VMware Workstation 4.5.2 running from BartPE

LATEST NEWS:
This plugin does not need XPE.
It is possible to load the system completely into RAM so that you can change CDs.
I don't expect this to work on XP.

Please do not redistribute.

Please use this link http://vmware.itst.org/viewtopic.php?t=3224 for german visitors or send e-mail to the webmaster of this site.

Build this structure:

All files inside the green square must be copied to RAMdrive
- so if you prefer to do this via the sfx-way - do so.

This plugin needs some more preparation than usual. Here is a description of the necessary steps.

Dependancies:

XPE 1.0.2 - MSI - 2k3-built of BartPE - a standard installation of VMware on a 2k3 system

Files:

This plugin needs files in several system-folders and about 20MB in a program folder. The programs runs from
Ram-drive and in this case R:\ws452 as installpath is hardcoded into all infs - sorry for that - %temp%\ws452 doesn't work for me. Run search and replace on all files if you need to change that. I don't like B: for RAMdrive as I use to have a virtual floppy on this letter. You can decide wether you want files on CD or in a self-extracting archive - for this plugin I used files on CD.
In some cases you probably have to rename some files for example the oem (?).infs - this plugin uses oem0-oem2.
You can change the oem-number - run s+r on all files to adjust.
Registry:
Most of the registry entries can be done via an *.inf file. There are some registry-entries that can't be processed by PE-builder - they have to be merged in when BartPE is alive. The plugin uses a cmd to export the registry entries.
If the SAM - branch does not contain more than just the header you have to change permissions on HKLM\SAM so that it expands upto
HKLM\SAM\SAM\Domains\Account\Users\Names\__vmware_user__

RAMdrive:
I use the driveletter R:\ for this build - B:\ is better suited for a virtual floppy drive - so I changed the driveletter. I recommend useing a RAMdrive with 256MB or more. If you try less be prepared to see RAMdrive-crashs quite often.

System-RAM:

Don't expect this plugin to work if you are building a BartPE for systems with less than 512MB of RAM. If you only need
raw-disk-creation you can build for smaller systems - in this case you may even be able to use programfiles on CD instead of RAM-drive to safe about 20MB of RAM.

Testing in a VM:
You can and should test your builts before writing them to media in VMware. 512MB-VMs are enough as you will not be able to start a VM while running on VMware - it may work in Virtual PC but I don't know for sure. If you can push the play-button and get the No VM in a VM message your built is ready for toasting it.

 

Here is the list of sub-plugins: - be patient - takes some time to load

You don't need all of them - if you don't need NAT or DHCP or USB or whatever -just leave out the stuff that you don't want.
This list is not the latest state - but at the moment I see no need to keep it up to date.

Any questions? - use the link to the german VMware-forum on the top of this page or sent e-mail to the webmaster of this page - I don't accept html-mail and all attachments go to dev/null.