:: BartPE 3.0 ::

BartPE is a free version of the Windows Preinstallation Environment, a mini-Windows with all the possibilities this entails. You can not get WinPE unless you buy it from an online store, from a OEM supplier, or have a license from Microsoft.
Luckily Bart Lagerwij found a way to circumvent this small snag - BartPE. BartPE is created from your own Windows XP or 2003 files by a utility called PE Builder. More information as well as a downlaod can be found here. BartPE can be changed to suit your needs by using plugins, and can be used to create the perfect rescuetool.

BartPE is almost identical to ERD Commander 2004. One small difference, BartPE is built from your XP/2003 disk.

First we need to build the BartPE structure. This is quite simple. Download BartPE from here and start her up. You could come to a screen like this after a couple clicks or so:

(NOTE: I'm not going into detail on how to build BartPE. If you don't know how, read it's site. Its really simple)

Copying the BartPE Contents

Copy the contents of the PE Builder outfolder to your AIO-DVD folder and rename I386 to BPE1.

eg. - D:\AIO-DVD\BPE1\

The contents of D:\AIO-DVD should be as follows, minus all your other files. I'm just including the BartPE files. My DVD Layout has the complete listing.

Contents of D:\AIO-DVD\

BPE1
Programs
 win51ip
 win51ip.sp1
 winbom.ini

Note: win51ip and win51ip.sp1 are probally already included either by XP or ERD Commander 2003. win51ip.sp1 could win51ic.sp1 if you used XP Home Edition to build BartPE. winbom.ini may already exist if you've previously done ERD Commander 2003.

Editing "setupldr.bin"

Let's start modifying some files. First in your BPE1 directory open up the file setupldr.bin in Hex Workshop. Under Edit -> Replace (Ctrl+H) search for Type: "Text String." We want to find i386 and replace it with BPE1. The screenshot below is just for reference.

Click OK and then choose Replace All. It should say "4 Occurrences Replaced." If it does not find 4 occurrences, there may be a problem somewhere. When done, save the file and choose not to back it up.

Editing "txtsetup.sif"

In your BPE1 folder find the file txtsetup.sif and open it in NotePad. Choose Edit -> Find (Ctrl+F) and search for SetupSourcePath. You will need to change the default "\" to reflect the directory you copied your XP Home cd to. In this case it is "\".

SetupSourcePath = "\"

Note: This image is from XP Pro SP1 section. Do NOT change it to show what the picture shows.

Creating the Boot Sector

Now we will need to create the boot sector file that will actually load the text-mode setup for our operating system. Download the ERD1.zip file. Extract the file and then open ERD1.dat in Hex Workshop. Scroll down until you see the following text in the right hand side. The red text is what we will be replacing. Replace I386 with BPE1 and rename it to BPE1.dat.

Save the file, choose not to back it up and then place it in the AIO-DVD folder.

NOTE: If the boot sectors I have provided for download to not work for you I have provided a section on how to create your own. Please check the "Boot Sectors" section under "Get Help".

Finishing Up

There's one last thing to do now. We need to copy our cd identification files to the root of our project. The following files need to be copied from your BartPE 2003 cd to your AIO-DVD folder:

• winbom.ini
• win51
• win51ip
• win51ip.sp1

Extra Boot Option

Thanks to gosh from MSFN for this tip. If you would like to be able to switch cds while using BartPE, you have to set up a special boot option that will load BartPE into ram.

First of all, you'll need to make copies of 2 files, txtsetup.sif and setupldr.bin. Rename the copies, changing the extensions to .ram and leave the copies in your BPE1 folder. Then, edit the "OsLoadOptions" line in txtsetup.ram to read:

Now, create a copy of the BPE11.DAT file, place it in the AIO-DVD folder and rename it to BPE2.DAT. Open it in Hex Workshop and this time replace the strings SETUPLDR.BIN and TXTSETUP.SIF to reflect our new files, SETUPLDR.RAM and TXTSETUP.RAM. Since we have Hex Workshop open, load up SETUPLDR.RAM. Replace all instances of TXTSETUP.SIF with TXTSETUP.RAM. We also need to setup our boot menu to be able to load BartPE. Only do this once you have read through "Creating a Boot Menu" and you are somewhat comfortable with CD Shell.

In your "menu:" section you should add something along these lines: Of course edit the code to display whatever you want.

Now in the "MainKey:" section add something along the lines of: