Surface Pro 3 WIMBoot ROM + guide + discussion topic

TEST BUILDS:

December build [please search in surfaceforums, as I couldn't post links here]
(for next uploads, which one do you recommend: Box sync, Google Drive, MEGA, or OneDrive?)


Features:
1. Only 1.2 GB footprint on C: drive (54 GB free out of 55.2 GB C: drive on the 64 GB model. Free space increases accordingly on larger models) excluding hibernation and pagefile
2. August, September, October, November, and December update rollups slipstreamed
3. Surface Pro 3 specific updates included (KB2978002, KB2969817)
4. Bloat free with about 3 GB saving: (Microsoft devices are shipped bloat-free? Think again)
- Only 6 metro apps included (Camera, IE, OneDrive, PC Settings, Photos, Store). The rest can be downloaded from Store
- Trial Office removed
- Speech data removed (who uses that anyway?)
5. Pen Pairing OOBE appears and working
6. Languages included: Dutch, English, German, French. Since it is Windows 8 Pro, you can download any other language later.
7. WinRE from vanilla Windows, 200 MB saving (working so far, please report if something wrong happened)


I have been using this build for 2 days, as well as the previous, similar build for a week. No issues experienced from my side.


This *might* also work on the Surface Pro 2 since they have similar components. Not tested.






How to install:
0. Get a keyboard and USB hub (Type Cover might also work, but I don't have one to test)
1. Download and extract the package with WinRAR
2. Set up the ISO image on a CD or USB stick.
- If you use Rufus, set it on "MBR for UEFI computer" (only for the USB stick, the Surface will be set up as GPT)
3. Boot it on the Surface
4. Enter cd /d D:\scripts
5. Enter diskpart /s part43.txt (part43.txt means the recovery partition is 4300MB. I tried 4200MB, it didn't work)
6. Enter applywim D:\Images\install.wim D:\Images\winre.wim
7. You can repeat the step #6 just to be sure
8. Reboot, unplug the USB stick.





____________GUIDE____________

First of all, I would like to thank murphy78 from mydigitallife.info forum for creating the noob-friendly guide for creating WIMBoot image (friendlier than Microsoft's version, at least).

Here I tried doing it using Surface Pro 3's recovery image instead of clean Windows which is used on his/her guide. I recommend this especially for 64 GB model users, or if you want to deploy 64 GB Surface Pro 3s. 128 GB users can benefit too.

I don't really recommend this for 256 or 512 GB SP3s, since the additional free space is not worth the effort IMO (of course, youre free to do it, its YOUR SP3, after all).

(I copied most of the steps from murphy78's, unless changes are necessary)


(use elevated cmd when necessary)
Preparing the Windows PE files (only for applying the image, NOT installed on the SP3)

1. Run the ADK commandline shortcut from start menu


2. Run the following command: copype amd64 c:\WINPE_AMD64


3. Mount the boot.wim from c:\WinPE_AMD64\media\sources\ and add the update msu packages


4. Extract the 7z from the link in this post to the c:\winpe_amd64\media\Scripts folder (create folder if you need to)

Preparing the WIM image to be applied
(Surface Pro 3 has Windows 8.1 Update 1 included. If youre doing this on the Surface Pro or Pro 2, you might need to update it.)

1. Download SurfacePro3_BMR_20_3.4.1.zip recovery image from the official site


2. Copy install.swm, install2.swm, and install3.swm from SurfacePro3_BMR_20_3.4.1\sources\ to \Deployment Tools\amd64\DISM\ where imagex.exe resides (inside ADK)


3. Open cmd in that directory and run the following command:
   imagex /ref install*.swm /check /export install.swm * install.wim "SurfacePro3"


4. Mount the WIM image using the following command, change the directory if necessary
   Dism /Mount-Image /ImageFile:"C:\SurfacePro3_BMR_20_3.4.1\sources\ins tall.wim" /Index:1 /MountDir:C:\mount\


5. Move the winre.wim from the windows\system32\recovery\ folder to c:\winpe_amd64\media\Images\ (might need to turn on see system files)


6. Remove the system file attribute by running: attrib –s -h c:\winpe_amd64\media\images\winre.wim


7. Optimize the image for WIMboot using the following command:
   Dism /Optimize-Image /Image:C:\mount\ /WIMBoot


8. Capture the optimized image using the following command: DISM /Capture-Image /WIMBoot /ImageFile:" C:\WINPE_AMD64\media\Images\install.wim" /CaptureDir:C:\mount\ /Name:"SurfacePro3_WIMBoot"
   (create folder if needed)

Creating the WIMBoot ISO

1. Move the captured install.wim to c:\winpe_amd64\media\Images


2. Edit the partition size in D:\scripts\CreatePartitions-WIMBoot.txt. It is the combination of install.wim and winre.wim + 50 MB (no idea why, it refuses to copy the Windows RE image if I didn't give 50 MB additional space)
   The row to be edited is “shrink minimum=xxxx”


3. Create your wimboot iso by running the following oscdimg command in a directory with oscdimg (I use e:\waik5\amd64\)
   E:\waik5\amd64\oscdimg.exe -u1 -be:\waik5\amd64\efisys.bin -pEF -bootdata:2#p0,e,be:\waik5\amd64\etfsboot.com#pEF,e ,be:\waik5\amd64\efisys.bin c:\winpe_amd64\media\ c:\temp\WinPE_5.1_AMD64.iso

Now, move to the SP3

1. Boot from the iso
   (I do recommend to this on a VM first before messing with your SP3. Make sure your VM supports virtual SSD and EFI firmware)


2. Navigate to the disk's scripts folder in the winpe command prompt. For me it was cd /d D:\scripts\


3. (If you click on the command prompt at any time and it seems to pause, just press enter and it will come back to life - learned hard way on vm)


4. Run from the scripts folder: diskpart /s CreatePartitions-WIMBoot.txt


5. After the diskpart script is done run: ApplyWimBootImage d:\Images\install.wim d:\Images\winre.wim


6. And then just reboot and let the system finish setup. You can powerdown at the user creation screen if you are setting this up for a customer. (At least it says it's safe in the chm file)

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