What is WinPE?
WinPE stands for Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE). It is a minimal operating system with limited functionality to prepare a device for a Windows installation.
WinPE was not built as a primary operating system for a device, but was created as an independent installed environment and as an integrated component for installation and recovery technology such as Installation for Windows, Windows Deployment Services, the System Center Configuration Manager Operation System (OS) Deployment and Windows Recovery Environment (Windows RE).
What can you do with WinPE?
As described in the previous section, you can prepare devices for a Windows installation. This could include copying Windows disk images (WIM file) from a network file server to start a Windows Setup.
Which variants are there?
- WinPE 3 (32bits) is for installation of Windows 7 x86/x64 operating systems
- WinPE 10 (64bit) is for Windows 10 installation