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So, after I posted my method for building and testing XPe images in Workstation, I was asked to get my XPe VMs working in ESX as well.  ESX uses an older version of VMware’s Virtual Hardware, so XPe VMs I created with my previous method will not run if transferred directly to an ESX machine.

Creating the virtual hardware component is pretty straightforward, and follows the same general process as my previous guide.  For your convenience, I’ve uploaded my component that I created running XP on ESX.

vmware4.sld

However, just the component isn’t enough for ESX.  ESX 3.x doesn’t support virtual IDE hard drives.  Likewise, Windows XPe doesn’t support SCSI drives.  So, you’ll have to install the VMware SCSI driver.  During a normal XP installation, you can do this by pressing F6 during installation and loading the drivers from a floppy, but because you build XPe rather than installing it, you have to componetize the driver.  Again, I’ve already done this for you.

vmscsi.zip

If this doesn’t work for you, you can download the floppy image containing the driver from VMware.com, extract it, and then import the vmscsi.inf file into the XPe Component Designer.

Once you have both the vmware4 and vmscsi components added to your XPe profile, run dependency checks to pull in the required components and build the image like you did in the last guide.  After that, move the Virtual Machine onto your ESX box (assuming you didn’t create it there) and fire it up.

I spent most of the day further researching XP Embedded, specifically with respect to developing custom components.  As the software I’m working on is meant to run on embedded devices, it would be a good idea for us to provide an XPe component in addition to our regular installer.

For the moment, I accomplish this by having the component run the installer at first boot, but I’m hoping to come up with a more elegant solution in the next couple of days.

Component design is another aspect of XPe Tools that could use some work.  With most software for Windows being distributed in exe or msi form, I was suprised that there was no utility to build a component from one of those files.  Instead, the best way to accomplish that would be to use a third party tool, such as InCtrl5, that will monitor changes to the filesystem and registry during the installation of any given piece of software.

Another odd thing I noticed today is that the Target Designer seemed to be crashing on me every few minutes.  I just upgraded it to SP2, and I’m wondering if that’s the problem.

XP Embedded Studio isn’t actually a horrible application at it’s core.  Now, the user interface and documentation are God-awful, which is why I’m writing this post.  As you saw in my last two entries, I’ve been working with XPe for the last few days, and there has been plenty of frustration to go along with it.  What should have been a fifteen minute task wound up taking several days.  However, one week and a few dozen BSODs later, I present this how to:
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