G751JY - Windows Server 2016 - All Drivers & Hardware Operational - WIP: OEM Recovery

[NeoBeum]

Hi everyone,

I thought I'd make a new thread as I've decided to expand on the Server experiment in

https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthrea...ers-Windows-10

I'll keep posted with updates and I'll dump the drivers to GitHub soon. Still testing, and there's a few I want updated.

Here's how it's looking so far

http://i.imgur.com/lyaVmVU.jpg


http://i.imgur.com/D9qCRtq.jpg


@aeolisio might appreciate this one
http://i.imgur.com/IkpGCEN.jpg



I'm going to be working on getting an OEM style push button Recovery going for everyone that lost it during the 8.1 to 10 update.

[NeoBeum]

In Microsoft we trust!
http://i.imgur.com/mMuBPZk.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/gumtZVM.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/xiVkZvum.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/afwUuxB.jpg


Just need to get the Bluetooth PAN NDIS Working properly.

NVidia is next, and then Shadow Play.

That should wrap up the drivers and I can work on the Recovery Partition

[NeoBeum]

Got the first batch of Hyper-V testing going
The Guest suffers about 50% decrease in performance for graphics

http://i.imgur.com/nWFvYlP.jpg

Windows 10 Hyper-V Guest - https://youtu.be/4EuAciH43V8

[NeoBeum]

http://i.imgur.com/BsM3psK.jpg

Windows Server 2016 Hyper-V Host - https://youtu.be/WyrOamMnM28



It's probably not worth the effort to try and boost 50% to a VM, and I could experiment the other way and it would just run a Virtual Server on the Laptop.

I guess working on the Recovery got a tick for priority



EDIT: Forgot to mention - there's a Stream to PC function that I could test out - I don't know how exactly it works yet

[NeoBeum]

Microsoft is going to be deprecating the built in System Image Backup in the next Windows update.. probably because it doesn't work properly and it was Windows 7 tech.

The partition I was building works in tandem with it, so rather than make something and then have it redundant in a few months, I'm going to make it dynamic.

It will also serve as a hidden secondary boot drive, that can install, reinstall, clean, refresh restore, using Windows Preinstallation Environment, but also be able to be used by 3rd party programs like MiniTool partition, EaseUs, Aomei.

There's also going to be configurations to include Windows 10 Home, Pro and Education, but you will need to use a valid key if you want to upgrade.

Each of the editions will have a further 3 customizations, one will be the default ASUS package, using 2017 drivers, basically just a update of the standard pack on the support page, the next will have the ASUS standard with extra ASUS programs for touchpad, so you can utilize Windows 10 Ink and some other ASUS stuff they never officially released for the G751, and the final one will be the customization I'm going to be using, which preconfigures power settings, and other USB and hardware ID so that hard drives don't lose power accidentally via usb, and your pc in device manger will have everything named correctly... like the chicony usb webcam, and the Toshiba macrokeys.

I'm starting the customizations now, as I have a stable driver set.

be Back when I have more news.

[NeoBeum]

forgot to say, the WinPE will contain the Signed Samsung NVMe 1.1 drivers, and Windows will load the 2.2 drivers.
and I'm going to try to make the recovery footprint fit on a DVD, but I don't know how that's going to go because the complete driver package is 1GB, with realtek and nvidia taking a huge chunk of it.
The boot critical drivers need to be signed.
The boot sequence in the EFI will be the PCI PXSX first, then the SATA ports.. I had problems in 2015, where Windows would install onto the SATA drives instead of the NVMe.. I'm going to make it install on the NVMe, so you can keep all drives in without taking them out during installations

[NeoBeum]

Still tinkering with the BIOS and Windows Installation:
Here's some frustration of why things just don't seem to be named uniformly....

This is a dump of the devices in the UEFI Boot mode before Windows installs itself, basically how the laptop sees the drives prior to installing Windows with PowerShell enabled for the Pre-Installation Environment: It's best to use Get-Disk to find the disks to install to (NVME) and query "BusType"
The PE Boot Image also has the NVME drivers Pre-Loaded

Get-WmiObject -Class "Win32_DiskDrive" -Namespace "root\CIMV2" ---vs--- Get-Disk | Select -Expand Path
WmiObject.Path: \\MININT-V5CMRI1\root\CIMV2:Win32_DiskDrive.DeviceID="\\\\. \\PHYSICALDRIVE2"
Get-Disk.Path: \\?\scsi#disk&ven_nvme&prod_samsung_ssd_950#5&3b25 dd7e&0&000000#{53f56307-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b}


