Windows PE 2.0 WORKS with Boot Camp!!

[mark-itguy]

As just an FYI, I was able to confirm for myself that Windows PE 2.0 works with Boot Camp! I created a disc & took it w/ me to an Apple Store. The guy at the Genius Bar had never heard of it before, [it is Windows Pre Installation Environment, a bootable Windows kernal, command prompt only but with drivers loaded, for taking images]. But he had a MacBook Pro with Boot Camp, so we tried it. With Windows being set as the bootable OS, it worked! And best of all, the 2.0 [Vista] version I was testing fully supported the NIC, and since he was wired at the time, I could do an ipconfig even to verify that.

If you are in IT and use PE, this is fantastic news! Just an FYI, sorry if someone else already posted this and it was old news...

 

[TheAshMan]

Yes, but...

This does work for imaging the Windows boot camp partition with an important caveat. My experience is that there is only one method that works to force the boot to WinPE (Windows Pre-Execution) and that is to:

1) Restart OS X
2) Hold the option key until CD is displayed as an option (takes a little bit to appear)
3) Release the option key
4) Use the arrow keys (or mouse) to select the CD
5) Press Return

The machine will then boot to WinPE and you can see the Windows Boot Camp volume; C:\, any attached USB drives, and perhaps network depending on the Mac in use. From there you can capture a Windows Image (.wim) using imagex (free from Microsoft, just like WinPE) or a ghost image. There are a number of other steps I am leaving out on the Windows side, but anyone looking into this thread probably knows what those steps are. Too much to put here.