Custom Win PE Boot Disk Building: Dead Ends Ahead!

And that ended up being a Good Thing.

No I haven’t forgotten.

• Custom Win PE Boot Disk Building Saga: Introduction
• Custom Win PE Boot Disk Building: Step One – WAIK up
• Custom Win PE Boot Disk Building: Step Two – PGP Injection

The next installment is going to be the first of two interesting dead-ends I took.

I’ll address the method I used to try to find why the Dell Optiplex USB keyboard wouldn’t load under a WinPE 2.0 WAIK wim VistaPE build but would under the Vista setup disk wim VistaPE build and the plain-Jane WinPE 2.0 WAIK boot disk build.

Once I got the required drivers identified, I had to extract them then inject them back into the WinPE 2.0 WAIK wim VistaPE build again (since the PGP Injection method BSOD’s the Vista setup disk based VistaPE build).

That didn’t ultimately fix the issue, but a little “hack” I worked out did extend my knowledge of ways to load extra drivers in VistaPE builds.

The second dead-end brought me closer to working out what would become the third-step in producing my custom PGP-WDE driver-injected VistaPE’ish Win 2.0 boot CD.  And we will play with some neat WIM file tools in the process.

Unfortunately, this extended weekend brought a barrel-full of unexpected and unpleasant surprises involving unplanned emergency maintenance to both of our vehicles (battery replacement for the Ion, radiator replacement for the Altima), Lavie going to the ER (she is better but her worn-out system just can’t shake this flu-bug), more than a few “honey-I’m-sick-can-you-run-out-to-<insert store here>” errands, as well as my handling the full slate of regular household chores I have to budget for on the weekends (grocery shopping, laundry, house-cleanup, etc.). 

Though to confess, it felt nice sitting on our swing in the back yard in the sun and cool breeze getting some fresh air and sun with Lavie curled up next to me.  Good medicine and I had fun carelessly pulling up a few wild green-onions from the clumps that somehow are spread across the backyard.  Their scent reminds me that spring is near.

Sometimes the super-dad’s schedule gets out of whack and something has to give so I wasn’t able to give out the full measure of posting I had planned.

Hang in there.  It’ll be worth the wait.

Cheers!

Claus V.