31 replies to this topic

[ankur mathur]

can i Integrate Driverpack into livexp and nativeex because i generally go to my friends to repair their Computer, and i take My Own NativeEX bootable environment cd with me, but there are times when i desperately need Internet Access, But i don't have drivers of the LAN Card that my friend has. so i need a way to integrate all the drivers in the NativeEX or LiveXP env.

I'm talking About BTS_Driverpacks
Link:
BTS_DriverPack

[phox]

can i Integrate Driverpack into livexp and nativeex because i generally go to my friends to repair their Computer, and i take My Own NativeEX bootable environment cd with me, but there are times when i desperately need Internet Access, But i don't have drivers of the LAN Card that my friend has. so i need a way to integrate all the drivers in the NativeEX or LiveXP env.

I'm talking About BTS_Driverpacks
Link:
BTS_DriverPack

Download LAN DriverPack, unzip it and in PENetwork.script
browse to this folder (Add drivers from this directory…).

Run WinBuilder and all drivers will be integrated in your build!

[ankur mathur]

Thanks phox, that worked.

but can i also integrate all the other driverpacks? CPU, Graphics A,B,C Sound A,B? etc
if possible then how?

[phox]

Thanks phox, that worked.

but can i also integrate all the other driverpacks? CPU, Graphics A,B,C Sound A,B? etc
if possible then how?

In the same way! Put all drivers in one folder and browse to that folder.
It doesn't matter that other drivers are not for LAN.

[ankur mathur]

I'll Give it a try, Thanks for Immidieate help!

BOOT-LAND ROCKZ!

[Brito]

Download LAN DriverPack, unzip it and in PENetwork.script
browse to this folder (Add drivers from this directory…).

Run WinBuilder and all drivers will be integrated in your build!

That easy?

I thought it would take something like an open heart surgery..

Was always a bit afraid of using drivers but now I see no reason to avoid them so much.

This can even be scripted to let wb download and unpack these files without worries when others need it, not sure about all driverpacks but will try and see what happens.

We already mirror their contents on boot-land, look here: http://unattended.bo...net/driverpacks

Only need to update them ocasionaly to use fresh pack versions.

I'll Give it a try, Thanks for Immidieate help!

BOOT-LAND ROCKZ!

Thanks for the tip phox - it made my day a lot happier too!

[Areyu_Moritii]

Hrmm... It makes sense, I just don't know why I never thought about trying it this way. I had been using the CreateDriver script to add the drivers I needed to my builds. Phox, you just made my day.

BTW: This little tidbit should be added to a WB FAQ, stickied, or something. I'm sure not too many people realized that integrating drivers this way was possible. I might even look into making a stand-alone script for this. Borrowing from Holger's wonderful PENetwork script, of course with due credit given.

[Brito]

A script for this task is a must..

[phox]

Thanks for the tip phox - it made my day a lot happier too!

De nada.

[Areyu_Moritii]

OK, guys and gals. I contacted Holger and he provided me with the code to how PENetwork integrates drivers. So, I will compile it and start working on this script and hopefully have it done today (Provided I don\'t run into any serious hiccups ).

[Brito]

These are excellent news!

Thanks to Holger for helping so much and also thank you for taking the time to work on this great addon.


Only one detail: Unless you have latin roots I wasn't aware that people in north america already had started adopting our latin time measure unit..

Better described by Jaclaz here: http://www.boot-land...?...ost&p=16104

Good luck!!

[Galapo]

OK, guys and gals. I contacted Holger and he provided me with the code to how PENetwork integrates drivers. So, I will compile it and start working on this script and hopefully have it done today (Provided I don\'t run into any serious hiccups ).

Hmmm. Interesting. My first thought is: does it parse the inf files directly?

If so, this could be a big help to my OfflineSysPrep program:

http://www.911cd.net...showtopic=19397
http://www.boot-land...1407-t3207.html

I'm wanting to allow the option of integrating mass storage drivers into a mounted writable disk image or into a windows partition. Obviously, for PE the PENetwork script will write entries into the [HardwareIdsDatabase] etc of txtsetup.sif. But if this could optionally be directed into a .reg file to be injected into the image or drive, that would be fantastic. That is, if the inf driver file could be parsed, files copied where they shoud be, and service and CriticalDeviceDatabase registry info written to a reg file.

Don't know if this is possible with the code you've been provided, but would love to hear if it was!

Regards,
Galapo.

[ankur mathur]

Well guys i tried this method , SUCCESS RATE is 50%.

