Mounting disks on a wim

Well another little bit changed in windows great is mounting wim files.  A wim (Windows Imaging File Format)  is the type of file that stores an entire hard disk.  Sometimes these need to be edited to insert files that will be copied to the hard disk during install.  Back in the day we used to use a program called imageX.  I don't think Malcolm had anything to do with it.  In 8 we will use the DISM (Deployment Image Servicing and Management) utility.

basic syntax is:
dism /Mount-Image /ImageFile:c:\users\cclose\desktop\image\factory.wim /index:1 /MountDir:c:\users\cclose\desktop\image\Mount
dism /Commit-Image /MountDir:c:\users\cclose\desktop\image\Mount

Here's a link to more information from Microsoft.
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh824814.aspx

MBR issues - Don't do this unless you know what you are doing!!!

Drive letters in WinPe will probably be different from what you see in windows - that is normal.

I would delete the bcd store and run the commands again. Yes you should be pointing them at the reserved system partition .

Otherwise, at cmd prompt, type:

diskpart

lis vol

( Look to see the drive letter for your main windows partition - if it is D then type as below, otherwise replace D with the letter diskpart gives for the main windows partition)

sel vol d

act

exi

bcdboot d:\windows /s d:

bootsect /nt60 all /mbr

restart the pc - you're good.

Need to know?

Want a quick way to see what ports are listening on your computer?

get to a cmd prompt and type
   netstat -ao |find /i "listening"

I had a customer accidentally turn on the server firewall.  I used this command to find what was listening and then I used the firewall log to see what was dropped.  Then you can open the ports you need to use for your clients to communicate.

Active Sync & Exchange 2010

Are you trying to setup a new ActiveSync device?  You may see Event ID 1053 in the event log that states
" Exchange ActiveSync doesn't have sufficient permissions to create the "CN=common name,OU=Staff,OU=Corp,DC=Domain,DC=local" container under Active Directory user "Active Directory operation failed on DC01.Domain.local. This error is not retriable. Additional information: Access is denied.

Active directory response: 00000005: SecErr: DSID-031521D0, problem 4003 (INSUFF_ACCESS_RIGHTS), data 0"

 

If so, please check the following in your active directory:

1. Open the Active Directory Users and Computers and go to “View” and select “Advanced Features”
2. After that, find the user who is not able to use the ActiveSync, Right Click, Click "Properties", and go to “Security” tab then click “Advanced”…
3. Then just check the ckeck-box “Include inheritable permissions from this object’s parent” and click OK to close all the other windows…
4. After this, the user should be able to connect to the server using ActuveSync with no problems…

Setting Server 2008r2 as authoritative time server

First, you need to locate the server with the PDC role. Open the command prompt and type:
netdom /query fsmo
   Look for the PDC line

Log in to your PDC server and open the command prompt.

Now Stop the W32Time service:
net stop w32time

Configure the external time sources, copy and paste:
w32tm /config /syncfromflags:manual /manualpeerlist:"0.pool.ntp.org, 1.pool.ntp.org, 2.pool.ntp.org"

If it does not work the first time you paste you may need to replace the " marks.  So just hit the up arrow from the command line and delete the marks and put them back.

Now it's time to make the PDC a reliable time source for the clients:
w32tm /config /reliable:yes

Start the w32time service:
net start w32time

Check the external time server configuration by typing:
w32tm /query /configuration

DHCP migration - Fast and easy!

A friend show me a fast and easy way to migrate a DHCP server with all scope options and settings.  Thanks KB!

Go to your existing DHCP Server and open a command prompt.
Copy and paste the following command.
   netsh dhcp server dump > DHCPsetting.txt

This will dump all your settings into a text document.  You can now copy the document over to the new server.

Now go to your new DHCP server and add the DHCP server role to the server.  Open the text document and use the replace feature to replace the old ip address with the new one.  (don't forget about changing your ip helpers)  Once the find and replace is finished select all the text and copy it to the clipboard.

Finally open a command prompt and type netsh
Now all you need to do is paste all the text from the clipboard and voila your server is up and running.

Now is the time to confirm your new server is authorized and your old server deauthorized.

But wait, there are a bunch of devices out there with ip addresses.  Never fear captain reboot is here.  I prefer to bounce (reboot) the network switches.  So this is also a good time to make sure your ip helper addresses are correct in those switches.  Make sure the configuration is saved!!!  It shouldn't take very long and this is something you probably should be doing after hours anyhow.

DNS - All you can eat

Need a quick list of whats in the DNS server?

bring up your CLI and type
nslookup
>ls -d domain.local
        replace domain.local with your domain name.

Driver Injection

Umm just mount the wim and then copy the inf files to Windows\Inf folder

　

1) Create a folder on your workstation's C: drive (call it PE). Create a subfolder called Mount.

2) Copy the WIM from the server to your C:\PE folder.

3) From a CMD window run the following command: C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\x86>imagex /mountrw c:\pe\boot.wim 1 c:\pe\mount

4) Next, make sure you have the drivers you want to integrate unpacked and local on your workstation.

5) Run the following command to integrate those drivers:

C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools>peimg /inf=C:\Driver\driver.inf c:\pe\mount <<= replace Driver\driver.inf with the absolute path to your INF.

6) Make sure the command shows successful then run the following command:

C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\x86>imagex /unmount /commit c:\pe\boot

7) If that's successful then you can copy back the WIM to the server and restart WDS (you may need to stop WDS before you can copy it back.

peimg /inf=C:\Driver\driver.inf c:\pe\mount

As ( bad ) luck would have it, guide after guide (even direct from Microsoft) have you load the driver using:
•imagex /mountrw yourwimpath\boot.wim 1 yourmountpath\yourmountfolder


The problem is that there are two images in the boot.wim, and you need to select the second one to inject the drivers into:
•imagex /mountrw yourwimpath\boot.wim 2 yourmountpath\yourmountfolder

After some searching, I have found references to this on the Internet, and even on Microsoft’s website. It all depends on which documentation you are following. If you get the right one, you are fine. If not, well, you go slowly insane as you try over and over to inject new drivers, and try it again.


Bottom line: if you are creating a custom Windows PE image, then you do want to mount image 1. If you are using WDS to deploy an OS, it is image 2 that needs the drivers.

TMS Java woes

To fix TMS Java errors add an environment variable called "_JAVA_OPTIONS" and setting its value to "-Dsun.java2d.d3d=false"? Then restart your browser, and you should be fine.

Local Groups?

"net localgroup" is one of my favorites for adding, deleting, or checking who's in the local administrators group

Control Stuff

You can use "control [item]" to bring up the control panel items. "control system" brings up the system properties, "control printers" brings up devices and printers.