Bitcoin Forum

Version 0.3 (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=247537.msg2990537#msg2990537) is uploaded! Download the newest version: HERE (http://goo.gl/lze1sL).

I've recently been working on a project to package a Windows PE based OS that's designed for mining. I'm calling it CraPE (CRazyates Automated PE).  This could be seen as a updated, Windows based BAMT replacement, or an x86 alternative to MinePeon, although I do have the utmost respect for both projects. It's an adapted version of this ISO (http://windowsmatters.com/2013/04/30/windows-8-based-pe-boot-disk-with-explorer-shell-and-all-my-favorite-apps/), which was based off the original WIN8PESE (http://w8pese.cwcodes.net/) project, so huge thanks to both of those sites.


Installation and Requirements:

• Required: any computer that can boot from USB with at least 1GB of RAM
• Download the image. v0.3 is found HERE (http://goo.gl/lze1sL).
• Your USB stick must be at least 512MB. Burn the .ISO to your USB stick using ISOtoUSB (http://www.isotousb.com/). NOTE: after you burn the iso to the USB drive, the resulting Drive Label MUST be named "WIN8PESE".
• After you flash the ISO to your USB, you should be able to browse the USB drive to the "Mining" folder Inside, there are a few config files you need to edit:.
  
  • Cgminer-btc.conf needs to be edited with your Bitcoin pool settings and any USB device settings. This will only come into play if you have any USB mining devices plugged in.
    
  • Cgminer-ltc.conf needs to be edited with your Litecoin pool settings, as well as any GPU settings. This will only work if you have any AMD GPUs installed.
  • OPTIONAL: PENetwork.ini can be used for setting a static IP. Change "ProfileDefault=Dynamic IP address" to "ProfileDefault=Static IP address" and add your IP settings to the [Static IP address] subsection. Pretty simple.
• Once you're all set, plug your USB stick in, and boot from it. It will start mining automatically.

Please PLEASE give me some feedback: what works for you? What doesn't? Anything I can improve on? And as a final disclaimer: This comes with no warranty whatsoever. I cannot guarantee this will work, and even if it does, I cannot guarantee it won't blow your computer up. It really shouldn't, however, and if that's the case, please consider donating to the addy in my sig for the hours I've spent on this already. Thanks!

x86? ; (

i like,

Wasted yesterday my Time by trying to boot win8 dev Preview 32/64 from a USB,
was a pain.
I used the Windows 7 USB DVD Download Tool, it's a lot easier than all the Commandline Steps, but it didn't work, will  try Today other Images and maybe the Step by Step Guide.
Also i found https://forum.litecoin.net/index.php?topic=2924.0

Exactly. This won't work well with Scrypt mining, which is RAM intensive, meaning ussually 4+ gigs, which is the limit of x86. With WinPE being loaded up in RAM, that leaves less for Scrypt mining.

Yes, x86.

Only if you're using reaper.  cgminer doesn't use any more RAM doing scrypt than it does sha256.

reaper is the memory hog, not scrypt mining.

Yes, scrypt works just fine on my 3GB Gigabyte 7970 GHz, but for right now you have to use tc8192.

For my system, Win says "Installed Memory (RAM): 8.00 GB (3.25 GB usable). Task Manager shows mem usage is under 1GB, with CGMiner only using ~60MB.

I've done some tweaking to get setx installed to get higher TC, which I can include in the next revision. Right now im testing it at TC21000. Thanks for the feedback!

I'm more concerned that 32bit Windows won't be able to map 6 GPUs.
Though, I'll test it and get back with results.

Are there any limitations of x64 PE or x86 was chosen for not technical reasons?

Thanks crazyates, I'm going to try running my 2x7870 rig on it. 

IIRC, Win PE 64-bit can't run 32-bit programs. Unlike a full desktop version of the 64-bit OS, which can sort of emulate 32 bit programs, only native 64 bit applications can be run in a PE environment.

Open source programs like CGMiner and Akbash could potentially be built for 64 bit windows, but programs like GPU-z and MSI AB and several other smaller utilities would be a giant PITA to find native 64 bit versions.

Just got this up and running on my rig.  I may not have edited cgminer.conf or akbash.conf correctly, because cgminer crashes about 2-5 minutes into mining and doesn't restart by itself (without me having to enter pool info).  Any tips are greatly appreciated as I am not familiar with akbash at all and am still a novice with cgminer.  This is revolutionary though, I really appreciate all the effort you put into this.

You really shouldn't have to edit akbash.conf, unless you're getting errors. I ran into an issue testing LTC where the 600KH/s was below the 100MH/s min Akbash was wanting my GPU to run at, so it restarted CGMiner every minute or so until it wanted to restart the computer.

Make sure your GPU isn't overheating. Both CGMiner and MSI AB can adjust your GPU clocks, but neither do so on startup. You can edit the cgminer conf to do this, however.

And lastly, you can try relaunching Akbash from the PortableApps menu running in the taskbar. If possible, please let me know what warning messages either CGMiner or Akbash are giving.

Cgminer is showing a: Fatal JSON error in configuration file. Configuration file could not be used. 

I tried it again, this time setting GPUs up manually in cgminer, but the problem seems to be the same.

Did I screw up the cgminer.conf when I was editing? All I did was remove your pool info and sub mine. 

Ya that's a problem with your cgminer config file. I'm guessing you either forgot to get rid of a comma between the pools, or forgot to add a comma somewhere if you added setting. Can you post it here? Or to pastebin and post the link here?

Oh, I see.. that's a shame..
I've did a quick search and it seems it is possible to include 32bit support, but judging from my experience with WinBuilder it will be a major pain.

Thanks for your efforts btw ; )

http://pastebin.com/CRhnTyP7

This file loads ok in my environment (using cgminer 3.1.0).  I submitted few shares to your account...

You should probably remove

"lookup-gap" : "0,0",
"thread-concurrency" : "0,0",
"shaders" : "0,0",

as they apply to scrypt mining.  If you are using the same parameter value for both cards, you can specify one value that will apply to both cards.

Use either gpu-memdiff or gpu-memclock not both.

where is the download link ??

In the first post of this thread.  Near the bottom, 2nd point in the "Installation and Requirements" section.  But you'd know that if you even bothered to read it.

very nice, will give this a try over the weekend :)

Your software is amazing, but a 7970 in stock do 550khash with litecoins (700-750 should be), with overclock only get 70khash!
I think something I´m doing wrong with configuration.(added scrypt but don´t know how to add
 setx GPU_MAX_ALLOC_PERCENT=100
setx GPU_USE_SYNC_OBJECTS=1

I try with a .bat file with this conf:
timeout /t 30
setx GPU_MAX_ALLOC_PERCENT=100
setx GPU_USE_SYNC_OBJECTS=1
cgminer -o stratum+tcp://us.wemineltc.com:80 -u litecross.2 -p x --scrypt --temp-overheat 80 --temp-cutoff 85 --shaders 2048 --thread-concurrency 8192 -I 13 -g 2 -w 256 --lookup-gap 2

but only I get 70khash

Other question: how can be persistent? I Install usb wifi drivers but restart and need to install drivers again in every restart

Setx doesn't natively work on a WinPE setting, but I've got a workaround set up for the next version. Very soon (within the week) I'll release v0.2 that will automatically have these parameters set, and LTC mining will work a lot smoother. Also enables high Thread Concurrency on GPUs. Before my 7970 could only go to 8192, and now I can go all the way to 21000+.

It's finally reached a point where BTC GPU mining is unprofitable, even undervolted, so I'd imagine that LTC GPU mining will be a lot prevalent.

Mind posting what kind of wifi card you have? I've tested this on 2 USB and 1 PCIe wifi card, and none of them require restart to activate the drivers. I'm still working on having wifi network settings remain persistent through reboots.

