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Is bootable Windows PE Media distributable?

Answered Is bootable Windows PE Media distributable?

  • Thursday, May 10, 2012 8:53 AM
     
     
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    I am thinking about the CD I created using step 3 in this process:

    http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd349348(v=ws.10).aspx

    We use this CD when creating an image of a reference installation and when deploying the reference installation on to production machines. All well and good.

    We're looking for some way for our cutsomers to recover their machines in the field. We are planning to prompt them into creating their own back up media. Unfortunately, no matter how much we nag them some will undoubtedly be too impatient to bother, and then we will be expected to sort it out for them, even though they may be thousands of miles away with no proper internet access.

    I was planning to:

    1) Create a recovery partition on the machines containing a .wim image of the Windows drive WHEN ACTIVATED.

    2) Ship a PE Recovery CD with each machine.

    3) Include instructions on how to recover the Windows drive using imagex.

    The only thing is, I cannot find a definitive answer as to whether we are allowed to burn copies of the Windows PE media and ship it with our machines.

    Any comments on this recovery plan?

     

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  • Thursday, May 10, 2012 5:32 PM
     
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    You must have access to the OEM OPK tools set so that you can create your own version of WinPE. That Windows OPK set should have the license that allows you to create and redistribute WinPE images.

    Regards

    Milos

     
  • Thursday, May 10, 2012 11:21 PM
     
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    There are actually no differences between the Windows Automated Installation Kit and the OPK besides two minor things:

    WAIK - contains USMT 4.0, OPK does not.

    OPK - contains cab file packages to add the WinRE interface to a custom WinPE image.

    Considering this latter one is already included with each version of Windows 7 upon installation you don't even really need the OPK to create a WinRE disk, I always opted to use the one delivered within the OS, and customized that one, saved me a lot of time. But seeing as you actually plan to use imagex, either version will suffice.

    As a quick and simple answer to your question, you can create and distribute your Recovery Media to the clients.

    You could indeed create a WinRE cd, which would in turn would use the recovery image on the recovery partition to re-image the pc. Or alternatively you could place the WinRE image also on the hard-disk itself and allow the clients to boot into that by pressing a hot-key or initiate it from within Windows.

    Kind regards,

    Stephan Schwarz.

    If one of these posts answered your question or issue, please click on "Mark as answer".

    My Blog | Twitter: @Schwarz_Stephan | MCTS, MCITP, MCC.
    How to configure Windows RE/OEM Recovery Partition with MDT

     
  • Friday, May 11, 2012 7:21 AM
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    Hi,


    There are several methods to build a specific Windows PE solution. We can created a Bootable Windows PE Disk.


    For more detailed steps, please refer to Windows PE Walkthroughs.


    Hope this helps.

    Jeremy Wu

    TechNet Community Support