BootVHD

Download (v.0.9)

I wrote a command-line tool which allows you to easily add, remove or update your bootmanager configuration to use VHD files.
The tool will only work if you have a system with only VHD boot (no Win7 system installed directly!)

How to use it

The tool uses the following command line arguments:

BootVHD.exe –Install –VHD Win7Emb.vhd

No Argument  Displays all installed VHDs
-Install     Installs the VHD specified with the -VHD switch.")
-Name        Sets the name for the bootentry.")
             Works only together with the -Install switch.")
-Delete      Deletes the VHD specified with the -VHD switch.")
-VHD         Filename of the VHD file.")
             Can be located in the working directory of this program.")
             Can be located in the root directory of the boot partition."
-Default     Sets the specified VHD as the default bootentry.")
             VHD can be specified via the -VHD switch or ")
             use this switch together with the -Install switch.")
-Replace     Replaces the default bootentry with the specified VHD.")
             VHD can be specified via the -VHD switch or ")
             use this switch together with the -Install switch.")

 

Easy Deployment

The tool can be used as well for the easy deployment or update of new image versions in Windows Embedded Standard 2011 (Windows 7 Embedded).
For example if you have installed the Embedded OS in a VHD file (as shown in my previous post) you can easily upgrade your application or the whole image and then put the modified VHD file to an USB drive. The installation is then really easy. All you need to do is run a batchfile.

The BootVHD tool will copy the new VHD over to the bootpartition and can update the bootmanager to boot the new image by default.

Batchsample

BootVHD.exe –Install –VHD NewVersion.vhd –Name “Version 2.0” -default

With this call the NewVersion.vhd gets copied to the boot partition and an bootmanager entry with the name “Version 2.0” is being created.
The new entry is also the default boot entry.

This way you can do an easy deployment of a new version and in case something is wrong with it you can go back to the previous version by just selecting it in the bootmenu.

Download (v.0.9)

del.icio.us Tags: Windows 7,Windows Embedded Standard,Windows Embedded Standard 2011,VHD,Boot,VHD Boot,BCDEDIT