Microsoft Windows XP Embedded Service Pack 2, Part 2. Development Guide
Microsoft Windows XP Embedded SP2 Resource Kit
XPE SP2 Component Manifest.XLS
Windows XP Embedded Command-Line Tool, or XPECMD
http://www.xpefiles.com/ use to get xpetools and xpecmd
Command-Line Tool Guide - for XPECMD
I am Having Problems Componentizing My Third-Party Audio Driver - from Microsoft
Booting from USB flash
The XPe SP2 Feature Pack 2007 is downloadable from Microsoft if you have purchased
embedded XP. It contains a module usable in target designer called "USB Boot 2.0".
It also contains a utility called ufdprep.
Use target designer and add USB Boot 2.0 to the embedded XP image.
Use the ufdprep tool to format a flash drive. This also works on flash card reader/
writers. It will create a boot record and the XP embedded image can be directly copied
onto the flash.
I tried booting embedded XP directly from flash, but it took about 40 minutes to boot
the flash. There is an article on the Microsoft site called, "Let the First Boot
Agent (FBA) Run on Disk When Using Compact Flash as a Storage for Your Device". This
device should be very similar to the target device. See below for a USB script that boots
into BartPE.
Note that BartPE with diskpart will not resize a parition to be a smaller size.
It can only create, delete, and extend partitions. Some Linux tools are better, but
support of NTFS is mostly limited at this time.
Boot.ini
The following is the boot.ini I used for flash when using the ufdprep tool. It can be
used for testing during development.
[boot loader]
timeout=5
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Embedded" /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Embedded nogui" /fastdetect /noguiboot
If you get "Windows could not start because of a computer disk hardware configuration problem.
Could not read from the selected boot disk", then the boot.ini configuration is wrong.
Other boot tools
HP has some flash utilities. Some of them may require dos. One place is www.freedos.org.
See http://www.msfn.org/board/lofiversion/index.php/t69211.html.
HP Drive Key Boot Utility or HP Flash Drive Boot Utility
http://h18000.www1.hp.com/support/files/serveroptions/us/download/23839.html
cp006049.exe
HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool
http://h18000.www1.hp.com/support/files/serveroptions/us/download/20306.html
SP27213.exe
This is another interesting site. http://www.bootcd.info/
MbrFix is a nice tool for viewing partitions on flash.
Total commander for USB sticks looks interesting.
Cloning
Cloning can eliminate having to run the FBA process on every machine.
Steps for cloning are:
Add the "System Cloning Tool" to the embedded image with Target Designer
Boot the image on the target machine. The FBA should run, and the
cloning tool should reseal the image.
Copy the result image to other target machines.
There are many options to cloning. One is that the clone tool can be run manually
if the embedded image must be modified by hand. Another is that the dialog
boxes that are displayed can be modified.
Message Boxes
The registry values "EnableDefaultReply", "EnableLogging" and "LogSeverity" in the
"Error Message Instrument" key can be used to
prevent user32.dll from displaying message boxes. The other key to look at
is "Error Instrument". Another way to remove dialogs is to write something
in a service that closes dialogs. This is the only way to catch all dialogs, since
some dialogs won't be message boxes. There is an example service called
"MessageBoxInstrument.
Making image registry tweaks
Most registry changes should be made in target designer. If this is not
possible, the following can be done.
The registry can be loaded from C:\Windows Embedded Images\Windows\System32\Config\System.sav
using regedit. Use Load Hive from the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE to load to a temporary registry key.
Then Use unload hive to save and unload it.
The "Settings/Extra Registry Data" in target designer can have Mounted Devices keys that perform
C:/E: drive mapping. This allows the boot image to boot as E: and then reference things as C:
The key looks like: "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices\" value name: "\DosDevices\C:"
I think more information is in the development guide.
XPECMD hints
The online documentation seems sparse, but there is some help
within the xpecmd script. At the xpecmd prompt, just type "help [command]".
It is also possible to read the xpecmd.wsf file for more information. Search
also for CMIExp.wsf for additional information.
Use the xpecmd tool to view dependencies. Windows script host is required. I
tried for quite a while with different syntax to get this to work for
primitives, but was never successful. Remember when looking at primitives to
put 200 or less in Tools->Options->Advanced->Minimum Visibility.
cscript xpecmd
xpecmd>dbo .
xpecmd>new c='comp:ACPI Fan'
xpecmd>show c.ShowDependencies
xpecmd>deptrace revdeps c
xpecmd>deptree c
The following at the command line can be used to show the first instance
that matches the show string.
