Difference between revisions of "Windows PE"
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| − | Some utilities/drivers provided by IBM/Lenovo come only in the form of Windows executables. And for people who don't use Windows OS on their computers it becomes impossible to use/apply them. Luckily, Microsoft provides [http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/results.aspx?pocId=&freetext=Automated%20Installation%20Kit&DisplayLang=en Automated Installation Kit] (aka AIK) for free to everyone with very few resctictions on usage (basically, they only prohibit using it as a substitute of a "real" OS, and allow to use it for any diagnostic and reapair tasks). Users of Windows OS can use this AIK to create bootable CD-ROMs and bootable USB-flash drives with Windows PE, which is essentially a stripped-down version of Windows. In this article we will explain how to create bootable CD-ROMs and USB-flash drives with | + | Some utilities/drivers provided by IBM/Lenovo come only in the form of Windows executables. And for people who don't use Windows OS on their computers it becomes impossible to use/apply them. Luckily, Microsoft provides [http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/results.aspx?pocId=&freetext=Automated%20Installation%20Kit&DisplayLang=en Automated Installation Kit] (aka AIK) for free to everyone with very few resctictions on usage (basically, they only prohibit using it as a substitute of a "real" OS, and allow to use it for any diagnostic and reapair tasks). Users of Windows OS can use this AIK to create bootable CD-ROMs and bootable USB-flash drives with Windows PE (or WinPE for short), which is essentially a stripped-down version of Windows. In this article we will explain how to create bootable CD-ROMs and USB-flash drives with WinPE using only FOSS software. |
==Tools we will need== | ==Tools we will need== | ||
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* From the AIK installation file <tt>KB3AIK_EN.iso</tt>, provided in the form of a UDF disk image, extract the files <tt>wAIKX86.msi</tt> and <tt>WinPE.cab</tt> | * From the AIK installation file <tt>KB3AIK_EN.iso</tt>, provided in the form of a UDF disk image, extract the files <tt>wAIKX86.msi</tt> and <tt>WinPE.cab</tt> | ||
* using <tt>cabextract</tt>, unpack these files into <tt>/tmp/wAIKX86.msi/</tt> and <tt>/tmp/WinPE.cab/</tt> respectively | * using <tt>cabextract</tt>, unpack these files into <tt>/tmp/wAIKX86.msi/</tt> and <tt>/tmp/WinPE.cab/</tt> respectively | ||
| − | * create a bootable | + | * create a bootable WinPE *.iso image <tt>/tmp/winpe3_x86.iso</tt> |
cd /tmp | cd /tmp | ||
mkdir -p winpe3_x86/boot | mkdir -p winpe3_x86/boot | ||
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* boot <tt>winpe3_x86.iso</tt> (which you've created before) in a virtual machine | * boot <tt>winpe3_x86.iso</tt> (which you've created before) in a virtual machine | ||
qemu -cdrom winpe3_x86.iso -boot d -m 640 -hda winpe3_x86.img | qemu -cdrom winpe3_x86.iso -boot d -m 640 -hda winpe3_x86.img | ||
| − | * now, in the shell provided by | + | * now, in the shell provided by WinPE in the virtual machine |
diskpart.exe | diskpart.exe | ||
diskpart> list disk | diskpart> list disk | ||
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xcopy /s d:\* c:\ | xcopy /s d:\* c:\ | ||
wpeutil shutdown | wpeutil shutdown | ||
| − | * then the virtual machine shuts down, you can copy | + | * then the virtual machine shuts down, you can copy WinPE image on a flash media. It will fit on any media > 125M in size. |
dd if=winpe3_x86.img of=/dev/sdb | dd if=winpe3_x86.img of=/dev/sdb | ||
and use it for test/diagnostic tasks such as firmware upgrades. If you want, you can create an additional partition for you firmware/diagnostic tools, just don't mess with the partition created by Windows -- you may reder it unbootable. | and use it for test/diagnostic tasks such as firmware upgrades. If you want, you can create an additional partition for you firmware/diagnostic tools, just don't mess with the partition created by Windows -- you may reder it unbootable. | ||
Revision as of 07:36, 20 March 2010
Some utilities/drivers provided by IBM/Lenovo come only in the form of Windows executables. And for people who don't use Windows OS on their computers it becomes impossible to use/apply them. Luckily, Microsoft provides Automated Installation Kit (aka AIK) for free to everyone with very few resctictions on usage (basically, they only prohibit using it as a substitute of a "real" OS, and allow to use it for any diagnostic and reapair tasks). Users of Windows OS can use this AIK to create bootable CD-ROMs and bootable USB-flash drives with Windows PE (or WinPE for short), which is essentially a stripped-down version of Windows. In this article we will explain how to create bootable CD-ROMs and USB-flash drives with WinPE using only FOSS software.
Tools we will need
- cabextract
- genisoimage (or mkisofs)
- qemu (or qemu-kvm) virtual machine
and of course the Automated Installation Kit kit itself. The latest version is The Windows® Automated Installation Kit (AIK) for Windows® 7
How to build a bootable WinPE *.iso image
- From the AIK installation file KB3AIK_EN.iso, provided in the form of a UDF disk image, extract the files wAIKX86.msi and WinPE.cab
- using cabextract, unpack these files into /tmp/wAIKX86.msi/ and /tmp/WinPE.cab/ respectively
- create a bootable WinPE *.iso image /tmp/winpe3_x86.iso
cd /tmp mkdir -p winpe3_x86/boot mkdir -p winpe3_x86/sources cp wAIKX86.msi/F_WINPE_X86_bcd winpe3_x86/boot/bcd cp wAIKX86.msi/F_WINPE_X86_boot.sdi winpe3_x86/boot/boot.sdi cp WinPE.cab/F1_WINPE.WIM winpe3_x86/sources/boot.wim cp wAIKX86.msi/F_WINPE_X86_etfsboot.com winpe3_x86/etfsboot.com genisoimage -sysid "" -A "" -V "Microsoft Windows PE (x86)" -d -N -b etfsboot.com -no-emul-boot \ -c boot.cat -hide etfsboot.com -hide boot.cat -o winpe3_x86.iso winpe3_x86
the file you will get will be about 120M in size. Then you can burn this *.iso and boot it on any x86-machine which supports booting from CD-ROMs (which is pretty much any PC today)
How to build a bootable WinPE USB-flash image
a more convenient option would be to create a bootable USB-flash drive. Unfortunately, you will only be able to use it on PCs which support booting from USB-HDDs. Some BIOSes only support booting from USB-FDDs.
- prepare a blank
dd if=/dev/zero of=winpe3_x86.img count=250000
- boot winpe3_x86.iso (which you've created before) in a virtual machine
qemu -cdrom winpe3_x86.iso -boot d -m 640 -hda winpe3_x86.img
- now, in the shell provided by WinPE in the virtual machine
diskpart.exe diskpart> list disk diskpart> select disk 0 diskpart> clean diskpart> create partition primary diskpart> list partition diskpart> select partition 1 diskpart> format fs=fat32 quick diskpart> active diskpart> assign diskpart> list volume diskpart> exit xcopy /s d:\* c:\ wpeutil shutdown
- then the virtual machine shuts down, you can copy WinPE image on a flash media. It will fit on any media > 125M in size.
dd if=winpe3_x86.img of=/dev/sdb
and use it for test/diagnostic tasks such as firmware upgrades. If you want, you can create an additional partition for you firmware/diagnostic tools, just don't mess with the partition created by Windows -- you may reder it unbootable.
