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Minimal image to start a command line?


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#1 DocMAX

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Posted 22 March 2012 - 06:07 PM

Hi,

is it possible to create a mini PE image which boots directly to the command line? Similar to MS-DOS, which runs the autoexec.bat in the end?

I need it just to do an image deployment which is very slow in MS-DOS.

Snapshot.exe restore and than reboot...

any ideas?

DocMAX

#2 Wonko the Sane

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Posted 22 March 2012 - 06:31 PM

any ideas?

Lots of them, rest assured. :)

Now if the question is anyone is willing to play this game, this may be another thing.

There is of course no problem whatsoever to have CMD.EXE as the shell, actually if you build a WinPE MS way this is what you get.

A different thing is getting it "minimal" and specifically "very minimal" (two units of measure that need to be defined more exactly) while keeping it compatible with a wide range of hardware (I presume this is also a requisite).

Are you talking of this?
http://www.drivesnapshot.de/en/

Which "base OS" do you have available (like XP/Server2003 -> PE 1.x - Vista :ph34r: /Server 2008 -> Pe 2.x - Windows7/Server2008 R2 ->PE 3.x)?

There are a number of projects that may be suitable for your scope, though the concept of "minimal" is not particularly frequent lately.

:cheers:
Wonko

#3 pscEx

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Posted 22 March 2012 - 06:41 PM

Maybe my reply by several people is again interpreted as OFFTOPIC and SPAM ADVERTISING because you ask in Win7PE forum. :dubbio:
But because you are looking for something DOS-Like, have a look at PicoXP: It needs XP source CD.

Peter

#4 misty

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Posted 22 March 2012 - 07:04 PM

Compared to a DOS boot disk with autoexec.bat and snapshot.exe ALL WinPE projects are likely to be bloated!

There are a number of projects that may be suitable for your scope, though the concept of "minimal" is not particularly frequent lately.


The concept is there - not sure if it's reflected in the projects though!

There is of course no problem whatsoever to have CMD.EXE as the shell, actually if you build a WinPE MS way this is what you get.


My (current) preferred WinPE is version 3.0 - built using the WAIK. It's no lighweight though, coming in at a fighting weight of approximately 135 MB (actual WIM file is approx. 108 MB - WAIK download is sadly 1.66 GB).

It's pretty easy to customise for your purposes and the only steps/edits you would need to make are -
  • mount the wim file
  • add snapshot.exe
  • add your batch
  • edit winpeshl.ini to run your batch
  • unmount wim - saving changes

All of these steps are discussed in ericgl's Create a bootable WinPE 4.0 USB drive. Not sure about the size of a barebones WinPE 4.0 as I haven't built one (yet!).

One clear advantage of using an official WinPE 2.0/2.1/3.0/3.1/4.0 is not needing a source CD - everything required is included with the WAIK download.

But because you are looking for something DOS-Like, have a look at PicoXP: It needs XP source CD.



@pscEx
I tried building this project a few weeks ago but struggled to get it working. This is probably due to my lack of experience with Winbuilder and the share volume of options available.

I plan to (re)explore the project when I get some free time.

Regards,

Misty

#5 DocMAX

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Posted 22 March 2012 - 07:10 PM

Are you talking of this?
http://www.drivesnapshot.de/en/


YES
i need a solution for full speed SATA transfer.

Edited by DocMAX, 22 March 2012 - 07:11 PM.


#6 steve6375

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Posted 22 March 2012 - 07:15 PM

This may be of interest. It details using ImageX, but you can use any backup tool that will run under WinPE v2/3.
The nice thing about WinPE 2/3 is that you can easily add network drivers and then copy the backup file to any share on your network or even restore directly from a network share.
If you want a linux based 'restore USB/DVD' using partimage say, try Finnix - see my tutorial here (though it has changed a bit since I last used it).

#7 pscEx

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Posted 22 March 2012 - 07:32 PM

@pscEx
I tried building this project a few weeks ago but struggled to get it working. This is probably due to my lack of experience with Winbuilder and the share volume of options available.


If there are any issues, do not worry to ask. Inspite PicoXP is very old, it is still fully supported.

Peter

#8 Wonko the Sane

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Posted 22 March 2012 - 08:23 PM

The concept is there - not sure if it's reflected in the projects though!

ONLY said that:
it is not frequent lately

And we have different ideas on "minimal" (as said the unit of measure must be determined).

This is minimal (though it does not represent necessarily a solution to DocMAX's problem):
http://reboot.pro/3717/

And of course picoXP is "minimal" also :thumbsup:

@DocMAX
An important point that you failed to specify is whether this thingy needs to be "universal" or is targeted only to a single model (or a bunch of) machines, as the issues with size - and more generally "issues" may come with adding support for *any* hardware.

