Break Winpe/bartpe Resource Limits Legally, No need for Winlogon resource patch! Options

[TheTruth]

Hi there ,

Well, after a long time of research, I've come up with an idea to remove resource limits in WinPE/BartPE (LEGALLY) through a loader without patching any file (no need for the illegal Winlogon resource patch), this was required at least for me as using any patched files in WinPE is prohibited at official workplace, I'm looking forward to implementing this idea in "PE Shell Swapper" (peshell.exe) once I get some more free time, but for now I need to make sure that everything is working just as I wanted it, so I've written a small (experimental) loader that will automatically launch the Command Prompt (cmd.exe) on an empty desktop as a shell, so you can test bypassing the resource limits by running as many programs as you wish form the command prompt.

Actually, I managed to launch 150 instances of notepad without reaching any limit on 128 MB VMware machine with a normal (unmodified) Winlogon.exe file.

Now, how can one use this loader?
First, download PELoader.exe: http://www.geocities.com/pierremounir/
(Scroll to the end of the page to get it)
Second, either make PELoader your shell, or launch it like any tool from your running WinPE/BartPE session, but remember to replace your patched winlogon.exe with a normal image

Notes:
- Once you close the command prompt, your machine will be rebooted.
- Tested only on WinXP SP1-based WinPE/BartPE, but I'm sure it'll work on all versions of Windows, God willing.
- This loader is just a way to allow you to share me testing my work, and once we're all sure of it's functionality, we can come up with any ideas on how to implement it in a more useful way.

Benefits of using PE Loader:
- Legal way of removing resource limits.
- 800x600 startup resolution instead of 640x480 caused by Winlogon patch.
- Compatibility with current and future versions (and Service Packs) of Windows (Winlogon), unless MS adds more tricks
(Note: Winlogon patch works only with specific versions of Winlogon).

Please, test and give feed back.

Regards,
TheTruth

[gely]

great work but could we have an autolaunch of custom shell instead of cmd.exe...
it will then be a great cool and transparent loader !
just a simple config file with a cmd param could be great !

for sure : great work by theTruth... Here again

bBye

[JonF]

That's a truly wonderful idea. I don't know if I can test it this weekend, but I want to encourage you in your current work and thank you for your previous work.

[aec]

@TheTruth

I confirmed that this concept works. I launched an explorer plugin and then more than 15 different heavy apps and everything was working normally. The only thing that I noticed was that the system run out of memory earlier compared to the same system with the logon patch. Propably this is normal and perhaps it can be improved if the peloader has the possibility to launch directly another shell and not a cmdbox.

Realy amazing work! Keep it up!

[sherpya]

I've a similar solution for next xpe release, it works on xp, just testing it on w2k3

[viceroy]

May I inquire as to how exactly this is done? Source code for peloader.exe perhaps ?

[midas]

all of TheTruth's files for PE can be found here also:

CODE

http://s92460507.onlinehome.us/pe/thetruth/peloader.zip
http://s92460507.onlinehome.us/pe/thetruth/peshell.zip
http://s92460507.onlinehome.us/pe/thetruth/penetcfg.zip
http://s92460507.onlinehome.us/pe/thetruth/penetcfg-intl.zip
http://s92460507.onlinehome.us/pe/thetruth/erdlogon.zip

[mbarnes]

I use Nu2menu as my shell with Geoshell 2a for the taskbar,
With the standard winlogon.exe I cant even start task manager without problems
I cant change screen resolution or anything usefull.
Taskmanager shows 2 program entries for Geoshell & Geobar.

Once I have run PEloader, Nu2menu disapears as a shell until re started.
Then my system returns to near normal.
I opened about 20 program windows from A43 by clicking on documents & graphics files of various sorts.
peloader is amazing, how do I use it to launch nu2menu & geoshell.

regards
Mike Barnes

[MPOWER]

PE Loader work fine with PE Builder win2k3 based

regards

[philon]

I gave up after two hours testing. Why? Could not find any limitation! Tested in VMWare with 71 MB ram assigned by ramautoresizer. Started with nu2 shell, called peloader.exe and then opened one application after the other from the command window. I also have BS Explorer as a second shell on demand and started this also: Got the full BS Explorer functionality and could open the applications now from quicklaunch, desktop shortcuts and Start / Programs!!

