WinPE Boot Medium

Create a Windows-based boot medium

WinPE Support with LiveSystem Pro

You can run our programs from a Windows-based bootable CD-ROM, DVD, or USB stick. This article describes how you can create a bootable medium with LiveSystem Pro (LSP) from Kare-net.de.

Use the WinPE Boot Medium at your discretion; please read our Compatibility Note . As an alternative, you can also use the Linux-based Runtime Live CD.

We provide an installer that sets up the LiveSystem Pro environment for you.

Download Installer (RuntimePE.exe)

Free, but licenses for the pre-installed software must be purchased separately.

Version: 03/08/2026, includes all our software versions current at that date. 

System Requirements: Intel processor, 4 GB RAM

What is WinPE?

WinPE Boot Medium

WinPE Boot Medium: Windows desktop with pre-installed programs

Microsoft's WinPE is a stripped-down version of Windows, capable of running from a boot CD or a USB stick. Its name stands for "Windows Preinstallation Environment". OEM and enterprise customers use it as an installation platform for PCs.

WinPE does not require a hard drive to boot, and it can run solely from a CD or a USB stick using the memory for dynamic data. This feature makes WinPE appealing for data recovery and system maintenance. In fact, you can run our software from such a boot medium. Since WinPE's primary purpose is installing Windows, you can expect most hardware to be supported.

Another useful feature of WinPE is that you can create a boot medium with network access. You can even access the Internet from such a medium.

WinPE is not available to end users, but all files needed for WinPE to run are included in a retail Windows installation DVD.

What is LiveSystem Pro (LSP)?

LiveSystem Pro is a free utility from http://kare-net.de that helps you create your own bootable CD or USB stick by extracting the necessary files from a Windows installation DVD. LSP supports Windows installation DVDs for Windows XP, 7, 8, 10, and 11. While there are other PE builders available, LiveSystem Pro stands out for its simplicity, speed, and versatility.

If you do not have a retail Windows installation DVD on hand, LiveSystem Pro provides links to official ISO images.

Available Plugins

LSP lets you add other applications by using "plugins". We have most of our products integrated into one plugin:

  • RuntimeSoftware.srt — You download this plugin along with our installer (RuntimePE.exe). It contains our programs:

    GetDataBack Pro

    DriveImage XML

    DiskExplorer for FAT, DiskExplorer for NTFS, DiskExplorer for Linux

    DiskExplorer X

    Captain Nemo Pro

    NAS Data Recovery

    RAID Recovery for Windows

    RAID Reconstructor

    DriveMap

    DriveDoppel

When added to LSP, this plugin downloads current versions of our software from our website. If the software requires a license key, you can enter it in the application at runtime or in advance while creating the boot medium with LiveSystem Pro.

Possible Uses 

The most compelling benefit of WinPE is that you can run our data recovery software on the affected computer without interfering with the hard drive you need to recover data from. Remember, if you want to recover data, you must not write anything to the affected drive, leaving you with few options if the drive in question was the system (C:) drive. With a bootable CD or USB stick containing our software, you can recover your data without installing a new operating system. Here are some typical uses:

  • Do a data recovery with GetDataBack without having to install a complete Windows operating system. Boot from a CD-ROM or USB stick and run the data recovery entirely from there, using the RAM for dynamic data. Copy the recovered data to another hard drive or — if you have network access enabled — to a network destination. 

  • Edit your hard drive with DiskExplorer. Have unlimited access to any area on any of your drives. For example, after booting from the medium, you can let DiskExplorer overwrite your whole drive with zeros. 

  • Easily make an image of a drive, locally or through the network. 

  • Use a boot medium to restore your system drive from a backup with DriveImage XML. 

Creating a Bootable Medium With LSP

Warning If you are in a data recovery situation, do not create the bootable medium on the computer where you want to recover data from.

The process of creating a WinPE boot medium is straightforward: you download our installer, which installs LSP as well as our plugin. You then start LSP, insert or download a Windows installation DVD, and build the boot medium as an ISO or directly onto a USB stick.

  • 1.  Download and launch our installer RuntimePE.exe.

  • 2.  By default, the installation folder for LSP is C:\RuntimePE. Click "Install LSP" to begin the installation.

    Installing LiveSystem Pro and Runtime's plugin.

    RuntimePE: Installing LiveSystem Pro and Runtime's plugin.

  • 3. Let the installation run its course. It should not take longer than a minute.

    LiveSystem Pro and Runtime's plugin were successfully installed.

    RuntimePE: LiveSystem Pro and Runtime's plugin were successfully installed.

    RuntimePE

    c:\RuntimePE: LSP

    After successful completion, LSP and the plugin have been installed in C:\RuntimePE. The plugin RuntimeSoftware.srt has been copied into the Apps folder under the four projects, WinXPE, Win7PE, Win8PE, and Win10PE.  

    Shortcut for LSP

    Shortcut: LSP

    A shortcut to LSP has been created on the desktop. Later, you can click on this shortcut to launch LSP. 

