Create a Windows PE Build Environment (Standard 7 SP1)

  • Article

7/8/2014

To create a custom image for Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE) 3.0, you must first create a Windows PE build environment. To create a Windows PE build environment, you must have the following:

  • An x86-based or x64-based computer running Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, or Windows Server 2003.
  • A CD or DVD burner and image-burning software to create a bootable CD or DVD.

The following table shows default directories into which Windows Embedded Standard 7 installs source files related to Windows PE.

File

Default path

Windows PE source

C:\Program Files\Windows Embedded Standard 7\Tools\PETools

ImageX source

C:\Program Files\Windows Embedded Standard 7\Tools\<architecture>

Supporting source

C:\Program Files\Windows Embedded Standard 7\Tools\Servicing

Optional components

C:\Program Files\Windows Embedded Standard 7\Tools\PETools\<architecture>\WinPE_FPs

For information about optional components, see Optional Packages for Windows PE.

You must create a separate build environment for each architecture. By default, Windows PE allocates 32 MB of writeable memory, known as scratch space. You can increase the scratch space to a maximum of 512 MB by using the dism /image:<mounted_image_path> /Set-Scratchspace:<size> command. Size is expressed in units of MB; acceptable values are 32, 64, 128, 256, and 512.

To create a Windows PE build environment

  • From C:\Program Files\Windows Embedded Standard 7\Tools\PETools, run copype.cmd <architecture> <destination>, where <architecture> is x86 or amd64 and <destination> is a local path.

    The copype.cmd script creates the following directories:

    <destination>\winpe_x86

    <destination>\winpe_x86\ISO

    <destination>\winpe_x86\mount

    The mount directory contains ImageX and DISM tools that you can use to mount Windows PE images. Except for the Boot.wim file, the ISO directory contains the files necessary to build an .iso file by using the Oscdimg tool. You must create a custom Boot.wim by using the default Windows PE image (Winpe.wim) and then copy Boot.wim to \ISO\sources.

See Also

Tasks

Boot Windows PE from a RAM Disk
Create a Custom Windows PE Image