Vista knowledge from the OEM team and others...

BCDEdit and debug setup

2009-07-28T20:26:00Z

This blog is a short guide to provide some basic info regarding Boot Configuration Data Editor (BCDEdit), and present a collection of useful links where more detail is available.

Boot Configuration Data (BCD) provides a store that is used to describe boot applications and their settings. These objects and elements effectively replace Boot.ini. The data in the store is managed via command line using Bcdedit.exe (or using WMI Classes), or by using any one of several third party BCDEdit GUI tools available online. When Windows is not loaded and GUI programs are not possible, only command line bcdedit.exe is available through WinPE.

The following site shows Boot.ini parameters and their corresponding BCDEdit options:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa906217.aspx

If you have problems starting Windows and you need to turn on debugging during boot, use the /bootdebug switch.

Follow the instructions here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee220364.aspx

(Be aware that you will have to include complete path for “bcdedit.exe” in your command as it doesn’t know where it is coming from.)

To set (or display the current) global debugger settings (/dbgsettings), use the following instructions:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa906219.aspx

To enable or disable kernel debugging, use the /debug switch. (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa906217.aspx)

When you have test-signed code you must enable or disable test signing according to your needs. Use:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa906238.aspx

To Enable or Disable Emergency Management Services (EMS) or to change its settings use:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa906213.aspx

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa906209.aspx

To configure specific boot entry elements such as kernel debugger settings, data execution protection (DEP) and processor address extension (PAE), and to load alternate hardware abstraction layer (HAL) and kernel files, use the /set parameter. Read more about it below:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa906211.aspx

To setup the target system for Debugging, launch an elevated command prompt and use one of the following commands:

· bcdedit /dbgsettings 1394 channel:1

· bcdedit /dbgsettings USB targetname:usbdbg

· bcdedit /dbgsettings serial debugport:2

Following is some useful BCD commands run in an elevated command prompt:

· bcdedit /enum all (verify if the debugger settings is configured correctly)

· bcdedit /copy {current} /d DebugEntry (if the command succeeds, BCDEdit displays a message with a GUID. Copy the GUID for further usage.)

· bcdedit /displayorder {current} {GUID}

· bcdedit (verify the GUID entry is configured to display in Windows Boot Manager correctly)

· bcdedit /debug {GUID} ON

To setup USB debugging, you need to start with specific USB debug cables that have been tested and are supported

Identify which USB port is the first port in a USB EHCI controller following the steps below:

1. Run USBview.exe on target system

2. Plug in a USB flash drive to various USB ports and keep refreshing the display until it shows up as plugged in to port 1

3. Once you find which external USB port is Port 1, launch device manager to find the corresponding USB (or USB2) Host Controller under “Universal Serial Bus controllers”.

4. Check the device properties, General tab and look at “Location:” get the PCI device bus, device and function number (such as PCI bus 0, device 29, function7)

5. For Windows Vista enter the Hex value such as below:

Bcdedit /set loadoptions busparams= 0.1d.7 (which is saying bus 0, device 29, function7 in Hex)

6. For Windows 7 enter the Decimal value such as below:

Bcdedit /set loadoptions busparams= 0.29.7 (which is saying bus 0, device 29, function7 in Dec)

You might have to enter BIOS and disable legacy USB, however be aware that your USB mouse and keyboard may not function while Legacy USB is disabled.

To setup 1394 and Com port debugging, you can launch msconfig and select the Advanced option in Boot tab. There you can select “Debug” to enable the Global debug settings.

Latest Storage Driver Versions...

2009-07-15T17:00:00Z

Please note this post was last updated July 15th, 2009.

Here on the OEM team, we are often asked storage-related questions about the latest versions of Storport.sys, the iSCSI Initiator, and MPIO.

For easy reference, below are the latest available versions of Storport.sys, MPIO, and the iSCSI Initiator as of 7/15/2009. Both GDR branch fixes available directly from the Microsoft Download Center and LDR branch fixes available from Microsoft Support are listed.

