Windows Pe 2.0

Network Booting

Start

We'll need several things:

• What microsoft call technician pc that is just a computer with an installed waik. I have used xp pro with the waik version mentioned on the link.
• A tfptd server. I used tftpd32.exe on the same machine.
• A windowspe image, basically a .wim file with some files that will allow it to be booted and loaded into memory.
• A PXE compatable network card, these days most of them are.
• Once we have a pc with waik installed, we have to open the waik command console. So we go to start, programs, Microsoft Windows AIK, Windows Pe Tools command prompt.

This, will lead you to a command promtp that in my computer shows c:\waik\Tools\PeTools. Bear on mind that I forced the installation to be on the c:waik folder instead of the default folder.

Using the following link http://www.etherboot.org/wiki/winpe ( I recommend it I believe is far better than mine),I have created a .cmd file with the following contents

File can be grabbed from here aqui, then change the extension to cmd

mkdir C:\tftp

call copype.cmd x86 C:\Tftp\Boot (note that here the prompt changes to c:\tftp\Boot)

move ISO\boot\boot.sdi boot.sdi

imagex /mount winpe.wim 1 mount

copy mount\Windows\Boot\PXE\pxeboot.n12 pxeboot.n12

copy mount\Windows\Boot\PXE\bootmgr.exe bootmgr.exe

copy mount\Windows\System32\bcdedit.exe bcdedit.exe

xcopy /s mount\Windows\Boot\Fonts c:\tftp\Boot\Fonts

bcdedit -createstore BCD

set BCDEDIT=bcdedit -store BCD

%BCDEDIT% -create {ramdiskoptions} -d "Ramdisk options"

%BCDEDIT% -set {ramdiskoptions} ramdisksdidevice boot

%BCDEDIT% -set {ramdiskoptions} ramdisksdipath \Boot\boot.sdi

for /f "tokens=3" %%a in ('%BCDEDIT% -create -d "Windows PE" -application osloader') do set GUID=%%a

%BCDEDIT% -set %GUID% systemroot \Windows

%BCDEDIT% -set %GUID% detecthal Yes

%BCDEDIT% -set %GUID% winpe Yes

%BCDEDIT% -set %GUID% osdevice ramdisk=[boot]\Boot\winpe.wim,{ramdiskoptions}

%BCDEDIT% -set %GUID% device ramdisk=[boot]\Boot\winpe.wim,{ramdiskoptions}

%BCDEDIT% -create {bootmgr} -d "Windows Boot Manager"

%BCDEDIT% -set {bootmgr} timeout 30

%BCDEDIT% -set {bootmgr} displayorder %GUID%

del /Q bcdedit.exe

del /Q etfsboot.com

imagex /unmount mount

rmdir /Q mount

rmdir /S /Q ISO

As I mentioned before, these files can be put into a .cmd file, ej. createimagepxe.cmd, leave it on c:\waik\tools\petools folder (modify the path should your waik be installed somewhere else) and run it from there.

This should create a c:\tftp folder that in turn has a Boot folder with the following files

Once we are done with this, we got to install and configure tpftd32.exe, whe you open it, the working folder (current directory) should point to c:\tftp, besides, on the dhcp server tab, you'll have to enter the boot file, in this case is pxeboot.n12, and the ip addresses you are going to use.

In my pc and to be sure of the success of the experiment I set the nic with fixed address fo 192.168.0.1 (it ain't the one on the drawing) and made an address pool of 4, from x.x.x.2 tox.x.x.6 .The important thing here is the boot file. You'll see on different tutorials, different file names. This Im using works withouth having to press the F12 key to start the process. This has its pros and cons, depending on the scenario you have. For my test it came handy. This is the configuration I used, hit settins

As you see pxe option is not marked but Option Negotiation is. This way it worked for me. Theres not much more to say. Once the image and companion files are on the appropiate folder and with the tpftd running in background it should work smoothly. It takes a while to be loaded, it's got to transfer about 200mb and load them into ram, but I think it' worth the while. As usage scenarios, I guess that in combinations with imagex it could transfer and implement a working image system on a computer that either is empty or with so many problems that a reinstall is advisable.