Walkthrough_ Create a Custom Windows PE Image

Walkthrough: Create a Custom WindowsPE Image223 out of 271 rated this helpful

This walkthrough describes how to create a customized Windows PE image. The primary tool for customizing

Windows PE 2.0 is PEImg, a Windows PE command-line tool. After creating a customized image, you can deploy the

image to a hard disk or create a bootable Windows PE RAM disk on a CD-ROM, a USB flash drive (UFD) or a hard disk.

Note

A Windows PE RAM disk boots directly into memory and is assigned the drive letter X, which does not correspond

to the media (for example, a UFD or a CD-ROM) from which you booted. Ensure that you have sufficient memory

to support the size of your Windows PE image plus any additional memory requirements, for example, if you plan

on running any customized applications that need additional working memory.

PrerequisitesTo complete this walkthrough, you need the following:

A technician computer that provides all the tools and the source files. For more information, see Building a

Technician Computer.

Step 1: Set up a Windows PE Build EnvironmentIn this step, you create a required directory structure that supports building a Windows PE image.

On your technician computer, click Start, point to All Programs, point to Windows OPK or Windows AIK,

and then click Windows PE Tools Command Prompt.

The menu shortcut opens a Command Prompt window and automatically sets environment variables to point

to all the necessary tools. By default, all tools are installed at C:\Program Files\version\Tools, where version can

be Windows OPK or Windows AIK.

1.

At the command prompt, run the Copype.cmd script. The script requires two arguments: hardware

architecture and destination location. For example,

where can be x86, amd64, or ia64 and is a path to the local directory. For

example,

The script creates the following directory structure and copies all the necessary files for that architecture. For

example,

2.

copype.cmd

copype.cmd x86 c:\winpe_x86

Walkthrough: Create a Custom Windows PE Image http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc709665(d=printer,v=ws.10).aspx

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Step 2: Mount the Base Windows PE ImageIn this step, you mount the base image to a local directory so that you can add or remove packages.

At the command prompt, mount the base Windows PE image (Winpe.wim) to the \Mount directory by using

ImageX. For example,

Step 3: Add Additional PackagesBy using the Peimg tool, you install Windows features by using the /install option. Windows features are included

with the base image (Winpe.wim) but are not installed. You can also import packages and add drivers and language

packs. For more information, see Windows PE Customization How-To Topics.

Add a Windows feature to the base image by using the peimg /install command. For example,

where denotes the package name. A list of available packages and their names can be obtained by

using the /list command. You can use wildcards to specify a package name. Any packages with matching

names will be installed. For example,

-or-

where wildcards denote any package with HTA in the package name.

Windows PE 2.0 provides the following Windows features referred to as packages.

Package Name Description

WinPE-

FONTSupport--Packages

Additional font support for ja-jp, ko-kr, zh-cn, zh-hk, and zh-tw.

1.

\winpe_x86

\winpe_x86\ISO

\winpe_x86\mount

imagex /mountrw c:\winpe_x86\winpe.wim 1 c:\winpe_x86\mount

peimg /install= c:\winpe_x86\mount\Windows

peimg /install=WinPE-HTA-Package c:\winpe_x86\mount\Windows

peimg /install=*HTA* c:\winpe_x86\mount\Windows


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WinPE-HTA-Package HTML application support

WinPE-MDAC-Package Microsoft Data Access Component support

WinPE-Scripting-Package Windows Script Host support

WinPE-SRT-Package Windows Recovery Environment component (available only on

the Windows OPK)

WinPE-WMI-Packages Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI) support

WinPE-XML-Package Microsoft XML (MSXML) parser support

Repeat Step 1 for each package.2.

Verify that the packages were installed by using the peimg /list command to view all packages in the current

image. For example,

In the INS column, (+) denotes installed packages and (-) denotes not installed.

3.

Step 4: (Optional) Add Additional CustomizationsThis step is optional but recommended. You can add applications and scripts to your Windows PE image that you

might need while working in Windows PE. The following is a list of common tools to include in your Windows PE

image.

ImageX

A command-line tool for capturing and applying images during deployment scenarios. For example, at a

command prompt,

Package Manager (Pkgmgr.exe)

A tool for servicing Windows image (.wim) files offline. You must copy the entire \Servicing folder and MSXML6

binaries. Offline servicing requires ImageX. For example,

copy %windir%\system32\msxml6*.dll c:\winpe_x86\iso\Servicingwhere can be Windows OPK or Windows AIK and can be x86, amd64 or ia64. In

both previous examples, the tools are not loaded into memory during a Windows PE RAM boot. The media

must be available to access the tools.

To load the tools into memory along with Windows PE, copy the source files into the mounted \Windows

directory. For example,

peimg /list c:\winpe_x86\mount\Windows

copy c:\program files\\Tools\x86\imagex.exe c:\winpe_x86\iso\

xcopy c:\program files\\Tools\\Servicing c:\winpe_x86\iso\Se


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Important

Adding files to the \Windows directory will increase the size of your Windows PE RAM image. Ensure that

your computer has sufficient memory to boot Windows PE and to run various applications.

Step 5: Prepare the ImageIn this step, you prepare the image by using the peimg /prep command. This operation removes any non-installed

packages from the final image. This operation reduces the overall image size. For example,

The /prep option cannot be reverted, and after the /prep option is run, the /install, /uninstall, /import, and /list

options will not function, while the /lang and /inf options will continue to function. The Peimg tool prompts you to

confirm the command. To suppress this prompt for scripting, add the /f option.

