HP 370971-004 Microsoft Windows Preinstallation Environment, Overview of the Microsoft Windows Preinstallation Environment, Windows PE build process

Microsoft Windows Preinstallation Environment

In this section
Overview of the Microsoft Windows Preinstallation Environment....................................................................	5
Windows PE build process ........................................................................................................................	5
Booting Windows PE from a USB drive key .................................................................................................	7

Overview of the Microsoft Windows Preinstallation Environment

Microsoft® Windows® Preinstallation Environment 2005 is a small footprint of the Microsoft® Windows® Server 2003 environment that replaces MS-DOS and enables you to run tools in a 32-bit Windows® environment. However, Windows® PE 2005 is based on the Windows® Server 2003 SP1 kernel running in protected mode. Therefore, only a subset of features and APIs are available in this environment. This document is applicable to Windows® PE 2005 only. It is not backward compatible with previous versions of Windows® PE.

Windows® PE enables you to install the Windows® operating system, establish a connection with network servers, and perform hardware configuration using the SmartStart Scripting Toolkit. You can use Windows® PE to customize and configure your servers before the operating system is installed.

A bootable image of Windows® PE is available from Microsoft® through the Open Value program. You can also obtain tools, scripts, and documentation that enable you to create and customize your own Windows® PE image. However, customers are required to have the Microsoft EA or SAM to gain access to Windows® PE. For more information, refer to the Microsoft® Windows® PE website (http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/programs/sa/support/winpe.mspx).

Windows PE build process

Microsoft® provides a collection of scripts and tools to help you build your own Windows® PE image. You must customize your Windows® PE image to include the latest HP drivers and the SmartStart Scripting Toolkit utilities, data files, and customized scripts. The latest ProLiant drivers are available on the HP support website (http://www.hp.com/support/files).

The following sections, "Building a Windows PE base image (on page 5)" and "Customizing the Windows PE image using the Toolkit driver component (on page 6)," give an overview of the Windows® PE build process with HP drivers and tools and should be executed in the Windows® command prompt (CMD.EXE) environment.

Building a Windows PE base image

This section describes how to build a Windows® PE base image. The base image can then be customized as described in "Customizing the Windows PE image using the Toolkit driver component (on page 6)." For detailed information about customizing a Windows® PE base image, refer to the Windows® PE documentation.

Microsoft Windows Preinstallation Environment 5