BCEnabler Technical Reference
Last updated
Last updated
BCEnabler.exe is the tool that is used to Enable and Move the BranchCache in WinPE.
In order to customize a boot image to use BranchCache, 2Pint has provided the WinPEGen tool. injects BCEnabler.exe into the Windows\System32 directory of the WinPE image. This can then be called from the task sequence to perform certain actions.
…is a bad idea. BCEnabler is designed to run in WinPE. Please do not try to use it to enable BranchCache in a full OS environment. Contact us for info on why and how you are looking to do this.
BCEnabler.exe is executed with either the "Enable" command parameter + options or the "Move" command parameter + options.
Command line syntax:
Parameters:
CachePath - is the full path to the new location for the cache. This cannot be located on a RAM drive like X: but USB media works fine as long as it’s an NTFS formatted drive.
BCVersion - Number of the version of BranchCache to be used, v2 for Windows 8/10/11 and v1 for Windows 7. If you don’t specify a version it will use the default for the WinPE version that you are using.
Command line syntax:
Parameters:
NewOSDrive - Drive letter containing the new operating system. (Example: C: or %MYDRIVELETTER% in a valid Configuration Manager drive letter)
NewNonDefaultCachePath - Full Non Default path to the new location for the cache (Example: D:\MyCache)
BCEnabler.exe supports "Suspend" and "Resume" parameters. These parameters can be used to stop and restart the BranchCache service.
This command stops BranchCache service and sets the service to Disabled. Any download after this step will not BranchCache, this means that steps that format and delete an existing BranchCache cache location can be run.
This command enables the service and starts BranchCache. Any download after this will BranchCache. If a new BranchCache database was put into the default or defined location it will be upgraded/used, or a new one will be created if none is present.
Typical "Enable" command line that uses the Configuration Manager variable of the %_SMSTSMDataPath% to specify the cache directory
Typical "Move" command lines, both using variables to set the cache directory to the new OS drive:
Add a step to add BranchCache support as early as possible into your deployment sequence. Exactly where depends on your sequence. The following example shows a very simple Configuration Manager task sequence:
After the Format and Partition Disk step, add a "Run Command Line" step and type in your command line:
This will enable the BC components, set the new Cache Location to the variable defined in %_SMSTSMDataPath% and use the default BranchCache Version and Port.
During a running task sequence, when BCEnabler.exe runs, it logs all actions to the %WINDIR%\Temp folder, which is typically the X:\Windows\Temp folder when running under WinPE.
This is to avoid issues around disk partitioning or other steps that may invalidate or change the BranchCache Cache location setup.
Example Logic
Step 1: Disk Partitioning
Step 2: BCEnabler.exe Enable C:\_SMSTaskSequence\BCCache
Step 3: Download a Package
Step 4: BCEnabler.exe Suspend
Step 5: Disk Partitioning
Step 6: BCEnabler.exe Resume
Step 7: Download a Package
BCEnable.exe can be used to move the cache location (and therefore the content also) as one of the last steps in a task sequence. It should be executed after the disk and imaging tasks are complete to avoid accidental deletion.
The steps performed by the Move command are:
Stop the BranchCache Service
Create Folder Structures for the new folder path
Move the physical Cached Files to the new location (default is under Windows directory unless specified on the command line)
Transfer the BC Cache encryption key from WinPE to the full OS
Write new paths for the target Operating System should another cache location be used (Not recommended)
Write policy registry keys to allow Firewall exceptions for BranchCache and BranchCache startup (Same policy as specified on the Enable command line)
Write an "Automatic Startup" registry keys for BranchCache in to the new OS.
Transfer the Firewall policy keys to allow the BranchCache service to serve others during the rest of the build process.
Write new cache paths for the WinPE BranchCache process to continue to work
Enable the startup of BranchCache during the OSD Process
Start the BranchCache Service to serve the last pieces of the Configuration Manager TS that downloads the CCM client etc.
For Configuration Manager the best variable is %OSDTargetSystemDrive% which comes as an output from the “Apply Operating System” step. Actual installation of Windows is started by the “Setup Windows and Configuration Manager” task sequence step. After the “Apply Operating System” task sequence action has run, the OSDTargetSystemDrive task sequence variable is set to the drive letter of the partition containing the operating system files.
Keep in mind that logical drive letters might change between WinPE and the full Windows installation. e.g. WinPE might deploy the OS to E: and the final system drive will be visible as C: in Windows. In other words if you specify a cache location with the BCEnabler.exe "Move" command, pointing the cache to D:\MyCache it might be E:\MyCache in Windows. To avoid such issues use one partition for Windows and another for the cache.
Use variables as much as possible. But keep in mind that even variables are not forever.
BCPort - (Optional but recommended) - The number of a custom port to be used. If left blank it will default to Port 80 which obviously can cause issues. 2Pint recommends using port 1337 which is used if implementing .
Note: If you followed the process referenced on the page: , then the below steps are already included in the modules: Module- 2Pint Software OSD Toolkit Phase 1 and Module- 2Pint Software OSD Toolkit Phase 2. Edit those task sequence modules to customize the command line options referenced in this page.
More information is available here:
