WinPE 3.0 is very high on our roadmap requirements list. Stay tuned, it's coming.

hi rick

my problem is...

Currently some desktop computers on the lan are having gigabyte 945 intel chipset motherboard with C2D 2.93 GHZ processor and 4 gb ddr2 RAM ; Windows XP is installed along with other softwares from the network from altiris server .
According to Company's  New IT policy all systems with windows xp have to  be shifted to Windows 7 64 Bit.
We have sucsessfully installed windows 7 professional 64 bit on standalone desktop for testing purpose(via DVD  rom) but when we try installation through lan from altiris server we are unable to install windows 7 professional 64 bit , according to our customer end IT administrator  the system is throwing  "windows PE" error; we also tried latest G41 motherboard but we are getting the same error whereas  Dell and HP desktop computers are being installed successfully with windows 7 64 bit from the same altiris server through the same local area network.
 

please give me a solution for same

Thanks

Willson

Be aware that for WinPE 2.1, for making it works correctly for seeing the Disk & network card, you must upload the Vista Driver:

• If not the net driver: DHCP reply repeat message on preboot !!
• If not the disk driver: ghost error

You can cumul the 2 problem :)

Also, if installing both winPE 2.1 x86 & x64, installing the x86 drivers only, does not update the x64 preboot. Be sure not switch the 2 winPE.

Best practices, choose x86 and never install x64 for winPE2.1, because more easy to find x86 vista drivers than x64, and avoid double updating need. But can switch according your own environment.

Another alternative for nice preboot, use Linux, but of course also need good drivers... But from time to time, some drivers are in linux, not the winpe 2.1 :)

Enjoy PXE preboot, hope some improvement into next altiris, to automate those ...#@^X!... drivers updates.

I  suggest;

Submit update and review all your support cases online.

And you need to know if symantec traffic shapper support SESA integration.

I have successfully managed to integrate WinPE3.0 and create PXE boot images using PXE Config Manager. Having Issues trying to get WinPE3.1 to work though. Mainly want WinPE 3.1 so i can get the support for Advanced Format HDDs using 4k sectors. Might have to just patch the WinPE3.0 with the hotfixes to make it work with 4k sector drives. Would be nice to have a proper Symantec WinPE3.0/3.1 solution though instead of hacking it myself....

Yay! Managed to implement WinPE3.1 into Altiris DS 6.9 SP5.

Care to share how you did this? :)

Symantec Dev, you need to get off your lazy behinds and update your WinPE pre boot OS to 3.1.

WinPE 3.0 has been out since 2009 for goodness sakes, and since the release of Win 7 SP1 its now 3.1. Get with the times Symantec.

Thanks to qman_au it now only takes only 5 minutes to upgrade Symantec's very old WinPE 2.1 boot OS to 3.1, and it works a treat!

Keep up the good work qman_au!

PS. to other users, if you have an option to use DS 6.9 over DS 7.1, stick with 6.9.
 

One more reason to go for WinPE 3.x is when we receive new PCs with hardware that isn't supported by WinPE 2.1 (e.g. the Intel NICs in Dell Optiplex 990s or Latitude 6520s) we prefer to only download the Win7 drivers. Soon we will completely migrate to Win7 and although Vista drivers are available for WinPE 2.1 its still more overhead and an easy thing to miss that WinPE 2.1 sometimes specifically require the Vista driver.

I read in Adam Cassars' post he was advised by Microsoft to upgrade to WinPE 3.1 by Microsoft. Although this is the obvious easy answer, it seems required for support..and since out since 2009 (WinPE 3.0 that is, it does seem time for Symantec to make the switch).

Thanksfully DS 6.9 is still supported by Symantec. We're upgrading our NS to 7.1 but are staying on DS 6.9 for now (different server) until everything is stabilises and our migration of 1600 nodes to Win7 x64 has been completed.

WinPE 3.0 has been in place for awhile, WinPE 3.1 is already reved = no one in their right mind in an enterprise would not be using this version for its flixibility, maturity and configurability !

it's coming = when ?

Still on its way or lost its path :))

bump? is this still happening? seems like this should have taken about an hour of dev time including basic testing/bug squashing

DS 7.5 is coming in fall with WinPE3.0 or 3.1

We have no plans, nor desire, to move to 7.x unless it starts behaving more like 6.9. Thanks for the response, though.

