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MKWINPEIMG(1)			  User Commands 		   MKWINPEIMG(1)

NAME
     mkwinpeimg - Make a customized bootable image of Windows PE

SYNOPSIS
     mkwinpeimg [OPTIONS] IMAGE

DESCRIPTION
     mkwinpeimg  is  able to make a bootable image of Windows PE by taking files
     from a mounted Windows installation ISO  image  (Vista  or  later)  or  the
     mounted  ISO image for the Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) or the
     WAIK supplement.  The --windows-dir and  --waik-dir  options  are	used  to
     specify  the  locations  of  these  mounted ISOs.	You only need one or the
     other.  The files that mkwinpeimg	will  retrieve	are  boot.wim,	bootmgr,
     boot.sdi,	and  bcd.  If making an ISO image, the file etfsboot.com is also
     retrieved.  Microsoft owns the rights to these files and they are not  dis-
     tributed with wimlib.

     mkwinpeimg can make two types of bootable images.	The default is to make a
     bootable  disk image.  The image is not partitioned and is formatted into a
     FAT filesystem.  syslinux(1) is required to make this type of image, as  it
     is  used  to chainload bootmgr. Also, mtools(1) is required so that the FAT
     filesystem can be created without root privileges.

     The other type of bootable image that mkwinpeimg can make is a bootable ISO
     image.  To make this type of image, give the --iso option.   mkisofs(1)  is
     required  to make this type of image.  In --iso mode, you can specify IMAGE
     as "-" to write the ISO image to standard output.

     If you make a disk image, you could put it on a USB drive, and if you  make
     an  ISO image, you could put it on a CD.  In addition, both types of images
     can be loaded by the SYSLINUX or PXELINUX	bootloaders  using  the  MEMDISK
     module.

     Windows PE itself is contained in the boot.wim file.  mkwinpeimg can modify
     this file before embedding it in a bootable image.  The most useful modifi-
     cation  is to specify an executable or batch file for Windows PE to execute
     as soon as it starts up.  Use the --start-script  FILE  option  to  specify
     such  a file.  You may also add arbitrary files to boot.wim by putting them
     in a directory, then specifying the --overlay  DIR  option.   However,  for
     more  extensive  modifications,  consider modifying the boot.wim file sepa-
     rately using wimmountrw(1) or wimupdate(1), then providing it to mkwinpeimg
     using the --wim option.

     mkwinpeimg can also make only a modified boot.wim, rather than  a	bootable
     ISO or disk image, if the --only-wim option is given.

OPTIONS
     -i, --iso
	   Make an ISO image instead of a disk image.

     -o, --only-wim
	   Make neither a disk image nor an ISO image; instead, only make a mod-
	   ified boot.wim file.

     -W, --windows-dir=DIR
	   Use	DIR  as the location of the mounted Windows installation ISO im-
	   age.  If neither --windows-dir nor --waik-dir is specified, then  the
	   script  looks for the mounted ISO in the following default locations:
	   /mnt/windows, /mnt/windows7, /mnt/windows8, and /mnt/windows10.

     -A, --waik-dir=DIR
	   Get the boot files and boot.wim from the ISO of the Windows Automated
	   Installation Kit mounted on DIR instead of from a  Windows  installa-
	   tion ISO.  This also works if the mounted ISO is for the WAIK supple-
	   ment rather than the WAIK itself.

     -s, --start-script=FILE
	   Add	FILE  to the root directory of Windows PE image and adjust \Win-
	   dows\System32\winpeshl.ini to execute FILE when Windows PE starts up.

     -w, --wim=WIM
	   Use WIM as the "boot.wim" file.  This defaults to the appropriate WIM
	   file from the Windows ISO, WAIK, or WAIK supplement.

     -O, --overlay=DIR
	   Adds all the files in DIR to the Windows PE image.

     -t, --tmp-dir=DIR
	   Use DIR for temporary files.  Defaults to a directory made using "mk-
	   temp -d".

     -a, --arch=ARCH
	   Use the Windows PE version from the	Windows  Automated  Installation
	   Kit	(or  the  WAIK	supplement)  that has the CPU architecture ARCH.
	   Only valid with --waik-dir.	Possible values: "x86" or "amd64".   De-
	   fault  is "x86".  Note: the WAIK also contains a Windows PE image for
	   the ia64 (Itanium) architecture; however, this is  not  supported  by
	   this script.

     -h, --help
	   Display help.

     -v, --version
	   Show version information.

EXAMPLES
     Create  a	bootable  disk	image  of  Windows PE from the Windows (Vista or
     later) installation media mounted on /media/windows:

	    mkwinpeimg --windows-dir=/media/windows winpe.img

     Create a bootable ISO of Windows PE from  the  WAIK  (or  WAIK  supplement)
     mounted on /media/waik, and add all the files in "winpe_overlay" to Windows
     PE's filesystem:

	    mkwinpeimg	 --iso	 --waik-dir=/media/waik  --overlay=winpe_overlay
	    winpe.iso

     Create a bootable image of Windows PE from the Windows  installation  media
     mounted  on  /media/windows,  add and make it execute "install.cmd" when it
     starts up.  In this example the image is created in the root  directory  of
     the TFTP server for network booting.

	    mkwinpeimg	--start-script=install.cmd  --windows-dir=/media/windows
	    /var/tftpboot/winpe.img

NOTES
     Microsoft's licenses may limit the things that Windows PE can be used  for,
     and  they may limit your rights to redistribute customized versions of Win-
     dows PE.

REPORTING BUGS
     Report bugs to https://wimlib.net/forums/.

SEE ALSO
     wimlib-imagex(1)

wimlib 1.14.4			  February 2024 		   MKWINPEIMG(1)

Want to link to this manual page? Use this URL:
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