Boot Windows PE from a Hard Drive (Standard 7 SP1)

7/8/2014

This walkthrough describes how to boot Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE) 3.0 directly from a hard drive instead of by using a RAM disk.

Hardware and Software Assumptions

To complete this walkthrough, you must have the following:

• An x86-based or x64-based computer running Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, or Windows Server 2003.

Step 1: Create bootable media that contains the Windows PE RAM image

• Follow the instructions for creating bootable media for the Windows PE RAM image in Boot Windows PE from RAM Using a CD or Boot Windows PE from RAM Using a UFD.

Step 2: Prepare the hard drive

1. Boot the computer by using the bootable Windows PE media that you created.

   If the hard drive contains an active partition, you might need to override the boot sequence to boot from the CD or UFD. During boot, select the key that overrides the boot sequence. The key varies depending on the BIOS.

   If the computer is a new computer with an unformatted hard drive, you can skip the hard drive preparation and begin copying Windows PE source files to the hard drive.

2. Format the hard drive by using DiskPart, and then set the partition as active. The active partition must be at least as large as the Windows PE image.

   For information about using DiskPart, see DiskPart Command-Line Options.

   Consider the following example:

   diskpart
   select disk 0
   clean
   create partition primary size=<insert size>
   select partition 1
   active
   format fs=ntfs
   assign letter c
   exit
   

Step 3: Copy Windows PE files to the hard drive

1. Use ImageX to apply the Windows PE image (Boot.wim) from the bootable media to the hard drive.

   Consider the following example, in which D is the drive letter for the media that contains ImageX and the Windows PE image:

   d:\imagex /apply d:\sources\boot.wim 1 c:
   

2. Copy the Boot directory from the bootable media to the root of the hard drive. Consider the following example:

   xcopy d:\boot\*.* /e /f c:\boot\
   

3. Copy the Bootmgr file, which has no file name extension, from the bootable media to the root of the hard drive. Consider the following example:

   copy d:\bootmgr c:
   

4. Delete the Boot Configuration Data (BCD) file that you copied from the bootable media. Consider the following example:

   del c:\boot\bcd
   

Step 4: Configure the BCD store

1. Create a new boot-configuration file by using BCDEdit. For more information about BCDEdit, see BCDEdit Command-Line Options.

   Consider the following example:

   bcdedit -createstore c:\boot\BCD
   bcdedit -store c:\boot\BCD -create {bootmgr} /d “Boot Manager”
   bcdedit -store c:\boot\BCD -set {bootmgr} device boot
   bcdedit -store c:\boot\BCD -create  /d “WINPE” -application osloader
   

2. In the following examples, replace <GUID> with the GUID returned by the previous command.

   bcdedit -store c:\boot\BCD -set <GUID> osdevice boot
   bcdedit -store c:\boot\BCD -set <GUID> device boot
   bcdedit -store c:\boot\BCD -set <GUID> path \windows\system32\boot\winload.exe
   bcdedit -store c:\boot\BCD -set <GUID> systemroot \windows
   bcdedit -store c:\boot\BCD -set <GUID> winpe yes
   bcdedit -store c:\boot\BCD -displayorder <GUID> -addlast
   

See Also

Tasks

Boot Windows PE from a RAM Disk