PartitionID (Standard 8 Module Reference)

  • Article

7/8/2014

Review the applicable Embedded Core modules and any examples for the PartitionID setting in Windows Embedded 8 Standard (Standard 8).

This setting contains an integer that specifies the identification number of the partition on which to install or modify a data image or OS image. This sequence starts with 1.

Note

You can specify a PartitionID only for primary and logical partitions. Extended partitions are ignored.

For example:

Primary (1)

Extended

Primary (2)

Primary (3)

Because the partition structure on a disk can change during installation, it is important to be aware of the changes to the partitions on a disk as you are creating your unattended installation configuration file. For example, if you add two logical partitions to your disk configuration during Windows Embedded Standard Setup and then want to modify the last partition, the partition ID of the last partition will have changed from 3 to 5:

Primary (1)

Extended

Logical (2)

Logical (3)

Primary (4)

Primary (5)

As you can see, if you modify an extended partition by adding logical partitions to it, the value for the primary partitions created later than the extended partition can change. If you set PartitionID values explicitly, the values will not change during installation.

Modules

The following table shows the modules that you can apply this setting to. In Image Configuration Editor (ICE), you can follow the corresponding path to set this setting for a module.

Module

Path

Setting Description

Setup

Products/Embedded Core/Setup/DiskConfiguration/Disk/ModifyPartitions/ModifyPartition/PartitionID

Specifies the partition to modify.

Setup

Products/Embedded Core/Setup/ImageInstall/DataImage/InstallTo/PartitionID

Specifies the partition on which to install a data image.

Setup

Products/Embedded Core/Setup/ImageInstall/OSImage/InstallTo/PartitionID

Specifies the partition on which to install or modify an OS image.

The boot drive is typically set to 1, but if there is a hidden partition, you might have to install the image to partition ID 2.

If WillShowUI is set to Never, an invalid PartitionID setting is specified, an error is logged and installation terminates.

Setup

Products/Embedded Core/Setup/WindowsDeploymentServices/ImageSelection/InstallTo/PartitionID

Specifies the partition on which to install the image. This sequence starts with 1.

The boot drive is typically set to 1, but if there is a hidden partition, you might have to install the image to partition ID 2.

SystemMaintenanceService

Products/Embedded Core/SystemMaintenanceService/CacheList/Cache/PartitionID

Specifies the Partition ID of the ReadyBoost device. This value is used with DiskID.

XML Example

The following XML examples show how to configure a BIOS/MBR-based system with a variety of partitions.

OS Image Partition

The following XML example shows how to install the image to disk 0, partition 1.

<OSImage>
    <InstallTo>
         <DiskID>0</DiskID>
         <PartitionID>1</PartitionID>
    </InstallTo>
</OSImage>

For an example of a complete Windows Deployment Services deployment, see Complete Windows Deployment Services deployment XML Example.

Cache List

The following example shows how to specify the Partition ID of the ReadyBoost device.

<CacheList>
  <Cache>
    <CacheID>ReadyBoostCache1</CacheID>
    <DiskID>1</DiskID>
  </Cache>
</CacheList>

For an XML example that shows how to configure ReadyBoost devices, see SystemMaintenanceService XML Example.

Data Image Partition

The following example shows how to set the location in which to install a data image.

<ImageInstall>
    <DataImage wcm:action="add">
        <InstallTo>
            <DiskID>0</DiskID>
            <PartitionID>2</PartitionID>
        </InstallTo>
    </DataImage>
</ImageInstall>

For an XML example that shows how to set the ImageInstall setting to install both an operating system image and a data image, see Setting the ImageInstall Setting XML Example.

BIOS/MBR-Based System with Two Partitions

The following XML example for the DiskConfiguration setting shows two partition modifications. In the CreatePartition section, the system partition is created first, and has a partition ID of 1. The Standard 8 partition is created second, and has a partition ID of 2.

When modifying the partitions, the first modification (ordered 1) affects the partition with the ID of 1, which is the System partition. The second modification affects the partition with the ID of 2, which is the Windows Embedded partition.

