Network-booting Windows PE

Windows PE (WinPE) is the Windows Preinstallation Environment, used for installation and repair of Windows computers.

Using iPXE and wimboot, you can boot into Windows PE via HTTP. You can then connect to a standard Windows file server to install a full version of Windows to the local hard disk (or to an iSCSI target).

Booting Windows PE via HTTP is much faster than using traditional TFTP-based methods such as Windows Deployment Services (WDS). On a Gigabit Ethernet network, it should take less than two seconds to download a typical 200MB Windows PE image.

Windows PE is available as part of the Windows Assessment and Deployment Toolkit (ADK) for current versions of Windows, or as part of the Windows Automated Installation Kit (AIK) for earlier versions of Windows.

The Windows Assessment and Deployment Toolkit (ADK) is compatible with Windows Server 2012, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, and Vista.

Download and install the ADK onto a working Windows system (the “technician computer”).

From the Start menu, choose All Programs → Windows Kits → Windows ADK → Deployment and Imaging Tools Environment. This should open a command prompt window. Create 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows PE:

  mkdir C:\temp\winpe
  copype x86 C:\temp\winpe\x86
  copype amd64 C:\temp\winpe\amd64

Copy the contents of C:\temp\winpe to a directory on your web server (e.g. /var/www/winpe for Apache, or C:\inetpub\wwwroot\winpe for IIS).

Download the latest version of wimboot and extract the file wimboot to the same directory on your web server.

Create a text file boot.ipxe in the same directory on your web server, containing:

  #!ipxe
  
  cpuid --ext 29 && set arch amd64 || set arch x86
  kernel wimboot
  initrd ${arch}/media/bootmgr                     bootmgr
  initrd ${arch}/media/Boot/BCD                    BCD
  initrd ${arch}/media/Boot/Fonts/segmono_boot.ttf segmono_boot.ttf
  initrd ${arch}/media/Boot/Fonts/segoe_slboot.ttf segoe_slboot.ttf
  initrd ${arch}/media/Boot/Fonts/wgl4_boot.ttf    wgl4_boot.ttf
  initrd ${arch}/media/Boot/boot.sdi               boot.sdi
  initrd ${arch}/media/sources/boot.wim            boot.wim
  boot

The Windows Automated Installation Kit (AIK) is compatible with Windows 7, Windows Server 2008, Vista, and Windows Server 2003.

Download and install the AIK onto a working Windows system (the “technician computer”).

From the Start menu, choose All Programs → Microsoft Windows AIK → Deployment Tools Command Prompt. This should open a command prompt window. Create 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows PE:

  mkdir C:\temp\winpe
  copype x86 C:\temp\winpe\x86
  copype amd64 C:\temp\winpe\amd64

Copy the contents of C:\temp\winpe to a directory on your web server (e.g. /var/www/winpe for Apache, or C:\inetpub\wwwroot\winpe for IIS).

Download the latest version of wimboot and extract the file wimboot to the same directory on your web server.

Create a text file boot.ipxe in the same directory on your web server, containing:

  #!ipxe
  
  cpuid --ext 29 && set arch amd64 || set arch x86
  kernel wimboot
  initrd ${arch}/ISO/bootmgr       bootmgr
  initrd ${arch}/ISO/boot/bcd      BCD
  initrd ${arch}/ISO/boot/boot.sdi boot.sdi
  initrd ${arch}/winpe.wim         boot.wim
  boot

Boot using iPXE from the URL of your boot.ipxe script, e.g. http://my.web.server/winpe/boot.ipxe. You should see iPXE download and boot Windows PE via HTTP:

You can now connect to a Windows (or Samba) file server to run the Windows installer. For example, if you have copied the contents of your Windows installation DVD-ROM to \\myserver\installers\win7, then you can start the installer using:

  net use \\myserver\installers
  \\myserver\installers\win7\setup.exe

You can customise your Windows PE images using the ImageX and DISM tools, which are part of the Windows ADK (or AIK). A Linux version of imagex is also available as part of the wimlib package.

You can customise your Windows PE image so that it automatically connects to a file server and runs the Windows installer.

Create a text file install.bat containing the commands needed to connect to your file server and start the installer:

  wpeinit
  net use \\myserver\installers
  \\myserver\installers\win7\setup.exe

Create a text file winpeshl.ini instructing Windows PE to run your install.bat file:

  [LaunchApps]
  "%SYSTEMDRIVE%\install.bat"

Use ImageX to add these files to the Windows PE image:

  imagex /mountrw C:\temp\winpe\amd64\media\sources\boot.wim 1 C:\temp\winpe\amd64\mount
  copy /y install.bat C:\temp\winpe\amd64\mount\
  copy /y winpeshl.ini C:\temp\winpe\amd64\mount\Windows\System32\
  imagex /unmount /commit C:\temp\winpe\amd64\mount

Copy the updated boot.wim file to your web server. When you boot into Windows PE, it should now automatically connect to your file server and run the Windows installer.

You can customise your Windows PE image to include drivers for your network card, if your card is not already supported by Windows PE.

Download the drivers for your network card, and extract the driver to C:\temp\winpe\drivers. If you are using the ADK then you will need to download a driver compatible with Windows 8; if you are using the AIK then you will need a driver compatible with Windows 7.

Use ImageX and DISM to add this driver to your Windows PE image:

  imagex /mountrw C:\temp\winpe\amd64\media\sources\boot.wim 1 C:\temp\winpe\amd64\mount
  dism /image:C:\temp\winpe\amd64\mount /add-driver /driver:c:\temp\winpe\drivers /recurse
  imagex /unmount /commit C:\temp\winpe\amd64\mount