I also will add the drivers for a BFL's SC Singles. If anyone else has any FPGA or ASIC hardware they'd like to see added, please PM me with what hardware you have available. Thanks!

Btw, I've managed to install Windows Server 2008 R2 Core on 16GB USB Flash and it is working fine.
I've chosen "Core" since I was itching to try it out for the long time and mining rig(or any other headless server) seemed like the perfect environment for Core installation.

So, there are no issues with x64/x86, since basically it is a full blown Windows.
Out of 16GB 12GB are free, so it uses ~4GB.
Installation was pretty easy, though configuring took me a while, primary because it was my first time dealing with Core and sometimes it could be very annoying(installing drivers from command line for example was completely new thing for me).

I've also prepared Windows Server 2008 R2 full USB stick, but have not tried it yet.
And the utility I've used to create USB bootable Windows claims to be able to make also Windows 7/Windows 8 bootable from USB.

The only downside is that you need to have a license(not a downside for me).
Ofc 'Core' has some weirdeness(to the 'normal' Windows user).. like absence of taskbar/explorer/DirectDraw/etc ; )

Anyway.. if s1 is interested - feel free to contact me for assistance.

I have enuwi-sg wifi usb, unofficial drivers for windows 7 here: http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?nhrmvfwoe4w6963 (there is not official drivers for w7 yet :-( )

I´m waiting for v.02

Alright, I finally finished v0.2. I'm finally happy with it for now, it's running really solid, and has some nice changes.

• Now launches 2 versions of CGMiner:
  
  • Akbash launches the normal cgminer.exe, and uses cgminer-ltc.conf for LTC mining.
  • Cgminer-nogpu.exe is launched with cgminer-btc.conf, and only uses USB devices (FPGAs/ASICs) for BTC mining.
• Fixes for LTC mining, including support for higher Thread Concurrencies.
• Tweaked and added software that runs in the background, smoothing everything out and making it a lot more stable. The startup scripts are about twice as long lol.
• No longer using the PortableApps Menu for anything. This was a clunky way of doing things anyways.
• Moved the config files to a much easier to find location: W:\Mining\. You shouldn't even have to go into the Akbash or CGMiner folders now. I've noticed some people occasionally throwing some small mining power at my credentials (and I thank you!), but I want it to be as simple as possible to add your own pool info in.
• I've been slowly making changes for almost 3 weeks now, so I don't remember all the changes I've made since I uploaded v0.1
• Unfortunately, all the same issue still exist at this time: Wi-fi networks are not remembered upon reboot, non-BFL USB devices have to be manually added every bootup, and remote management is still not working, as it is a WinPE system.

Let me know how v0.2 works for you, and I look forward to hearing more of your feedback!

I've lately been using This Site (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=119049.0) for remote monitoring, and it's working really smoothly. As long as each instance of CGMiner has it's own API port (which is very easy to directly from the CONF files already provided), you can monitor all your miners with ease, all in one status page. The way I have the stock .iso set up, the LTC Cgminer and BTC Cgminer-nogpu already have different API ports, so it should be pretty easy to add them into this site.

I would love to be able to get a local status page or remote monitoring application included by default, but almost everything I've tried just simply wont work on a WinPE system. Even the portable or standalone versions of a web server just crap out. You can grab a quick status page using Akbash, but this karasoft webpage lets you do a lot more. I'm trying to find the right tool for the job, and this seems to be it (at least for me).

If anyone else wants to try this out, please let me know how it works for you. Feedback is always welcome and even encouraged!

I´m using your v.02 version with litecoins, It works!

But I don´t know why crashed after a few hours, then mining 10%

I don´t know why 7970 cannot make 700 khash (only mine 550-570).

First problem, I get this error after a few hours mining:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/wh1an65wu27rjpl/2013-07-30%2007.39.30.jpg

Rig has 4gb ram, usb drive 4gb too

When this happen you figured that khash down to 10% (7970 gets 700khash aprox in W7)

Other issue, I only get 550-570 khash with crape, I tried all options, no luck :-(

hi , please add new version with driver 12.6 + sdk 13.1 for rig 5 x 7970 .

I choose 12.8 and the included SDK (2.7) based off the CGMiner README recommendations. Is there a reason you want this specific driver/SDK combination? Is it supposed to work better for some reason?

First, I think the reason you're only mining at 10% has something to do with MSI AB changing the clocks. Open up GPU-z and look at the sensors tab. What does it say the clock and mem speeds are at? I found if I played around with MSI AB too much, it would lock the card in the low power setting, 300 engine and 150 memory. You need to reboot, and try using MSI AB again. Make sure CGMiner isn't trying to do anything with the clocks as well.

Second, I'm not sure why you couldn't get 700KH/s. You get 700KH/s in Windows 7, but only 550KH/s using this, with the same settings? Am I hearing you right? My 7970 could never get over 550KH/s, but that's because it was a Gigabyte GHz Edition, and it never liked LTC.

Great work Crazyates on CraPE.

I have played with CraPE v0.1 but had difficulty with my system as I needed additional software to be installed on the machine.  As a wishlist for future versions of CraPE, could you added the following applications?

- .Net Framework 3.5 and 4.0 (or 4.5)
- Corsair Link for the AX series intelligent digital power supplies (needs .net framework installed)
- Sapphire Trixx software (for Sapphire cards as it can force undervolting some locked cards in MSI Afterburner.
- CPU Miner (for those extra added hash rates to process)
- Sapphire, Gigabyte, Asus, etc Video card BIOS Flash Utilities

Thanks for all your work.  Hope to see the new additions for v0.3.

A donation will be coming your way once I got it working with my system and replace BAMT with CraPE.
It will need to do better than 2.468Mh/s and better than 1370watts at plug before I consider switching Softwares.

The reason why he was asking is that 12.6 was the last version that supported 8 GPUs.  12.7+ only support 4 GPUs.
However, it may be possible latest 13.6 versions may support multiple GPUs.  Could not find any confirmation yet on that.

Thanks for the feedback!

- I was going to add .Net 4.0 to be able to include CGWatcher, but adding it would almost double the size of the ISO. It won't even install on my 1GB USB drive cuz it said there wasn't enough room, but I could try on my 16GB.
- I will look into this if I ever get a .Net install on.
- I've always used MSI AB, but I'll look into whether Trixx can be installed. If I can make it work, I'll def add it as an option.
- I prolly won't include a CPU Miner, unless it's for PrimeCoin.
- BIOS Flash utilities is a great idea! I'll see what I can do. :) Would ATIFlash work, or are vendor-specific version required?

I'm assuming you're going by this post (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=193695.msg2054705#msg2054705)? All 32-bit drivers are limited to 4GPUs anyways, IIRC, so I choose the driver that was most stable, which would be 12.8.

13.1 from techpowerup should also support 8 GPUs, at least it supports 6 GPUs.

Some vendor Specifics would be preferable... Gigabyte, MSI, Sapphire, Asus and ATIFlash.
Additionally, adding the Corsair Link software would be sweet for the next build.  It is the Power management software for the Intelligent Digital PSUs they have.  It will allow us to know the true Watts the system is using.  It connects via USB.

I tested first version and had no problems. Now I dont know why, but cant make it work.

CGMiner LTC is loading cgminer-btc.conf (guess shortcut its wrong) and I think akbash is not loading gpu and usb miners.

Post your akbash config file.  Check that log file path and cgminer shortcut exist.  Shortcut should start by double clicking on it.
If it does not, check its properties and run cgminer from the command line.

Run akbash from the command line it should tell you what is wrong.

all default settings except BTC and LTC cfg.
cgminer shortcut exists (X/portableapps)

I will try reboot and post clean log file from start.

