K2000 Capture/Deploy Windows 8.1 in Legacy Mode
Background Information
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We have Windows 7 deployment working smooth in a single partition setup.
All our Windows 7 machines are using Legacy (MBR) mode and we PXE boot into a WinPE 3.0 environment where we capture only the OS C: Partition
To deploy we use 3 pre-install tasks.
1.) Create Single Partition
2.) Format C: as NTFS
3.) Install Vista/2008/7/8/2012 MBR
I believe these are all provided default by the K2000.
I also have Windows 8.1 deployment working but ONLY in UEFI mode.
I installed Windows 8.1 in UEFI and it creates the 4 partitions, notably the 100MB Fat32 EFI partition
To capture I use a USB Drive in UEFI mode that contains my WinPE 5.0 environment
In there I see only the OS C: so I manually assign the Hidden EFI partition letter "S" via Diskpart
From there I capture both partitions.
To deploy boot the same as before and use the tasks:
1.) Create UEFI Partitions
2.) Deploy UEFI Partitions
The deployment works without a hitch.
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Problem
Now I assume that there will come a time I may need a Legacy non UEFI Windows 8.1 deployment so I have installed Window 8.1 from DVD via Legacy mode.
To verify this when I get to the portion of the install to create the partitions Windows is creating a 350MB system partition instead of the several smaller EFI partitions.
I PXE boot in Legacy mode to my WinPE 5.0 environment and go to capture.
This time I do not see the C: as the OS partition.
Instead I see what you would think to be hidden system partition that contains the MBR as the C: and the OS partition is D:
What I figured was the proper response is to use Diskpart and I renamed the OS from letter "D" to letter "C"
Then I captured the OS Partition only and tried to deploy it with the same 3 tasks we deploy the Legacy Windows 7 images with.
1.) Create Single Partition
2.) Format C: as NTFS
3.) Install Vista/2008/7/8/2012 MBR
But while no errors happen in the deployment, at reboot I get an error that boot information is missing or corrupt.
Error /boot/bcd missing.
My investigation found via booting into the Windows 8 disk and going to the command prompt that no MBR partition is created only the OS partition was created.
I tried to manually create the MBR Partition by shrinking the OS first and then creating the 350mb partition and running the various FixBoot commands.
This still did not resolve the problem, so now I am sort of at a loss.
So despite being the same install type, its not quite working the same as Windows 7 and is causing me some grief. I am not sure if I need to capture it differently or this will require me to use different deployment tasks apart from Windows 7.
While I await replies I am capturing the image again without changing the OS drive letter from D to C and I will see if that helps the issue, but I feel its going to be deeper than that.
Any help is appreciated and if you need more information just ask.
1 Comment
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I'm having the same exact issue. - Sarasotasun 8 years ago
Answers (1)
Answer Summary:
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Posted by:
SMal.tmcc
9 years ago
When you create your win 8.1 install do not let it create the 350mb partition and the os partition. manually create one big happy partition yourself and install to that and then you can capture and deploy it just like a win 7 single partition.
Comments:
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you created a dual partition master. to use that you need to capture and deploy both partitions and use a create 2 partition pre task - SMal.tmcc 9 years ago
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For some reason I was under the impression that the K2000 pre-install task was creating a generic MBR partition in leu of capturing and working with the original MBR partition. - ViciousXUSMC 9 years ago
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Yeah I bet thats the key, I just found similar information about 20 minutes ago and used Diskpart to create one partition and the install is finishing now. Can't believe it took me that much searching to find it. This was the page that keyed me in on it: http://www.eightforums.com/performance-maintenance/48269-whats-correct-amount-partitions-windows-8-1-a.html - ViciousXUSMC 9 years ago
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when you create a single partiton the boot store is hidden in a directory c:\boot. When you let it create the recovery partition it puts the hidden directory there - SMal.tmcc 9 years ago
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ViciousXUSMC,
You could have simplified the process by using a K2000 Scripted Install to initially install Win 8.1 to begin your image-build process. That way, you would have avoided the multiple partition creation that the Windows install DVD does, in the first place. Then, when you go to capture there would have only been one partition to get!
Btw, have you heard of our KACE Kontinuing Education program?
http://www.kace.com/kke
Ron Colson
KACE Koach - ronco 9 years ago
