A live CD or DVD is one that contains a complete and functioning operating system that can be run directly from the player or the burner, without the need for installations on the hard disk. Basically the system is loaded from the DVD or USB stick (from the computer's boot BIOS options) and all operations are stored on the RAM, without ever touching the hard disk, unless we intervene directly on the disk (to repair Windows or to save files from a locked system). Each Linux distribution is available in live CD / DVD format, so anyone interested in trying it out can do so without affecting the installation of Windows on their computer.
But if we wanted a Windows Live CD, so we could run tests and repair the installation at any time "> Ways to Use Windows PE, to start the PC
Start Windows 10 from DVD or USB Live
As mentioned in the introduction in this guide we will see how to create a CD or a USB stick with a Live version of Windows called Windows PE, now in edition 10 (exactly the same progressive of Windows 10). Installation might seem difficult, in reality it is much simpler than you think.Preliminary operations
First we will need to have a burner (if we want to create a DVD) or a USB stick of at least 8 GB (formatted in FAT32 ). If we don't have an internal burner, we can always buy an external USB burner like this -> Antika External DVD Burner External USB 3.0 CD Drive (17 €).
If, on the other hand, we want to create a USB stick with the Live installation of Windows PE, we recommend buying a large and fast USB stick like this for the purpose -> Kingston DT100G3 / 64 GB DataTraveler 100 G3, USB 3.0 (9 €).
If we use the stick the start and the execution of Windows PE will be much faster than the simple DVD, since the transfer speed is much higher on a USB port (especially if USB 3.0).
Normally in order to create the Windows PE system we will have to download the development tool offered by Microsoft, but it is extremely difficult to use; therefore, as a valid alternative, we recommend downloading and installing AOMEI PE Builder, a free program with a graphical interface, from which we can create our Windows Live simply and quickly.
To install it, all we have to do is click on the Download Freeware button on the site, wait for the download of the installer and finally start it, always clicking Next during the installation (there are no surprises or hidden programs, we can be sure).
How to create a Windows PE 10 Live DVD or Live USB
To be able to create the Windows PE Live DVD or Live USB to the latest available edition, we start AOMEI PE Builder by looking for it in the Start menu, so as to have the wizard for creating the disk or key immediately at hand.
We click Next on the introduction screen, so we can get to the new window in which to choose whether to download the 64-bit version or the 32-bit version of Windows PE (the choice should be made based on the version of the operating system in use ). Once the choice has been made, we click Next to display the screen for adding the elements to be included in the Live.
We can also leave everything as it is (except in cases where a particular driver is needed to start a Wi-Fi card or a connected peripheral) and click directly on Next ; we will get to the most interesting screen of this tool, where we can choose where to create the new Windows PE Live.
If we want to create a Live DVD, insert the optical media into the burner, activate the check mark on Burn To CD / DVD and make sure that the burner to be used is present in the drop-down menu below.
If instead we want to create a Live USB on a stick, connect it to the computer on a free USB port (possibly USB 3.0), check the USB Boot Device item and make sure that the newly added USB stick is present in the drop-down menu below.
The last item, Export ISO File, allows you to create an ISO image of Windows PE, which we can burn later (choosing the path where to create the image file).
Once we have made our choice, click on Next to start the creation of the Live DVD, Live USB or ISO image. The tool will automatically download the necessary files from the Microsoft servers and create the Live completely automatically (the operation could take several minutes, also based on the Internet connection speed and the speed of the disk present in the system). When the creation is complete, we click Finish to close the program window.
How to start Windows PE
To start the Live version of Windows just created, insert the DVD in the burner or the USB stick in a free port on the computer, then restart the latter to be able to enter the Window PE environment (it may be necessary to change the boot order to proceed).After a few minutes we will have access to the Windows PE environment, very similar in appearance to Windows 10.
We will have an excellent recovery and recovery environment, also thanks to the programs inserted in Windows PE by the AOMEI company:
- AOMEI Backupper : program to create and restore backups of operating systems and backups of personal files.
- AOMEI Partition Assistant : program dedicated to the management and modification of the partitions present on the disks.
- BOOTICE : tool to restore the boot sector (MBR or PBR) on Windows PC.
- Recuva : advanced tool for recovering deleted data on disk.
- PENetwork : tool for managing network devices.
- OSFMount : tool to connect virtual hard disks generated by virtualization programs.
- CPU-Z : free program to retrieve information about the processor, motherboard and RAM.
- QtWeb : light web browser, excellent for being able to surf the Internet within the recovery environment.
- Imagine : a very advanced tree file manager.
- Sumatra PDF : a free and lightweight PDF file reader.
- Notepad2 : an advanced notepad, useful for writing notes and lines of code.
- 7z : excellent manager of compressed files.
In addition to these programs, we can start from Windows PE the command prompt ( Command Prompt, present in the Start menu) and the RAM diagnostic tool ( Memory Diagnostics Tool, always in the Start menu).
After having finished using the Windows PE environment, we can return to the operating system on the disk by clicking on the Start menu at the bottom left, selecting the Restart item and (when the PC is restarted) remove the USB stick or DVD disc .
Conclusions
As we have seen in the previous lines, starting Windows 10 from DVD or USB Live without installing is really very simple, just create your own Windows PE 10 environment on a USB stick or on a DVD, so you have one at hand very effective recovery tool.There are also other tools to create the Windows PE installation disc for Windows 10, listed in the article on Boot CDs and Rescue disks to repair the computer startup
If we want to create a Live CD or a Live USB of any Linux distribution, we suggest you read our guides on How to download Linux and create Live CD or USB stick on Windows and on How to Install an ISO Linux on USB .
