Solved Windows 7 embedded 64 repair CD creation. Cannot find path specified.

[jivex5k]

Creating a custom Windows repair CD with 3rd party drivers.

Hey guys, I have windows 7 embedded 64. I'm trying to create a restore CD but it keeps throwing up error 8070003 Cannot find path specified.
This is at the step it asks to insert the windows installation media. I can confirm it's the 64 bit embedded installation DVD in the drive at this step and it still throws this exception at me. I can also confirm this installation DVD is in working order, and the DVD burner that is reading the installation media is also in working order.

I also tried to create it with a Windows 7 64bit Professional DVD (confirmed as working) and it throws the same exception. I'm guessing an environment variable is different in embedded or something...not sure.

I've done a lot of searching and haven't found much about this except another post here that didn't seem to have a resolution other than download the correct installation media, which I already have.

I have managed to create a system repair CD from a windows 7 64 bit professional installation, however it does not work with my embedded machine. This is due to the OS drives belonging to a RAID array. I know this professional CD works for embedded systems that are not in a RAID array.

My thinking is that the creation of the repair CD on the machine that has the embedded OS in the RAID array will contain the proper RAID drivers to work.

I also searched for a way to add specific drivers to a repair CD but found nothing helpful on the subject.
Any information would be greatly appreciated. I'd really like to stick with the native windows repair cd if possible, don't want to have to get Paragon or some other manager.

Thanks in advance, and thanks for taking the time to read this lengthy post!

 

[jivex5k]

Well I've made some progress with this... I've managed to extract the boot.wim from a windows 7 64 pro repair cd that I created from another pc, and am using dism.exe to inject the RAID driver.
It's not working for whatever reason, but I do have the repair CD at least working to the point where I can click "add driver" and manually add the driver from a usb stick. I'd really like to incorporate this on the repair cd but for whatever reason the dism driver injection isn't working.

 

[jivex5k]

Alright I figured it out! I had to change an option in using dism and it worked like a charm.
So if anyone cares, or would like to know here is what I did:

Windows 7 Embedded 64 - Wanted to create a repair CD with RAID drivers preloaded in order to avoid the necessity of an additional diskette or usb stick/drive.
Problems: Windows 7 repair cd creation does not auto-include 3rd party drivers. Windows 7 embedded cannot properly create repair CD.

Solution:

• Create a windows 7 repair CD on a windows 7 64 professional environment. Might be able to download this as well since the files should be the same.
• Once the CD is created, view the contents and copy them to a folder like c:\windows repair cd
• Install Windows WAIK
• Under the windows repair cd there is a folder named sources. Inside is a file named boot.wim. Copy this file to c:\Temp
• Create a folder c:\temp\mount and c:\temp\drivers
• Copy your driver .inf file to c:\temp\drivers - locating the driver you need can be tricky, refer to your manufacturer for help locating it.
• Open Deployment and Imaging Tools Environment.
• Use the following DISM commands: dism.exe /mount-wim /wimfile:C:\temp\customboot.wim /index:2 /mountdir:C:\temp\mount
• dism /image:"C:\Temp\mount" /add-driver /driver:"C:\temp\drivers\[YOUR DRIVER FILENAME HERE]"
• dism /unmount-wim /Mountdir:C:\Temp\mount /commit
• Once it is finished unmounting you now have an updated boot.wim file in c:\temp. Simply replace boot.wim in your c:\repair cd folder and burn a new repair cd with the updated file

The burning of the CD may be tricky, I don't know as I host the entire CD on an internal drive fit my custom setup. I'm able to boot from it by modifying the BCD. This isn't 100% fail safe since it's hosted on the drive, if the drive fails you need to use an external cd. I do this more for convenience than for hard drive failure, in case PC os installation is completely wrecked but the HD is in tact I can restore to the factory installation without any additional media required.

 

[SIW2]

I have been doing that for years.

Full size pe maker here:

http://www.sevenforums.com/software/300292-win-7-winpemaker.html

You need a client x64sp1 dvd, so your PRO dvd will be fine.

Simple pemaker here, also for client versions, x64 or x86 no dvd required.

http://www.sevenforums.com/software/325669-new-versions-simple-winpe-maker.html

 

[jivex5k]

I have been doing that for years.

Full size pe maker here:

http://www.sevenforums.com/software/300292-win-7-winpemaker.html

You need a client x64sp1 dvd, so your PRO dvd will be fine.

Simple pemaker here, also for client versions, x64 or x86 no dvd required.

http://www.sevenforums.com/software/325669-new-versions-simple-winpe-maker.html

I'm not sure I understand how this relates to creating a windows 7 repair cd with custom drivers. It seems like it creates a bootable iso that boots into a custom WinPE environment that supports third party imaging software, and other useful tools, and automatically includes needed drivers if you create it on the target machine. This is really freaking cool actually, thanks for sharing. I'll definitely check it out for internal use.

But I just want the simple windows repair cd for the purpose of restoring an image and nothing more so I can avoid using third party software at all. Mission was accomplished as I listed above.

 

[SIW2]

Part of it is including drivers - similar to the way you described.

Lots of other stuff in there as well, if needed.

I have made similar pe for vista and 8.1 by hand. Haven't got round to doing a winpemaker for those os .

 

[gregrocker]

I dont' know why you couldn't create your System Repair Disk but you can also use the installation media for your version to repair. Both allow you to inject drivers on either of these screens in the very rare case that a storage controller driver is not in the disk:

 

[jivex5k]

I dont' know why you couldn't create your System Repair Disk but you can also use the installation media for your version to repair. Both allow you to inject drivers on either of these screens in the very rare case that a storage controller driver is not in the disk:

Don't know why, Windows Embedded would fail to create a repair disk every time. And they do allow you to inject drivers on that screen but you need additional hardware to load the driver like a floppy or a usb stick. The way I did it injected with DISM eliminates the need for this.

Essentially I made my own recovery partition but it wasn't working for my RAID setups. Now they do and all is well, plus it was fun to learn about wim files.

 

[gregrocker]

Well the driver needs to be supplied somehow so stick or disk are best. Floppies are outmoded and as useless and inadvisable for Win7 as RAID.

 

[SIW2]

It is better to integrate drivers permanently, saves mucking about trying to load them each time.

It is also quite easy as dism is built in to win7. USB 3 is not included in 7 for example, so I always integrate those.

 

[gregrocker]

I see.

Si, this would not have blocked his ability to generate a Repair CD, would it? Any theories as to why?

 

[jivex5k]

Well the driver needs to be supplied somehow so stick or disk are best. Floppies are outmoded and as useless and inadvisable for Win7 as RAID.

Greg I supplied it using DISM and intergrating it directly into my repair CD so I don't need anything at all. I don't even need a CD, I just host the files on a partition and edit the BCD to allow booting from that partition. It's awesome, I can just select recovery as the machine is starting, nothing else needed at all. The best part is that it uses no third party software at all so I don't have to license anything.

Windows Embedded not being able to create a repair CD? Beats me...My gut says it has something to do with environment variables being different but who knows... It's not a huge deal as I have the repair CD image from windows 7 professional and it works fine, but it is strange and I wasn't able to find much info on it. Windows embedded problems are harder to find examples of.

 

[gregrocker]

You're obviously an advanced user so these operations are easier for you than they would be for the average consumer. Kudos for your resourcefulness.

This is the first time RAID has been mentioned here I can remember when it wasn't a problem. But then again, if it caused the extremely rare need for storage drivers in the Repair CD, maybe so.