Internet Explorer (or other browser to download a bunch of stuff)
Reference
Microsoft Walkthrough: Create a Custom Windows PE Image
Key Terms / Acronyms
+WinPE Downloads - The directory that all your WinPE Software was downloaded to
Microsoft has plenty of Technical Information out there on how to build a WinPE 4 Boot Image (see my reference link above). Some people call it a WinPE Boot Disc, but the term Boot Image is more appropriate as we can boot from CD/DVD, USB, Hard Drive, and PXE). While the reference has plenty of detail, and is a good starting point, it is not the easiest to follow in the real world.
While I have started posting WinPE Pluins on a different Blog, and will release a Windows 8 Theme for WinPE 4 shortly, I realize that there are many people that don't know how to get to the point where they can create a customized WinPE 4 Boot Image.
This blog will detail my process on creating a WinPE Boot Image when starting from nothing but a clean OS. To do this, I am starting at the same spot you might be . . . on a new computer with only Windows 8. So let's look at the requirements for getting WinPE 4.
The Hardware
- Build Computer - Windows 8 x64 or Windows Server 2012. While you can use Windows 7, or Windows 8 x86, some of the paths referenced in this guide will only pertain to x64.
- Windows 8 x86 Test Computer - This will be used to gather some files for use in WinPE 4. This should be a Virtual Machine.
- Windows 8 x64 Test Computer - Don't confuse this as your Build Computer. You want a clean system. Your Build Computer probably is not. This should be a Virtual Machine.
- Blank CD's (lots of them) or USB Drive (1GB+) or WDS (PXE) Server - This will be to test the Boot Image. Actually if you are on Windows 8 you can install Hyper-V and boot to the ISO files.
The Software
- Microsoft Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK) for Windows 8 (This is a large download so I would recommend completing the following steps as soon as possible)
- Download adksetup.exe
- Run adksetup.exe and select "Download the Assessment and Deployment Kit for installation on a separate computer"
- Download Path "C:\Users\UserProfile\Downloads\Windows Kits\8.0\ADK"
- You can delete the original adksetup.exe when the downloads have completed
- Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT) 2012 Update 1
- Download MicrosoftDeploymentToolkit2012_x64.msi and the documentation
- Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack for Software Assurance 2013
- This includes Microsoft Diagnostics and Recovery Toolset 8.0 SP1 (DaRT)
- Adds several utilities to WinPE 4
- Requires Microsoft Volume License Agreement
- Optional. This is not a requirement for WinPE 4
- Notepad++
- Used for editing XML and INF files
- Optional. You can use Notepad or Wordpad, but this will make your life easier
- Windows 8 x64 and Windows 8 x86 Media
- This will be used to load the Test Computers and to create WinPE 4 using the boot.wim (although we can use ADK to get winpe.wim files)
- Extract the contents of the Media to Downloads for now
- Optional for WinPE 4 creation because ADK contains a winpe.wim, but later in the Guide we will need some files from the media, so download a Trial Version if you don't have the full version
- Microsoft Hyper-V
- Since your Build Computer is either Windows 8 x64 or Windows Server 2012, we will use Hyper-V to create some Virtual Computers for testing
- Optional. Physical computers can be used for testing the WinPE Boot Images
Organize Software (Downloads and Media)
Once you have downloaded everything, get everything organized. I frequently add a "+" to the beginning of Directory Names that are important as this will at the top of the directory in Windows Explorer. Find a system that works for you and stay organized. For the remainder of this Guide, we will reference this directory as +WinPE Downloads
Next Post: Install Microsoft Windows ADK
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