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Q. How can I change the background
picture during Windows Vista logon?
by John Savill
12/31/07
A. StarDock released a freeware product called Logon
Studio, which allows you to customize the Vista logon background. Go to
www.stardock.com/products/logonstudio/index.asp.
Q. How can I view the OSs listed in
the boot configuration data store?
01/01/08
A. The BCDEdit utility queries and manages the boot
configuration database. To list all the OS loaders, use the command
below. Note the use of the /v switch (for verbose mode), which lists the
globally unique identifier (GUID) of all the entries instead of the
friendly names, such as Current and Default.
bcdedit /enum osloader /v
Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {2b2de110-e56b-11db-9a61-ae196028f3ba}
device partition=C:
path \Windows\system32\winload.exe
description Microsoft Windows Vista
locale en-US
inherit {6efb52bf-1766-41db-a6b3-0ee5eff72bd7}
recoverysequence {572bcd56-ffa7-11d9-aae0-0007e994107d}
recoveryenabled Yes
osdevice partition=C:
systemroot \Windows
resumeobject {2b2de111-e56b-11db-9a61-ae196028f3ba}
nx OptIn
quietboot No
Windows Boot Loader
-------------------
identifier {572bcd56-ffa7-11d9-aae0-0007e994107d}
device ramdisk=[C:]\winre.wim,{ad6c7bc8-fa0f-11da-8ddf-00132003
54d8}
path \windows\system32\boot\winload.exe
description Windows Recovery Environment
osdevice ramdisk=[C:]\winre.wim,{ad6c7bc8-fa0f-11da-8ddf-00132003
54d8}
systemroot \windows
nx OptIn
detecthal Yes
winpe Yes
If you want to view the boot manager details, you can use the /enum
bootmgr switch.
Q. How can I add a Windows
Preinstallation Environment (PE) to a boot menu that has expanded to its
own partition?
by John Savill
01/02/08
A. The BCDEdit utility can be used to configure boot
configuration database (BCD) entries. You need to add a BCD entry if you
deploy a Windows PE environment to a machine that has either expanded to
a partition or is stored in a Windows Imaging Format (WIM). The commands
below will create a BCD entry. I assumed the Windows PE was deployed to
the E: drive. Note that the Windows PE could also include Windows
Recovery Environment (RE) from Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008.
First we need to create a new entry in the OS loader BCD. It will return
the new entry's global unique identifier (GUID), which you will use in
the rest of the commands.
bcdedit /create /d "Windows RE for Vista" /application OSLOADER
The entry {57f9d851-b1b2-11dc-9cfd-e2c2d840593a} was successfully
created.
Then set the new entry as a Windows PE environment, and E: partition as
the OS root folder for Windows and the loader (winload.exe).
bcdedit -set {57f9d851-b1b2-11dc-9cfd-e2c2d840593a} winpe yes
The operation completed successfully.
bcdedit -set {57f9d851-b1b2-11dc-9cfd-e2c2d840593a} osdevice
partition=e:
The operation completed successfully.
bcdedit -set {57f9d851-b1b2-11dc-9cfd-e2c2d840593a} device partition=e:
The operation completed successfully.
bcdedit -set {57f9d851-b1b2-11dc-9cfd-e2c2d840593a} path
\windows\system32\winload.exe
The operation completed successfully.
bcdedit -set {57f9d851-b1b2-11dc-9cfd-e2c2d840593a} systemroot \windows
The operation completed successfully.
bcdedit -set {57f9d851-b1b2-11dc-9cfd-e2c2d840593a} detecthal yes
The operation completed successfully.
bcdedit -displayorder {57f9d851-b1b2-11dc-9cfd-e2c2d840593a} -addlast
The operation completed successfully.
The Windows PE environment will now be available as a boot-menu item.
Q. How can I add a Microsoft Windows
Imaging Format (WIM)-based Preinstallation Environment (PE) and Recovery
Environment (RE) to my boot menu?
by John Savill
01/03/08
A. If you don't have a separate partition to deploy
Windows PE and Windows RE, you can take a WIM file containing Windows PE
and Windows RE and boot.sdi (which is provided for each architecture in
the Windows Automated Installation Kit) and add a boot configuration
database entry to allow the WIM file to load into a RAM drive.
Place the machine architecture WIM file and boot.sdi at the root of the
C drive. Then, use the following commands to create a RAM disk device:
bcdedit /create {ramdiskoptions} /d "Ramdisk options"
The entry {ramdiskoptions} was successfully created.
bcdedit /set {ramdiskoptions} ramdisksdidevice partition=C:
The operation completed successfully.
bcdedit /set {ramdiskoptions} ramdisksdipath \boot.sdi
The operation completed successfully.
You can now use this RAM disk to mount a WIM file. To use the RAM disk
and the WIM file, you first need to create a new OSLOADER entry, then
configure the entry with the globally unique identifier (GUID).
bcdedit /create /d "Windows RE" /application OSLOADER
The entry {57f9d854-b1b2-11dc-9cfd-e2c6c11635e9} was successfully
created.
bcdedit /set {57f9d854-b1b2-11dc-9cfd-e2c6c11635e9} device
ramdisk=[c:]\winre.wim,{ramdiskoptions}
The operation completed successfully.
bcdedit /set {57f9d854-b1b2-11dc-9cfd-e2c2d840594d} path
\windows\system32\winload.exe
The operation completed successfully.
bcdedit /set {57f9d854-b1b2-11dc-9cfd-e2c2d840594d} osdevice
ramdisk=[c:]\winre.wim,{ramdiskoptions}
The operation completed successfully.
bcdedit /set {57f9d854-b1b2-11dc-9cfd-e2c2d840594d} systemroot \windows
The operation completed successfully.
bcdedit /set {57f9d854-b1b2-11dc-9cfd-e2c2d840594d} winpe yes
The operation completed successfully.
bcdedit /set {57f9d854-b1b2-11dc-9cfd-e2c2d840594d} detecthal yes
The operation completed successfully.
bcdedit -displayorder {57f9d851-b1b2-11dc-9cfd-e2c2d840594d} -addlast
The operation completed successfully.
Q. How do I mark an OS loader as a
Windows Recovery Environment (RE)?
by John Savill
01/04/08
A. There is a custom attribute, 460000010, in the
Windows boot configuration database (BCD) schema that sets an OS loader
as a Windows RE for other OS loaders. Use the following command to
create the entry, but note that you should set it only on a Windows
PE/RE environment:
bcdedit /set {57f9d851-b1b2-11dc-9cfd-e2c2d840594d} custom:46000010 yes
Once that is set, you can set other OS loaders to use the configured OS
as the Windows RE.
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