Posts made by ssx4life

I don’t believe so. Player only plays existing VM’s, you need to build one from scratch.

Look into Virtual Box as a free alternative - [url]https://www.virtualbox.org/[/url]

As stated before, the current version of the client software was built around Windows XP, and hasn’t been rebuilt or optimized for NT6. Things such as UAC, printer management, etc do throw it off from time to time.

If a C+ / C Sharp dev wants to donate some time to make the software play a bit nicer that would be awesome.

In it’s current form the client software is functional, just not robust.

See here - [url]http://fogproject.org/forum/threads/feedback-snap-in-system.49/page-2#post-3049[/url]

So to confirm, if you have the firewall disabled they ping and show up correctly… ? yes?

A simple work around for now is to name your snapins in the order they should be weighed.

Example:

0. Chipset
1. Microsoft Office
2. Antivirus
3. etc.

They will be picked up properly by the SQL database and be installed in the order as named. Not ideal, and it’s a global “all or nothing” when it comes to their installation order, but it does work.

YMMV.

Mike thanks for the email. If you want to have full driver support for Windows XP using the SAD method you can do it once of two ways.

#1. Build a snapin for SAD2 using SFX Maker and push the .exe to the client computer, running the correct drivers
#2. Place the SAD2 folder [B]ANYWHERE[/B] but the sysprep folder. The root of would be just fine. I’ve seen people put it in C:\Drivers and then once the .cmd is run using the runonce command from sysprep they run a second script to delete the folder contents. A good example of this is andyroo on our forums who has a windows 7 walkthrough who also uses the driverpacks - [url]http://fogproject.org/forum/threads/windows-7-deployment-fog-sad2-driver-tool.380/[/url] . See his batch script below

[B]Delete drivers from C:[/B] (change “SAD2-111118” to what ever name you have your folder as)
[CODE]
@ECHO OFF

rd /s/q C:\D

DEL /F /S /Q /A “C:\Drivers\SAD2-111118”

rd /s/q C:\Drivers\SAD2-111118

EXIT[/CODE]

Don’t forget you can create this .cmd file and place it in the same location as your driverpacks, and have it be run by sysprep (runonce command) It will not only delete itself, but take out anything inside the folder as well, leaving you with a clean installation.

Let me know if you have any questions or need further help

[quote=“boon, post: 2974, member: 833”]Thanks for the quick walkthrough, SSX4LIFE!

If I wanted an image to detect ALL hardware, do I need to add all additional display/sound/etc drivers to \sysprep\drivers before running spdrvscn?

Thanks again for your help![/quote]

@boon , yes in theory you could put all your needed drivers (.inf’s) into the sysprep\drivers folder and inject them into your install so all sound /etc. get auto inserted.

HOWEVER you need to be careful when you do this.

#1. If you load the incorrect chipset driver for the OS it could BSOD on first boot (happens mostly with older dell models).
#2. Sysprep.inf has a file limitation size of 2047 characters. Typically you can’t throw all the needed drivers into the installation, so the way around this is to use the driverpacks method. You could place the driverpacks folder in or even use SFX Maker to encapsulate it as an .exe. Then simply use the runonce command to call the remaining drivers on first boot.

I should note that in my sysprep folder that I included it has the driverpacks for mass storage and lan. Look here for the SAD_DP_INSTALL_TOOL script over on the driverpacks.net forums - [url]http://forum.driverpacks.net/viewtopic.php?id=5336[/url]

Download the .7z and open the readme.txt file. It’s simple as downloading the driverpacks using a .torrent application and tossing the proper files in the x86 / x64 / nt5 folders.

If you need more help or more info let me know, but be VERY careful of the sysprep character limitations.

–ssx–

[quote=“danuel, post: 2768, member: 628”]

To finish the installation I only need put a RunOnce Command to delete the sysprep folder, or I’m wrong?[/quote]

The sysprep folder auto-deletes when the computer boots for the first time. The folder, and anything inside of it auto delete

danuel please read the documentation on the fog user guide. You failed to modify apache to accept larger snapins.