Ya I just took at look at it. Akbash and the LTC config are working just fine. CGMiner-nogpu and the BTC config are working just fine. However, it seems I mislabeled the desktop icons. Woops. "CGMiner LTC" launches CGMiner-nogpu with the BTC config, and "CGMiner BTC" launches AKbash with the LTC config. These should be swapped, and I'll fix it for v0.3.

In the mean time, the startup version should still work, and will launch both anyways. You can always launch them backwards if you want to do it manually, in the mean time.

v0.3 will fix this, include a workaround for keeping persistent network settings, and will include a few other programs, at the request of swiftshoot.

So I downloaded and took at look at all of the GPU BIOS utilities. ASUS and Gigabyte utilities are just skins for ATIwinflash. MSI won't work, and I'll try Sapphire Trixx when my last GPU gets back from RMA. It's not a Sapphire, but it should tell me if it at least works.

Corsair Link is a no-go. As I said before, no .Net applications will work unless we install the runtimes, which would easily double or triple the size of the ISO. And in the case of this particular software, it's a very niche market. Not a lot of people are using that exact PSU, I suspect.

ok, I guess I dont know what Im doing it wrong because I have no gpu activity. Here akbash log http://pastebin.com/SzS1nJKb
Im testing CraPE with a small rig, just with a amd 5830, no usb, no fpga, no nothing.
If I load cgminer with btc.conf everything is good!
But if I use ltc.conf I get this:

crazyates, any news regarding v0.3 ??

I've been adding features and making tweaks, rather than fixing things (tho I have made a few fixes). I've added a GPU BIOS flash utility. Added TRIXX for those that like to use it instead of MSI AB. I've tweaked my startup scripts to be more stable and prevent cgminer from starting before the network is up. I've added a CGMiner update process, which seems to be working fine. It updated to 3.3.2 just fine, and v0.3 will include the newest CGMiner. I'm still tweaking the network settings option, as I really want to be able to set a static IP and have it persistent across reboots. Once I do that, I think I'll package it and upload it.

V0.4 will focus on some sort of remote management. json.karasoft.com works awesome for monitoring cgminer thru the API, but i want some sort of remote desktop login. I'm thinking VNC is the only option that will work, at least with what prelim testing I've done.

Great work on this mining USB!

Sorry about the noob question, but is it possible to install flash or other software in case i would let my miner rest for a few hours and use the gear as mediaplayer?

Portable Apps works quite well on here, and can be used to install Chrome (which works with YouTube) or VLC (media player) or any number of other softwares. While it's still possible, this lil project of mine is really focused on mining, and nothing else.

I know, I know. I'm really REALLY slow at getting these updates out. Really I just do this as a fun lil side project, just to prove to myself that I can.

v0.3 is uploaded. See the first post for download link. I've switched to Google Drive rather than Dropbox because I can upload it all in one file rather than 2, so hopefully it downloads just as fast.

Some changes:

• Much improved the startup scripts, and now it won't even try to mine unless there's a stable internet connection. If no internet connection is found, it will wait for one.
• Included a script to update CGMiner. The link is on the desktop. You just have to click on the link, and it will take care of everything else. No need to even close CGMiner. Bam. No hassle.
• Network settings can now be saved, at least for wired networks. Directions are in the first post, but they're not hard.
• Added AMU Block Erupter drivers. Tested and working just fine.
• Added Sapphire TRIXX for those who want to use it, and ATIWINFLASH for flashing a GPU BIOS.

Next on my list is to look into a remote management setup. I'd love to be able to access a machine from anywhere. Reboot, update CGMiner, etc.

I also want to put the CGMiner update process as an automated procedure, possible anytime it boots up. Anyone opposed to the idea?

Anyone want to try the update script and give me some feedback on how well it works? CGMiner 3.4.1 is now out. Thanks!  :)

you mean the 0.4?? or the current 0.3 ??

v0.3 has a shortcut on the desktop to an update script that will download and install the newest CGMiner. You can just click on it, and it should work pretty seamlessly, but I was hoping other people would have a chance to try it and give me their feedback.

this may be good idea. however windows is now treated as damned. better to provide Linux version to follow up.

If 2 setups require minimal configuration, both provide similar results, but one adds more functionality, why would you choose the other? I love Linux and it's versatility/configurability, but there are some things Windows does better.

If you're still looking for remote monitoring options, perhaps you could create a separate, larger version with .NET 4.0 client profile and CGWatcher? Then you can use CGRemote, which when finished will give you the best control of remote miners. CGRemote works with CGWatcher or the miner directly (on all operating systems), but there is obviously significant additional features if you have CGWatcher running on your miners. Eventually I'd like to create small listener apps that will handle the remote commands the same as CGWatcher, but OS-independent and smaller as that's all they'll do, so that all miners can have full functionality (profiles, file explorer, variables, etc). That's pretty far down the ever-expanding to-do list though.

http://manotechnology.blogspot.com/p/cgremote.html

CGRemote is Windows only, but for a community that spends $300 on a GPU without flinching, buying a $200 Windows laptop to be able to fully manage all of your miners anywhere you go shouldn't be a problem... if they don't already have one, that is.

I'll add you to the beta if you're interested.

Actually, I've been eying CGRemote, but it hasn't been released yet, so I wasn't pursuing it. If you can hook me up with the beta so I can include the full release in v0.4, that would be great!

nice build

could you please add thightvnc and teamviewer? <--- or do I have to do it myself?

Would it be possible to remove the USB after boot?

Including some sort of remote screen sharing is my goal for the next version, but I haven't had any time to work on it. I'm in the process of changing jobs, and it's been pretty busy.

The system should still remain booted, but CGMiner is located on the USB drive itself, rather than the boot.wim that gets loaded into RAM.

I've always tested it with a USB, with the intent that CGMiner is stored on the USB drive's file system, rather than inside the compressed WinPE image, so that CGMiner can be updated as you go along. I suppose you could burn the ISO to a CD and boot it off that, or even theoretically boot from the ISO from a PXE server.

just tried it on my notebook (t6600, 4 gig) it updated to 3.4.3 fine.

one thing though, can you keep the old copy? it did say it was backing it up but I didnt see it anywhere, although I just giving it a quick test spin so looked fast.

this seems pretty slick, next step it to try it on an old vostro cast off from work. 5830 and 3 usb devices.

oh btw it found my wireless card and connected once I put the password in. and that was your stock 0.3 image  with no editing on anything, just loaded the ISO image, booted and poof, off it went :)

RDP should work on CraPE.  Consider that option please... VNC would be the last option possible.

Installed V0.3.  Like the cleaner look of it.  However, found a few issues:

• 7970 cards can't go over 530kh/sec.  This needs to be fixed.
• Could not use thread concurrency of 40960.  had to use 8192 to make it work for me.  even 20480 did not work.
• Windows PE is only 32-bit.  Could not run MINERD 64bit SSE4 with Quark code in it.  Could you please make a 64bit version?
• CGMiner-xtc.conf should contain "auto-gpu" : true, to start up with a quieter system. starting up at 80% is too noisy.

I think the problem with the low thread concurrency may be due to the system only being 32bits.  I would love to see CraPE in 64 bit mode so I can run 64 bit miners.

I replaced my 7970 GHz in my gaming rig with 2 7950s. Those are the only GPUs I have anymore, so testing for your setup is a little hard.

That said, I tested v0.3 with my 7970, and I could use TC of 21000 with no issues. I couldn't get above 550KH/s on my 7970, but I couldn't on Win7 or Win8 either. Now my 7950s can get 600KH/s each easy. Can you get higher than 530KH/s on another OS using the same GPU?

I can see how the 32-bit limitation is a factor for Altcoins that want to mine using a 64-bit CPU. I've started testing this out with a 32-bit PrimeCoin miner, but a 64-bit rebuild would be more time than what I have available.

