Create Bootable USB PE Media Device for Windows 8

Creating a USB stick with the Windows PE environment that is supplied as part of the Windows 8 Assessment and Deployment Kit is very simple--here's what you need to do.

John Savill

March 17, 2013

1 Min Read
Create Bootable USB PE Media Device for Windows 8

Q: How can I create a USB stick with the new version of Windows PE installed on it?

A: To create a USB stick with the Windows PE environment that's part of the Windows 8 Assessment and Deployment Kit is very simple. First, make sure you have installed the Windows 8 Assessment and Deployment Kit.

Then launch the Deployment and Imaging Tools Environment, which is a command prompt with all the deployment tools available. In the example below, I use the folder d:PEBuild as my build staging area. Run the commands below in the Deployment and Imaging Tools Environment window:

  1. Populate the staging area with the 64-bit version of Windows PE:

    copype amd64 d:PEBuild
  2. Mount the boot.wim copied to out staging area under the mount sub-folder of the PEBuild area:

    dism /mount-image /imagefile:d:PEBuildmediasourcesboot.wim /index:1 /mountdir:d:PEBuildmount
  3. Add the WMI package to the PE environment:

    Dism /image:d:pebuildmount /add-package /packagepath:"C:Program Files (x86)Windows Kits8.0Assessment and Deployment KitWindows Preinstallation Environmentamd64WinPE_OCswinpe-wmi.cab"Dism /image:d:pebuildmount /add-package /packagepath:"C:Program Files (x86)Windows Kits8.0Assessment and Deployment KitWindows Preinstallation Environmentamd64WinPE_OCsen-uswinpe-wmi_en-us.cab"
  4. Copy the DISM set of tools to the Windows PE environment and the bcdboot tools:

    xcopy /s "C:Program Files (x86)Windows Kits8.0Assessment and Deployment KitDeployment Toolsamd64DISM" d:pebuildmountDISMxcopy /s "C:Program Files (x86)Windows Kits8.0Assessment and Deployment KitDeployment Toolsamd64bcdboot" d:pebuildmountbcdboot
  5. Unmount the image commiting the changes:

    Dism /unmount-image /mountdir:D:PEBuildmount /commit
  6. Create a USB media connected to I: from our PE staging area:

    Makewinpemedia /ufd d:PEbuild I:

You now have a bootable Windows PE USB stick.

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