Windows_PE

Automatic build & customization of WinPE

• Windows_PE
  • Basic
  • Customization
  • Basic commands
  • Drivers
  • Applications
  • Files
  • Enabled components
    • Inactive Components
  • Documentation
  • Full Windows UEFI Boot schematic of Windows PE

Basic

• New-WinPE
• New-FolderStructure
  • change bloated structure to MDT-based structure
  • Remove root language folders and sources
  • Add MDT-structure and move boot.wim to Deploy\Boot
• Mount-WinPE
• Add-FilesToWinPE
  • Loop over contents source\_winpe
• Add-AppsToWinPE
  • Download applications (portable) and installs to target path
• Add-OptionalComponents
• Add-BootDrivers
  • none, all, hp, dell, lenovo, vmware
  • Release will contain 'all'
• Add-Updates
  • Disabled
• Invoke-WinPEcleanup
  • Disabled
• Get-HashOfContents
  • Disabled due to permsssion issue in boot.wim system files
• Dismount-Image
• Add-FilesToIso
  • Loop over contents source\_iso
• Set-BCDData
  • Required due to folder structure change
• New-ISO

Screenshot after <15sec boot:

Customization

Basic commands

• Mount
  Mount-WindowsImage -ImagePath "$ISO_root\Deploy\Boot\boot.wim" -index 1 -Path "$WinPE_root"
• Unmount
  Dismount-WindowsImage -Path "$WinPE_root" -Save
• ToISO
  makeWinPEMedia.cmd /ISO $workingDirectory\WinPE_$arch workingDirectory\WinPE_$arch.iso

Drivers

• Add-WindowsDriver -Path "$WinPE_root" -Driver ".\source\Drivers\$branding" -verbose -Recurse"

Applications

• Launchbar
  • Quicklaunch for apps
• DeploymentMonitoringTool.exe (included in source)
  • Get info about current machine
• CMTrace_amd64.exe (included in source)
  • Read MDT and other logs
• Process Explorer
• 7-Zip
• Powershell 7.2.2+
• Notepad++
• DoubleCMD
  • File Explorer as Explorer.exe is unavailable
• Missing executables and added:
  • label
  • logman
  • runas
  • sort
  • tzutil
  • Utilman
  • clip
  • eventcreate
  • forfiles
  • setx
  • timeout
  • waitfor
  • where
  • whoami.exe

Files

• WinPE (X:)
  • Add to $workingDirectory\WinPE_$arch\mount folder.
  • Included files in source\_winpe\Windows\System32 to be added to $workingDirectory\WinPE_$arch\mount\Windows\System32
  • CMTrace_amd64.exe
  • DeploymentMonitoringTool.exe
  • LaunchBar_x64.exe
  • launchbar.ini
  • test.bat
  • winpeshl.ini
• ISO
  • Add to "$workingDirectory\WinPE_$arch\media" folder

Enabled components

Inactive Components

Documentation

• WinPE Optional Components

Full Windows UEFI Boot schematic of Windows PE

%%{init: {'theme': 'dark', 'themeVariables': { 'darkMode': 'true'}}}%%

flowchart TB
    WR[Winlogon.exe reads HKLM\System\Setup\CmdLine:<br> winpeshl.exe]
    WP[winpeshl.exe runs]
    SE{%SYSTEMDRIVE%\sources\setup.exe exist?}
    RE[Run Setup.exe]
    RW[Read winpeshl.ini]
    AP{Winpeshl.ini exist and has valid content?}

    A1[Run App1.exe with parameter /parameter1]

    MD{MDT is included?}
    RS[Run <br>cmd /k %SYSTEMROOT\system32\startnet.cmd]
    SN[Startnet.cmd: <br>wpeinit.exe]

    RA[Run applications as specified in winpeshl.ini<br><br><i>Run app in order of appearance <br>Starts when the previous app has terminated.</i>]

    UE{Unattend.xml exist?}
    UX[Unattend.xml:<br>RunSynchronousCommand<br> wscript.exe X:\Deploy\Scripts\LiteTouch.wsf]
    WI[wpeinit.exe]
    BD[bddrun.exe]
    LT[LiteTouch.wsf]
    LP{Check if there are any Task Sequences in progress <br>c:\minint and/or <br>c:\_SMSTaskSequence\TSEnv.dat}
    ET[Execute Task Sequence]
    NT[New Task Sequence]
    BS[Bootstrap.ini]
    CS[CustomSettings.ini from DeployRoot]
    WW[Welcome Wizard]
    DW[Deployment Wizard]
    RT[Run Task Sequence]

    PO[POST]
    LF[Launch UEFI Firmware]
    BI[Get Boot Info from SRAM]
    LB[Launch Windows Boot Manager]
    BM[EFI-BOOT-BOOTX64]
    RB[Read BCD-file]
    WL[Launch Boot Loader<br>Boot.wim:<br>Winload.efi]
    LO[Load HAL, Registry, Boot Drivers]
    NL[Ntoskrnl.exe]
    SM[SMSS.exe]
    W3[Win32k.sys]
    WN[Winlogon.exe]

subgraph UEFI [UEFI Boot]
    PO ==> LF
    LF ==> BI
    BI ==> LB
    subgraph WBM [Windows Boot Manager]
        LB ==> BM
        BM ==> RB
    end
    RB ==> WL
    subgraph WBL [Windows Boot Loader]
        WL ==> LO
    end
    subgraph KRN [Windows NT OS Kernel]
        LO ==> NL
        NL ==> SM
        SM -.-> W3
        SM ==> WN
    end

end
WN==> WR
subgraph WinPE
    WR ==> WP ==> SE
    SE ==> |yes| RE
    SE ==> |no | RW
    RW ==> AP
    AP ==> |yes| RA

    MD ==> |yes| BD
    MD ==> |no| Error
    RA ==>| %SYSTEMDRIVE%\Apps\App1.exe, /parameter1 | A1
    RA ==>| %SYSTEMROOT%\System32\bddrun.exe, /bootstrap | MD
    AP ==> |no | RS

subgraph cmd [cmd.exe]
    RS ==> SN
end

subgraph MDT [MDT]
    SN -.-> WI
    BD ==> WI
    WI -.-> UE
    UE ==> |yes| UX
    UX ==> LT ==> LP
    LP ==> |no| NT
    LP ==> |yes| ET
    NT ==> |ZTIGather| BS
    BS ==> WW
    WW ==> CS
    CS ==> DW
    DW ==> RT
    RT ==> ET
end

end
UX -...- |ERROR| cmd