Faster PXE WinPE 2.1 Boot
Filed under:
Deployment Solution
Optimization
Submitted by Nelo on Thu, 2008-05-15 10:24.
The size of the WinPE boot file looks scary when multiple clients are downloading it in a PXE boot. I have found a way to reduce the size of the boot.wim file to 33% less in size than the boot file that Boot Disk Creator creates and of course it downloads 33% faster. The end result should have a 110 Meg size WinPE boot file.
In order to create a play environment, create a second WinPE PXE configuration, meaning create a MenuOption that will not be the first WinPE. The first WInPE PXE configuration is set by default to MenuOption131. We want to play on PXE MenuOption160 or greater.
Also, this assumes that WAIK is installed in your DS server or the Altiris WInPE 2.1 installers were installed.
One more thing, this example is only for x86 proc. The batch file could easily be configured to make the changes for x64 and ia64.
The following batch file could be executed stand alone or you could create a job with a run script task (at the deployment server). I am also attaching a text file with the batch file.
REM tools sets to the path where the WAIK tools are located.
REM change this if DS was not installed to the default path
set tools=C:\Program Files\Altiris\eXpress\Deployment Server\WAIK\Tools\
REM This points to the x86 WinPE x86 boot file
REM change this if necessary
set bootimage=C:\Program Files\Altiris\eXpress\Deployment Server\PXE\Images\MenuOption161\X86PC\sources
REM you do no need to change anything below
REM this will create a new boot.wim file and rename the old one in case you need it.
mkdir c:\winpe_2x86 mkdir c:\winpe_2x86\mount "%tools%\x86\imagex.exe" /mountrw "%bootimage%\boot.wim" 1 C:\winpe_2x86\mount "%tools%\x86\imagex.exe" /boot /compress maximum /capture C:\winpe_2x86\Mount "%bootimage%\bootnew.wim" "WinPE2" "%tools%\x86\imagex.exe" /unmount C:\winpe_2x86\mount copy "%bootimage%\boot.wim" "%bootimage%\bootold.wim" copy "%bootimage%\bootnew.wim" "%bootimage%\boot.wim"
If interested I could guide you on how to add other packages that are not added by default WinPE HTA package, WinPE MDAC package, WinPE Scripting-Package (included), WinPE WMI package (included), WinPE XML package.
(54 votes)
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| WinPE21_reduce_size.txt | 1.01 KB |
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Thank you!
Nelo,
Thanks for figuring this out. I was getting slightly frustrated that it was taking 8 minutes to pull down the WinPE 2.1 image through PXE and I wasn't sure exactly how to shrink the image to a managable size. If I can get the load time to under 6 minutes, you'll be a life saver!
PXE booting WinpE 2.1
Hey no problem. there is something else you could to do speed up the PXE boot process.
Launch PXE Configuration Tool Select the Multicast tab. Change the 768 value to 1456. Click save and wait until the changes are made. Start up a client select WinPE Managed and the download should be tons faster. I am able to PXE boot WinPE 2.1 x86 in about 23 seconds. this is on a Gigabit network.
--nelo
Thanks again!
I tested out your above steps, ran the batchfile directly on the desktop of the server, and then the image only took 4.5 minutes instead of 8 to load.
Problem is our PXE server is in another building, maybe once we get a PXE server setup in this building it'll definately fly.
This might be a silly question but...
Has anyone tried using WinPE on older versions of DS such as 5.6?
Boston Altiris User Group Webmaster
RE: This might be a silly question but...
I have tried WinPE with DS 6.0. The problem comes when an agent is needed to communicate back to DS while in automation. You could create your own WinPE PXE boot files without Boot Disk Creator and import it as a "user supplied" option. Again this will be considered a network boot.
--Nelo