XPE, Minlogon and Sdi2hd Deployment

[Guest]

Hey guys, I want to make a Minlogon Image so I can deploy it Using RIS
(Remote Installation Services) of win2k3 server,then use that minlogon to
deploy an image using SDI2HD. Does anyone have any guides, general rules,
suggestions, web sources other than the MS ones.... Thanks!

 

[KM]

Mark,

I don't think there is anywhere how-to for what you are trying to archive.
Some solutions and similar ideas have been discussed in this NG:
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&group=microsoft.public.windowsxp.embedded

A while ago I've done what you described but I was using RBS (Remote Boot Server), not RIS.
RIS actually just brings more issues in to the deployment scheme for XPe.

One tip.. You don't necessarily need to use SDI2HD tool to deploy your main [post-FBA] XPe image. Even more, SDI2HD is a DOS tool so
you can't use it within an Xpe image. However, you can defnitely use SDIMgr to expand an SDI file.

Or instead, within the Minlogon image you can use various tools like diskpart, format, etc. to prepare the target media and then
just xcopy the image from network share to the local storage. Then you shutdown the device and it is ready.

Some more ideas in these threads:
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&c2coff=1&selm=#[email protected]
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&c2coff=1&selm=OobG4#[email protected]

 

[Guest]

KM-

Thanks for your help, I"m going to try the minlogon path, Say I follow the
following...

"Or instead, within the Minlogon image you can use various tools like
diskpart, format, etc. to prepare the target media and then
just xcopy the image from network share to the local storage. Then you
shutdown the device and it is ready."



If I do this, i'd have to use RBS to load an sdi file with the minlogon
image, then I could possibly run some batch scripts to take care of the
format and diskpart. Then I can can use xcopy? (It'd be a win32 dos version
so I wouldn't have to worry about the 8 character naming limit of 16 bit dos
correct?)

Thanks!

-Mark

Mark,

I don't think there is anywhere how-to for what you are trying to archive.
Some solutions and similar ideas have been discussed in this NG:
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&group=microsoft.public.windowsxp.embedded

A while ago I've done what you described but I was using RBS (Remote Boot Server), not RIS.
RIS actually just brings more issues in to the deployment scheme for XPe.

One tip.. You don't necessarily need to use SDI2HD tool to deploy your main [post-FBA] XPe image. Even more, SDI2HD is a DOS tool so
you can't use it within an Xpe image. However, you can defnitely use SDIMgr to expand an SDI file.

Or instead, within the Minlogon image you can use various tools like diskpart, format, etc. to prepare the target media and then
just xcopy the image from network share to the local storage. Then you shutdown the device and it is ready.

Some more ideas in these threads:
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&c2coff=1&selm=#[email protected]
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&c2coff=1&selm=OobG4#[email protected]

--
Regards,
KM, BSquare Corp.

Hey guys, I want to make a Minlogon Image so I can deploy it Using RIS
(Remote Installation Services) of win2k3 server,then use that minlogon to
deploy an image using SDI2HD. Does anyone have any guides, general rules,
suggestions, web sources other than the MS ones.... Thanks!

 

[Slobodan Brcin \(eMVP\)]

Mark,

If I do this, i'd have to use RBS to load an sdi file with the minlogon
image, then I could possibly run some batch scripts to take care of the
format and diskpart. Then I can can use xcopy? (It'd be a win32 dos version
so I wouldn't have to worry about the 8 character naming limit of 16 bit dos
correct?)

Right.

Regards,
Slobodan

 

[KM]

Mark,

Thanks for your help, I"m going to try the minlogon path, Say I follow the
following...

"Or instead, within the Minlogon image you can use various tools like
diskpart, format, etc. to prepare the target media and then
just xcopy the image from network share to the local storage. Then you
shutdown the device and it is ready."



If I do this, i'd have to use RBS to load an sdi file with the minlogon
image, then I could possibly run some batch scripts to take care of the
format and diskpart.
Correct.

Then I can can use xcopy? (It'd be a win32 dos version
so I wouldn't have to worry about the 8 character naming limit of 16 bit dos
correct?)

I guess you meant you are going to make a script and use xcopy with it.
Even through it is a console launch it is a Win32 implementation (not 16 bit). You wouldn't have to worry about the long file names.

Btw, I'd recomend you to use robocopy (Resource Kit) or xxcopy tool instead of just xcopy. They will give you more control and
flexibility over the image copying process. I guess the legal side of using these tools is also ok since you use it only for
deployment purpose and don't have the binaries in the main XPe image runtime.

You have to also make sure that the target media is bootable.
What is your target storage? HDD or CF?
What target FS you are planning to use - FAT, NTFS?
Please be aware that sometimes there are possible some disk geometry problems (if you use diskpart on CF, e.g.).
But you have a DOS tools (fdisk, format, bootprep) to prepare the media first.

--
Regards,
KM, BSquare Corp.

Mark,

I don't think there is anywhere how-to for what you are trying to archive.
Some solutions and similar ideas have been discussed in this NG:
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&group=microsoft.public.windowsxp.embedded

A while ago I've done what you described but I was using RBS (Remote Boot Server), not RIS.
RIS actually just brings more issues in to the deployment scheme for XPe.

One tip.. You don't necessarily need to use SDI2HD tool to deploy your main [post-FBA] XPe image. Even more, SDI2HD is a DOS tool so
you can't use it within an Xpe image. However, you can defnitely use SDIMgr to expand an SDI file.

Or instead, within the Minlogon image you can use various tools like diskpart, format, etc. to prepare the target media and then
just xcopy the image from network share to the local storage. Then you shutdown the device and it is ready.

Some more ideas in these threads:
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&c2coff=1&selm=#[email protected]
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&c2coff=1&selm=OobG4#[email protected]

--
Regards,
KM, BSquare Corp.

Hey guys, I want to make a Minlogon Image so I can deploy it Using RIS
(Remote Installation Services) of win2k3 server,then use that minlogon to
deploy an image using SDI2HD. Does anyone have any guides, general rules,
suggestions, web sources other than the MS ones.... Thanks!