In an earlier article, I discussed how to create a Windows PE disk using the Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK) for Windows® 8 and Windows Assessment and Deployment Kit (ADK) for Windows® 8.1 Update. Like all things in life, the information changes and that is why I try to do my best to update the information as best I can, plus provide you with dates on when I wrote an article to help you gauge the relevancy of the topic.
The cool, thing about using this tool is that it allows you to do some basic troubleshooting or help deploy a custom image. I have used this tool to boot a USB drive to inspect a system that would not load the OS, as I could review the event logs, load the registry hive to look at the system to verify things and also was able to fix a master boot record. Additionally, I have also used the tool to create an image, where I installed other applications or created specific settings for my environment.
I have written about this topic a few times, so it should show how helpful the tool can be when you are doing basic troubleshooting or other related work tasks. In Windows 10, it is incredibly easy now to create this tool. Here are the steps (WinPE: Create USB Bootable drive) to install and create the tool:
To install the Windows ADK, it is recommended that you first go to Get Windows ADK for Windows 10 for more details on these tools and then you can go to the main site Download the Windows ADK to grab the WIN PE tool.
Select the following options:
- Deployment Tools: includes the Deployment and Imaging Tools Environment.
- Windows Preinstallation Environment: includes the files used to install Windows PE.
- Install Windows PE
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Start the Deployment and Imaging Tools Environment
as an administrator. (Right Click)![]()
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Create a working copy of the Windows PE files. (Specify either x86, amd64, or arm as in my example below I am using x64 bit)
copype amd64 C:\WinPE_amd64
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Install Windows PE to the USB flash drive, specifying the drive letter:
MakeWinPEMedia /UFD C:\WinPE_amd64 F:
Now you have a bootable Windows PE disk that is like a little version of Windows that will allow you to boot a free OS to do basic troubleshooting or capture/deploy a custom image quickly.
As usual, I hope this information helps you.