Using Windows PE with Microsoft Deployment Toolkit

MDT 2010 provides an infrastructure solution for automating the deployment of Windows 7. Part of the infrastructure is the support for automatically customizing and building Windows PE images. You manage the actual process of building the Windows PE image files by using wizards and scripting, greatly simplifying the process of adding device drivers and packages, automating settings, and prepping and capturing the deployment image.

You use Deployment Workbench to manage most operations regarding the creation and deployment of Windows 7 images and applications. This scripted environment is able to dynamically update Windows PE as updates are made to the Windows 7 distribution.

Previous tutorial, "Developing Disk Images," describes how to use Deployment Workbench to create deployment shares. Deployment shares automatically generate Windows PE images when you update them. You can customize a deployment share's Windows PE image and choose which types of Windows PE images the deployment share generates when you update it. For more information on the Windows PE customization options available in MDT 2010, see the section titled "Updating the Deployment Share" previous tutorial "Developing Disk Images".

Conclusion

Windows PE 3.0 is the only preinstallation platform for installing Windows 7. Windows PE is publicly available in the Windows AIK.

You can approach using Windows PE in two ways. You can customize it through MDT 2010, which is the most appropriate approach if you're using MDT 2010 to deploy Windows 7. Alternatively, you can customize Windows PE manually by using the tools available in the Windows AIK. You can customize Windows PE to fit almost any deployment scenario by adding device drivers and packages, scripts and HTAs, and so on.

You can also start Windows PE in multiple ways. First, you can burn your custom Windows PE image to a CD or DVD and then start the computer using the disk. Second, you can put the Windows PE image on a bootable UFD and then use the UFD to start the computer. Last (and the most convenient option), you can add the custom Windows PE boot image to a Windows Deployment Services server and then start computers remotely.