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Windows PE Servicing Command-Line Options

  • Article

3/21/2011

If you use the appropriate driver, package, or international-servicing commands, you can mount a Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE) 3.0 image and add or remove packages, drivers, and language packs in the same way you would any Windows Embedded Standard 7 image.. There are also commands that are specific to a Windows PE image, which can be used to prepare the Windows PE environment, enable profiling, list packages, and prepare the Windows PE image for deployment.

The following is the base syntax for servicing a Windows PE image:

DISM /Image:<path_to_image_directory> [dism_options] {servicing_command} [<servicing_argument>]

In addition to the DISM options, the following Windows PE servicing options are available for an offline image:

DISM /Image:<path_to_image_directory> [/Get-PESettings | /Get-Profiling | /Get-ScratchSpace | /Get-TargetPath | /Set-ScratchSpace: | /Set-TargetPath: | /Enable-Profiling | /Disable-Profiling | /Apply-Profiles:<path_to_myprofiles.txt>]

Important

These options cannot be used with an online version of Windows PE that is running. You must specify a Windows PE image by using the /Image:<path_to_image_directory> option.

The following table provides a description for how each Windows PE servicing option can be used on a Windows PE image. These options are not case sensitive.

Option Description

/Get-PESettings

Displays a list of Windows PE settings in the Windows PE image. The list includes the current profiling state, scratch-space settings, and target-path settings.

/Get-Profiling

Retrieves the enabled/disabled state of the Windows PE profiling tool.

/Get-ScratchSpace

Retrieves the configured amount of Windows PE system volume scratch space. This setting represents the amount of writeable space available on the Windows PE system volume when booted in RAMDISK mode.

/Get-TargetPath

Retrieves the target path of the Windows PE image. The target path represents a path to the root of the Windows PE image at boot time.

/Set-ScratchSpace: <size_of_scratchspace>

Sets the available scratch space, in megabytes. Valid values are 32, 64, 128, 256, and 512.

/Set-TargetPath: <target_path>

For hard-disk scenarios, this option sets the location of the Windows PE image on the disk.

Note the following limitations when setting the target path:

  • The path must be at least three characters long, and no longer than 32 characters
  • The path must start with a letter (any letter from C to Z)
  • The drive letter must be followed by *:\*
  • The remainder of the path must not contain any invalid characters, such as Unicode characters
  • The path must be absolute, no "." or ".." elements
  • The path must not contain any blank spaces or "\\"

/Enable-Profiling

Enables profiling (file logging) so you can create your own profiles. By default, profiling is disabled.

/Disable-Profiling

Turns off file logging that is used to create a profile.

/Apply-Profiles: <path_to_myprofile.txt>

<path_to_myprofiles.txt> must be a comma-separated list of profile file names.

Removes any files from the Windows PE image that are not part of the custom profile. It also checks the custom profile against the CORE profile to ensure that custom application files and boot-critical files are not deleted. A Windows PE image that has been customized using any profile is not serviceable. However, /Get-Profiling, /Get-TargetPath, and /Get-PESettings will work.

Limitations

The Windows PE commands can be used to change international settings only in Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE) 3.0 images.

See Also

Concepts

What Is Deployment Image Servicing and Management?
How Deployment Image Servicing and Management Works
Deployment Image Servicing and Management Command-Line Options
Driver Servicing Command-Line Options
Operating System Package Servicing Command-Line Options
International Servicing Command-Line Options