3.2 Creating a Windows PE Emergency Recovery USB Drive

This section explains how to create a bootable Emergency Recovery USB device (ERD) using Microsoft Windows Preinstallation Environment (Windows PE). When it is booted, the ERD provides access to the Emergency Recovery application you can use to perform recovery operations on a device.

You must perform the following steps on a Windows 7 or later Windows device. The steps are not supported on Windows XP or Vista. The USB drive size must be at least 256 MB.

To create a Windows PE emergency recovery USB drive:

  1. Complete the Prerequisites for Creating a Windows PE Emergency Recovery Disk.

  2. In the C:\winpe folder, take the applicable action for your operating system:

    • Windows 7: Open the WinPE_7.txt file and follow the instructions.

    • Windows 8-8.1: Open the WinPE_8_0.txt file and follow the instructions.

    • Windows 10/Windows 11:

      1. Right-click the makepe.bat file and select Run as administrator.

      2. When the Command Prompt opens, press Enter to keep the default setting, or type the other option number and press Enter to choose a different platform.

      3. Press Enter for the next three commands or until the Media type option displays.

      4. The Media type defaults to option 1, ISO. Type 2 for the USB Flash Drive, and press Enter.

      5. When the default USB drive letter appears, press Enter or type the letter that matches your USB drive, and press Enter.

      6. Type yes when the notification “all data will be lost” on the drive appears.

      7. When presented with the option to copy the selected architecture to directory, type Yes, and press Enter.

      8. When the MakeWinPEMedia warning appears, type Y to proceed with the formatting of the USB drive.

        When the ERD formatting is done, the Command Prompt displays the following:

        Success

        USB Flash Drive: f: (or other drive letter)

        Done!

The USB drive is ready to use as an ERD.