Custom Windows Installation, pt. 3

So we've prepped our 'Doze environment and created the WinPE minimal-boot USB stick.

We've still got two small steps left until the Big Plunge:

#3 -- Image your existing Windows Installation disk

Yes, you need to have one of these.

No, I'm not going to give you a copy of mine.

Yes, that is my final answer.

No, I would not like to phone a friend.

This phase is pretty simple: just insert your Windows DVD into your drive and use ImgBurn to make a copy of it!

Of course, it makes for a pretty sizable ISO -- just over 4GB. Make sure you have the room -- not a problem if you removed all non-absolutely-turbo-vital programs ...


And that takes forever and ever and ever and then it's over. Like puberty, but not as messy.

#4 -- Clean your Windows installation

This is the last of the small steps -- but I spoke too soon earlier. This is pretty inextricably bound up with the Big Plunge, so make sure you're ready to proceed before, well, proceeding.

1. Remove the AIK
   We don't need it anymore. Besides, you don't want it included in your custom installation, right? (What are ya, some kinda weirdo?)
2. Run SysPrep as an Administrator
   Go to C:\Windows\system32\ and execute sysprep.exe (as an Administrator).
   
   In the resulting window, select "Enter System Out-of-Box Experience (OBBE)"

This image taken from the original source which inspired this series.

This will remove all registration and machine-specific information from your Windows installation! After all, you might go on to use this custom installation on multiple machines, one after the other. You don't want to be tied to any particular machine out of the box.

After this, you're ready to reboot.

You're going to want to prepare two things in advance:

1. Insert your WinPE USB stick, to give your computer something to boot off of.
   Note: upon rebooting, you'll probably need to explicitly tell your computer to boot using the USB stick -- follow the "Choose Boot Device" message (or similar) that appears on your boot-screen.
2. Prepare the list of WinPE commands:
   Once you boot into WinPE, you'll need to:
1. Identify your hard-drive's letter.
   Because WinPE boots as the "real operating system", and it's booting of the USB stick, it'll list that as C:\. You need to determine your old hard drive's letter.
   diskpart
   select disk 0
   "List volume"
   [you'll then see your hard-disk's drive-letter; remember it!]
   exit
2. Make an image of your hard-disk.
   Supposing that your hard-disk letter is D: ...imagex /capture D:\ D:\install.wim "My Windows Partition"

Once you've captured the "My Windows Partition" image, you'll want to reboot again -- but back into your hard-disk this time. There's still one more piece to put together before all this is over.

See you on the other side!