Please note that all updates are cumulative within the same branch, so though the below updates may not resolve a problem you are seeing, a previous fix may resolve your problem. Look for more details on GDR fixes versus LDR fixes in David's post from 3/11/08: "What is the difference between general distribution and limited distribution releases?"

Please contact your storage vendor to discuss whether you should upgrade to the latest available Storport.sys, vendor-specific MPIO DSM, HBA drivers, etc.

Storport.sys
Server 2003 SP2
Latest version of Storport.sys available directly from the Microsoft Download Center:
KB 943295 - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/943295
Build 5.2.3790.4163 (October 2007)

Latest version of Storport.sys available from Microsoft Support:
KB 957910 - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/957910
Build 5.2.3790.4485 (March 2009)

Vista and Server 2008 SP1+

Latest version of Storport.sys available from Microsoft Support:

KB 968675 - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/968675

Build 6.0.6001.22425 SP1 (May 2009)

Build 6.0.6002.22128 SP2 (May 2009)

iSCSI Initiator
XP and Server 2003
Latest version is 2.08 (December 2008):
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=12cb3c1a-15d6-4585-b385-befd1319f825&DisplayLang=en

Fixes for the following issues are included in this version:

Fixed an issue where a rejected command may not be retried after the Initiator receives a REJECT PDU.
Fixed a deadlock that may occur when shutting down the MS iSCSI software Initiator adapter.
Fixed an invalid memory error that may occur when there are persistent targets configured in an IA-64 system.
Fixed an issue where the iSCSI DSM may not recover failed paths.

MPIO
XP and Server 2003
Latest version is 1.22 (December 2008)
Included with iSCSI Initiator 2.08

Fixes for the following issues are included in this version:

Fixed a system hang on uniprocessor systems that may occur when handling device arrival/removal.
Fixed a system hang in certain cases when handling throttling.
Fixed a memory leak when handling reserve/release in a cluster.
Updated install sample to use DSM to enable optional MPIO features.
Fix to make path recovery interval customizable.

Sterilizing a hard drive with diskpart.exe

2009-06-24T21:21:00Z

Sometimes you need to ensure that a hard drive is completely sterilized (erased) and that all data is actually removed.

So to securely wipe (zero-out) a drive, boot the system with a WinPE boot CD/Flash or boot floppy (Windows 98) that has a copy of the diskpart.exe utility on it.

Run the following commands in an elevated command prompt (assuming that the drive to be wiped, in this case, is disk 0.

DISKPART
Select disk 0
clean all
exit

Note: The time that passes between steps 3 and 4 is dependent on many factors including the hardware of the system, drive speed, and your patience level. Eventually it will return to the diskpart prompt and you can exit out.

Running a MD5 hash against the drive and getting a 0 checksum will confirm that the drive has been wiped.

Dave Bowman

Windows Home Server Add-Ins

2009-06-23T21:35:00Z

Windows Home Server has quickly become a mainstay tool in your electronic home as storage for your data and for automatic backup of up to 10 of your home computers. While the server is built to do what it was designed for very efficiently, people are looking for things to improve, and to enhance the experience they have with the WHS. As such a growing list of Add-Ins are being created regularly, some free and some for little cost, that help people customize and enhance the functionality, and the user interface of WHS, or for remote connectivity, reporting, etc.

