Alexander's Embedded Techwire: Device Development

Detect XPe Devices with SCCM

Fri, 13 Jun 2008 15:16:46 GMT

Just after my session on the management of XPe devices using Systen Center Configuration Manager 2007 I was asked to blog the settings You need to do to achieve this.

So here we go:

Edit the SMS_def.mof file that controls Your SCCM inventory collection and set the parameter information for OSProductSuite from FALSE to TRUE. This enables the collection of this parameter from the field devices. You need to wait some time until results arrive.

The create a new collection in the SCCM MMC using the selection criteria OSProductSuite = 64, which is contained in the Operating System object.

After this You should see your XPe devices (and only them) in that collection. If You need to distinguish between pre and past FP 2007 devices look for the string "Embedded" in the OSName property. Devices pre FP 2007 do not have this addition in the name.

Alexander

Alexander at TechED IT-Professional

Wed, 14 May 2008 06:19:15 GMT

Yes, it is TechEd time again.

This year I will be speaking at TechEd IT-Professional (June 10-13, 2008) about topics around the use of XP embedded in Enterprise and medical scenarios:

XPe and System Center Configuration Manager 2007

Using XPe in medical settings

XPe Enterprise Security

Would be my pleasure to see You there!

Alexander

Robotics Studio CTP -t ry it!

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 04:11:18 GMT

Even if You are not building robots, Microsoft Robotics Studio is able to deliver good value in Your project. What are robots other than a certain form of connected devices?

Check out the new CTP at: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=EB00C558-2163-45A5-BEFE-531AD48BC525&displaylang=en

Alexander

CF cards for XPe fxed or removable?

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 15:13:50 GMT

There are two kinds of CF cards available. A lot of them are intended for use in cameras and PDAs, etc. and have a bit set indicating that they are removable. The problem is that it is not possible to boot XPe on them without getting the bit set to fixed (there cannot be more than one partition on them either). There are tools in the market that will do this, but these do not always work reliably.

My advice would be to buy (industrial grade, of course) cards with the bit set to fixed to avoid that hassle and maybe negative side-effects.

Alexander

New DUA Manager by Sean Liming

Tue, 12 Feb 2008 16:25:10 GMT

My friend and fellow embedded MVP Sean Liming recently released a new tool that helps to manage the Device Update Agent change management infrastruture on XP embedded devices.

Check out this article: http://www.embedded-computing.com/news/db/?10134 or get it from http://www.sjjmicro.com/Products.html

Alexander

January XPe MSDN Chat Session - HORM and Device Servicing

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 15:49:37 GMT

The XP embedded group is hosting a MSDN chat about HORM (Hibernate Once Resume Many) and servicing of field devices on January, 29th, 10.30am -11.30am (PST - that is 19.30pm - 20.30pm GMT for Europeans).

I feel very honored, having the chance to participate as a guest expert on this occasion and I do hope a lot of You reading this blog are going to join us asking loads of questions around all aspects of XPe.

The more, the better - I am sure it will be great fun!

Maybe we can even shed some light onto interesting HORM/Update experiences some people might have run into.

So please, come in and be our guests.

Alexander

Creating an international customized WinPE version

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 15:22:57 GMT

I have tried to create a custom PE image with a localized version of the the WAIK (Windows Automated Installation Kit). But every time I tried to prep an image this would result in an error message.

It took me some time before I found out that this is due to a localization error. Peimg /prep ecpects that after a warning the user types in "yes" to confirm the sealing of the image.

In my localized version the warning text has been translated into German where "yes" means "ja". Well, so far so good, the bad thing is that the tool itself has not been changed to expect the German "ja"! It still only validates the English "yes". Neat, isn't it?

Therefore, wherever You are in the world and Peimg asks You to enter "ja", "si", "qui" or similar, You should always use "yes" to be succesful.

A truly globalized application.....

Alexander

Vista Embedded - Product Activation

Sun, 18 Nov 2007 09:01:28 GMT

Vista Embedded most probably will have product activation. Any thoughts on this? I wonder if this impacts the way You are building systems. If so, just let me know.

Alexander

XP SP3 for XP embedded

Sun, 18 Nov 2007 08:56:11 GMT

I have been asked by quite few people what will happen when XP SP3 will come out.

I have good news: The Microsoft product group announced at MEDC this year that there will be an update to XP embedded including SP3 most probably in 2008.

