WinPE - disable networking

Refaus · Mar 6, 2023

I'm trying to remove/disable/prevent networking for a bootable Macrium Reflect WinPE rescue medium.

I followed this guide, but I got stuck at the 'Microsoft-Windows-Setup' component requirement.
I don't see how I could add that component to my boot.wim file, which doesn't have it. It's not a cab file like one of these, but it is included in the install.wim of the Windows 11 ISO.
Is there a way to do it?

If not, I'm also looking for other suggestions on how to disable internet capabilities. I tried deleting some "net" files from System32, but then the WinPE couldn't boot.

garlin · Mar 6, 2023

I tested your idea and it doesn't work. The reason is Macrium launches from WinPE's winpeshl.ini, and when it exists -- it ignores startnet.cmd.

When you build Macrium's WinPE, driver support will be included in boot.wim's default drivers, or copied from the host. Even if you asked Macrium not to copy the host's drivers, boot.wim might recognize your network device.

I used NTLite to load Macrium's ISO, and remove all network drivers. You can also mount boot.wim with DISM, and manually remove them. But it's a lot of repetitive work, and NTLite (free edition) makes this a breeze by removing Components -> Drivers -> Network adapters.

After making a network driver-free ISO:

SIW2 · Mar 6, 2023

I got stuck at the 'Microsoft-Windows-Setup' component requirement.

I am not sure that package is available separately.

1. it is possible to use boot.wim from the installation media which already includes that package.

several ways to do it.

delete the first image from boot.wim and then specify it as the custom wim "choose base wim" when creating the macrium media.

or just copy the macrium folder and winpeshl.ini from your current macrium bootable wim into image 2 of boot.wim copied from the installation media.

then your .xml file should work, if your link is correct.

OR

2. In case macrium tries to run wpeinit.exe anyway, one simple way is to rename it something like wpeinit1.exe so macrium can't run it, but if you want to run it , then cmd prompt type
wpeinit1.exe

that might be easier.

EDIT : just tested number 2 unfortunately macrium started network even with wpeinit renamed.
Perhaps ask at their forum how to disable that "feature"

hsehestedt · Mar 7, 2023

I have not tried this myself, just taking a stab at it, but what about this...

When creating Macrium Reflect Rescue Media Builder, it will place drivers in the C:\Boot\macrium folder. Could you simply remove the Ethernet drivers from there? Or is that only drivers that are not already included in the base image?

SIW2 · Mar 7, 2023

hsehestedt said:
I have not tried this myself, just taking a stab at it, but what about this...

When creating Macrium Reflect Rescue Media Builder, it will place drivers in the C:\Boot\macrium folder. Could you simply remove the Ethernet drivers from there? Or is that only drivers that are not already included in the base image?

in addition to the macrium drivers folder, the wim file will already have drivers included in system32\drivers and the filerepository , which might work anyway.

could faff around removing the inbox network drivers with dism++ or some other tool.

hsehestedt · Mar 7, 2023

This is what the new Bing AI suggested to me. Again, I have not tested this:

Refaus · Mar 7, 2023

Thank you for the suggestions.
I should mention that I also tried with the WinRE option in Macrium Reflect, but it also includes the basic Windows network drivers (which do provide connectivity in the bootable environment). But since WinRE doesn't require an additional download, I'll probably use it going forward.

The only wim that I've seen with that 'Microsoft-Windows-Setup' component is the install.wim from the Windows ISO and it's quite big, around 4.5GB. The smaller boot.wim from the ISO doesn't have it. UPDATE: I tried making a rescue image with the big install.wim file, both with and without the edits, but it wouldn't boot, said it needs to be repaired.

So for now I'm looking at removing the network drivers.

garlin said:
I used NTLite to load Macrium's ISO, and remove all network drivers. You can also mount boot.wim with DISM, and manually remove them. But it's a lot of repetitive work, and NTLite (free edition) makes this a breeze by removing Components -> Drivers -> Network adapters.

How would the manual DISM method work? Would I have to name/remove all those individual .inf entries?

I tried with the free version of NTLite, loaded the wim and all. But I can't remove the drivers, it says "Locked, blue title components require a license."

SIW2 said:
could faff around removing the inbox network drivers with dism++ or some other tool.

View attachment 54479

I tried with Dism++ too, got to the step in your screenshot, but when I click Delete I get an error: "No such interface supported". Does it work for you?

SIW2 · Mar 7, 2023

I will check. It doesnt want to uninstall inbox drivers. I have uninstalled 3rd party drivers with it..

according to a post by Knarz, the first two bytes need to be changed from FF to 00 in Version to be able to uninstall them.