The following script can be used to see properties of certain objects.
set dbserver=.
set xpecmd="C:\Program Files\Windows Embedded\bin\xpecmd.wsf"
set targetbase=..\Source\TargetDesigner
echo dbopen %dbserver% >xpe.txt
rem echo load cfg "%targetbase%\SMU.slx" >>xpe.txt
echo initcfg cfg >>xpe.txt
rem echo cfg.Instances.Add 'inst:^Winlogon Sample Macro' >>xpe.txt
echo dump /7 cfg >>xpe.txt
echo exit >>xpe.txt
cscript %xpecmd% xpeoutdump.txt
del xpe.txt
The following shows how to modify the base properties after a database and
config have been loaded. The properties can be seen using "show cfg.Properties"
at the xpecmd prompt. To list components, use "list comp:[search_string]",
for example, "list comp:Config'. It is also possible to use "show cfg" to make
a neat list of components.
One interesting/strange thing is that some properties will not be displayed or
modified using "new". It may be required to "get" the instance of the component
instead of "new".
get myinst cfg.Instances "Windows Logon (Standard)"
show myinst.properties
myinst.Properties("cmiLogonEnableFriendlyUI")=1
XPECMD Scripts
Importing components into the database.
set dbserver=.
set xpecmd="C:\Program Files\Windows Embedded\bin\xpecmd.wsf"
set compbase=..\Source\Components
set reproot="C:\Windows Embedded Data\Repositories"
echo dbopen %dbserver% >xpe.txt
echo dbimport "%compbase%\App\App_Shell.sld" %reproot% >>xpe.txt
echo dbimport "%compbase%\Intel 865Chipset\Intel865G.sld" %reproot% >>xpe.txt
echo dbimport "%compbase%\Intel PRO1000 CT Network Connection\LAN1000_e1000325.sld" %reproot% >>xpe.txt
echo dbimport "%compbase%\Intel(R) PRO100 M Desktop Adapter\LAN100_e100b325.sld" %reproot% >>xpe.txt
echo dbimport "%compbase%\NVidia\nv4_disp.sld" %reproot% >>xpe.txt
echo dbimport "%compbase%\Realtek Audio Driver\RealtekAudio.sld" %reproot% >>xpe.txt
echo exit >>xpe.txt
cscript %xpecmd%
Building the target. The 2's can be 0 to 2 indicating amount of text output. There
is a problem that the xpecmd command will not produce the same output as the target
designer since there doesn't seem to be a way to perform the "Upgrade Configuration"
step. There is an Upgrade method in the Configuration
object that takes two arguments, but I don't know what they are. It is something like
cfg.Upgrade "" or cfg.Upgrade 1,1.
set dbserver=.
set xpecmd="C:\Program Files\Windows Embedded\bin\xpecmd.wsf"
set targetbase=..\Source\TargetDesigner
set image=c:\Windows Embedded Images
del /S /Q "%image%\*.*"
rd /s /q "%image%\"
md "%image%\"
echo dbopen %dbserver% >xpe.txt
echo load cfg "%targetbase%\App.slx" >>xpe.txt
echo cfg.ResolveDependencies 2 >>xpe.txt
echo cfg.CheckDependencies 2 >>xpe.txt
echo cfg.Build 2, "%image%\" >>xpe.txt
echo exit >>xpe.txt
cscript %xpecmd%
The following shows how to add and remove components in a script. Note that
the syntax is very different between both commands.
set bootini="\Windows Embedded Images\boot.ini"
echo [boot loader] >%bootini%
echo timeout=0 >>%bootini%
echo default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS >>%bootini%
echo [operating systems] >>%bootini%
echo multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Embedded"
/fastdetect /noguiboot /noexecute=AlwaysOff /bootlogo >>%bootini%
Modifying the registry
set key=HKLM\x
set hive="\Windows Embedded Images\Windows\System32\CONFIG\SYSTEM.SAV"
reg load %key% %hive%
if not %errorlevel%==0 goto error
reg add %key%\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\system /v DisableStatusMessages /t reg_dword /d 1 /f
if not %errorlevel%==0 goto error
reg delete %key%\ControlSet001\Services\NVSvc /f
if not %errorlevel%==0 goto error
reg unload %key%
exit
:error
pause Modify Registry Error!
Setting NTFS rights. If you use flash to copy the image, make sure to format
the flash as NTFS if this is run on the source image. This allows SuperUser full
control, but the NormalUser can only read and execute bin, and append to logs.