Alexander

Rare .NET Micro Framework porting training opportunity at TechEd Europe

Fri, 12 Oct 2007 06:03:45 GMT

As our very own Embedded Developer Evangelist in Germany, Frank Prengel, just announced, there will be a .NETMicro Framework porting training on November, 4th. These trainings are quite rare over here, but essential if You want to create a device with Microsoft's newest OS for very small devices. So, if You are into this, be there or be square.

Nevertheless, it is right before TechEd developers which might come handy as well. Btw, You do not need to be registered for TechEd to attend the porting training.

Alexander

New .NET Micro Framework Development Kit released!

Wed, 19 Sep 2007 08:07:42 GMT

This is fresh from the press.

SJJMicro just released its Embedded Development Kit for the .NET Micro Framework (EDK).

It is one of the first kits based on the ARM9 architecture and the board is equipped with some really nice features such as Ethernet, CF/SD card slot and that will become available as the .NET Micro Framework evolves.

Quite interesting for building the next wave of connected devices!

Alexander

Ready for digital life style?

Fri, 10 Aug 2007 07:19:44 GMT

Just escaped from heavy rainfalls and flooding after holding a workshop in Switzerland, I have stumbled over the keynote video from this years MEDC in Las Vegas. Mike Hall (Windows Embedded über-architect and unquestioned master of presentation ) has posted it to SoapBox and it is absolutely worth a closer look. Ilya Bukshteyn, diretor of marketing for Windows Embedded and Mike give a quite fascinating insight on how the different Microsoft operating systems and development technologies play well together to create a home automation solution. Set aside that I am a home automation geek and quite easy to excite on this topic, it might be interesting for more conservative people, as well. The video is showing, where ubiquos computing might head next. If You are not caught by the senarios, think of Your own, the infrastructure already is here.

Alexander

To HORM or not to HORM

Mon, 30 Jul 2007 17:00:36 GMT

that is the question.

HORM (Hibernate Once Resume Many) boots a system from the standrad XP hibernation file. This can be quite fast (under 10 seconds), if the amount of RAM is not too big.

The hibernation file always has the same size as the available RAM and therefore reading in 2GB of RAM e.g from Compact Flash can be slow! Nevertheless, I have seen systems booting in 8 seconds with 2 GB of RAM having a Pentium dual core and a hard disk. So, if processing power and a fast hard disk is available, it is possible to use HORM even with larger amounts of RAM.

Tip: You can use the /maxmem swith in the boot.ini to limit the RAM size to find an optimized setting fitting Your scenario.

Alexander

Disk Cloning with XP embedded

Thu, 19 Jul 2007 06:58:57 GMT

For long, SDI (Simple Disk Imaging) was the only tool that came close to something like a disk cloning utility from Microsoft. But, it was not really straightforward to handle nor flexible.

This has changed with the arrival of VISTA. In the accompanying Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) now everybody has access to entprise class deployment tools such as Imagex (Cloning) and WinPE (Booting). Using Imagexin combination with WinPE has quite e few benefits looking at the most common deployment and change managemnt scenarios. And the best is, it works with XPe just as well as with VISTA.

What about using a WDS (PXW boot) server on the factory floor to load devices or a WinPE equipped bootable CD/DVD for in-filed upgrades?

The WAIK is certainly worth to have a close look.

Alexander

Moving/Cloning a SQL Server Instance

Thu, 12 Jul 2007 07:22:46 GMT

There maybe circumstances, where you want to use a backed up / cloned OS image including SQL Server and rename the system. Just think of restoring an old XPe development environment for some image changes in a project.

Very often SQL Server is having a problem, because it stores the original name of the machine in its system database.

Several of my RD colleagues, Kimberly, Venkatagaran and Scott have found a way to solve this very elegantly via stored procedures.

Thanks a lot guys!

Alexander

Turn XP embedded into a streaming media server

Mon, 02 Jul 2007 19:03:17 GMT

There is a feature in Media Player 11 that allows to serve streaming media to clients such as an XBox 360. The official term is "Home Media Ecosystem". There is an intersting article from Alex Gimenez that shows how to do this.

So, just keeping the flow, life is a piece of cake with streming media.

Alexander

HORM hangs on resume with "Delete restoration data..."