Just because i tried integrating LAN, Graphics-B Driverpacks and it worked 100%.
But then i got too excited and i Integrated some more CPU, MASSSTORAGE, and all GRAPHIC-A,B,C
Driverpacks... But the process of creating ISO in winbuilder hanged!!! it just Says-'Creating RamDrive...".

Then i turned off the monitor went to sleep . Early morning i saw that it was completed but when i tried the ISO in Virtual-PC with 512 MB Ram provided (ISO Size:419MB). After start Screen of XP , cursor is displayed and it hangs for 5 minutes and it automatically rebooted???? HELP.

what's the problem ?
is there a limitation in 'Nikzzzzz.. ramdrive' ?

[Areyu_Moritii]

Well guys i tried this method , SUCCESS RATE is 50%.

Just because i tried integrating LAN, Graphics-B Driverpacks and it worked 100%.
But then i got too excited and i Integrated some more CPU, MASSSTORAGE, and all GRAPHIC-A,B,C
Driverpacks... But the process of creating ISO in winbuilder hanged!!! it just Says-'Creating RamDrive...".

Then i turned off the monitor went to sleep . Early morning i saw that it was completed but when i tried the ISO in Virtual-PC with 512 MB Ram provided (ISO Size:419MB). After start Screen of XP , cursor is displayed and it hangs for 5 minutes and it automatically rebooted???? HELP.

what's the problem ?
is there a limitation in 'Nikzzzzz.. ramdrive' ?

It should succeed. You will have to increase the Virtual-PC RAM limit. You have to realize what is happening. You've integrated ~300MB+ worth of drivers into the build. Then, when the PE boots up, it has to load the drivers into ram since you're using the RAM drive script to utilize the drivers. Just like how regular Windows XP has to load the drivers before utilizing them. Included with loading the drivers, PE is going to continue to load other Windows components like it normally would/should. Your error is more than likely the result of allotting insufficient RAM space to hold all of the drivers in conjunction with the PE's normal OS components. Again, raise your Virtual-PC RAM limit to 1GB and see if that improves your situation. If not, post back and we can take a deeper look into this.

BTW: I'm testing the separate drivers script as we speak.

[MedEvil]

It should succeed. You will have to increase the Virtual-PC RAM limit. You have to realize what is happening. You've integrated ~300MB+ worth of drivers into the build. Then, when the PE boots up, it has to load the drivers into ram since you're using the RAM drive script to utilize the drivers.

Sorry little misconseption on your part.
Even if he would include several GB worth of drivers, XP would still just load the ones it found hardware for.

[Areyu_Moritii]

Sorry little misconseption on your part.
Even if he would include several GB worth of drivers, XP would still just load the ones it found hardware for.

Correct, MedEvil. However, maybe this is not the point of my misunderstanding. I was more so referring to the fact that when ankur mathur built his(her) WB .iso, they packed all of the drivers into the RAM Boot Section. Thus, the RAM issue within Virtual-PC.

But then i got too excited and i Integrated some more CPU, MASSSTORAGE, and all GRAPHIC-A,B,C
Driverpacks... But the process of creating ISO in winbuilder hanged!!! it just Says-'Creating RamDrive...".

Then i turned off the monitor went to sleep . Early morning i saw that it was completed but when i tried the ISO in Virtual-PC with 512 MB Ram provided (ISO Size:419MB). After start Screen of XP , cursor is displayed and it hangs for 5 minutes and it automatically rebooted???? HELP.

Again, this may just be a misunderstanding on my part. (Which wouldn't be hard at this point, since I'm running on about 6 hours of sleep for the past 3 days. Maybe I'm just not reading ankur mathur's post correctly. It's definitely happened before. )

[phox]

Early morning i saw that it was completed but when i tried the ISO in Virtual-PC
with 512 MB Ram provided (ISO Size:419MB). After start Screen of XP ,
cursor is displayed and it hangs for 5 minutes and it automatically rebooted???? HELP.

Just repeat the test with standard ISO (not RAM)!

[MedEvil]

Correct, MedEvil. However, maybe this is not the point of my misunderstanding. I was more so referring to the fact that when ankur mathur built his(her) WB .iso, they packed all of the drivers into the RAM Boot Section. Thus, the RAM issue within Virtual-PC.

You're right, could be eighter way.

minimum needed RAM = RAM-Disk size + 64MB (for a non upxed system)

minimum needed RAM = RAM-Disk size + 256MB (For a upxed system)

[Areyu_Moritii]

Hopefully, ankur mathur will post back his results to verify this.

Also, if anyone has an idea for a name for the new script, I'm open to suggestions. So far, the tentative title is "Device Driver Slipstreamer". I guess it could work, but I'm sure there would be a better fit somewhere out there . I'm going to do a few more tests before I release it.

