customizing WinPE

A Fabulous WinPE Resource: VistaPE

As I’ve learned to build various types of bootable CDs and UFDs with the Vista-based WinPE environment, I’ve also been working to learn more about its inner workings and capabilities. As I struggled to figure out how to add Windows Explorer and some kind of Web browser to a runtime WinPE image (which usually takes the form of a Windows image file named boot.wim or something similar) I discovered what might not unfairly be called the “ultimate Windows PE resource.” It’s a Web site that serves a very active and capable developer and user community called VistaPE.

Let me explain what makes VistaPE tick first and foremost, then explain what VistaPE has to offer. The foundation for VistaPE is a scripting and Windows build tool called WinBuilder. It works from either Windows XP or Vista to create boot disks (and in fact, incorporates WinPE 2.0 for Vista into the Vista side of that equation), but it goes way beyond what the basic Microsoft toolkit provides via imagex.exe and the other basic elements in their toolbox. VistaPE builds on this foundation to add significant applications and capabilities on top of the WinPE 2.0 kernel to support a more-or-less complete graphical user interface (GUI) environment. Thus, the VistaPE runtime environment–which is incredibly user-configurable and flexible, and continuously extended and expanded upon through a growing script library–is more like a “real Windows” than a basic command line interpreter (CLI) environment.

Here’s how I found VistaPE: In seeking to extend my WinPE skills and abilities, I’d started trying to research methods to include Windows Explorer in the WinPE environment after reading several postings online that (a) mentioned this could be done and (b) finding no concrete details on exactly how to do so. My basic computer science training told me that it would require mapping out the code dependencies from within Explorer to determine what other DLLs and executable elements were required to make the program run. I quickly discovered thereafter that some DLLs must be registered with Windows as well as present in the runtime environment to work properly, after a simple analysis with Mark Russinovich’s dllist utility failed to produce the desired results. That’s what led me back on the research trail and, ultimately, to the VistaPE Web site.

I knew I’d struck paydirt when, after downloading and installing WinBuilder and the VistaPE script library, I was able to produce this screenshot:

The VistaPE scripts in WinBuilder make adding Explorer a piece of cake

As it turns out, adding Explorer just barely begins to describe what VistPE can do within WinBuilder. It also provides an alternate and somewhat more functional graphic file system interface tool called BS Explorer 2, and even supports the Linux-inspired Grub4DOS boot management toolset.

But beyond the VistaPE Base toolset shown in the preceding screenshot, please note the other major checkbox elements in WinBuilder’s left-column pane:

• Addons: scripts and settings for common WinPE components (WSH, MDAC, HTA, WMI, and XML), plus a GUI for diskpart.exe, common dll-based libraries for Visual Basic and more, Internet Explorer 7, PE’s network configuration tool (PENetCfg), and lots more.
• Drivers: drivers required for chipsets, LAN interfaces, storage devices, and standard VGA graphics.
• Tweaks: elements to enhance the user interface, control various applications, manage graphic shells,…
• App: add-ins for a huge library of basic applications from antivirus, to file compression, to data recovery, and a great deal more.
• OtherOS: access to other OS tools and environments for multi-boot setups.
• Finalize: tools use to complete the construction of a Windows image (.wim) file from all the preceding VistaPE scripts (which include binary code as well as assembly instructions, so you can add executables right into the boot.wim base image)
• Virtual Test: lets you load and run your Windows image file in a virtual machine to see how (and if) it works as you want it to.
• Debug: used to mount and inspect .wim files and edit Registry hives to check and fix problems.

To me, VistaPE is an entirely new and wonderful world of capability and functionality that cries out for more study and improved understanding. I’ve already been able to use it to build much more powerful and capable boot images than I had been able to hand-craft on my own. But I can also see that there’s a great deal more going on here than immediately meets the eye, or falls readily into my grasp. If you dig into this environment, you’ll come to the same realizations equally quickly yourself. Please check it out soon!