Microsoft has released the August 2010 Update for Windows Embedded Standard 2009 which contains the following new features and tools:

• Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0
  includes a component with the .NET 4.0 installer and its dependencies
• Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Express Prerequisites
  Macro Component which contains all the needed dependencies to install SQL Server 2008 R2 Express
• Web Services on Devices API for .NET
  Web Services on Devices for .NET supports the implementation of client-controlled devices and services and device hosts conforming to specifications for typical embedded environments. WSDAPI for .NET can be used for the development of both client and service solutions based on the DPWS stack. WSDAPI for .NET can be used for the development of both client and service solutions based on the DPWS stack.
• Windows Embedded Standard 2009 SLD Export Tool
  The SLD Export Tool is designed to help developers to search for resources and update resources in SLD files.
  It exports the SLD files to Microsoft Excel with the following resources:
  - File
  - Registry Key
  - Dependencies
  
  Additionally the tool support updating the SLD file according to the modified Excel file.

The download and more information is available on the ECE.

If you load pptx files using PowerPoint Viewer 2007 on XP Embedded or Windows Embedded Standard 2009 you will get the following error message:

“This file requires the Compatibility Pack for the 2007 Office system to view its contents”

The reason for this error message is that PowerPoint Viewer 2007 needs the t2embed.dll located in the Windows\system32 directory.

To solve the error copy the t2embed.dll from a XP Professional system to your embedded system.

The free Microsoft utility Windows SteadyState can be used on Windows XP Professional for Embedded Systems to prevent the OS from any changes.

It offers a write filter which will redirect all writes to a cache file which can be reset on a reboot. This will generate a fresh system on every boot.

Windows Updates can be installed even when the write protection is on. Additional security policies can be applied on the system using SteadyState.

Download a manual for the installation and configuration from our website

Per default user accounts will expire in Windows XP Embedded and Windows Embedded Standard.
To avoid this you can run the following commands for each user created:

net accounts /maxpwage:unlimited
net users Username /expires:never
net users Username /active:yes

This video demonstrates you the usage of imagex together with either Windows Vista AIK or Windows 7 AIK.
A detailed command description can be found here.

The video shows the capturing of an installed “ready-to-clone” image where it will be saved to an external harddrive.
The second part will show the deployment to a fresh system where the target disk still needs to be prepared.

Driver Extractor is a tool which makes creating SLD components for drivers very easy.
All you need to do is to run the tool on the target machine with XP, Vista or Windows 7 and all device drivers installed.
Then you just need to select the devices for which the drivers should be exported into an SLD file and click export.
Driver Extractor will then copy all the needed files and creates a component for XPe/WES with Repository for you.
After importing the component to the database you can easily create your image.

Requirements

• .NET Framework 3.5 SP1
• Windows Operating system with all needed device drivers installed
• WMI Support (if running on an embedded OS)
• Windows must be installed on C:\Windows in the current version

How To Use

1. Run DriverExtractor.exe on the target device. The Windows version should be XP as the exported drivers are taken from the current installation. If you use Vista it will take Vista driver which might not work under XP!
2. Check the devices for which you want to export the drivers.
   
3. Click Actions / Export Selected.
   
4. Choose an output directory. The tool will create a separate folder for each component named by the devices name.
   
5. Import the component (located in the output directory\Devicename\sld directory) into the Database by using the Component Database Manager
    
6. Add the component to your configuration

Description

Menus

Toolbar

Refreshes the device list

  Shows the needed driver files for the current selected device

Exports the drivers for the selected devices

Opens the Windows properties for the current selected device

There are two ways how you can remove these messages in Windows.

1. Use Minlogon
  Minlogon will remove all the status messages and the logon window and logs the system on using the SYSTEM account.
  Normally this works fine but if you need to access domains this solution will not work for you.
  Also there are some other things (Cardspace,..) which will not work with Minlogon as it’s a minimum implementation of Windows Logon.

If you cannot use Minlogon you can go with the default Windows Logon and set the following Registry Key:

2. Windows Logon with hidden status windows

  Create the following registry entry in the runtime image or add the following key to your Target Designer Image Configuration:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System]
"DisableStatusMessages"= dword:00000001

  After this key has been set all the status windows will disappear.

You can import any existing project you created in the XP Embedded Target Designer into the Windows Embedded Standard Target Designer.

To do this follow these steps:

• Start Windows Embedded Standard Target Designer
• Click File / Open
• Select the XP Embedded Target Designer project
• After loading is done click Configuration / Upgrade Configuration
• Click Yes
• Run Dependency Check

Your image is now upgraded to Windows Embedded Standard.

Important!

Update the product key in the image settings – the XP Embedded key will no longer work here!

Before beginning with the image creation or deployment – please download the WAIK tools from Microsoft (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=C7D4BC6D-15F3-4284-9123-679830D629F2&displaylang=en) and create either a bootable DVD or bootable USB stick which contains imagex. For this please follow the documentation that comes with the WAIK tools.

Preparation

Please follow the preparation steps for both – image creation and image deployment as you’ll need to have a working network connection.

Setting up a DHCP server

You can skip this step if you have a DHCP server running in your network.

Create a new dialup connection – the settings like number, etc. are not important.

Open the settings of the created dialup connection and enable internet sharing for the local network adapter which will be connected with your target device.

Check the IP-address of the local network adapter – it should be 192.168.0.1

Create a network share

On your development machine set up a network share where the image will be located. Please make sure you can access the network share from another pc and that you have write access to this share.

Mapping a network drive in Windows PE

Boot the target machine from the previous created media.

In the command prompt type ipconfig to check if the pc has a valid ip address. You can use ping (e.g. ping 192.168.0.1) to test if the connection to the development pc works.

Map a network drive to your development pc.

net use N: \\<IP-Address>\<Sharename> [/User:<pcname>\<username> <Password>]Sample
net use N: \\192.168.0.1\images /User:devmachine\administrator admin

Create an image

To create an image we will use the imagex tool which comes with the WAIK tools. For more information on imagex please have a look on Microsoft Technet http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc722145.aspx

Type the following command
imagex /capture C: N:\image.wmi “Master image”You can also use additional paramters such as /compress to compress the image. For additional arguments please type imagex /?

Deploy an image

Before we will deploy the image we will prepare the target disk to make sure that the image can boot after the deployment.

Preparing the target disk

Run diskpart and type the following commands
LIST DISK

DISKPART> list disk

Disk ###  Status      Size     Free     Dyn  Gpt
  --------  ----------  -------  -------  ---  ---
  Disk 0    Online       149 GB      0 B
  Disk 1    Online       149 GB      0 B

Use this command to find out the disk id of the disk that should be used as target.

SELECT DISK 0  (instead of 0 use the appropriate disk id of your target disk)
CLEAN   (this will remove all partitions on the target disk)
CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY  (this creates a primary partition on the target disk)
ACTIVE (set the previous created partition active)
ASSIGN LETTER = C (assign the drive letter C)
FORMAT FS=NTFS QUICK (do a quick ntfs format)
EXIT (quick diskpart)

Deploy the image

Run the following command to deploy the image from the network share

imagex /apply n:\image.wim 1 c:

Reboot your machine – it should now boot from the image properly.

With every license order you will receive an envelope containing the licenses. In this envelope you will also find a yellow paper containing one product key.

You can use this product key to create full versions of the ordered product.

This video will show you how to enter the product key in Target Designer.