IFL and Microsoft Surface Pro 4

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garys93
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Mar 11, 2016 7:46 pm

IFL and Microsoft Surface Pro 4

Post by garys93 »

Having a problem booting IFL from a UDF on a brand-new out of the box Microsoft Surface Pro 4. It is pure UEFI and there is no legacy BIOS option available. I can get it to boot from the UDF and am presented on the screen with the choices to boot from:

IFL (GUI) Network Boot Disk - best available graphics mode
IFL (GUI) Network Boot Disk - 1024x768 graphics mode
IFL (GUI) Network Boot Disk - 800x600 graphics mode
IFL (GUI) Network Boot Disk - 640x480 graphics mode
IFL (GUI) Network Boot Disk - best available frame buffer mode

but no matter which option I pick it clears the screen and shows

Loading vmlinuz.....
Loading initrmfs.gz......

then flashes the screen for a moment before the display goes black and it does nothing. It's not shutting down, as I can see the display is still backlit and have to power the tablet off by holding the power button 10 seconds to shut down.

I have verified that it is not the method that was used to make the IFL UDF, as I have tried all 25 possible permutations in MakeDisk (all 5 choices for USB layout and ll 5 geometry choices with each layout). I am using a 16 Gb Verbatim USB 2.0 drive plugged directly into the side USB port of the Surface. No USB hubs or other USB devices are attached. I do have the Surface cover keyboard attached so I can select within the menu for input.

The one odd thing I did see is that on the Surface it puts my selection menu in a teal-colored box that only exists on the left 20% of the screen. I tried the same UDF in a BIOS booted system (Lenovo ThinkCentre M72e mini) and got the normal text-only interface, and it had the 'boot:' prompt as well. That system booted normally all the way to the IFL GUI. The Surface has a highlighted menu to scroll up and down in using the keyboard arrow keys, and doesn't have a 'boot:' prompt at all, or I would have also tried using various other options, such as 2fb, which have served me well on some mobile devices in the past. It does give me an option to hit 'c' for a command-line, but I'm a little lost when it comes to linux boot commands (old DOS junkie from WAYYYY back, and every version of Windows since 3.0). Is there any way to get this to work from a command-line perhaps?

My final goal is to be able to a) make an image of the factory load of the Surface and, b) make an image of a fully-configured Windows 10 Surface for future deployment imaging here at the office as we start getting more of these in over the next several months. I'm very familiar with making images to deploy in a networked environment, but up to this point they have all been on systems with BIOS and not UEFI. From what I determined after going through all the forums for IFD/IFL/IFW, it appears that the kernel is not loading. Any suggestions on how to get this to work? I've been all over the Internet looking for anyone else that has posted about this, and I can't find anything about IFL with a Surface.
TeraByte Support
Posts: 3598
Joined: Thu May 05, 2011 10:37 pm

Re: IFL and Microsoft Surface Pro 4

Post by TeraByte Support »

Are you using the latest boot disk?

You could try the CUI version as well.

You could create an IFW TBWinRE or TBWinPE boot disk.


"garys93" wrote in message news:11236@public.image...

Having a problem booting IFL from a UDF on a brand-new out of the box
Microsoft Surface Pro 4. It is pure UEFI and there is no legacy BIOS option
available. I can get it to boot from the UDF and am presented on the screen
with the choices to boot from:

IFL (GUI) Network Boot Disk - best available graphics mode
IFL (GUI) Network Boot Disk - 1024x768 graphics mode
IFL (GUI) Network Boot Disk - 800x600 graphics mode
IFL (GUI) Network Boot Disk - 640x480 graphics mode
IFL (GUI) Network Boot Disk - best available frame buffer mode

but no matter which option I pick it clears the screen and shows

Loading vmlinuz.....
Loading initrmfs.gz......

then flashes the screen for a moment before the display goes black and it
does nothing. It's not shutting down, as I can see the display is still
backlit and have to power the tablet off by holding the power button 10
seconds to shut down.

I have verified that it is not the method that was used to make the IFL UDF,
as I have tried all 25 possible permutations in MakeDisk (all 5 choices for
USB layout and ll 5 geometry choices with each layout). I am using a 16 Gb
Verbatim USB 2.0 drive plugged directly into the side USB port of the
Surface. No USB hubs or other USB devices are attached. I do have the
Surface cover keyboard attached so I can select within the menu for input.

The one odd thing I did see is that on the Surface it puts my selection menu
in a teal-colored box that only exists on the left 20% of the screen. I
tried the same UDF in a BIOS booted system (Lenovo ThinkCentre M72e mini)
and got the normal text-only interface, and it had the 'boot:' prompt as
well. That system booted normally all the way to the IFL GUI. The Surface
has a highlighted menu to scroll up and down in using the keyboard arrow
keys, and doesn't have a 'boot:' prompt at all, or I would have also tried
using various other options, such as 2fb, which have served me well on some
mobile devices in the past. It does give me an option to hit 'c' for a
command-line, but I'm a little lost when it comes to linux boot commands
(old DOS junkie from WAYYYY back, and every version of Windows since 3.0).
Is there any way to get this to work from a command-line perhaps?

