Regards,
Galapo.

markhodgeNZ wrote:

Which brings back the reboot loop

I would say you've got an issue with your image, not necessarily with injection of mass storage drivers.

markhodgeNZ wrote:

Has ANYONE here managed to get Offline Sysprep working?

Yes, I have. ilko has who did numerous tests for me for the HAL development. Like I said, it may be a problem outside of the mass storage drivers.

markhodgeNZ wrote:

Could you post your Sysprep.ini file, user_settings.ini file, and what steps you used?

My working settings are as in the supplied download. Of course, I replace ntldr. But my guess is that if you were to do that, you may find the reboot sequence happening again anyway.

Regards,
Galapo.

Right. It's from a basic scripted build, but I"ll see if there is anything that can be further generalised tomorrow.

I'm keen on hearing from anyone else that has managed to get this going - in the hope someone has documented how they did it. At the moment I feel it's too hit and miss and I don't want to spend another week banging my head against the wall trying to get a "universal" build.

Hopefully the answers on this thread save someone else a bit of time.

Cheers,
Mark

Which brings back the reboot loop

I would say you've got an issue with your image, not necessarily with injection of mass storage drivers.

Yes, I have. ilko has who did numerous tests for me for the HAL development. Like I said, it may be a problem outside of the mass storage drivers.

My working settings are as in the supplied download. Of course, I replace ntldr. But my guess is that if you were to do that, you may find the reboot sequence happening again anyway.

Regards,
Galapo.

ntfs.sys error is due to memory breach. You either need to update ntldr from 64-bit xp etc. or inject fewer drivers (see the user_settings.ini file to do this).

Regards,
Galapo.

Okay. Using ntldr from a different version of Windows XP wasn't a path I wanted to go down so I tried removing unused drivers using:

[disable_drivers]
3*=disable
a*=disable
m*=disable
si3*=disable

(since the target is using viachip set this should be fine, right?)

Which brings back the reboot loop

Has ANYONE here managed to get Offline Sysprep working?

Could you post your Sysprep.ini file, user_settings.ini file, and what steps you used?

Cheers,
Mark

Regards,
Galapo.

If i am right the correct and most acceptable fix is to include fewer drivers. however if you have an extra 2k3 licence to burn you can use the file from that OS... Each OS has a higher amount of RAM that can be utilized for this... IE win 2k has the least XP has more 2K3 a little more Vista even more etc. So the alternate fix is to burn a 2K3 licence so you can use the newer NT 5.2 version of our problem file. Some users have argued that since this file is included with SP2... IDK about that, it's too much of a grey area for me. If you are in the situation of having site licencing or simply have an extra 2k3 license to dedicate for this then you should be covered.

If it is what i think it is...
then this issue is documented at MSFN and I thought was google-able but did not find what i was looking for...

Perhaps one of the guys has a link handy for us... That is, IF i have guessed corectly

PS i assume you ruled out a bad copy

markhodgeNZ wrote:

1. Run OfflineSysPrep-v1.10.0.7\UnderWindows\OfflineSysPrep.exe
2. Select the Windows partition of your offline Windows partition.
3. Under Select User Profile, selected administrator                                    -    (for what? default user? doing something specific?!?)
4. Select AUTO configuration under Select HAL update option                      -    (okay for ACPI Uniprocessor source to ACPI Multiprocessor target?)
5. Click Apply.
6. Sysprep:

I see no steps where you injected mass storage drivers. Click 'Advanced' on the OfflineSysPrep interface and select desired option, in your case probably 'Install all DriverPacks non-IDE mass storage Device(s)'.

Regards,
Galapo.

Thanks Galapo.

I selected "Install all DriverPacks non-IDE mass storage Device(s)" in the Advanced window and the target comes up dead with the "system32\Drivers\Ntfs.sys is corrupt" message.

When OfflineSysPrep launches SysPrep, are there any specific settings that are needed to get this working? (I'm selecting Mini Setup and PnP then clicking Reseal).

Alternately, has anyone here been successfull using Offline Sysprep, and put a step-by-step guide together on how you did it, or even a help file that documents known errors, their cause, and workarounds?

