Windows XP Embedded

Posted April 1, 2003

Chat Date: March 6, 2003

Please note: Portions of this transcript have been edited for clarity

Chat Participants:

• Stephen Berard, Program Manager - Windows Embedded
• Anil Ingle, Development Manager - Windows Embedded
• John Macintyre, Program Manager - Windows Embedded
• Ravi Gopal, Windows XP Embedded Product Manager
• Jon Fincher, Program Manager - Windows XP Embedded
• Andy Allred, component integration testing – Windows Embedded
• Brett Muzzey, Documentation Lead for Windows Embedded

Moderator: Mike (Microsoft)
Today’s Windows XP Embedded chat will begin in 5 minutes. Thanks for sticking around. Please hold questions until the chat begins

Moderator: Mike (Microsoft)
Welcome to today's Chat. Our topic is Windows XP Embedded. Questions, comments, and suggestions are welcome.

Let’s introduce our hosts for today.

Host: Stephen (Microsoft)
Stephen Berard, Program Manager - Windows Embedded

Host: Anil (Microsoft)
Development Manager Windows Embedded

Host: John (Microsoft)
Hi, my name is John Macintyre and I'm a Program Manager with the Windows Embedded team.

Host: Ravi (Microsoft)
Ravi Gopal, Windows XP Embedded Product Manager

Host: Jon (Microsoft)
Jon Fincher, Program Manager, Windows XP Embedded

Host: Andy (Microsoft)
Andy Allred: I own component integration testing

Host: Brett (Microsoft)
Brett Muzzey, Documentation Lead for Windows Embedded.

Moderator: Mike (Microsoft)
Welcome everyone, let’s get started!

Host: Anil (Microsoft)
Q: Is there any plans to integrate part of Embedded functionality into base OS?

A: What exactly are you looking for?

Host: Anil (Microsoft)
Q: I'm looking for a: 1. Way to create readOnly system disks; 2. Remove unneeded components from OS to reduce security risks, etc..

A: There are no plans as of now to integrate EWF functionality into the base os.

Host: Jon (Microsoft)
Q: How to use EWF on CF?

A: There are a myriad of questions concerning EWF on CF cards. The CF card does not have to be marked as non-removable to enable EWF on it - EWF as shipped in XPE with SP1 supports non-removable media with a RAM-based overlay. You may need to mark the CF card as non-removable to support multiple partitions or tailor it to the requirements of your hardware. In that case, we've heard that Sandisk has a utility that will mark their cards as non-removable. Contact information for Sandisk to request their utility has been posted to the XP Embedded newsgroup at microsoft.public.windowsxp.embedded. You can search this newsgroup at groups.google.com for previously posted information.

Host: Ravi (Microsoft)
Q: Will Microsoft ship a Windows 2003 Server Embedded ?

A: There are no plans for an embedded server edition.

Host: Stephen (Microsoft)
Q: I tried to use the ElTorito component to get EWF on CF. The process failed and it was suspected by PSS that the problem was caused by an XP home partition on the HD. They suggested a seperate HD for running a dev OS on the target. Is that necessary?

A: No, you should be able to use that system but you may run into some issues. In my setups here I have a machine with XP Pro on one partition and my embedded image on the other.

Host: Stephen (Microsoft)
Q: cont... everything seemed ok but when I ran the CF image it came up as D: not C: , the EWF partition was missing and EWF was not functioning.

A: If your harddisk is still connected to the system, the primary partition will generally always show up as drive C: You can configure your image to boot on drive D: (using the tools) and that should work on your system.

Host: Ravi (Microsoft)
Q: When next generation of XP Embedded expected to come to market ?

A: In the 2004+ timeframe. There are no hard dates around this.

Host: Jon (Microsoft)
Q: Has the new component update pack been released yet (w/MSDE). If not is there a tenative release date?

A: We have recently released a backlog for QFE's for XPE with SP1. MSDE was scheduled to be in that release, but was postponed to handle the SQL Slammer virus. There is no ETA for this component at this time.

Host: Stephen (Microsoft)
Q: If the hard disk was disconnected I got a license violation on startup on the CF. When i reconnected the HD it was detected as C, the CF a D and the CF system would then start ok.

A: Did you set the boot partition size appropriately in the TD configuration? This is done in Target Device Settings under your configuration settings.

Moderator: Mike (Microsoft)
Hello. For those just joining the chat - Our topic is Windows XP Embedded. Questions, comments and suggestions are welcome.

Host: Ravi (Microsoft)
Q: If I build an evaluation runtime image and next I have runtime pid where is the place for it

A: Runtime product keys are available from your distributor. To be clear, you can't build non-timebombed runtimes w/evaluation kits.

Host: Dan (Microsoft)
Q: As *nobody* has made EWF run on CF with the El-Torito component it would be good if we could have a whitepaper with detailed step by step instructions. No 'fuzzy' or 'vague' steps allowed!

A: There will be a step-by-step procedure on how to configure EWF for Compact Flash coming up in the next Windows XP Embedded doc update (sometime in April).

Host: Ravi (Microsoft)
Q: Is it legal to integrate Server components inside Embedded on single device in case if two licenses for XP Embedded and 2000 Server Microsoft products will be answered ?

A: You will require two licenses to purchase both products XPE & W2K Server, as well as a CAL to connect to the server most likely.