Below is a list of several tools used by some Microsoft engineers at home. Near the bottom of this blog there are links for even more on the web.

http://www.asciiexpress.com/webguide/homeserver.aspx (Webguide for WHS enables you to remotely access, listen, watch and stream your music, Photos and videos stored on your home server while away from home)

http://www.asoft.be/index.html (AutoExit allows you to shut down, sleep or hibernate your machines over WHS network. If your machines are WOL capable, you can also boot up your machines remotely)

http://www.whsplus.com/2009/05/24/advanced-admin-console/ (Advanced Admin extends your administrative console to include access to various parts of your home server's administrative controls from within WHS console.)

http://www.digitalarchound.com/ (Not a freebie, but an excellent add-in for scanning & archiving docs)

http://www.whsplus.com/2009/04/13/whiist/ (Whiist is a Windows Home Server Add-In that allows you to create and manage web content on your Windows Home Server.)

http://www.whsplus.com/2009/04/06/windows-home-server-disk-management/ (more detail about server's storage status than what the standard WHS Server Storage interface provides)

http://www.whsplus.com/2009/04/21/whs-bdbb/ (Windows Home Server Backup Database Backup)

http://www.mymovies.dk/ (With My Movies you are able to index your movies with automatically downloaded data from the My Movies WebService, and then browse movies, actors, directors and much more)

http://www.hack7mc.com/2009/03/media-browser-beta-11-new-vanilla-theme.html (Media Browser)

http://www.home-server-blog.de/add-ins/strom-und-laufzeitverwaltung/lightsout/ (This Add-In is used to put a Windows Home Server into suspended mode or hibernation and resume on user defined events.)

http://www.brendangrant.com/WHS/WebFolders4WHS/default.htm (Allows access to folders remotely via windows explorer which is a fast and easy way to get files in and out.)

http://www.themediamall.com/playon (Media server that streams Hulu and other TV content to the TV via PLAYSTATION 3, Xbox 360, or HP MediaSmart TV.)

http://www.whsplus.com/2009/05/18/whs-file-manager-1003/ (WHS File Manager)

http://www.whsplus.com/2009/04/11/squeezecenter-for-windows-home-server/ (SqueezeCenter (used to control and manage Logitech Squeezebox digital media receivers on your home server)

http://www.whsplus.com/2009/04/07/mss-fan-control/ (Fan Control Add-In for WHS Operating System. It is designed to work exclusively with the HP MediaSmart Server EX47x models, and will not work with any other WHS systems.)

http://blogs.technet.com/homeserver/archive/2008/11/26/windows-home-server-toolkit-version-1-1.aspx: A Microsoft tool for troubleshooting WHS connectivity issues. It will also generate and send error reports for logging WHS bugs.

More add-ins:

Some add-ins are very popular and are listed in multiple sites, as well as in this document. Review the links below for more add-ins:

http://whsaddins.com/

http://www.whsplus.com/

http://www.brendangrant.com/WHS/add-ins.htm

http://mswhs.com/ (Philip Churchill's excellent WHS site)

http://mswhs.com/category/add-ins/ (Philip Churchill's WHS addins)

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/windowshomeserver/add-ins.mspx

http://www.jungledisk.com/ (offline file storage)

http://www.hack7mc.com/ has a lot of good resources for Media Center.

Default file formats for USB removable media

2009-06-23T00:30:00Z

If the drive is removable, supports hot swap, and the disk size is less than or equal to 32GB, then the default is the FAT file system. If its size is less than or equal to 2GB, then the default is FAT, otherwise the default is FAT32. If the disk size is greater than 32GB, then we will default to NTFS.

Add Language Packs before Hotfixes when Creating Multilingual Vista Images

2009-06-15T04:06:00Z

When asked to create a multilingual image for your company or organization, you may be tempted to start with your existing image and add Language Packs. This method can cause you problems down the road.

As a best practice, you should start with the Vista image as shipped and all of the Language Packs you intend to include before adding any hotfixes or applications. Keep in mind the OS and the Language Pack need to be the same Service Pack Level. A Vista SP 2 image needs an SP 2 Language Pack for example.

Why is this important?

For hotfixes:

Although the many security hotfixes do not contain language dependent parts, some hotfixes do. For hotfixes with language dependant parts, only the files for the languages currently installed will be copied to your system. You certainly won't want files for 100 (give or take) languages installed to your system (if you are not using 100 languages). So for example if you add French to your existing image with hotfixes, the French files from these fixes will not be in Windows image. While your next trip to Microsoft Update can resolve this problem, there are cases where you will break your Windows installation due to missing files.