My final goal is to be able to a) make an image of the factory load of the
Surface and, b) make an image of a fully-configured Windows 10 Surface for
future deployment imaging here at the office as we start getting more of
these in over the next several months. I'm very familiar with making images
to deploy in a networked environment, but up to this point they have all
been on systems with BIOS and not UEFI. From what I determined after going
through all the forums for IFD/IFL/IFW, it appears that the kernel is not
loading. Any suggestions on how to get this to work? I've been all over
the Internet looking for anyone else that has posted about this, and I can't
find anything about IFL with a Surface.

garys93
Posts: 2
Joined: Fri Mar 11, 2016 7:46 pm

Re: IFL and Microsoft Surface Pro 4

Post by garys93 »

I can't make a IFW boot disk, as it appears my company only purchased IFL and IFD. (They bought this 2 years ago before I started here, so I'm going on what documentation I have for license codes). If we have a license for IFW I don't know what the license code is, unless that is the license code listed as 'OSD Tool Suite'. Is there somewhere I can look that up?

I have been unable to find instructions on how to get to the CUI version in the manual. It documents the commands to run the various operations from a CUI, but does not explain how to get there. I tried from the graphical boot menu switching to a command prompt launcher, but it doesn't allow me to run IFL, as it gives me an error that the kernel is not loaded yet.
Brian K
Posts: 2214
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 1:11 am
Location: NSW, Australia

Re: IFL and Microsoft Surface Pro 4

Post by Brian K »

Gary,

IFL CUI is a separate download. In your download page you have two choices....

Image for Linux V2.99-00 (CUI), (With Networking), (Linux or Windows Users)

or

Image for Linux V2.99-00 (CUI), (Without Networking), (Windows Users)
TeraByte Support
Posts: 3598
Joined: Thu May 05, 2011 10:37 pm

Re: IFL and Microsoft Surface Pro 4

Post by TeraByte Support »

You log in to https://www.terabyteunlimited.com/product-download.php

You can use the trial to test booting to IFW.

"garys93" wrote in message news:11265@public.image...

I can't make a IFW boot disk, as it appears my company only purchased IFL
and IFD. (They bought this 2 years ago before I started here, so I'm going
on what documentation I have for license codes). If we have a license for
IFW I don't know what the license code is, unless that is the license code
listed as 'OSD Tool Suite'. Is there somewhere I can look that up?

I have been unable to find instructions on how to get to the CUI version in
the manual. It documents the commands to run the various operations from a
CUI, but does not explain how to get there. I tried from the graphical boot
menu switching to a command prompt launcher, but it doesn't allow me to run
IFL, as it gives me an error that the kernel is not loaded yet.

Alycat
Posts: 30
Joined: Tue Jun 05, 2012 6:07 am

Re: IFL and Microsoft Surface Pro 4

Post by Alycat »

Did you end up getting anywhere with producing a boot usb for a Surface?

I purchased a Surface Pro 4 today ... I have tried IfD, IfL and IfW ... I have downloaded the latest versions ... I tried the CUI version ... I have switched off secure boot, I tried booting using power and sound buttons, I tried booting using Setup, Recovery ... the best I achieved was the small box down the left then either one or two lines, then clear screen and nothing.

I emailed the company and received a reply, suggesting I tried creating a CD, or using TRWinPE ... I looked in to the latter, downloaded some files but think it may be too hard ... they immediately closed my request...
Alycat
Posts: 30
Joined: Tue Jun 05, 2012 6:07 am

Re: IFL and Microsoft Surface Pro 4

Post by Alycat »

Don't worry, I eventually got this working ... talk about through the hoops ... :!:
Alycat
Posts: 30
Joined: Tue Jun 05, 2012 6:07 am

Re: IFL and Microsoft Surface Pro 4

Post by Alycat »

But it fails to mount in TBIView ... think it is time to give up.
TeraByte Support(PP)
Posts: 1644
Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2011 12:51 am

Re: IFL and Microsoft Surface Pro 4

Post by TeraByte Support(PP) »

Which build are you using? TBWinRE or TBWinPE? If you have installed IFW it includes the TBWinRE files (no need to download anything). Also, TBWinRE may function better since WinRE should function on the system. In most cases, running TBWinPE/RE Builder and entering your key is all that's required to create it (default settings are usually fine) -- should just take a few minutes.

TBIView will open images and allow copying/extracting files. TBIMount is used if you're trying to mount a partition backup to a drive letter. Are you getting an error message? What partition are you trying to mount?
Alycat
Posts: 30
Joined: Tue Jun 05, 2012 6:07 am

Re: IFL and Microsoft Surface Pro 4

Post by Alycat »

The only real success I had was with IfW, with boot protection changed to MS and 3rd party.

IfL which I have ok before came up as described by the OP, with only one of two lines and a lockup.

I booted on my IfW USB, chose partition 0 from memory, thought it said 60 odd Gigs, started the backup, sent it to a USB driver I plugged in. It ran for about an hour, it validated ok. I try to view in TBIView, it shows

HS (60906 MB)
MBR 0 (60890 MB) NTFS/exFAT/HPFS/+(01)

Clicking on the second line shows:

Unable to mount the image.
Common reasons: dirty file system, incorrect partition file system
identifier, unsupported file system, or an error occurred.

I am not sure what you mean by TBWinRE or TBWinPe - sorry.
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