hello, where is th i386 folder inside the windows 2008 dvd ?? if i deleted notepad, how then i will be able to restore it from the dvd ?

You would use imagex to mount the install.wim which is found in the sources directory of the DVD. You can get imagex from the Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK).

Hello, Compared with the previous Windows OS, Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 employ a totally new deployment approach - using Windows Image (.WIM) files. There is no i386 folder on a Windows Server 2008 DVD and the main setup file is called install.wim. You could try Ted81's suggestion. Just download Windows Automated Installation Kit (AIK) from the following link and install it on your Windows Server 2008. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=c7d4bc6d-15f3-4284-9123-679830d629f2&DisplayLang=en And then, please run Windows PE Tools Command Prompt, and use imagex command line to mount the install.wim file under source folder on Windows Server 2008 DVD to a specific path on your computer. After that, you could find Windows, User, Program Files and PrefLogs four folders where the image has been mounted. The Notepad.exe is under Windows\System32 folder. I hope this helps. Regards, Neo Zhu Microsoft Online Community Support

Wow !! i can not find this logical , do i really have to download a 1 GB tool in order to accomplish this task ? is not there any other easier work around !

Hello, To access the content of WIM file, you need to use Imagex utility. The Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) includes the Imagex utility, which could be used to mount a WIM file so that you can access its content. To install WAIK should be the official way to get Imagex utility. If you don't want to download and install WAIK, you could copy the notepad.exe from other Windows Server 2008 machines to the current one. Thanks. Regards, Neo Zhu Microsoft Online Community Support

I think what the orginal poster was asking, which I also wondered about is this:In previous versions of Windows Server, Administrators would often copy the I386 directory from the original installation media to a local drive on the server if features or roles were to be added to the server. When the new features were installing and prompted for the original source media, you would point it to something like D:\Admin\I386 where you had copied the folder to as a local resource. This method removed the need for ever mapping a drive to original source media or walking into a data center and putting original media into the CD/DVD ROM.With all that said, I believe the original poster is asking - what is the equivalent to an I386 (or AMD64 for x64) systems that should be copied to the server so that a DVD is not needed to be inserted if a new feature/role is installed?On a side note, I have not installed a lot of 2008 servers yet, however of the ones I have installed and modified, I have yet to be prompted for original source media. I have found in other posts, that there is a repository on the server by default now that alleviates the need for copying an "i386 like" folder to the system. I think the other replies are somewhat confusing in that they are offering a solution to replace "core" files that are not exactly a feature that you can add or remove anymore, therefore you would need to replace the original files from another server or the original .WIM image using ImageX

I think what the orginal poster was asking, which I also wondered about is this: In previous versions of Windows Server, Administrators would often copy the I386 directory from the original installation media to a local drive on the server if features or roles were to be added to the server. When the new features were installing and prompted for the original source media, you would point it to something like D:\Admin\I386 where you had copied the folder to as a local resource. This method removed the need for ever mapping a drive to original source media or walking into a data center and putting original media into the CD/DVD ROM. With all that said, I believe the original poster is asking - what is the equivalent to an I386 (or AMD64 for x64) systems that should be copied to the server so that a DVD is not needed to be inserted if a new feature/role is installed? On a side note, I have not installed a lot of 2008 servers yet, however of the ones I have installed and modified, I have yet to be prompted for original source media. I have found in other posts, that there is a repository on the server by default now that alleviates the need for copying an "i386 like" folder to the system. I think the other replies are somewhat confusing in that they are offering a solution to replace "core" files that are not exactly a feature that you can add or remove anymore, therefore you would need to replace the original files from another server or the original .WIM image using ImageX Nobody else commented but troyman, this was an absolutely ON THE MONEY explanation and exactly what I was personally looking for. Much appreciated!!

This explanation was almost perfect you nailed it right on the head!!!! I also wondered where is my I386 folder......Casey

Thank you TroyMan. First time for me to install and configure Server 2008 and was looking for the i386 folder. Like you rightly mentioned, the i386 folder must be copied to some location which does not require to pop-in the Setup CD.