    Now click on "Start LSP" to close the installer and  launch the LiveSystem Pro environment. 

  • 4.  Upon startup, LSP looks for active anti-virus software. It is recommended that you disable your security software while creating the PE Boot Medium as it can interfere with some LSP tasks.

    Anti-virus software warning

    LSP: Active protection warning

  • 5.  You are greeted by the LSP main screen. Let's get started:

    ▶ Select the Windows version, e.g. "Win10/Win11".

    ▶ Set the "Source". Click on the three dots and navigate to the location of your installation DVD. If you inserted the DVD into drive E:, this is your "Source". The source LED must turn from red to green (see screenshot in step 7). If it does not, you have not correctly set the source to the Windows installation folder yet.

    LSP: Set Windows version and source

    LSP: Main screen

  • 6.  Skip this step if you already set the source in step 5 and go to step 7. If you do not have a Windows installation DVD at hand, you can download a Windows installation ISO file from Microsoft. 

    Within the "Download ISO" box on the LSP main screen, click the Windows version you want to download, e.g. "Windows 10". A link to Microsoft's Media Creation Tool will be opened and downloaded by your browser.

    Start the downloaded program, e.g. MediaCreationTool_22H2.exe, and follow the on-screen instructions to "Create installation media ... for another PC".

    Select the ISO option and download the ISO file into the LSP base folder, c:\RuntimePE. After the download is complete, mount the ISO by right-clicking the file and selecting "Open with..." and then "Windows Explorer". Take note of the drive letter the installation ISO was assigned to, e.g. F:.

    Return to step 5 above and set the "Source" to the drive letter assigned to the mounted ISO (F: in our example).

  • 7.  Click on the plus sign to open the Apps folder, then select the Runtime Software ALL plugin. On the right side, you can see the available software titles. Make sure Runtime Software ALL has a check mark in the left folder panel. Select all programs you want to include in the PE Boot Medium on the right side.  

    Programs requiring a license key for the full version have a red LED next to them. You can include the license key by clicking on the LED and typing in the license name and key. This makes the activation of the software persistent. You can also enter your license key after booting from the PE Medium. In that case, the activation will be lost after shutdown.

    The "Download each time" field causes LSP to download the installation files for our software each time you run LSP. This is not advisable as an update method because updated software will have a different checksum and may therefore be refused by the plugin. If you wish to upgrade the PE Boot Medium with the newest versions of our software, you need to download and run a new version of our installer RuntimePE.exe.

    LSP with Runtime Software's Plugin

    LSP: Runtime Software's plugin

  • 8.  Click on the plus signs to open the Finish and the Virtual Test folders. These contain the actions LSP will take after it has assembled the boot image.

    ▶ Create ISO: An ISO will be created. This ISO can be used to burn physical CDs, create bootable USB drives, and boot virtual machines.

    ▶ Create USB: A USB stick will be written.

    ▶ BestEmu: A virtual machine will be started with the created ISO if an emulator is available. This is a great way to quickly test the created ISO file before writing it to a CD or USB stick.

    LSP: Configure After Finish Action

    LSP: Configure After Finish Action

    Click the "Start" button to begin the creation of the WinPE Boot Medium. If you get an active security software warning again, you should disable it now. The following process can take anything from 5 to 30 minutes, depending on the amount of data LSP needs to download.

  • 9. Once you see the message "Starting PE2Usb", switch to the window titled "LSP PE2USB". Here you will write WinPE to a USB drive. You can use any USB stick with a capacity between 1 GB and 32 GB.  Please be careful here as the destination drive will be overwritten. In our example we inserted a 1 GB USB stick that was assigned the drive letter F:.

    Click "Transfer" after you have verified that the target drive F: is in fact the USB stick you intended to use for this purpose. After the transfer finishes, close the program and go back to LSP.

    LSP USB Tool

    LSP USB Tool: Write WinPE to a USB stick

    10. Congratulations! You have created a WinPE Boot Medium. You can now remove the USB stick and try it out. The ISO file is located in the folder c:\RuntimePE\Iso. If you need additional USB sticks, simply run the LSP USB tool again. You can also run other software that transfers the ISO to a CD or USB drive.

    If you like LiveSystem Pro, please consider making a donation!

    LSP Donation

    LSP: If you like this software – donate!

  • 11.  Boot your machine from the newly created CD or USB stick. The desktop should look like this:

    WinPE Boot Medium

    WinPE: Desktop with Runtime Software programs

Troubleshooting and Support 

Apart from this article, we do not provide support for WinPE and LiveSystem Pro (LSP). Please read the on-screen instructions as well as LSP's help file located in the same directory. For more help, consult the support forum on http://theoven.org. It contains general information and troubleshooting tips as well as a section dedicated to LSP.

© 2026 Runtime Software

EN  DE  FR  ES |   Home  |   Follow us:   |   Contact  |   Sitemap