Skip to content

Feature Request: Allow adding a custom ei.cfg to bypass ACPI SLIC Windows edition lockdown #64

@maadhav-codes

Description

@maadhav-codes

When writing a Windows ISO to a USB drive on a computer with an OEM license key embedded in the motherboard's firmware (via the ACPI SLIC table), Windows Setup automatically detects the key and installs that specific edition (often Windows Home) without prompting the user.

To override this behaviour and manually select a preferred edition (like Windows Pro or Enterprise) during setup, an ei.cfg file containing the following config must be added to the \sources directory of the installer media:

[Channel]
Retail
[VL]
0

Proposed Feature

Add a new checkbox option "Add custom ei.cfg" in the main user interface. When selected, the app will automatically create and write the sources/ei.cfg file to the target USB drive after copying the installation files.

WinDiskWriter UI with the New Option:
Image

Expected Windows Setup Behavior (Edition Selection Menu):
Image

🛠️ Contribution Offer

I have already implemented and locally tested this feature. It includes:

  1. UI Checkbox: A new toggle in the main layout (MainWindow.m) with enabled/disabled states handled during the write sequence.
  2. Localization: Fully localized strings (CHECKBOXVIEW_TITLE_ADD_CUSTOM_EI_CFG, CHECKBOXVIEW_TOOLTIP_ADD_CUSTOM_EI_CFG) in English and Russian.
  3. Write Logic: Safe file-writing routines in DiskWriter.m to generate the sources/ei.cfg file at the target path and handle callback progress/errors.

Since I don't have write access to the repository to submit a Pull Request, I can share the code modifications or the git diff here in this thread. Please let me know how you'd like to proceed!

Metadata

Metadata

Assignees

No one assigned

    Labels

    No labels
    No labels

    Projects

    No projects

    Milestone

    No milestone

    Relationships

    None yet

    Development

    No branches or pull requests

    Issue actions