Syslinux - May 2010 - Get MEMDISK parameters from WinPE 32/64-bit?

Hi.

I'm working on replacing a PXELINUX/MEMDISK loaded DOS based
installation image with a PXELINUX/MEMDISK loaded WinPE ISO image. So
far everything seems to work well (appending "bigraw" to memdisk
solved
booting problems on several machines), but I kind of miss the option of
using getargs.com to get/set environment variables from the memdisk
command line.

Is there any way to access memdisk command line arguments from within
WinPE (x86/win32 and hopefully amd64/win64)?

Cheers,
Daniel

Good day Daniel,

In regards to GETARGS.COM for a MEMDISK-booted Windows:

- Also remember MDISKCHK.COM (included in Syslinux) :)
- Are you using twice the RAM you could be using?  As in, do you load
your XXX MB .ISO as a MEMDISK RAM disk, then that .ISO's Windows
boot-loader then loads another YYY MB RAM disk?
- Are you using an XP/2003-based Windows PE or something more modern?
- If you use an XP/2003-based Windows PE, you can use the WinVBlock
driver to skip the YYY MB RAM disk piece.  I haven't ever tested
WinVBlock on Vista or newer
- If you use WinVBlock, I can add what you need
- If you wish to somehow figure out how to get the MEMDISK command-line
yourself, you will need to write a program which scans memory for the
mBFT.  If that lowish region of memory is protected against user-land
programs, you will need to write a driver

Let me know if you'd like to see this in WinVBlock.

- Shao Miller

Lindgren Daniel wrote:
> Hi.
> 
> I'm working on replacing a PXELINUX/MEMDISK loaded DOS based
> installation image with a PXELINUX/MEMDISK loaded WinPE ISO image. So
> far everything seems to work well (appending "bigraw" to memdisk
solved
> booting problems on several machines), but I kind of miss the option of
> using getargs.com to get/set environment variables from the memdisk
> command line.
> 
> Is there any way to access memdisk command line arguments from within
> WinPE (x86/win32 and hopefully amd64/win64)?
> 
> Cheers,
> Daniel
Was any solution found to this problem?

Sebastian

Shao Miller wrote:
> Actually, the MinGW logic was only designed for Linux.  The only Windows
> build-logic was with using the WDK.  Sorry about that.
>
> But does the binary work, or what? :)
mdiskchk.exe --safe-hooks
Driver installed
Driver start signal sent
Driver stop signal sent
Driver removed
Drive 00 is MEMDISK 0.00:
 Address = 0x00000000, len = 0 sectors, chs = 0/0/0,
 loader = 0x00 (LILO),
 cmdline = S?

mdiskchk.exe --mbfts
Driver installed
Driver start signal sent
Driver stop signal sent
Driver removed
Drive E0 is MEMDISK 4.03:
 Address = 0xb708a000, len = 72844 sectors, chs = 65535/255/15,
 loader = 0x32 (PXELINUX),
 cmdline = initrd=winpe_x86.iso iso raw BOOT_IMAGE=memdisk403

Sebastian

On Mon, Nov 12, 2012 at 07:11:54PM +0100, Sebastian Herbszt
wrote:
> Shao Miller wrote:
> >But does the binary work, or what? :)
> 
> mdiskchk.exe --safe-hooks
> Driver installed
> Driver start signal sent
> Driver stop signal sent
> Driver removed
> Drive 00 is MEMDISK 0.00:
> Address = 0x00000000, len = 0 sectors, chs = 0/0/0,
> loader = 0x00 (LILO),
> cmdline = S?
> 
> mdiskchk.exe --mbfts
> Driver installed
> Driver start signal sent
> Driver stop signal sent
> Driver removed
> Drive E0 is MEMDISK 4.03:
> Address = 0xb708a000, len = 72844 sectors, chs = 65535/255/15,
> loader = 0x32 (PXELINUX),
> cmdline = initrd=winpe_x86.iso iso raw BOOT_IMAGE=memdisk403
FWIW,  I miss information about the test conditions.


Groeten
Geert Stappers
-- 
> And is there a policy on top-posting vs. bottom-posting?
Yes.

Geert Stappers wrote:
> On Mon, Nov 12, 2012 at 07:11:54PM +0100, Sebastian Herbszt wrote:
> > Shao Miller wrote:
> > >But does the binary work, or what? :)
> >
> > mdiskchk.exe --safe-hooks
> > Driver installed
> > Driver start signal sent
> > Driver stop signal sent
> > Driver removed
> > Drive 00 is MEMDISK 0.00:
> > Address = 0x00000000, len = 0 sectors, chs = 0/0/0,
> > loader = 0x00 (LILO),
> > cmdline = S?
> >
> > mdiskchk.exe --mbfts
> > Driver installed
> > Driver start signal sent
> > Driver stop signal sent
> > Driver removed
> > Drive E0 is MEMDISK 4.03:
> > Address = 0xb708a000, len = 72844 sectors, chs = 65535/255/15,
> > loader = 0x32 (PXELINUX),
> > cmdline = initrd=winpe_x86.iso iso raw BOOT_IMAGE=memdisk403
>
> FWIW,  I miss information about the test conditions.
Tested on Windows PE 3.0 (32-bit).

Sebastian

On Tue, Nov 13, 2012 at 08:44:06PM +0100, Sebastian Herbszt
wrote:
> Geert Stappers wrote:
> >On Mon, Nov 12, 2012 at 07:11:54PM +0100, Sebastian Herbszt wrote:
> >> Shao Miller wrote:
> >> >But does the binary work, or what? :)
> >>
> >> mdiskchk.exe --safe-hooks
> >> Driver installed
> >> Driver start signal sent
> >> Driver stop signal sent
> >> Driver removed
> >> Drive 00 is MEMDISK 0.00:
> >> Address = 0x00000000, len = 0 sectors, chs = 0/0/0,
> >> loader = 0x00 (LILO),
> >> cmdline = S?
> >>
> >> mdiskchk.exe --mbfts
> >> Driver installed
> >> Driver start signal sent
> >> Driver stop signal sent
> >> Driver removed
> >> Drive E0 is MEMDISK 4.03:
> >> Address = 0xb708a000, len = 72844 sectors, chs = 65535/255/15,
> >> loader = 0x32 (PXELINUX),
> >> cmdline = initrd=winpe_x86.iso iso raw BOOT_IMAGE=memdisk403
> >
> >FWIW,  I miss information about the test conditions.
> 
> Tested on Windows PE 3.0 (32-bit).
Strange to see that "option"  --safe-hooks  and  --mbfts  have effect
on
* Drive
* loader
* cmdline


Stappers