How To Guide For New Users...

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How To Guide Index
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Basic First Steps
Beginner Basic Options

Welcome to TheOven..

This is development forum with the primary purpose of developing a PE Environment, as a Technicians Tool, to repair a damaged Host PC..

I am going to offer a little insight as to the accepted guidelines within this forum..

This is Not a general user forum.. And it is expected that you understand what you are doing and why you are doing it...

So that requires you to do a little research and a lot of testing on your own, to get a better understanding on how this development progressed and works..

We rely on your Testing and Feedback, (your Contributions to this forum) to help improve the PE environment, for the greater good of everybody else.

If you report a certain issue, we need to know certain things about your testing, so we can Duplicate and Test for same results..

Including your Host OS, Selected Project, Build Type, General Plugin Selections, the nature of your problem, your methods of prior testing and a log of the Error if with Builder..

Please, Do Not get into a banter by quoting another member, trying to voice your opinions, or hurt feelings..

This Contributes Nothing to this forum.. Besides, You will not get the last word..

Only Your Contributions to the Development of the PE Environment are what matter to the other members of this forum..

Basic First Steps..

Within this forum you will find several Projects, so you will need to decided which project you would like to test..



Once you decided on your Project we are going to select the Release Topic.



Within that Post is a Project Download Link.. We will select the download..





Going to Save the download..



Right-Click the Downloaded.zip File and Select "Unblock" (If Present)





Then we are going to Extract the Download.zip
It is Highly Recommended that you extract the download to a secondary internal HDD (Not SSD) Data Drive..
If you choose to test several projects it is recommend that you extract the projects to the same directory..
In this case D:\TheOven  (But > D:\Oven  < Even Better for project, because shorter name length)

If using Windows 10 as your Host OS - you will need to allow a Windows Defender "Exception" for the D:\TheOven folder
( I would suggest the same exception for any A/V software) in order to allow the program exe's to run without being blocked.... )



And then Create a Desktop Shortcut using the builder exe

Then we select the Shortcut to launch the builder



Now to Configure a few required options > First Select the SOURCE tab from the top
You will notice that the Source Directory is blank > so we need to setup and configure a source of files for Builder to use..



So, we are going to mount and use a Windows Setup Media ISO as our File Source



Now , you can just point the Source Directory to the Mounted ISO and then continue.



But it is Highly Recommended that you copy the contents from within the ISO to a work folder..
Do Not Copy or Extract your source files to the Base Program Directory
So, In this case we'll use >  D:\Win10x64
 


Now we go back into Builder and select the Source Directory Folder (icon) and point to the Source Folder







Then Select the SCRIPT tab to get back into the builder Interface...
Go down and expand the Utilities folder and select "Extract Wim Folders" plugin and hit Goo..



This will Take A little While to Complete - Allow it time to Finish (Prompt Windows will Close)



At this point you could test your very first build.. By Hitting the PLAY Button..



And D:\TheOven\ISO is the default ISO Save To location



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That is the "Default Project Build"

Basic Beginner Options
The options that are "Locked" are required by Builder...

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"Main Configuration"

Set > Screen Resolution to your Preference
Set > Boot Manager to your Preference
For Now we will leave all the other setting as they where and Hit Save

Note: If you are having issues with builder, Check "Create Support Log" so you can provide the log when you post your feedback, for a confirmation of your testing results..



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"Images Configuration"

Choose your Image index > In a WIM File the index number is used by DISM to determine the OS index..
There are Multi-Index Install.wim files, but for our testing purpose, It is always Index 1



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"CdDrive - X: - Y:"

There are two Types of Builds and each method has it's Pro's and Con's
Testing will reveal your Preferred method of Building, But here is an overview...

X: refers to System memory > meaning all the required System and Program files for PE are loaded into the systems memory... The limitation is the amount of memory required to load PE

Y: refers to the PE Media > meaning the System is loaded into Memory X:, but the Program files are read from the PE Media.. The limitation is that some programs require writable media, so CD/DVD's are not really an option, use a USB Stick for testing...

My preferred method of testing is to "Run ALL Programs from Ram" So I checked that Box..



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"1-Explorer Shell"

Here you can select different "Options" on how thing will be displayed on your Desktop, StartMenu and Taskbar



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"StartMenu"

Select your Start Menu Plugin and configure any options..