PS> Get-Disk | Select -Expand Path
PS> Get-Disk | Select -Expand BusType

BusType: NVME   DiskPath: \\?\scsi#disk&ven_nvme&prod_samsung_ssd_950#5&3b25dd7e&0&000000#{53f56307-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b}
BusType: SATA   DiskPath: \\?\scsi#disk&ven_samsung&prod_ssd_850_pro_512g#4&14e7e349&0&030000#{53f56307-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b}
BusType: SATA   DiskPath: \\?\scsi#disk&ven_sandisk&prod_sd7sb3q256g1002#4&14e7e349&0&030000#{53f56307-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b}
BusType: USB    DiskPath: \\?\usbstor#disk&ven_wd&prod_my_passport_0820&rev_1012#575838314132354b36323437&0#{53f56307-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b}
BusType: USB    DiskPath: \\?\usbstor#disk&ven_wd&prod_my_passport_0740&rev_1003#575844314135314836363030&0#{53f56307-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b}
BusType: USB    DiskPath: \\?\usbstor#disk&ven_kingston&prod_dt_microduo_3.0&rev_pmap#94de80724795be5119b9159a&0#{53f56307-b6bf-11d0-94f2-00a0c91efb8b}

PS> Get-WmiObject -class "Win32_DiskDrive" -namespace "root\CIMV2"

WmiObject.PNPDeviceId:  SCSI\DISK&VEN_SAMSUNG&PROD_SSD_850_PRO_512G\4&14E7E349&0&000000
WmiObject.Path:         \\MININT-V5CMRI1\root\CIMV2:Win32_DiskDrive.DeviceID="\\\\.\\PHYSICALDRIVE0"
WmiObject.PNPDeviceId:  SCSI\DISK&VEN_SANDISK&PROD_SD7SB3Q256G1002\4&14E7E349&0&030000
WmiObject.Path:         \\MININT-V5CMRI1\root\CIMV2:Win32_DiskDrive.DeviceID="\\\\.\\PHYSICALDRIVE1"
WmiObject.PNPDeviceId:  SCSI\DISK&VEN_NVME&PROD_SAMSUNG_SSD_950\5&3B25DD7E&0&000000
WmiObject.Path:         \\MININT-V5CMRI1\root\CIMV2:Win32_DiskDrive.DeviceID="\\\\.\\PHYSICALDRIVE2"

Using Windows Management Interface API, you won't be able to differentiate as easily between the SCSI disks.

The frustrating part is that each of the different toolsets available to use produces a different path for the disks...
If I were to call the NVME drive in DISKPART it would look like this:

DISKPART Select Disk ##Known Disk Location (Impossible on initial install with Multiple drives)##
Detail Disk

Location Path : PCIROOT(0)#PCI(1C04)#PCI(0000)#NVME(P00T00L00)

It's no longer SCSI, but PCI/NVME... Yay Microsoft! Yay!

[NeoBeum]

I have RAID Mode in BIOS working with Windows Install - so SATA Configuration is not set in BIOS as AHCI, but RAID.

I also have a 4 Edition Windows 10 1703 installer down to 3.9 GB


That current install test wasn't configured as RAID 0 though. I was just testing and took a screeny for the tenforums because someone was saying its not possible to have a multi installer... which is bs


still tinkering...

I also have to get the asus t100 micro sd controller to look at

[NeoBeum]

Note


\_SB.PCI0.RP05 - PCIE NVMe
\_SB.PCI0.SAT0.PRT0 - Primary Bay
\_SB.PCI0.SAT0.PRT2 - Optical
\_SB.PCI0.SAT0.PRT3 - Secondary Bay

[NeoBeum]

Take that Microsoft!




That is a Multi-Edition Windows 10 1703 Installer for the G751 that is Under 4GB - which means you can use a Single USB stick in FAT32 for Install and System Recovery.

The Original Boot wim was testing different setups and driver configurations - the 474MB Boot image has almost all drivers preloaded - with the exception of Bluetooth, Networking, Thunderbolt and Graphics. All the Intel drivers are on.

Once I finish up and clean up the image - I aim to have a 10GB or less ... maybe a Dual Layer DVD size partition reserved - working as an 'Hidden OEM Recovery Partition'. Which is significantly smaller (10GB reduction?) than the standard ASUS OEM Recovery partition - with the added bonus of having 4 different editions to choose from or fall back to. This gives some room to add the standard stock 2015 drivers as well as the 2017 drivers.

I'm going to do some live tests soon on my NVME and SSD/RAID Setup to check everything is working correctly! Yay.