Cheers,
Mark

1. Run OfflineSysPrep-v1.10.0.7\UnderWindows\OfflineSysPrep.exe
2. Select the Windows partition of your offline Windows partition.
3. Under Select User Profile, selected administrator                                    -    (for what? default user? doing something specific?!?)
4. Select AUTO configuration under Select HAL update option                      -    (okay for ACPI Uniprocessor source to ACPI Multiprocessor target?)
5. Click Apply.
6. Sysprep:

I see no steps where you injected mass storage drivers. Click 'Advanced' on the OfflineSysPrep interface and select desired option, in your case probably 'Install all DriverPacks non-IDE mass storage Device(s)'.

Regards,
Galapo.

markhodgeNZ wrote:

I didn't actually notice any documentation/directions as such included with OfflineSysprep.

Please look a little harder, viz. at the OfflineSysPrep.htm file.

Regards,
Galapo.

I'm sure this is a good tool, but I can't get much joy out of it yet. I'm putting it down to not knowing exactly what is required to get it going, rather than any fault in the program itself. It's a fairly steep learning curve without a detailed manual.

I've included the step-by-step recipe I'm putting together below. The end result is still the endless reboot loop so I would be quite keen on feedback as to whether there is any particular step or assumption I'm making that is incorrect. My guess is that I'm doing everything right until the final section "Using Offline Sysprep". If I can get this all going I'll generalise my recipe and posted it back here. I have a workaround of building the image on the target for redeployment to matching hardware, but would much rather end up with a system that can deploy to anything DriverPacks MassStorage has included. Drivers such as sound and video can always be added later.

The machine the scripted build is run on is a HyperV virtual machine (ACPI Uniprocessor HAL) and the test target has a VIA chipset motherboard (ACPI Multiprocessor HAL, ASUS board, probably about 2 or 3 years old, don't have it at hand to confirm the motherboard model number).

My "guide":

Step-by-step how-to for creating a universal Windows XP SP3 32bit (x86) from an existing scripted build utilising a HyperV development machine, DriverPacks, PEBuilder, devcon, 7-zip, and OfflineSysprep:

Setting up your image and virtual machine:

1. Build a HyperV virtual machines from your scripted build.
2. Shut it down once done.
3. Make a copy of the virtual machine's virtual hard disk file.
4. Connect the copy to the HyperV machine as a second disk.

You could do this without a virtual machine, eg., by setting up a machine, and cloning the disk to a second partition by booting from alternate media. It's just more cumbersome.

Downloads:

1. Download Offline Sysprep from http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=22064 (currently using OfflineSysPrep-v1.10.0.7.rar)
2. Download 7-zip from http://www.7-zip.org/ (currently using 4.65)
3. Download pebuilder310a.zip (BartPE in a ZIP file) from http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/ (currently using 3.1.10a)
4. Download DriverPack MassStorage from http://driverpacks.net/driverpacks/wind … ss-storage (currently using Jan 9,2009 Windows 2000/XP/2003 x86 version 9.01)
5. Download DriverPacks BASE from http://driverpacks.net/applications/latest (currently using version 8.12.5)
6. Download the devcon package from http://support.microsoft.com/kb/311272

Expanding archives:

1. Install 7-zip.
2. Right click on OfflineSysPrep-v1.10.0.7.rar, select "7-zip\Extract to OfflineSysPrep-v1.10.0.7"
3. Right click on pebuilder3110a.zip, select "7-zip\Extract to pebuilder3110a"
4. Right click on devcon.exe, select "7-zip\Extract to devcon"
5. Right click on DPs_BASE_8125.exe, select "7-zip\Extract to DPs_BASE_8125"

DriversPack BASE:

1. Drag the DriverPacks MassStorage 7z file (currently DP_MassStorage_wnt5_x86-32_901.7z) into the DriverPacks directory inside the DPs_BASE_8125 directory you created in the previous step.
2. Run DPs_BASE.exe from the DPs_BASE_8125 directory.
3. Select Settings\Location from the left side of the window pane.
4. Select BartPE as the installation platform.
5. Select Settings\Location from the left side of the window pane. Again.
6. Click the Browse button and select the plugin folder of your pebuilder3110a folder.
6. DriverPacks will now be listed under Settings\Location in the left window panel.
7. Make sure ONLY DriverPack MassStorage text mode is selected here.
8. Click the Slipstream button at the lower left of the Window.

