Wouldn't it be easier to just place a batch file in your ISO that would copy the folders and files from a networked location?

kinda defeats the point of having a bootable DVD for machines that aren't connected to the network



This is a solution for machines that are not either connected to the network or have slow WAN links where you don't want to copy across 500mb of data hence having the image and additional data on 1 disk

I've opened an Altiris incident



The technician seems to agree that the behaviour is not normal but will need confirmation



A short term solution is to locate

\\servername\express\bootwiz\configs\"configuration name"\Shared



create a new directory within the Shared directory and copy the files across



then compile the ISO

First, lets make sure that we understand that files placed into the "Additional files" folders, will end up in ALL boot images for that preboot OS type. Those files will end up in USB, CD/DVD, and PXE boot images from all boot configurations. If these files do not belong in all those boot image types, then it is better to place them into a specific boot configuration in BDC (Boot Disk Creator) that you will use to create a specific boot image from.





So you are placing the files into the "Additional files" folder in BDC (boot disk creator), but only some of the files get placed into your final boot image when you boot into it and check?



Are those files data files, or ar they executable program files?



If they are executable program files, is this a 32-bit or 64-bit CD you are building, and are the missing program files 32-bit or 64-bit?







When you add files in BDC, either to the "Additional Files" folder or to the specific configuration folder, BDC examines them, and if it finds that they are executable program files, then it separates them into processor specific categories internally. If they are not program files, then it puts them into a "shared" category.



When you build the final boot image, you must specify what processor architecture type to build a boot image for, and then BDC only places into that boot image, the program files that match the same processor architecture as the boot image you are building.





So lets say that you are adding a.exe (32-bit) and b.exe (64-bit) to "Additional files" or a configuration. If you build a 32-bit boot image, only a.exe will be placed into the boot image. If you build a 64-bit boot image, then only b.exe will be in that 64-bit boot image.



This is because only native applications (ie 32-bit vs 64-bit) will actually run in the preboot environments. You cannot run a 32-bit application in a 64-bit boot image - the 32-bit emulation support does not exist in a 64-bit preboot environment. And of course a 64-bit program will not run in a 32-bit preboot environment.



So BDC leaves 32-bit programs out of a 64-bit boot image, and leaves 64-bit programs out of a 32-bit boot image - This is by design.



Normally, rather than have a 32-bit a.exe, and a 64-bit b.exe, you would have both a 32-bit and a 64-bit a.exe. You would then add both of these programs, with the same file name, to the configuration (or to Additional Files). BDC allows you to add multiple program files with the same file name, so long as they are for different processor architectures, since it will only put one of those files into the final boot image, depending on the processor architecture of the boot image that you build.





But if you are just putting these programs into the boot image, but don't intend to run them and only intend to copy them onto the local hard drive to be used in the production OS environment, and if that production OS environment doesn't match the processor architecture of the preboot environment, then you have a problem, and this is a limitation of the current design of BDC.



There is currently no way around this using BDC, other than to "fool" it into thinking that these programs are not processor specific programs. And the only way to do this, is to manually place them into the "shared" category, rather than into the processor specific categories.



You were told to add these files to the "\bootwiz\configs\config name\Shared" folder. This is the "shared" category for that specific "config name" configuration. But there is also a shared category for the "Additional Files" as well. The "Additional Files" folders are stored in "\bootwiz\include". Then you will see preboot specific subfolders, and under each one, you will notice the "shared" folder, as well as the processor specific folders. If you place them into the "sahred" folder here, then they will be added to all processor specific boot images as well.



So you can either use the "Additoonal Files" (\bootwiz\include), or a specific boot configuration, and use the "shared" category.

By the way, I forgot to mention...





If you have a number of files that you want to access when you boot into a preboot environment, and if those files are big, such as a disk image, then youo will likely run into problems with running out of ram.



This is because everything in your boot configuration gets copied into the "ram disk" in memory.



But if you are booting from something like USB or CD, then you may not need those files actually loaded into ram - it might be nice to leave those files on the boot USB or boot CD, and then just access those from the boot environment.



BDC will let you add files to a boot configuration, but leave those on the original boot media so that they don't take up ram disk space.



To do this, then create a folder in your boot configuration, and call it "." (without the quotes). Yes, create a directory at the root of the boot configuration, whose name is a single dot. Then put these extra files in that folder in the boot configuration. This directory represents the root of the boot media, and will not be loaded into ram, but will be left sitting on the boot media - on the USB or the CD/DVD. You can then access those once you have booted, by using the %ALTIRIS_BOOTDISK% environment variable ($ALTIRIS_BOOTDISK in linux).



This environment variable will contain the drive (or mount point) of the root of the original boot media.



For example, if you add a file called xyz.dat to the "." folder of your boot configuration, then made a bootable DVD from it, and when you boot from it, if the DVD drive is drive e:, then the %ALTIRIS_BOOTDISK% environment variable will contain "E:".