Unable to see 'Full' File Copy Option in current Win8.1SE

Hello,

I'm currently using the latest version of Win8.1SE (updated 12-25-14), and one thing I'm trying to do is to add packages to the WIM with either DISM or using the 'Install Packages' plug-in, which it would appear requires the 'Full" copy option specified under Build > 1 - Copy Files.  However, even though this is a stock download, the only option I see from the drop-down for 'File Copy' is 'Standard', and there's no Full.  I also have the versions from 10-17-14 and 5-26-14, but have the same problem with those as well. 

I can see in the FAQ from http://theoven.org/index.php?topic=834.0 that this is supposed to be an option, but looking at the latest 1-files.script included with the package, I'm not seeing it.

Does anyone know if this feature was removed, or if there's something I need to do to enable a 'Full' file copy for WinPE?  As it is now, whenever I try adding a package (with either DISM or the 'Install Packages' plug-in), I receive error 0x800f081e saying that "The specified package is not applicable to this image."  The version of Windows I'm using is SW_DVD9_SA_Win_Ent_8.1_32BIT_English_-2_MLF_X19-49843, and if I manually build a boot WIM from this version, I can inject packages into it with DISM with no problems.

I really appreciate all the work done with Win8.1SE - this is an amazing tool, and I'm just trying to figure out how to get past this particular problem right now (I'd like to see if manually installing a few packages will solve another underlying problem I'm seeing with PowerShell, but that's probably more detail than necessary unless anyone is interested in hearing it).

Thank you in advance for any help you can provide!

Hi

Currently "Win8.1SE" has only "Standard" file copy available but "Win8PE_SE" has "Full" option available. Have you tried "Power shell with "Win8PE_SE" ?.

Hi anshad,

I haven't tried anything with Win8PE_SE yet, as I was hoping to use 8.1 if at all possible, but I can certainly give it a shot just to see if it works.

Before I posted this message, I did actually try hacking some of the lines from the 1-files.script contained within the Win8PE_SE project into the one for 8.1, so that I could see the 'Full' copy option, and I was able to inject a package after doing that, but for some reason, I couldn't actually get the WinPE produced to boot - it would just begin loading, and before I would see a desktop or the login indicator for Administrator, it would just reboot.

Just out of curiosity, do you know if there is any intention to add the 'Full' copy option into Win8.1SE, or why it is not an option in that build?

Thank you for the help!

Just out of curiosity, do you know if there is any intention to add the 'Full' copy option into Win8.1SE, or why it is not an option in that build?

Hopefully ChrisR will answer that when he came back from holidays. To my understanding, "Win8.1SE" is fundamentally different from other SE projects. MS seems to take a lot of steps to prevent adding explorer to a PE and using it as an alternate OS. A notable issue ( among others ) is fully locked taskbar.

To overcome the new limitations, "Win8.1SE" builds a highly stripped down version of 8.1 which will run as "Administrator" instead of "System" account like other PE disks. To be short, the default "OS in RAM" mode of "8.1SE" is not a real PE but a miniature version of Windows 8.1 itself.

 There is a PE mode in "8.1SE" builder but usually it is not recommended due to the limitations. I personally prefer "Win8PE_SE" because it has support for newer hardware features like "USB 3.0" , "SecureBoot" etc and compatible with most modern systems just like "8.1SE" . Besides it's a real PE running as "System" and can be easily serviced using DISM.

Btw, "OS in RAM" mode of "8.1SE" has some unique advantages. One example is native network and wireless support. Network support will be up and running when the boot completes and you can connect to WiFi networks via native Win8.1 GUI. There is no need to even run "PENetwork". There is also workarounds available to overcome the limitations of "Administrator" account. You can run any apps under "System" rights by right clicking on it and choose "Run as System". 

That's good to know, thank you for the detailed explanation.

The native network and wireless support in 8.1 is one of my favorite features - does Win8PE_SE have that as well?

The native network and wireless support in 8.1 is one of my favorite features - does Win8PE_SE have that as well?

No, it's exclusive to "Win8.1SE". However "PENetwork" can be used to connect to WiFi in all other SE projects and Gena.