Windows® Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE) version 3.0 contains several new features.
- Smaller default Size. Windows PE
version 2.0 contains staged optional components that add
additional size, which required additional effort to remove. The
Windows PE 3.0 default image contains only the minimum
resources to support most deployment scenarios. Optional components
can be added using Deployment Image Servicing and Management
(DISM).
- Serviceable. In Windows Vista®,
after you run PEImg /prep against a Windows PE 2.0
image, the image cannot be modified. Windows PE 3.0
images can be serviced at any time using DISM. The PEImg.exe tool
is not supported in Windows PE 3.0.
- Image optimization. Previous versions
of Windows PE provides limited support for optimizing
(reducing) the size of an image. Using the new DISM
/apply-profiles option, you can reduce the contents of a
Windows PE 3.0 image to only those files necessary to
support a given set of applications.
- System drive letter. You can assign
any letter to the system drive using the new DISM
/Set-TargetPath option.
- Deployment Image Servicing and Management
(DISM). DISM is a new command-line tool you can use to
customize a Windows PE 3.0 image offline. DISM replaces
PEImg.exe. For more information, see Deployment Image
Servicing and Management Command-Line Options.
- Mounted images.
Windows PE 3.0 supports mounting a Windows image
(WIM).
- Hyper-V support.
Windows PE 3.0 includes all Hyper-V™ drivers except
display drivers. This enables Windows PE to run in Hypervisor.
Supported features include mass storage, mouse integration, and
network adapters.
Documentation Updates
[October 2009] This release incorporates previous release notes into the content, specifically sample-code fixes.