And lastly, "Auto-gpu: true" has nothing to do with the fan speed, which I'm assuming you're talking about? This setting can potentially be bad for LTC mining, which is very particular to what core/memory ratios you're running.

Remember that you can edit those config files as you see fit, and the changes will remain, so you can adjust them and add whatever parameters you want for your setup.

I can't seem to run Teamviewer, for some reason.  It just won't start.

Can't get it to work either. I think VNC will work, but I haven't had much time to test it. I'm working 60hrs/week, plus another ~10 at the church, and then I need some family time.

I was actually kinda glad the forum went down for a while. Gave me a break haha!

Hiii!

This OS can work with 6 x 7950?

Thanks for your answer!

Ah thankyou Shacky for bumping this thread! I couldn't remember what it was called. Will be trying with my new system soon

It works great on a old Dell Inspiron 1200 with 1.2 GB  :)
The only problem I have is when I close the laptop and the screen goes off, I can't get the screen back on. 

So having Teamview would be great, tried VNC but can't get the server program to work  :'(
No biggy.

I just found this, seems interesting...

Downloading now

I assume this is for 7xxx cards only? I have a rig of 5850's thats been giving me problems with BAMT. When booting CraPE it throws errors and doesnt mine. Looks like it doesnt even see the cards.
Is there anything specific I need to know about switching drivers in PE?

0.3 version did not work with LTC.

error -5: enqueueing kernel onto command queue. clEnqueueNDRangeKernel said, before I did not  have this error, but mine 10 percent capacity.
Ram is not the problem, I use 4GB but x86 only take 2.

You guys should know that instead of using the crappy ISO to USB tool that OP mentioned, you can just format the USB to FAT32 or NTFS, name the USB "WIN8PESE" and then just extract the files over :P
Pretty much faster and simpler.

What can i do to start mining with 5770, 5870 cards?

Bugs found on V0.3:

-If i update cgminer, i loose GPU support (i know its because its later than 3.7).
-7970 gpus are not working with cgminer, they crash inmediately (using same config file as for my windows 7 rig)
-why does it start asic/bitcoin miner if i only want litecoin? (yes, i know how to tweak the bat files)
-Cant run teamviewer on it, should come preinstalled (or either VNC)

Otherwise, keep up the good work! :)

BR

And i forgot to mention that adding multiminer would be a really valuable asset

Happy to assist if needed. The requirements are pretty light (.NET Framework 3.5).

Yeah, I would like to see a version with updated drivers for 280/290 GPUs and a x64 build for the CPU&GPU miners.

Thanks for the work done.

"version with updated drivers for 280/290 GPUs and a x64 build for the CPU&GPU miners." bounty material indeed...

I think the 64 bit part is impossible with PE or so I read, but updated drivers, can't we just install them manually?
I haven't tested this yet, I'll try it tomorrow.

Newbie miner here, just built my first GPU mining rig on a budget with a 6950 and two 6870s.  Was struggling hard with BAMT...gave this a shot and seems to be working! Props to the builder, now I can relax some. Sucks going through the whole process of finding parts and building, only to have the rig sitting in front of you doing nothing.

Cgminer wasn't working out of the gate (kept getting an error message, something like "libcurl4.dll is missing", so I downloaded cgminer 3.7.2 and replaced it in the CGMINER folder in the w: drive, ran cgminer from the command prompt, and it worked.

Only thing now is to get the autorun features happening. A lot of the files were orginally named with 8 character limits, (like "CGMINE~1.CON" and "CGMINE~0" instead of "Cgminer-ltc.conf"), I don't think this is optimal?

All right well, the lack of remote access for this build is starting to get to me, because I'd like to move my rig out of my room as soon as possible. Does anybody have any workarounds? Even a cheap monitor solution - all I need is something to be able to tweak the rig if need be without dragging it all the way back to my room to plug it in my main monitor (carrying a 36" monitor to my rig every time it needs tweaking isn't really a viable option).

What about something like iDisplay for Android? It apparently can work with a USB connection. I tried it on CraPE but couldn't get it to install properly...

y no teamviewer or vnc?

Have you gotten either of those to work on CraPE?

I feel like 2/3 of the comments on this thread are complaints that there's no remote desktop access...

I haven't tried yet but I'll give a shot and post again.

Is there anybody with the PE development package who can create me a default WIM sources file with nothing added and nothing removed?

EDIT: Not needed anymore.

I've got amd 64 x2 on asus a8n-e m/b but the os didn't see videocards. In device manger it looks like Video controller(VGA copmatible).
Can u help?

This would be great. I'm sticking with this build because it's getting me much higher hash rates than linux-based builds.

I've gotten Anubis to work with this build which is nice because I can monitor everything, but a frontend for cgminer that lets me change pools or tweak a setting or two would be ideal. Multiminer looks pretty great, I know it only works with bfgminer but I could make the switch if I could have some control over my miner remotely.

can i mix 7950 and 280x ?

Tnx.Going to test on mine 7870...

Hey thanks for this. Worked like a charm on my 5970. I'd like to be able to automate more stuff though. Is there a way to alter the wim file? Never done this before and (apart from mining) there are great possibilities regarding such a usb based thing (Tor implementation, wallet intergration etc).

I've been messing with this myself, trying to make a build that has remote access and some other features I'd like. I'm still new to PE stuff so don't shoot me if this doesn't work out, but if you want to alter the OP's build:

1. Download/install Windows ADK http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=30652 (http://ADK http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=30652)

2. Extract OP's ISO to a folder on your C drive(root) drive. (I'll call it C:\CraPE)

3. Make a new folder in your C: drive (I'll call it C:\mount

4. Open Deployment and Imaging Tools Environment as an Administrator. Run this command:


Everything that is in the OP's boot.wim should now be available to edit in your folder c:\mount. To save:



I actually haven't been using the Windows ADK directly, I've been using a program called Winbuilder to work on a build from scratch. There's a forum http://reboot.pro/) built around Winbuilder where people share their custom scripts and stuff, also Winbuilder has a feature built in that lets you download different projects and scripts from different servers.

This guy's guide and downloads gets you a fresh Win8 x68 iso plus winbuilder with some basic building scripts: http://aljo.comeze.com/win8pe/Win8PEguide.html (http://aljo.comeze.com/win8pe/Win8PEguide.html)

This app is also good for opening up a .wim and poking around: http://dismgui.codeplex.com/downloads/get/623176

(Windows ADK required I believe)

I did some progress. I have used RealVNC off my USB stick and managed to have remote access to the machine. I have done everything you said above, but it's not possible to alter the SPECIFIC wim file of the this release. I guess I have to build my very own. :-\

Maybe you can work with crazyates on that and get it added to a new build? Due to the locations we have to put these noisy heat generators, without remote access to a rig, it's a non starter for most.

imagex /mountrw?

I'm willing happily to cooperate with the OP here if he wants to. I am working outside the wim file for now (added some portable apps I need and RealVNC as previously stated). Unfortunately NO mounting tool is able to read/write this wim file. Imagex has it mounted but system asks formatting it reading is as "bad disk". No clues there. Have you been able to mount it yourself and/or alter stuff inside?

Just tried it. Threw a remote desktop app called AmmyyAdmin in windows\system32. I'm connected. :)

Seen to have lost admin rights when I booted up though...

The admin issue is not a problem. You can mount it offline and see if you can change/reset Admin pass with an offline utility. As for myself; It seems I have a corrupted image then... I can't get another explanation.  Is there a direct link you can trust?

EDIT: I found the latest Gandalf's iso (November 2013 I think) and downloaded it; I will investigate later.

Admin issue seemed to go away with the second bootup. Still having issues however - mainly getting PENetwork to use the drivers for my USB wifi adapter. I installed them offline with DISM, added a line to load them at startup, and PENetwork lists it for an adapter choice, but I can't get it to send/receive any network traffic.