Please also take note that a large part of the "enhanced" speed of SATA is actually between AHCI vs. IDE emulation mode.

:cheers:
Wonko

#9 misty

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Posted 22 March 2012 - 08:47 PM

This is minimal (though it does not represent necessarily a solution to DocMAX's problem):
http://reboot.pro/3717/


@Wonko
Definitely a minimal project! I spent a number of hours trying to get my head around it about a month ago - about the same time I messed around with PicoXP. Couldn't get either one working to suit my needs - which were cmd.exe shell, with working diskpart and format, able to run some basic applications (snapshot being one of them).

If there are any issues, do not worry to ask. Inspite PicoXP is very old, it is still fully supported.

Peter


@pscEx
You may live to regret this offer!

Regards,

Misty

#10 Wonko the Sane

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Posted 23 March 2012 - 10:15 AM

@Misty
The issue with the XPCLI is simply that - like often happens - I find no other kid willing to play with me, if you are game we can revamp it allright, if I recall correctly diskpart worked (with some later additions by Dietmar), though I was using SwisKnife :unsure:
Snapshot.exe has to be tested/troubleshooted (or troubleshot) from scratch.

:cheers:
Wonko

#11 misty

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Posted 23 March 2012 - 10:39 AM

@Misty
The issue with the XPCLI is simply that - like often happens - I find no other kid willing to play with me, if you are game we can revamp it allright,

@wonko
It's not that I'm not game (or unwilling to play) - I just don't have the skills or the time to learn them. I will probably have another look at XPCLI when I get the chance, as I really like the concept of this project. I will be adding this to my To Do list - along with PicoXP. To be honest most of my time at the moment is being spent either working and experimenting with Windows 8, or simply enjoying being a part of (and hopefully contributing something useful to) this forum that I have observed from a distance for so long.

Regards,

Misty

#12 DocMAX

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Posted 23 March 2012 - 07:32 PM

sillt need help for minimal command line... it should execute a "snapshot.exe restore hd2 c:image.sna" + then reboot, and thats all... any ideas? i'm using am boot stick with grub4dos btw. thanks.

Edited by DocMAX, 23 March 2012 - 07:32 PM.


#13 Wonko the Sane

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Posted 23 March 2012 - 07:39 PM

sillt need help for minimal command line... it should execute a "snapshot.exe restore hd2 c:image.sna" + then reboot, and thats all... any ideas? i'm using am boot stick with grub4dos btw. thanks.

Try, as suggested, picoXP.
http://reboot.pro/fi...file/27-picoxp/

That is IF the answer you DID NOT provide to this question:

Which "base OS" do you have available (like XP/Server2003 -> PE 1.x - Vista :ph34r: /Server 2008 -> Pe 2.x - Windows7/Server2008 R2 ->PE 3.x)?

is actually "XP/Server2003 -> PE 1.x "

:cheers:
Wonko

#14 DocMAX

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Posted 23 March 2012 - 07:44 PM

the problem is i need a wim file because grub4dos cannot emulate a cdrom drive via iso when booting pe/xp environment...

Edited by DocMAX, 23 March 2012 - 07:44 PM.


#15 Wonko the Sane

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Posted 23 March 2012 - 08:01 PM

the problem is i need a wim file because grub4dos cannot emulate a cdrom drive via iso when booting pe/xp environment...

No. :(
That is what you think is a problem (and what you think you need).

Till now there is no actual expressed request for "a cdrom drive emulated via iso" (which rest assured is perfectly possible in pe/xp) nor it is a requisite for running snapshot.exe.

You tell us the actual *needs* you have (and not the problems that you think you wil get if using this or that) and we try to give you some suggestions for a suitable thingy to do your final goal (and help you with the possible problems that may arise while attempting it).

Common Sense Advice is still "common sense advice" (even if it is not anymore attached to Rules):
http://reboot.pro/2420/


:cheers:
Wonko

#16 pscEx

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Posted 23 March 2012 - 08:08 PM

the problem is i need a wim file because grub4dos cannot emulate a cdrom drive via iso when booting pe/xp environment...

When you have a w2003 source CD available, you can check the "Boot from RAM" script.

For booting from RAM there are some files needed which are only in w2003.

A different way you can see in the multiPE project: Build a multiboot CD using XP source, and see, how the RAM image is generated, and see how Grub4Dos boots this image using firadisk or winvblock

Peter

#17 DocMAX

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Posted 23 March 2012 - 08:15 PM

i just need need some minimal boot for executing snapshot.exe!!! =((( i dont want to really "build" something...

maybe i can boot a minimal linux with minimal wine to execute snapshot.exe?