[url=“http://www.fogproject.org/wiki/index.php?title=Managing_FOG#Snap-ins”]www.fogproject.org/wiki/index.php?title=Managing_FOG#Snap-ins[/url]

Looks like the Latitude 2100’s use the Broadcom 57XX Gigabit Integrated Controller. Confirm that you have this Nic in device manager, but this may be a work around - [url]http://etherboot.org/wiki/romburning/tg3[/url]

Confirm your NIC against the running list here - [url]http://rom-o-matic.net/gpxe/gpxe-0.9.6/src/bin/NIC[/url]

i’m pretty sure it’s there.

If you can boot CD’s you could technically use romOMatic - [url]http://rom-o-matic.net/gpxe/gpxe-git/gpxe.git/contrib/rom-o-matic/[/url]

Not ideal again, but a possible solution.

What happens when you pull all bootable devices from the laptop and try to boot it?

yes and no… (depending on the model of dell and how new it is).

If you have network booting already enabled (by default) on some dell models it typically is the last post / boot option for the laptop. You can test this by disconnecting the hard drive / optical drive / remove any USB devices and plug in a network cable and turn the laptop on.

If the laptop doesn’t see any standard bootable devices it will jump down it’s list of “working options”. If PXE is at the bottom of that list it will PXE boot and allow you to image / inventory the equipment.

This is by no means ideal as you have figured out (F12 and or F2 to enter the bios and change the boot order is best).

It’s the only solution I could think of other than getting the master bios password reset (Google it I suppose if Dell comes up empty). I think Hirens also had an option for this (if you can get a CD to boot).

Best of luck, let us know how it goes.

Running 0.32 with no issues on the default kernel.

The newer dells have ATA mode, and two others, one standard, and one which is a custom intel raid mode. I would start by checking the controller mode in bios and make sure it is on ATA not ACHI or Raid.

I decided to throw together a really quick video walk through of how to create a universal windows xp image using fog.

In this demo walk through I’m using Windows XP Professional OEM + SP3 slipstreamed. I HIGHLY… [B]HIGHLY[/B] suggest that you use a vanilla OEM disk and NOT a stamped disk such as a dell / hp oem disk. These oem disks come with the hologram typically.

It’s also important to note that you can actually sysprep an OEM vanilla image. I’m using an OEM SLP key found here - [url]http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb457078.aspx[/url] , and runing oemscan.exe after the machine is imaged to fully activate it on oem hardware.

To simplify things I’ve also included a copy of my sysprep folder (see below). This folder is ~50MB due to it including 2 driverpacks (mass storage / lan) for NT5 x86. It already has a pre-built sysprep.inf file you can edit and use for your own

1. Create a Virtual Machine using Virtual Box or VM Ware.
2. Make sure that the VM you create has an [B]IDE hard drive[/B] option selected (not SCSI) and a SINGLE PROCESSOR with [B]TWO CORES[/B]. Also make sure the lan is BRIDGED
3. Install Windows XP Pro (OEM if you don’t have a VLK), or VLK if you have that license agreement and key
4. Run all updates on the computer, install any software, configure the OS the way you want / etc.
5. Capture a snapshot of the OS using the software (VM Ware has this built in, as does virtualbox)
6. Simply download sysprep.zip and unzip the file and move it to C:\sysprep (if you are using windows xp pro vlk you will need to modify the supplied key)
7. Run spdrvscn.exe and hit box #1, #2, #5 (save) and close the application
8. Run sysprep.exe from a command prompt as follows “sysprep.exe -bmsd” This will run sysprep and pull all the mass storage drivers and lan drivers down into the sysprep.inf file
9. Make any last changes you want to your image (if you are using a VM I suggest that you snapshot as you go along)
10. Install the Fog client service
11. Manually register the host by MAC address on the fog server. You can find this by running ipconfig /all
12. Once registered assign it to a new computer image in fog, and select “upload”
13. On the virtual machine run setupmgr.exe and modify the sysprep.inf to your liking (change the password / name / etc.)
14. Once saved run mysysprep.exe and tick the box that says “run mini setup” as and then “reseal”
15. Wait about 15-20 min’s for sysprep to run and shut down the VM
16. Turn the VM on and smash F12 on your keyboard to PXE boot the OS.
17. FOG will now boot and capture the image. You are set! This image will now work on any model hardware you throw it at (well just about)

The above steps are pretty cut and dry. If you have ever run sysprep.exe before on Windows XP most of this should be fairly familar to you. All that was added in this guide was we have added drivers using the sysprep driver scanner, and chanloaded mysysprep.exe instead of the standard sysprep.exe (giving us the ability to inject HAL’s into the install).

