WinPE support for iSCSI was broken sometime after W10 2004, and doesn't work up to W11 22H2.
When you start the Microsoft iSCSI Initiator Service, this error happens:
From this GitHub bug report, iSCSI apparently needs access to the Event Logger. But WinPE deliberately disables the Event Logger because it runs on a RAM disk filesystem and can't leave room for extended disk logs.
The solution is to stop Event Logger, remove the MiniNT reg key which identifies this image as WinPE; and restart Event Logger before iSCSI Initiator starts.
1. Install the correct WinPE add-on ADK for your release, to get the right WMI updates.
2. Load boot.wim (WinPE or WinPE Setup)
3. Add the required WinPE OCS updates:
4. Extract the iscsicpl.* files from install.wim, and copy them to boot.wim's mounted folder. This step can be skipped if you know the iscsicli command line to configure your device.
5. If you're running WinPE (not Setup), then update \Windows\System32\startcmd.net:
For those running WinPE (Setup), open a CMD window with Shift-F10 and enter the same commands listed above. iSCSI Initiator Service will now start up correctly. Unfortunately for Setup, we can't automate this process unless you want to rewrite the startup sequence.
Read Windows PE startup sequence explained.
When you start the Microsoft iSCSI Initiator Service, this error happens:
From this GitHub bug report, iSCSI apparently needs access to the Event Logger. But WinPE deliberately disables the Event Logger because it runs on a RAM disk filesystem and can't leave room for extended disk logs.
The solution is to stop Event Logger, remove the MiniNT reg key which identifies this image as WinPE; and restart Event Logger before iSCSI Initiator starts.
1. Install the correct WinPE add-on ADK for your release, to get the right WMI updates.
Windows PE add-on for the Windows ADK for Windows 11, version 22H2
Windows PE add-on for the Windows ADK for Windows 11, version 21H2
2. Load boot.wim (WinPE or WinPE Setup)
3. Add the required WinPE OCS updates:
Code:
WinPE-StorageWMI
WinPE-WMI
WinPE-StorageWMI_en-US
WinPE-WMI_en-US4. Extract the iscsicpl.* files from install.wim, and copy them to boot.wim's mounted folder. This step can be skipped if you know the iscsicli command line to configure your device.
Code:
\Windows\System32\iscsicpl.exe
\Windows\System32\iscsicpl.dll
\Windows\System32\en-us\iscsicpl.dll.mui
\Windows\System32\en-us\iscsicpl.exe.mui5. If you're running WinPE (not Setup), then update \Windows\System32\startcmd.net:
Code:
wpeinit
net stop eventlog
reg delete HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\MiniNT /f
net start eventlog
net start msiscsiFor those running WinPE (Setup), open a CMD window with Shift-F10 and enter the same commands listed above. iSCSI Initiator Service will now start up correctly. Unfortunately for Setup, we can't automate this process unless you want to rewrite the startup sequence.
Read Windows PE startup sequence explained.