<DiskConfiguration>

  <Disk wcm:action="add">
    <DiskID>0</DiskID> 
    <WillWipeDisk>true</WillWipeDisk> 
    <CreatePartitions>

      <!-- System partition -->

      <CreatePartition wcm:action="add">
        <Order>1</Order> 
        <Type>Primary</Type> 
        <Size>300</Size> 
      </CreatePartition>

      <!-- Windows Embedded partition -->
      <CreatePartition wcm:action="add">
        <Order>2</Order> 
        <Type>Primary</Type> 
        <Extend>true</Extend> 
      </CreatePartition>

    </CreatePartitions>
    <ModifyPartitions>

      <!-- System partition -->
      <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add">
        <Order>1</Order> 
        <PartitionID>1</PartitionID> 
        <Label>System</Label> 
        <Format>NTFS</Format> 
        <Active>true</Active> 
      </ModifyPartition>

      <!-- Windows Embedded partition -->
      <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add">
        <Order>2</Order> 
        <PartitionID>2</PartitionID> 
        <Label>Windows</Label> 
        <Letter>C</Letter> 
        <Format>NTFS</Format> 
      </ModifyPartition>
    </ModifyPartitions>
  </Disk>


  <WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI> 
</DiskConfiguration>


<ImageInstall>
  <OSImage>
    <InstallTo>
      <DiskID>0</DiskID> 
      <PartitionID>2</PartitionID> 
    </InstallTo>
  </OSImage>
</ImageInstall>

BIOS/MBR-Based System with an Extended Partition

In this example, an extended partition is created after all the primary partitions. In this case, the PartitionIDs are assigned in the order in that the partitions are created, but the extended partition does not have a partition ID.

<DiskConfiguration>

  <Disk wcm:action="add">
    <DiskID>0</DiskID> 
    <WillWipeDisk>true</WillWipeDisk> 
    <CreatePartitions>

      <!-- Recovery partition -->
      <CreatePartition wcm:action="add">
        <Order>1</Order> 
        <Type>Primary</Type> 
        <Size>3000</Size> 
      </CreatePartition>

      <!-- Utility2 partition -->
      <CreatePartition wcm:action="add">
        <Order>2</Order> 
        <Type>Primary</Type> 
        <Size>250</Size> 
      </CreatePartition>

      <!-- System partition -->
      <CreatePartition wcm:action="add">
        <Order>3</Order> 
        <Type>Primary</Type> 
        <Size>100</Size> 
      </CreatePartition>

      <!-- Extended partition -->
      <CreatePartition wcm:action="add">
        <Order>4</Order> 
        <Type>Extended</Type> 
        <Extend>true</Extend> 
      </CreatePartition>

      <!-- Windows Embedded partition -->
      <CreatePartition wcm:action="add">
        <Order>5</Order> 
        <Type>Logical</Type> 
        <Size>15000</Size> 
      </CreatePartition>

      <!-- Logical2 partition -->
      <CreatePartition wcm:action="add">
        <Order>6</Order> 
        <Type>Logical</Type> 
        <Size>100</Size> 
          <!-- Note: To create a logical partition that fills 
                     the rest of the extended partition, create the 
                     data partition with an initial size of 100 MB. 
                     This will be changed in the ModifyPartition section. -->
      </CreatePartition>

    </CreatePartitions>
    <ModifyPartitions>

      <!-- Recovery partition -->
      <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add">
        <Order>1</Order> 
        <PartitionID>1</PartitionID> 
        <Label>Recovery</Label> 
        <Format>NTFS</Format> 
        <TypeID>0x27</TypeID>
      </ModifyPartition>

      <!-- Utility2 partition -->
      <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add">
        <Order>2</Order> 
        <PartitionID>2</PartitionID> 
        <Label>Utility2</Label> 
        <Letter>U</Letter> 
        <Format>NTFS</Format> 
      </ModifyPartition>

      <!-- System partition -->
      <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add">
        <Order>3</Order> 
        <PartitionID>3</PartitionID> 
        <Label>System</Label>
        <Format>NTFS</Format> 
        <Active>true</Active> 
      </ModifyPartition>

      <!-- Extended partition: 
           This partition does not need receive a partition number, 
           nor does it need to be modified -->

      <!-- Windows  Embedded partition -->
      <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add">
        <Order>4</Order>
        <PartitionID>4</PartitionID> 
        <Label>Windows</Label> 
        <Letter>C</Letter> 
        <Format>NTFS</Format> 
      </ModifyPartition>

