DaRT Plugin

SE projects cannot do everything DART can, e.g. system restore.

I agree to the point that SE projects can't do everything DaRT can. But certainly "System Restore" is not one of them. All SE projects has option to add "Recovery Environment" in "Copy Files" script so i don't really get your point.   

While playing with "Multi WIM", i found a bug - adding "Win8PE_SE_X64" to "Win8.1SE" disc (or the opposite ) via "Multi WIM" script doesn't seems to work. Trying to boot "Win8PE_SE" throws error message about invalid digital signature.
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I would suggest adding "DisbaleIntegrityChecks" option to all secondary entries by default. Even if the secondary WIM files doesn't need that, it won't do harm anyway.

Hi anshad,
On your Reply #8, you seem to use Multi WIM v16

On the latest Multi WIM plugin v18, I added 2 checkbox to do this exactly.
Adjust BCD for Win8/8.1/10 32bit or 64bit to activate, according to the boot.wim selected.


 
With 32bit enabled, it adds "bootmenupolicy legacy" to the BCD entry.
With 64bit enabled, it adds "bootmenupolicy legacy", "NoIntegrityChecks Yes" and "loadoptions DISABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKS" to the BCD entry.

The same is done for the EFI bcd with NoIntegrityChecks and Disable_Integrity_Checks if 64 bit selected, it is not relevant (winload.efi is not patched),  I must remove.
To note, for entries added by MultiWim on EFI bcd, nothing is done currently for unsigned drivers to enable the test mode or not. 

FYI, I am not at home the next few days.

Just tested the new script. Worked great  . 

anshad, I was doing some tests, but please tell me if this should work:

Up to now, I always use win7pese32, win8pese64 and win8.1se64 from usb. To test the Bootice BCD editing stuff, I copied my win8pese64 boot.wim to the harddisk of a laptop ("old" bios, c:\). The idea was to edit the BCD on the harddisk, to add a boot option for the win8pese64 boot.wim.
On the harddisk was Windows 8.1-32. Does the fact that I add a 64bit PE wim to a 32bit OS cause problems? I thought you mentioned that this would be OK (or was that for USB only)? Are there any extra settings I should take care of?

(Before I forget, do we need to tell ChrisR about the empty winload.exe entry?)

Does the fact that I add a 64bit PE wim to a 32bit OS cause problems?

It will work without issues on legacy/MBR mode. It's just like dual booting x86 and x64 versions of full Windows. They share a common BCD store and BOOTMGR.

Btw, UEFI is a totally different story. UEFI firmware is bit specific. You can only boot an x86 PE on a x86 UEFI firmware and x64 PE on a x64 UEFI. All new desktops and laptops usually came with x64 UEFI and almost all of tablet PCs came with x86 UEFI firmware.   

I think the empty Winload.exe entry is done purposefully. Hopefully ChrisR will explain that when he came back from the holidays.

Thanks ashad. That was the question I wanted to ask first, because I can't seem to get it to work:
- Installed 8.1-32ent to p3, boot with Grub4dos (as I normally do - grub on hd, that is)
- Copy my win8pese64 boot.wim to c:\
- Start Bootice 1.3.2/ BCDEdit/ BCD of current system/ Easy mode/ Add/ Wimboot entry/ set locale settings
- Global settings: No integrity checks
- Turn off "Metro boot manager" for both entries, "save current system" on both.

Reboot - Two options: "Windows 8.1 Enterprise" and "Boot from WIM" - select 2nd - Error 000000f. Select 1st instead: OK

I did fiddle around with more options, but instead of mentioning all that here, could you please look at these screenshots and tell me what's needed to make this work? That would be great!

SE projects cannot do everything DART can, e.g. system restore.

I agree to the point that SE projects can't do everything DaRT can. But certainly "System Restore" is not one of them. All SE projects has option to add "Recovery Environment" in "Copy Files" script so i don't really get your point.

Whoops, you are correct, System Restore is in Recovery Environment.  I swear that's a change in the last few years.

Hi Atari800xl

I tested it myself and found what is wrong. You need to copy Boot.sdi file from the "Boot" folder of CD to the "Boot" folder of hard drive. That file is necessary to RAM load WinPE.

I would also recommend disabling "MountPEmedia" script  ( "Build\CdDrive X: Y:" script ). Otherwise it may throw an error since neither a CD nor a USB is present with "CdUSB.Y" tag file. 

Since you mentioned that you use GRUB4DOS as the boot manager, it may worth a try to test booting "WinSE" ISO file via GRUB4DOS. Example menu entry and details are explained in the accompanying readme file of "MountPEmedia" script.

@ChrisR

BOOTICE 2014.11.20 included with latest package is a beta version and it is buggy. Just try "Parts Manage --> Backup Partition Table" and you will see  . "Pauly" seems to released a stable/final version of BOOTICE dated 2014.12.25 and it seems to work fine in my tests.

