Using WindowsPE from AIK to install XP32

[em0dan]

Gentlemen,

I'm an IT Network Administration student, and I have an assignment to make a completely unattended installation including making a 5GB partition, formatting it, and installing windows-xp. At first I took the approach of creating a .sif file with my settings, and then writing a batch file for the autoexec.bat to call on that would make the partition, reboot, format the partition, reboot and then initalize smartdrv and winnt to begin the OS install.

But now I've been reading about Windows PE and I downloaded the Automated Installation Kit that includes PE. I have an ISO of Windows XP Pro that I would like to integrate into PE and put in the proper commands in DiskPart to partition and format the hard drive to my needs. This is where I get a little confused. I'll break it down into my main questions to make it a little easier:

1.) I extracted WinPE into a directory on my C: drive using the PE command prompt that comes with AIK. I have my ISO of XP, but I don't know where to put it. My directory shows the ISO folder, the mount folder, etfsboot and winpe.wim. Where do I put the ISO of XP?

2.) Do I still need to make an answer file using setupmgr in the regular Windows XP unattended installation setup and somehow integrate it into my WinPE directory, or is there another way to add my OS settings now that I'm using Windows PE?

3.) How do I create the DiskPart script so that I can specify that I want to partition 5GB, make it primary, and format it? And where do I put this file in the Windows PE directory I made once I have created it?

This project has been exhausting me, and any answers would be greatly appreciated.

Edited November 28, 2007 by em0dan

[em0dan]

I guess everyone is confused as I am about these things...

[IcemanND]

This will show you how to create you PE cd, http://www.msfn.org/board/GUIDE-Creating-W...st&p=674778. You don't put the XP cd ISO on the PE cd you put the contents of that cd on the PE CD, and all you really need to copy over is the i386 folder structure. If you have an $OEM$ folder structure you need to pull it out of the i386 folder and place it in the same location as the i386 folder. Then run WINNT32.exe with the appropriate switched to kick off the installation.

[em0dan]

thanks for the information and the link iceman, this is starting to come together for me. In your tutorial, you set it up as if you were using an image and mounting it into WindowsPE. What if i can't use an image and I just want to mainly run a script to partition/format to 5GB then begin the Windows XP setup with my unattended answer file? is there even a way to do this with WinPE?

[IcemanND]

My tutorial is written to deploy an image. But you can start the xp install instead of deploying an image. So instead of running imagex to put the image down kick off the windows installation with WINNT32