Live Windows Bootable CDs for Sysadmins

WhoDaresWins writes "Ever wonder how to make a Knoppix-like live Windows bootable CD (or DVD)? Well its now possible using Bart's Preinstalled Environment (BartPE) bootable live windows CD/DVD. It's basically an expansion of the Microsoft's own Windows PE (Preinstallation Environment) idea which is a minimal Windows (XP/2K3) based bootable live CD with a command prompt and the ability to run some basic Windows GUI. Bart's PE allows anyone to make a bootable CD using their own Windows XP/2K3 media with Bart's PE Builder. What's more many people have contributed quite a few plugins that allow you to use the BartPE discs as quite a nifty system administration tool and with some work an almost usable quick system."

Comments

Knoppix without the good stuff?

[mcrbids]

Lessee:

1) It's Windows. Forget "open".

2) It's Windows. Forget "stable".

3) It's Windows. Forget "drivers" without a dozen driver install disks...

4) It's Windows. Forget "Source code".

5) It's Windows... most apps won't run without registry editing and all kinds of other crap.

Oh, and did I mention... It's Windows?!?!?

Re:Knoppix without the good stuff?

[t0ny]

Lessee:

1) It's Windows. Forget "open".

Who gives a fuck. People working in an office (or even an overwhelming majority of home users) dont get paid to fuck with the source code, nor would most of them even want to. Only programmers care about that shit, and at least 99% of computer users are not programmers.

2) It's Windows. Forget "stable".

If Win2k or XP are unstable, your computer is a piece of shit. Your poor choices in hardware arent Microsoft's responsibility; stop buying Packard Bell.

3) It's Windows. Forget "drivers" without a dozen driver install disks...

A. d00d, turn off the 8-track; drivers come on CD's these days
B. Again, get out of the 60s. On Win2k/XP you rarely need drivers which arent provided (especially XP).

4) It's Windows. Forget "Source code".

A. I beg to differ
B. See statements regarding #1.

5) It's Windows... most apps won't run without registry editing and all kinds of other crap.

I dont have to edit the registry, or anything else, to get my applications to run. And if you do, than whoever put together your install package is a retard (I should know, Ive put several install packages together). But actually, isnt getting applications to run on Linux a bit of a chore, depending on your distro?

All in all, a pretty weak troll attempt. I give it 2 out of a possible 10. You are going to have to try way harder than that around here.

The only thing

[Viceice]

It'll be so bloated it'll take the same amount of time to boot as it would take to install windows proper.

Cannot be used for general purpose like knoppix

[ganhawk]

I tried bratPE. But it does not contain the windows GUI.It just contains one start menu like thinge. Sure its based on XP and you can use it for fixing disks etc. But it cannot be used for applications like browsing or desktop applications.
But hey WinPE is command line based !