For example:

If you add KB 940157 (Windows Search 4.0) before you add Language Packs your system will be missing key system files. In some cases your Windows Start menu will not function.

Also note that for applications that have Multilingual support, you neeed to install the application after you have installed additional languages..

Linda

Tips for using Vista Package Manager (pkgmgr)

2009-06-14T23:40:00Z

Vista Package Manager is command line tool to install, remove or updates Windows packages to an offline Windows image. Used incorrectly you can easily corrupt your Windows installation image. Here are some tips to avoid this problem.

The first and most important tip is always save your previous images. You can not repair a corrupt image so you may need to go back to your most recent working image.

Below is a typical batch file I would use to install multple hotfixes to an offline image when booting from WinPE.

wpeutil CreatePageFile /path=c:\pagefile.sys

md c:\sandbox
Start /w \servicing\pkgmgr.exe /o:"C:\;C:\windows" /ip /m:c:\hotfixes\Windows6.0-KB9999-x86.cab /s:C:\sandbox /L:C:\WINDOWS\fixes.LOG
echo %errorlevel%

rd c:\sandbox /s /q
md c:\sandbox

Start /w \servicing\pkgmgr.exe /o:"C:\;C:\windows" /ip /m:c:\hotfixes\KB8888-x86.cab /s:C:\sandbox
/L:C:\WINDOWS\fixes.LOG
echo %errorlevel%

Once you have correct syntax for Pack Manager related to file name and path locations the above method avoids other types of common errors. Below are the details related to the above commands.

wpeutil CreatePageFile /path=c:\pagefile.sys

I create a pagefile on the local drive so pkgmgr doesn't run out of memory since WinPE now boots to a RAM disk.

rd c:\sandbox
md c:\sandbox

Pack Manager needs an empty sandbox for each fix or package. You can use multiple sandboxes or empty the current t one.

Start /w \servicing\pkgmgr.exe /o:"C:\;C:\windows" /ip /m:c:\hotfixes\Windows6.0-KB9999-x86.cab /s:C:\sandbox /L:C:\WINDOWS\fixes.LOG

You can create an xml file with multiple fixes but Package Mangers may run out of scratch space before you finish. The number of fixes before failure is going to depend on your system configuration and size of the fixes. I recommend install them one at a time in a batch file.

echo %errorlevel%

This returns the error code from Package Manager. Verify it is 0 (no error) as the first step to check if Pack Manger worked correctly. In addition you will need to verify the log file ends without error. The log file is in several formats but in this case since I use /l:c:\windows\fixes.log the one you want to look at is c:\windows\fixes.log.txt.

Be sure the log is complete for each fix It should contain something similar to as the last lines.

2009-05-27 15:25:31, Info CBS Pkgmgr: return code: 0x0
2009-05-27 15:25:33, Info CBS Pkgmgr: return code: 0x0

If the log just stops without this information, even if the previous errorlevel was 0 your image is likely to be corrupt. You will need to re-run your scripts with your original image after you verify the following:

You scripts have a clean sandbox for each fix.

You don't have other applications running.

You don't have hotfixes with order dependencies that you have not accounted for.

Linda

Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 release candidate available for download now.

2009-05-07T00:26:00Z

The Virtualization team is pleased to announce the availability of the Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 R2 Release Candidate for download. Hyper-V Server 2008 R2, our free standalone hypervisor, represents our continued commitment to providing high performance, hypervisor based virtualization for everyone, especially small and mid-market customers. This release underscores our customer focus by adding key new capabilities such as Live Migration and High Availability (and more.). The Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2008 Release Candidate is available here:

http://www.microsoft.com/hyper-v-server/en/us/default.aspx

For more information see the Windows Virtualization Team Blog here.

New program highlighting in the Start menu

2009-04-28T02:03:00Z

Ever wonder why some programs are highlighted in the “All Programs” list of the Start menu?

