Preparing Windows PE

Half the job of installing the Windows 7 operating system or building disk images is starting the computer and preparing for installation. You use Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE) 3.0 to start computers, which is similar to using MS-DOS in the old days. Windows PE allows you to fully automate the preparation and installation process. This tutorial describes how to use, customize, and automate Windows PE for the purpose of installing Windows 7 in business environments.

Earlier versions of Windows PE, including Windows PE 2004 and Windows PE 2005, were available only to Software Assurance (SA) customers. Windows 7 installation is entirely based on Windows PE and imaging by using ImageX; therefore, Windows PE 3.0 is freely available as part of the Windows Automated Installation Kit (Windows AIK) 2.0. Windows PE is highly customizable. You can use the Windows PE User's Guide, included in the Windows AIK, to accomplish most tasks. This tutorial describes the most common ways to customize Windows PE, as well as how to start it in various scenarios.

In most circumstances, you should use Microsoft Deployment Toolkit 2010 (MDT 2010) to deploy Windows 7. In this case, you can use Deployment Workbench to customize Windows 7 and automatically generate images that you can use to start Windows PE with a variety of media. Although the information in this tutorial does describe how to customize Windows PE manually, Microsoft recommends that you use MDT 2010 to generate Windows PE images in most cases.