Cannot Boot from USB Device on Elitepad 900 (D4T17AA) :: Windows 8

[bassmanadam]

I came across this forum as I have been trying to figure out how to connect to my MDT server and perform a LiteTouch installation on the HP Elitepad.  I have been successful in getting this functionality to work after way too long and figured I would post here for others to know what I did to get it to work.

The file that was linked to within the last few minutes will help to boot but may or may not help someone trying to connect to a Deployment Share.  (I haven't used the files and suspect that it would require tweaking for it to work for this purpose.)

Here's what I did that works:

***Be sure to use an x86 boot image!***

1: - Use Diskpart to create a fat32 formatted thumb drive.

           Open Command Prompt as an Administrator

           Type List Disk

           Type Sel Disk X  - X is number of your Thumb Drive based off of size listed

           Clean

           Create Part Pri

           Format fs=fat32 quick

           Active

           Assign

           Exit

2: - Make sure that your MDT is at Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2012 Update 1 (not beta..so version 6.1.2373.0)

3: - Generate new x86 boot images if you haven't since updating to MDT 2012 Update 1.

4: - Copy over the contents of the x86 folder in your deployment share's boot folder.

5: - Rename the LiteTouchPE_x86.wim (or whatever you have them named as) to boot.wim. ***using x64 boot image did not even all the HP Elitepad to show USB Hard Disk as a boot option***

6: - Create folder in the thumb drive named Sources.

7: - Move the previously renamed boot.wim into the Sources folder of the thumb drive.

8: - With the HP Elitepad in an off state, hold power and release once the screen comes on.

9: - Press and hold the Volume down button on the side of the Elitepad until you see the Startup menu.

10: - Choose F9 Boot options.

11: - Choose USB Hard Drive.

12: - This should boot to your normal MDT boot image for you to use.

** Note that some people have reported that certain thumb drives require a powered USB drive to boot to on this device.

** Also, be sure to add any drivers for a USB Network card or docking station network card if needed to the .wim image!**

[Docjelly]

All of the posts here are correct, but there seems to be a lack of clarity... Based upon some trial and error and what I've found out from these posts as well as some outside research, here's the requirements. (source: I've now successfully booted from USB to my deployement server and PXE booted to it as well)

MDT requirement level is 2012 Update 1. You can install overtop of your MDT 2010 and upgrade your deployment share. This broke one or two minor things, but I was able to get back up and running pretty quickly.

WinPE requirement is WinPE 4.0. Install the Windows ADK on your Deployment Server and update your deployment share to completely regenerate your boot images to 4.0.

PXE Boot requires WinPE 4.0 (as above) AND requires your WDS server to be running Windows Server 2012. Install the role on a 2012 server and configure it as needed. Add your x86 and x64 boot images from your newly updated MDT server and then stop the older 2008R2 WDS service.

[EeroValanne]

Hi Docjelly,

Thank You for Your information. I'll install WDS server after my vacation. Still yesterday I was planning to do it on W2K8R2 but thanks to You, I'll change my plan..

Kind Regards,
Eero Valanne

[sewellia]

Hi Miguel

Can you be a bit more specific. What did you do with the downloaded files?

How did you manage to get the ElitePad to boot from the USB device? (not runnning SCCM 2012 yet)

-jos 

[grimmda]

-I have updated my MDT environment to MDT 2012 Update 1

-I have updated my WinPE to 4.0 via Windows ADK

-I have updated my Deployment Shares

-I have rebuilt my x86 .iso and imaged my thumb drive with it using the documented procedure above (thats not new to this procedure)

-Per HP's support line I have installed the HP UEFI Support Environment on the drivers page for the Elitepad on the main OS it came with

-Per HP's support line I have installed the HP BIOS Settings on the drivers page for the Elitepad on the main OS it came with

And I STILL do not get an option in the boot menu to choose the USB drive... only IPV4 and 6... They are escalating my case now and they admit loading the 2 driver sets on the base OS it came with isn't great for Enterprise Buisness customers such as myself.  

[JonathanL]

grimmda

Did you also copy over the EFI folder as well to the root?

Have you tried mounting the ISO and copying all the contents of the ISO to a USB key instead of setting up the folder structure manually on the usb key? Also have you been able to try other USB keys to see if they have the same issue?

[NCBPAC]

I am having the same issue. I can boot a Lenovo Yoga with the USB flash drive, but can never get the ElitePad to boot or even see that there is a flash drive as an option to boot.

This is getting frustrating.

[JonathanL]

NCBPAC,

From what I gather the Lenovo Yoga is a 64-bit EFI machine. The ElitePad 900 is a 32-bit EFI machine and so requires 32-bit EFI files. The key/setup for a 64-bit EFI machine will not work on a 32-bit EFI machine. This is different from how it was before with non-EFI boxes, so I can understand how it is confusing (believe me it took me awhile to pick this up).

[sewellia]

I managed to get it to work as follows

• In regedit, on the ElitePad, I changed EditionID from "Professional" to "Enterprise" and Productname from "Windows 8 professional" to "Windows 8 Enterprise"  (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion)
• I extracted the Windows 8 DVD to the ElitePad's harddisk (as in http://tech.icrontic.com/article/upgrade-the-windows-7-rc-to-retail/)
• I obtained a USB from HP with the image for the ElitePad and copied the EFI folder on top of the EFI folder in the Windows 8 Enterprise image (You may download the EFI folder that I received from HP from  http://support.akvaplan.com/download/efi.zip)
• Rebooted
• started Windows 8 Enterpise setup and selected the upgrade option leaving files and drivers in place

That's all. The rest is as usual. Enter and activate windows with your windows 8 enterprise volume license key, join the domain and allow DirectAccess.     

[LoXodonte]

I believe Jon is on to the problem. We compared ISO contents  on 2 USB drives both configured as FAT32. One booted the other didn't, what we discovered was that the one that was NOT booting was missing a 32bit EFI file in: \Content\EFI\boot

MDT generated only the bootx64.efi for my USB drive in both the ISO and folder contents. If dropped in the bootia32.efi from the functioning USB the Elite900 would immediatly see the option to boot.

For those of you wondering where you would see the USB boot option, hold down the bottom volume button to access the "startup" menu. There is an option labled f9 Boot Options. If your usb key is configured with fat32 and contains a 32bit EFI file, your drive will show up under F9 Boot Options.
While we can boot the drive, we can't get your Lite touch to execute because the 32bit EFI generated did not come from MDT.