Preparing to use Offline Sysprep:

1. Copy devcon\i386\devcon.exe to OfflineSysPrep-v1.10.0.7\UnderWindows\tools\devcon.exe
2. Run CreateMassStorageData.exe from OfflineSysPrep-v1.10.0.7\BartPE\OfflineSysPrep and select your pebuilder3110a\plugin\DriverPacks.net folder.
3. DriverPacks-MassStorage  will be created in OfflineSysPrep-v1.10.0.7\BartPE\OfflineSysPrep.
4. Copy DriverPacks-MassStorage folder to OfflineSysPrep-v1.10.0.7\UnderWindows.
5. Copy your sysprep folder contents to OfflineSysPrep-v1.10.0.7\sysprep

Using Offline Sysprep:

1. Run OfflineSysPrep-v1.10.0.7\UnderWindows\OfflineSysPrep.exe
2. Select the Windows partition of your offline Windows partition.
3. Under Select User Profile, selected administrator                                    -    (for what? default user? doing something specific?!?)
4. Select AUTO configuration under Select HAL update option                      -    (okay for ACPI Uniprocessor source to ACPI Multiprocessor target?)
5. Click Apply.
6. Sysprep:

- removed the OemPnPDriversPath and [MassStorageDrivers] from sysprep.inf file whilst testing (left header - required or not?)
- confirmed c:\winnt\Driver Cache\i386 contains driver.cab and sp3.cab etc (ie., for Windows XP SP3).

Tried:

Checked Use Mini-Setup, then clicked Reseal.

Tried:

Detect non-plug and play hardware, then click Reseal.

WHAT SETTINGS FOR SYSPREP?!?

6. Capture to a share using imagex, deploy to target using imagex. Result: REBOOT LOOP.

Thanks!

I did not know that OLSP would work from windows too...

thinking, very cool... a machine with two hard drives w/bios select boot device...
that could be slick. its the workhorse and the source and deployment tester in one   

So the !put 'DriverPacks-MassStorage' folder here! instruction refers to copying them from DriverPacks BASE generated BartPE plugin folder...
I see there is a whole paragraph on this in your instructions and you link to my BartPE tutorial too (blushes)
i found the OfflineSysPrep.htm file in the same folder as !put...
Maybe it would be better to be named OfflineSysPrep-Instructions_En.htm or even ReadMe.htm LOL

Thanks again for stopping by

You're a DriverPacks hero!

I didn't actually notice any documentation/directions as such included with OfflineSysprep.

Please look a little harder, viz. at the OfflineSysPrep.htm file.

Regards,
Galapo.

I think i know what the problem is... but don't quote me since I'm just guessing.

(I just don't have the time to waste torchering myself like you crazy sysprep guys.)

I don't see anywhere in the directions where is says anything about extracting a mass storage pack??? (so why did you?)

When you extract OfflineSysprep it has a lovely file in it's directory saying to put "DriverPack-MassStorage" folder into that location, and since DriverPack MassStorage comes as an archive I dutifully expanded it there and gave it that name. I didn't actually notice any documentation/directions as such included with OfflineSysprep.

So what I gather is that you use DriverPacks BASE to create a plugin which you then incorporate into a BartPE disk (or on the image?) onto which you have preinstalled OfflineSysprep and a downloaded copy of devcon (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/311272)? I used a live copy of Windows with the volume to be sysprepped attached as a second disk - is that supported or not?

Actually, it would be nice if someone wrote up a nice step by step for using Offline Sysprep, because I imaging a lot of people would just give up and go back to adding drivers manually (I'm most of the way through documenting how to do this for my team in case I give up too). It feels a little hit and miss at the moment

Cheers,
Mark

(I just don't have the time to waste torchering myself like you crazy sysprep guys.)

