Create an all-in-one x86+x64 Win7/Vista/Server 2008/R2 USB stick

One of the great things about the Vista and post-Vista operating systems is that the installer subsystem allows you a great deal of flexibility when it comes to installing multiple operating systems. It is fairly easy to put together a single installation DVD or USB stick that will allow you to install Vista, Windows 7, Server 2008 and Server 2008 R2 – in a variety of x86 and x64 flavors.

A couple of things to note about this guide:

• I do not use Vista — I have never really used Vista and now with Windows 7 out there really is no reason to; however the steps here will work just fine with Vista installation sources
• I have only tested this using a USB stick and will only cover that method here – it’s much more flexible (and faster) for installation than using DVD — but DVDs should work just fine: you can find plenty of tutorials on the web that will tell you how to use oscdimg.exe to take the files we create here and turn them into a burnable ISO

 WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

• USB stick, at least 4 GB (perhaps larger depending on how many OSes you plan to integrate, I use a 16 GB) that has been properly formatted using Steps 1 and 2 here
• ISOs or DVDs of the operating systems that you plan to integrate
• imagex.exe (can be found for download on the web, or you can download the full 1.7 GB WAIK here)
• computer running Vista or newer operating system (XP should work but I have not tested it)

STEP 1: Extract the operating system files

Take your various ISO files or DVDs and copy their contents into subfolders on your hard drive – in my case I have Windows 7 x86, Windows 7 x64, Windows 2008 R2, and Windows 2008 SP2 x86, so I created folders called e:\7×86, e:\7×64, e:\2008r2, and e:\2008×86    (E is the letter of my hard drive, not the USB drive).

STEP 2: Browse the WIM files and extract the desired editions

Open a WAIK command prompt, or browse to whatever folder you downloaded imagex.exe to within an administrative level command prompt.  Start by running the following command:

imagex.exe /info e:\7×86\sources\install.wim

This will display a big verbose mess that, once you parse through it, lists out all the editions embedded in the WIM file (and their associated index #).  Most default Microsoft WIMs will have multiple editions – in this case the ones in the Windows 7 x86 WIM boil down to:

• 1 Starter
• 2 Home Basic
• 3 Home Premium
• 4 Professional
• 5 Ultimate

Since Starter edition is basically worthless, I only want editions 2-5 in my custom WIM file, so I run these commands one after another:

imagex.exe /export e:\7×86\sources\install.wim 2 e:\install.wim “Windows 7 HOMEBASIC (x86)” /compress maximum

imagex.exe /export e:\7×86\sources\install.wim 3 e:\install.wim “Windows 7 HOMEPREMIUM (x86)” /compress maximum

imagex.exe /export e:\7×86\sources\install.wim 4 e:\install.wim “Windows 7 PROFESSIONAL (x86)” /compress maximum

imagex.exe /export e:\7×86\sources\install.wim 5 e:\install.wim “Windows 7 ULTIMATE (x86)” /compress maximum

I now have an install.wim file in the root of my E drive that contains only the editions I specified in these commands.  Next,  I want to integrate Windows 7 x64 so I repeat the above steps using the 7×64 path instead of 7×86.  You will notice that the x64 version of Windows 7 has no Starter edition, so the index numbers are not the same as the x86 source!  Also, since just about any machine new enough to run x64 is likely new enough to handle Aero graphics, I don’t bother with integrating the Home Basic version of x64 into my WIM – so I only add Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate.

I then repeat these steps again using the Windows 2008 R2 source (here again I discriminate – I only pull Standard, Enterprise, Standard Core, and Enterprise Core because I have no use for the DataCenter or Web versions).  Finally, I integrate Windows 2008 SP2 x86 — I do this because I have a few older machines that are not x64 capable and therefore cannot run 2008 R2 (which is x64 only) – so for these machines I run Windows 2008 SP2 x86.

You can of course integrate any OSes and editions you like!  When you are done, you will have an install.wim file of varying size – mine is roughly 5.5 GB.  (not a big deal for the USB method, but for those of you planning on burning to DVD, you may have issues with WIM files that are larger than 4 GB…  To get around this see this link)

STEP 3: Finalize the USB stick

You must now choose which OS you want to use as the boot environment – this needs to be an x86 operating system if you plan to install any x86 OSes (because x86 OSes cannot be installed from x64 boot environments).  You also want to use the newest operating system you can, because you may encounter issues if you try to deploy an OS that is older than the boot environment - in my case I use Windows 7 x86 to ensure I can deploy any operating system I like:

• take the custom install.wim file (from E:\) and replace the install.wim file in e:\7×86\sources
• copy all contents from e:\7×86 to your USB stick

Now boot from the USB stick and you should see all your OSes, like below!

