I have not yet used WinPE 11, but WinPE 10 1709, because none of my systems run Win11 yet and most of them still are MBR systems. However I just found out that my WinPE 10 v1709 rescue CD/boot item does not recognize the storage space on my Win10 x64 21H2 MBR system. From this post I understand that may have something to do with the WinPE version of the rescue environment. So I figured I would maybe try WinPE 11 instead (which I have not done yet at the time of posting this). To my surprise, when I downloaded WinPE 11 using the download manager I saw that there are still 2 versions available, x86 and x64. I do not understand the WinPE 11 x86 version, as Win11 is x64 only. Does anybody know how this is possible?

Also, does a Macrium WinPE 11 rescue medium still support MBR systems? As Win11 is UEFI only, I always thought that is not possible. But apparently Macrium also has an x86 version of WinPE 11, therefore I am not so certain anymore.

I know that for solving not seeing the storage space I could probably also use WinRE, which is more recent than WinPE 10 1709. Up until now I have chosen to always use WinPE 10 1709 on my rescue CD and for the boot menus, to keep them all equal and also to have rescue media independent from a specific computer (a.o. it can be made on my Win7 system, which is still my main system). I have prepared a small set of necessary extra drivers for WinPE 10 1709 that work on all of my systems, by manually including them in the drivers folder. This rescue CD works on all my systems (running Win7 (ESU) and Win10 respectively), which is really handy. If possible I would prefer to keep that approach the same, i.e. using the same WinPE version across rescue media and boot menus.

Did you actually download WinPE 11 x86 successfully, or did you just see an option to do so? Microsoft says that there is no x86 version available: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/get-started/adk-install

So maybe the download agent just hasn’t been updated to account for this single choice where one architecture has to be grayed out.

As for Legacy BIOS boot support, you could always test it yourself and report back.

Surprise! I tested both the WinPE 11 x86 and x64 rescue environment in a legacy BIOS VM and they both work. Which makes me curious how Macrium has done that, particularly given the Microsoft page you referred to and which I had indeed read before posting my question.

Hi @Andrew,

Thanks for your explanation. Knowing this I can now make WinPE 11 my standard, as it does recognise the storage space I mentioned in my opening post which WinPE 10 1709 could not.

While looking into WinPE 11 today I have found 2 points I want to bring to your attention. First, this knowledgebase page and this one do not yet include information about WinPE 11. Maybe you are already aware of this, but in case you were not, I just wanted to point this out to you.

Second, when making a WinPE 11 rescue medium or iso, if one or both of the options "Add BitLocker Support" or "Add iSCSI Support" is selected, on Windows 7 x64 I get an error "DISM Host Servicing Process stopped working". This does not happen on my Windows 10 x64 21H2 system and when none of these options are selected on my Windows 7 system. Presumably this has to do with the version of DISM on Windows 7. The rescue medium is still created, although I have not tested the BitLocker or iSCSI support on it. If it does not work on Windows 7 I think it would be better to disable WinPE 11 on Windows 7, just like WinPE 10 was disabled on Vista, but perhaps you are able to find and correct the cause of the error.

Best regards,

Pim

Hello @Andrew,

Could you please tell me if the two errors I receive when building a WinPE 11 rescue iso on Windows 7 are fatal for the contents of the iso? I do not currently use the "Add BitLocker Support" or "Add iSCSI Support" options, but always include them to have it on hand should I need it. WinPE 10 v1709 does not recognise a Windows storage space anymore, and WinPE 10 v2004 has issues with some combinations of USB and drive controllers. Therefore I apparently need to use WinPE 11 in order to see my storage space. Currently my main computer still runs Windows 7 (in the process of upgrading to Windows 10), so I want to be certain if an iso made on that system does fully work or that I should use my Windows 10 system, which is a bit more elaborate in my case. In my previous post I already made the suggestion to disable WinPE 11 on Windows 7 (or perhaps just disable the "Add BitLocker Support" or "Add iSCSI Support" options) if it is not meant to be used on it, because of an incompatibility of the DISM version and commands used for making the rescue iso.

Thanks in advance for your reply.
Best regards,

Pim

@pimjoosten - the build should use only what's available in the download, not anything from your System like WinRE does.  The result should contain anything Win11 supports and shouldn't affect the integrity of the rescue ISO.

Thanks @Froggie for your reply. My apologies, maybe I was not clear enough. I am worried that because I receive error messages when selecting one or both of the options "Add BitLocker Support" and/or "Add iSCSI Support" that these options do not work because DISM throws error messages for these options.

BTW, this seems like a good opportunity to thank you for pointing me to Macrium a couple of years ago. I was using AX64 as well as Acronis and following the AX64 forum and when it was abandoned you recommended Macrium Reflect. I trusted your advice and blindly purchased a Macrium family pack a couple of years ago without testing it first. It was one of the best software purchasing decisions I have ever made. I am so glad to be rid of Acronis and now have Rapid Delta Restore etc. now in Macrium. Assuming you are the same Froggie: thank you!

Same ol' Froggie... you're very welcome!

...and if it's Windows 7 DISM that you're questioning (and you should... it's a bit different than the newer DISMs), probably best to do that build on a Windows 10 machine.  If you have one, just move the license (if there isn't one there), do the build and move the license back.