WinPE: Install on a Hard Drive (Flat Boot or Non-RAM)

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Applies To: Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2012 R2

Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE) is a minimal operating system where you can prepare a PC for installation, deployment, and servicing of Windows. Here's how to download and install it to an internal or external hard drive.

These instructions show how to set up a basic Windows PE installation that runs from the drive. This can sometimes give you better performance than booting from memory, and can help you run Windows PE on PCs or virtual environments with low memory. This procedure is also known as a non-RAMDISK boot, or a flat boot.

Note

When Windows PE is running from the drive, you must turn off the PC before disconnecting the drive to avoid losing your work.

Install the Windows ADK

Create a Set of Either 32-bit or 64-bit Windows PE Files

  1. Click Start, and type deployment. Right-click Deployment and Imaging Tools Environment and then select Run as administrator.

  2. In the Deployment and Imaging Tools Environment, copy the Windows PE files for the PCs you want to boot.

    The 64-bit version of Windows PE can boot 64-bit UEFI and 64-bit BIOS PCs:

    copype amd64 C:\WinPE_amd64

    The 32-bit version of Windows PE can boot 32-bit UEFI, 32-bit BIOS, and 64-bit BIOS PCs:

    copype x86 C:\WinPE_x86

Create a Working Directory for Windows PE Files

  1. Click Start, and type deployment. Right-click Deployment and Imaging Tools Environment and then select Run as administrator.

  2. From the Deployment and Imaging Tools Environment, create a working directory for the Windows PE files.

    copype amd64 C:\WinPE_amd64

Install Windows PE to the Media

  1. Use DiskPart to prepare the partitions.

Note

The following commands prepare a USB hard drive that can boot on either a BIOS-based or UEFI-based PC.
On UEFI-based PCs, Windows PE requires a boot partition formatted using the FAT32 file format, which only supports file sizes up to 4 GB. We recommend creating a separate partition on the drive, formatted using NTFS, so that you can store Windows images and other large files. 

    diskpart
    list disk
    select <disk number>
    clean
    rem === Create the Windows PE partition. ===
    create partition primary size=2000
    format quick fs=fat32 label="Windows PE"
    assign letter=P
    active
    rem === Create a data partition. ===
    create partition primary
    format fs=ntfs quick label="Other files"
    assign letter=O
    list vol
    exit

where *\<disk number\>* is the listed number of the external USB hard drive.

  1. Apply the Windows PE image to the hard drive.

    dism /Apply-Image /ImageFile:"C:\WinPE_amd64\media\sources\boot.wim" /Index:1 /ApplyDir:P:\

  2. Set up the boot files.

    BCDboot P:\Windows /s P: /f ALL

Note

Ignore any warning messages that say "Warning: Resume application not found."

Boot to Windows PE

  1. Connect the device (internal or external USB hard drive) into the PC you want to work on.

  2. Turn on the PC, and use the boot menus to select the Windows PE drive. Typically this requires pressing a hardware button or a key, such as the Esc key.

Note

For UEFI-based PCs, you might need to find an option to manually select the UEFI boot files, for example, USBDrive01\EFI\BOOT\BOOTX64.EFI. 

Windows PE starts automatically. After the command window appears, the wpeinit command runs automatically. This might take a few minutes.

Troubleshooting

  • If the PC does not boot, try the following steps in sequence, and try to boot the PC after each step:

    1. For external USB drives, try inserting the drive into a different USB port. Avoid using USB hubs or cables, because they might not be detected during the boot sequence. Avoid USB 3.0 ports if the firmware does not contain native support for USB 3.0.

    2. If your PC requires drivers to boot, such as storage drivers or video drivers, or if your driver requires changes to the registry, add the driver to the Windows PE image. For more info, see WinPE: Mount and Customize.

    3. Update the firmware of the PC to the latest version.

  • For tips on connecting to a network, see WinPE Network Drivers: Initializing and adding drivers.

Running Windows Setup from Windows PE

See Also

Tasks

WinPE: Create USB Bootable drive
WinPE: Mount and Customize
WinPE: Boot in UEFI or legacy BIOS mode

Reference

Windows Setup Supported Platforms and Cross-Platform Deployments

Other Resources

WinPE for Windows 8: Windows PE 5.0