Win7RescuePE

Contents



Overview


Win7RescuePE is built to be a simple and flexible tool for System Administrators and advanced users. Win7PE can be loaded on a regular or crashed system. It allows the user to get full access to all disks in order to restore data, check for viruses, fix system boot problems, or transfer data over via network and the Internet.

This project is meant to be a tool focused at providing rescue capabilities with as small amount of ram usage as possible for a win7 envrionment ( 256Mb ). Unlike other Vista / Win7 projects it boots PE directly from the boot media instead of into ram using a wim file.

 

Win7RescuePE is created as a project (set of scripts) for WinBuilder. You are free to customize it in any way you want. All you need for this project is a licenced copy of Microsoft Windows 7 (any edition) or the free download of the Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK).


Main Functionality
  1. support for a big number of SATA/RAID/SCSI/NIC drivers
  2. capable to read and write on NTFS/FAT32/FAT partitions
  3. full support for networking
  4. automatic definition of hardware devices
  5. booting from CD/HDD/UFD/Network
  6. compatibility with Microsoft Windows Vista
  7. no uptime and starting processes limits


Compatibility


  1. Source machine should be Windows XP sp2 or above.
  2. Winbuilder Version 074 or above.
  3. For the build source you will need a Microsoft Windows 7 DVD or installed Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) to create a working Win7RescuePE. To make things convenient it's recommended that you to copy the content of the DVD disk to the hard drive. You can create only basic builds with WAIK, it does not include Windows explorer.
  4. An installed copy of the Windows Automated Installation Kit (WAIK) is required to provide the tools for mounting and creating WIM files and to inject additional drivers.
  5. Win7RescuePE requires minimum RAM of about 256 Mb at run time.
  6.  Need Minimum Free HDD space 4gb recommended.(for mount boot.wim and install.wim).
  7. This project only runs from NTFS partitions to allow handling WIM images.
  8.  USB 512Mb or above for USB Booting users




Usage



Important building steps
  1. Download the Win7RescuePE project. This is done by adding the joshua.winbuilder.net/Projects to the available servers on the winbuilder download page.
  2. Open the second tab in WinBuilder marked "Source" and browse to the folder containing the Windows 7 or WAIK files (Source directory).
  3. If the WAIK is not installed to the default location then select the Build \ Preconfig script and update the the path to the installed WAIK. Note even if the WAIK was selected in the previous step this is still necessary if the WAIK is not installed to the default location.
  4. Click on the "Play" button to start Building "Win7RescuePE".


More detailed information about this project and its internal functions can be found on this page: How it works?.

Full building instructions for the Win7RescuePE project can be found as this link.


Note about virtual computers

 

For better results it is recommended to use the free VMware Player / VMWare workstation, Sun VirtualBox, Microsoft VirtualPC or test Win7RescuePE builds on a real computer.



Bugs



Win7PE needs to mount WIM files with write permission. This is only possible running this winbuilder project from an NTFS partition.

Some users also reported success after using a shorter pathname for their winbuilder folder, such as C:\WinBuilder or C:\Win7RescuePE.
Eliminating spaces from folder paths may also assist in debugging.


FAQ


Q: How to start networking support?
A: A Script for PENetwork is included in the Net folder. For further details about PENetwork click the link.


Q: How to configure a static IP address?
A: You can configure network settings at build time with the PENetwork script options


Q: Win7PE doesn't load using Qemu.
A: It is not possible to load Win7RescuePE using Qemu at the moment.

Q: Error loading winload.exe
A: This error is most probably induced by mistakes in building process. Check for errors while running WinBuilder in the log.



If you still have any questions, you are welcome to search for answers in the Forum thread dedicated to this project.



Please let us know if this page is not complete or in case you still haven't found the needed information.