Help with Imagex / WinPE / bcdboot

Hyper-Me

I dont know how you're images are booting properly if you are not running bootsect after using ImageX to apply the image.

If using WDS, the bootsect is done for you by WDS, if you are using ImageX manually then the bootsect is required (at least in my experience, don't know how it wouldnt be?).

phoeneous

Hyper-Me wrote: »

if you are using ImageX manually then the bootsect is required (at least in my experience, don't know how it wouldnt be?).

I stricly use ImageX and have never had to use bootsect.

These are the steps that I follow:

Boot with WinPE disk and run the following diskpart commands:

diskpart
select disk 0
clean
create partition primary size=100
select partition 1
format fs=ntfs label=”system”
assign letter=c
active
create partition primary
select partition 2
format fs=ntfs label=”windows”
assign letter=d
exit


Then apply the image. When capturing, the OS partition is referenced with letter so the /apply command looks like e:\imagex /apply f:\images\sysprep_ready_to_deploy.wim 1 d:

Then finish it up with X:\windows\system32\bcdboot d:\windows

After a reboot, the image is there and all is well.

apena7

Correct, I'm only using ImageX to apply images (haven't had the pleasure of setting up WDS yet ).

I was using this tutorial for my lab. Near the bottom of the page, under the heading 'Setting up a system partition' it says how you can apply a WIM file instead of using bcdboot. I figured I'd give that method a try and have been able to successfully image a few laptops I have lying around, but whether I'm inviting some sort of impending doom to my system partitions remains to be seen. Time will tell . I'm sure I'll boot to nice a surprise one day...


Edit: Just read your post phoneous. I'll add my diskpart script as well:

select disk 0
clean
create partition primary size=300
format quick fs=ntfs label="System"
assign letter="S"
active
create partition primary
format quick fs=ntfs label="Windows"
assign letter="C"
exit

phoeneous

apena7 wrote: »

Edit: Just read your post phoneous. I'll add my diskpart script as well:

select disk 0
clean
create partition primary size=300
format quick fs=ntfs label="System"
assign letter="S"
active
create partition primary
format quick fs=ntfs label="Windows"
assign letter="C"
exit

Careful with your lettering though, even though I /apply the image to with WinPE, after the image boots up, the main OS partition is actually C:. When I open diskmgmt, it shows the System partition but without a letter assignment.

apena7

phoeneous wrote: »

Careful with your lettering though, even though I /apply the image to with WinPE, after the image boots up, the main OS partition is actually C:. When I open diskmgmt, it shows the System partition but without a letter assignment.

Thanks. After I applied my images, I was sure to check out Disk Management. Disk 0 shows two partitions, "System (without a drive letter)" and "Windows (C: )" below is a screenshot.

Hyper-Me

Bootsect.exe updates the master boot code for hard disk partitions to switch between BOOTMGR and NTLDR. You can use this tool to restore the boot sector on your computer. This tool replaces FixFAT and FixNTFS.


I guess you only need to do it when switching between those types of boot loaders.

When learning Vista imaging a long time ago I was putting XP images on a box, then Vista, then XP (doing different tests) and I had to use bootsect to make it work. Apparently, I thought I needed this for any image. Although, it obviously doesnt hurt anything to do it anyway.

phoeneous

apena7 wrote: »

Thanks. After I applied my images, I was sure to check out Disk Management. Disk 0 shows two partitions, "System (without a drive letter)" and "Windows (C: )" below is a screenshot.

Nice, thats exactly what mine looks like.

Im curious, did you assign letter="C" to the windows or system partition in diskpart. And did you /apply the image to c: or d

phoeneous

Hyper-Me wrote: »

Bootsect.exe updates the master boot code for hard disk partitions to switch between BOOTMGR and NTLDR. You can use this tool to restore the boot sector on your computer. This tool replaces FixFAT and FixNTFS.


I guess you only need to do it when switching between those types of boot loaders.

When learning Vista imaging a long time ago I was putting XP images on a box, then Vista, then XP (doing different tests) and I had to use bootsect to make it work. Apparently, I thought I needed this for any image. Although, it obviously doesnt hurt anything to do it anyway.

I hate Vista and I'm sure it hates me. But during our initial testing phase at my last job, we used vm's so I there was no need to use bootsect.

apena7

phoeneous wrote: »

Nice, thats exactly what mine looks like.

Im curious, did you assign letter="C" to the windows or system partition in diskpart. And did you /apply the image to c: or d

I should have clarified my process a bit. So I captured the Windows and System partitions from my reference computer, which created two separate WIM files. Using WinPE on my target computer, I then created and labeled two partitions in diskpart - "C" for Windows partition and "S" for the System volume. Next, I applied the WIM files to their respective partitions. I exited from WinPE without entering bootsect or bcdboot commands and was able to reboot normally.

phoeneous

apena7 wrote: »

I should have clarified my process a bit. So I captured the Windows and System partitions from my reference computer, which created two separate WIM files. Using WinPE on my target computer, I then created and labeled two partitions in diskpart - "C" for Windows partition and "S" for the System volume. Next, I applied the WIM files to their respective partitions. I exited from WinPE without entering bootsect or bcdboot commands and was able to reboot normally.

Interesting.

I dont capture the system partition from my reference pc yet I create it in diskpart as C: and after the OS installs, it knows to rename the OS partition to C: as opposed to from diskpart and /apply.

Good to know.

apena7

phoeneous wrote: »

Interesting.

I dont capture the system partition from my reference pc yet I create it in diskpart as C: and after the OS installs, it knows to rename the OS partition to C: as opposed to from diskpart and /apply.

Good to know.

Likewise

altjx

Nice, thank ALL of you for your input. I was very determined to get a customer's PC working without using my own CDs. I had ended up deleting an OS partition, making a Dell recovery partition inaccessible.

After toying around and finding a Factory.wim file, I was determined to make this work.

The bootsect /nt60 C: gave me an "Access is denied." error but after doing bcdboot C:\windows, the boot files were created successfully and I rebooted just fine with the recovery image proceeding as normal.

The only problem I encountered was having two "Microsoft Windows Vista" and "Windows Vista" in the BOOTMGR. Simple way to get rid of it

Again, thanks everyone. Oh, and I'm going take my 70-680 in about 2 weeks, so this was a great experience

Killermac

This is a really excellent thread. It is a real shame that WDS does not work exactly like it should.