Rather than spend time to make some patch to fix the timebomb in the i386 setup of 3718 if we're lucky enough to get that far anyway, we have decided to port Longhorn Build 3718 to a WIM-type installation system, as used by the later Longhorn builds. This will allow us to do so much more with the build, and create a simpler, faster installation.

I am currently undergoing tests of the various methods of doing this with Windows Server 2003 Enterprise at the moment, and once I have successfully reached a satisfactory level of functionality, we will begin to work with the 3718 build.

We are looking for both developers and testers. Developers must be reasonably experienced with working with Longhorn, and have a basic idea of i386 customisation and how the WIM imaging system works. Testers must be ready to install a number of copies of 3718, and provide useful feedback regarding installation, bugs and feature suggestions. We ideally need one person testing on each of the main VM systems (Virtual PC, VMWare and VirtualBox) and a few trying it out with real computers too.

We will test a number of installers, taken from the entire range of installers from Build 4008 to RTM. As such, we also need people who can theme these installers. UI developers would be much appreciated.

protoPlex Project Leader,
Thomas Hounsell.

I would like to be tester for you.

I can test it on Virtual PC and VMWare (i dont know anything about virtualbox).

But .WIM installer is certainly faster then i386.

Great work.

You'll need sysprep, which is inside the 4074 WIM if you extract it.

Use the reseal option, if I recall correctly. But yeah, it should work fine, been wanting to do the same myself for some other i386 builds that are annoying me.

Yeh. Actually, I was planning to use the ximage from the 4008 ISO.

I have Virtual PC, VirtualBox and VMWare and I can test on each VM systems

I'm not sure if the 4007 ximage supports the higher compression, you might need 4059 but I could be wrong. It depends on how big the WIM gets I suppose Regardless, sysprep is needed to start the pnp setup part after you apply the WIM to a drive.

Sorry, my mistake. I meant sysprep from the 4008 ISO. I am using the 4059 ximage.

I got 2003 Enterprise working well from a WIM with the Longhorn installer. I used the Build 4059 ximage to capture the WIM, and installed it using the Installer from Build 4074 on top of the WinPE from Build 4051.

The ISO was 834Mb in size, though it did have SP2, the R2 components and IE8 Beta 1 pre-installed. The Install.wim was 644Mb.

Aha makes more sense

Thats my actual progress



oh btw, tom we cant use installers rom 5048 up as they use the pidgenx.dll =/

I didn't think of that

Same here, i just noticed it when I extracted 5231 =/

=\

Made the WIM, just transplanting it now and trying it out myself. The WIM is 437Mb in Size.

I will offer my help and developing this and testing this project. Right now I am trying to get Longhorn 3683 to work with SP3. I had half success with SP2 and 3683. I can help code/test. Contact me on MSN.

Well, I have the first build uploaded of 3718 in a WIM. It has been created using the 4008 Sysprep and so appears to function much like the 4008 setup process.
It first boots from the WinPE from Build 4051, which automatically launches the 4074 setup. For now, the setup uses the 4074 key and has the 4074 EULA (I forgot to change them in this build). It then copies the WIM over, and 3718 starts and functions like 4008, by going straight to the desktop and it then goes through all your hardware using the New Hardware Wizard. Obviously this is inconvenient, and I will use an alternative Sysprep (I'm planning on using the Windows Server 2003 SP1 sysprep. Microsoft recommend it's use on XP as well as Server 2003, so it can't hurt to try it with Longhorn).

The build available has Media Center integrated, and the timebomb and activation pre-cracked. There is no need to set the date back, or make any special allowances, it installs fine, much like any release build. Unfortunately, this release only has the UK and US keyboard layouts, but future builds will have the full range.

Hardware compatibility is unknown at this stage, I've only used it in VMWare. I will put the links in the private server forum, for anyone to test and report back on. Please don't leak the details, as if things get too bad, I'll have to talk to Andy and arrange for them to be elsewhere.

I also intend to use a different, smaller and lighter WinPE build in future installers, and also to lighten the install system, and strip it back to all that is needed.

I intend to stay with the 4074 installer and the 4059 ximage, as this offers a higher compression than the earlier ximage, and also is still usable with a Longhorn installer, rather than a Vista, which can't be used, because of the issues mentioned earlier in the thread.

Even later builds will start including protoPlex work, such as the themes, .nets and server components as we get them to work for the WIM.

OK. I now have a working Build 3718 WinPE, so I think the next thing I want to do is start integrating drivers.
I have the nForce 4 SATA drivers to integrate already, but If anyone would like any important drivers integrating, just post a link to the driver in question. Other than the nForce 4, I'm also planning to integrate the latest nVidia and ATi drivers and probably the Intel Chipset INF drivers as well.

Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

I'm probably going to release another build of this soon. Any suggestions/requests?

remove the eula and make the installer look plexy