The following script will destroy all data, and split the disk into two partitions.
if "%1"=="" goto parmerror
pause THIS WILL DESTROY THE HARD DRIVE. Use Ctrl-C to abort.
pause ARE YOU REALLY SURE? Use Ctrl-C to abort.
echo select disk %1 >b:\partdata.txt
echo clean >>b:\partdata.txt
echo create partition primary size=40000 >>b:\partdata.txt
echo active >>b:\partdata.txt
echo create partition extended >>b:\partdata.txt
echo create partition logical >>b:\partdata.txt
diskpart < b:\partdata.txt
del b:\partdata.txt
pause
exit
:parmerror
pause The first argument must be 0 for the first drive, 1 for second
USB memory stick dual booted to hard drive
The following script creates a neat dual boot system. The hard drive can be
set up as a single boot for normal users. Then a service user can boot from
USB and boot into the second hard drive partition, or boot onto the USB
to run disk manipulation utilities.
Note that the ntldr program used here is from the XP Embedded disks. There are
different versions in different places and some don't work. This one is 245 KB and
dated 8/3/2004. The drive specification "C:" before peboot.bin is required.
The BIOS must support booting from flash. The Pheonix BIOS I am working
with requires Hard Disk to be set as the first boot device, and that the hard drive
boot order specifies the USB-HDD0 first. This cannot be set unless the USB was connected
before the boot. If the USB is disconnected and booted from the hard drive, then
the boot order will be switched automatically by the BIOS, so booting from flash requires
that the BIOS hard disk order is changed again.
The ufdprep tool may be able to be replaced with the HP utility, but I have not tried it.
pause Run pebuilder before running this. Also make sure the paths in this file are correct.
"%xpe%\utilities\ufdprep" %flashdrive%
echo [boot loader] >boot.ini
echo timeout=30 >>boot.ini
echo default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS >>boot.ini
echo [operating systems] >>boot.ini
echo multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Hard Drive Partition 1" >>boot.ini
echo multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Hard Drive Partition 2" >>boot.ini
echo c:\peboot.bin="Utilities" /minint >>boot.ini
copy boot.ini e:BOOT.INI
del boot.ini
copy "%pebuilder%\BartPE\i386\ntdetect.com" %flashdrive%\
if errorlevel 1 goto _abort
copy "%xpeimage%\ntldr" %flashdrive%\
if errorlevel 1 goto _abort
set _target=%flashdrive%
set _base=%pebuilder%\plugin\peinst\
set _source=%winsrc%
rem this stuff was copied from peinst.cmd
"%_base%mkbt.exe" -x -c %_target% %_target%\peboot.bin
if errorlevel 1 goto _abort
"%_base%nt2peldr.exe" %_target%\peboot.bin
if errorlevel 1 goto _abort
copy %_source%\i386\setupldr.bin "%_target%\peldr"
if errorlevel 1 goto _abort
mkdir %flashdrive%\minint
xcopy /s "%pebuilder%\BartPE\i386" %flashdrive%\minint
mkdir %flashdrive%\Programs
xcopy /s "%pebuilder%\BartPE\Programs" %flashdrive%\Programs
exit
:_abort
pause Error!
Security
To run a process as a user with admin privileges, the CreateProcessWithLogonW function can be used.
This will return a 1060 (ERROR_SERVICE_DOES_NOT_EXIST) indicating some service does not exist.
Well if you are good at guessing, you will find that it is the RunAs Service.
An interesting point about starting an explorer, is that the explorer may not start. But a
simple solution to this is to start the c:\program files\internet explorer\iexplore application and
add an argument to start at the root "\" directory. This application exists even if the internet
explorer component is not in the configuration. The iexplore program looks just like the explore program
in this case.
Realtek devices
I had a machine that had a device listed as vendor 8086, device 27DE, and subsystem 4720414c. Searching
online listed it as "82801G (ICH7 Family) AC'97 Audio Controller", and "Realtek ALC883 Audio Controller".
This is somehow incorrect, because looking at the sound chip indicated it was a ALC650, which is an AC'97
device.
I downloaded the AC'97 audio codecs from realtek, and looked at the .inf files. There was one that matched
the vendor and device, but not subsystem. I used the .inf with the most matches of vendor and device, and
added a line for my system's subsystem. Then importing the .inf into component designer worked.
Some other components that may be desired for sound are "XP Sound Scheme", and "Audio Volume Control".
