Add "Windows Recovery Environment" (Winre.wim) as an available option under Install.wim

Troglodyte

New Member
Hello everyone, FYI, this is the same Trog that used to post often on the now defunct 911cd.net forums nearly 16 years ago.
I have gotten back into working with PE environments as well as using NTLite for different things.

Things have changed a lot since I have been off the scene.
I would like to create a slimmed down version of WIN10XPE using NTLite.

I have come to the conclusion that I need to edit Winre.wim
(which is compressed inside the install.wim file at location ".\Windows\System32\Recovery\").

Although I can edit Winre.wim directly by loading it up in NTLite, I need to be able to edit it while loading the entire Windows 10 source folder.
In other words, when you add an unmodified "Windows image directory" into NTLite it shows a list of Operating Systems under the install.wim file.
What I need is the ability to have NTLite list the "Windows Recovery Environment" (Winre.wim) as an available option. This would allow me to edit this .wim file directly within NTLite and then have the changes saved in the correct format that I need to load into PEBakery (or WinBuilder) used to create WIN10XPE.

I hope that makes sense.
 
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I just found this:
Update-integration (boot.wim, install.wim, winre.wim)

So, I followed the instructions provided by nuhi, and I was able to load the winre.wim file.
At the time nuhi also commented about adding a feature to make mounting this file less convoluted.

Thinking now of a feature to automatically add winre to the list of images once install.wim is loaded,
or provide a right-click Load Winre option on loaded install.wim. Let me know what you think.

I'd like to see this feature added. Also, I'd prefer the first option as described.

Edit: I have been trying to have NTLited save the winre.wim back into the install.wim.
It appears this isn't really possible using the method mentioned earlier.
I can easily export or save the winre.wim back to the ".\AppData\Local\Temp\NLTmpMount01\Windows\System32\Recovery" folder.
Unfortunately, it doesn't appear to be saving the winre.wim file back into install.wim.
 
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Hi,

so after mounting the winre.wim, you can unload + save it from the Source page, that's all that's needed to save changes.
Do not unload install.wim before that, or use Apply with Save method other than Stop after processing.

Will automate it, pushing up in priority.

Btw do you really need winre.wim, boot.wim also exists and is outside of install.wim, it has a recovery and install environment, I'm guessing you need the former (it's the first edition on the boot.wim, setup is second). You can export the first as a new image.
 
Thanks for the reply.

do you really need winre.wim?
I'm pretty sure that I do.

I'm still not sure if the build routine for Win10XPE uses winre.wim exclusively, but I do know that it does use it.
See here:
Win10XPE Project

The build is based on the Winre.wim recovery environment...
So simple enough, but then the writer goes on to say this:

The winre.wim(boot.wim) is lightened by reducing WinSXS and removing some language folders without losing the functionalities.
The winre.wim image is applied in the Target folder for the purposes of driver integration and to easily rebuild boot.wim image and ISO after some customizations...

So I assume that the winre.wim is edited, re-compressed, and then renamed as boot.wim?
Maybe I am wrong, maybe someone could clarify this.

Will automate it, pushing up in priority.
Thanks... I do plan on purchasing the full version of NTLite in the near future, and this is a feature I would definitely like to see.
 
nuhi

Do you know if this feature might be ready for the next release (NTLite beta v1.9 or otherwise )?
It doesn't appear to be included with the v1.8.0.6930 release.

Thanks
 
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