Windows 7 Explorer on Windows PE 4.0 (Windows 8 PE)

[WindowsOS]

I sometimes make my own customized Windows PE builds, and for some time I wanted to get the full Windows Explorer functionality (Taskbar/Start Menu/File Browser/etc.) working on WinPE. I know that some custom distributions of WinPE 4.0 circulating online have the Explorer (I.e.http://windowsmatters.com/2013/04/30/windows-8-based-pe-boot-disk-with-explorer-shell-and-all-my-favorite-apps/), but I still want to make my own so I could not have all the unnecessary stuff (i.e. Web Browser, DWM) that some of these distros have. Could someone point me to a easy tutorial showing me how could I do this?

P.S. By Windows 7 Explorer, I am referencing this hack that allows the Windows 7 Explorer to work on Windows 8 (not 8.1+):http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/157302-windows-7-explorer-for-windows-8/ That hack grabs certain Win7 Explorer files and sets those as the default shell. I remember that working very well in my Win8 install. However, just copying the Win7 explorer files and pasting them to the boot.wim file does not work.

[jaclaz]

Can you not use Win8PE_SE:

http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/161226-win8pe-se/

 

(or otherwise check the .scripts it uses for Ex7ForW8 and replicate their behaviour on your build)?

 

jaclaz

[WindowsOS]

I guess I have to do that, since I tried running Ex7ForW8 on the PE build in Hyper-V and saving the files to a VHDX, then integrating those files into the WIM image. Explorer does not run at all. I even tried changing the Shell key in HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogin. Still launches startnet.cmd at startup. Thanks anyway.