Windows XP Embedded

[hippy]

Anyone used XP Embedded ?

I've got over the first few hurdles; can generate an image, it boots, First Boot Agent runs, it re-boots and I get a nice XPE environment, blue background, a clock in system tray, Logoff and Turnoff options via "Start", but no desktop icons, nothing in the start menu. Not very useful - Some would say "Welcome to Windows"

Anyone got any idea what step(s) I've missed out and where/how I do whatever's needed to get things like Explorer on the desktop so I can do something with it ?

 

[hippy]

Solved

You have to edit the settings of the "User Interface Core" component before building the image.

Programming Editor installed and worked as expected.

Still a way to go yet but it looks promising. For those wondering, it's a multi-faceted effort, getting a Windows XP system running from Compact Flash for a server ( need to run my VB6 code on the server hence Windows not Linux ) and to get Programming Editor into the smallest installation possible for older laptops and Eee ( dual booting ). It's something to add to the CV anyway.

It's a painful and very slow build-install-test-modify process and has to be done for every particular target platform. It's not hard, but it's not straight forward getting it right either.

 

[Steve Joblin]

Hippy... sounds like an interesting project you are working on, but I am a bit lost... what exactly are you trying to do?

 

[hippy]

XP Embedded is standard XP but componentized - All the overhead that's not needed can be taken out giving a much smaller disk footprint meaning it can run on PC's with smaller disks and less memory. The downside is that it doesn't ask what's wanted when it installs nor auto-detect new hardware when added so what's needed has to be specified up-front.

It's a bit like running nLite, XPLite etc, similar to Windows PE / BartPE but it is full-blown XP not some limited version.

XP recommended minimum disk requirements are 1.5GB. I've a fully working XP with brower and Programming Editor running in just ~200MB and that's without disabling things I don't need. That's great for laptops which don't run XP and even less chance of ever running Vista.

A nice feature is that it's secure. Disk changes only happen in RAM so one can re-boot and any changes are discarded ( goodbye virus, hello un-hacked web site ), or writes can be made infrequent so things like CF cards aren't worn out.

XP Embedded is designed for embedded PC use ( kiosks, ATM etc ) but can be used with desktops and laptops. All the development software is free but images only have a ~120 day lifetime - We don't discuss cracking on this forum.

 

[Steve Joblin]

Neat... I thought that it was a "stripped down" version of XP that could fit into small, low end PC's and such... I was wondering how it related to PICAXE... are you trying to create a "portable PICAXE IDE"?

 

[hippy]

Yes, there's a two-fold goal; a compact XP internet server for myself plus a small XP image which can be dual booted on the Eee and other Linux boxes to run the Programming Editor.

 

[Steve Joblin]

Ahh... was hoping you would say that! I too have thought about being able to run the editor and other "XP Only" software on these new inexpensive sub-notebooks... please post your progress as I (along with many others, I imagine) would be really interested to find out how to do it!