A bonus for having Software Assurance on all of our Windows Vista installations is the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP).
One of the kewlest tools in the MDOP pack is ERD Commander. It is a product that gives us low level access to the OS to bring about repairs or changes to get things working when things break.
It was also quite expensive prior to Microsoft's acquiring of Winternals.
There is a small caveat when working with the new version of the product: The OS architecture installed on the machine we are using to create the ERD utilities disk is the architecture that goes onto the disk.
That is, when creating the rescue tools disk from a Windows Vista x86 based machine, the rescue disk created will be x86 based and only work on x86 OS based machines.
If the rescue tools disk is created on a Windows Vista x64 based machine, then the rescue disk will also carry the x64 architecture and only work on x64 OS based machines.
Check out ERD Commander ... it is an absolutely amazing product with some awesome tools. It has saved our client's bacon many a time!
Many of those tools are not known very well either ... since most people are looking for BartPE disks for certain tasks when the tools for those tasks are actually available right here on the ERD Rescue Disk and not requiring any build finagling to get working ... if they have SA on Vista that is! ;)
Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists
*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.
The 2 things ERD 5.0 has my Bart disk doesn't are the crash analysis and the hotfix uninstall. Both nice tools. Other than that I'm good or actually better. We have SA so I may have another look at what version 6.0 offers.
ReplyDeleteThe biggest struggle I had was getting the thing to work when it comes to the BartPE disk. And, then some of the tools that were supposed to work not working.
ReplyDeleteNow, that may be more due to the driver (me) than the disk and its setup.
ERD Commander made the whole issue go away since most of the tools we needed were there and they worked out of the box.
Now, even more so.
Philip