[ankur mathur]

ya guys i tested the LiveXP by integrating all driverpacks except Graphics-A,C (i dont have sufficient RAM) it works well and good. But the only thing that i find problematic is that it takes a lot of time building and running (TESTING). it took me 35-40 min. testing... , i must say that it literally hangs! i don't know why ... i think we all should find a way out and optimize this process OR we should create a new script that alters winbuilder's process in such a way that -
1) it creates two different sections/area in ISO:-
a) BOOTABLE RAM part of the ISO. (which contains system files)
ALL the Drivers
2) we should be telling LiveXP that it should find drivers in directory other than default 'system32\drivers' & "inf' dirs. so that it doesn't take up that much amount of RAM!!

we might be able to do this by using FBWF script.
I think we can do it

I think this would really revolutionize winbuilder in agreat extent!

[pscEx]

ya guys i tested the LiveXP by integrating all driverpacks except Graphics-A,C (i dont have sufficient RAM) it works well and good. But the only thing that i find problematic is that it takes a lot of time building and running (TESTING). it took me 35-40 min. testing... , i must say that it literally hangs! i don't know why ... i think we all should find a way out and optimize this process OR we should create a new script that alters winbuilder's process in such a way that -
1) it creates two different sections/area in ISO:-
a) BOOTABLE RAM part of the ISO. (which contains system files)
ALL the Drivers
2) we should be telling LiveXP that it should find drivers in directory other than default 'system32\drivers' & "inf' dirs. so that it doesn't take up that much amount of RAM!!

we might be able to do this by using FBWF script.
I think we can do it

I think this would really revolutionize winbuilder in agreat extent!

Your idea sounds good, but I have some concerns that it can be realized.

The mechnism of installing a new driver:

If some hardware w/o corresponding driver is detected, ALL *.inf files in %SystemRoot%\inf are investigated, whether there is one which is suited for the hardware.
If there are more than one *.inf, the 'best suited' is searched. (Please doe not ask which rules Bill G. has to find the best one)

Then the driver is installed from the found *.inf.

That means:

• All *.inf of installable drivers must be in %SystemRoot%\inf, that means inside the ISO
• To have the individual driver files outside the ISO cannot accelerate the install, maybe that it increases the time (handling a muonted disk etc.)
• A boot time decrease can only be reached by offering the propably needed drivers only, rather than universal 'packages' with hundreds of drivers.

Peter

BTW: Smiley is working on a script which deliveres local PC's drivers to the PE.
I'm working on the script which uses a local *.inf to deliver a driver to the PE.
We both are working since a long time on our scripts, but both of us did not publish yet, because there seem to be a lot of troubles: Some drivers do not work, inspite they seem to be 'installed properly'

[Galapo]

I'm working on the script which uses a local *.inf to deliver a driver to the PE.

Hi Peter,

I don't know if it is possible for you to turn this into an app which does the same, but allows for a bit more flexiblity. That is, use local .inf to deliver a driver and necessary registry entries to a windows partition from PE.

A freeware version of Microsoft's MSDInst.exe?

Regards,
Galapo.

[MedEvil]

[*]A boot time decrease can only be reached by offering the propably needed drivers only, rather than universal 'packages' with hundreds of drivers.

The best speedup can be achieved by creating the inf index file.

[Areyu_Moritii]

Well, I know that a lot of times in those driver packs, the .inf files reference drivers that are already present somewhere else in the pack. Hence, large driver pack sizes due to the duplication of drivers. If it were possible to create an index file, as MedEvil suggested, we could point the build to look to a specific directory, and eliminate multiple duplicate entries. Hopefully, that could drive down the amount of time that the system would have to spend searching for the correct driver. Possibly something along the lines of "If the first 6 characters of the Device ID are XXXXXX, go to folder X and search there for the correct .inf", or, "If the Hardware ID is between XXXXXX and YYYYYY, search directory X for the correct .inf". The only problem that I foresee with this course of action is how to index all the .infs so that the build can parse them quickly. That would be one long list, and a pain to keep updated (using driver packs).

@ankur mathur - Are you sure it just hung? Remember, if it took you 30-45min just to complete the build it will probably take at least that long for your build to unpack all of the drivers, sift through all of those drivers, and install the proper one(s). Have you waited that long to be certain that the build hangs?

[Galapo]

A hang may also occur if the driverpacks exceptions file is not taken into account when copying files etc. That is, a hwid may be matched to an incorrect and incompatible driver file version. Take note of what occurs with what DPs_BASE.exe does in generating the mass storage bartpe plugin.

Regards,
Galapo.