After reading Arvy's mention of his "multi-purpose rescue media," this just begs the question of what the users of this Forum feel is the best, most flexible MultiBOOT solution for preparing a UFD for a large amount of separate functions (recovery media, partitioning tools, Linux-based options, possible Windows building environments, etc.). I've played with different solutions but have found some of them lacking in consistency. I'm not interested in SingleBOOT solutions (Rufus, etc.), just many usable (ISO, WinPE or otherwise) images available for selection off of a single UFD. Thanks in advance for your input!
My own approach is based on using WinBuilder projects, in particular those developed by "ChrisR" including his Win7PESE, Win8.1SE and Win10SE. Like you, I've tried some ready-built single-boot solutions and found them overly restrictive for my purposes. I also find Microsoft's boot manager (bootmgr) quite inconvenient compared with others such as Grub and Grub4DOS to provide the widest range of possibilities, including direct booting of various ISOs, WIMs and IMGs. It's a subject on which I could expound at almost infinite length and I'm quite willing to do so, but I think it's probably best if I leave it to you and possibly others to raise specific issues and questions that may be of particular interest. __ P.S.: Could also provide some screenshots of some of the WinPE build options if that would be helpful.
Hello I looked at the Win10SE page and it mentions using a Windows 10 DVD. About a month ago I bought a new Windows 10 Pro from best buy and to my amazement, they don't sell DVD's any longer. The OS now comes on a USB stick. Would his system still work using a USB compare to a DVD? Thanks
It should. The latest Win10SE update works okay with W10 v1703. It does need the Windows install.wim file rather than the install.esd file found in some of the OS downloads, but it's not hard to convert if necessary. Instructions if needed: Microsoft's latest operating systems ship in with an esd file (\sources\install.esd) which replaces wim (same directory) in older operating systems (Windows 7 and below). For people who use Windows Deployment Server (WDS), esd are not friendly (don't know why microsoft doesn't add the functionality) when it come to deployment of the OS across the network. The following command prompts can convert the esd to wim thus allowing the deployment across the network for newer OS (Windows 8 +) 1) Copy ESD file from source to different folder and get details about what images are inside the ESD file with the command. We'll need to take note of the index No. that we need: dism /Get-WimInfo /WimFile:install.esd 2) Export the ESD to WIM: dism /export-image /SourceImageFile:install.esd /SourceIndex:1 /DestinationImageFile:install.wim /Compress:max /CheckIntegrity 3) After the progress reaches 100% and integrity checks are through, you'll have a WIM file alongside the ESD file. In the case of multi images in a single ESD, step 2 should be repeated with the change in the SourceIndex:# only. This will append the index files to the same WIM file.
I use WinSetupFromUSB with WinRE/PE ISOs (not with Linux ISOs). http://www.winsetupfromusb.com/. It works well, but there are some problems: to delete an ISO, it must be rebuilt completely, and it´s not compatible with Secure Boot.
Anyone who is willing to use wimmount.sys and DISM and other WAIK tools manually can do almost anything to a WinPE build that can be done with a regular Windows installation setup. I have to admit, however, that I've never been quite that ambitious myself. I'm much too lazy for that.
@TheRollbackFrog, after the iODD solution, which is entirely based on a specific hardware, the most powerful tool (just based on software only) I've ever seen is Easy2Boot ( see here), on which you can add a lot of different bootable ISOs and payload files. Not so easy and immediate, but the site is really well made and detailed.
I tried Easy2Boot in the past. Very flexible, but too complicated and confusing. Several steps, several tools, several webpages, additional process required for UEFI boot. Not for me, I like simplicity and uncluttered webpages.
Yes and No. Easy2Boot is really easy to use for simple tasks, but it inevitably becomes "hard" when you attempt to build complex multiboot media, as naturally expected. Not to talk about the developer's openness and availability to help people for solving problems.
I guess a lot of it depends on whether an individual user prefers booting multiple rescue environments (one ISO, IMG or WIM image for each specialized utility application) or creating and booting one multipurpose rescue environment (WinPE build) that includes multiple utility applications. I tend toward the latter approach in general, but I also use a boot manager to handle multiple WinPE builds based on Win10, Win8.1 and Win7 and I even have an old one based on WinXP. I mostly use Grub4DOS menu lists for the multiboot part of it, but Easy2Boot would certainly work as well, or even Windows own boot manager for WIM booting if you don't mind using its BCDedit utility or a visual BCD editor. It's possible to use bootmgr for other things (even Linux booting) but quite tricky to do that. There are many "personal preference" options involved in all of it, including "create-your-own" plugins for any of those WinBuilder projects that I mentioned above. That can be lots of fun. __ P.S.: As just one example, a screenshot of my Win8.1PE-based rescue environment can be seen here.
You can get a free tool from Winreducer called WinReducer ES - Wim Converter which lets you convert .. oh well, check the spoiler.. Spoiler: features ==> WinReducer ES - Wim Converter is compatible with Windows 10, 8.1, 8.0 and 7 ! (Running Systems or ISO) A simple tool to help you easily convert your ESD, SWM or WIM files in different format : ESD -> WIM ESD -> SWM SWM-> ESD SWM -> WIM WIM -> ESD WIM -> SWM Keep ONE or ALL Windows Editions "All in One" ISO support with up to 55 different Windows Editions Multi-Architecture ISO support (with both x86 and x64 architecture in the same ISO) ISO Creation (with UEFI support) ISO creation from a Windows ESD Media Creation with ONLY 2 clicks Delete Source file after conversion GUI could be entirely translated and have balloon help tool tips ! Nota : ESD conversion is compatible with Windows 10, 8.1, 8.0 and 7 running systems Nota : Using ESD Conversion or "Use Better WIM Compression" option for Windows 7 ISO will result in a non functional installation Nota : This tool is a converter and not a decrypter and on this page you can download any edition of windows with a direct .ISO image link (from Microsoft, including Enterprise.. also ready virtual machines) Little neat "tweak" is to create your customized winpe with the 90 days trial of Enterprise to get some additional stuff in it.. ;-) Also make sure to check out MSMG Toolkit on MDL. (Requires registration)