Wed, 27 Jun 2007 07:59:21 GMT

Did it ever happen to You that HORM hangs while it tries to resume from hibernation with that "Delete restoration data or continue..." message.

The reason for this can be:

You are using a pre SP2 version of XP embedded - there was a bug in EWF NTLDR that was fixed in SP2
You have a current version of XPe, but You missed to enable HORM in the EWF component. Due to this, a file called HORM.dat that is used by EWF to determine if HORM is enabled, is not created during the XPe build process. HORM.dat replaces Resmany.dat from previous XPe versions and in contrast contains some data as well (it is not empty!). EWF NTLDR uses HORM.dat to determine its state and boot configuration.

Our tools HMLite and HMPro still create resmany.dat as well, for backwards compatibility. Do not worry, both files do not interfere in a newer system.
However, if running a FP2007 or later version of XPe HORM.dat is required for HORM to work correctly.

Alexander

.NET MF having a black fin

Sun, 17 Jun 2007 13:21:24 GMT

As several sources report will the .NET Micro Framework get support for the Analog Devices Blackfin processor line. This is an interesting combination of a 16 Bit DSP along with a 32 Bit RISC processor. More info on this I have found on Wikipedia.

Alexander

XP embedded Update Rollup 1.0 available

Wed, 06 Jun 2007 14:04:21 GMT

What was formerly known as Feature Preview 2008 just now has been released: the XP embedded Update Rollup 1.0.

This link leads to the eval edition. If You are an OEM, please acquire the bits via the OEM page.

The Rollup includes a lot of service patches for XPe FP2007 as well as .NET Framework 3.0.

Please be aware to uninstall the Feature Preview 2008 as well as the QFE components that came with them before installing the final version! There is a help file included telling You how to do this.

Alexander

Microsoft Surface - a cool new UI paradigm

Wed, 06 Jun 2007 06:51:49 GMT

Microoft just released a new technology called Surface, which allows to interact more natural with a computer using gestures and even real world items or devices. I have found a good video including an interview of the team at Popular Mechanics.

Surface certainly is interesting in quite a few of embedded scanrios. Stay tuned for more.

Alexander

Web Services on Devices

Wed, 16 May 2007 13:09:00 GMT

So, shortly after You have bought this new electronic picture frame, You just unpack it and plug it into a power outlet. It then automatically hooks into Your network, tells all other devices on the net that it is now a fellow citizen and begins to stream family pictures from Your media server. Yes, there may be some security prompts You might have to answer, but the rest is just keeping the flow.
A dream? A future scenario of 2030?
Well not quite, a new technology called Web Services on Devices could provide the infrastructure for this. It is already part of VISTA (codename Windows Rally) and is eagerly waiting for anew wave of devices talking to the mothership. But wait, there is more. The infrastructur stack, e.g. as shown in the MEDC keynote, is already available in or to be implemented for some Windows Embedded operating systems such as Windows CE and the .NET Micro Framework. Then devices can not only talk to desktops or servers, but to any peer on the network.
This is quite exiting, due to the endless number of new functionality scenarios that could be based on this.

What do You think?

Alexander

.NET Micro Framework surfs the Z-Wave

Fri, 13 Apr 2007 07:58:07 GMT

Yes, I am an home automation geek, but this might be interesting to all the people that want to have more comfort in their home.

Leviton has released the first wireless home automation gateway running the .NET MF using the Z-Wave protocol to communicate to sensors and actors in the home.

But wait, there is more to come!

Both companies are planning to release hobbyist projects at http://www.Coding4Fun.net that enable programmers to take control over their home. That is really cool, but one needs to see if this is beneficial to your relationship: "Honey, be careful, I have re-programmed the lights!"

Well, maybe starting with a test setup in the cellar helps to stay out of trouble!

Just think of the endless number of scenarios we can tackle now with blessings of managed code!

This is much better than an electric railway.

Alexander

BTW:

Wechsler Consulting is offering a .NET Micro Framework Starter Workshop giving you a jump start into the new technology.

MEDC 2007 - Berlin or Vegas?

Mon, 02 Apr 2007 15:12:41 GMT

It's Your choice!