So I created a winpe3.0 following qman_au instructions, but where do I put that file on altiris 7.1 servers? Do I rename \\notificationserver\Deployment\Task Handler\WAIK\Tools\PETools\x86\winpe.wim file and then throw it in there?  Then tell it to create a new Preboot configuration?  When it creates it, will it add the Altiris agent in so it will process commands?

Also,

FYI - I went through qman_au instructions for everything exactly for 3.1 and could never get it to work.  I was really careful with my file handling and tried on (2)different computers, but could never get it to add the scripting packages in using the dism commands.  The error coming back was always "The specified package is not applicable to this image" and I triple checked the x86 and made sure I grabbed the packages under the en-us folder, but never could get it to work for x86 or x64.  I googled the error in the dism log file and there is a bug and I tried to go through the suggestions there as well, but nothing ever worked on either computer.

LinuxPE too.

I want to tag to this idea.

Next versions of DS should not only support newer versions of WinPE but also newer versions of LinuxPE.

As an example, the newest HP thinclient T610 will not start the standard LinuxPE provided in DS 6.9 SP5. Testing showed that it will not start from OpenSuse 11.1 either, but OpenSuse 11.4 works fine.

Thanks for the share. My WinPE 3.1 works fine for me on my DS 6.9 SP5.

Somebody have tested WinPE 4 ? is there something change for exemple capture or deploy wim image (size of the wim is the same with WinPE 3.1 and 4.0 ?).
I know that 3 bests parts for this new release WinPE 4 :
- WinePE 4 boot faster than 3.1
- .Net Framework
- PowerShell 3 ^^

Enjoy Altiris Guru

We have addressed using DS 6.9 and Advanced Format Drives via the following method:

1. Build a WinPE 3.1 disk, use diskpart to format and prepare the AFD correctly

2. Load the win7 wim and update it accorgingly

3. Once updated, copy the wim up to our DS server

prepare a new machine

1. Prepare the disk using the WinPE 3.1 disk and diskpart

2. boot to DS (using the built-in WinPE2.x distro) and copy the wim to the new machine pre-prepared hard drive

3. via script, call the winpe 3.1 version of imagex to apply the wim to the drive

once the OS is applied to the drive then the remaining DS functions continue without problem (naming the machine, adding to the domain, scripted installs, etc.)

Possibly stupid question for those running with PE 3.1 here..

I take it RDeploy remains "broken" so far as AFD drives are concerned? By that I mean that restoring an RDeploy image onto an AFD will result in a partition that is not aligned, and consequently moves like a sloth?

We just purchased a fairly large collection of laptops which we're hoping to put Win7 images onto so I'm not liking the sounds of this.

Symantec, ever since the release of the new Dell PowerEdge 12G servers our DS 6.9 no longer works.  We believe this is due to the outdated version of WinPE provided with the product.  Please update your product it is now November of 2012.  If you cant bring yourselves to do this, we will be forced to abandon the Symantec product.  We now must hand load our new 12G servers until this is fixed.

Hi guys,

is there any step that needs to be taken before the following procedure:

Install WAIK 3.0 and update with WAIKS 3.1.

copy C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\x86\winpe.wim -> D:\Program Files\Altiris\express\Deployment Server\WAIK\Tool\PETools\winpe.wim

copy the following cab files (winpe-wmi.cab, winpe-scripting.cab, winpe-hta.cab) from C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\x86\winpe_fps -> D:\package

copy any win7 drivers you will need in the winpe boot file to d:\driver

DSIM /mount-wim /wimfile:D:\Program Files\Altiris\express\Deployment Server\WAIK\Tool\PETools\winpe.wim /index:1 /mountdir:d:\mount

DISM /image:d:\mount /add-package /packagepath:d:\package

DISM /image:d:\mount /add-driver /driver:d:\driver /recurse

DISM /unmount-wim /mountdir:d:\mount /commit

Now use PXE config manager to create a new winpe boot image. It will utilise the new winpe3.1 winpe.wim file and create the "winpe2.1" image from that. Once all is finshed, as long as pxe config manager shows that the boot file is winpe2.1 then all should be good. If pxe config manager only shows the boot file as "winpe", then it wont show up as a valid selectable winpe boot image. The only way around it I have found is to reinstall DS. This has been tested on DS 6.9 SP4 & SP5.

1. Do I need to re-create the preboot environment?
2. What of the Altiris agent - it is not compatible with the WinPE 3.1
3. Do I need to create the WinPE with x64 compatibilty only?

That's what I meant... so bottom line: What check boxes should be checked when creating the boot image?