[SIZE=4][U][B]Required Files[/B][/U][/SIZE]

1. sysprep.zip - [URL=‘https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B6xOimbg2JqVZnhQUjRSaWFoNHM’][B]https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B6xOimbg2JqVZnhQUjRSaWFoNHM[/B][/URL]
2. oemscan.exe (only needed on oem builds of Pro. Run the .exe as a snapin or manually + reboot. It will then be activated if run on a supported oem system (dell hp / compaq / etc.) with a supported OEM SLP key - [URL=‘https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B6xOimbg2JqVS2R6bXFad1Rka28’][B]https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B6xOimbg2JqVS2R6bXFad1Rka28[/B][/URL]

If you have any questions let me know.

EDIT

Thank you Boon for re-hosting / uploading these files while I was out of the states on work.

thanks.

Please see the fog wiki for a quick list of the most commonly used software pushed using snapins. Also feel free to edit and build on this current list.

[url]http://www.fogproject.org/wiki/index.php?title=Supported_Snapin's_and_Command_Line_Switches[/url]

Just wanted to take the time to post a copy of a modified .dll file I obtained from MoellerAero over on the edugeek.net forums - [url]http://www.edugeek.net/forums/o-s-deployment/92417-how-modify-snapin-client-sleep-timer.html[/url]

By replacing this modified .dll it will auto check in for any snapin’s that need to be pushed to the client after 20 seconds of the fog service starting, not 5 minutes (which cuts down on the delay for software installs / reboots / etc.)

Simply navigate to c:/Program Files/Fog/ (or program files (x86) on a 64bit os) and replace the snapinclient.dll file with the one found attached below. Restart your fog service and you are all set.

I’ve tested this modified .dll and it works great. The only change to the file is the check in / sleep time.

I have gone ahead and updated my core base computer images around this modified .dll and had no issues at all. Please feel free to give it a whirl, and give MoellerAero a big thank you for editing the source and compiling the new file.

[url=“/_imported_xf_attachments/0/96_SnapinClient.zip?:”]SnapinClient.zip[/url]

I just wanted to post a really quick and simple guide to creating a snapin for Ultravnc SC (single click) that will allow you to push a snapin to a pc, and then remotely control it.

This software works with Windows 2000 / XP / Vista / 7 (32bit / 64bit)

[SIZE=4][U][B]Requirements[/B][/U][/SIZE]

1. A working Fog server (obviously)
2. A client computer with the fog service installed and running
3. A support computer that runs UltraVNC Viewer in Listen Mode (I’ve found that version 1.02 of the software works best) - [url]http://www.uvnc.com/downloads/ultravnc/81-ultravnc-downloads.html[/url]
4. A copy of UltraVNC SC 2011 - [url]http://www.securetech.com.au/view-details/miscellaneous-files/uvnc-sc-2011-small-update-packager.html[/url]

To create a working snapin for UltraVNC SC all you need to do is download the file above and edit your helpdesk.txt file accordingly. If you have only a single [host] in the .txt file the executable will open and auto run, connecting you to the IP / host name you specify.

This software simply runs the sc client software and connects to the support computer that is listening on port 5500 (default).

Once you have a working tested version of this sc client software, simply upload a copy of it to the fog server as a snapin, link it to a host computer, and you can instantly push the software and connect to the pc.

This is really basic when it comes to steps and using the software, so I’m not going to dive into this too far So far this is a great solution for our day to day tasks in the office.

More instructions can be found here if needed - [url]http://variableghz.com/2011/06/how-to-make-use-of-ultravnc-sc-single-click/[/url]

Also here is a full list of the available syntax for the helpdesk.txt file - [url]http://www.mail.uvnc.com/docs/uvnc-sc.html[/url]

For Windows XP you need either a VLK license (site license) or use an oem image with a royalty key (SLP key).

You can’t image and deploy a standard oem key based image to a lab, it’s against the licensing.