Please visit my breakout session at MEDC in Berlin or Las Vegas: http://www.medc2007.com/

Title:

EXP_309 -
Servicing Windows® XP Embedded Devices Using Microsoft Systems Management Server or System Center Configuration Manager 2007

Abstract:
Change management for embedded devices in the field becomes expensive when treated as an afterthought. This session gives insight, how companies can use new or existing System Center Configuration Manager 2007 or SMS 2003 infrastructure to service XP embedded devices. It shows how devices are built as well as configured to make them fit into this infrastructure and what needs to be done from the backend perspective. A special focus will is laid on software deployment and patch management looking at common use case scenarios. To complete the picture, the pro's and con's looking at other available servicing methods for XP embedded are evaluated, as well.

I would be very happy to see You there!

Alexander

Finding a good way to start a Windows CE project

Wed, 07 Mar 2007 08:06:10 GMT

As always in life, there are many ways to start a project. Looking at Windows CE quite often people start by choosing the hardware without thinking about support for the desired OS.

This can really harm Your project, because developing drivers is quite costly and is not necessarily what you want to do.

Therefore I would suggest as a best practice to have a look at the available board support packages (BSPs) at http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/embedded/aa714506.aspx to get an overview. Then choosing one board fitting to one of the BSPs will give You a head start in your project.

It is just the difference between creating extra value in contrast to developing basic infrastructure.

Alexander

Create your own custom folders in the XPe catalog

Thu, 01 Mar 2007 10:45:19 GMT

This week I was running the EMEA XPe FP2007 Train The Trainer event (TTT) for Microsoft in Prague. The participants were a great group of very knowledgeable and well spirited people. Therefore we had a lot of fun running through labs and exchanging information on XPe.

We came across one very interesting thing just while I was complaining about the fact that You cannot add your own custom folder to the XPe catalog. One of the participants (Nicolas) knew how to do it:

One has to start Component Designer from the command line using the -C parameter such as

C:\Program Files\Windows Embedded\bin\Cdesigner.exe -c .

Then You will find an additional node called catalog, where it is possible to add Your own folder. Cool, eh?

Thanks Nicolas!

Alexander

XP embedded SP1 - Lifecycle support ends on April, 10th 2007

Thu, 22 Feb 2007 11:27:26 GMT

No reason to panic, but it might be good to know that the XPe SP1 lifecycle support ends in April as Lynda Allen reminds in the XPe product group BLOG.

This means that no patches or updates will be available for this specific version any more.

Do not get it wrong, SP2 and FP 2007 support is not touched in any way by this termination!

So, what to do if You have SP1 images in the field?

Well, if everything is up and running there is no direct need to worry at all.

Find out if there is an urgent requirement for updating your devices e.g. because security flaws need to be fixed or functionality bugs in the OS removed. If not, leave them as they are.

If the systems need to be maintained, it would be a good approach to think about upgrading to SP2 or better FP2007.

Here a new tool, the Image Differencinging engine (currently in CTP) will be available soon that allows e.g. an in place upgrade from SP1 to SP2, FP 2007 or similar.

But deploying a new and improved complete image, of course, could be a very reasonable way to enhance the value of your in-field devices, as well.

Alexander

.NET Micro Framework hits the road today!

Thu, 15 Feb 2007 23:00:38 GMT

The .NET Micro Framework SDK was finally released earlier today. I am really looking forward to see new generations of embedded and small devices now being developed using the .NET Framework and the CLR.

We at Wechsler Consulting will be offering an ".NET MF Jumpstart workshop" very soon.

It will give a good introduction on all the new features of the new Microsoft OS, the architecture as well on how to start with the first applications and managed drivers.

If Your are interested, drop me a line for more details....

Alexander

HMPro Admin Pack released

Thu, 15 Feb 2007 12:57:03 GMT

This week we have released our HMPro Admin Pack.

It is a version of the HMPro GUI that allows you to create HMPro scripts. Even for scenarios when EWF and/or HORM is turned on, the tool provides a virtual system state to create the suiting scripts for such scenarios.
This can be of great use for any maintenance task regardless of the management tool (DUA, SMS Server etc.) that is used.

As long as HMPro is installed on the machine the system can be updated without worrying about command line scripting, too much.

And yes, the built-in macro commands save a lot of time and provide robustness for achieving a desired XPe system state after the update.

