Windows 10 Recovery Tools - Bootable Rescue Disk

OldMike65 said:

Not quite sure how to make these changes lx07...... so didn't even try. Why these darn shortcut arrows are displayed anyhow on the PE desktop is a pain, and not needed I think. :)

Well the way to remove them in PE is the same as in normal windows (Shortcut Arrow Icon - Change, Remove, or Restore in Windows 10 - Windows 10 Forums). However you need to change the boot.wim so you mount the ISO, mount the boot.wim, load the registry, change it, unload the registry and write back the changed boot.wim then recreate the ISO.

This powershell will do it for you if you want (it assumes you have downloaded the ADK to C:\Program Files and @Kyhi ISO is mounted but you can change that in the variables at the top).

It is a bit of effort for a rather marginal improvement though IMO but you did ask :)

Code:

$ADK = "C:\Program Files\Windows Kits\10\Assessment and Deployment Kit"
$PEArch = "amd64"
$PELang = "en-us"

$HomeDir = "C:\Make-PE"			# This is the work directory where the script is running (you have to make it)
$ISOPath = "$HomeDir\WinPE.iso"	# Where the ISO goes
$ISOLabel="My Boot Disk"		# Name of ISOLabel	

# Environment Variables for script
$WorkDir = "$HomeDir\WinPE_$PEArch"
$Source="$ADK\Windows Preinstallation Environment\$PEArch"
$FWFilesRoot="$ADK\Deployment Tools\$PEArch\Oscdimg"


##########
# GO !!
##########

# If new ISO exists, delete it
if  (Test-Path "$ISOPath") { Remove-Item $ISOPath -Recurse -Force -ErrorAction 0 }


# Validate Source exists 
if (-not (Test-Path "$Source")) {Read-Host -Prompt "ERROR: The following processor architecture was not found: $WinPE_Arch"; exit}
if (-not (Test-Path "$FWFilesRoot")) {Read-Host -Prompt "ERROR: The following path for firmware files was not found: $FWFilesRoot"; exit}
$WimDirectory="sources\boot.wim"
$Drives = Get-PSDrive -PSProvider FileSystem
Foreach ($Drive in $Drives) {
    $WimPath = $Drive.Root+$WimDirectory
	if (Test-Path $WimPath) {break}
    Clear-Variable WimPath
}  
if (-not $WimPath) {Read-Host -Prompt "ERROR: The existing ISO needs to be mounted"; exit}

# Delete old working directory

$ProgressPreference = "SilentlyContinue"
Clear-WindowsCorruptMountPoint
Mount-WindowsImage -Path "$WorkDir\mount" -Remount
Dismount-WindowsImage  -Path "$WorkDir\mount" -Discard
$ProgressPreference = "Continue"

Remove-Item $WorkDir -Recurse -Force -ErrorAction 0

# Create new WinPE work directory (copied from copype.cmd in ADK)
mkdir "$WorkDir"
mkdir "$WorkDir\media"
mkdir "$WorkDir\mount"
mkdir "$WorkDir\fwfiles"
mkdir "$WorkDir\media\sources"

# Copy the boot files and Existing WinPE WIM to the destination location
xcopy /herky "$Source\Media\Boot" "$WorkDir\media\Boot\"
xcopy /herky "$Source\Media\EFI" "$WorkDir\media\EFI\"
copy "$Source\Media\bootmgr*" "$WorkDir\media\"
copy $WimPath "$WorkDir\media\sources\boot.wim"
Set-ItemProperty "$WorkDir\media\sources\boot.wim" IsReadOnly $false

# Copy the boot sector files to enable ISO creation and boot
copy "$FWFilesRoot\efisys.bin" "$WorkDir\fwfiles"
if (Test-Path $FWFilesRoot\etfsboot.com) {copy "$FWFilesRoot\etfsboot.com" "$WorkDir\fwfiles"}

# Mount WIM
Mount-WindowsImage -ImagePath "$WorkDir\media\sources\boot.wim" -index 1 -Path "$WorkDir\mount"

# Registry Changes
reg load HKLM\WinPE_SYSTEM $WorkDir\mount\windows\system32\config\SYSTEM
reg load HKLM\WinPE_SOFTWARE $WorkDir\mount\windows\system32\config\SOFTWARE

# from here https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/8974-shortcut-arrow-icon-change-remove-restore-windows-10-a.html
reg add "HKLM\WinPE_SOFTWARE\Classes\IE.AssocFile.URL" /v IsShortcut /f
reg add "HKLM\WinPE_SOFTWARE\Classes\InternetShortcut" /v IsShortcut /f
reg add "HKLM\WinPE_SOFTWARE\Classes\lnkfile" /v IsShortcut /f
reg add "HKLM\WinPE_SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Icons" /ve
reg add "HKLM\WinPE_SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell Icons" /v "29" /d "%windir%\\System32\\imageres.dll,-17" /f 

reg unload HKLM\WinPE_SOFTWARE
reg unload HKLM\WinPE_SYSTEM

############
# FINISH UP
############
 
# Unmount the WinPE image
Get-WindowsImage -Mounted -ErrorAction Stop | ForEach-Object {
	# Save-WindowsImage -Path $_.ImagePath
	Dismount-WindowsImage -Path $_.Path -Save -ErrorAction Stop
}

# Set the correct boot argument based on availability of boot apps
if (Test-Path "$WorkDir\fwfiles\etfsboot.com") {$BOOTDATA="2#p0,e,b`"$WorkDir\fwfiles\etfsboot.com`"#pEF,e,b`"$WorkDir\fwfiles\efisys.bin`""}
else {$BOOTDATA="1#pEF,e,b`"$WorkDir\fwfiles\efisys.bin`""}

# Make ISO
$command="$ADK\Deployment Tools\$PEArch\Oscdimg\oscdimg.exe"
Write-Host "Creating $ISOPath ..."
&$command  -l:$ISOLabel -h -m -o -u1 -bootdata:$bootdata "$WorkDir\media" "$ISOPath"
		
# Finished
Write-Host
Read-Host -Prompt "Press enter to exit."

@lx07
Ok, then when I am really, really bored, I'll try this. Also I didn't use that method posted in your link. I do it a little different.

OldMike65 said:

@lx07
Ok, then when I am really, really bored, I'll try this. Also I didn't use that method posted in your link. I do it a little different.

You can also add any drivers you want to the wim while you've got it mounted (I add my wifi adapter as I don't have ethernet)

Topgundcp's is my favorite WinPE version, love the way he has made it look, plus installed his own registered app's!!! Someday, I am going to TRY and learn how I can do the same. Might take me a few months thou.....lol