InformIT: Build Bootable Recovery and Repair UFDs with WinPE 3.0 for Windows 7 > Windows Automated Installation Kit for Windows 7 (WAIK)

InformIT: Build Bootable Recovery and Repair UFDs with WinPE 3.0 for Windows 7 > Windows Automated Installation Kit for Windows 7 (WAIK)

In "Windows-speak," WinPE is shorthand for the Windows Preinstallation Environment, a favorite tool for system administrators, particularly those who must build and deploy Windows installations in bulk.

But it's not just a professional tool for volume Windows work: WinPE is also quite useful as a toolkit for building bootable Windows images that can be installed and run from a USB Flash drive (aka UFD).

In fact, Microsoft defines WinPE as "a minimal operating system designed to prepare a computer for Windows installation." WinPE is what you run when you boot from a Windows Vista or a Windows 7 install CD (or other installable image) and also supports the Windows Repair Environment (sometimes abbreviated as WinRE) that you can run from such media as well.

You can run the Windows Repair Environment, to perform basic repairs on your primary system disk. With more tinkering—and more scripts, device drivers, and programs adto your WinPE image—there's no limit to the things you can use WinPE to do.

A basic WinPE image for Windows 7 requires under 1 GB of storage space; 4 GB ded is big enough for even fairly complex, well-populated WinPE images.

If you really want to get fancy, check out the WinBuilder project at http://www.boot-land.net. They have active WinPE projects for XP, Vista, and Windows 7, and can do amazing things with this technology. See the Resources section for some useful pointers to Windows 7–related projects.

Microsoft Windows Client TechCenter:

• Windows 7 Desktop Deployment (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee461266%28WS.10%29.aspx)
• Windows Automated Installation Kit for Windows 7 (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd349343%28WS.10%29.aspx) download from http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=696dd665-9f76-4177-a811-39c26d3b3b34&displaylang=en)
• WinBuilder.net is a Website devoted to various kits and installation tools built around WinPE. The Windows 7 version is called Win7PE. The Win7PE forums contain information, tutorials, scripts, and pointers to relevant downloads (http://www.boot-land.net/forums/index.php?showforum=91)

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