Check it out at: http://www.wechslernet.com/english/Aktuell.htm#Admin_Pack

:-)

Alexander

Windows CE 6.0 TTT in Prague

Tue, 06 Feb 2007 07:52:35 GMT

Two weeks ago quite a few of the European Windows Embedded partners and me had the pleasure to get walked through the new Windows CE 6.0 course. It contains just the right mixture of presentation and hands-on-labs to get a good head start for the new version of this Microsoft embedded OS. Randy Moore of A7 engineering did a great and entertaing job as our course mentor. Even the storm and snow we had could not conquer his great spirits. Well, he is from Califonia and knows he always can get back to get friendlier weather.

Are You ready for the new features? We will announce the dates for our next Windows CE 6.0 Wechsler Consulting courses, soon. So stay tuned or, if it is more urgent just drop me a line! :-)

Alexander

WinPE 2.0 with localized keyboard layout

Tue, 06 Feb 2007 07:49:19 GMT

Sometimes things do not work out as they should (no, do not tell me that is always the case). Recently I tried to switch WinPE from Emglish to Swiss-French keyboard layout. For a customer not for me. I am not able to use rather Swiss nor Fench keyboards.
But neververtheless, this should be easy. There is a switch existing to do this during theWinPE session but although reporting success we did not get it working.
This may be my fault, but until someone shows me it is, I believe this is a bug. :-)
Nevertheless together with my customer we found a workaround.

It works like this:

Mount Your WinPE 2.0 boot.wim file to a folder (read/write)
Do an offline edit of the PE registry by loading the Default hive into the registry editor
Change the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Keyboard Layout\Preload\1 to e.g. 0000100c for Swiss -French
Unload the hive from the registry editor - This is important otherwise PE does not start, because the hive cannot be loaded. It still will be marked to be open by regedit.
Unmount the boot.wim file using the /commit command line option.
Then burn Your WinPE 2.0 image to a CD put it on a USB stick or on the hard disk

It should be no problem now, to work under Your keyboard layout.

Alexander

HMPro / HMLite and XPe FP 2007

Wed, 17 Jan 2007 14:04:18 GMT

Due to some recent requests from our customers:

We have tested our XPe disk protection management products HMLite and HMPro with FP 2007 and until now have not found any issues.

The feedback from the field is also very good. Microsoft did not change the API's we use to control EWF and HORM.

Therefore, if You want to use them together with FP 2007, please go ahead, we would be delighted.

Alexander

Welcome to the world of very small devices! - The .NET Micro Framework

Sun, 07 Jan 2007 20:57:44 GMT

Yes, I love gadgets! And I like small gadgets even more.

Therefore it is great to hear, that the .NET MF just got it's own web site at http://msdn.microsoft.com/embedded/netmf/. Just read it in Frank's Blog (http://blogs.msdn.com/frankpr/).

Check it out and let's have fun building very small .NET devices!

The ones You need to tell Your children not to touch or to swallow!

Alexander

FP 2007 footprint reduction

Sun, 31 Dec 2006 12:04:09 GMT

Let us have a look on another important FP feature:

The Windows XP embedded team has put a lot of work into footprint reduction looking at the FP 07 release.

Two of most prominent components here are Internet Explorer as well as the SMS Advanced Client for XPe.

For example the depencies of the following components, have been resolved by putting the required IE dlls or other binaries in new "Primitive" components:

.NET Framework 1.1

Help and Support Services

HTML Rendering Engine

IMAPI - CD Burning

Internet Connection Wizard

Microsoft Vector Graphics Rendering (VML)

Outlook Express

Shell Namespace Extensions

Soap Client Runtime

Windows .Net Messenger

Windows Media Player 10.0

Windows Movie Maker

This helps to minimize footprint quite a lot e.g. looking at scanrios where .NET Framework applications running on XPe no longer require IE to be included in the image. The impact can be up to 40 MB depending on the other required functionality.
In this respect it is also good to know that these Primitives now come with a description that helps a lot to decide if the binary is necessary when stripping down footprint an image.
That's very good news, isn't it?

Alexander

XPe USB Boot with FP 2007

Sat, 16 Dec 2006 17:21:33 GMT

Another prominent features of XPe FP07 is the capability to boot from an USB stick. This comes in handy for devices that need to updated regularly. Or, if You want to have an emergency system for field devices available on a USB storage device to minimize downtimes.

Basic requirements are USB 2.0 boot with INT 13 natively supported and of course everything related to USB should be enabled in the BIOS.

