Windows XP Embedded

[rayne]

just for the record, i used nLite to get my xp pro down to a footprint of 186MB, and boots into windows and starts up CF in around 46 seconds from cold... (boots into windows in 31.5 seconds... yes i timed it)

still working on getting a proper XPe install working for me, to see what the bootup time is like...

anybody else have a startup time

[Nislo]

My footprint is down around the 200mb (I kept the xp installer in the image) and cold boot from power on to a useable dekstop is around 10 seconds, but becuase CF takes so long to load up, I only restart when I install something new. Alot of the quick bootup time is due to disabling EVERYTHING in the BIOS I dont need (Ie. ethernet, unused IDE channels etc) and doing the same in device manager in XP.

I use hibernation which takes a little longer to shut down (7 seconds maybe), but only takes about 10 seconds from power on to music playing in CF when resuming.

OT - I'm looking to completely revise my install and I'm going to be keeping on eye on this thread as XPE seems like the forward for quick 'use only waht you need' XP installations.

[rayne]

Originally Posted by Nislo

My footprint is down around the 200mb (I kept the xp installer in the image) and cold boot from power on to a useable dekstop is around 10 seconds...

Are you able to provide a list of what you took out? or even better, a list of only the things you left in...

did you do any registery hacks? i'm interested in getting down to the 10 second mark... in my opinion, anything over 30s is too long.

i would also like some help in getting XPe installations going, maybe create a standard iso? or at least a list of items you cannot take out of an xp installation, i.e. critical items.

would be helpful for lots and lots of people methinks

[Nislo]

Yeah, I'll get them off the computer at home tonight and post up the nilite .ini files. I actually did a new revision over the weekend that removed a few more things I didn't need.

Ontop of using an nlitened install, I use minlogon which makes a _huge_ difference to bootup time and as I previsously mentioned turned off/disabled absolutley everything I don't use in the BIOS and in XP device manager. Off the top of my head these were unused IDE Channels, firewire adapter, lan/wan adapater, com ports, printer ports etc. I also disabled any services I don't. Finding out which services I didn't need was a bit of trial and error and didn;t really get me much benefit anyway.

[Ken4000]

Hi guys
Have you installed minLogin, EWF and HORM?
The minLogin should take about 1 or 2 sec of the time, because it directly boot into System user account.

Best regards
Kenneth

[rayne]

EWF, HORM??
what are these? yes, already got minLogin

[Nislo]

EWF - Enhanced Write Filter
Prevents the system writing to to the hard drive. This is useful on system that use CF cards as they only have a limited number of writes before they lose reliability and fail

HORM - Hibernate Once Resume Many
Used in conjunction with EWF. Becuase the system can't write to the disk, it can't save hibernation data. Instead of hibernating and resuming from where you left off, HORM just loads a pre-saved image and loads the same image every time you resume rather than loading the session you had before hibernating.

Minlogon saved me at least 5 seconds...
I've gotta head out soon and the .ini files are on the other computer. I'll try to et them later on tonight, if not tomorrow.

[Ken4000]

Hi
EWF - "Enhanced Write Filter"
Is a functionality to protect your harddisk against bumps on the road. It's doing it by NOT writing to the harddisk. It uses the ram instead. It's good if you have CF card as harddisk

HORM - "Hibernate Once, Resume Many"
It makes a image of the running system and then resume from that image. So It is always the same system, when you bootup from the hibernation...

I don't know if the HORM will make it faster than the original...haven't tryed it yet.

Here is a good link to get it working on a XP: GranTuring

Best regards
Kenneth

[Ken4000]

Hehe Nislo...you were faster

[phatboy]

I tried using Minlogon, but ran into a few issues.

System logon was fast, but once I chanegd the Shell to CentraFuse I didnt really see any difference than when I was using Winlogon

I also couldnt save passwords for connecting to network shares, and CentraFuse no longer seemed to recieve shutdown commands when I pressed the power button on my PC.

Does anyone know if these issues have solutions?