Step 6: Commit Changes to the ImageIn this step, you commit the changes to the original image file (Winpe.wim) by using the ImageX /unmount option

with the /commit option. For example,

Step 7: Replace the Default Boot.wim FileIn this step, you replace the default Boot.wim in the \ISO directory with your new customized image. The image must

be called Boot.wim. For example,

Next StepYou now have a customized Windows PE RAM disk image that you can place on bootable media, like a CD-ROM or a

UFD.

To create a bootable CD-ROM

On your technician computer, at a command prompt, create an .iso file by using Oscdimg. For example,1.

c:\winpe_x86\mount\Windows

peimg /prep c:\winpe_x86\mount\Windows

imagex /unmount c:\winpe_x86\mount /commit

copy c:\winpe_x86\winpe.wim c:\winpe_x86\ISO\sources\boot.wim


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Community Additions

For IA-64 architecture, replace Etfsboot.com with Efisys.bin.

Burn the image (Winpe_x86.iso) to a CD-ROM.2.

To create a bootable UFD

During a running Windows Vista operation system or a Windows PE session, insert your UFD device.1.

At a command prompt, use Diskpart to format the device as FAT32 spanning the entire device, setting the

partition to active. For example,

where the value of disk 1 is equal to UFD.

2.

On your technician computer, copy all the content in the \ISO directory to your UFD device. You can manually

create the directory structure or use the xcopy command to automatically build and copy the appropriate files

from your technician computer to your UFD device. For example,

where c is the letter of your technician computer hard disk and f is the letter of your UFD device.

3.

You can further customize your Windows PE image by adding language packs, customized scripts, and drivers. For

more information, see Windows PE Customization How-To Topics.

See Also

ConceptsBuilding a Windows PE Image

Booting Windows PE

Re: PEIMG not available

And in the newer version of WAIK, PEIMG.EXE was replaced by DISM.exe. See the documentation that gets installed with your

oscdimg -n -bc:\winpe_x86\etfsboot.com c:\winpe_x86\ISO c:\winpe_x86\winpe_x86.iso

diskpart

select disk 1

clean

create partition primary size=

select partition 1

active

format fs=fat32

assign

exit

xcopy c:\winpe_x86\iso\*.* /s /e /f f:\


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version of WAIK.

KC.Kennedy

8/6/2013

PEIMG not available

Be aware that if you are just getting into this and start with WAIK 6.1 (Windows7 and the SP1 update) then the PEIMG tool

mentioned above is not installed. You have to install WAIK with XP support in order to get this necessary tool....

Mark522010

3/1/2013

Better Method of Automating Diskpart

Why use the "/s" switch to run the diskpart commands in a diskdart script? Simply create a batch file that ECHOs a group of

diskpart commands and pipes them to diskpart. By piping commands directly into diskpart you can avoid making your batch

file dependent on an external script and reduce the chances of the batch file breaking. And it is easy to do, consider the

following:

(

ECHO select disk 1

ECHO clean

ECHO create partition primary size=

ECHO select partition 1

ECHO active

ECHO format fs=fat32

ECHO assign

ECHO exit

) | diskpart

darinks

9/17/2012

Powershell script to create a CDROM image

A Powershell script in the 'Boot Windows PE from CD-ROM' section may also help; it creates a complete ISO, but also corrects a

range of documentation bugs.

C0RRAD0

7/2/2012

Diskpart script error

When you create the script, forget the first line "diskpart"

If you run the diskpart command with it, you will just get a list of the available commands


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It should be instead:

select disk 1cleancreate partition primary size=select partition 1activeformat fs=fat32assignexit

Finally you can run: diskpart /s

Franck Brunet

12/3/2010

Type Error Step 3

Step 3 Package names:

WinPE-WMI-Packages should be WinPE-WMI-Package

A little picky but...

HallGS

7/5/2010

Error in step 4

In step 4 above, the document uses incorrect quotes which turn out wrong.

The example should read:

copy "c:\program files\\Tools\x86\imagex.exe" c:\winpe_x86\iso\

and

xcopy "c:\program files\\Tools\\Servicing" c:\winpe_x86\iso\Servicing /s

Thomas Lee

11/15/2009

need help plz

hi , need help plz "windows 7rc"

when i run

imagex /unmount c:\winpe_x86\mount /commit

i get ,error did not find image mount ,


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i add "\" after "mount\"

imagex /unmount c:\winpe_x86\mount\ /commit

first its work ,but now its not. can u hlp tnx.

[tfl - 14 06 09] Hi - and thanks for your post.You should post questions like this to the Technet Forums at http://forums.microsoft.com/technet or the MS Newsgroups at http://www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/en-us/. You are much more likely get a quick response using the forums than through the Community Content. For specific help about:Exchange : http://groups.google.com/groups/dir?sel=usenet%3Dmicrosoft.public.exchange%2C&SQL Server : http://groups.google.com/groups/dir?sel=usenet%3Dmicrosoft.public.sqlserver%2C&Windows : http://groups.google.com/groups/dir?sel=usenet%3Dmicrosoft.public.windows%2C&Windows Server : http://groups.google.com/groups/dir?sel=usenet%3Dmicrosoft.public.windows.server%2C&Virtual Server : http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.virtualserver/topics?lnkFull Public : http://groups.google.com/groups/dir?sel=usenet%3Dmicrosoft.public%2C&

Thomas Lee

6/14/2009

2014 Microsoft. All rights reserved.


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Walkthrough_ Create a Custom Windows PE Image

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