(This is the text content of the attached white paper, which has additional screenshots.)

Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE)

By David Waggoner & Sankari N.
DELL Windows Engineering

February 2008

Contents
Introduction…………………………………………………………………………… 1
How to access WinRE………………………………………………………………… 1
Customized recovery………………………………………………………………….. 4
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………….. 6




Introduction

The Windows® Recovery Environment (WinRE), introduced by Microsoft in Windows Vista®, is also part of Windows Server® 2008. WinRE is a customized version of Windows Preinstallation Environment (WinPE), the environment Microsoft uses to install Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008. Here is Microsoft’s explanation:

“Windows Recovery Environment (WindowsRE) is an extensible recovery platform based on Windows Preinstallation Environment (WindowsPE). … WindowsRE is a starting point for various tools for manual system recovery.

How to access WinRE

WinRE comes as a part of Windows Server 2008 installation media; booting from the installation DVD gives you an option to recover. (See Fig.1)

Figure 1
Dell installs and configures WinRE on the local hard drive of every server that is purchased with a factory-installed Windows Server 2008 operating system (OS). If you create backups of your server after it is fully configured, WinRE can restore those over the network or from local media. Those familiar with WinRE on Windows Vista will know that it can be configured to automatically fail over and boot from WinRE if the main OS boot fails. This configuration on Windows Server 2008 is not recommended for security reasons by Microsoft®, and so Dell configures Windows Server 2008 to require user choice to boot from WinRE. During a failed boot, the installed WinRE can be accessed by pressing F8 immediately after the OS begins to boot or may be visible on the OS boot menu (along with Safe Mode, etc.) as an option as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2

The built-in local administrator username and password must be used for full access to the command prompt, but any local user can gain access to the PC Restore Feature, so physical security of the system is an important consideration if there are large numbers of users with local accounts. (see Figure 3)



Figure 3
Dell installs WinRE on a 3 GB partition that can also be shared with the BitLocker™ Drive Encryption feature. After installation completes, it is available as another partition in the OS with a drive letter allocated to it, (Fig.4) but should not be used to store unrelated files or install applications that are not directly related to WinRE or BitLocker.

Figure 4

Customized Recovery

Dell customizes the WinRE image file (winre.WIM) by injecting all necessary storage and network drivers so that if the system fails over to WinRE, full access to the hard drives and the network is available immediately to expedite troubleshooting and recovery.
After a failed boot, select the “Repair your computer” option and a menu will appear as shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5
The Windows Complete PC Restore option enables the user to restore to the original settings using a backup file, either the one supplied by Dell for restore to factory condition, or a later one created by a supported backup program (Figure 6). This can be on the local media, on DVD media, an inserted USB hard drive or on an accessible network share. This application will also allow you to turn on the network stack for network access to files (Figure 7).

Figure 6



Figure 7

Windows Memory Diagnostic tool scans for any hardware memory errors. Selecting this tool provides the option of restarting immediately and performing a memory test, or doing so on the next reboot. Dell Diagnostics, the tools supplied by Dell and installed on the local hard drive in the Utility partition, are accurate methods to test for faulty hardware.

The command prompt can be used to map needed network drives or add drivers on the go. Dell does not enable the network stack by default, because of the possibility of a network attack if the system is booted into an uncontrolled environment. If the environment presents minimal risk, the network can be enabled by typing “wpeutil InitializeNetwork” at the command prompt; the stack will come up and perform a DHCP IP address collection. It allows full access to the file systems (in almost all cases) so that files can be retrieved, copied or manipulated in various ways. Other applications can also be run from this command prompt, as long as they function correctly in a WinPE environment.
Booting from the OS DVD media allows some of the same functionality, but if specific hardware drivers are needed for storage controller or network access, locating or installing those drivers is likely to extend recovery time.

Dell customizes WinPE to act as the Windows Recovery WIM. This process is detailed in the Windows OEM Preinstallation Kit/Automated Iinstallation Kit (OPK/AIK) documentation, available as part of the Microsoft Windows AIK and can be found at this link.
The main customization is to include the winpeshl.ini in the WIM for the system to launch the WinRE shell during the startup. To inject any additional hardware drivers, Dell uses two tools also found in the Windows AIK:
1. Imagex – for mounting the winpe.wim so that it can be modified
2. Peimg – for adding the drivers to the image.

Conclusion:

Choosing a Dell factory install of the Windows Server 2008 operating system results in a fully-configured OS, with necessary drivers, additional security updates, and needed hotfixes installed, so that the system is ready to be put to work upon receipt. Should something happen to the OS install, having a customized Windows Recovery Environment installed could be the difference in recovery time taking a few minutes or a few hours.

THIS WHITE PAPER IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY, AND MAY CONTAIN TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS AND TECHNICAL INACCURACIES. THE CONTENT IS PROVIDED AS IS, WITHOUT EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND.

Microsoft, Windows, Windows Vista, and Windows Server are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Other trademarks and trade names may be used in this document to refer to either the entities claiming the marks and names or their products. Dell disclaims proprietary interest in the marks and names of others.