Sigh this is turning into such a headache. I might check out Gandalf's ISO again, my problem with it earlier was it didn't have the AMD drivers. Now that I know how to install them I might try that, and trim off a bunch of the bloat.

Same issues here. Plus I downloaded the whole pack and still can't open (even for viewing) the wim file. Gandalf's ISO works like a charm but won't install my atheros drivers so no wifi. I think I'll mess with it a bit more during the weekend. My mining machine works like a charm though and RealVNC gives it a perfect r/c which I desperately needed it...  :)

I've been toying around with WinPE ever since this CraPE was announced, and I guess I might be able to help some of you.
For not being able to open the WIM file using IMAGEX, you can try DISM, which should already be in your system32 folder. Just run it from the command prompt and look at the flags and how it's used.

Man I'm almost there...got everything I need to autostart, just need to get one of these remote desktop apps to automatically load with a configuration that grants access rights to my PC. Have to edit the registry though, one more thing that's gotta be learned.

Yeah I should have mentioned DISM, I've been getting much better results with it than imagex. This guy's guide is to build a new winPE image, but you can pick out some of the commands you need like dism /mount-wim, dism /unmount-wim, dism /add-driver. etc. http://reboot.pro/topic/19156-create-a-bootable-winpe-50-x64-usb-drive/ (http://reboot.pro/topic/19156-create-a-bootable-winpe-50-x64-usb-drive/)

You should be able to load any drivers necessary to Gandalf's build like:

(ex. You've got Gandalf's iso extracted into C:\Gandalf)

1. Open Windows Deployment and Imaging Environment command prompt as admin

2.
3.
(this will add drivers in subfolders too)

4.

I used to use DISM, but then switched to IMAGEX because IMAGEX has an /export function that can reduce your image size by maybe 100 MB, which is a lot if whatever rig you're using it on does not have the most RAM.

Is it possible to just wait until your last mount/unmount to use that function and still get the benefits of reduced size?

I've observed that if you start with an original image, and you make a change and commit it, the image size will increase maybe 2MB, which is very little, but probably adds up if you make a lot of modifications and tweaks. That, as far as I know, cannot be prevented nor removed. What the /export flag in IMAGEX does is remove the unnecessary WinPE files, which are contained in a folder called "[Files]", you can see it in 7-Zip.

My WinPE image is based on the CraPE image provided in this thread, with many modifications, so what I usually do is after making any changes and committing them, I mount the new image and the original CraPE image in separate folders, and then COPY my WinPE image files to the CraPE folder, overwriting the files. I then commit the new CraPE files and use the IMAGEX /export command.

Probably lost you a while back :P Congratulations if you made it through.

Yeah I'll have to try it out, not getting a sense of how copying the new build over the old would be beneficial. Or why it's better than just using imagex /export by itself.

Anyways I think I'm just about done. Registry stuff was kind of a nightmare, so I just made a .bat file for TightVNC with some command line options. I'll make an iso of it later and share a link.

I have to report some progress too. I've managed to open the wim file with imagex and added several stuff inside. The iso became ENORMOUS though... :P I'll fix my mess up a little and ttyl.  ;D

Ok here's Crape w/ TightVNC: http://l.bitcasa.com/_dRoSjzn (http://l.bitcasa.com/_dRoSjzn)

I tried to set things up so others could modify the settings as needed without having to mount .wim files in Windows ADK. I guess we'll see if we succeeded. The only thing that I can think of that someone might have to mount boot.wim to install are possibly some network drivers for your various kinds of wifi adapters. If it comes to that look back about 5 posts for an explanation. Graphics card drivers have been updated to the latest AMD Catalyst set (13.12), these ones: http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop?os=Windows+7+-+32 (http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop?os=Windows+7+-+32)

Configuring cgminer:

- For some reason I lost Crape's original drive structure with W: being the persistent drive - now it's C:. No clue how that happened.

- For GPU mining, edit C:\mining\cgminer\cgminer-LTC.conf. C:\mining\cgminer\cgminer-LTC.bat starts cgminer with your GPU settings. C:\mining\Akbash\akbash.exe starts GPU mining with Akbash to watch and reboot your miner if it fails (this still autostarts)

- For BTC mining, edit C:\mining\cgminer\cgminer\BTC.conf. C:\mining\cgminer\cgminer-BTC.bat starts cgminer with your BTC settings. C:mining\Akbash\cgminer.bat is your BTC equivalent of Akbash.exe. This has been disabled from autostarting, rename cgminer.bat.bak to cgminer.bat if you want it to autostart.

Configuring PENetwork:

- Just like the OP's build, there's a PENetwork.ini in C:\Mining. Configure your settings in PENetwork, then manually copy the .ini file from x:\PortableApps\Pennetwork to c:\mining. On boot they'll copy back automatically.

Configure TightVNC:

- Download TightVNC Viewer to your PC. Fire it up, and hit the Listening Mode button.

- In C:\, edit 2 files: tvnserver.bat and TightVNC_Passfile. In tnvnserver.bat, replace the ip address with the one you want your rig to connect to. In TightVNC_Passfile put a password.

- When your rig starts up, it should automatically create a connection with the PC running TightVNC viewer. Use this time time to change TightVNC's settings on your rig, like adding your IP address etc. That way you'll be able to reconnect to it anytime you want. Your settings will be in there until your rig restarts for some reason, but in which case a restart will automatically start up and give you that initial one-time connection again.

I think that's all there is to it. Don't worry about AmmyyAdmin, I never got it working right.

Great job captchunk! I'll test it later :)

If anybody's got requests for wifi drivers to add send me the links. Preferably 3 files: a .cat, a .sys, and an .inf., as opposed to an .exe installer.

This looks very cool, I've just been wondering about creating diskless miners via USB sticks, and had been reading about Win2Go. Should have just searched this forum first, lol. Thanks to the OP and captchunk for making it available, I'll be having a go with this soon.

Has anybody else managed to do anything with this yet? I thought I had the latest AMD drivers installed, but apparently not. (Like I said I don't actually know what I'm doing)

It's really a shame everyone focuses on Linux, because the advantages for operating GPUs in a Windows environment are so numerous. The only problem with WinPE is that it's a pain in the ass to modify.

Yep. I've managed to make a USB stick off it. I have started with the original wim file and finally added several stuff (BitcoinQT, TotalCommander, Portable Office to name a few). What I'm considering now is how to make it smaller (removing several obsolete stuff) and make it more secure (Torrify it and such) in order for someone to be able to make a "cold wallet" off it on the 1st boot.

My life is more than busy this time of year though, and I haven't been able to mess with it the last 10 days or so... Sorry for the delay; I'm willing to share when its ready (if it'll ever be that is...)  :-\

Hey capn i'll be testing this out , just built a new rig i wanted to use Windows on via usb

ok ive been unsuccessful in getting either version to detect a single 270x. it loads default vga windows drivers but in both cases it never installs the AMD drivers

Yeah I never tested it with 270-290 cards, just 6xxx and 7xxx. I gotta figure out how to get those damn drivers in there, really it's not lacking too much else besides a driver update.

Hey all. I would love to update this, but I just don't have the time. I started a complete rebuild, with such features as being 64bit, newer drivers for the 280x/290/290x, SGMiner 4.0.0, and newer utilities for undervolting.

Unfortunately, I didn't get very far, due to the previously mentioned lack of time. That, and I don't personally have any GPUs of my own to work with right now. Any GPUs we've been hashing with are the companies, and they won't let me bring some home to play with. Greedy bastards.

I do have a 280x and a 290 being delivered hopefully soon, so I may catch the bug again, and make myself make time.

I will include a few links that I found very helpful when editing and packaging the boot.wim file.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh824972.aspx
http://www.windows-noob.com/forums/index.php?/topic/2349-guide-adding-drivers-to-a-custom-winpe-30/

After the drivers were injected, you still have to do a hwpnp scan for PCI devices, and it installs the driver then. CraPE 0.3 does this on boot up. You can look through the startup scripts to find more info.