The implementation is pretty straightforward and consist of the major steps:

1. Format USB device using ufdprep.exe

2. Add USB Boot 2.0 component out of the Embedded Enabling Features folder in the component catalog and do a dependency check

3. Build and deploy the system

That is eays, isn't it? Now it should boot from Your USB stick and FBA should begin to build the system.

If it does not, check one of the following:

Are Your BIOS settings correct e.g boot order (this changes sometimes automarically if a HD is present as well and the stick has been removed)
Did You really run the dependency check? - See if You have the Usb components in the image

Of course EWF is a perfect fit for such a system - so put it in. Leave some empty space for it if You want to use it in disk overlay or the partition table in RAM overlay mode.
You should be aware that some features are not supported with USB boot. HORM for example as well as power management modes such as Hibernate and Standby do not work. Additionally You cannot use a pagefile, as well. Therefore HMPro can just be used to control EWF on these devices. Attempts to activate HORM do fail.

Some notes from the field:
USB boot is normally not faster than booting from a HD and it really depends on the write performance of Your USB stick. It should be better then 10 Mbit/s to get satisfactory results. I have seen systems using cheap sticks being so slow, I felt being transported back into time to old 386 days. :-)
Therefore a few bucks spent on a fast storage device really pay off. It also should have a minimal size of 256 MB, because that will be about the minimal image footprint You will end up with the USB boot 2.0 component.

XPe is XPe is XPe
I have heard of people trying to build overall rescue systems with the new USB boot feature on XPe. Unfortunately these attempts must fail, because an XPe system still is tailored tightly to the underlying hardware even when booting via USB. Due to this it cannot be used on system with different hardware.
If You need a very flexible OS to use with Your standard tools for device bringup on different systems, then have a look at the Windows Preinstallation Enviroment -WinPE (again, who is creating those names?)
It now is available for everybody since the VISTA release (In the past only enterprise customers could lay their hand on it). It is available as part of the free Windows Automated Installation Kit - WAIK (who is,... OK, I give in, resignated).
WinPe is really flexible as the Swiss Army knife and a great toll for every device developer or IT-Professional.

Interested? We are offering a course on this topic: WinPE for OEM's. Yes, I need to change the name.
What about "WinPE for everybody"?

Alexander

Disk protection in FP 2007

Wed, 13 Dec 2006 13:55:02 GMT

The new feature pack brings a lot new stuff and quite a few improvements looking at disk protection.

Let us start with the improvements. HORM (hibernate once resume many) is now a first class citizen and integrated into the EWF UI as well as EWF manager.

This quite nice, because enabling HORM before included creating a custom registry component and a series of maual steps.

Of course I cannot resist to point You to our two tools HMLite and HMPro that have helped thousands of developers to run EWF in their scenarios. Sorry for that!

With new integration HORM is quite easy to be plugged into Your XPe image and I definetly recommend a look at the very interesting possibilities you have using this technology. -> Fast Boot is just one of the most prominent.

But now the new things:

There is a new write filter called FBWF (file based write filter) - who is creating those names? In contrast to EWF it is not rerouting writes based on the physical sectors of the disk but sits on top of the file system. Thus it is possible to exclude cerrtain files from write protection, which was not so easy with EWF (unprotected files needed to have always the same size - boring somehow).

FBWF has a volatile RAM overlay only and does not allow to a complete commit but a selective write through for specified files. This should be taken into consideration.

Partitions using FBWF cannot be protected with EWF at the same time! Therefore a practical scenario could be to put EWF on the boot and OS partition and FBWF on an additional data partition. There is as with EWF a FBWF manager and a FBWF API available for scripting or programmatic access of the functionality.

Another new filter is the registry filter. It allows you to write through both, EWF or FBWF, into the registry without turning them off. This is important, because e.g. domain participation machine password changes or Terminal server secrets need to be persisted in the registy from time to time as it is offered in the component UI.

You can use the reg-filter for your own keys as well. Drop me a line and I will tell you how. This is already getting lenghty. ;-)

To sum it up disk protection in feature pack 07 has encountered interesting improvements!

This is great, because with them an already very important embedded enabling feature has gained a lot more value.

Alexander

Installing XPe FP 2007

Thu, 07 Dec 2006 20:41:39 GMT

Installing the Feature Pack is pretty straight forward if You have backed up Your "old" component database with SQL 2005 Management Studio or via command line (I blogged about it just a few entries below).