Edited by DocMAX, 23 March 2012 - 08:17 PM.


#18 betrand

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Posted 23 March 2012 - 09:15 PM

Hi,

I myself battled for centuries trying to make an XPCLI.
I got all the sources, all the 16Mb files, etc. I always failed to put these compressed files into 16mb! I won't go into detail here,
I could've made bigger images, probably at the time I wasnt sure how (which format etc). I still like the idea though, and if anyone's
about to give any advice, I'll go again! PicoXP, also, great.

So, you're trying to use snapshot.exe on smallest boot possible?
Why don't you

If you have already a DOS Boot disk

Fine. Just use it - Snapshot will run on any DOS. Just copy SNAPSHOT.EXE to the disk and use it.

http://www.drivesnap...akebootdisk.htm .


:thumbsup:

#19 DocMAX

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Posted 24 March 2012 - 07:17 AM

problem with the dos disk is that its very slow. from xp its much faster!

#20 Wonko the Sane

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Posted 24 March 2012 - 09:42 AM

i just need need some minimal boot for executing snapshot.exe!!! =((( i dont want to really "build" something...

maybe i can boot a minimal linux with minimal wine to execute snapshot.exe?


Well, then it makes very little sense to ask for Winbuilder projects.


I myself battled for centuries trying to make an XPCLI.
I got all the sources, all the 16Mb files, etc. I always failed to put these compressed files into 16mb! I won't go into detail here,
I could've made bigger images, probably at the time I wasnt sure how (which format etc). I still like the idea though, and if anyone's
about to give any advice, I'll go again!

The topic is still open, if you need assistance, simply post there.

:cheers:
Wonko

#21 Uneitohr

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Posted 13 January 2017 - 06:47 PM

I've been interested in something like this for a while now. I need this for snapshot as well.

One image with command-line support only but not those bloated WinPE images.

 

I'm assuming there is no progress here since 2012.



#22 homes32

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Posted 13 January 2017 - 07:34 PM

I've been interested in something like this for a while now. I need this for snapshot as well.

One image with command-line support only but not those bloated WinPE images.

 

I'm assuming there is no progress here since 2012.

define bloated? winbuilder projects let you pick and choose exactly what you want to include in your builds. WinPE is by definition and design the bare minimum OS you need to run win32/64 applications so calling in "bloated" is just silly.

 

If you want to run true DOS in a minimal environment I believe you would be happier checking out a sister project: http://www.ultimatebootcd.com  and adding your program

projects here in reboot are generally speaking, focused on those who need to run applications in a "bloated" windows environment. hence the name "Winbuilder"

 

don't get the wrong idea. I'm not telling you to go away or anything like that. It's simply a matter determining and picking the right tool for the right job. If all you need is DOS, then use DOS. If you need a lightweight windows, then use WinPE, choose a minimalist shell like BSExplorer, µExplorer or CMD and disable all the extra plugins/scripts/applications in the project that you don't need, which as it turns out is as simple as unchecking the box.



#23 Wonko the Sane

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Posted 13 January 2017 - 07:57 PM

 

 

I've been interested in something like this for a while now. I need this for snapshot as well.

One image with command-line support only but not those bloated WinPE images.



I'm assuming there is no progress here since 2012.

 

Well, XPCLI is around since a lot of time and Misty made a nice port of it to Winbuilder, and some of the small projects by Peter (pscEx) are IMHO very nice as PE 1.x, and Wim_b also made a couple of "tiny" builds.

 

But of course people want a PE 3.x or later ..., and as soon as someone builds something very basic another one chimes in asking for more, network, WMI, etc., until little by little you have a full PE.

 

Anyway (still 2012, but what is the issue with that year?), you could take the winner here:
http://reboot.pro/to...n7-pe-bootdisk/

and remove some more bloat from it.

Older and newer versions here:

http://reboot.pro/topic/15540-multipe/

http://multipe.exec-se.de/Complete/

 

:duff:

Wonko



#24 Uneitohr

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Posted 13 January 2017 - 08:00 PM

It's simply a matter determining and picking the right tool for the right job. If all you need is DOS, then use DOS. If you need a lightweight windows, then use WinPE, choose a minimalist shell like BSExplorer, µExplorer or CMD and disable all the extra plugins/scripts/applications in the project that you don't need, which as it turns out is as simple as unchecking the box.

 

 

I need to build two disks that are able to run cmd:

  1. Run diskpart.exe via batch script and then exit.
  2. Run snapshot.exe via batch script and exit.

 

These would be two images that need to be as small as possible in order to be used (need to boot fast).






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