install windows PE 1.5 to a USB/hard drive

Question

I have been using a tool called Bart's PE builder which creates windows PE 1.5 boot images, however I need to make some adjustments - so it it cant be installed on a CD which is read only.

I cannot seem to figure out how to to this. I have tried a tool called PEtoUSB but it won't detect any USB devices on windows 10/XP. I tried powerISO but nor virtual box or real hardware can boot from the USB stick despite following the guide on how to boot from USB on virtualbox.

Is there a way PE 1.5 can be installed on either a Hard drive or USB stick? My only option right now is a batch script 'PE2USB.BAT' that came with Bart's PE builder but its fiddly.

Answer 1

Here is how to use Windows tools to create a bootable PE USB:

• Download latest Windows 10 ADK (Assessment and Deployment Kit)
• Install only the components Deployment Tools and Windows Preinstallation Environment
• Open an elevated Deployment and Imaging Tools by right clicking it in Start > Windows Kits > Run as administrator
• Enter the command cd\ to shorten the displayed path

• Create WinPE files with following command :

  copype amd64 D:\WinPEx64
  

Replace path D:\WinPEx64 with your preferred drive and folder name. The above command creates PE files to be used to boot a 64 bit machine. For 32 bit, replace amd64 with x86.

• If the USB flash drive is I: enter the following command:

  MakeWinPEMedia /UFD D:\WinPEx64 I:
  

For more information see the article Create a WinPE USB or ISO.

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For Windows PE 1.5 itself, it was only available for selected OEM and via Enterprise Software Assurance, so is not generally available in a legal manner.

See Windows PE Version Overview for versions.

You might be able to extract it from either:

• Windows Automated Installation Kit (AIK) for Windows XP SP2

• WinPE 3.0 from Windows AIK 2.0.