I was in a situation today where I had to recover some files from a server (HP DL380 G3) that was no longer able to boot. We didn’t have any systems management tools to allow access to the C: drive (on a SCSI RAID array). The Windows Recovery Console was a non-goer because the Local Security Policy disabled writes to the floppy.
Thankfully, I’d been playing with WAIK at home. I installed it and did the following:
- Downloaded and install WAIK
- Downloaded and install each storage driver for the DL380. Extract the files so you can see the .INF and .SYS files.
- Clicked on All Programs – Microsoft Windows AIK – Windows PE Tools Command Prompt.
- Ran copype.cmd x86 c:winpe_x86
- Ran imagex /mountrw c:winpe_x86winpe.wim 1 c:winpe_x86mount
- Ran peimg /inf=d:<path to driver><name of inf file>.inf c:winpe_x86mountWindows
- Repeat step 6 for each driver’s INF file
- Ran imagex /unmount c:winpe_x86mount /commit
- Ran copy c:winpe_x86winpe.wim c:winpe_x86ISOsourcesboot.wim
- Ran oscdimg -n -bc:winpe_x86etfsboot.com c:winpe_x86ISO c:winpe_x86winpe_x86.iso
- Burned the ISO to a CD.
- Boot the server with the CD. A command prompt will open and provides you with basic "DOS" functionality. I copied the required files to a floppy. I probably had USB access for a UFD.
Windows PE can be extended to use scripts. You can also add programs to the CD image. An example of usage would be to add GHOST.EXE and a script to the image so it boots and loads GHOST straight away. If you get a new machine with different drivers then the image (WIM file) can be easilly extended to give you a "one size fits all" CD.
Remember that Win PE as included with WAIK reuqires 512MB RAM to boot up and extract it’s contents into RAMDISK.