 

Core i7 “outperform the mac pro at half the price” project

You can debate operating systems until you’re blue in the face (I hate all OSes equally but some I hate more equally than others!) but most people can agree that Apple generally comes up with some pretty good aesthetics when it comes to their hardware (yes there have been exceptions).  Case in point, the G5/MacPro “cheese grater” case.  Gorgeous.

I haven’t built a machine in a long while and I’ve decided that my next project will be an overclocked (yet super quiet) i7 machine built into a G5 tower case.  The G5 is typically the way modders go because it is cavernous inside — the Mac Pro case is more cluttered and harder to work with (except for the standard ATX power-supply area).  The Mac Pro cases are also MUCH harder to come by and extremely pricy.  From the outside, they are identical except for the 2nd optical slot on the Mac Pro and a slightly different set of ports on the rear i/o panel.  I picked up a broken G5 from the local repair shop for $150.  Really well built Lian Li cases can easily run as much as this by themselves, and an extra advantage of this was that I got the original power supply (can reuse its housing), the original motherboard (may chop it and use the rear part to match the stock i/o panel), and the custom DVD drive mounts, fans, and cooling shroud.  Apple’s hardware (even post-Intel shift) has always been highly proprietary, so getting these extra parts will come in handy for the mod.  Took me all of 10 minutes to break down the original hardware and take some canned air and windex to the case.  Good as new!

           

There are two main approaches to this people take…  One is to line up their standard ATX or mATX motherboards with the pci slots on the mac case.  This typically requires cutting the back of the case and fabbing a new plate that matches their motherboards i/o panel and their fan configuration.  While some of these are done extremely well, I am likely going the other route – keeping the exterior of the case bone stock.

To do this, I will internally mount a standard motherboard tray which holds the actual motherboard, and then use jumper cables to run to the actual exterior pci slots and i/o ports.  This way I can not only leave the rear of the case stock, but easily upgrade/change motherboards down the road as desired…  Much harder to do this if you’ve actually cut the rear of your case to match a certain config.  More to come soon…

My $250 “macbook air”

So I finally got around to picking up a refurbished Dell Mini 9 netbook. Not only are these great for travelling (tiny, lightweight, solid state drive to handle the bumps and bruises better) but they also happen to be able to run OS X as well as Windows.

$219 plus $12 next day air got me a fedex delivery the next morning.  Two screws later the back panel is off and the easily upgradeable components are exposed — single ram slot which will be replaced with a $20 2GB module arriving tomorrow — and the stock 4 GB SSD (dell offers larger models but I’m going aftermarket):

                    

Until the replacement RunCore 32 GB SSD I ordered ($110) comes, I’m stuck with the stock 4 GB one, which doesn’t give me much room to load an operating system — so for now I’ll be running Windows Fundamentals for PCs which is a poorly named super-slim version of XP that microsoft offers its software assurance customers to run on older computers they can’t afford to retire.  If you look closely you can see that even with almost all the options checked, the FLP operating system will take up less than 900 MB of space when installed.  Once I got FLP up and running, I got to work installing Mac OS X.  This is pretty straightforward and can be done in a number of different ways, and only requires a USB stick and a legit, retail copy of Mac OS X. For now I’m running OS X off an external USB drive, since my little 4 GB SSD doesn’t have the space to install it. Once I get my 32 GB SSD installed I’ll be dual-booting Windows 7 and OS X:

      

 

UPDATE 4/28/2009:

My RunCore 32 GB SSD arrived yesterday, so I replaced the stock 4 GB drive and got Windows 7 up and running – the new drive is significantly faster and doesn’t exhibit the random hiccups/pauses the stock drive did.

                     

First, the RunCore SSD package – comes with a mini-USB cable so that you can use the drive via USB if necessary (helps for imaging etc.). Next you can see the SSD compared to a stick of laptop memory – this thing is small! The 3rd shot is installing the SSD into the mini (2 screws). Finally, the mini now running Windows 7…

So I looked around and I noticed there wasn’t a chair.

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