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I've set up a Windows Preinstallation Environment on a USB Thumb Drive (version from the latest iteration of the Windows Automated Install Kit/WAIK), and I'm working on getting a deployment environment set up.

However, we'd like to make it so our Level 1 technicians can use the deployment system, and because of this, I've written several batch files to minimize the amount of command line work the technicians have to do.

Is there a way I can get these scripts to autorun after the PE environment has finished initializing?

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4 Answers 4

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Under the "sources" folder on the PE key is the "boot.wim" file.

Mount Boot WIM:
dism /Mount-Wim /wimfile:C:[WPE PATH]\sources\boot.wim /index:1 /MountDir:C:\Mounted_images\boot

Then the file can be found at:
C:\Mounted_images\boot\Windows\System32\startnet.cmd


Commit changes and Unmount WIM:
dism /Unmount-Wim /MountDir:C:\Mounted_images\boot /commit

If you want to discard changes instead:
dism /Unmount-Wim /MountDir:C:\Mounted_images\boot /discard

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Generally I don't do autorun scripts for fear that someone would accidentally wipe their machine. The solution I found worked well was to provide a single batch file with a simple name, and tell them to type that at the command-prompt and press return. If you have multiple images for different makes/models you could call it a name based on the made model, e.g. type "dellgx280" to re-image a Dell GX280.

You can however modify the startnet.cmd file (WinPE's equivalent of autoexec.bat) to do it if you really want. That just a case of mounting the PE image r/w, locating the file (at %systemroot%\system32), editing it, then commiting and unmounting.

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  • This doesn't mess with the disks, it just sets up the network configuration and launches the installer. Preferably the partitioning will be taken care of manually for both the reason you describe and differentiating systems.
    – tearman
    Nov 17, 2009 at 18:45
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In addition to the great answer by @nick-phipps, I recommend the Dism++ tool for easy handling (i.e. mounting) of the WIM image in order to edit the "autoexec.bat" file at C:\Mounted_images\boot\Windows\System32\startnet.cmd

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Use the Windows Automated Installation Kit to create a custom WinPE image with a Winpeshl.ini answer file (see http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc766156(WS.10).aspx)

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