BartPE (PEBuilder)

This page was last updated on September 21, 2006
Written by R.Collewijn

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Introduction

Because Microsoft has changed the SMB signing with Windows XP SP2 and Windows 2003 and because it’s not possible to start a visual basic application with MS-DOS, we need PE (a WIN32 Preinstalled Environment) to make the proper network connection and start the WUIM visual basic application.

Because Windows PE available only to Microsoft OEM users. We are looking for an alternative and found it in the form of BartPE. Also you can customize BartPE with unlimited plugins.

Bart's PE Builder helps you build a "BartPE" (Bart Preinstalled Environment) bootable Windows CD-Rom or DVD from the original Windows XP or Windows Server 2003 installation/setup CD, very suitable for PC maintenance tasks.

It will give you a complete Win32 environment with network support, a graphical user interface (800x600) and FAT/NTFS/CDFS file system support. Very handy for burn-in testing systems with no OS, rescuing files to a network share, virus scan and so on. This will replace any Dos boot disk in no time!

PE Builder is not a Microsoft product and does not create Microsoft Windows Preinstallation Environment ("WinPE"). Using PE Builder does not grant you a license to Microsoft WinPE or to use the Windows XP or Server 2003 binaries in a manner other than stated in the End-User License Agreement include in your version of Microsoft Windows XP or Windows Server 2003. Microsoft has not reviewed or tested PE Builder and does not endorse its use.

Please do not contact Microsoft for support on the preinstallation environment that has been created by PE Builder!
Microsoft does not provide support for PE Builder or for the preinstallation environment created by PE Builder.

The PE Builder program (pebuilder.exe) runs on Windows 2000/XP/2003. It does not run on Windows NT4/ME/9x.

To avoid any confusion, the bootable media's generated by PE Builder should be called by it's nickname "BartPE"!

Requirements to build

1. The files from your Windows server 2003 service pack 1 Installation CD-Rom.
2. PEBuilder v3.1.10
3. AutoRamDiskResizer v1.9
4. Build Scripts 20050322
5. XPE Plugin v1.0.4
6. PENetCfg v2.30
7. NetWorkDrivers v1.0
8. MassStorageDrivers v1.0
9. WUIM Plugin v1.0

NOTE: PE Builder runs on Windows 2000/XP/2003 systems.

Changing Windows 2003 SP1 source

Please note on Windows 2003 SP1, you will have some file type names not currently named, they appears like %FILE_FOLDER% or similar. The problem is within the hivecls.inf file, this has two [Strings] sections, and pebuilder (since 3.1.3) doesn't support multiple [Strings] sections. To fix this you should manually edit hivecls.inf file (in i386 of source directory), go at the end of the file to find the following lines.

[Strings]                                           Remove.  
FilePathMSHTA="%SystemRoot%\system32\mshta.exe"     Move to the second [string] section.

you must move FilePathMSHTA line into the second [Strings] section, then remove the first [Strings] identifier (line).

(a part of the new) hivecls.inf

EXCEL_4_CHART_FILE="Excel 4 Chart File"
EXECUTABLE_FILES="Executable Files"
FILE_FOLDER="File Folder"
FILE_SYSTEM_ATTRIBUTES="File system attributes"
FilePathMSHTA="%SystemRoot%\system32\mshta.exe"
FOLDER="Folder"
FOLDER_REDIRECTION_EDITOR="Folder Redirection Editor"
FONT_FILE="Font file"
FONTS="Fonts"
GCCPL_DEFAULT="Game Controllers CPL Shell Extension Default Property Sheets"
HANG__UP="Hang &up"
HELP_FILE="Help File"
HYPERTERMINAL_ICON_EXT="HyperTerminal Icon Ext"    etc...    

Starting Building steps

• Download the latest version of PE Builder
  Just unpack the PE Builder files from the zipfile to some location you like and remove the following plugins from the plugin folder:
  • a43
  • adawarese
  • aspi
  • bginfo
  • bootfix
  • bst5
  • chkdsk
  • dcomlaunch
  • deepburner
  • dospe
  • dskcmd
  • erd2002
  • ghost8
  • irfanview
  • mcafee
  • mstsc
  • nero burning rom
  • peinst
  • putty
  • snapshot
  • starwind
  • stinger
  • total commander
  • ultravnc
    
    
• Add the AutoRamDiskResizer, XPE, PENetCfg and WUIM plugins to the PE Builder plugin directory.
  • Add the following file from Windows 2003 SP0 to the files folder of the WUIM plugin elseway the partition an format options don't work.

  DISKPART.EXE	Version 5.2.3790.0
  FORMAT.COM	Version 5.2.3790.1380
  IFSUTIL.DLL	version 5.2.3790.0

• Change the autorun0xpe.cmd from the XPE plugin folder to make the connection to the network share.

cmdow @ /HID 
@echo off

start /wait XPEinit -d
start /wait net use u: \\IP Address\Share Password /USER:IP Address\User

if exist U:\Wuim.exe (
 start /wait u:\wuim.exe
)

exit

• Add the NetWorkDriver to the "drivers\net" folder (to work with lot of hardware off course you can add your own drivers).
• Add the MassStorageDrivers to the "drivers\scsiadapter" folder (to work with lot of hardware off course you can add your own drivers).
• Add the Build Script to the root of PE Builder
  • Because Bart has removed the ability to start custom commands with versions >= 3.1.0. of PE-Builder, therefore we need a other file to start the building process.
  • Rename mkisofs.exe to mymkisofs.exe, then unpack the content of this archive into pebuilder directory.
  • Copy filecase.ini, InfCacheBuild.exe, mkisofs.exe, sort.txt and wrapper.cmd into the root of the PEBuilder directory.
    
    
• Run pebuilder.exe. Follow the instructions that PE Builder gives you. If some option is not clear hit the Help button. Some plugins require that you download the program and put the files in the right location. PE Builder will tell you so. For example, if you enabled a plugin, without adding the required files, PE Builder will display an error message saying Missing files: file1, file2, .... If this happens hit the [PluginHelp] button to get more information about what files are needed.
• Do a double check on all available plugins if the correct one's are (dis)enabled.
  

You can also visit my web page about BartPE with XPE

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