Start by reading this fine MSDN blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/2005/11/24/496690.aspx

Even though it is written prior to Vista, it basically holds true for Vista as well. There are some exceptions, however. On Windows Vista:

1. Apps installed within 5 hours of Windows installation completion do not show up highlighted

2. 5 hour timer is not user-(or OEM)-adjustable

3. Apps remain highlighted for a week, or until the very first time they are launched.

4. 7 day timer is based on system time and is not affected by sleep, hibernate, shutoff time, etc.

5. Apps installed by other users are not highlighted for the current user before their first ever logon.

6. Apps you install but never launch will remain highlighted for 7 days, or until you launch them, whichever comes first.

What is the solid state drive (SSD) option I'm seeing on some new laptops?

2009-04-22T19:34:00Z

These new Solid State Drives (SSDs) are utilizing Flash Memory, also known as non-volatile memory (NVM). The two types of Flash memory being used are MLC (Multi-Level Cell) memory and SLC (Single-Level Cell) memory. MLC (Multi-Level Cell) memory is less expensive and more common in low dollar cost items where you need large amounts of solid state storage; SLC (Single-Level Cell) memory has higher cost and greater performance. You'll find most SSDs and USB Flash Drives (UFDs) utilize MLC memory, MLC memory can also be found in consumer devices where performance is not as critical. Both offer advantages over hard disk drives, as they are resistant to shock, environmental conditions, generates less heat, and are silent and can be packaged into many different form factors. Hard Disk Drives are the dominant form of storage on modern computer systems, but we are seeing manufacturers offer computers that utilize a Solid State drive in conjunction with, or excluding, a Hard Disk drive. In the case of Ultra Low Cost Personal Computers (ULCPCs), Solid State drives may completely replace Hard Disk drives as the dominant storage technology. The biggest advantage Solid State drives hold over Hard Disk drives besides their compact size is that power consumption is greatly reduced as there are no moving parts, and no time is needed for platter spin up. Power consumption is one of the highest concerns for engineers designing any device that may need to run on battery power only (for example, laptops, MP3 players, Cell phones and other small consumer electronics). If you are purchasing storage for a solution that needs to minimize battery consumption, consider the differences between Solid State drives and Hard Disk drives.

For manufacturers, using SLC as a cache area for a much larger MLC bank of memory can be a way to overcome the increased cost of implementing an entirely SLC-based solution. MLC memory has lower number of potential lifetime writes than SLC memory. To help mitigate this, many MLC devices utilize wear leveling. Wear leveling essentially remembers what cells have and have not been written to, and tries to balance writes across all cells, so the controller is not wearing out some cells prematurely. For Windows, as Solid State drives are not as affected by fragmentation as Hard Disk drives, you will want to disable the Defragmentation option on a SSD to prevent premature wear from occurring. Another item to keep in mind is SSD differs from HDD in that they require the entire page to be cleared and re-written if data changes. These are typically 2-8k blocks. This makes reads inexpensive, but due to wear leveling writes are expensive, and erasures require the entire page or pages be cleared. The benefit is there are no seek times so performance is stable. (We could do the math but that not what this blog is about.) Generally, the progression of drive speed is as follows: fast DRAM > NAND > HDD. This is comparing HDD speeds of 5400 and 7200 RPM, and even high-end 15,000+ RPM drives for SLC. When adding SLC in a Storage Array Raid 0 against 15000 RPM HD the SSD will perform significantly faster but at a much higher cost point.

There is currently a shift in the market place, and solid state drives are the wave of the future. Does it make sense to adopt Solid State storage technologies now? For a ULCPC, it's a given that Solid State is the optimal choice when considering battery life. For a UMPC (Ultra Mobile PC), I would opt for a SSD if I was going to be away from the power grid, and not able to plug the laptop in for extended periods of time. As for some engineers, the memory stick has replaced the briefcase, but most will still want an ultra large HDD for their daily work.

Thanks,
David Winkler