For this, you have to mount the wim file on your USB stick with imageX. In the next step, we have to make sure that PStart will automatically launch when you boot up Windows PE. Launch PStart automatically when WinPE boots up You should see now a new menu point (see screenshot). Then, navigate to the Q-Dir folder and drag Q-Dir's exe file to the PStart window. I recommend creating a special folder for all of your tools. To try this procedure, you can copy the free file manager Q-Dir to your USB drive. Next, you can launch PStart from your USB drive with Windows Explorer. Select your USB drive and tell the wizard to copy PStart to the root folder. When the installation wizard of PStart asks you about the setup type, you should choose Portable Setup (see screenshot). For this purpose, I will use the free tool PStart which I reviewed a while back. This is why I have created this simple solution so you can easily launch your tools from a GUI.

Since Windows PE doesn't have a graphical user interface like Windows, you have to launch your tools from the command prompt, which is much too inconvenient for stressed admins.

Step 3 is for adding new tools to your USB drive and has to be followed every time you add new tools. Steps 1 and 2 have to be performed only once. In the following three steps, you will learn how to configure your bootable USB drive with your own rescue tools. Real Windows geeks want more convenience.

However, with this procedure, you always have to find the drive letter of your USB stick first, and then navigate to the tool you want to launch on the command prompt. Its advantage is that you can update your tools or add new ones without starting from scratch every time. Therefore, you can simply copy all your tools to your thumb drive in a separate folder that is independent from Windows PE. Windows PE automatically mounts your USB drive. It is just too cumbersome to create your Windows PE installation from scratch whenever you want to add a new tool. Although this makes sense for a rescue DVD, I wouldn't recommend this procedure for a thumb drive. Most descriptions on the web will recommend mounting the wim file with imageX and then copying your tools to the Windows PE installation before creating your boot media.

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