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Old 07-01-2007   #7 (permalink)
cquirke (MVP Windows shell/user)


 
 

Re: Vista Boot Files

On Sun, 01 Jul 2007 01:06:58 GMT, ("Darrell Gorter[MSFT]") wrote:

>The real question here is what do you want the boot disk to be able to do?
>People usually have specific ideas about what a boot disk is and what they
>want to do with it.


Oh please, can I jump in here?

I'd like a boot disk from which I can maintain Vista systems, i.e.
pull data off them, test their hard drives via HD Tune, scan for
malware and so on.

I've got the WAIK and have made a generic WinPE 2.0 CDR with that, and
I've used the generic OEM Vista DVD and am glad it can boot into a
maintenance OS command prompt.

I'm also glad I can eject the boot CDR or DVD and use other optical
disks, as well as hot-swap USB sticks and storage.

But I haven't been able to run arbitrary programs effectively, even
when these don't require "installation", as I've been able to do with
Bart PE for XP. I can swap CDs and run the Bart CDR's UI (a pop-up
menu, rather like Start) but most tools don't take.

This is for 32-bit Vista; 64-bit is worse, as the DVD's mOS mode won't
run 32-bit apps at all.

Where I can I read up on:
- why apps don't work (i.e. is it an "admin rights" thing?)?
- how to integrate apps into WinPE 2.0?

Seems a lot harder than Bart's .inf/XML system, which was hard enough
:-)

Example apps I want to run, are:
- www.hdtune.com
- Trend SysClean
- various 32-bit CLI scanners
- www.nirsoft.net tools

I know that registry-aware tools would need something like RunScanner
(a plugin for Bart). Is there such a thing for Vista?



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