Vendor installed Windows 8 x64 and TBWinRE.cmd buglet

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PorkChops
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Dec 15, 2012 6:31 pm

Vendor installed Windows 8 x64 and TBWinRE.cmd buglet

Post by PorkChops »

I'm trying to create a TBWinRE boot disk (USB thumb drive or CD) using the Windows Recovery Environment image file that came with the pre-installed Windows H8, er, Windows 8 64-bit version on a new desktop system. After installing IFW v2.77, I downloaded/unpacked the TBWinRE bundle, ran the TBWinRE.cmd script (using menu entry number 2) which successfully created a bootable USB thumb drive. After restarting the system, it boots fine from the USB thumb drive and I see the TeraByte background followed by a command prompt window with this message:

: "A winpeshl.ini file is present, but no commands were successfully launched. This could be caused by incorrect formatting or an invalid executable name. Please consult the documentation for more information."

I Consulted "the google" on the above message, but I didn't find anything definitive. The winpeshl.ini file contains:

: [LaunchApps]
: %SystemDrive%\Windows\System32\chgres.exe, "-m3"
: %SystemDrive%\Windows\System32\tblauncher.exe

When I tried to manually launch tblauncher (or imagew), I saw this error message in return:

: "The subsystem needed to support the image type is not present."

which tickled some past memory of 32-bit/64-bit confusion I stumbled across with one of Microsquish's deployment tools. While re-running TBWinRE.cmd, I noticed that it was reporting the WinRE image file as 32-bit:

: WinRE image found.
:
: WinRE.WIM file architecture: (x86)

It would make sense to me that the 64-bit OS would have a 64-bit recovery environment, but not being quite sure, I poked around in TBWinRE.cmd to see how it was making the determination -- it uses this section to do so:

: :: Determine WIM file x86 or x64
: (set tbx64=)
: for /f "usebackq tokens=* delims=" %%G in (`dism /get-wiminfo /wimfile:"%WinRE_Path%\winre.wim" ^| find "(x64)"`) do set tbx64=64
: echo.
: if "%tbx64%"=="64" echo WinRE.WIM file architecture: (x64)
: if not "%tbx64%"=="64" echo WinRE.WIM file architecture: (x86)

When I ran the DISM command on the now backed-up image, it reports this:

: C:\TBWinRE>dism /get-wiminfo /wimfile:WinRE_Backup\winre.wim
:
: Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
: Version: 6.2.9200.16384
:
: Details for image : WinRE_Backup\winre.wim
:
: Index : 1
: Name : <undefined>
: Description : <undefined>
: Size : 1,534,598,654 bytes

It looks like maybe the TBWinRE.cmd expected to find the version information in either the Name or Description fields, but the vendor opted to leave them undefined, so "tbx64" ended up null and concluded it was a 32-bit image. However, on closer examination, it is indeed a 64-bit image:

: C:\TBWinRE>dism /get-wiminfo /wimfile:WinRE_Backup\winre.wim /index:1
:
: Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
: Version: 6.2.9200.16384
:
: Details for image : WinRE_Backup\winre.wim
:
: Index : 1
: Name : <undefined>
: Description : <undefined>
: Size : 1,534,598,654 bytes
: Architecture : x64
: Hal : <undefined>
: Version : 6.2.9200
: ServicePack Build : 16384
: ServicePack Level : 0
: Edition : WindowsPE
: Installation : WindowsPE
: ProductType : WinNT
: ProductSuite :
: System Root : WINDOWS
: Directories : 3177
: Files : 14232
: Created : 12/12/2012 - 5:26:52 AM
: Modified : 12/12/2012 - 5:26:54 AM
: Languages :
: en-US (Default)

To get around this issue, I just predefined "tbx64=64" and then commented out the check -- now IFW and TBLauncher startup just fine for me.

- PC

P.s. As an aside, in the course of trying to get a working boot disk, I tried building a CD during the MakeDisk portion of the build either directly via BingBurn or creating an ISO and then burning it afterwards, but the system would not recognize them as bootable (with secure boot enabled or disabled)
TeraByte Support(PP)
Posts: 1644
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 12:51 am

Re: Vendor installed Windows 8 x64 and TBWinRE.cmd buglet

Post by TeraByte Support(PP) »

Thanks for the detailed information. I'll take a look at it.

Did you try booting the CD on another system (just in case the problem is/was specific to that system)? Did you get any error messages when trying to boot it or did it just not boot?
PorkChops
Posts: 2
Joined: Sat Dec 15, 2012 6:31 pm

Re: Vendor installed Windows 8 x64 and TBWinRE.cmd buglet

Post by PorkChops »

Thanks for the fast reply. Regarding the TBWinRE-based CD, I hadn't even thought to try it on another system, assuming that it was in some UEFI/secure boot format, but I just tried it on a BIOS-based system and it booted perfectly. I thought I had previously tried booting it with secure boot off, but stupid me -- when I *thought* I was selecting the DVD drive from the UEFI boot menu, I was in fact just selecting the device category, and not the indented SATA port beneath it. Classic operator error. So anyways, it boots just fine, as long as secure boot is off and I'm not at the controls...

Out of curiosity, and apologies if this is a really dumb question, but how come a TBWinRE-based USB is recognized as a valid UEFI source but a TBWinRE-based CD is not?

- PC
TeraByte Support(PP)
Posts: 1644
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 12:51 am

Re: Vendor installed Windows 8 x64 and TBWinRE.cmd buglet

Post by TeraByte Support(PP) »

Okay. Thanks for the update. I'll have to check on the UEFI CD booting issue.
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