Not sure, but I don't think this method installs the OCL runtime like the old ones did, so even if you got the drivers recognized, any newer R9 hardware won't mine. Still have to look into a solution for this.

No worries, you contributed what you could. Thanks for the links. I did add the driver files but I didn't add this to the startup script:


If the files are all there, think that would get us updated?

It was pretty annoying, after working on this thing for like a week cgminer started reading my cards in the wrong slots. And since none of the --gpu-map options worked, all the info I found on this problem said that the only fix was to update your drivers, lol.

Yeah, I'm realizing that I took the CraPE image and am now using it in a way completely unlike you guys, who are probably using it for mining, so are getting the driver kinks out.
What I did was just install PortableApps Chrome, throw in bfgminer and the necessary Block Erupter driver (my only mining device is a Block Erupter, and I rarely encounter a decent GPU on the devices I use).
With this setup, I just use it as my normal-everyday OS when I'm using foreign devices.

But please do keep in note, for people out there downloading WAIK and using it to make their own OS's, it is a violation of Microsoft's license to use Win PE as a general-purpose OS.

Well I got the 13.12 Catalyst drivers on there. Still getting issues with the GPU mapping though.

Ok tell me in plain english, will this work with R9 280x cards ? I so desperately need a stripped version of Win7/8 right now that can be run through usb for mining.  :-\

To OP, Im sure miners will tip you like mad if you can give this just a day every month and get a new release. Cross post to litecointalk, will help get it across.


Edit: something wrong with the current link too, download resulted in error after 80%

Oh, great news. I hope we really could have a 64 bits version soon.

hi, two questions:


how does the licensing work? windows is not open source nor free...


has anybody checked for malware? hidden mining/backdors, etc?
this would be a perfect way to scam^^

Here download a source disk for yourself from Microsoft: http://care.dlservice.microsoft.com/dl/download/5/3/C/53C31ED0-886C-4F81-9A38-F58CE4CE71E8/9200.16384.WIN8_RTM.120725-1247_X86FRE_ENTERPRISE_EVAL_EN-US-HRM_CENA_X86FREE_EN-US_DV5.ISO

Anybody who downloads Windows ADK from Microsoft has the necessary files to make a WinPE build. Technically, as someone above pointed out, this doesn't make it open source freeware that you can go crazy with.  But considering all the websites and software that have sprung up around making WinPE builds (http://reboot.pro/, http://theoven.org/index.php, http://winbuilder.net/, http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/intro/, http://windowsmatters.com/tag/winpe/) with people freely sharing what they've done, I don't think stamping out people who tinker with their Preinstallation Environment is very high on Microsoft's hit list.

WinPE itself is very limited (at least without some tweaking), it's nothing like a real copy of Windows. I'm still plugging away trying to make a good build for mining, if/when I finish I've got no problem giving a copy to anyone who wants one.

Although maybe I put a virus in it....

thanks for the effort...


has anybody "just installed" (i know it is tricky) windows 7/8 to a USB drive? even if the setup is slightly more tricky, it gives you a full regular desktop... I might try next weekend... (but then, a cheap ssd is only 50 bucks ;-)
(sorry, not supposed to hijack your efforts/thread, but I guess around here would be the best chance to get some first hand experience)

I was gonna try that, using vmware, found a guide but it's a lenghty process.

I might try, will report results i a new thread (and post some info here).

First, the official Windows usage for Win PE:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh825110.aspx

Second, feel free to check all of the startup scripts and config files. I'm not nearly smart enough to include anything malicious, let alone hide it!

hey, that was not against your efforts, they are greatly appreciated.

but as you know that beside this great community there are quite a few people that are looking for quick opportunities.
all I want is make people aware of who they trust, and who they install software from...
e.g. I could "fork" your software, put some trojan bot miner in there and post the downloadlink as a "second server"... it would be so easy...
just want to make people aware of the risk involved.

keep doing you great job!

Quick question: can I download a different cgminer for say maxcoin or vertcoin and run it on this Os?

Yes; just place it under the /mining directory on the root of your CD/iso

Thanks a lot! Will try some vertcoin mining with it and post back with results.

i am unable to run CGminer with my ATI 6950 , the device is not detected by CGminer but windows recognize it well

does someone know what i should install please for make it work properly ?


thx you

I'm putting the finishing touches on a build here. Using Winbuilder, the goal being to get a configuration setup so that all people basically have to do is download my custom Winbuilder project, download their own source from Microsoft, point Winbuilder to the source and hit "Play" to produce an ISO. That should deal with any proprietary issues, plus it gives people a lot less to look through if they're concerned about viruses/backdoors and whatnot (though what's the worse someone could do on your headless mining rig, make you mine sexcoin at 3 am?  ;D)

Will have .NET 4.0 installed, so will be able to use CGwatcher or MobileMiner. AMD Catalyst 13.12 has run successfully at startup when testing in a VM, though it remains to be seen what happens when I actually boot it in my rig. Getting the drives to boot up with the same letter so other people can use this build without having to modify the paths of every script has been proving to be a pain (WinPE just seems to name drives whatever it feels like), as is getting any help from the forums at reboot-pro or theoven.org  :-\.

Anyways, anybody willing to test it out in a day or two? Especially 270-290 cards...

I have been modding your first release for sometime now and I have been able to mine with my 2x5970s Maxcoins pretty successfully. I'm willing to betatest this. I'm using gimagex to build my isos, preferring Gandalf's original "no press any key" boot up file. It's nowhere near complete -that's why I didn't publish this yet- but I have been able to install RealVNC server, a portable Firewall and other (licensed) stuff (totalcmd, ms office 2003, vlc player, to name a few). You can now locally remote control the rig plus you have a cold wallet generation ability through BitcoinQT into RAM.

PM me if interested.

I would like also to betatest your release, how can I join?

You gotta know the secret handshake.

Or I'll just PM you  ;D

LOL :P  ;D

I saw the same thing even when I tried to use NFTS instead of FAT32.  Do I need to get an updated copy of cgminer?  Could I simply use BFGminer instead?

I just tried CraPE v0.3 and got a newer cgminer to work (after sgminer failed because of MSVCR120.DLL / Visual Studio Build)

now is there any way to remote into that machine? e.g. how do I get a resistant tightVNC on there, that will remain through reboot?


also it would be cool if GPU_USE_SYNC_OBJECTS 1 was set already, have to do it manually right now ;-)

Best thing to do is write the whole thing to a USB stick using an utility like YUMI (http://www.pendrivelinux.com/yumi-multiboot-usb-creator/). Then you can run the apps you want without a problem. I've had a success with RealVNC and a port of Radmin without a glitch. Trying to run Teamviewer though was an issue not yet resolved...

Be sure your USB stick is FAT32 formatted and named as "WIN8PESE" in order for the scripts to run.

Cheers.

???

what does your reply have to do with my question?

I am using it already, and I know how to edit scripts...
my question was, how do I get programs to be resistant?

Download Windows ADK, use DISM to mount boot.wim to a folder on your C: drive, go in and make your changes, then unmount /commit.

It's a complete pain in the ass if you just want to make some small changes  :)

The version I'm trying to upload right now has more apps/scripts in the persistent drive, so you can edit them on the fly. TightVNC loads at startup (default no password) as well.

thanks for your work!

Ok the squirrels stopped chewing on my cables long enough to let me upload the image:

CoinHub_x86-Alpha.2:http://l.bitcasa.com/NmHiMoN2 (http://l.bitcasa.com/NmHiMoN2)

I started from scratch with this one, as opposed to using Crazyrates' build. A couple of his start-up script ideas are still there, mainly "startupconfig.bat" and "StartCG.bat", though I've changed a lot of what's in them. I used Win8PE (a winbuilder project) and a Windows 8.0 source disk to get going, then used Windows ADK (AIK?) 8.0 to  to tweak things around (mainly DISM). All of these things can be downloaded for free.

