XPe recover cd

[BattleAngel444]

Hi Gang

So i have an image to deploy now, but i don't know exactly how to mass
deplay this image to test machines. What my company wants is a nice cd
(recovery cd) that you can stick in to out pc. and from there the box
with be reformat the HD and put our custom XPe image in the proper
partitions. Basicly this is like any recovery cd one gets when they
order a pc now a days. so i know it s possible but what i don t know
are the exact steps and tools that are used. can i leverage win PE?

Situation right now:

what i have now
Dev machine:
+dual boot partion 1: main os for dev't partition 2 bootable test
image.

what i need/want:
bootable cd that will install test image on to local test machine
the cd should reformat the HD and copy over custom xpe image and boot.
done some reading and it seemslike i should use norton ghost to
accomplis this. but one question that arrise from that is how do i get
to the point where i would ghost. would i install XP on the test
machine then partition the drive so that i could copy over my cutom xpe
image and then delete the main partion and then ghost? seems like
there should be a better solution to create a full recover cd.

Thanks again BA 4^3

 

[KM]

BattleAngel444,

Yes, you can use Win PE. Although, personally, I prefer a small XPE image option where you have more control on how to set up the
image itself and the recovery/[re-]imaging procedure.

Within the small image you can use the command line tools to automate the target machine preparation.
Use tools like diskpart, format, etc. to partition and format the drives.
You can connect to network (if proper network stack is included) and copy over the image down to the devices. Or you can copy the
image over from a local source (CD, USB, etc.).

For copying the image you can use xcopy/xxcopy/robocopy tools.
Or, you can implement that with SDI file which you expand on the target partitions with SDIMgr script.

Ghost is also an option there.

Read more about different approaches in this NG archive:
http://groups-beta.google.com/group...ublic.windowsxp.embedded&q=recovery+CD&qt_g=1

 

[Guest]

You also might want to look at the Microsoft Windows XP Embedded Service Pack
1 (SP1) Resource Guide available here:
http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=884374
See pages 67-70.

Regards, Dan

BattleAngel444,

Yes, you can use Win PE. Although, personally, I prefer a small XPE image option where you have more control on how to set up the
image itself and the recovery/[re-]imaging procedure.

Within the small image you can use the command line tools to automate the target machine preparation.
Use tools like diskpart, format, etc. to partition and format the drives.
You can connect to network (if proper network stack is included) and copy over the image down to the devices. Or you can copy the
image over from a local source (CD, USB, etc.).

For copying the image you can use xcopy/xxcopy/robocopy tools.
Or, you can implement that with SDI file which you expand on the target partitions with SDIMgr script.

Ghost is also an option there.

Read more about different approaches in this NG archive:
http://groups-beta.google.com/group...ublic.windowsxp.embedded&q=recovery+CD&qt_g=1


--
KM,
BSquare Corp.
www.bsquare.com

Hi Gang

So i have an image to deploy now, but i don't know exactly how to mass
deplay this image to test machines. What my company wants is a nice cd
(recovery cd) that you can stick in to out pc. and from there the box
with be reformat the HD and put our custom XPe image in the proper
partitions. Basicly this is like any recovery cd one gets when they
order a pc now a days. so i know it s possible but what i don t know
are the exact steps and tools that are used. can i leverage win PE?

Situation right now:

what i have now
Dev machine:
+dual boot partion 1: main os for dev't partition 2 bootable test
image.

what i need/want:
bootable cd that will install test image on to local test machine
the cd should reformat the HD and copy over custom xpe image and boot.
done some reading and it seemslike i should use norton ghost to
accomplis this. but one question that arrise from that is how do i get
to the point where i would ghost. would i install XP on the test
machine then partition the drive so that i could copy over my cutom xpe
image and then delete the main partion and then ghost? seems like
there should be a better solution to create a full recover cd.

Thanks again BA 4^3

 

[BattleAngel444]

Thanks you for all the help... soooo is it possible to have custom
windows PE with a directory of my custom XPe image to autoboot without
a prompt and possibly have a bat file parition and format the disk and
once that is done copy over my custom XPe image? how does that sound?

 

[KM]

BattleAngel444,

Yes, it is all possible with WinPE. However, to customze WinPE environment you will need to get Microsoft OPK package.

Again, in most cases it is much easier to create, customize and deploy XPe image. This XPe image can even be as general as possible
to boot (off a CD, e.g.) on all x86 machine with the same HAL.

 

[BattleAngel444]

Morning KM

The resaon for my questions has production in mind. and how we would
deploy our custum XPe image inhouse and if osmething goes wrong in the
field how would they reinstall software. The win PE was just thinking
with a production stand point. So if we are in the same boat i can
make a bootable XPe that will partition the hard drives and then
essentailly install (copy over) our custom XPe image on the cd as well.
much like a recovery cd with a computer?

sorry this is all new to me and i am trying to read up as much as i can
Tools needed:
+ el torito (to make XPe bootable on cd)
+ sytem clone tool (for unique sytem names)
+ EWF ram ( for custum XPe image write protection)
+ custom bat file (to auto run on cd to format and copy over custom
image)

questions:
If memory serves me correctly there need to be a speicail setting to
EWF to run el torito.. will that confilct with my custom image that
already has ewf?

or will i end up making 2 XPe images... 1) custum XPe for our product
and 2) custom XPe to install and set up our devices?

again Thanks for all the help
-BA 4^3

 

[KM]

BattleAngel444,

The resaon for my questions has production in mind. and how we would
deploy our custum XPe image inhouse and if osmething goes wrong in the
field how would they reinstall software. The win PE was just thinking
with a production stand point. So if we are in the same boat i can
make a bootable XPe that will partition the hard drives and then
essentailly install (copy over) our custom XPe image on the cd as well.
much like a recovery cd with a computer?

Yes, that is what I was refering to as the recovery CD.

sorry this is all new to me and i am trying to read up as much as i can
Tools needed:
+ el torito (to make XPe bootable on cd)
+ sytem clone tool (for unique sytem names)
+ EWF ram ( for custum XPe image write protection)
+ custom bat file (to auto run on cd to format and copy over custom image)

Yup. And keepin mind that the image that includes the components listed above can be very small (<20Mb).
It would be a bit larger (>30Mb) if you wanted to add some limitted network support.

questions:
If memory serves me correctly there need to be a speicail setting to
EWF to run el torito.. will that confilct with my custom image that
already has ewf?

No special settings for EWF except that it will be EWF RAM (more pricicely - EWF RAM Reg) mode.
What conflicts may be there if we are talking about different (from your main image) OS? You just boot to that small XPe image from
CD.

or will i end up making 2 XPe images... 1) custum XPe for our product
and 2) custom XPe to install and set up our devices?

I'd strongly recommend #2 (and that is what I was referring to above).
However, it may still be possible to have only one image for both but may appear to be too much work and will bring some
restrictions to the image size and etc.

KM