Win10XPE - Build Your Own Rescue Media

SoFine409 said:

I don’t know if this has been discussed before in this thread but you can created a bootable partition on a data drive then copy Win10XPE to it. Then you can add it to your boot menu or boot directly to it by changing the boot order in the BIOS. It works on MBR PCs but I’m not sure about UEFIs.

I was going to ask something similar.

Can I permanently install Win10XPE on a SSD partition, and will it save subsequent changes made to it, like installing additional software or drivers?

Can I permanently install Win10XPE on a SSD partition

Yes, winpe can be booted from a hd or ssd. As far as I know iso files can only be booted from mbr partitioned hds/ssd.

and will it save subsequent changes made to it, like installing additional software or drivers?

Changes made while booted into winpe do not persist, if that is what you are asking

Changes made after booting into WinPE will be saved on the RAM (drive X:), the data on which will be lost after a shutdown.

Matthew Wai said:

Changes made after booting into WinPE will be saved on the RAM (drive X:), the data on which will be lost after a shutdown.

Thanks. I guess that this will also be the case if not booting from the ISO but from an actual copy of the WinPE's file structure written to a SSD partition?

Or could I save the RAM drive's contents and make a bootable system from there?

Why not use portable apps, which require no installation?

I'd like to a) permanently install a slim rescue system on a small second (actually, fifth) SSD, and want to b) be able to make permanent changes to that rescue system occasionally, like install programs or drivers.

Particularly, I'd like it to run with my graphics card at native (4K) resolution instantly after booting.

Thanks, will try!

Note that I have just removed the quotation marks around X:\ from the line of commands in my post #2767 above. The quotation marks will cause an error.

Code:

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.19042.746]
(c) 2020 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Windows\system32>DISM /Capture-Image /ImageFile:"D:\boot.wim" /CaptureDir:X:\ /Name:"WinPE"

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.19041.746

Saving image
[==========================100.0%==========================]
The operation completed successfully.