Features:

- I put as much as I could in the persistent drive (apps, etc). That way you can save/modify things without having to mount it offline. The persistent drive should default to C: if there isn't a drive already system C: drive on your rig (which I'm guessing there isn't, or why else would you be interested in a live usb OS).

- The drivers for AMD Catalyst 13.12 are on there, as well as the apps from the Catalyst Control Center. You can run the installer for CCC mounting the C:\ATI_13.12.iso and selecting C: for your install point. Honestly I'm not really eactly which parts of CCC we want or need (except the drivers of course), maybe somebody can help out with that.

- One thing I hate about BAMT is that all the guides say "Burn BAMT to a USB stick. Insert USB stick into rig and boot up. Use SSH/RDP to log in..." WTF!! how about the part where the BAMT knows our router's SSID and password? I don't know about you guys but I moved my noisy ass rig as far away from my room as I could, so there's no ethernet connection. I don't even have an extra screen I can hook up temporarily, my only screen is a 27" flatscreen. Anyways after you burn this to a usb, boot it up from a computer with a screen. When it starts up, go to PENetwork and connect to your router's wifi. Save the profile to C:\, and leave it named as "PENetwork.ini". This way, when your headless rig boots up it'll already know your routers ID and password. Also if you use a USB-wifi on your rig you should plug that in too, to make sure the drivers are installed. If they're not you'll have to add them offline using DISM.

- RDP: TightVNC loads automatically on startup. A reg file is imported to set it for no password. You can then add a password once you're in, but it won't stick after a reboot. The reg file is C:\PortableApps\TightVNC\vnc_nopassword.reg, you should be able to edit this file to get some persistent security settings.

- C:\Miners: There's a bunch of stuff in here, I don't know what's fully compiled to work right out of the gate and what needs compiling and additional files. I don't really know what the hell I'm doing when it comes to building instances of CGminer (I don't really know what I'm doing period, I'm not a software developer/guru), so if anybody has anything to contribute in this area I'm sure myself and others would appreciate it.

- There's a better start menu where you can customize everything, click the lame start menu and go system tools->Classic Shell->ClassicStartMenu.exe.  

Install:

1. Extraxt .7z file

2. Write ISO to USB with Rufus http://rufus.akeo.ie/

3. Rename USB stick "WIN8PESE"

4 Profit

(alternatively, you can just try and extract the iso onto the USB stick)

To do:

- Figure out how to get your ClassicStartMenu settings to survive a reboot  :D

- Get rid of redundant/duplicate files and folders

- Clean up the startup scripts for a cleaner load, and booting into a CG monitor and miner (specific monitor and miner to be configurable by the user

- Make this useful for Bitcoin hardware as well

- Get some miners working

- Get CGWatcher to work (I'm ticked this one isn't working!)


Right if someone finds something that's not working and knows a fix, by all means have at it and share it with the community. Like I said I don't really know what the hell I'm doing in the first place ;D

Also: Original CraPEv03 with TightVNC unattended setup and updated miners: http://l.bitcasa.com/MxaNaKZ0 (http://l.bitcasa.com/MxaNaKZ0) (Works fine with 6xxx and 7xxx cards)

And Original Crapev03, same as above but with a lot of apps moved over to the persistent drive, allowing edits to survive reboot: http://l.bitcasa.com/PLmAtx0Z (http://l.bitcasa.com/PLmAtx0Z) (Good for using MSI-AB or Trixx)

Do you need to sign up for downloading? It seems an ugly 404 appears when you click on d/l button :(

same here :-/

You do...downloading now. Thanks!!! Will tip you if it works well.

EDIT: damn, same...404 :(

Looks like you're making progress - but can't get the link to work, like the others!

Stupid Bitcasa, hold on I'll try to fix it

Thanks! :D

Just use mega.co.nz

The issue is more with my connection at the moment, I normally have a 40/4 connection but since it's basically useless right now I have to piggyback on a neighbor's wifi. Unfortunately the only neighbor who will let me do this is still using DSL  :-\

Bitcasa is stupid because it told me the file had finished uploading, only in reality it wasn't even close to completing. Uploading to Google Drive right now, about 40% of 1GB done after about 3 hours...

Bought a year subscription with Bitcasa about a year ago. Wow do they suck.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6ric65fkZ3DaHhfSk9hTWptT2s/edit?usp=sharing (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6ric65fkZ3DaHhfSk9hTWptT2s/edit?usp=sharing)

ok new link

Thanks!!!

Quick question, can you help me out and make a winpe like this one with teamviewer pre installed as well as Nvidia drivers and cudaminer 2014-02-04 release?

I'd send you a generous tip if you do so. Same with the one you just uploaded, is there an easy way to run teamviewer with it?

Just add Team Viewer portable version the C drive. It'll run, but I'm not sure how to configure it for an unattended setup. I did check it out as a possibility at one point, but in the end TightVNC was a much simpler option.

These apps might help you out:

RegFromApp: http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/reg_file_from_application.html (http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/reg_file_from_application.html)

Registry Rapper (lol I wonder if they mispelled that on purpose): http://portableapps.com/development/projects/registry_rapper[/img]]http://portableapps.com/development/projects/registry_rapper (http://[img)


You want to start from scratch or edit this build? C: is writable even while you're running it, so you can delete or add anything that you want. As for drivers you have to load those offline, it's not very difficult though. You just have to get DISM from Windows ADK for Windows 8.0 (aka Winpe4.0).

For your driver package you'll want to find the 3 files for each driver; a .cat, a .sys, and a .inf

Open Deployment and Imaging Tools Environment. Mount /sources/boot.wim to a folder on your C: drive (you can even do this directly from the USB). Ex:


Add drivers:


Unmount, save


That's it.


If you want to start from scratch with a Winbuilder project, check out these projects from http://theoven.org/

Actually I'd suggest building a PE yourself without winbuilder, at least at first. This guy's guide to make a basic build from scratch is the clearest WinPE guide I've seen written: http://reboot.pro/topic/19156-create-a-bootable-winpe-50-x64-usb-drive/

After following that guide, WinPE and DISM made a lot more sense to me in general.

FYI I don't think it's possible to run anything past V.6 of Team Viewer in WinPE...and Team Viewer is even more annoying in this situation because they always want you to update.

Gotcha! Thanks a lot...I'll experiment with this and send a tip your way.

For some reason a files were not saved in joilet but iso9660 and truncated.

I just recopied them over manually but I am guessing it's iso-usb program changed them when copying to default fat32 but fat32 handles long file names fine so I have no clue. It must have created fat16 somehow.

Just thought I'd let you know so you could put a warning that that may happen.

Hmm none of the tools I used should have done anything with fat16. I'm burning it a a USB stick right now, if anything looks funky I'll remake the ISO and come back with specific steps.

Ah I think Magic ISO was the culprit, that's what I used to convert what was on the USB to an ISO. I think if you rename your USB stick "WIN8PESE" that should take care of it...Steps:

1. Extraxt .7z file

2. Write ISO to USB with Rufus http://rufus.akeo.ie/ (http://rufus.akeo.ie/)

3. Rename USB stick "WIN8PESE"

4 Profit

Do all WinPE images just use the same boot files, but just different contents in the "boot.wim" file?
Because what I did was use an ISO writer to write the CraPE ISO to a USB, then when I wanted to move to another USB, I just copied all the files there. So couldn't you just distribute the modified "boot.wim" file instead of an ISO?

There boot.wim has calls to scripts and registry entries written for stuff in C:\, stuff that CraPE doesn't have. Also CraPE uses W:\...