Host: John (Microsoft)
Q: I have an active deployment using DUA - which runs and updates fine. When I add the Restart command - the image continually reboots. What am I missing?

A: When you restart the system DUA will poll for the DUP file when the service starts. Unless you modify your poll location before rebooting the system will continue to execute the same command file. Alternatively, if you have commands to execute after a reboot - this is can be done. DUA will continue to execute a script where it left off before the reboot. BUT remember to modify the poll location.

Host: Anil (Microsoft)
Q: Is there a software Microsoft for mark cf as non-removable

A: No.

Host: Ravi (Microsoft)
Q: Hello Everyone, We received a notice in our last pack of runtime licenses that says "Important Runtime Product Key (PID) Information" and it says that the PID's are now printed on the COA. Does this mean that we can't use the PID that we have used for the last year?

A: Yes -- and also to be clear, product keys are different than PIDs. What you are concerned about is product keys, not PIDs.

Host: Stephen (Microsoft)
Q: With the method configure ewf for compact flash of help of target designer isn’t possible enable and disable ewfmgr in runtime image is correct?

A: You can enable/disable EWF in the runtime by using the EWFMGR utility.

Host: John (Microsoft)
Q: So if I have 60+ devices in the field that require and update w/ a reboot they each will require a separate polling location?

A: Just to clarify - if your command file is local, DUA will delete it after it is executed. Looping usually happens for remote poll locations (UNC path or via HTTP). So for remote dup files it is recommended to modify the poll location as part of the sc

Host: Anil (Microsoft)
Q: Can I use RAM boot to improve startup time of a complex system. 3 minutes to boot is no good for an oil/gas product flow computer for example?

A: I doubt RAMBOOT would influence the boot time by much. Most of the boot delay comes from initializing hardware like the PCI bus/CD ROM's etc. So you might have better luck by reducing the number of devices.

Host: Ravi (Microsoft)
Q: So there is no any restrictions imposed on using 2000 Server as whole or not using at all ? Or it's not a subject to Embedded talk?

A: To reiterate my two points -- 1) You need to purchase a W2K license and 2) You need to get a CAL based on your Server EULA.

Host: Jon (Microsoft)
Q: Is there a version of bootvis.exe for XPE to track boot slowdown?

A: Standard bootvis.exe does work on XPE.

Host: Stephen (Microsoft)
Q: Is there any way to customize boot logo for XPE and remove all boot messages except it during start ?

A: At this time there is no supported way to modify the boot logo.

Host: Ravi (Microsoft)
Q: Out of curiosity is there, or will there be a MS certification for XPE? I know there is a test that is available, but does that just constitute an MCP, or is there an embedded cert?

A: There is not at the moment. The test is not a cert. We are working on this at the moment.

Host: Ravi (Microsoft)
Q: Is the XPE Eval included with MSDN Universal?

A: Yes.

Host: Anil (Microsoft)
Q: Where is the space where the ewf save the date enable disable if there is only one partition?

A: There is documentation on this subject in XPE SP1 "Configuring EWF for Compact Flash Devices". Also for this specific question, with a RAM based overlay, there is commit and disable command that will commit the changes and disable EWF for the next boot of the device. In this case the fact that EWF is disabled is stored in the registry. Note: There is no way to disable without committing the data.

Host: Jon (Microsoft)
Q: I posted in the NG about remote debugging VB.NET today (which you answered). Do you know when you will have some feedback on that?

A: I don't expect to have any results until the end of this month, mainly because of other commitments I have over the next two and half weeks.

Host: Anil (Microsoft)
Q: Can XPE be set to startup from standby mode (to shorten startup time) with EWF enabled? The startup time is a huge problem for process control applications.

A: As long as the hiberfile is not on the volume that is protected with EWF this should work. ie you are not protecting the boot disk.

Host: Ravi (Microsoft)
Q: Are there any plans to automate Target Designer?

A: Can you be more specific?

Host: Jon (Microsoft)
Q: I wanted to try out .NET WebForms on XPE. I added IIS and it seemed to work ok. When I add the .NET framework will it customize IIS properly (e.g. aspx filename extension)?

A: I don't know off the top, but it's something I can investigate. It should, as the .Net framework installs the ASPX functionality to IIS.

Host: Anil (Microsoft)
Q: So if I add a boot partition large enough for the boot files and the hiberfile and put the system on another partition is could work? Cool.

A: Yes this should. We haven’t tried it. The other thing I'm not sure of is if standby (as opposed to hibernate) does create a hiberfile.

Host: John (Microsoft)
Q: If the device has say a CD-rom and the next one doesn't then the drive letter changes, is there any way that you can think of to poll the drive size first to make sure that it's hitting the flash, and not the CD-Rom?

A: That's a good question - so are saying that you can't always know what the USB drive is going to be enumerated as? DUA can only execute a script that is fed from a 'known' location. It can poll local, UNC or http... for cd script deployments I recommend that you copy the script to a local poll location via run on start. Is deploying via CD an option?

Host: Jon (Microsoft)
Q: Yes - adding asp.net will automatically render aspx pages without any more config

A: Great - I'll be confirming that over the next day or two....

Host: Anil (Microsoft)
Q: Can XPE be set to startup from standby mode (to shorten startup time) with EWF enabled? The startup time is a huge problem for process control applications.

A: Standby does not create a hiberfile.

Moderator: Mike (Microsoft)
Thanks for joining us today and thanks for the questions. It's time for us to go now.

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