Anshad,

Thanks for all the new info. Of course, it was a very strange idea for me to throw my Win8PESE64 boot.wim onto my HD, then try to add it to the BCD menu and boot Win8.1-32 and Win8PESE64 from one menu...

But hey, you said:

feel free to ask  .

so I did 

Well, it must be my lucky day, because it worked!! Not only did I add "Boot.sdi" to the HD \Boot folder, but I also set these options with Bootice (Pro mode):
- Bcdstore\Application objects\Boot from Wim\LoadOptionsString: "DISABLE_INTEGRITY_CHECKS"
- Bcdstore\Application objects\Boot from Wim\DisableIntegrityChecks: "True"

At first, I only copied Boot.sdi, after that I still got the winload.exe error, so I guessed I'd better look at the Win8.1SE script, and try to do the same modifications it does for USB and dp them to the local BCD.
I thought only the LoadOptionsString would be enough (it wasn't), then I tried both, and it worked! I must admit it was partly guesswork, but I must say it's starting to make some sense now... Well, maybe somebody can explain why we need to have both "string=disable" and "disable=true". Isn't that like telling your kids to "chore=cleanuproom" and "roomcleaning=true"?

Again, this was kind of a strange project to start with, but I'm learning a LOT of new stuff!! As you said, it would be better to mount the ISO with Grub4Dos in the first place, but that's a whole different story.

Thanks so much for all your help!!

Well, maybe somebody can explain why we need to have both "string=disable" and "disable=true". Isn't that like telling your kids to "chore=cleanuproom" and "roomcleaning=true"?

Only two people can answer that question. First one is the almighty god himself and second one is the dump programmer at Microsoft who is in charge of coding boot manager  .

Again, this was kind of a strange project to start with, but I'm learning a LOT of new stuff!!

There is some advantages to add WinSE to system BCD. It can be used as an emergency recovery tool or even as an emergency OS to access net when Windows decided to not boot one day. It's completely up to your imagination  .

Back from holiday, Happy New Year to all 
I will try to read step by step, slowly, the new post

BOOTICE 2014.11.20 included with latest package is a beta version and it is buggy. Just try "Parts Manage --> Backup Partition Table" and you will see  . "Pauly" seems to released a stable/final version of BOOTICE dated 2014.12.25 and it seems to work fine in my tests.

Thank you, I had not seen it was a beta, I've updated the plugin with BootIce v1.33 2014.12.25 Inside 

About the BCD path  = \windows\system32\boot\winload.exe(.efi) not specified by the Multi-Wim plugin.
I use it for a long time without noticing the missing entries.
Win7,8 or 8.1PE starts carefree without this entry, it seems indeed that the boot manager detect and load the right files alone.
I do not know if it was done voluntarily by 2aCD for whatever reason!
However, It is probably better to write the "Boot file" in bcd to winload.exe and the efi bcd to winload.efi as done by Ms. I will add it.

Hey Everyone!

I think i may have a easier solution for adding DaRT to Win8.1 SE. Download the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack and install DaRT 8.1 from the ISO. After installing DaRT on a 8.1 based machine, you can browse to "C:\Program Files\Microsoft DaRT 8\v8" find all the needed files except for 1. Inside the v8 Folder you will find the Toolsx64.cab, Toolsx86.cab,  Defenderx64, Defenderx86. You can extract the .cab files like a ZIP file with your compression program of choice(I use Peazip and 7Z). These are all the files that are needed in the Boot.wim to work properly.

After extracting both the x86 and x64 versions of these files, i use the "Additional Files" Plugin under "Components" that allows you to copy the files into the Boot.wim every build with separate folders for x86 and x64.

There is 1 file that is created during the build process of making dart through the normal DaRT Recovery Image program that is needed in order for any of the dart tools to function. It is called DartConfig.dat and located in the Windows\System32 folder in the Boot.wim that DaRT recovery image makes for you. You will need to create a DartConfig.dat for both x64 and x86 at least once.

TLDR version

Install Dart
Extract Toolsx64 or x86 with 7z
Make a DaRT Recovery Image ISO
Mount the Boot.wim with DISM or ImageX
Copy the DartConfig.dat from Windows\System32 into the Folders you extracted the Tools.x64 into
You can than copy all the Files from Toolsx64 + Dartconfig.dat into the Folders provided by the Components>Additional Files Plugin.
Make sure the "Add Recovery Environment" box is checked during build

After you are done building your WinPE ISO you can launch DaRT by searching for System Recovery and Clicking on TroubleShoot with the Wrench Icon.

I use this method for my Win8.1SE, PE in RAM, with ISO from 8.1 with Update source media. I have been able to use every single tool except the Remote Connection tool which is actually VERY useful :-)

Hope this helps!