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#11
More interesting info! Thanks @Kyhi!
This might be worth taking a look at, https://technet.microsoft.com/en-ca/...(v=ws.10).aspx It works with stock install media. I use it to add OEM info to the system page, make model, OEM logo. I only do just vey basic stuff. It can do a lot more though.
Last edited by alphanumeric; 26 Mar 2017 at 17:46.
Well, just tried doing a complete restore from the recovery drive I created and it failed. Didn't pay much attention to the error at the end. It's a birthday present for my wife in about 9 days and I am just going to move her existing installation over to this computer anyway, but was trying to make sure I had all the proper hardware drivers saved. The fingerprint reader shows up in device manager but Windows 10 does not recognize it for login and the smart card reader that seems to be installed does not show up in device manager at all and does nothing when I put my military CAC in it. She probably wouldn't use the fingerprint reader anyway and definitely not the smart card reader.
Otherwise it is a great performing laptop and will be a big step up from what she is used to!
I think that the sort of apps typically in a .ppkg wouldn't install by double-clicking - I think that sort of .ppkg needs to be applied at install-time.
The other option not mentioned is to use the Windows ICD, find the WIM for the relevant version of Windows, import the .ppkg into the ICD , and then use the ICD to create a USB which will clean-install Windows when you boot it.
However I notice this option is being deleted with the ICD version which corresponds to the Windows 10 version 1703, and I found the USB very heavy-handed; in particular when you boot the USB, it just clean-installs Windows; it doesn't ask any questions or allow any user interaction. Or it just fails altogether.
Extract the Apps.ppkg with 7zip
The apps.ppkg is nothing more then a custom.wim (OEM customizations, Drivers, Apps, etc..)
You can even mount the apps.ppkg by renaming to apps.wim
Just extracted the Apps.ppkg from my new Dell as a test with 7z
Hi guys, sorry to resurrect an old thread but I think this is the best place to post my issue
I own an Asus E402S laptop (with 32 GB eMMC storage), since the space on the drive was running low (300 MB free) I've (stupidly) come to the conclusion that deleting C:\Recovery\Customizations\USMT.PPKG was a good idea :rolleyes:
I've booted the laptop using a Windows 10 1511 recovery USB drive and from there I've deleted the infamous file.
As I've learned from Kyhi posts this file is vital to certain OEM produced laptops, unfortunately this is exactly my case :(
The system seems to start Windows 10 normally but after 5 minutes instead of displaying the Windows Shell (explorer.exe) it stays on a black screen.
In this state I'm able to invoke the Task Manager through the CTRL-SHIFT-ESC keyboard shortcut but when I try to spawn a new instance of Explorer (from File -> Run -> explorer.exe) the system warns me that explorer.exe could not be found (this isn't the exact error message, it was something along those lines, I can't remember it ATM).
I've managed to run a chkdsk (chkdsk C: /f) through an elevated cmd.exe but there weren't any benefits from that.
I've also looked on the Internet to see if I was able to found a somewhat "compatible" USMT.PPKG but I've found no results (neither the Asus support site seems to have a copy of it).
I'm doomed to reinstall the OS? :(
Thank you very much
Have a nice day
Btw, the exact error was: "the external backing provider is not recognized"