Windows 8.1 EI.cfg Broken?

Discussion in 'Windows 8' started by pilot76103, Aug 30, 2013.

  1. pilot76103

    pilot76103 MDL Member

    Jul 30, 2009
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    Well I guess since no one else has suggestions for the EI.cfg being broken we can officially pronounce that method dead when doing upgrades. R.I.P. EI.cfg, you will be missed! :death: :rip:
     
  2. murphy78

    murphy78 MDL DISM Enthusiast

    Nov 18, 2012
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    Agreed. I'm going to start removing mine next month and require ppl to enter the default keys or gvlk
     
  3. HALIKUS

    HALIKUS MDL Addicted

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    #23 HALIKUS, Aug 31, 2013
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 20, 2017
  4. murphy78

    murphy78 MDL DISM Enthusiast

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    #24 murphy78, Aug 31, 2013
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 20, 2017
    I've been playing around with multiple sources using different sources files and folders for my SuperAIO v2.
    I'm getting stuck at a couple things.
    1) I'm trying to enable booting to both UEFI boot mode and BIOS mode by editing the corresponding BCD files. On an ISO it boots ok, but on my real system it errors and fails.
    2) I'm having errors once inside different sources directories from boot. It's giving me drivers not found errors.

    Do you have any ideas on that? or should I make some sort of partitioning/apply/bcdboot script?
     
  5. BTOR

    BTOR MDL Addicted

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    Attached Files:

  6. VelleX

    VelleX MDL Member

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    #26 VelleX, Aug 31, 2013
    Last edited: Aug 31, 2013
    Its much easier :)

    Just put a folder "Langpacks" in the source Root. You can put there your language (de-de\lp.cab), but you dont have to.
    Then Setup will start as in Windows 8, and you can choose your edition if you also put ei.cfg to the Sources folder.

    If you put your languages into the "langpacks" folder (just copy content from languagepack iso), and change the lang.ini in the sources folder, you also are able to choose setup and installation language

    :rolleyes:

    Setup is still english. Have to test if installation installs languagepack after Windows installation.
     
  7. BTOR

    BTOR MDL Addicted

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    #27 BTOR, Aug 31, 2013
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 20, 2017
    ^^please post SS

    AS of now

    All the header and value is mandatory

    Example

    Code:
    [EditionID]
    Professional;core;Enterprise
    
    [Channel]
    oem/retail
    
    [VL]
    1/0
    if we leave the value field blank then, we would receive "setup could not validate the product key error"

    if the edition id feild value is given either "Professional or core or Enterprise", no matter what the first listed index of that particular edition is chosen even if we have installed 64 bit window,the 32 bit version will be selected by default if it is the first indexed image in wim

    for example i have installed win 8 pro X64 and i am running setup as a in place upgrade [ within windows ] then setup checks the EI.cfg file and in Ei.cfg file the following is present

    Code:
    [EditionID]
    Enterprise
    
    [Channel]
    Volume
    
    [VL]
    1
    
    and in the wim the following index are present

    Code:
    1. Windows 8.1 Core X86
    2. Windows 8.1 Pro X86
    3. Windows 8.1 Enterprise X86
    4. Windows 8.1 Core X64
    5. Windows 8.1 Pro X64
    6. Windows 8.1 Enterprise X64
    
    no matter what "3. Windows 8.1 Enterprise X86" is being automatically selected by setup

    now if i put a pid.text with key and the value feild of edition id left blank then also the below result appears

    1. Genuine Retail full pro key - can not validate key

    2. genuine retail upgrade pro key - can not validate key

    3. Oem:Dm pro key - can not validate key

    4. System builder oem pro key - can not validate key

    5. Oem :Dm core key - can not validate key

    so with current status the Ei.cfg could be used only to bypass key prompt and not to choose edition.
     
  8. VelleX

    VelleX MDL Member

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  9. BTOR

    BTOR MDL Addicted

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    yes you are correct

    if we put a empty folder with name "Langpacks" in root and add a ei.cfg file to source folder the the setup works just like any previous versions.

    will test further and report here
     
  10. HALIKUS

    HALIKUS MDL Addicted

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    #30 HALIKUS, Aug 31, 2013
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 20, 2017
  11. HALIKUS

    HALIKUS MDL Addicted

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    #31 HALIKUS, Aug 31, 2013
    Last edited by a moderator: Apr 20, 2017
  12. HALIKUS

    HALIKUS MDL Addicted

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    #33 HALIKUS, Sep 1, 2013
    Last edited: Sep 1, 2013
    I'm pretty familiar with autounattend.xml, but is there a switch for setting an upgrade? Because running setup for upgrades\install will look for autounattend.xml in the DVD:\sources*whereYourSetupexeWasRun*\autounattend.xml and use it by default. If you set the key, it will only find that edition, but you can use an autounattend thats not in the root specific to the OS. The problem is it wants to start a fresh install, so if there is an upgrade switch you can "kind" do something similar to the efi.cfg trick.


    I tried an upgrade of a Win8 pro x64 kms activated from my win8x64 (not 8.1) and upgraded to Win8.1 pro without asking for a key. It ran the compatability report, said i needed to uninstall itunes and avisynth, but i clicked next and its on the collecting files and such portion of upgrade at 20%.
     
  13. sadsac

    sadsac MDL Junior Member

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    By hex edit, do you mean patches to the runtime in setup.exe?

    I'm wondering if the 8.1 setup.exe could be patched to skip the prod key input much like the ei.cfg method worked w/8.0 , or how it still works with 8.1 boot-mode install?? Has anyone traced 8.1 setup.exe?

    I find 8.1 "installation unfriendly". Even aside from activation issues. Maybe upgrades will be smoother for 8.0>8.1 with whatever they post to the store at GA time.
     
  14. VelleX

    VelleX MDL Member

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    as i wrote, ei.cfg method is still working.
     
  15. pilot76103

    pilot76103 MDL Member

    Jul 30, 2009
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    Only for Clean Install, It's broken when trying to upgrade.
     
  16. VelleX

    VelleX MDL Member

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    did you try that
     
  17. pilot76103

    pilot76103 MDL Member

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