Windows Preinstallation Environment (WinPE OS)

WinPE startup images are lightweight versions of the Microsoft Windows OS with limited componentes and services that requires 512 MB of memory for the base version. If adding additional drivers, packages, or applicationfigus, you will need more memory. When a computer is started with WinPE, it is initialized in a RAM drive under the drive letter X:\, which allows for better performance and to temporarily write data such as log files that you can review while in the environment. Also, while WinPE is running, it supports hot-swapping devices such as USB drives.

When you start into a WinPE OS, you can perform several different tasks on the host machine, such as the following:

• Use tools to set up the hard drive before installing Windows
• Initiate an image capture or deploy an image to an attached drive
• Run plug-ins, apps, or scripts
• Modify an existing Windows installation while it is not running
• Retrieve or back up data from a drive for which there is no functional OS
• Add a custom shell or GUI for automation of tasks

The lightweight OS will run from the Windows command-line environment (CLE), and the following features are supported:

• Batch files and scripts, including support for Windows Script Host (WSH), and ActiveX Data Objects (ADO), and optional support for Windows PowerShell.
• Applications, including Win32 application programming interfaces (APIs) and optional support for HTML Applications (HTA).
• Drivers, including a generic set of drivers that can run networking, graphics, and mass storage devices.
• Image capturing and servicing, including Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM).
• Networking, including connecting to file servers by using TCP/IP and NetBIOS over TCP/IP via LAN.
• Storage, including NTFS, DiskPart, and BCDBoot.
• Security tools, including optional support for BitLocker and the Trusted Platform Module (TPM), Secure Boot, and other tools.
• Hyper-V, including virtual hard drive (VHD) files, mouse integration, mass storage, and network drivers that make it possible for WinPE to run in a hypervisor.

For the purposes of Configuration Manager OSD, two WinPE startup images (one x86 and one x64) are included during the installation of Configuration Manager via the preinstalled supported version of the Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK). You can also create, customize, and import startup images into Configuration Manager for use with image deployment. You can use the properties of the startup images to change the behavior at run time. For example, you can add startup-critical drivers to the image, turn on prestart commands to run custom scripts, add an image background, add optional components, and for troubleshooting turn on command-line support when the F8 key is pressed. The startup images are essentially managed as packages that are used to install the OS on target computers via a task sequence. As a prerequisite, the package must be made available on the DP before deploying an OS to a target computer, and if you make any changes, you must update the DP, as well.

To deploy Windows 10, you must use the WinPE startup images from the ADK for Windows 10. The WinPE 10 startup image version supports the deployments of Windows 7 through to Windows 10.

For specific information on the use of the ADK with Configuration Manager to deploy Windows 10, refer to http://blogs.technet.com/b/configmgrteam/archive/2015/08/05/windows-10-adk-andconfiguration-manager.aspx?pi168308=2

To customize WinPE for use in Configuration Manager, refer to https://technet.microsoft.com/library/dn387582.aspx

For a complete WinPE 10 reference, visit https://msdn.microsoft.com/library/windows/hardware/dn938389%28v=vs.85%29.aspx


Source: Deploying Windows 10 Press Book