Hi, I downloaded the WAIK and would like to make a custom WinPE 3.0 image. Now I wonder if it's possible to run explorer on it. I already tried copying explorer.exe to the windows directory in the pe image, and I copied a whole bunch of dll's and .mui files to the right directory (all the dll's from wich the filename is visible as a string when I open explorer.exe in a hexeditor). WinPE boots fine, but when I start explorer from the commandline nothing happens, no error message or so, just nothing. I also tried the same with wordpad, but just the same problem there. And if explorer is possible, maybe I can do the same with win installer and .net, then put some handy tools on it and it should be a bit like a live widows cd. Anyone know if this is possible?
yeah, but that's winpe 1, wasn't that based on xp? I want pe3.0 and that's based on windows 7, and has the .wim file where the actual pe os is in, just like the vista/7 installer. Doesn't pe1 have an xp like cd, so a i386 folder on it etc? I can't even find a guide for pe2.0... But explorer runs on real windows, and winpe has the same kernel, so technically it must be possible, probably with hacking a lot of files... But I still don't understand why the exes of explorer and wordpad don't even try to start while pe does support win32 apps.
Hm, it's not the real thing, bu I'll have a look at it, thanks. Do you maybe know why also wordpad won't start?
@ ozzyboy: all those files on that page are for vistaPE = winpe 2.x, win7pe = winpe 3.0 so I don't know it will work. And I've found a guide somewhere to get explorer running without winbuilder, you have to copy lot's of files from the system32 dir (much more than I tried) and the entire en-us or other language dir, Then I shoulc run. But I've also found a programm called "Xenocode Postbuild" wich can convert .net executables so they can run without the .net framework. Maybe I can make a simple custom shell with that... I'm going to try it and we'll see
Sorry, I tried and tried and tried far a 100 times but it won't work. I copied all the files manually that the winbuilder script does automatically, and I added all the regkeys to winpe's registry, but explorer doesn't start, even when I type explorer.exe or X:\Windows\Explorer.exe in cmd it doesn't work. Maybe winbuilder does some other magic with winpe, but I can't get it to work this way.