But there is one thing to be aware if You have tried the CTP versions before. Do not uninstall the CTP release as asked by the FP 2007 with the standard remove button. This will uninstall the complete toolsuite and leave disk-jockeying installing the SP1 and SP2 tools again!

Instead use the "show updates" feature (Andy Allred tells us how) of the Add/Remove Software control panel applet to do the job.

Be also aware that if You are running VISTA, MSDE will no longer be available for this platform. You can use SQL 2005 Express or the real SQL Server 2005 to the job on VISTA.

And do not forget to disable User Account Control (UAC) or You will be drowned in message boxes! :-)

First new feature coming up next - FP 2007 disk protection with FBWF, EWF and registry filter - that really is cool stuff so bring a scarf and a cap...

Alexander

It is XPe Feature Pack 2007 time!

Tue, 05 Dec 2006 21:12:29 GMT

OK, people out there in the virtual space. I will use the remaining time before Christmas to delve a little deeper into FP 2007.

Let's togehther have a look at the features - the good, the bad and the ugly.

I am going to post my thoughts and experiences with it here in the coming days and would be delighted if You could share Yours with me, as well.

Stay tuned

Alexander

Doing DB backup before upgrading to Xpe FP 2007

Tue, 28 Nov 2006 10:22:57 GMT

Backing up Your XPe component DB might be a very wise decision before upgrading to FP 2007. this is easy if You installed it on a "real" SQL Server and not just MSDE, because SQL Enterprise Manager gives You all the tools for it.

It is somehow harder to do running MSDE.

But there is help if You choose the later. Matt Kellner from the XPe product team was so kind to write about a command line way to this in the XP embedded blog.

Alexander

Windows Embedded TechTalk in Munich on Monday!

Sat, 25 Nov 2006 20:01:16 GMT

There will be a Windows Embedded Techtalk (Hilton Munich City, Rosenheimer Str. 15) on Monday.

I do hope that Frank Prengel, our dedicated Windows Embedded Evangelist, gets a full house. I will be there to support him.

Topics are the newest releases of Windows CE 6.0 the XP FP 2007 and the brand new (in beta) .NET MicroFramework.

So, this is a first hand opportunity to get high quality information. A shame to miss it!

Alexander

Windows Embedded newest flavor's - out now!

Fri, 03 Nov 2006 16:09:48 GMT

Do not was time on the old stuff!

Well, OK, it may make sense to finish Your current project.

But after this, have a look at the new versions of Windows CE (6.0) and XPe FP 2007.

Windows CE is now totally integrated in VS 2005 and brings a new process model going beyond its former limits. With respect to XPe quite some very interesting features like different disk protection machanisms, EWF/HORM integration, command line build tools etc. are out now.

With the eval versions all can be tested for free.

Alexander

Read Sean's new book!

Mon, 16 Oct 2006 18:39:30 GMT

Have You been standing in a long queue at the cash register recently? Was the reason for it a slow device with a clumsy application?

Then build a better one - with WEPOS (Windows Embedded for Point of Service).

All You need to know about this XP embedded spring off is laid out detailed in Sean's book. He even compiled hands on labs for OS and application development.

This is by far the best way to get into the WEPOS buiness.

Alexander

Getting rid of Windows XP embedded boot screen

Mon, 11 Sep 2006 06:11:50 GMT

In some cases, you as an embedded device developer, do not want to show the normal Windows boot logo.

You have two options. One is to boot completely without the logo and the other is to substitute the boot logo with your own artwork.

These option both are cotrolled in the boot.ini file.

Add a /noguiboot switch to boot without and additionally add a /bootlogo switch to have your own logo.

Example:

multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="XP embedded" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn /nopae /noguiboot /bootlogo

Your new boot logo should reside in the Windows folder of your image and be named boot.bmp as well as have a size of 648 by 480 with a color depth of 16 bit.

Alexander

Booting XP embedded from USB 2.0

Sat, 02 Sep 2006 15:00:36 GMT

With the new Feature Pack booting an Xpe device from USB 2.0 (1.1 is not supported) will be a piece of cake. Just add the new USB component, run dependency check and disable some of the older dependencies.

I was able to boot my Dell Lattitude D800 from a PNY 1 GB USB stick right away.