This is a milestone!

regards,
philon

[sherpya]

May I inquire as to how exactly this is done? Source code for peloader.exe perhaps ?

as usual I'll post sources of my stuff after each release

[JonF]

Tested it building from XP Pro, in Microsoft Virtual Machine ... worked flawlessly. I can't wait to get this as a shell or whatever!!

[this-is-me]

Would you mind explaining the technical reasons this patch works? Does it patch a memory location to get around the limitations?

[Former_Jman_post]

I tried this on win XP Pro with no problems. I was able to load XPE and open all my heavy plugins without any problems. This is a major milestone since it now opens the door for legal explorer plugins.

Great work!

I am also interested in the mechanics behind this solution. Some might still despute the legality.

[TheTruth]

@All
First of all, thank you all for feedback.
If you could mention your version of Windows as well, it'd be great.

PE Loader v0.3 is available now on my page.
For all who ask about how to launch their shell, PE Loader now accepts your shell as a parameter, refer to the included "readme.txt" for command line parameters, you should now use peloader as your first loaded app (shell) passing to it your own shell.

@All asking for the mechanics and source behind PE Loader
Please, let's wait until it gets more mature.

As for the legality issue, for now I can assure you all that peloader.exe is a pure Win32 app that uses permitted Win32 APIs to do LEGAL actions.

NO PATCHES OF ANY KIND TO AN IN-MEMORY IMAGE OF ANY FILE.

Please, don't confuse the prefix PE (Preinstallation Environment) of PELoader.exe with the one used in PE (Portable Executable) loaders used for other purposes I think you all know about, it's just a coincidence in names not functionality, so let's NOT name it a patch.

@aec

only thing that I noticed was that the system run out of memory earlier compared to the same system with the logon patch

If you test peloader.exe from your running session, bear in mind that your already running shell and any other processes count toward your RAM, and this is why you ran out of memory faster, try it as your main shell to see the difference.

@sherpya

QUOTE (viceroy @ Jun 6 2004, 04:59 AM)
May I inquire as to how exactly this is done? Source code for peloader.exe perhaps ?

as usual I'll post sources of my stuff after each release

Believe me, not a good attitude!!!

@midas
Many thanks for hosting. if you could update the link to PE Loader 0.3, it'd be great.

BTW, you should also releaize that the problem of startup resolution of 640x480 (caused by winlogon patch) no longer exists. It defaults now to 800x600.

More feedback with the new loader is more than welcome.

Regards,
TheTruth

[midas]

updated

http://s92460507.onlinehome.us/pe/thetruth...th/peloader.zip
http://s92460507.onlinehome.us/pe/thetruth/peshell.zip
http://s92460507.onlinehome.us/pe/thetruth...th/penetcfg.zip
http://s92460507.onlinehome.us/pe/thetruth...netcfg-intl.zip
http://s92460507.onlinehome.us/pe/thetruth...th/erdlogon.zip

all current as of this post time and date

[vexation]

@TheTruth
That works a treat, using PELoader as a shell to launch my own menu program and have launched every single program on my CD without any problems whatsoever.. (that's roughly 7 relatively intensive programs) haven't discovered any issues yet.. i'm as curious as everyone else to know how you did it but whatever!!..

..absolutely fantastic, i can't thank you enough!!

PK

[this-is-me]

Is it possible or feasible to load pe shell swapper from peloader?

[e2p2]

@The Truth

Does PELoader address the 24 Hour Limit as well as the Resource Limit?

[Rootman]

Super simple INF file for a plugin, substitute your shell in the SetupReg.AddReg section:

CODE

; PE loader Inf
; Plugin Created by Rootman

[Version]
Signature= "$Windows NT$"

[PEBuilder]
Name="PE Loader"
Enable=1

[WinntDirectories]
a="Programs\peloader",2

[SourceDisksFiles]
PELoader.exe=a,,1

[SetupReg.AddReg]
; Set peloader as loader shell
; pass your prefered shell executable to peloader to execute as final shell.
0x1, "Setup", "CmdLine", "\Programs\peloader\PELoader.exe \i386\system32\explorer.exe"