Uninstalling WinPE Automation Partition

[Migration User]

I'm trying to uninstall a WinPE automation partition on several Windows 7 machines.  I've tried both uninstall methods available through the Boot Disk Creator: creating an uninstall package and also booting off an .iso image on CD.  Neither work.  Using Deployment Solution 6.9 SP4. 

Running the uninstall package on the machine, gives the following in the BWINST.log:

11:44:40 11/07/12] *******  Starting BootWorks Install for Windows   *******
[11:44:40 11/07/12] *********************************************************
[11:44:40 11/07/12] BootWorks Install 6.9 (9269)
[11:44:40 11/07/12] Platform Information:
[11:44:40 11/07/12] Running under Windows NT based OS.
[11:44:40 11/07/12] OS Major Version: 6
[11:44:40 11/07/12] OS Minor Version: 1
[11:44:40 11/07/12] Build Number: 7601
[11:44:40 11/07/12] Service Pack: Service Pack 1
[11:44:40 11/07/12] Command Line: C:\Windows\TEMP\apt0\bwiwin.exe -u -quiet
[11:44:40 11/07/12] Not prompting user because we are operating in quiet mode.
[11:44:40 11/07/12] Starting worker thread...
[11:44:40 11/07/12] Worker thread started successfully.
[11:44:40 11/07/12] Stopping Altiris Client Service...
[11:44:40 11/07/12] Altiris Client Service is not running.
[11:44:40 11/07/12] Searching for disk number containing drive C:...
[11:44:41 11/07/12] Couldn't find disk containing C:, defaulting to disk 0.
[11:44:41 11/07/12] Searching for disk number containing drive C:...
[11:44:41 11/07/12] Couldn't find disk containing C:, defaulting to disk 0.
[11:44:44 11/07/12] Unable to Flush Disk Buffers for PhysicalDrive0 error 1
[11:44:44 11/07/12] Flushing disk buffers successful for drive C:
[11:44:44 11/07/12] Analyzing hard drive...
[11:44:44 11/07/12] Removing Altiris partition...
[11:44:44 11/07/12] Uninstalling EBW partition.
[11:44:44 11/07/12] EBW Partition Table Entry Dump:
[11:44:44 11/07/12] Start C: 1023 H: 254 S: 63
[11:44:44 11/07/12] End C: 1023 H: 254 S: 63
[11:44:44 11/07/12] LBA Start: 248075051 LBA Length: 286720
[11:44:44 11/07/12] EBW Parent Partition Table Entry Dump:
[11:44:44 11/07/12] Start C: 19 H: 0 S: 1
[11:44:44 11/07/12] End C: 1023 H: 254 S: 63
[11:44:44 11/07/12] LBA Start: 305235 LBA Length: 311348191
[11:44:44 11/07/12] Unable to Flush Disk Buffers for PhysicalDrive0 error 1
[11:44:44 11/07/12] Flushing disk buffers successful for drive C:
[11:44:44 11/07/12] Error mounting embedded partition parent volume.
[11:44:44 11/07/12] Updating C:\AClient.cfg.
[11:44:44 11/07/12] IniFile::Open() failed with error 3.
[11:44:44 11/07/12] Starting Altiris Client Service...
[11:44:44 11/07/12] Error starting Altiris Client Service.
[11:44:44 11/07/12] There was an error removing the Altiris patition.
[11:44:45 11/07/12] Worker thread exiting!
 

Trying to uninstall the automation partition via the bootable CD gives an 'access is denied' message.

Bitlocker has been suspended while trying to do this.  Any thoughts?

 

[Migration User]

Create a uninstall package without the quiet mode. Does it show any error messages on the screen during the uninstall?

[Migration User]

Same question, kind of.  We no longer have the server operational.  So removing the c:\boot directory directly in explorer breaks the machine on the restart, giving the generic "Boot Loader cannot be found" error.  Is there an easy way to remove the DS 6.9/7.1 bootloader reference from the MBR of the client computers?  We have nearly 200 machines like this.

Thanks

Mark

[Migration User]

Hi Mark cooper,

                      We have seen that the  bitlocker is blocking the Altiris automation partition removal.

Just suspending the bitlocker would not be enough,you will need to completely remove the bitlocker to get the Altiris partition removed.

 

 

[Migration User]

How can I remove it if I don't have the server to generate the uninstall file?

Thanks

Mark

[Migration User]

Hi Markh4799,

                     Are you looking for DS 6.9 or 7.1 ? 

[Migration User]

7.1

[Migration User]

If you check in the Msconfig ,you will see a boot entry named "symantec windows PE automation".

You can try deleting the boot entry manually.

Also delete the boot folder from C:\

[Indrek_K]

Try to manually copy the install file to the machine and run it in command prompt with the switch -u

Also do not forget on Win7 to right click and run as administrator

And more if you have UAC then disable it

[Migration User]

Easiest way we've disabled it is with a quick "fdisk /mbr" in Dos PXE. Or "GDisk 1 /mbr /p /y" work as well if you want Linux. Change it to GDisk32 for WinPEx86, or GDisk64 for WinPEx64. Basically, just nukes the references to it as a valid boot point. We needed to do this when the automation partitions broke and stopped the systems from hitting Windows properly.

For actually uninstalling without the server... I'd suggest faking it. Set up a trial server, make a new set of boot files, install them, let it reboot, then uninstall them. Done.

But in our environment, it's about what options happen during boot, not really about the relatively miniscule space. The FDisk/GDisk was enough to make things work reliably for us. Note that this was for 6.9, and we didn't use Bitlocker, but it will PROBABLY work the same... :)