But please, be aware that this is not as fast as booting from a CF card connected to the IDE controller (ideally fixed CF card, with DMA support).

USB Boot certainly is a great enabler for quite a few interesting change management and maintenance scenarios.

Thefore, give it a try! ;-)

Alexander

Valuable Resources for XPe developers

Fri, 18 Aug 2006 10:37:12 GMT

Looking for some of the best books about XP embedded available?

What about intuitive tools that tremendously speed up component creation?

Well, than have a look at Sean Limings Xpe Center!

Besides You will find a great collection of tips and tricks, tools and other resources compiled from real world projects.

A must for every XPe system developer.

Alexander

Disk Protection in XPe FP07 CTP

Mon, 07 Aug 2006 07:51:12 GMT

After a first look, it is quite evident that disk protection will become a very important topic in the coming feature pack.

Not the well known enhanced write filter (EWF) is updated and its integration with HORM is much improved but there are also two new filter drivers. A registry filter and a file based write filter (FWBF). While EWF uses an approach based on the physical sectors of the disk, the FWBF is based on the file system itself. This comes in handy when certain files are required to be persisted through the filter. The registry filter solves two problems. It allows to refresh the machine account password in a domain / Active Directory environment without turning off EWF and if XPe is used for Terminal services it stores the secret of the TS session, also without further persistence steps.

All filters can be used in mixed mode (but EWF/FWBF not on the same partition, of course) , which enables interesting scenarios such as an EWF protected OS partition accompanied by data partitions protected by FWBF allowing the write through of log files etc, while keeping the rest of the partition secure.

The next interesting thing, I am having a look at, is USB boot. I will try get this on my USB stick next and will let You know how it worked.

Alexander

XP embedded Feature Pack 2007 CTP available!

Fri, 04 Aug 2006 08:40:21 GMT

The XPE FP07 CTP is out now!

You can get it as download by signing up at Microsoft Connect. There have some interesting changes and additions to the Embedded Enabling Features aka EEFs and a lot of work has been done from a maintenance perspective. I am currently delving into the CTP and will post the most interesting findings here during the next weeks.

So stay tuned! :-)

Alexander

Using HMPro in XPe maintenance

Tue, 18 Jul 2006 12:17:39 GMT

There are lot of different ways to do maintenance of XPe devices in the field and it is dependent on each projects requirements, which one is the best.

I get a lot of questions from customers about the best way to choose and this is not always an easy tell.

Well, in my eyes You should start with a pragmatic approach. If there is already a change management system (e.g. Microsoft SMS Server) in place and Your XPe devices could be hooked into that, then try to integrate. HMPro easily can be built into update scripts or other techniques used by those systems and it gives You also a look into what will happen on the device with the help of the execution plan before the scripts run in the field. This can be especially important if manual reboots are required.
Btw, if Your hardware supports "Wake on LAN", You could try to leverage this feature to get rid of any manual tasks, but be aware that this requires some synchronisation.

If there is no enterprise infrastructure, do not build one!

That is too expensive in nearly all cases . You can fall back to Device Update Agent or roll Your own maintenance solution e.g. leveraging Windows task scheduler and scripts called from a network share to create a maintenance window for the devices. Here again HMPro integrates into the scripts or can be called as ity own task by the main update process.

Still questions? Well then drop me a line

Alexander

Introducing HORM Manager Pro for XP embedded!

Tue, 11 Jul 2006 20:55:34 GMT

We are very proud today to announce the introduction of HORM Manager PRO. It is the tool to control EWF and HORM during build as well as in the field.

It also scales from a single machine into enterprise scenarios and integrates very well into the most common change menagement systems, giving full control over HORM back to the administrators.

Curios?

Well, then please follow the link and download the eval version.

I would be more than happy to hear Your feedback!

Alexander

XPE SP2 Feature Pack 2007 CTP

Mon, 10 Jul 2006 20:11:46 GMT

You want to finally boot XPe from USB?

Or have more flexibility looking at file based options in the enhanced write filter?

And You want even more ....

Well, then have a look at the features of the new XPe CTP!

Alexander

Smart Devices Remote Tool Powertoy released!

Mon, 03 Jul 2006 11:12:40 GMT

Do You need to collect any system information remotely? Well than have a look at this new CE Powertoy!

The samples will show You how to implement the data collector and viewer code, while providing the transport infrastructure.

Alexander