But I think you could keep the same /boot folder, but just copy the other folders onto your USB...I did add a bootscreen with some shiny coinz on it but obviously that's not essential.

Edit: I just tried erasing my USB stick (not formatting, just select all-> delete) then extracting the iso I uploaded to it. Booted up no problem.

So "Error -4: Enqueueing kernel onto command queue" seems to be the order of the day when running any of the miners. Anybody have any success of note?

more RAM (are you using 8GB?)
or less TC...

Is it legal to distribute your own OS based on Windows 8?
Isn't this copyrighted by Microsoft?

read some posts above...

Hmm! No just using 4GB, I've pinched every penny I possibly could on this mining rig. In hindsight I probably just should have just gotten a 60GB hard drive and not have to worry about any of this WinPE business  :P.

I'll pop a 4GB chip out of my main PC later tonight to see if it has any effect. If it turns out that it does, I'm going to have to go through everything that gets loaded into RAM and make cuts where ever possible. There are some .cab packages that I know can hit hit the highway at least.

Distributing? Feels more like myself and a couple buddies working on a customized WinPE for their respective businesses  ;)

All the source material freely available on Microsoft's website. Short answer to the first question: Yes, if it's WinPE.

However, do note that if you download the WAIK or ADK, you are bound by Microsoft's license, which says that you cannot use WinPE as a general-purpose OS.

Define "general purpose"...

It really doesn't matter though. What companies like Microsoft are concerned about is other companies repackaging and reselling their software. That, and having their image tarnished by unauthorized usage of the corporate brand name.

Eventually I'm going to "release" this (if you can consider starting a thread on a forum with an address for donations a "release"  ;D) as a ready-made Winbuilder project. After downloading a source disk from Microsoft themselves, all people would need to do is push a button and the scripting would take care of everything. People have been doing this for years (BartPE etc.) and it's perfectly legal.

Or maybe I'll provide a link to an ISO to download...This guy doesn't seem to have a problem doing it: http://windowsmatters.com/
 (http://windowsmatters.com/) And haha I think his build would be the definition of a 'general purpose" build - dude's got media players, word processors, pdf readers, Chrome AND Firefox on there...all he needs is an N64 emulator to play Mario Kart and he'd have been a walking party in 6th grade.

Anyways, if a link to a customized version of WinPE rubs someone the wrong way, then they don't have to download it.

about the enqeuing error... try a low TC and see if that resolves it.

I have tried many configs and often using a lower TC will give almost the same results (few kH off) so that could save you from buying more RAM...

Hmm, adding another 4GB of RAM didn't give me any more usable RAM. Instead of 4.00 and 2.6 usable, I just had 8.00 with 2.6 usable.

After poking around the forums, I think the problem is that x86 builds of Winpe max out at 4GB or RAM or something...
Interestingly enough, I just tried to boot a x64 bit version of WinPE on my x86 rig, and it worked. I did not know that was possible. I may just rebuild the whole thing with an x64 source disk...

On a side note: If anyone is just interested the original CraPE (AMD 12.8 best for 6xxx and 7xxx cards I've heard), I threw together a quick update on it: http://l.bitcasa.com/1wYvouOC (http://l.bitcasa.com/1wYvouOC)

(no you don't have to sign up for Shitcasa, just hit download)

It's basically the same exact thing, except:

- TightVNC boots with no password as default
- Updated Cgminer (and added other miners, Kalroth, SGminer, etc)
- Moved some apps and the last startup script away from the X: drive (which loads into ram and doesn't save) and put them in W:. Less to load into RAM, plus you can save your settings on apps like MSI-AB etc.

I didn't even make an ISO, just extracting should be fine.

I didn't know WinPE was made freely available by Microsoft, my bad.
I will start reading about WinPE to improve my knowledge.

Does this also mean that I can legally use WinPE as a VM on my ESXi server for just 1 task?

As your attorney, I advise you to run at least 2 tasks on your server.

Thanks captcha...

I've stumbled upon Gandalf50's blog, windowsmatters.com and he has a dual boot premade winpe x86/64 iso.
I'm gonna try adding gpu drivers to it as well as miners and see how it goes.

Check it out, looks pretty cool.
Have you used pnputil.exe to install drivers before?

I actually just tried it today, it's how I realized I could boot a x64 WinPE to a x86 machine.

pnputil.exe to install drivers, never tried that. I've gotten used to adding drivers through DISM...I have a feeling that it will only load previously installed drivers, not install them. If you're running it live it they certainly won't hold until next boot. I could be talking out of my ass here so let me know if it works  ;D

Anyways, anybody had a chance to test out the build I made, especially people with 270-290 cards?

Been working on this as well without much luck..

It's really strange, I had success one time installing wireless drivers in the x86 os.
Rebooted and drivers were gone, tried again and it didn't wokr  ???

This is really confusing to say the least :p

The system drive (X:) loads into ram. When you're running it live you could erase half the files and rename the other half random gibberish, and on reboot it would go back to exactly how it was.

You gotta use dism to load drivers, offline. Here, extract this and go to where dism.exe lives and run those commands I told you a few posts back to add drivers: http://l.bitcasa.com/DmXx2Mck (http://l.bitcasa.com/DmXx2Mck)

OK, So I'm a little slow. Please explain to me why there are no ATI drivers installed?

Thanks a lot!

Will give it a shot in a while...was trying to get my GTX 780 to run some 3d benchmarks at ridiculously high clocks :D (my idea of Saturday night fun)

I think I'm a little slow too. What exactly doesn't have ATI drivers installed?

Is there any way, that changes done during OS operation surive a restart?
Isn't this an option you can set, that changes automatically are stored?

No. The boot.wim gets extracted to RAM upon bootup, and any changes are NOT saved when you shut it down. Think of it like a "snapshot" of your OS, and you're always booting into that same instance of your OS every time you reboot.

To get around this, you can place SOME of your mining files on the USB drive itself, such as your SGMiner folder and config file. I also placed a PENetwork config file on there, which gets copied over to the X: drive upon bootup. This lets you make changes, and the OS can use these newer changes after reboot.

I'm adding network and gpu drivers to a winpe build I have...will try your latest vnc enabled one later.

This one boots to either a 64bit or 32bit winpe 8.1.

Thanks for the tips, post a donation address or pm me catcha.

Your release has no R9 drivers also I tried to force HD 7870 (same chipset) and got error "Not compatible with this version of windows"

Testing with R9-270

You guys want to add nvidia NIC drivers (built in lanparty mobo i'm testing on).

http://www.dfi.com/DFI-Lanparty/support/MBDriverDownload.jsp?selectedDriveritemId=503

Are you modding Gandolf's release?

Would be cool...haven't had success yet.

Oh that's what those other drivers in CCC are for? LOL, bonehead move by me.

Ok I'm gonna update stuff.

Dude just link me the drivers you want on Gandalf's ISO, I'll load them and send you a link.

I there a way to update cgminer to 3.7.2?
I've tried to put it manually but when I launch it says unrecognized command
I also would like to add cgwatcher is that possible?
Many thanks

trying to run this and getting an error - libcurl-4.dll is missing? (running on a Q6700, 4GB, 5870, 5770, 5770 rig)

Right, so the issue wasn't that I hadn't put the drivers in, it was that the path that enables them on startup was all wrong. Fixed it, uploading right now. It's getting confusing if people are asking questions about my build or Crazyrates', so I'm migrating over here: https://litecointalk.org/index.php?topic=16545.msg135003#msg135003

Awesome!

I wanted to try it for nvidia gpus, so: http://www.nvidia.es/download/driverResults.aspx/73251/es
And I'll need EVGA Precision X, not sure if you can run that as a portable app. (also, cudaminer, the latest release)

Link to the new builds in file format.
I don't do strange exe's ;)