying an image.

First thing MS says to do is boot WinPE and run TAP.EXE on the target thin
client to to get the hardware config. It says:
"First, set up your bare metal computer with all of the peripherals you
intend the final device to have. Next, insert Windows XP Embedded
installation disc 1 into the CD-ROM drive of the target computer and boot to
WinPE. When the computer is in the WinPE environment, navigate to the \XPE
directory and run TAP.exe with the following parameters to save the
devices.PMQ file to a floppy drive:"

Now, I downloaded the *eval* copy of XPe, and the only place I could find
the install stuff after installation was in C:\Program Files\Windows
Embedded\Installer. The contents of the "Disk1" certainly didn't look like
it had a bootable WinPE in it. The contents were:
Folders:

DOCS
SAMPLES
SQLMSDE
TOOLS
XPE

Files:

AUTORUN.INF
INSTMSIW.EXE
LICENSE AGREEMENT.RTF
productkey.txt
RELEASE NOTES.HTM
SETUP.EXE
STARTCD.INI
win51
win51ip
win51ip.SP2
winbom.ini

But, just in case there was some magic going on (winbom.ini had a reference
to WinPE), I burned a CD-ROM and rebooted. Some message regarding the CD-ROM
flashed on the screen for about a tenth of a second (too quick to actually
read), then it booted from the RAM disk. Just as I expected: no PE.

More reading on the XPe online docs revealed the following:

"Windows PE is included on Disc 1 of the Windows XP Embedded Installation
media or on a separate Windows PE disc, depending depending on whether you
have the Full Price Product or the Upgrade Product."

This seems to state that you get WinPE only when you *buy* XPe. But the
Windows Embedded Developer Center says to use the eval copy to evaluate XPe,
then buy. And all of the online docs on how to evaluate XPe give examples
using PE.

Anybody know for sure if WinPE comes only with the purchased product?
Or did I somehow mess up the installation of the eval version of XPe?

I mean, I can certainly run TAP.EXE from XPe (which I did) to get the
config. The resultant config is bigger than it would be with PE, but no big
deal for eval purposes. But when you get later in the process (copy a
generated image to the target device, or save a resealed image from the
target device to a server), you need either PE, a small Linux service OS, or
a you need to generate a small XPe image to use as a service OS (as KM
suggested in a previous thread).

Thanks in Advance,

Gerry Green

 

[KM]

Gerry,

You will get WinPE on Eval or Full version of the product but you will need to order CDs. I don't know if there is a WinPE iso
available anywhere (but you can check MSDN Subscriptions).

Since you already got "some" PMQ results. I'd suggest you to import it with CD and disable unnecessary services/drivers/etc. in the
import result SLD's "Component or Group Dependency" section. This way you can get as small image as you need leaving only
functionality you want (like TCP/IP network, etc.).
Or, if acceptable, disable there everything you can disable - leave only critical to boot drivers - and than add manually needed
functionality in TD: TCP/IP macro, FS, etc.

 

[Gerry Green]

KM,

Ah. Well. That's better news than I expected. Thanks! Back to MS to order
the eval CDs...
I tried looking for it in the subscriptions site, but had no luck finding
it.

I already copied the .pmq to my development machine over the network, and am
getting ready to import it.
Size isn't a problem right now, but I'll remember this for later use. It
will also come in handy in case I don't get a copy of PE from MS, and I have
to generate a minimal XPe to use as a service OS, as you pointed out.

Thanks,

Gerry

Gerry,

You will get WinPE on Eval or Full version of the product but you will

need to order CDs. I don't know if there is a WinPE iso

available anywhere (but you can check MSDN Subscriptions).

Since you already got "some" PMQ results. I'd suggest you to import it

with CD and disable unnecessary services/drivers/etc. in the

import result SLD's "Component or Group Dependency" section. This way you

can get as small image as you need leaving only

functionality you want (like TCP/IP network, etc.).
Or, if acceptable, disable there everything you can disable - leave only

critical to boot drivers - and than add manually needed

 

[Jordi Giró \(ALVIC\)]

Try with BartPE (find it with google)

Bart's Preinstalled Environment (BartPE) bootable live windows CD/DVD


You only need a WinXP or Win2003 CD and you can "create" a WinPE CD, but I
doesn't know if it is legal to use it.