      <!-- Logical2 partition -->
      <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add">
        <Order>5</Order> 
        <PartitionID>5</PartitionID> 
        <Label>Logical2</Label> 
        <Letter>L</Letter> 
        <Format>NTFS</Format> 
        <Extend>true</Extend>
          <!-- Note: When modifying a logical partition, setting
                     "ModifyPartition|Extend=true" sets the partition to  
                     fill the remainder of the extended partition. 
                     This overrides the "CreatePartition|Size" value. -->
      </ModifyPartition>

    </ModifyPartitions>
  </Disk>
  <WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI> 
</DiskConfiguration>


<ImageInstall>
  <OSImage>
    <InstallTo>      <DiskID>0</DiskID> 
      <PartitionID>4</PartitionID> 
    </InstallTo>
  </OSImage>
</ImageInstall>

BIOS/MBR-Based System with an Extended Partition Located Before a Primary Partition

In this example, the extended partition is located first, before the primary partitions. Note that even though the logical partitions are created last, they receive the first partition numbers.

<DiskConfiguration>

  <Disk wcm:action="add">
    <DiskID>0</DiskID> 
    <WillWipeDisk>true</WillWipeDisk> 
    <CreatePartitions>

      <!-- Extended partition -->
      <CreatePartition wcm:action="add">
        <Order>1</Order> 
        <Type>Extended</Type> 
        <Size>20000</Size> 
      </CreatePartition>

      <!-- Recovery partition -->
      <CreatePartition wcm:action="add">
        <Order>2</Order> 
        <Type>Primary</Type> 
        <Size>3000</Size> 
      </CreatePartition>

      <!-- System partition -->
      <CreatePartition wcm:action="add">
        <Order>4</Order> 
        <Type>Primary</Type> 
        <Size>100</Size> 
      </CreatePartition>

      <!-- Utility2 partition -->
      <CreatePartition wcm:action="add">
        <Order>3</Order> 
        <Type>Primary</Type> 
        <Extend>true</Extend> 
      </CreatePartition>

      <!-- Windows Embedded partition -->
      <CreatePartition wcm:action="add">
        <Order>5</Order> 
        <Type>Logical</Type> 
        <Size>15000</Size> 
      </CreatePartition>

      <!-- Logical2 partition -->
      <CreatePartition wcm:action="add">
        <Order>6</Order> 
        <Type>Logical</Type> 
        <Size>4980</Size> 

      </CreatePartition>

    </CreatePartitions>
    <ModifyPartitions>

      <!-- Extended partition: 
           This partition does not need a partition number, 
           nor does it need to be modified -->

      <!-- Windows Embedded partition -->
      <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add">
        <Order>1</Order>
        <PartitionID>1</PartitionID> 
        <Label>Windows</Label> 
        <Letter>C</Letter> 
        <Format>NTFS</Format> 
      </ModifyPartition>

      <!-- Logical2 partition -->
      <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add">
        <Order>2</Order> 
        <PartitionID>2</PartitionID> 
        <Label>Logical2</Label> 
        <Letter>L</Letter> 
        <Format>NTFS</Format> 
      </ModifyPartition>

      <!-- Recovery partition -->
      <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add">
        <Order>3</Order> 
        <PartitionID>3</PartitionID> 
        <Label>Recovery</Label> 
        <Format>NTFS</Format> 
        <TypeID>0x27</TypeID>
      </ModifyPartition>


      <!-- System partition -->
      <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add">
        <Order>4</Order> 
        <PartitionID>4</PartitionID> 
        <Label>System</Label>
        <Format>NTFS</Format> 
        <Active>true</Active> 
      </ModifyPartition>

      <!-- Utility2 partition -->
      <ModifyPartition wcm:action="add">
        <Order>5</Order> 
        <PartitionID>5</PartitionID> 
        <Label>Utility2</Label> 
        <Letter>U</Letter> 
        <Format>NTFS</Format> 
      </ModifyPartition>

    </ModifyPartitions>
  </Disk>  <WillShowUI>OnError</WillShowUI> 
</DiskConfiguration>


<ImageInstall>
  <OSImage>
    <InstallTo>
      <DiskID>0</DiskID> 
      <PartitionID>1</PartitionID> 
    </InstallTo>
  </OSImage>
</ImageInstall>

For full XML examples and recommended partition configurations, see How to Configure UEFI/GPT-Based Hard Disk Partitions, or How to Configure BIOS/MBR-Based Hard Disk Partitions.

See Also

Concepts

Embedded Core Settings