I don't see anywhere in the directions where is says anything about extracting a mass storage pack??? (so why did you?)
I believe you are trying to make it harder than it is. by shooting yourself in the foot right out of the chute.

let offline sysprep stage mass storage...
Don't do anything manually and don't add your drivers (KISS method)
follow the directions to the letter FIRST... then experiment

I can explain this in excruciating detail but lets keep it simple
- Galapo does not use the drivers in the pack. (at least not in their raw state as they exist in the pack)
- DriverPacks BASE has a feature to create a BartPE MS plugin from our DriverPack MassStorage pack...
     the generated plugin folder is remarkably different than what is in the DriverPack MassStorage archive
     the pack and the plugin cannot coexist (they overlap in a cataclysmic fashion - Since providers can not write drivers correctly))
- If you mess with the delicate balance of drivers=hwids at all after OLSP you absolutely will cause failure
        (don't extract DriverPack MassStorage and don't do anything else with it either... or you are going to be fighting with this forever)
    (don't add your own mass drivers or any DriverPacks packs or sysprep BSMD or ANYTHING else) It is also very likely that your home made driverpack is causing a conflict and cascaded failure with mass storage (get your source working with just mass, then play with adding your drivers back. Or alternately you could simply use our DriverPacks.

HINT:
NEVER EVER give your root driver folder a name longer than one character.
hint, hint, it has something to do with exceeding max path lengths. IE 100 subfolders now each one has an additional say 15 extranious letters, 1500 characters burned out of your precious maximum of 2048. Same senario with a single letter folder. 100 x 1 100 thus we have saved 1400 bytes we can now use for more driver folders to search. so don't name your root folder \DRIVERS THis costs you  6 X (the number of subfolders you have in /drivers/) = X  > more than > if you use just \D\

Theory...

1 Offline sysprep stages drivers correctly...
2 you add extracted DriverPack MassStorage to search path
    result over 2000 duplicated HWIDS and hundreds of duplicate file names (last file written wins!)
    - SysPrep can not handle conflicting HWIDs Not even a single duplicate is tolerated (same for file names)
    Shot yourself in the foot.
3 you add your pack
   result adding hundreds or even thousands of additional HWID conflicts.

End result

   Machine won't boot (ever)

Look, if it were easy (that somone could just dump a bunch of drivers into a folder and it would then work) we would not get a million downloads a week
We pool our recources and our diverse range of experience here and at our sister sites like 911 and UBCD4Win and MSFN and SiginetSoftware etc...
so that all our lifes can be easier... no need to 'reinvent the wheel',  just ask and whe will find you a wheel in exactly your size

I'm not having much luck getting Offline Sysprep and DriverPack MassStorage to create a bootable image.

My steps are:

Set up two virtual machines.
Script build the first virtual machine with the latest scripted Windows XP SP3 build we have, and make a copy of this virtual machines hard disk.
Mount the copy of the hard disk on the second virtual machine (which we'll call ImageDev) as a D:\ drive

Download the current version of OfflineSysprep from http://www.911cd.net/forums//index.php?showtopic=19397 to ImageDev and save in C:\
Download DevCom from http://support.microsoft.com/kb/311272 into the OfflineSysprep folder
Download the most recent DriverPack MassStorage for XP from http://forum.driverpacks.net/index.php expand into the OfflineSysprep folder using 7-zip freeware. Rename root folder of expanded DriverPack MassStorage to DriverPack-MassStorage.
Copy our current sysprep folder into the OfflineSysprep folder
Remove the [SysprepMassStorage] section's contents (leave the header line [SysprepMassStorage])

Run OfflineSysprep.
Select D:\WINNT, Administrator account, and D:\DRIVERS (contains my usual drivers for the machines we have). Apply.
Capture D: using imagex.
Apply image to a test machine (VIA chipset I think).

Result: the same reboot loops I've been getting with all other methods apart from directly scripting the machine, and the second virtual machine is broken saying system32\Drivers\Ntfs.sys is corrupt!!

Any ideas or a recipe for using Offline Sysprep, because I'm obviously doing something very wrong

Cheers,
Mark

I'll give it a shot on Monday (it's Friday evening here as I post).

Cheers,
Mark