CraPE v0.3 beta - Boot from USB - Win8 PE Based Mining OS

[fran2k]

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

[carly200]

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^^

[captchunk]

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....

[carly200]

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)

[ivanlabrie]

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.

[carly200]

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

[crazyates]

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^^

First, the official Windows usage for Win PE:

Windows PE is not a general-purpose operating system. It may not be used for any purpose other than deployment and recovery. It should not be used as a thin client or an embedded operating system. There are other Microsoft products, such as Windows Embedded CE, which may be used for these purposes.

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!

[carly200]

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!

[ivanlabrie]

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

[macsga]

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

[ivanlabrie]

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.

[BitCoins06]

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

[captchunk]

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?  )

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...

[macsga]

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?  )

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.

[andreyy]

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

[captchunk]

You gotta know the secret handshake.

Or I'll just PM you 

[macsga]

You gotta know the secret handshake.

Or I'll just PM you 

LOL  

[frankenmint]

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?

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?

[carly200]

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 ;-)

[macsga]

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.