Starting Windows PE

Starting Windows PE

Table 16-2 summarizes the three ways that you can start Windows PE. You can create a bootable Windows PE CD or DVD, for example. You can also start Windows PE from a RIS server. You can even install Windows PE on a computer's hard disk so that the next time the computer starts, it logs on to the network, installs Windows, and then deploys an image of that hard disk. The sections following this one describe how to create each of these three scenarios.

More Info
Notice the entry for 64-bit Windows in Table 16-2. You can create a 64-bit version of Windows PE from 64-bit Windows XP. The steps for creating this version of Windows PE are only slightly different from creating the 32-bit version, and they're well documented in the “Windows Preinstallation Environment User's Guide,” which you find on the Windows PE CD in the file Winpe.chm.

Table 16-2 Starting Windows PE

	Removable Media (CDs)	RIS	Non-Removable Media (Hard Disks)
Disconnected PCs	Yes	No	Yes
Networked PCs	Not recommended	Yes	Not recommended
Active Directory	Not required	Required by RIS	Not required
64-bit Windows	Yes	No	Yes
Third-Party Tools	Not required	Not required	Useful

CD-Based Installation

When you build a custom Windows PE image (which you learned about in the section “Customizing Windows PE,” earlier in this chapter), the result is an ISO image that you can burn to a CD using most of the popular CD-burning programs, such as Ahead Nero Burning ROM (http://www.nero.com). However, you might want to create an ISO image after customizing Windows PE further. In the folder that contains the Windows PE customization tools, Winpe, run the command oscdimg.exe 'n –b etfsboot.com winpedestdir imagenamewinpedestdir imagename. Winpedestdir is the path of the customized version of Windows PE (the folder containing the I386 folder, Win51, Win51iP, Win51ip.sp1, and Winbom.ini). Imagename is the path and file name of the ISO image file that you want to create.

Customizing Product CDs

You can use Oscdimg.exe to create customized CD's from the original Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 CDs without Windows PE, too. For example, you can replace the file Winnt.sif in the product CDs' I386 folder to customize installation. Here's an example using Windows:

1. Copy a Windows CD to a folder on your hard disk. For example, copy the entire CD to C:\Winxp.

2. Replace Winnt.sif in the I386 folder with a customized version that installs Windows per your requirements.

3. In the Winpe folder, run the command oscdimg.exe -n –b etfsboot.com –l Label Path IsopathLabel Path Isopath. The placeholder Label is the volume label of the original Windows CD. The placeholder Path is the path of the folder containing the copy of the Windows CD (C:\Winxp in step 1). The placeholder Isopath is the path and file name of the ISO image you want to create.

4. Burn the ISO image you created in step 3 to a new CD.

You can boot the computer using the customized Windows product CD, and Windows Setup will use your customized Winnt.sif to install the operating system.

RIS-Based Installation

To speed the deployment process, you can start the target computer with Windows PE by using RIS. The benefit of starting Windows PE from the network is that you don't need to start the computer manually by using a bootable CD. This method is available for the 32-bit versions of Windows PE, but not for the 64-bit version.

To install a Windows PE image on a RIS server, you need either a Windows product CD or an existing Windows CD'based image. The Windows product CD or existing Windows CD'based image must be the same build number as Windows PE. (Otherwise, Windows PE might not start properly.) You also need a properly configured RIS server, either Windows 2000 Service Pack 2 (SP2) or Windows Server 2003.

Finally, the client computer must support booting with PXE, or the RIS boot disk must support the NIC installed in the computer. With these requirements met, the following steps show how to install a Windows PE image on a RIS server:

1. Do one of the following:

   • Copy an existing Windows CD-based image.

   • Create a new CD-based image using a Windows product CD.

2. Copy the I386 folder from the CD or the folder containing the Windows PE files over the I386 folder of the Windows CD'based image you created in step 1. If Windows Explorer prompts you to overwrite folders or files, click Yes.

3. If your Windows PE files don't include a Winbom.ini file in %SystemRoot%\ System32, copy Winbom.ini from the root folder containing the files to the RIS image's I386\System32 folder.

   If Factory doesn't find a Winbom.ini file that contains the setting Restart=No in the [Winpe] section, it prompts the user to restart the computer, shut down the computer, or quit. The default Winbom.ini file that comes with Windows PE contains this setting, but you must copy the file to the image's System32 folder for Factory to find it when starting Windows PE from RIS.

4. In the CD-based image's Templates folder, open Ristndrd.sif in a text editor. Then, add the option /minint to the line that begins with OSLoadOptions.

   Also change the description and help in the [OSChooser] section.

5. Start the RIS client and choose the operating system image that you created in the first step.

   This starts Windows PE from the network.

Disk-Based Installation

You can install a customized version of Windows PE on a hard disk, which is useful for preinstalling an operating system or creating a hard disk'based recovery solution, particularly for laptop computers. For example, you can install Windows PE on a small partition and the operating system on another partition. This configuration supports disaster-recovery scenarios by preventing the need for boot media to start the PC and source files for reinstalling the operating system, recovering data from the computer, or repairing the configuration. Here are the steps for installing Windows PE on a hard disk:

1. Boot the destination computer into Windows PE using a Windows PE CD.

2. Partition and format the computer's hard disk.

   You can use Diskpart to quickly partition the disk and then use Format to format it. Don't forget to mark the disk as active.

3. On the active hard disk, create the directory C:\Minint and then copy the contents of the Windows PE CD's I386 folder to C:\Minint.

   For example, use the command xcopy d:\i386 c:\minint /s.

4. Copy Ntdetect.com from the CD to the root of the hard disk.

5. Copy C:\Minint\setupldr.bin to C:\ntldr.

6. Restart the computer; it starts using Windows PE.