1 SDI files 2 3 4 Syslinux supports SDI files ( *.sdi ). 5 6 Features: 7 * Support for gzipped SDI images 8 * When used with gpxelinux.0, images can be downloaded by HTTP or FTP, 9 leading to fastest boot times. 10 11 "System Deployment Image" is a file format created by Microsoft and mostly used 12 in its products to provide in a single file a boot loader, an OS loader 13 (like NTLDR) and a disk or partition image to boot from it without any 14 other installed program. This is typically used in a PXE environment to boot 15 embedded Windows versions without boot disk support. 16 17 The support of SDI images in Syslinux is based on a white 18 paper from Saad Syed. You can find the paper here: 19 20 http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnxpesp1/html/ram_sdi.asp 21 22 SDI support has been only been tested with SDI v1.0 with Windows XP Embedded 23 images and may not work with later versions or alternative uses. 24 25 26 ++++ Supported SDI images ++++ 27 28 To make a SDI image supported by pxelinux/isolinux/syslinux, you need to 29 follow the steps below (detailed instructions are in the white paper 30 cited above): 31 32 You need to install "Windows Embedded Studio" and to run the 33 "Remote Boot Service Setup". 34 35 1) Create a new SDI file (eg: sdimgr /new xpe.sdi). 36 37 2) Before importing your target partition, add the following files 38 in the root folder: 39 * ntdetect.com 40 * boot.ini 41 Its content should be: 42 [boot loader] 43 default=ramdisk(0)\WINDOWS 44 [operating systems] 45 ramdisk(0)\WINDOWS="Windows XPE From RAM" /fastdetect 46 (you can customize the name and add options like /debug) 47 48 Note: Your partition may be compressed (using compressed NTFS), but these two 49 files need to be uncompressed. 50 51 3) Import the partition in the SDI file (eg: sdimgr xpe.sdi /readpart:D:). 52 The size of the partition must be less than 500 MB. 53 54 4) Import the boot program STARTROM.COM 55 (eg: sdimgr xpe.sdi /import:BOOT,0,C:\Program Files\Windows Embedded\Remote Boot Service\Downloads\startrom.com) 56 57 5) Import the nt loader NTLDR in the SDI file 58 (eg: sdimgr xpe.sdi /import:LOAD,0,C:\Program Files\Windows Embedded\Remote Boot Service\Downloads\ntldr) 59 60 Note: only the version of NTLDR provided by Remote Boot Service Setup 61 and located in this directory has been tested. According to 62 "http://skolk.livejournal.com/667.html", "osloader.exe" from retail XP 63 can also be used to replace this NTLDR version. 64 65 6) Pack the SDI file (eg: sdimgr xpe.sdi /pack) 66 67 7) Gzip your image 68 If you want to speed the download time, you can gzip the image as it will 69 be uncompressed by syslinux during the loading. You can use some programs 70 like ntfsclone ("http://www.linux-ntfs.org/doku.php?id=ntfsclone") to 71 remove unused blocks from the NTFS filesystem before deploying your image. 72 73 8) You are now ready to boot your image. 74 Unlike the traditional way of using SDI images (startrom.n12), you don't need 75 other files than your SDI image in the tftpboot (for pxelinux), the CD 76 (for isolinux), or the hard disk for syslinux. 77 78 * You can use the usual options of pxelinux/isolinux/syslinux (config file, 79 config path, reboot time...) 80 81 For example, a simple configuration with pxelinux: 82 /tftpboot/xpe.sdi 83 /tftpboot/pxelinux.0 84 /tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default with the following content: 85 86 DEFAULT 0 87 label 0 [WinXpe] 88 KERNEL sdi.c32 89 APPEND xpe.sdi 90 91 92 ++++ Error messages ++++ 93 94 * No $SDI signature in file 95 A SDI image should begin by a signature "$SDI", the signature has not 96 been found in your file. Perhaps your file is corrupted or has not been created 97 correctly. Run sdimgr on it to see if everything is correct. 98 99 * No BOOT BLOB in image 100 You have to import a boot program (eg: startrom.com) when you make 101 your SDI image (see above). The offset of this program in the SDI file 102 is in the SDI header (begining of the file). However, the offset 103 found in your SDI file is null. 104 You probably forgot to include the boot program. Run the sdimgr program 105 and look if you see a line like: 106 BOOT 0x00000000.00001000 0x00000000.00005EC2... 107 -------- 108 This is the 109 offset and 110 should not 111 be null 112 113 * BOOT BLOB is empty 114 See above. The size of your boot program included in the SDI 115 is null. You probably imported a corrupted version of startrom.com. 116 Run sdimgr and check the size in the following line: 117 BOOT 0x00000000.00001000 0x00000000.00005EC2... 118 -------- 119 this is the 120 size and 121 should not 122 be null 123 124 * BOOT BLOB extends beyond file 125 You have a BOOT BLOB in your SDI file, but its size is invalid 126 because its goes beyond the total image size. Check the tools you used 127 to build the image file. 128 129 * BOOT BLOB too large for memory 130 Your BOOT BLOB seems correct, however there is not enough memory 131 to load it. Increase your RAM or reduce the SDI size. This is a very 132 abnormal situation as the BOOT BLOB is usually very small. Your SDI 133 file might be corrupted. 134 135 * Image too large for memory 136 Your SDI file seems correct, however there is not enough memory 137 to load it. Increase your RAM or reduce the SDI size. 138 139 * SDI header is corrupted 140 Your SDI file seems correct, but its header contains a checksum 141 that is invalid. You most likely have a corrupted SDI file. 142 143 144 ++++ Warning messages ++++ 145 146 * Warning: unknown SDI version 147 You are using a newer version of SDI than the one with which this program 148 has been tested. It may not work. Please give feedback and provide your 149 SDI version. 150
