UPDATE – new much improved script here.

Having a WDS server with a bootable Windows PE instance is extremely useful. Got a server into a reboot loop by deleting a driver you were sure was inactive? Run out of space on C: and need to image and repartition? OS won’t boot but you need to salvage files? You get the picture. They key though, is making sure you’ve integrated all the network and mass storage controller drivers your hardware will need.

One of the most useful tools that’s not included in the image by default is ImageX – the tool for reading and writing WIM images. Pair this up with the GUI wrapper GImageX and you’ve got yourself a free replacement for Ghost.

Once you’ve downloaded WAIK, making a Windows PE build is a pain – there’s so much messy syntax to get right. Since you’re likely to keep needing to rebuild it to add more drivers, it’s a good idea to write a script to rebuild it from scratch each time. Here’s my build_pe_amd64.cmd:

set SOURCE=C:\WINPE_DRIVERS
set PATH=%PATH%;C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\;C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\%PROCESSOR_ARCHITECTURE%
set PATH=%PATH%;C:\Program Files\Windows AIK\Tools\Servicing
del c:\temp\pe_amd64\ISO\sources\boot.wim
del c:\temp\pe_amd64\winpe_amd64.iso
rd /s /q c:\temp\pe_amd64
call copype.cmd amd64 c:\temp\pe_amd64
dism /Mount-Wim /WimFile:c:\temp\pe_amd64\winpe.wim /Index:1 /MountDir:c:\temp\pe_amd64\mount
dism /image:c:\temp\pe_amd64\mount /Add-Package /PackagePath:"%ProgramFiles%\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\amd64\WinPE_FPs\winpe-scripting.cab"
dism /image:c:\temp\pe_amd64\mount /Add-Package /PackagePath:"%ProgramFiles%\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\amd64\WinPE_FPs\en-us\winpe-scripting_en-us.cab"
dism /image:c:\temp\pe_amd64\mount /Add-Package /PackagePath:"%ProgramFiles%\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\amd64\WinPE_FPs\winpe-wmi.cab"
dism /image:c:\temp\pe_amd64\mount /Add-Package /PackagePath:"%ProgramFiles%\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\amd64\WinPE_FPs\en-us\winpe-wmi_en-us.cab"
dism /image:c:\temp\pe_amd64\mount /Add-Package /PackagePath:"%ProgramFiles%\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\amd64\WinPE_FPs\winpe-mdac.cab"
dism /image:c:\temp\pe_amd64\mount /Add-Package /PackagePath:"%ProgramFiles%\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\amd64\WinPE_FPs\en-us\winpe-mdac_en-us.cab"
dism /image:c:\temp\pe_amd64\mount /Add-Package /PackagePath:"%ProgramFiles%\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\amd64\WinPE_FPs\WinPE-HTA.cab"
dism /image:c:\temp\pe_amd64\mount /Add-Package /PackagePath:"%ProgramFiles%\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\amd64\WinPE_FPs\en-us\WinPE-HTA_en-us.cab"
dism /image:c:\temp\pe_amd64\mount /Add-Driver /driver:%SOURCE%\common\vmxnet3\vmxnet3ndis5.inf
dism /image:c:\temp\pe_amd64\mount /Add-Driver /driver:%SOURCE%\x64\pvscsi\pvscsi.inf
dism /image:c:\temp\pe_amd64\mount /Add-Driver /driver:%SOURCE%\x64\perc4esi\oemsetup.inf
dism /image:c:\temp\pe_amd64\mount /Add-Driver /driver:%SOURCE%\x64\lsi_sas\lsi_sas.inf /forceunsigned
dism /image:c:\temp\pe_amd64\mount /Add-Driver /driver:%SOURCE%\x64\nc373i_ris\b06nd.inf
dism /image:c:\temp\pe_amd64\mount /Add-Driver /driver:%SOURCE%\x64\sa_5x6x\hpcisss.inf
dism /image:c:\temp\pe_amd64\mount /Add-Driver /driver:%SOURCE%\x64\sa_p400\hpcissx2.inf
dism /image:c:\temp\pe_amd64\mount /Add-Driver /driver:%SOURCE%\x64\yk62\yk62x64.inf
copy "%ProgramFiles%\Windows AIK\Tools\PETools\amd64\bootsect.exe" c:\temp\pe_amd64\mount\Windows
copy /y %SOURCE%\common\*.cmd c:\temp\pe_amd64\mount\Windows\System32
copy "%SOURCE%\x64\Tools\*.*" c:\temp\pe_amd64\mount\Windows\System32
copy "%ProgramFiles%\Windows AIK\Tools\amd64\*.*" c:\temp\pe_amd64\mount\Windows\System32
md c:\temp\pe_amd64\mount\scripts
::script for launching my unattended OS installer
copy \\myserver\unattended\scripts\init.vbs c:\temp\pe_amd64\mount\scripts
dism /Unmount-Wim /MountDir:c:\temp\pe_amd64\mount /commit
imagex /export c:\temp\pe_amd64\winpe.wim 1 c:\temp\pe_amd64\ISO\sources\boot.wim
::uncomment the following line to build a bootable ISO image
::oscdimg -n -bc:\temp\pe_amd64\etfsboot.com c:\temp\pe_amd64\ISO c:\temp\pe_amd64\winpe_amd64.iso
ren c:\temp\pe_amd64\ISO\sources\boot.wim boot_amd64.wim
WDSUTIL /Verbose /Progress /Replace-Image /Image:"Microsoft Windows PE 3.0 (x64)" /ImageType:Boot /Architecture:x64 /ReplacementImage /Name:"Microsoft Windows PE 3.0 (x64)" /ImageFile:"c:\temp\pe_amd64\ISO\sources\boot_amd64.wim"
ren c:\temp\pe_amd64\ISO\sources\boot_amd64.wim boot.wim
cd\scripts