I am not going to get into explaining the following, as they are pretty much self explanatory..

Components
Tweaks
and Apps

Your Testing of different optional plugins, will reveal which is best for you..

And as a New User - I suggest you spend the time to get to know your PE..
We all work from the same Project and Plugins - so the learning curve is on you..

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"Network Plugin"
If you require Internet Access you must select this plugin for your PE..
If you require a Remote Connection or Server Access from within PE, you can configure "Advanced" options..



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"PENetwork Plugin"
This is a required plugin for Internet access when working with Win10PESE, due to the limitations of the project..



With the current PENetwork Default Options Selected > PENetwork will Auto-Start after PE is loaded
You may have to Right-Click the PENetwork icon in the Notification Area of PE and select "Show GUI"

Set > Network Adapter
Set > Network
Hit > Connect

The following Plugins use the Source Directory > install.wim and Boot.wim < as the Projects Default Drivers...

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Audio
Original Display Drivers
Original NET Drivers

These are the Default MS Provided System Drivers within the Setup Media..
So their use is recommend with every build, to make your PE compatible with a wider range of PC's..
Your testing will reveal what is best for your PE..

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"Driver Integration Plugin"
This plugin is used to integrate the more PC and Hardware Specific Drivers



This is where your knowledge of DISM and DISM Commands is most helpful..
Dism is included in Win8 and above.. And it's use is based on your Host OS..



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For a DISM Testing Example > Select "Dism Export Host Drivers" (Blue Reference)



Dism Exports 3rd Party System Drivers (These drivers are not included in Setup Media)
Now Select the Folder (icon) (Blue Reference) to open the folder where the drivers where exported and saved



Now you see all the Driver Sub-Folders that where exported from your Host OS...
In this case my Host OS is x64 Win8.1
Click on any Sub-Folder and Open the .INF file to read the Driver Information...





Now let's say we want to Integrate that Display Driver into PE
We would copy that 'Driver Sub-Folder" into the Projects Drivers Folder (Red Reference)
Be sure to select the proper Arch (x86 or x64) Project Drivers Folder..



Now since I have the "Driver Integration" plugin selected, that driver will be included in PE

Note:
Some Drivers are very large files and are not required for PE...
Care should be taken, as to what you add and to what size you are adding to your PE...

My testing has revealed that other then for a few "Network Drivers"
None of the exported drivers where ever needed in PE..

Now, let's say you are working on BillieBob's PC and you need Network or Internet Access..
Or any other system driver for that matter..

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"HwPNP Plugin"



Option A >
Use Device Manager within PE and point it to look for the driver in BillieBob's Host OS...
If the Driver Requests a System Reboot, Close the Notification, and Use HWPnP Install Devices (ShortCut)
To see if you can get the driver to load in PE, without the need of a system reboot...
Because just rebooting PE will not load the driver, you will need to use another option...

Option B >
Use DISM within PE to export the drivers from BillieBob's PC and save them for later Driver Integration..
Because that is the type of "Needed Driver" you may find while Testing, that you would want to add to your PE..

Now to look at some of the Media Creation Options from within Builder

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"Create ISO Plugin"
This plugin is used to create an ISO of your PE Build.. This Plugin is Optional...
But it is selected by default.. Since, it is safer to use it at least once before using other options like Copy to USB ....
The ISO is useful for testing your build in a Virtual Machine (VirtualTest)



I test from a bootable USB, so for me the ISO is uploaded to my Cloud, for access later..
Your testing will reveal, what method works best for you...

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Copy to USB-Device Plugin
This plugin is used to create Bootable USB Media of your PE Build..

There is one Required Setting Change >
Insert your USB Stick into the USB drive
Select the upper left "Folder" icon and point to your USB Drive



That sums up some of the Processes for using Builder to create your PE Environment..

At this point you should be able to Successfully build your first PE Environment and do some testing...
Spend a little Time Adding Plugins, Changing Plugin Options and using different Media Options..

One of the things I most Enjoyed after coming into this forum, was building PE over and over again..
And then testing on my host PC and several other PC's throughout the household..

I Did It, It Worked and I figured it out...

Thanks to the Members here !!!!
Happy Testing !!!
Enjoy !!
Kyhi