Scripts & Tools to customize Windows PE to my like. Really small, ca. 541MiB for the 64 Bit image. Can be booted from every media like CD-ROM, USB Sticks and even from Network (PXE).
MiniNT5 is intended for diagnostics, repair & (re-)installation of Windows. (Workstation & Server editions, from Windows 7 to Windows 11)
Hint: There is no need to disable Secure-Boot in order to boot MiniNT5. Even from PXE.
What things you need to build MiniNT
- Windows 11 24H2 or newer
- with full administrator rights
- Administrator rights are required because of the DISM commands (Mount WIM, Unmount WIM) and Registry manipulations
- with full administrator rights
- ADK for Windows 11 Version 10.1.26100.2454 (December 2024) and the Windows PE Addon
- Assessment and Deployment Kit, nedded for the base Windows PE & additional packages
- It must be the exact version of the ADK!
- Assessment and Deployment Kit, nedded for the base Windows PE & additional packages
- ISO of Windows 11 24H2 / Updated December 2024 (needed for some files, missing from the ADK)
- Note that the ADK and Windows 11 ISO must be in EN-US language
- Windows ISOs here
- ISO SHA256: EE0852439410C62B38E33C5BC3270A8699B07D46CA75601BE6A1C21ABAFA9576 - Name: en-gb_windows_11_consumer_editions_version_24h2_updated_dec_2024_x64_dvd_b146c3af.iso
- Visual Studio 2022 (I use the Enterprise Edition, Visual Studio Community Edition likely to work)
- Visual Studio 2022 (v143) Platform Toolset (SDK Version 10.0.26100.0)
- .NET 4.5 (the original Windows PE only comes with a small set of .NET 4.5 Runtime)
Preparing the files:
- Delete all "BlankDir.txt" from all folders
- Extract the contents of Sources\Install.wim from the DVDs to a separate folder (security persmissions does not matter)
- Install ADK, make sure that Windows PE Images & Tools are installed, all other tools (like WinDBG) are not required
Compiling MiniNT:
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Open the project "MiniNT5 Tools.sln" in Visual Studio, and compile the project as Release/Win32 and Release/x64
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Go to the folder "MiniNTBuilder" and adapt "paths.cmd" to your like
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Feel free to modify "MiniNT ID.reg" to your like, not needed
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Copy, if needed, some drivers into the Drivers\x64 folder (in a separate folder for each driver) - these will be picked up automatically (some drivers are provided)
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Open a command prompt with administrative permissions, and run the CMD files from 01 to 99
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when all is success, you see 1 file "MiniNT5 64.iso" in the root folder of the project (and a "PXEBoot" folder containig all the files required to boot MiniNT from PXE)
After running the scripts from 01 to 98 successfully, execute "99 Make PXE Boot.cmd"
All these tools are provided as-is from Vulpes. If you've some questions, contact me here.
Some common Windows PE commands nicely wrapped for easy usage within .NET (C#)
Some common WIM functions from Windows (DISM and WIMG-API) nicely wrapped for easy usage within .NET (C#)
Some common C# functions to use acros multiple projects
Nice GUI to create & install WIM files (safe to use within a normal Windows 11 in production)
simply displays the "Map Network Drive" Window, nothing else (safe to use within a normal Windows 11 in production)
Changes the keyboard layout on the fly (does not save the settings) (safe to use within a normal Windows 11 in production - logout / re-login needed to properly revert to previous settings)
Small shell, kinda like the Windows NT 3.51 Program Manager (also does some additional initalizations on MiniNT)
Small programm to communicate with FoxShell from Batch files to add / remove icons
Displays "Disconnect Network Drive" Window, nothing else (safe to use within a normal Windows 11 in production)