Refaus · Mar 7, 2023

I see. Meanwhile, I was able to delete all those Windows network drivers manually from the mounted WIM, they're located in \Windows\System32\DriverStore\FileRepository\.
It works, no more networking. But doing it manually is a chore, it's about 50 entries and it's easy to make a mistake... so I'm still looking for a faster way.

torchwood · Mar 7, 2023

If you dissable Ethernet and Wifi in Bios, they are not passed thru to the OS.... it doesn't matter what drivers are in the booting media

note they will also >>not<< appear in device manager, until re-enabled

hsehestedt · Mar 7, 2023

Just out of curiosity, if you don't mind my asking, why do you want to disable networking?

cereberus · Mar 7, 2023

torchwood said:
If you dissable Ethernet and Wifi in Bios, they are not passed thru to the OS.... it doesn't matter what drivers are in the booting media

note they will also >>not<< appear in device manager, until re-enabled

OP is only trying to speed up running Macrium Reflect in WinPe/Re mode (would save around 10 seconds on my pc)- it would take longer to disable drivers before hand, then reenable afterwards, aside from forgetting.

cereberus · Mar 7, 2023

hsehestedt said:
Just out of curiosity, if you don't mind my asking, why do you want to disable networking?

I asked the Macrium Team same thing - it just adds about 10 seconds on my pc to start up Reflect (probably more depending on drive type). It is just irritating as I never back up over a network. You can turn off wifi but not ethernet.

garlin · Mar 7, 2023

The good news is you only have to strip boot.wim once, since you can import a saved WIM image in the Advanced settings.

SIW2 · Mar 7, 2023

cereberus said:
I asked the Macrium Team same thing

Is there a way of stopping macrium from doing that, and the other "feature" which is changing the pe drive letters.

hsehestedt · Mar 7, 2023

I had thought that maybe there was some sort of security consideration. But to shave 10 seconds off the boot time - is this really worth that effort? Do you boot into the Macrium Reflect Recovery Media that frequently to make this worth the effort?

BTW, here is something to try:

I have another backup program that also uses Win RE or Win PE recovery media. In that program, I noticed that when it gets to the point of loading the network drivers, I can simply tap the ESC key and it will bypass the loading of the network components and just skip ahead immediately. Maybe that is worth trying in Reflect.

My PC is busy running a long running operation right now so I can't reboot to try this now. But when I get in front of another system in a little while I will give it a shot.

SIW2 · Mar 7, 2023

tap the ESC key

that allegedly works in macrium, if you can get the timing right.

cereberus · Mar 8, 2023

hsehestedt said:
I had thought that maybe there was some sort of security consideration. But to shave 10 seconds off the boot time - is this really worth that effort? Do you boot into the Macrium Reflect Recovery Media that frequently to make this worth the effort?

I did some actual timing, and it was taking longer than I suggested (never bothered time it before) and it was taking about 12 seconds to load a network driver and then 6 seconds to load networking.

I looked closer at the driver it was loading, and by examination of my drivers with RAPR (Driver Store Explorer), I realised the driver it was loading was a wifi driver despite having selected not to use wifi option!

I recreated the rescue media, specifically excluding the wifi driver using advanced driver options to not include driver, and this made a big difference - it jumped straight to loading network drivers (presumably loading the inbuilt boot.wim ethernet drivers) and it only took 6 seconds.

So I have significantly reduced startup time to point where any extra effort is just not worth it, as you suggest. Law of diminishing returns!

So this thread has helped me.

Refaus · Mar 9, 2023

garlin said:
The good news is you only have to strip boot.wim once, since you can import a saved WIM image in the Advanced settings.

Yes. A modified wim should last a long time, before some major change makes it unusable.

That being said, I extracted the names of all those 50+ entries that Dism++ labeled 'Microsoft Network adapters' and put them in a batch file. So deleting them is just one click now. Well, you need to change ownership and permissions for the parent folder first. But the whole process doesn't require any 3rd party software, unless you want to check with Dism++ or NTLite that the drivers are all gone.

I'm uploading it here, if anyone wants to use it. Based on my short testing it works as intended, but let me know if you find any issues or if some NIC gets detected.

Some WinRE/PE/Windows versions might have an entry or two less than this file, which has 57. That's the most that I saw, using WinPE11 (I also tested with W10 RE). In the future, with updates, we'll probably have to add new ones too... It would be easier if there was a core networking component to rip out instead.

WinPE - disable networking

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