Once you get MakePE where it needs to be, there are several Example CMD files that you can kick off. I recommend Example WinPE 5 x86.cmd. Make sure you Run as Administrator.
Tag Archives: MakePE
MakePE: ScriptsRW Customizations
I’ve spent a great deal of time working on MakePE and writing the scripts, so do me a favor and don’t edit them. They are intentionally generic so anyone should be able to build out WinPE.
But if absolutely hijack my work, then have a look in the MakePE\ScriptsRW directory. Keep in mind before you got started, there was only one file in here.
MakePE: SuperISO
The bad thing about being the WinPE Guy is all the USB Drives I have to keep for different WinPE Versions, Architectures, and builds.
I’ve had enough . . . so I decided to spend some time creating SuperPE.
But this blog post is about SuperISO right? Well it would look SuperBad if I labeled my USB Drive “SuperISO”, but we will get to that soon enough.
MakePE: Creating a Build Script
MakePE comes with several Example Build Script already included. These are in the root of MakePE. The image below contains the Example Build Scripts that I will release first. If you look at some of my other posts on MakePE, they may be named different, so don’t get hung up on what they are called.
You should create your own Build Scripts because when I make updates on GitHub to MakePE, I will be updating the Example Build Scripts, but you need to know what to do with them, that is where this post will come in. For starters I am going to detail the solo Example Build Scripts, marked above.
Each of these Example Build Scripts will build a single WinPE. Since Windows 10 is the hot thing, let’s look at one of these.
MakePE: Adding Extra Files to a WinPE ISO
MakePE supports this too. Just like adding Adding Extra Files to WinPE, the process is the same. If there are files you need added to all ISO’s that are created with WinPE, just add it to the MakePE\Optional\ExtraFilesISO\All directory.
If you have content that should only go in WinPE 5 x86 and x64, then place the files you want in MakePE\Optional\ExtraFilesISO\WinPE 5
MakePE will handle the rest.
MakePE: Adding WinPE Drivers
You should finally have a good WinPE up to now, and are ready to add Drivers. MakePE uses a flat directory for installing Drivers, and these should be created automatically for you.
If you look in MakePE\Optional\Drivers, you should see these directories.
Simply place your extracted Drivers in the appropriate WinPE. In the example below, the Surface Gigabit Ethernet Adapter Drivers were added to WinPE 5 x64\Microsoft. No worries about subdirectories, they are handled automatically. Additionally in this example, I extracted the drivers from the Dell WinPE 10 Driver Pack. Now the next time I run one of my Build Scripts, my Drivers will be added to WinPE
The additional benefit is that I can take these directories and import the complete WinPE Version Architecture directory into SCCM, allowing me to keep the same source for WinPE, WinRE, MDT, and SCCM.
MakePE: Adding MDT Deployment Share Support
You will need to add a Deployment Share to MakePE if you are going to want your Bootstrap.ini or LocationServer.xml.
If you are using your Deployment Server with MakePE, then just specify the path in the MakePE\ScriptsRW\MySettings.cmd and you are good to go (I have not tested with spaces in the path).
You can even specify a UNC Path (I have not tested with spaces in the path) to a Deployment Share.
Additionally, I use MakePE on a clean OS on a Virtual Machine that is not joined to the Domain. This keeps my MakePE Environment clean (from Policy and Agents). To keep the MDT step from throwing an error, I simply add a Net Use command in one of my Build Scripts and I will be prompted for credentials when I kick it off. No need to map a drive letter . . .
MakePE: Adding MDT Support
In my last post MakePE: Integrating a BasePE WIM with MDT, I have shown how you can use a BasePE.wim to replace the ADK WIM for MDT. So there may be some heads being scratched. The obvious is why add MDT Support in MakePE instead of just replacing the ADK WIM?
There are several reasons . . .
Windows Recovery Environment
Obviously since MDT 2013 Update 1 requires ADK 10, thus WinPE 10, you lose the ability to do some Recovery Environment features if the version of WinPE you are using does not match the OS. So for example, if your Enterprise is mixed (some Windows 7, some Windows 8.1, few Windows 10), you are only able to fully utilize the features on the Windows 10 clients.
Microsoft DaRT Tools
Same as Windows Recovery Environment . . . it needs to match.
Windows 7 Virtual PC
You can’t boot WinPE 5 or WinPE 10 from Windows 7 Virtual Machine. So how do you load an image then?
Custom WinRE.wim
Well replacing the WinRE.wim with a Windows 10 version on computers not running Windows 10 won’t work.
Anyway as you can see, it would be ideal if we could get MDT 2013 Update 1 working on all versions of WinPE. So here is how we do it.
Install MDT 2013 Update 1
Make sure install the latest bits. There are two versions of MDT 2013 Update 1. One released in August that had some major issues, and a second one released in September that had some major fixes. Choose wisely.
MakePE: Integrating a BasePE WIM with MDT
There are two different ways you can integrate MDT with what you have created with MakePE. In this post I’ll discuss how to use a BasePE WIM within MDT and let MDT handle the Drivers.
Pick the Correct BasePE
This will depend on the version of MDT you are using. If you are using MDT 2013 Update 1, then you should be on ADK for Windows 10, so you will need WinPE 10. MDT 2013 uses ADK for Windows 8.1 and WinPE 5. I did not write in support in MakePE for any other MDT versions, but you should still be able to use WinPE 3 if necessary with similar steps.
If you have built out the WinPE versions that you need then it is as simple as going into MakePE\Builds\WIMBasePE to find them. On my system I will need WinPE 10 versions.
MakePE: Customizing the Wallpaper
I’m kinda stepping out of order here, but I had a question from a MakePE tester about the Background. For starters, there are 4 different files used in the different versions of WinPE. If you include add these files to MakePE\Optional\Wallpaper, they will be applied to your WinPE automatically. I’ll go ahead and leave in the standard blue that I use when I release MakePE and you can decide what to do with them.
You can change these files to whatever color you want
David Segura 