Focused mostly on
HORM, the chat also included more general questions related to XPe servicing and manageability. More than three dozen questions and answers included the following:
- Why is EWF (Enhanced Write Filter) required to do HORM?
- Can I use FBWF (File Based Write Filtering) with HORM?
- Can HORM be used with EWF in disk overlay mode?
- Can I use EWF when I do not have a real hard drive, but just compact flash memory?
- How do I protect a non-EWF partition on a IDE Disk On Module from a "surprise turnoff"?
- Does HORM work on a XPe virtual machine under VMWare?
- When would you recommend using WSUS (Windows Server Update Services) (WSUS) for XPe updates?
- What about SCCM (System Center Configuration Manager)? When does it make sense?
- Can I use SMS (Systems Management Server) to distribute files and registry keys for feature components I have forgotten to add to my image?
- When can we expect to see another rollup of patches?
- Is it possible to join a domain from a SDI (System Deployment Image) image?
- XPe comes with IIS (Internet Information Services) 5.1. Will IIS 6.0 be supported in the near future?
More about HORMHORM is a mechanism for quickly rebooting the same XPe image any number of times, according to Microsoft. In this respect, it is fundamentally different from hibernation as used in laptops, where the hibernated image doesn't persist across reboots.
Guest expert Wechsler was formerly an embedded partner manager for Microsoft, according to his
MVP Profile on the Microsoft website. He later left to found his own company,
Wechsler Consulting. In 2006, it released a tool called
HORM Manager Pro, pictured below, which can turn HORM on and off automatically and provides other features.
Alexander Wechsler's HORM Manager ProFurther informationTo read the transcript of Janaury's XPe chat, visit MSDN, here. Microsoft's website,
here. The next XPe chat will be scheduled soon, according to Microsoft.
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